Miracles Happen!
PortugalMIRACLES HAPPEN :)
Tomé was baptized yesterday. What I find funny is that every baptism has a little fight that goes along with it. You know, opposition. But with every baptism the opposition is different. I thought the opposition would be marking him and following up with his repentance process. Nope. Wrong again. What was the problem? When his children found out he was going to be baptized they thought it was too soon...too quick..and that he wasn't ready. Oh, also an unexpected death happened in his family, so he had to make international phone calls to Senegal (that's in Africa for those who don't know and they speak French there). He is the only one who speaks French fluently in his family and he had to translate for everyone else and it was all very important so he thought we wouldn't be able to be baptized--not that he didn't want to be, but he thought the timing wouldn't work out.
Well, all I have to say is I am so grateful for God's timing in everything. It ALWAYS works out. And in the end, everything worked out. There was also a stake choir fireside at around the same time as the baptism, so we got permission to go have the baptism after the fireside in Lapa (oh, good old Lapa...my lovely area of six months... :) We got the kids a ride in from Oeiras and in the end everything worked out. After much prayer and pleading, Heavenly Father was merciful on us and on his son Tomé and he got baptized. The most special part of the baptism was when his oldest daughter bore her testimony (Hortencia, 18). She bore a powerful and sweet testimony of how she was saying the whole week that she thought that her father wasn't ready but in the end she saw that everything worked out and that he in reality was ready and she felt the Spirit very strongly. Tomé started crying...Hortencia started crying...his other kids started crying...in the end practically everyone was crying because the Spirit was testifying that families can be forever...and this is just the start :)
I remember thinking during the week when we had to fight for everything to work out, how crazy everything is sometimes, and how it feels like the devil is just getting a good laugh at us sometimes. But during the baptism when Hortencia said she really understands now that her father was ready to be baptized and that she is so happy that he was and she bore her testimony of families being together forever, I thought to myself: YES! This is why I am here. It really all is worth it. This is definitely why I am here.
I love moments like that where I feel like I could be a missionary forever. I sometimes think of my mission as a great adventure. It has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. It has also been the hardest and most trying thing that has ever happened to me. But, I would definitely do it again. If it were a movie, I would want to watch it over and over again. If it were a song, I would want to play it over and over again until I have memorized it. Let's just say I would never get sick of this song getting stuck in my head. Elder Holland once said that not one day has gone by in his life that he has not thought about his mission—it meant that much to him. I wish that could happen to me. I still need to lose myself a little bit more in the work, but that is what another week is for.
We are excited for another week of adventures and miracles...I know I say it a lot, but I feel like I have woken up to discover a new world...the world of miracles. I feel like I always new it existed but never really lived in it. Now I have and I want to stay here forever...
I had my last Zone Conference last week and I bore my testimony. I didn't think I said anything that profound or touching, but when I sat down I realized that President and Irma Torgan were both crying. They really have been like parents to me while I have been gone from you guys. They have seen me grow in ways I am sure no one else has. Very surreal...last zone conference? :(
But, it's all good. Life goes on...
Until then,
Love,
Irma Pérez
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