Bright Eyes and Bright Faith

Portugal

Dear everyone,

Words cannot express what I feel. A mix of emotions, that is for sure. The reason I was not able to write yesterday was because we had an emergency mission conference with our southern part of Lisbon. Our mission is joining with the north next week, so we were given a little boost to help with the bridging of missions. It was good. It was kind of surreal, though. The last of the last. But the great thing about the mission is that it is always going--always new missionaries with bright eyes and bright faith.

This past week was pretty good. We baptized a man named José Flores (Joseph Flowers would be his name in English). He is a great man. He has 10 percent vision and apparently suffered a burning accident when he was younger and his legs were burned. He walks slowly and unsteadily, but he has made the trek to church every week--at a least a half an hour walk. He loves church. He cannot read the Book of Mormon, although he would like to, but he lives with his two nieces. They read to him every night and they pray together. His nieces went to his baptism (along with another nephew). They are both 11 years old and their names are Cassandra and Marlene. They LOVE church, especially singing hymns. They come from a very poor background and a rough life. They said that the first time they have ever felt safe was around me and Irma Joslin. I found this very interesting for 11-year-olds to say. It tells a lot about what they have been through. They have their own families, but they are spending the summer with their uncle to help him. Their families live in the same neighborhood, but they choose to live with their uncle. They decided to get baptized and their mothers are allowing them. They will be baptized this next week. They are very special. They ask many questions about missions, sister missionaries, elders, the temple (they both want to go), young women’s, music, etc. They love reading the Book of Mormon, even though they don't understand it all. They say it helps them sleep better at night--they feel more protected. Very adorable. The only thing we have to teach them about is piercings, and I think I found a way that they will like...and plus they adore the members and missionaries. I am pretty sure they will have no problem changing.

We are also working with another little girl to get her baptized. Her name is Ari. She is a little African girl that is very sweet and humble. Her father has not allowed her to get baptized yet, but we are working with her to prepare her, and we are hoping that she will be baptized this week as well.

Life is going pretty great. I am going to miss this life so much, but everything has their season. when the time comes, I will be ready to go home, but I have a long time until then--a whole week. And as we all know, God made the earth in a week (relatively speaking), so there are still so many more miracles to be accomplished this week! I am excited.

I have definitely learned to not just hope for the future, but live in the present. It is right now that really counts.

But, I won't say that I am completely abnormal and am not excited to come home. It will be different, but it will be another grand adventure.

Until next week,

I love you all--

Thank you for your support and love you have given me for this year and a half. I couldn't have done it without you all! I love you!

Love,

Irma Pérez