WEEK 84: First Few Days Back in Brazil

First group of Americans returning to the Brazil Fortaleza Mission

Hello everybody!! I hope you're doing great! I have arrived well and in one piece here in Fortaleza. It is so awesome here, and I am so glad to be back. I will definitely miss the times I have had in Georgia. After being there for almost 9 months, and after having met so many awesome people, it was hard to say goodbye. But I continue to trust the timing of the Lord and press forward wherever He would have me go. I just love being a missionary.

I will be serving in the Genibaú neighborhood, right in the favelas of Fortaleza. I am with Elder Winterton (from Provo UT) and Elder Cidade (Amazonas, Brazil). They are so awesome and we will be the zone leaders of Zona Ceará. I am so excited to work with them, and see the success that this area will produce.

The virus has a hold here in Fortaleza, but it is not so bad. We are all locked down until the end of this month, so most of our work is done from inside the apartment. We spent most of the time yesterday contacting people who had been taught by the missionaries in the past, and have had some good successes with those people. In fact, if everything works out well, we may have a couple of baptisms at the end of this week.

The members here are super awesome too. We sent several messages to them, introducing ourselves. They have been great about sending lunches to our apartment, so that has been really nice.

Other than that, these last few days have been just making adjustments to the heat. It is SOOO hot here. The rain makes it a little bit better, but I am sweating constantly. I love it so much here and I'm excited for the next 4 months. I love you all! Have a blessed week.

Love,
Elder Perry

Welcome Dinner with the Mission President for Newly Arriving Missionaries

WEEKS 82 & 83: A Baptism and More Service!

Wow! Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well. This was probably the craziest week I've had here in Georgia yet, and it came with some really cool miracles...

This week, we had the honor to baptize our friend, John. He was so prepared to be baptized and embraced it with open arms. We only met John about 2 weeks ago, but he was so on board with being baptized and all the principles of the church. He talked to us extensively this week about all of the David A Bednar talks he had been listening to, and all the research he has done on modern day revelation to the prophets. He is such a stud. His good friend, Easton, flew out from Salt Lake City to perform the baptism, which was really cool. There was also great support from the YSA members. We are so happy for John and the amazing decisions he is making. He is hoping to maybe move to Salt Lake City in the future, so look out for him! His testimony is so strong, and it was an honor to have met him.

We had a GANM Leadership conference and also did a lot of service including helping at the Cobb Vineyard Church Food Pantry. We did a bit of finding but it was spring break over here, so the KSU campus was absolutely dead. That complicated things a bit, but we made work happen in other ways. We also had lots of meetings and preparations for the coming week. 

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Love,
Elder Perry

WEEK 81: Still Vibing

What's up everyone! Hope you all had a great week! Things are great here in Georgia. I have loved the work we have been able to do, and waking up every morning with the opportunity to serve God puts a smile on my face.

We had some cool successes this week! One of which is a new person that we are teaching. His name is John, and he was found by the elders we are living with. But because he is YSA age, we will have the opportunity to teach him. He already knows basically everything about the church, and already believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Super cool dude, and we look forward to the progress he will make in the next several weeks. We also got to meet with DJ a couple of times. He is doing well - still working on his testimony of the Book of Mormon.

This week finally didn't feel like winter. That was such a nice change. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it was sunny and something like 70 degrees. We spent the whole day outside talking to people. And even though we did leave with a sunburn, we were so happy with how it turned out. Sorry to make you all listen to that after dealing with the snowstorms back in Utah. We have been working diligently as well with Instagram, and seeing what kind of seeds we can plant there.

Other than that, we have not had a ton more going on. Still doing regular service, and meeting with lots of members of the ward. And we did find out news for this coming transfer! I will be staying here in my same area with Elder Short. It will be just us two now, which will be nice, and the apartment will be significantly less crowded. We are super excited about the work that there is to be done in the next 6 weeks.

I love you all! Keep doing great things. The Lord will always provide a way! He will always strengthen us.

2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

Love,
Elder Perry