WEEK 89: Even More Miracles

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an excellent week. Things are still moving forward here in Fortaleza, and I have loved every second that I have spent here. This transfer, I will be staying in the Genibaú area with a new companion, Elder Viana. He is from the zona leste of São Paulo and has about a year on the mission. He is the only one in his family who is a member of the Church and has been baptized for a little over two years. It has been great working with him and hearing his amazing testimony.

There was one incredible miracle that happened to me this week. On Tuesday, while wrapping up the day with some contacting, we received a call from the Elders in Itapipoca. They had been able to get in touch with a family Elder Damo and I had been teaching over a year ago right before we were evacuated. I remember the day that I first contacted Maria. We had been passing through some difficult times as a companionship trying to find people to teach in that area, and had been praying for some sort of miracle. On that day, we had been searching for a bus to take us to a neighborhood that was well removed from the center of the city. To our chagrin, we couldn't find a single one. Upset and discouraged, we started contacting. I found Maria in a home near the center of the city. She didn't live there, but was taking care of an older woman living in that home. She said that she had been praying for someone to help her and her family find the right path. We started teaching them, and the week they were to be baptized, we had to leave Itapipoca and I was sent back to the United States.

I had kept loose contact with them all this time, but was able to teach them a few times once I arrived back in Brazil. Once the Mission President was able to assign Elders assigned to the city again, I passed off their contact information. Since we left 1 year ago, they had been diligently reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and living all the commandments. They remembered quite well all of the lessons that we taught them and last Sunday they were baptized. I was able to participate in the meeting virtually to see Irmã Maria, José, and Henrique all get baptized. They had me say some words at the end as well, and I feel so blessed that the day finally came for Maria and her family to be baptized. And I will forever cherish the moments I spent with them. I am hoping I will be allowed to visit Itapipoca one more time before I go home. I am so happy for that amazing family. 

One other miracle this week was the baptism of Alexandre. He is a young man of 15 years who lives by the chapel. He was super excited to get baptized, and join his other friends. The spirit was strong at the baptism. We had a great number of youth in attendance, and several problems with the baptismal font but in the end, it worked out.

The work continues on, as strong as ever. I feel grateful every day for the opportunity that I had to return to my original assignment, to weather the heat and the beans and rice, to bring souls into Christ. 

Love you all,

Elder Perry

WEEK 88: Things Are Still Great!

What's good everyone?? Hope you all had a great week. Things are still great here in Fortaleza.

We are having transfers tomorrow! I will be staying in the Genibaú area and will be receiving a new companion tomorrow as well. I am excited for the change and the miracles to come here in Zona Ceará. I love this area, the members, and all the great people we have met, so staying another transfer here is some great news.

We had one miracle this week! Our boy Ravi was baptized on Wednesday! He had been talking with us for a while about baptism, and with faith and persistence, his mother finally allowed him. He is 12 years old and lives right beside the chapel. His smile on the day of the baptism was contagious (for the short time he didn't have a mask on). We are so happy for him and are excited to see him grow in the church.

We have just been grinding lately. Contacting people through our area book, through Facebook, through members...basically any way we can get someone's contact information. It has been quite a journey, but we have made some serious strides as far as virtual work goes.

Still hot, beans and rice every day, cold showers, but never a dull moment. Especially as my mission begins to wrap up, I have learned to take every day as a blessing. I truly am so blessed to be back here in Brazil, and I will not throw that opportunity away. Love you all! Keep being great!

Love,
Elder Perry

WEEK 87: Many Meetings

For those of you who understood the reference in the title, good work.

Hello everyone! I hope all is well, wherever you may be! We had a solid week here in the Genibaú area, and I have been loving every minute I have spent here.

We had so many different meetings this week. Part of our responsibilities is to participate in meetings with our mission president and the stake presidents of the stakes to which our zone pertains. Because there are so few missionaries currently in the mission, we cover upwards of 6 different stakes. Those meetings are always quite interesting though, as we hear new ideas and goals from each stake president. We also had our interviews this week with President Priday! He is the man. He had some great counsel for all of us. I look forward to seeing what other kind of instruction he provides to the mission going forward.

The work went well this week. We did spend quite a bit of time inside the apartment calling and finding people online. We had several baptisms marked for this Sunday, but none of them ended up working out, unfortunately. We do have a few more scheduled this week though, so we are praying for some divine help there. But I have been so surprised by the receptiveness of the people here. Everyone is always down to hear a message about Jesus Christ. Finding through Facebook always seemed like a means to an end, but here, it is super simple and super effective. I look forward to helping other missionaries get a grasp of it too.

As far as Brazil goes, it is still hot. Every day, it is incredibly hot. Even in the rain. It makes it slightly difficult to sleep, and live, but if it were easy, it wouldn't feel as worthwhile. We have been receiving lunch from members every day, which is great. We hear the lockdown should be lifted pretty soon, but we also heard that that cases here in Brazil have not stopped climbing. And we still have the roosters across the street! 

I have recently had to start preparing a bit for college and things when I get back home. Never did I think the day would come. It has caused me to do a lot of reflecting on my time spent as a missionary: time spent all over the world, in very different capacities, serving all types of people. I love my mission, and would not trade it for anything.

Love,
Elder Perry

WEEK 86: More Miracles

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a fantastic conference weekend and enjoyed all the great spiritual advice and counsel that was given to us. I feel blessed to have been able to watch the last general conference of my mission in Portuguese and to be in this great place.

We were given authorization to watch general conference from the comfort of the stake center. Based on the rules of the lockdown and everything, only missionaries were allowed in the buildings to watch. That means one super huge blessing - AIR CONDITIONING. You never know how much you miss it until you don't have it anymore. But the AC really helped me pay attention better because I wasn't wiping sweat out of my eyes every 2 seconds. I loved every session and every word that was powerfully spoken. I thought quite a bit about this quote from our dear prophet, President Nelson:

"Difficult trials often provide opportunities to grow that would not have come in any other way."

It isn't easy, especially in the heat of Brazil or anywhere else, to accept all the many trials. We don't always understand the reason for trials in this life, but the reason for our existence is eternal growth. The moments of sadness and despair are worth it, because they are helping us to achieve our celestial purpose. So don't be discouraged. Just keep growing.

We also had a huge miracle in between sessions of general conference on Sunday! The baptism of our friend Larissa! She was one of the young friends who came to watch our baptism last week. As soon as last week's baptism was over, she ran home and told her mom that she too wanted to be baptized. We helped her prepare this week, and she finally took this big first step in her life. I was the one that was fortunate enough to baptize her. Her grandmother also came to watch as well. It is great to see the support Larissa is getting. She lives right next to the chapel, so that makes things easier for her to attend regularly. She is great, and will grow strongly in the gospel.

One other huge miracle happened this week. I was finally able to get into contact with Maria from Itapipoca this week! She lives with her husband, two sons, and many other children. Elder Damo and I had been teaching them over a year ago, but a week before their scheduled baptism, we were all evacuated from Brazil and contact with the family was lost. Thanks to the blessing of technology, we are teaching them once again. They had been faithfully reading the Book of Mormon for the past year, and they watched all of general conference this weekend. I love this family and I'm excited to help them to continue growing.

I love things here in Brazil. It really doesn't get better than this. I am thankful for my mission and all of the miracles that I have seen. I love you all.

Love
Elder Perry

WEEK 85: Life in Genibaú

Hellooooo!! We had a great week down here in the great city of Fortaleza. I am so happy to be back here, and to continue my missionary service. I know this last leg of my mission will not be easy, but I know it will be so rewarding.

Today is the first day it hasn't rained since I arrived but it's still really hot every day and all night. We still eat beans and rice every day and this week I ate cow liver, which was actually really good. We live right across the street from a bunch of roosters. Right now the sun rises here at 5:30 AM so the roosters crow really early and for a long time, especially when they're up on the roof of the house where they live. They seem to really like it up there.

The work here in Genibaú is going as strong as ever. The whole city is currently in a 'lockdown' until April 5th, but I don't think there's a single soul in this neighborhood that knows about it. We are living right on the outskirts of some pretty awesome favelas, and once you're inside the favela, anything goes. We have made an effort to stay inside, but we had to leave to deliver copies of the Book of Mormon to people and to briefly contact some people we are teaching who don't have phones. Something really cool is that our chapel is right in the middle of one of the favelas. There are large concrete housing structures, garbage, street dogs, and tons of people all around, and the well kept, pristine looking chapel in the middle. It really is a holy place and those who are willing to come in are purified by it.

We had a cool miracle this week - the baptism of our friend Talison. He was introduced to us this week by one of his friends in the church, Carlos. Both Talison and Carlos are 10 years old and are part of a strong group of primary aged kids who live around the chapel, who have been strong. We were excited to meet him, and help him take this important first step in his life. He already has a strong testimony, so we are excited to see his progress down the road. There should be more to come in the next couple weeks!

Other than that, we have stayed pretty busy contacting people, receiving lunch from the members of both wards, and teaching. And although teaching over the phone is not nearly as effective as in-person teaching, we are able to help people feel the spirit. We hope that things improve as far as the lockdown goes, but in the meantime, we will continue to use the great technology and tools we have been granted to move the work along.

I love it here, and I am excited to see what the next 4 months has in store for me and the people here. I know it will change lives. Love you all!!

Love,
Elder Perry