WEEK 58: Settled In

We had an outstanding week here in the area! We have a couple of changes that have come as a result of transfers and thanks to the work we have accomplished. I was assigned to be our new district leader at the beginning of this week. Our district is actually super small - only us 5 Portuguese Elders and one companionship of sisters - so 7 in total. We are all really close though, so I look forward to serving them and helping our district to grow closer over the coming weeks. The vacant spots in the apartment were filled by Elder Kirkpatrick and Elder Draper. Elder Draper was actually the former AP of the mission, and is on his last transfer, and Elder KP has been out about as long as I have. We have a great group and I'm excited for this transfer. 

Things have actually started to cool down quite a bit this last week. With the hurricanes down south, we have been getting a fair amount of rain as well. Kind of a dramatic shift for just one week, but it's a welcomed change from the normal sticky heat. We got a virtual tour of Kirtland Ohio as well. We received a call from some sister missionaries there who were in need of Portuguese translators for their tour. The Brazilians never actually arrived for the tour, so we were able to watch the tour ourselves. It was a super interesting experience - missionary work has changed so much with the virus and it is awesome to see the adaptations people are making. 

We had another church meeting yesterday (Sunday). We had a really great turnout and had a very spiritual experience. We had 2 investigators come with us! Mary and a new woman named Maria. They both had a great time and really felt the spirit. We have talked to Mary quite a bit about baptism lately, and we think it will be in the near future. We have received some instrumental assistance from the members in her conversion. Such a cool process to be a part of. 

Other than that, there is not much more going on around here. We are continuing to work hard and help the people in this area. Service and English classes have been awesome and I look forward to the service that I will be able to accomplish here. 

D&C 18:10-16. 

I love you all, and I love the work. And I love the packages -- thank you Willams Family!!!

Love,

Elder Perry

WEEK 57: Transfers

Another week in Marietta! We had an exceptional week of missionary work here in Georgia. Elder Stearman and I have been grinding and seeing so many blessings because of it! We received our news on transfers late this afternoon! Super crazy because there was some kind of glitch in the software they were using, so we received the news super late. But nothing much is changing! Elder Stearman and I are STAYING in the Portuguese branch for one more transfer. I am so excited to be working here with Stearman for the next 6 weeks. Our district leader, Elder Whiting, will be leaving our apartment and two new Elders will be coming to be in a trio with Elder Hatch. We also said goodbye to Elder Whitney this week! He will be greatly missed here in this area. Always tough to have changes to the house and the area, but we keep moving on!

We had several service projects this week as well! We helped out at the pantry which was super fun! We get to practice speaking a little bit of Español there as well! And we hosted a free lemonade stand at a local park! We got to meet a ton of cool families that were leaving from a lacrosse game. That was a fun way to connect a little bit with the community and bring some light into people's lives. We helped a family move on Sunday as well! They are super awesome and interested in attending church with us. We are really seeing so many blessings come to us as a result of the service opportunities that we have found in this area. Whether we can immediately see the results or not, God is pouring blessings upon us. 

We also got to see Mary yesterday! She had a great weekend in Florida with the family from our branch. She was able to learn a lot and feel the spirit with them. We taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and talked to her a little about baptism. She is a little nervous about it, and still thinking about her answer, but we are confident that through her faith, the spirit will touch her and help her to accept our invitation. 

We also had zone conference over zoom this week! It was cool to see everyone and get motivated to work. We were encouraged to study John 13 to prepare -- a super fire chapter if you need some study suggestions. Always important to show our love for those we are serving. 

Love, Elder Perry

WEEK 56: (Slow) Moving!

Hanging out in a tree stump

Another week has come and gone here in Marietta. We were able to accomplish quite a bit this week, even though it seemed to move a little slow at times. And we helped another family move. Good times of hard work!

We were able to do some yard work for a local member named Wendy. We met Wendy at the beginning of last transfer, and we have been able to help her do manual labor several times since then. She has a huge backyard full of ducks, chickens, some deer at times, and a large dog. We have grown very close to her and her husband, Oze through our service. We were actually able to film their conversion stories this week as well - so stay tuned for a video on that. We have loved helping them out. 

It was also Elder Hatch's birthday this weekend. He is with the other companionship living in our house, but it was fun to celebrate all of the wonderful things he's accomplished in 21 years of life. It made my head spin a little when I realized it was already September. Time has moved so quickly ever since I landed here in Georgia. I am so excited to see what the next year holds for me here. 

We were not able to meet at all with our best investigator - Mary - this week. But we also weren't sad about that, because she was on vacation with a member family of the branch!!! Mary has been getting super close to the church members here, and it has been great to see her grow and learn. We hope to meet up with her this coming week, but we have personally learned so much about the importance of members in missionary work. The members are really the ones that get people moving, and help to "love them into the church." Our experience with Mary has touched my heart. 

This past week, I've reflected quite a bit on service. Service has been our main channel by which we do missionary work these days. And even in the moments of stress and exhaustion, it's important to remember that we are serving the Lord. "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." While we were at Wendy's house, I had an actual, physical shed on top of my back as we moved it. Under the crushing weight, I remembered that I was moving that shed for God. That we were at Wendy's house for God. And that I was in Georgia to serve God. This perspective is one that I would like to be a defining theme for the rest of my mission, and even my life. Always look to serve, and to love, because you're serving God. 

I love you all! Have a great week and go out and serve!

Elder Perry

WEEK 55: Moving!

Well, we're not moving anywhere but we did help two families move this week! 

We had another exceptional week here in the Clear Springs Portuguese Branch. Elder Stearman and I have continued to move the work along the best way we know how. It has been really fun working with him, and seeing the miracles happen in this area. 

We had the opportunity to do plenty of service this week. We helped two families move and did some other service projects along the way. The moves were both very physically demanding. We were responsible for all of the heavy furniture, which is no easy task. But losing yourself in the service is a great way to forget about the sore biceps. We were so grateful that we could help these families move at important times in their lives. The service aspect of missionary work now has been fun and rewarding. And on returning home with sore arms, I was greeted at our door by a package from the Bodens! Thank you so much for the snacks. They made my week!

We found some new people to teach this week, but most significantly, we have been in close contact with our friend Mary! Mary has been progressing so well, and we hope to help her take the necessary steps towards baptism in the next couple of weeks. Although the work does not move at the same pace as Brazil, it has been very exciting to see the many miracles for people here in the states. 

We have also been working quite a bit with the priest-aged young men in the ward, getting them all excited to go out on missions. We were able to have lunch with Pedro this week. He is a great kid, and we got to talk a lot about soccer. I have loved getting to know the youth of this branch. 

The only other highlight was a video that Elder Stearman and I made. Through some pretty difficult layout structuring, and making sure nothing was copyrighted, we created our masterpiece. The premise is "God's purpose is our happiness." It was a super powerful experience to feel God's inspiration in the making of the video. Go check it out on my Facebook page if you have a chance! 

I love this work and I love the Lord. Thank you all for the love and support that you've extended me since I departed again on my mission. I love you all. 

Love,
Elder Perry

WEEK 54: Cancelled

Serving at the Food Pantry

It was a pretty slow week this week. The title of today's blog entry describes it all. That was the result of most lessons we had planned for this week - cancelled. But we were able to still have some really awesome service experiences, and meet with some great people.

One highlight this week was serving at a food pantry here in town. Mama T is one the most involved volunteers there, so she invited us to come help out. We spent all of Thursday morning helping. I checked people's temperatures as they came in, and then they could go around and pick out whatever groceries they needed for the day. An overwhelming majority of the individuals coming to the food pantry spoke Spanish, so we got to practice some of our Español! That was a super cool and rewarding experience for us! We are planning on going back again and helping this week.

The teaching and finding was a little slow this week. We weren't exactly sure why, but we didn't get a lot of responses to messages. But we worked as hard as we could, trying different techniques and things, and we were able to make it work. The best lesson we had this week was on Sunday, when a member invited us over to have lunch with one of our investigators, Mary. They prepared some awesome food, and we prepared a restoration lesson. We had a really great time together, and we are so excited to see Mary continue to progress. 

I have been able to learn so much since I got here. I have had so many fun and spiritual experiences in Georgia. We were able to go visit the Braves baseball stadium when we were down near that part of Atlanta. It has been raining a ton the past few days as well, even though it is always hot and humid. I feel like I'm back in Brazil! 

That was about it for this week. We have continued to find people by offering free English classes, and we have been working really well with the members. One last spiritual message for y'all today: 

2 Timothy 1:7-9

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

We are here to feel peace and joy and love through Christ. I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Love Elder Perry

WEEK 53: Soccer Night and Church Services!!

Finally Back to Church!

This was a really awesome week for us in the Clear Springs Portuguese Branch! We were able to work really hard this week and we finally got to see some of the fruits of our labors.

We had our first church meeting this last Sunday! We were so excited to get back to church. All of us in the branch haven't gone to a church meeting in over 5 months! That was so awesome. We had an interesting sacrament meeting, got to hear some people speak, and got to know all of the members of the branch. Great times. We were actually able to bring 2 investigators with us to church! They both had a super spiritual experience at the meeting, and we are looking forward to helping them to progress this next week! One of them is Mary! This super nice older lady who made us jars of homemade strawberry jam. Yummmmm. I also got to hop on an online church service from the Itapipoca Branch back in my last area in Brazil. It was so great to see everyone again and make those connections! 

We were also able to plan and host a soccer night at a local soccer field. It took a ton of online fliers and text messages, but we were actually able to get a good showing from the local Brazilian community. We had probably close to 30 people show up to play soccer with us. We were able to meet some really nice dudes and we got some of their phone numbers to talk to them. We plan on holding another soccer night this week which should be awesome. 

I also had the pleasure of meeting Sister Haymore - Brother Dick Moffat's sister! She lives in the ward that meets in our same building. She made us some great chocolate chip cookies and visited us for a little while. Definitely a highlight of the week. 

Other than that, we have just been working hard and getting things done here in this area. We have been having a great time, and have been seeing the miracles of everything. There are difficult times, but we are continuing forward. 

Love you all!

Love Elder Perry

Big Dinner 

Going to Church with Friends

The Missionaries Love Sister Haymore 

Soccer Night

WEEK 52: Becoming Southern

Elder and Sisters currently assigned to the Clear Springs Portuguese Branch

Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing amazing!! We had another really great week here in the Clear Springs Portuguese Branch. We have been able to have some really cool experiences with our investigators and members and do some service as well. 

These couple of weeks are pretty significant for Elder Stearman and myself because a few days ago (Aug 7th) he hit his one year mark, and in a couple of days (Aug 14th) I will hit mine. Needless to say, we will do a bit of celebrating. But this has been a really great opportunity to reflect on the experiences that I have had this past year. I never would have guessed how far this journey would have taken me, and how much I would grow spiritually. I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to devote myself fully to the Lord, and work full time in the field, gathering Israel.

We are expanding our teaching pool yet again. We had a ton of success offering English classes to Brazilians. We now have a solid teaching group that we have been working with. We are so blessed to be having a church meeting with the branch THIS SUNDAY! So we are working hard to get our investigators to come and feel the spirit with us. We are so pumped to finally go back to church. But the work progresses. Finding and teaching is never impossible, and the rewards and blessings of the work are immeasurable. 

A highlight this week was a massive meal with Mama T. She had bought a 16 pound brisket for us, and had been letting it smoke for over 24 hours. When it was finally done, we ate the brisket inside of a corn bread bowl, topped with Mac and Cheese. I don't mean to be dramatic or anything, but that meal definitely touched a part of my soul. So good. I feel myself become a little more southern every meal like that I have. I love to be immersed in the culture of the people down here because there are so many similarities to life back in Utah, but also so many differences. I have loved serving these people. 

On one of our slower days, I was fortunate to receive a nice package from the Thompson family -- shoutout to them for all the snacks and everything. Thank you so much for sending that my way!! Y'all are the best. 

That about sums it up for this week. Lots of hard yard work in the Georgia sun, and lots of fun lessons with Brazilians. Continue strong! I love you all and I love the Lord. 

Love,

Elder Perry