Feeling The Responsibility of Being A Senior Companion

I was so happy to hear about Karla's Baptism (She was a high school friend of Lauren's)!!! I am so happy that you and dad were able to go. I wish so bad I could have been there, but I’m so happy that you were able to make it!

Thank you so much for your emails everyone. I wish I had time to respond individually to everything you've told me. Know that I’ve read all of them and I love you all very much and am so grateful for your support!

CALEB is so-o-o-o-o-o fired! (He just received his mission call to Johannesburg, South Africa). I am the one that was praying to serve a mission in Africa! La-a-a-ame, Ha-ha-ha...no. We get African heat here... and we have the same blessing of being able to share the gospel with our brothers and sisters so... I am MORE than happy serving here.

This week has been incredible. Ha, I started out extremely depressed. Not feeling like I was doing a great job with the area and feeling incredibly inadequate as a senior companion. The Lord does lift us and carry us through our weak moments. Through his help we had incredible success this week. I can honestly say that where it not for divine help the miracles that occurred this week would not have happened. It is when we rely on the Lord and rely on his guidance that we receive the most success.

P. Jr. is getting baptized on the 18th. His family is really struggling with getting active again. His mom is the one really making the effort to get the family active. They were at church again last Sunday!!! They stayed for 2 meetings this time which was such a happy thing! We are hoping and praying they keep coming.

Jesus was at sacrament meeting too!!! That was pretty much a miracle. Ha! He says to us as he goes in, "Don't get your hopes up, this isn't going to keep happening." He came to hear the testimony of his father. We were thrilled none the less.

We have three new investigators which were other miracles of last week. One investigator is such a sweet humble woman. Her husband/boyfriend's family is less active, but they are trying to become more active again. She was raised Catholic, but she is kind of resentful for being forced to go to church for so long. She has come to church and likes it, but she hasn't really wanted to get involved. Oh man, their family is awesome. Remind me next week and I’ll give you some more detail about them.

Sister O'brien and I are doing VERY well together. We work out regularly and are learning a lot from each other.

We have had some GORGEOUS lightning storms that have given us some relief from the crazy heat. We don't have a working air conditioner in the house. We aren't in it for long so it doesn't really matter, but those few days where we had some sprinkling were amazing. Lightning is awesome!

I am so incredibly grateful for the blessing it is to serve as the Lord's missionary here in El Paso. I love the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met. There is no greater work than strengthening others and helping them understand God's love for them.

Keep on being amazing! I pray for all of you back home daily. Thank you for your support.

Love,

Hermana Perez