The Perpetual Education Fund was the springboard to help me reach my professional success. Using the PEF I was able to go to college for two years and study marketing administration. At the university, I not only learned marketing but also how to act as a professional and as a better citizen. I grew as a human being.

Before starting to use the PEF I had no job, nor any professional experience to help me get a good job. I had just moved from my birthplace, Sao Paulo, to be near my mother and sisters in Manaus on the Amazon. My father passed away a few months before, and I was left with absolutely no conditions to begin studying at the university. At that time the director of the institute in my city, who is also my stake president, counseled me to sign up for the PEF. I accepted.

After only two months of studying at the university, I got my first job working at the only five-star hotel in the region, where I would earn good money for an entrance-level employee and also have a chance to practice my English and other languages, make important contacts and have a great reference for my resumé. After working for a few months, I was promoted to the marketing department (my area of study). Never since I began working at the hotel have I had to work on Sundays, which is usually required at hotels for every job in every department. The blessings I received while working at the hotel unquestionably came from Father in Heaven. I had unbelievable experiences.

After working for nine months at the hotel, I was offered a job working for the largest bank in Brazil. Not only did I earn a larger salary, I received many benefits unavailable at the first job. After working one year and five months, I have been promoted. I am earning almost double what I earned before, and I can help my family, support myself, and have a car — things that I could never have imagined achieving in such a short time.

I am immensely grateful to my Father in Heaven for this program and for the many blessings it has brought me. I know when we follow the counsel of our leaders and work hard, the Lord is ready to help and bless us more than we can even imagine. With my new knowledge, I hope to be able to help others have the wonderful opportunity I have had. The PEF is an inspired program — I have no doubt about that. I am a living testimony of it. I also know that repaying the money I have used for my growth is essential for this program to bless other members of the Church.

— Francini Presenca, Jardim das Vertentes Ward, Sao Paulo Brazil Stake