Lt. Perilla Snow, an active-duty soldier, said she doesn’t have a permanent address.

”I just go where the military sends me,” the 31-year-old said. ”I’m between posts right now.”

But Thursday, Perilla flew to Central Oregon for the first time to visit what she jokingly called her ”winter home,” the house of Bend resident Pat Snow, her pen pal.

The two, who are not related, began exchanging e-mails regularly in January, when Perilla was a sergeant embedded with an Army Reserve unit in Mosul, Iraq. Although Perilla returned to the United States in April to earn her lieutenant bars, she met Pat for the first time Thursday.

”I’m so glad to see her in person,” Perilla said. ”It’s mind-blowing.”

And for the first time, Pat and Perilla looked over photographs together and traded stories about their lives and their families in person.

After nine months of correspondence, Pat said, her ”family” now includes Perilla.

”I feel like she’s an extra daughter or granddaughter,” Pat said.

On her porch, Pat has a collection of painted rocks, one for each child and grandchild. One rock stands for an exchange student. A few represent friends.

And one rock, adorned with the stars and stripes, bears Perilla’s name.

Pat said her family has always had ties to the military, and six of her seven brothers served in the Army. She contributes to Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the yellow bracelet on her wrist reads ”Support Our Troops.”

When the war in Iraq began, she contributed items to Caring For Troops, a local organization that sends care packages to soldiers overseas.

But she didn’t get in touch with Perilla until she read about an organization called Soldiers’ Angels in The Bulletin. The organization allows volunteers to send letters and packages to a specific service member.

When Pat called, a person with Soldier’s Angels read aloud a list of potential matches.

Struck by the shared initials and last name, Pat chose Perilla and sent off her first e-mail.

Perilla said one of her fellow soldiers probably added her name to the list for Soldiers’ Angels. A native of India, Perilla immigrated in 1995 and joined the military seven months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

”All my unit knew I didn’t have family here (in the U.S.),” she said. ”Pat provided that connection to the States.”

Pat periodically sent along toiletries, postcards of Bend, copies of ”Reader’s Digest” and candy. Pat said she also enclosed newspaper clippings she thought Perilla might find interesting and photographs of her family.

”She’s spending money out of her own pocket, her own time – that means a lot,” Perilla said. ”All this stuff she does, it does matter.”

At one point, Pat provided much-needed encouragement when Perilla was thinking about becoming an officer.

”I remember getting an e-mail from her – I was at this crossroads,” Perilla said.

Now, Perilla plans on a career in the Army and said she can’t imagine going back to civilian life.

”Soldiers are great people. They’re smart. They could make a lot of money outside, and here they are rolling around in the dirt with me,” she said. ”That’s the thing about the military. Not a day goes by when you don’t learn something new.”

Perilla said it’s likely she’ll be redeployed to Iraq once she goes through more training and settles in as a quartermaster, providing gear and supplies, for the Third Infantry Division based out of Fort Benning, Ga.

But she managed to find just enough time to squeeze in a trip to meet Pat.

”I’ve been meaning to see her for the longest time,” Perilla said. ”I wanted to come here and personally thank Pat.”

She might not be the only one.

Pat said she has begun writing to seven other service members since she started her correspondence with Perilla. Soldiers’ Angels provided more names.

”I got to thinking, why should I just have Perilla?” Pat said. ”I had more time.”

”We’re like stray dogs running around, and Pat comes and adopts us all,” Perilla said. ”To everybody else, she’s really ordinary. She’s not ordinary.”

For information about Soldiers’ Angels, call 615-676-0239 or go to www.soldiersangels.org.