Letter of the Week (Porter's 19th Birthday - Week 41)

This week started out so good. We went to a super fancy livin Squidward style restaurant, and ate sushi. I gobbled down so much sushi my tiny little stomach was just so confused on whether to be happy or sad. Poor dude hahah.

This week I saw one of the strangest sights I've yet seen here in the lovely land of Brasil. I was walking down the street and my comp just goes "dude what the freak is that” and points inside a church and to my complete and utter surprise I saw a lady with a freaking JELLYFISH NET collecting tithing from everyone in the crowd literally just like Sponge Bob scoops up jellies in the fields in the outer reaches of Bikini Bottom. Unexplainable.

Thursday (Porter’s 19th Birthday) was one of the best days I've had in so long. After I talked to my family for a quick sec, which was quite lovely, we ran up to Ivo and Marly's house and had a super rad lesson with them. Earlier in the day Marly sent us a message asking us if there was some way the Church would be able to help them buy a little bit of food because they're having a few problems right now. We started teaching them and they opened up to us about how they came here to Rondonopolis to find work and they aren't finding anything and it has been super hard. Ivo told me one of the most touching stories I've heard. He said that a man showed up at their gate today and asked them if they had any food that he could eat. Ivo told him no, which was honest. The dude then looked at him and was like could you just spare 1 dollar for me dude, I'm being sincere I'm really hungry. Ivo remembered the last $5 that he had in his wallet, and with much difficulty pulled it out and gave it to the dude. Ivo told us he was saving that $5 to buy cigarettes. The dude at the gate, all emotional now, told him that he promises God will double his money because he decided to be kind. With tears in my eyes, in that exact moment, I remembered the $10 that I had in my wallet. I slipped my wallet out of my back pocket and snuck the note out calling as little attention as I could, and at the end of the lesson I asked if I could leave a part in the Book of Mormon with them. I used the $10 to mark Alma 7:11,12,13 and then we left. In this moment, leaving the house of someone who, in a state of such need, decided to give to someone else, I was incredibly touched, and full of the love Heavenly Father has for His children, and I heard a thought in my mind, whose English words spoke “I love you son” louder than I've ever heard any English phrase in my life, nor has any English ever stood out from the millions of other Portuguese vocabulary words more than this. In that moment I felt the pure love that a Father has for a son, and I have never felt it so concentrated in my life. I know, without the smallest sprinkle of doubt, that there is a Person greater than we are, watching over everything, and that His perfect and infinite love extends to everyone. I struggle to express the love that I feel that He has for every person on this freaking planet... it literally confuses me. But I promise you this, reader, that if you pray with a sincere desire to feel of this love, you WILL feel it, and it will change your life.

There were a ton of changes in the Zone this week. 10 out of 20 missionaries are leaving this area hahah, including Elder Lara and Moraes, the fools that lived with us. I'm gonna miss those goons. Elder Moraes always convinced us to stay up late playing Dungeons and Dragons with him and I may or may not feel some fault in that haha. Also I got the call that I'm gonna be District Leader. Time to put on my big boy pants and start being more serious about everything.... NOT hahah were gonna have such a hoot. I'm stoked for this next transfer.

This week was quite lovely, all thanks to my lovely mother and family and all you folks who made my Bday so great!

I burned my big toes playing futball on hot cement. It was a bore to walk this week.

The raddest weekly planner you've ever seen.