11 Months DOWN! (Week 48) — Called to Serve in Cuiaba

Sup dudes. So for reals, this week was just not cool at all. It was the most average week ever hahah. Elder Soares got sick, got a nice case of the little boy flu, so we had to go to the freaking hospital which I freaking HATE here. Hospitals are the worst here. We get there and they sent us to a different hospital to get an X-ray of Soares' chest, and while he was doin all that jazz I fell asleep in the check in room with my heck cocked back and my mouth just gaping open haha. When I woke up like an hour later I realized it was just me, and the 5 check-in desk ladies were all just looking at me because I was the only other person in the place haha. I was a tiny bit embarrassed. I sure hope I didn't snore.

But since Soares got sick we would leave after lunch to work and like 30 minutes would pass then he'd magically feel the most violent wave of flu you've ever witnessed in your life haha so we passed 3 days at home. It was pretty rough actually I hate sitting around it sucks. I got some good studies in but like reading gets kind of old. One day I was so tired I laid down on the tile floor with the intent to sleep for 10 minutes and woke up 2.5 hours later and I swear to you the back of my noggin was flat hahaha literally flat dude.

Something that I realized this week is that it's okay to have like super duper lame weeks in life, and in specific in the mission. We should always be striving to make every day super rad and do our best to be optimistic, but like we shouldn't get all butt hurt if a day or week just turns out kind of lame. Just gotta pick yourself up and keep going to the next week. Actually a super special quote that I read this week from a super great, unnamed cousin of mine goes like this. "In prison they tell you to not drop the soap, but to you I say don't drop the hope.” So that's about as clear as day my friends, don't ever drop the hope. Even when the soap and everything else in the week has been nothing but a huge bummer. hahahahha

So Wellington and Vanessa are doing super good this week. Actually being stuck in the house a little bit this week turned out to be a bigger blessing than I had realized until now because it gave me a lot of time to read in this super cool book called the Book of Mormon. Chances are you've already heard of it, but if not it's rad, the story is pretty cool if you read from the beginning. We decided to just start from 0 with Wellington and Vanessa and teach them about the Book of Mormon and the importance it has. I really feel like people don't understand truly how rad this book is, and that's why they don't read it. Sadly until this week I hadn't truly realized how freaking bad a this book is. As I read the introduction, the last paragraph talks about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon, or in other words having a confirmation from God that this book is super awesome. It talked about how, by knowing that this book is super awesome, or in other words having a testimony of its truthfulness, we will also come to know Jesus Christ is our Savior. That was just so insanely and simply profound to me. I realized that as I read this book I truly feel as if I have someone who knows exactly what I'm feeling. Who came to earth literally just to feel my pains to be able to help me out. In other words all that jazz means that this dude who came to earth, Jesus Christ, is my Savior. And that means if I have a Savior, I am saved... but saved from what? Through every time we make a mistake, doing better the next time, we show Jesus that we don't wanna do that stuff anymore, we ask Him to forgive us for doing that, and, because he already suffered for that stuff He has the power to take the pain from us. So what He has saved us from is feeling all the pain of every mistake we've ever made, forever. I've made some hefty mistakes in my life, and I could count about 3 mistakes that, if I didn't have a Savior to take these pains, would probably melt my brain and I would die from spiritual distress and pain. Dudes, I can't explain how important the Book of Mormon is. I know I'm a full time missionary and I know I do this work every day and I know you can think of 10,000 excuses why it's easier for me to find time out here to read the Book of Mormon than you, but no one is forcing me to do any of this. No one is forcing me to wake up at 6:30am or study at 8:00am or go teach people all afternoon. I choose to spend my time in this manner. I promise each one of you that if you choose to take a teeny tiny quantity of minutes every week, and then work toward every day, you will find purpose in this life, you will feel that Jesus Christ isn't just a dude, but that He is THE dude, and that He lives and loves you more than your freaking brain will ever understand. I beg you to just read a tiny bit of this book because it will change your life. It was no easier for me, than it is for you, to just pick it up and give it a read, and I promise you that nothing has changed my life more than this book. I love my Savior and I feel His love for every single one of you. He will give you this same feeling.

I don't have many pictures from this week. I got a haircut tho. Didn't take pictures of it tho.

Love, Elder Porter

p.s. Sorry I just realized this email is the same size as a children's short story haha.