Hello week something email something email yes (Week 32 - 8 months!)

So this week was super duper tough for me. This week was super duper hot and on Friday afternoon it was like 105 degrees and we were walking to lunch and I got so much freaking sweat in my eyes and was trying to wipe it out with my shirt and wasn't looking where I was walking and I stepped off the curb and rolled my ankle super bad hahaah like it was the wimpiest thing ever and Elder Thompson just laughed soo hard at me. I felt so stupid and just tried walking it off but after we ate lunch it just freaking swelled up SO bad bahahah and I was super nervous it might be broken so we went to the doc and I was saying a ton of prayers while the doctor was looking at the X-rays and when he came back in the room I was sooo relieved when he said April Fools day suckers hahahaha. Got ya!

But if I were actually being real this week was pretty hot hahah. We worked like some pack mules teaching some lost sheep of the Lord and it was a super satisfying week. On Friday I started a little Fast to know how we can help José. I really was just having a super hard time with him because every time I just am so over his crap the Spirit is like "dude just hold on a little longer” so I always just keep the trust. After I started the Fast we went and visited him and I felt like I needed to just ask him "alright you old fart what are you really feeling about the Church and our visits and all this goodness because we really love you and are here to help you and will do whatever you are needed” and he kind of just looked back at me and was like "dude to be honest with you like i just don't really feel like I wanna change my life right now like I'm just gonna keep waiting for God to come and pull me out of the sadness I'm in", and the second before I started telling him the same old thing like "we need to act if we want blessings” the Spirit just came to me and was like “it's time to let him go, you planted a seed with him” and I like got all emotional and teary and it was super hard for me to actually cut him for real. Like I was kind of fighting with the Spirit and just talking and telling Him I'd do whatever it takes to help José and then I just had the feeling like it would be all okay if i just trusted in the promptings I was getting so we ended up cutting José loose. It actually like kind of made me pretty bummed. I was thinking about the moment after and I was like, today I started a Fast thinking about our grump-ball José and what we could do to help him, and the complete opposite thing of what I thought would happen happened. It kind of just showed us that it's not up to us to decide God's timing for people and I have no ounce of doubt in my body that one day José will come around again. It's just sometimes hard to accept God's will sometimes but something I've learned is that it always ends up alright if we do so, even when we don't know why we have to do so. Never thought I'd miss someone complaining so much hahah but I do.

On Thursday night we had a super epic family night with Tiago and Vanderline's family and Vanderline's child who likes to cuss and Tiago's little wingnut of a child just loved each other I've never seen 2 groms bond so quickly. But we talked about Eternal Families and it was a bummer that Tiago's wife was working so we weren't able to have her there but during the Family Night the Spirit was just pile driving Tiago and I could tell he really was realizing how real these things are. That he can actually have his family forever, which is actually so rad. I don’t know if you guys have ever really stopped to think about that because every Mormon talks about eternal marriage is the goal and all that cheese, shoot sorry... I meant every member of the Church of Jesus Christ, not Mormon hahah I don't even know what Mormons are... but really it is something so profound. No matter what happens on this earth, if we lose a mother or a loved one we literally will see them again. Like how we saw them before they passed away. We'll be able to touch their hair and hug them and help them put socks on or something random like that. Like these things are real. These things are true. Watching other people become truly converted to these things is really converting me. It's helping me think deeper and realize the simple beauty in the Church of Jesus Christ. I love this gospel so much and I know that God loved us so much He gave us a way to have eternal happiness. Freaking happiness FOREVER with those we love… we must just think about that for a second. It's incredible. 

So I like really didn't wanna share this with you guys but I feel like I should so were just going peanuts to the wall again haha. Recently I've been having some really profound doubts and difficulties that run through my head that have made it really hard to continue every day being a missionary. The thing that has gotten me through every difficult moment is, and I'm not even kidding, a simple testimony. A simple knowledge that my Heavenly Father loves me, that Jesus loves me and knows what I'm feeling, and that His Church is restored here on this earth. I cannot explain to you guys the gravity and the relativity that this simple testimony had in keeping me on the right path. As I passed through some of the most profound difficulties in my life over the last 2 months the thing that kept me going was a simple testimony. It wasn't knowing every freaking scripture reference and using big cool words to talk about the gospel that got me up every day, it was the simple testimony I have about the true love that my Heavenly Father and My Beloved Brother have for me. I know that They love you, you, you, you, you with everything that I have. I know the love that They have for you is infinite, that it is perfect, that it is deeper than anything you've ever felt. I challenge you to gain a true and lasting simple testimony, and continue to fortify and strengthen it every day through talking to God. A simple testimony really is the hidden gem that everyone looks over. I am a living testimony that the simplicity is what's up. This week when you listen to General Conference I want you to focus on the Apostles' and the Prophet's testimonies, and notice the simplicity of their words.

I don't know how to end this email so I'm gonna end it now. 

Elder Tom Tom didn't like his study chair so he upgraded to a plastic supermarket chair, but we had to walk 30 minutes back home with the chair. Here is a photo haha.

After we told José we won't be visiting him anymore I wanted a picture so we went back and I got a picture.

Service!

Weekly eekly (Week 31)

How are you guys. I got a package from my mom and it had Mac and Cheese in it and I was so happy to eat Mac and Cheese. It was even the spiral kind. (:

This week was a lot of HARD work and I am freaking as tired as Gary the Snail after the snail race when Sponge Bob like works him way too hard. I feel like Gary. But really things are going so freaking well here for me and Elder Thompson. We are seeing the fruits of our hard work and it is really paying off. We'll start off by talking about Marcello and Cristine...

So a good while ago we were walking down the street and Marcello and Cristine were walking down the street and we were on the other side walking the opposite way and the Spirit was like "go chat those dudes up” and I was like "but dude I'm scared” and after this little conversation they had already passed us but I was just like dang it and ran to the other side of the street and was like "uhhhhhh can I get your address?” and then they were like "sure we live here". So a couple days later we returned to here and found them at home and taught them a little. They have been liking our messages and Marcello is really really smart. He's been reading a ton in the Book of Mormon and really been diggin it. On Saturday we had a nice Spirit filled lesson with them and then I was like "so who's ready to go to church tomorrow” and Cristine was like "oh we don't have enough money to get an Uber there, and then I was like no problem lady we'll have a member pass by and grab you guys and she was like “listen Elder, I appreciate your efforts but were just gonna wait til we get our next check because I hate going to new churches and if there's something that I don't like in your church I'm not about to wait until its over to leave” hahah and I was like what the freak... then I looked at her right in the face and was like "alright here's what were gonna do. A member is gonna come to your house at 8:30am and you are gonna go to church. But let's say you just absolutely hate it, have no desire to stay and never want to return, I will pay for your Uber to leave and you won't have to worry about a thing.” haahah then Marcello was like "Ooooo he's got you now” and then she just looked at him with the "shut the cuss up” face and was like fine well go hahah. So they ended up going and Marcello absolutely loved it so incredibly much. He was like givin some nice input in the lessons and it was so rad. Cristine said that she thought it was very different and that she liked it but she still doesn't believe that there's a prophet alive today hahah but at least they liked it. We've been really working with them and clearing up their doubts and it's gonna work out perfecto in the end. Sometimes you just gotta pay people to come to church to get the ball rollin. Maybe I'll start offering money more hahah.

So I really do love José but he literally complains about everything. It is actually impressive how good he is at complaining. I have never had my patience tried by another human being more on this earth. He complains about everything from the microphone not being loud enough to the grass in front of his house to the words being too small in the Hymn book to us showing up as soon as he's about to leave to why he can't drink coffee. But the thing that he complains about most is his freaking house. He hates his house and I love it because it's made of wood and every freaking building here is made of bricks haha. But we show up at his house on Saturday and I was like “what's up young man how are you doing” and he just looked at me and was like "the day I am able to leave this house I will be happy” hahah so I just looked at him and was like "it's your lucky day you old hag, tomorrow we have church at 9am so looks like your dream will come true tomorrow.  You'll finally get to leave” and he just looked at me and just started laughing and I was like yea that's right you old man keep laughin hahaha. We're really trying to get him to stop drinking coffee because he always complains about how he doesn't have enough knowledge to go to church and how he feels like he never retains anything in his brain so I'm always like "well bro you know that one of the promises of the Word of FREAKING Wisdom is that we'll have FREAKING wisdom right?! and he's just like "yea but my house is so old and made of wood so I have to drink my coffee because I'm old and don't have a car” or something like that, which just doesn't make sense. The Holy Ghost keeps telling us to go back, and even tho my patience is really being tested by this old goob, we're seeing progress. My future wife is really gonna be grateful for José one day hahaha. Patience.

So this week we ended up having 11 investigators in Sacrament meeting which was so so freaking good, and one of the people is Maria. I don't know if I already told you about her but she just is so unique. In the middle of Sacrament meeting, like the part when we take the Sacrament she stood up and grabbed some Hymn books and started to just explain in an outside voice how to read the Hymn book for her ancient parents that she brought to church. We had to like calm her down and tell her to use her inside voice hahah but in the end she just went and sat back down with her husband, who doesn't want to get married and is very clear about that with us. But we will get them married and they'll get baptized. There are some strange people in this world. haha

This mission has been really really good for me and has really been testing my faith and helping me gain a true love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lately I've been having a really hard time truly leaving myself completely behind and going to work. Like sometimes I wanna take a freakin nap or sleep in or go home early, but deep down I really just wanna go to work. It's been a real hard fight and Satan has really been getting on me and getting in my head and I felt like I should talk to President Granja about my problems so I did at Zone Conference. I was like listen man, this mission is so rad but I am really struggling to just leave all my little wants and problems behind and just become the raddest missionary. I really need some help. What he told me was so profound and honestly the last thing I was expecting which was kind of a huge wake up call to me. He just looks at me and was like "when was the last time you studied about Jesus Christ…” and I just thought about it for a sec and I was like it's been a minute dude…” and he just looked at me with the most sincere look on his face and was like "studying our Savior's life and studying his characteristics and trying to become like Him will cure your difficulties” and I was just shocked. It was so simple. He gave me some places to study and sent me on my way, and throughout the end of the week I dove into a study about my Savior. I can honestly say that I never thought it could be so simple. Never had I thought it would be so easy and so simple to gain such happiness and motivation in my life. I noticed that my testimony was stronger in the lessons, I was able to speak better and clear up doubts more easily. I was able to work without rest and be happy. It was simply because I studied about Jesus Christ. About how much He loves me, about how much He does for me, about how much He cares about me. I started to realize how real He truly is again and started to want to help others realize the same. I love my Savior so much and I know without a shadow of a doubt that as we study Him, as we get close to Him, and we do our best to know Him, He will come close to us, He will let us know who He truly is. I cannot express the immaculate love that this dude has for every single one of you, and every person here in Brasil, and I will work tirelessly to make that love known to all of you guys back home, and this people here in Brasil until He stops me. 

One super lovely scripture that I found is super lovely. So I will share it with y'all. It's Alma 7:11 and it talks about how Jesus would come to earth and suffer pains and afflictions and temptations of every freaking kind. The Savior of the world, who was actually perfect, experienced every type of temptation, and every type of affliction, and every type of pain. It didn't matter that he was perfect he still had pains and difficulties, and the old devil tempted Him more than any other man will ever be tempted in history. Sometimes we think God is punishing us with pains or afflictions or difficulties because we are sinners, but all these things are just part of life, and how we learn for ourselves. What is important is that there is Someone who knows what it feels like to feel the exact ish that you feel, don't be afraid to ask Him for help. 

Last note, Tiago won't be getting baptized this week because he couldn't get marriage all worked out... which sucked... but a bus that marries people for free is coming to town on the 6th of April so... baptism here we come baby hahahah. God provides a way for those who wanna do the right.

Last thing for real. I want to tell all my friends I love them so much. Special shoutout to Lukey White for getting his mission call and joining the squadrant on April 16. Love you bro.

Elder Porter

**Note from Mama Lynda. . . I got an email from one of Porter’s best friends yesterday - Elder Micah Brown, who is currently serving in the Missouri St. Louis mission.  Since he refers to Porter’s letter this week. . . I just had to include what he wrote. . . it is SUCH A SMALL WORLD. . . check this out. . . 

“Hi Lynda, So I'm chillin here with my best friend in the mission, my Zone Leader that I've been with for my whole mission, Elder Farley. He goes "dude my friend got 11 people to church on Sunday" and I was like oh dang that's sick.... wait.... my friend got 11 people to church too... where is your friend?" He goes “Brazil” I'm like "dude, same, who is your friend??" And he goes “Elder Thompson” I'm like "DUDE HOLY COW THAT IS MY BEST FRIEND ELDER ROSKELLEYS COMPANION!!!!!!" And he's like "DUDE NO WAY ELDER THOMPSON IS MY BEST FRIEND" hahahhaha, it's so cool, it's such a small world! Even though we are thousands of miles away from each other we are still so close! Love you Lynda! Here's a pic of Elder Farley and I.” -Elder Micah Brown

Isn’t that AMAZING?! I just love how the Lord keeps these sweet friends connected, who are serving together throughout the world. . . Brothers through and through!!

I made French toast

The reunion with the Fartinez

My mom sent me Mac and Cheese and I've never loved a noodle at this level.

Elder Brown & Elder Farley - Missouri St. Louis mission

Week something with email words (Week 30)

Hello people back in the United States I hope that you are happy and good and that the weather is warming you up and making your skin warm again haha. I really realized this week that my English is just level 46 retarded now so I really hope that these emails make sense because I read some of the things that I write in my journal and some of the things I say just don't make a lot of sense so we're just gonna send it YEWWWWWWW.

Alright so something that happened that just sucks is that Tiago found out it's a lot more expensive and takes way longer than he thought to get married so he won't be getting baptized this week. He was pretty flustered and so was I. It'll all work out how it should, but something I forgot to tell you guys last week that happened in Sacrament meeting with Tiago that was super funny is that this one lady in the ward got up and was giving a talk about how the Spirit affects our lives. Every time we go to Tiago's house he's always like "today I punched my punching bag for like 30 mins because I really was just wanting to punch someone today” ahah it's just the oddest thing, but this lady is giving her talk and I kid you not out of the blue she goes "you cannot feel the Spirit of God when you are wanting to punch someone” and I just looked at Tiago and he just started laughing so hard and then I just started to giggle hahah and then we both just started laughing so hard and I was just like "dude, God may or may not have just verbally slapped you in the face hahah” and then he was just like I think you might be right man” hahahaha!

So about José. Man I absolutely love the dude but he really is just old and doesn't have a lot of friends and so every time we show up he just complains about everything and like I really do love the dude but it is hard to just listen to an old guy rattle about the same problem over and over haha. Yesterday in church I was just chillin with him and we were talking and he was like "listen man this church is cool but I need way more time until I wanna be baptized” just out of the blue and I was like.... okay then hahaha. We wound up going to his house and chitty chatted with him a little bit and he was watching some good ol~soccer and so we watched like 20 minutes of soccer with him and then got him talking about soccer and then shared a message with him and he just like didn't complain at all it was such a miracle. We're getting toward the end of the lesson and I just go "so my man, why are you wanting to keep coming back to the church every Sunday, there has to be a difference you notice in your life” and then he just got so emotional and was like "listen I love the church and I love you guys and I really feel so loved by the people there in the church which is the best thing ever, but every time I go to the church I feel so incapable. I feel like I can't respond to any of the questions that are being asked and I feel like I'm just a deadweight to the church” and Thomspon and I just went full mom mode and were like "no dude you're so awesome you make everyone so happy” hahah you know all that cheesy goodness and he just wasn't havin it at all. In that moment I got a little prompteroonie from the Spirit and he was like "share this scripture with him” so I shared that scripture with him and it talked about how in the resurrection our bodies will be restored to its perfect state and then I bore my testimony about that and was like listen man, I know it's frustrating, but I know you like this church and I know that you feel loved here, and I also know that everything that you once had will be perfectly restored one day, but you can't let what you had in the past affect what you can have now, and we really feel and know that you are ready to get baptized and we really just wanna help you” and he got all emotional and thought for like 30 seconds and I just went into hyper speed prayer mode and launched up some quickies and was like help this dude just say yes, and then he responded and was like “I will really think about it” and so I was like SO THAT MEANS YES RIGHT?! and then he was like "yes I'll think about it” ahahah and so I freaking take that as a yes! Nothing that we would've been able to do in that lesson would've been accomplished without the Spirit's little promptings. The Spirit is essential folks and if you don't have Him in your life I promise you that the decision to get him back into your life will be one you will never regret. He's such a homie hahah!

I think the best unspiritually related thing that has happened to me out here in the mission happened this week. We left a lesson in this one neighborhood and I heard the song Sandstorm playing in one of the bars and looked over at the bar and there was just a dude dancing in the front of the bar and i just had to go meet this dude. We get over there and the dude stops dancing right when we show up so I went and talked to him and was like dude, will you dance again so I can film you haha and he didn't even say anything eh just launched into full dance mode and it was way to rad and then his homie came and started dancing and the urge to dance rushed into my Elder bones and so I handed my companion my camera and went and danced with these dudes and everyone was like yellin LET'S GO AMERICAN or like I FREAKING LOVE MORMONS or just a bunch of random stuff and then like 4 dudes came and stopped me and just like shook my hand and wanted to meet me and there were like 30 drunk people surrounding me and it was just the most incredibly interesting and exhilarating thing I've experienced in my few short months out here hahah.

Just to end things on a tender note... these last few weeks have been a tiny bit tough out here. I was having a ton of doubts and thoughts that were really challenging my testimony and it was making it really really hard for me to preach the gospel. I was being really put down by everything and I turned to some major prayer and studying to try to figure out how to ditch these doubts. This week we encountered a family super duper rad, but they really have so many questions and need things explained very clearly for them. On Saturday we had a lesson with them and they were just railing us with questions and somehow I just knew the answers to so many gnarly questions they were asking us. I felt the Spirit strengthening everything I was saying and as I was teaching I realized that a ton of the doubts and super tough things I was thinking really lead me to the studies and teachings that I needed to help these people out. It was incredibly humbling to me to see how the difficulties that were truly putting me way way down turned out so helpful. These doubts were in the end such a great blessing to me and my testimony, while in the moment seemed like the exact opposite of something a missionary should ever have. I know that God gives us weekness and doubts and questions and difficulties only to grow. I felt like as a missionary I was the one who needed to be raddest and have the strongest testimony, but I learned so quickly that missionary or not, there is always room for progressing, and we can't be the ones to decide in which areas God is to strengthen us and which areas are fine. Super humbling experience. 

So my brown shoes that i think are super rad were getting a little bit dirty and Elder Thompson asked me if he could shine my shoes for me and my shoes just soaked up his shoe shine and now my shoes are like 3 shades darker haha. It's good for a change every once in a while.

I hope you guys had as lovely of a St Patrick's Day as I did. (: Have the loveliest week ever. 
Elder Porter

I made the most lovely stack of hotcakes ever!

I was talking to this one dude on the side of the street and some other dude pulled up in his car and gave me this plastic hat.

Hello! This week's letter - Week 29

Alright so I don't know if I've already told you guys about Tiago, I think I have. He's this dude who we met 5 weeks ago right when I got here. On Tuesday night I had I think my favorite lesson I've ever had on the mission. So when we first encountered Tiago he was smoking 2-3 packs of sticks a day and literally loved violence ahaha and told me he lost faith in God a long time ago. Like this dude grew up without parents basically and loved fighting people. Like bare knuckle gnarly ish, and when I asked him why he likes hurting people he told me the feeling he gets when he punches people in the face is the most beautiful feeling and it makes him feel close to God. It literally freaked me out so much to be around him he would like have little spaz attacks and have to get up during our lessons and just go punch his punching bag. Over these last few weeks I've seen a change in this dude that is literally like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. He's been coming to church the last 3 weeks and that's really when things started to change. On Tuesday when we showed up he invited us in, all calm and had a super nice chat with us about Brasilian politics haha and then we bounced into a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ I started by asking him about faith and he started talking about what he feels when he goes to church and when he talks to us at his house and he was like "it's crazy because all these feelings I'm having are making me want to change and be better” and I was like holy this is not happening dude. Then I asked him what kind of changes and he was like “I just wanna repent my past away and move forward going to this church...like I haven't told you this yet but I haven't smoked for a month", and I was like holy freak dude. He started to get super interested when I told him the second step in the gospel of Jesus Christ was repentance because he realized he had just used the word “repent" to describe what was coming after his faith and so he was just like "well what's the third and fourth and fifth steps dude” and I was like “baptism and confirmation and enduring to the end and dude I am feeling the Spirit so strong right now and have never seen someone so ready to be baptized and I know this gospel is real and true and will change your life so how do you feel about being baptized on the 23rd of this month” and he was like "let's freakin do it boys” and I was so emotional I didn't wanna cry in front of him but I was so overwhelmed by the Spirit. If any one of you reading this can explain to me how in 5 weeks someone changed from finding God in beating the sap out of someone's face, to wanting to be baptized I will give you 5 Reals which is like $1.50. I cannot explain the realness of this gospel in words. Nothing that is worldly or temporal will ever have the potential to change someone’s life faster than the love we receive from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Church. I don't care if you are a member, non-member, less active member, or literally hate the Church of Jesus Christ nothing you can say will ever justify in a worldly manner the change that I saw in Tiago. This gospel is real this Church is true. Jesus lives and he is ready to accept all of us, whether you go to church every week or completely erased religion from your life it does NOT matter. I promise you literally with everything that I have that our Savior is real, he lives and he breathes. He is physically and emotionally mourning for every single one of us. He has a body, he has feelings, he cries when he sees you suffering and smiles and laughs when we're happy. Nothing in your past can keep Him from wanting you back. This gospel is for every single one of you and don't you ever let anyone tell you you have to be perfect to join, or come back, or stay in this church. This church contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it will change your life in any form you allow it to. Please come to the Savior and see the “impossible” change in your life come true too.

When we had our meeting with the leader of mission work in the ward (I don't know how to say it in English) [*ward mission leader*] and his name is Vanderline. We finished up our meeting and we're drinking some juice and the Vanderline's 3 year old son spilled strawberry juice on his white undies and just hurled the s-word from his mouth and I literally almost fell out of my chair I couldn't find enough air to breath I was absolutely dying from laughter hahaah and then this little kid started to just die with laughter and I couldn't help it hahaah. His mom then looked at him all grumpy and was like “John you cannot say that word” and he just looked at his dad smiling so freaking big and goes "dad is the one who taught me it, he says it all the time” haha and then Vanderline just looked at his wife and she had the most upset face I've ever seen and then he looked at us and I starting to just grin a little bit and then he just started dying laughing too hahaha so we all just lost it. After that he took us home and who knows what happened when he got home!

Alright so on Wednesday we were taking a nice night stroll to José's house and we get there and the old dog wasn't home. We didn't really know what to do so I was like yo let’s say a prayer, why not bruther, and then Thompson was like ok. We walked to the other side of the road and parked ourselves under a tree and said a little prayer for some guidance. When I finished the Spirit was like "walk down the street you just came from” so we went walking and then I see this old man walking down the other side of the road and turns out it was Jose and I was like let's freaking go! The Spirit is such a homie. We had this nice large and detalied lesson planned for Jose to help him understand some gospel stuffs and we sit down with him and the Spirit was like "bro, just give him a blessing” and I was like wut.... and then He was like "you heard me foo” so I was like alright Jose, let us bless you hahah (not actually like that but ya know) and then we gave him a blessing and he came out from it just so teary. We gently tossed out a baptismal date for him and the Spirit was so strong and I was like "this time he's gonna accept this time he's gonna accept” and he looked at us with tears in his eyes and just goes “no” and I was like alright dude where's the freaking prank cameras like someone's gotta be bustin my chops. I tried to start convincing him about how the Church was so rad and that the baptism would change his life and the Spirit was like "chill on him” so I was like “alright dude” and just let my companion talk. As I sat there my comp just kind of talked to him about some stuff and then we ended and I was thinking about the lesson. I noticed when I was trying to teach the lesson and not let the Spirit teach, Jose was a little more closed off to us, but when I, or my companion invited the Spirit and let Him teach is when Jose was the most open. After the prayer we talked to him for a little bit and I let him know how much we love him and the Spirit was there in those last moments before we left and as we were walking out of the door he goes "you know, I'll really think about the baptism” and I almost yelped hahaha. I was taught such a valuable lesson. This Holy Ghost deal doesn't just apply to missionary work, but in our personal lives at home also. When we have a kid, or a friend or a parent who we think is just the worst we want to force the change on them through our own will. I am really learning that the Spirit really is the only true teacher of all things. If we want true or real change in our lives, or the lives of others around us, invite the Spirit to pass some time with you, try to show those around you that you love them. The change will come so much faster than you think.

Finishing up I totally forgot to tell y'all that we had a baptism planned this week. This kid named Alan who has been taught by the missionaries forever was really having a hard time putting his past in the past and wanting to move forward, and we've been working with him over the last few weeks and he finally felt ready to get baptized (: we had one of the Priests in the ward baptize him and it was so cute the kid was so nervous it was his first baptism and when I called him to ask him if he wanted to baptize Alan he was so exited and it was so amazing to see the Spirit seal that special moment that they had in the font. They're becoming such good homies and it's so rad to see kids around my age, coming to the gospel and seeing the fruits that come from doing what’s right. 

Last thing. We ended up going to throw the frisbee around a few days this week and it was so freaking funny ahhaah Thompson was talking so much frisbee trash talk and I was just fueling his fire and he was getting so worked up it made me soo giggly hahaha. Gotta love a good heart felt devoted Ultimate Frisbee player.

Love, Elder Roskelley

Some nice deep dish pizza

The only nature in this whole city (Campo Grande)

The spiritual smiles shining through haha

SEVEN MONTHS! Week 28

Pip pip da doodly doo another week passed and I have muchly things to talk about hahha. 

First off were chillin in the house of one of the members with her cousin and we get a phone call from the mission office and turns out Elder Woodson got transfered to Alta Floresta which is like a 31 hour bus ride North hahaha and so he was a little bummed out. I am not even gonna lie it was a little bit of a bummer becasue we were finally becoming homies and he was starting to work more and being less of a cotton-headed ninny muggin, but can't do anything about it now hahah. My new companion's name is Elder Thompson and he is from West Jordan, Utah and it's pretty wack having a companion from the same state as me hahah. We got talking about stuff before the mission and he asked me which school I went to and I was like Lone Peak and he just got the sourest face I've ever seen and was like I hate Lone Peak hahahahahah so I started dying laughing and asked him why and his answer about murdered me. He goes "your Ultimate Frisbee team always beat us and they're so stuck up and always bully everyone and like push and shove so I hate Lone Peak” hahhah and I about passed out from laughter hahha. Freaking Ultimate Frisbee. I felt kind of bad I laughed so hard at him so I promised him I'd throw the frisbee around with him in the park today. It's always good to toss the plastic disc with a well educated disc tosser.

So this area I'm in is one of the biggest in the mission like I've already said a couple times and we were walkin down a street and I had absolutely 0 hints of a clue where the cuss I was, so we decided to get on the bus and go to the bus terminal that I recognized and so we get on the bus and about 25 seconds after we get on I realized the street we were walking down lead right out to where we were trying to go and I felt like such a dunce. Literally if we would have walked 40 more steps I woulda known where we were. We get off the bus at the terminal and I was all frazzled because we waisted money on the bus and I felt like such a moron we started walking back down the street toward where we were and passed a couple people on the street so I decided to take advantage and make some contacts. We ended up getting some super special contacts with some people who I can already see will be changed by the gospel, and this little experience humbled me a bit. It was interesting how our Heavenly Father used me being a lost impatient young sap to bless the lives of his other children who are looking for something larger in their lives. It made me realize how the smallest little things in our lives, even sometimes the flaws that we think are so annoying about ourselves, are the things the Lord uses to help us complete our purpose here on this earth. Prreeeeeetyyyyyy coooooooolllllll huuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh.

I had such a rad experience this week again with my communist friend Ricardo. He stopped drinking and smoking and finally was able to get baptized and so on Saturday he asked me if I would baptize him. I asked the Sisters if they had an extra white jumpsuit for me at the church and they said yea and when I showed up, they gave me the extra white jumpsuit and it was so small and tight ahahah. It's a blessing that it was a tiny bit extra roomy in the nether regions haha or I woulda been cooked. But when Ricardo and I entered the water he was so exited and so nervous and so was I and to make things worse is name is super long, it's like Ricardo Alves Oliviera Pireira Junior or something like that and I literally botched his name like 5 times in the font haha so he ended up just repeating each name with me one by one like a Primary kid haha and when he popped out of the water he was just beaming and his Mom was just bawling and he gave me the biggest hug ever. Everyone was so happy and after we changed our clothes we went back into the chapel and the Sisters sang a nice little song and it was so beautiful the Spirit was so strong. Everyone was crying and I won't even lie I shed a manly tearling or 2. After the baptismal reunion ended we had a little bit of cake and Ricardo goes "this is how you know that something really is true, when you have a feeling like you've never had before in your life” and I was like let's freaking go Ricardo is already getting it! I called him the next day on Sunday and was talking to him about his confirmation and he was like dude I just feel like a different person, like before the baptism I had such a desire to drink and smoke and I am now receiving strength like I've never received before, and what makes me so happy is that he's noticing the Church of Jesus Christ is different. I know without a doubt that this Church is true exactly for that same reason, it's different. Being different is not something that is bad, in fact it is the freaking best thing on the earth. Every time I leave the house in the morning I look at my sunburned American face with my white shirt and tie and little plastic name tag and think I probably look so freaking weird when I'm walking down the street and there is nothing more bad a than having that feeling. Being different isn't a bad thing, it's the  best thing on this earth. It's so beautiful to see that even the newest of members of this Church notice the difference of love and happiness and strength they receive for being different from everything else. I know that it is super easy to chill in the world and eat white bread all day or whatever worldly things you enjoy doing, and there is nothing wrong with eating white bread (unless you ask my mom) but something I have really noticed out here is that if you're sad or feeling down and you are looking for a different feeling in our life, you have to act different. Don't be afraid to be different.

Lately I have really been trying to listen to the Spirit and follow all the promptings I get, especially when we are out contacting. It's very interesting how I have been noticing the Spirit leads me to the scariest people hahaha. Like I'm always just horrified to talk to the people I'm lead to. On Saturday we were walking back from lunch and I saw these three absolutely enormous meathead dudes who were drinking outside of a store and they were absolutely massive haha. I have no doubt that every single one of them would be accepted into the salty splatoon. I get talking to these guys and my companion Elder Thompson was all scared of them so he stood like 5 feet behind me (like a good 15 frisbee diameters) and so I emotionally wrestled these 3 jock bags off their high horses and at the beginning they had no interest in talking to me and after some nice persistence they ended up getting super duper interested. I got the address of one them and he is actually super anxious for our message and I am so grateful the Spirit is leading me to the scariest people because 1. normally they are just acting scary because they are trying to hide up how soft and emotional they truly are and if you can crack them they're the ones who become the strongest testimonies of the love Christ has for them, and 2. I literally have no problems talking to normal people now haha it's like a breeze. I talked to 16 people on the street yesterday and got 12 addresses and it really humbles me how in the beginning I would talk to the Spirit in my mind and be like "what the freak bro why are you sending me to the gnarliest dudes I've ever seen in my life” hahah and now all I'm thinking is "thanks man” so it's just interesting to see how when we choose to obey the little things the Spirit tells us no matter how nutty they may seem, we end up being grateful and seeing the blessings. I have such a firm testimony of that very thing and know that sometimes Heavenly Father uses us for something so much greater than we can imagine. Don't be afraid to listen to the Spirit when He comes into your head and heart, and if you're not feelin his presence go kneel down and ask God to bless you with his broship again because I may be young, sunburned, hungry, American, and full of zits but something that I know, literally know. Like don't just feel, actually know folks, is that without the Spirit in my life I would be nothing. I am not out here inviting people to come unto Christ because every baptism I receive a bonus check of 400 dollars or something like that, i just wanna help people realize how much happier and better their lives are with the Spirit passing the days with them. I invite you, reader person, to start trying to live your life in a higher manner so the Spirit can chill with you more often. I am not inviting you to do so because it's the right thing to do, or because your parents would be proud of you for making good choices or some cheese like that (although those are good reasons too) but I just want you to notice how much of a difference the Spirit makes in your life when He's with us. I want you to feel of the love Christ has for you and I want you to feel full of purpose and happiness because you don't have to be sad.

Love you guys don't be shy to write me some words. (proskelley@missionary.org)

Elder Porter
p.s. I have no time to respond to you guys this week because I used my time FaceTiming my girlfriend (mom) but I promise I'll respond next week <3

Picture with Jackson and Karini

Ricardo’s baptism

My new comp haha

Week something of awesomeness (#27)

This week I realized something super duper important that I had been praying for, for a very long time. On Wednesday we had divisions with the Zone Leaders and I went and worked in a different area with Elder Cambé. After we left the house and went to work we just started talking to everyone the Spirit directed us to. We were walking down the street as we passed this one little alley way and saw a chick who looked to be 25-30ish just sitting there. We walked up to the gate at the front of this little alley and called her attention and she came and let us in and we walked back through this little area and it opened up to a tiny humble house and there were like 4 kids just chillin back there. Two of them were her kids and two of them are kids she takes care of. We started talking to her and she opened up to us super quick and was telling us she feels pretty sad and overwhelmed by life and then Elder Cambé asked her "when was the last time you prayed"and she kind of just looked at us and was like it's been a really long time. We gave her a simple little lesson on prayer and then gave her a Book of Mormon and it was such a calm tender setting and the Spirit was testifying of everything we were saying. She continued to open up to us more and tell us more about how she wants to get a better relationship with God and as the Spirit increased so did the understanding and hope in this chick. At the end of the lesson we invited her to pray and it took some convincing haha, like 5 minutes, but she finally offered a little prayer and it was incredibly spiritual to hear her offer her first prayer in years. I felt that our Savior was at our side and already started to lift this extremely overwhelmed mom because of a 15 second prayer. I know that everyone always tells you like in Primary or whatever that you have to say your prayers and that kind of stuff, but in this little moment I gained the strongest testimony of sincere prayer. I found that through the shortest, but ever so needy prayer of this lady, the Spirit rushed in and filled her heart with relief and happiness and we felt it too. It's so incredibly simple dudes. We have the opportunity to talk to the Creator of all things, literally our Heavenly Father, and sometimes we pop a quick prayer off at the end of the day like "yo wuddup Pops I'm good thanks for that cute blonde chick that said hi to me today, Amen” and like I'm guilty of it too. I know, and confirm with all my heart that our Heavenly Father is waiting for you to tell Him your struggles, tell Him about that kid who said something mean about the color of your socks, or that other kid who said he thinks your backpack is ugly. He is here to listen to whatever it is that you are struggling with whether it's with an addiction to drugs or the desire to hurt yourself or wanting to be someone completely different than you are, or something as simple as not liking the color your room is painted haha who knows. But one thing that I do know is that it doesn't matter how stupid it sounds to the human ear, nothing you are struggling with is stupid to Heavenly Father. Talk to Him and give Him your struggles through prayer and He will lift you.

I met this one dude this week named Filipe and I told him I'm 18 and I'm American and I like to eat popsicles ahahah and then I was asking him where he's from and if he has kids or a wife and he was like oh dude I was born here in Campo Grande and I've never moved out of the city and I have 73 years and all this jazz and I was like that's rad and then we got talking about prayer and he told me he didn't know how to pray so I was trying to teach him but he literally cut me off like every 15 seconds to talk about his freaking pastor so I finally was just like dude alright we have to go but it was a pleasure to meet you God bless you and your pet dog and then we left the house and when I was like 12 meters from the house he yelled at me and was like "wait are you a Russian too” and I was just like heck yea dude how did you know, and he was like "no way dude I'm Russian too, I could tell by your accent” ahahahh so I just started dying laughing hahah and then I was just like "that's cool man see you later” and then when we were walking away I was thinking and like firstly, I told him I was American like 3 times and secondly he told me he had never lived outside of Campo Grande and thirdly I really hope I don't sound like a Russian hahah. Like is Russia sending spies to Brasil for some reason: you meet some wack people in the mission hahah.

This week I was all amped up on spirit juice and so we were walking in the street on Friday night and we had already knocked doors for like 3 hours and only one dude let us in and it was that Russian dude so I was just bound and determined to find someone haha so were walking on the street right and I see this old dude on the other side of the street so I just yelled "whats up young man” and ran across the street because I saw he was laughing haha and I almost got hit by a car hahah so he just started laughing harder. I started talking to this dude and he let us in and he lives in a wood house and it smelled like Cam Clarke's cabin and it made me so freaking trunky hahaha. But we get talking to this old sap and he gets talking and he gets super sad and started to tell us about his son who passed away 3 years ago who was his best friend and the only person on the earth that he truly felt cared about him and I literally started to cry at the pain this dude was having. As I told him a little bit about the Spirit world and that his kid is still living and hangin out with other angel bros I realized something insane. For three years this dude suffered and cried and struggled and hurt over the death of his son because he thought he was completely dead. There are so so many people in this world who have so many struggles and are so pained every day by a mountain of struggles that can be so easily cured through the knowledge that we have because of the Church of Jesus Christ. That gives me all the motivation in the world to find those sad people and slap a smile on their faces. As he found out that he will see his son again I saw a different light enter him. We invited him to come to church and he denied and denied and denied and so finally I was just like bro, I will show up at your house at 8:30am on Sunday whether you wanna go to church with me or not and I will ring your doorbell until you wake up and you're going to go to church with me and sit next to me and sing with me and feel the Spirit with me hahah and then he just looked at me and was just like "alright young man I'll go to church” hahah. I sat with him the whole time during both hours and he loved it and I freaking love José. He's already being so changed by the love that is being felt from Jesus.

Whenever I cross the crosswalks I always hop on the white lines and it's so funny because everyone who is waiting for the light to change always laughs at me until I look at them and then they try to stop hahahah its so funny!

Last thing. this week I really learned about the importance of hard work. When I was working even when people were telling me they couldn't understand my Portuguese or that they don't like Americans or that they just didn't want to hear anything I had to say I wasn't sad at all because it either made me laugh or proud to be an American or something like that. Hard work is the key to everything and if you are feeling like an absolute brick, find something to do and work hard at it. Whether it's going to the gym or coloring coloring pages or making paper airplanes, just do it with passion and you will find so much happiness.

Love you guys.

Elder Porter

We burned some stuff for my 6 month date in the mission, but it was super lame so we ended up just playing around with bug spray.

Tried to get a pic with Pres and Sis Granja

These animals called Capivaras that live in the park in the front of our house

Week something I think 26ye

*Unfortunately Porter forgot his camera cord so he couldn’t upload any photos - bummer! He promised he’d send them next week.

**As a side note… when you read Porter’s opening sentence, you need to know that he wrote his letter BEFORE he got my email telling him that HE WAS ACCEPTED TO BYU PROVO!! HOORAY!!  When he saw that, he immediately wrote me and said "HAHAHAH YOU'RE GONNA DIE WHEN YOU SEE HOW I STARTED MY GROUP EMAIL THIS WEEK. It's a sign hahah! I literally wrote my group email before I saw this you’re gonna love it!” Needless to say. . . he’s THRILLED to have the opportunity to attend BYU when he returns from his mission. . . Fall Semester 2020!🙌🏻 (yes, he’s deferring his enrollment one year.)**

What is up Cougar fans, I hope this week was absolutely lovely for you guys.

This week I really became so humbled. I had so many incredible moments where the Spirit spoke to me and helped remind me that there is a purpose to everything. One of them that was super special happened on Saturday. I won't lie these last 2 weeks have been really hard for me. This area is freaking massive and we're having problems finding people and I have just felt incredibly inadequate these last days. So, just like normal when I find myself all sad and watery I always end up in the bathroom haha. I knelt down and was like Heavenly Father, I am so so sad, I really need something man. I am trying to talk to everyone I see and trying to find people to help but everyone is just denying the cuss out of me. Please dude, just give me anything. I finished up my prayer and left the bathroom and went and sat next to my comp and he just goes how are you dude, and I just dropped a bag of emotions on him haha I was like dude I am so freaking sad I don't even know what's up dude. He started to just talk to me and we sat there talking for such a long time. He told me something that really changed my perspective on everything. He looked at me and was like listen, in these last 2 weeks you have taught me more about love than I have ever learned in my life. In these last 2 weeks I think I have learned more with you about just loving people and having the desire to do good than I have learned in these last 19 years of my life. You are not failing out here, you are doing the exact opposite. You are changing my life dude. And then I just started to shed a couple manly tears and felt so humbled. I was so quickly reminded that the reason I left my house to come on this mission deal to help people feel of the love that Jesus has for them. We as little humans cannot start to realize the potential we have in the hands of God to help other people. As I struggled through these 2 weeks I now realize I was focusing so much on the success through the numbers and the baptisms and all that shim sham, that I was blinded to the fact that Heavenly Father was using me for something so much grander. I know that this mission is not easy, and that at sometimes it feels like we are completely failing. It's so easy to listen to the little things that satan puts into our minds just to confuse us. I promise you guys that when you feel like you are absolutely useless, when you're completely down in the dumps and wishing everything could be going a different way, the Lord is there with you. You are that thing that someone is needing in their life. You have no clue how much our Heavenly Father is using you to bless other peoples lives, and if you could just start to see all the differences you're making you'd be so humbled.

Last Monday I had a super cool experience with this dude named Ricardo. The sisters in our district are teaching him and he is gonna get baptized super soon which is super exiting. We started talking and I soon found out he loves communism hahah. Being a young American sap I was pretty confused on that so we started to talk a little bit and it was super interesting to hear his view points on why he thinks Karl Marx is a bad a. He then started to ask me about the mission and the Church and all that goodness and so we had a super good conversation. I started talking to him and I was just completely real with him. I was like listen dude, I know this church is true and I know that you are feeling that right now. As you prep yourself to get baptized you're gonna be having some of the best feelings you've ever had. I don't want you to ever forget those feelings because you're gonna get down the road in 2 or 3 years and you're gonna have some doubts, and these doubts are gonna freaking consume you if you don't remember why you joined this Church, if you don't remember the love you felt of our Savior in these first moments. After I told him that he looked at me with a crowd of tears in his eyes and just said “it's so beautiful... I know this Church is true and your words changed my perspective on everything. Thank you!” and it was just pretty cool to see how a young Brasilian communist and an incredibly patriotic American lad bonded through the love Jesus has for us.

On Thursday night Elder Woodson and I had such a special experience with this dude named Valter. He's less active and his dad passed away a month ago or so. We felt prompted to go to his house and visit him and so we headed up to his house and sat down and just started talking to him. Since his dad passed, Valter just kind of chills at home and works and when he was explaining to us what he's been going through I started to really feel for him. He started talking to us about how he has been reading the Bible a ton and then the Spirit rushed into me and was like "Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon” hahaha so I was like alright I'll talk to him about the Book of Mormon. I was like dude when is the last time you read the Book of Mormon, and he was like I'm not gonna lie its been a really long time. He went on and was like I have a super hard time understanding it and I just don't really have a super huge desire to read it. Then the Spirit came into my head again and was like bro, share your testimony, so I was like bro, ok hahaha. I started to bear my testimony and I got pretty emotional pretty quick. I looked at him and said "listen, I have no clue what it is like to lose a parent, and I can't even imagine the pain you're dealing with, but I know what it feels like to lose a loved one. I know without a shadow of a doubt that in those times when I felt lower than I've ever felt in my life, when all I wanted was to have my loved ones back, I would turn to prayer and the Book of Mormon and that's what would keep me moving. I promise you that no book on this entire earth will bring you closer to your father as you read this book you will feel of his presence, you will feel that he is so incredibly close, you will feel like there is hope and that without a doubt you will see him again. I know this book is true and I know that it has something about it that will change your life if you choose to start reading it because it changes my life and gives me purpose every single day.” Then he looked at me so so teary and was like "you have no clue how much this means to me. This love and care that you guys are showing me is helping me feel better than I've felt in a super long time. I know that God is listening to our conversation and that He sent you here to help me restart reading this book” and the Spirit was so so strong in the room it was incredible. He then flipped a random page open and then just looked at me and was like "holy freak look at this” and he had opened up to just a random page in Alma and the verse said "And I didn't have a great understanding of the words that were spoken so I searched for the understanding” or something like that I didn't get the exact reference, and then Valter just broke down and was like I know this book is so so true and I know that God is listening to us right now. I know that if I start to read this book it will change my life. I am gonna start coming back to church and changing my life up because God is showing me right now this is what i need to do” and the Spirit was just so so heavy and tangible in the room. Dudes I have such a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that Joseph Smith translated it through the power of God, and that this book has the power to change your life if you just put a little bit of time into it every day. If you are feeling completely lost and lonely, feeling super sad because you miss a loved one who already passed away, feeling like you don't have purpose here on this earth, I promise you guys that reading the Book of Mormon will cure all of those wounds. I love you guys and know that this Church is true and that God is always taking care of us.

To close I wanna talk about the scripture Alma 29:14 that says "but I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because the success of my brethren, who have been up in the land of Nephi.” I just wanted to say I love you to all my homies who have already served, or who are out here serving the Lord with me. Seeing you guys change lives and reading your stories makes me happier than anything else. I am so proud to be a missionary and know the service we're doing is worth it!

I love you guys a whole bunch and we're gonna keep trekking through the hard times. Keep being yourselves and I'll do the same. (:

Love,

Elder Roskelley

Week 25er email

Sweet heaven so much changed this week its crazy. Tranfers are pretty crazy, I'm not gonna lie it was a little hard to say bye to Kevin. Gonna miss that cute Peruano. My new comp is an American and his name is Elder Woodson and he has a super big fear of feet hahahah. When I showed up at the new house and pulled out my Legos to reconstruct them, I found out that he also likes Legos and has a Lego dinosaur  hahahaah so now we put all our Legos together and it's pretty cute. 

On Monday when I was saying goodbye to everyone in Primavera do Leste it was pretty sappy. Salete literally melted my tiny heart geez that lady. She hugged me and I just couldn't resist the love I was feeling from that lady so please call me a sinner, I hugged her. She told me that she will for sure get married and baptized and I told her I cannot wait til the day of her temple sealing, and that she can expect me there. Balbino literally nuked my feelings and so did Pedro. My sweet sensitive heart just took way too many blows for one day hahahah. I gave Balbino a $10 bill and he just started leakin and then I gave Pedro a tie with my name and his baptism date written on it and then he just took off the gold cross he always wears and gave it to me and then it just went full tear fest hahaha dude it was a brute. I freaking miss those guys so much. I feel so blessed God gave me the opportunity to encounter such influential people here on the mission that changed my life more than they will ever know. It's so crazy how my purpose as a missionary is to help people encounter true change through the love of Christ, but the more I try to help them encounter that love the more I feel that same love changing me.

This area is super duper flipping big. We live in the center of Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, and it's a super rich city. The thing that is a total doozy is that the areas that are possible to work in are either 1.5 hours walking to the north, or 1.5 hours on the bus to the east hahah so it's kind of a lot of walking. We have to work super close to the members' houses because the church is kind of far away so the members always give rides to the people who don't have a way to get to church. It's super different than Primavera, but it's super rad being in a new area meeting new people, having new experiences. my poor little heart still misses Frank tho. <;3

On Sunday we had lunch with this one member named Mauro and this dude just kills me haha he's so funny. So his son in law, Moroni is one of the raddest dudes I've ever met in my life, and we ate at his house a few days ago and he asked me after we ate "yo Elder, do you have room for dessert” and I was like "dude I've always got a nice dessert shelf saved” and he was like "then eat more” and I was like "that was a horribly tasteless joke” and he was just dying laughing haha. So when we were eating at Mauro's house he goes "hey Elder, do you have room for dessert” and I just looked at Moroni and then all the pieces came together and I thought I understood where he got the joke from so I just stood up and went "I'm not falling for that joke this time old man, I don't want your dessert” and he just got so confused and was like "alright then man whatever floats your boat” and then Moroni just exploded laughing and then his wife brought out this insane dessert and I just felt so freaking stupid hahahhaha. I was like you have got to be kidding me I am such a moron hahah. After I explained myself Mauro just started laughing so hard and then told me he forgives me and that I can eat dessert with them. 

I'm not gonna lie its been pretty hard to change areas. It was kind of eye opening to see how hard change truly is. All day every day I am trying to help people change their hearts so that they are able to feel how much Jesus loves them, but I had forgotten how hard change truly is. I forgot how lonely it gets sometimes and how easy it is to retreat to what you know and how it's so uncomfortable to be undergoing changes and it really gave me a new perspective. I am still trying to figure out why the Lord needs me here in Campo Grande with an American comp who is 1.5 years in the mission and is kind of burned out, but I know the Lord can see things that I cannot, just like how I as a missionary can see the potential the love we feel in the Church of Jesus Christ has, to truly change people as long as they continue to move through changes with faith. It is very interesting to be the one in the middle of the changes for the first time in several months, but I have no doubt that my incredibly undeveloped brain cannot see the blessings that will come through this change. Just gotta keep movin.

So there's a few problems with this house here. 1. the clothes lines for drying clothes are out back of the house, and it rains a favorable amount here. 2. the sink doesn't drain water so we have to wash all of our dishes and everything in a different room in the house and 3. our toilet is leaking water hahahahaahh. I'm not stressin tho because the mattresses are bigger here so I'll take wet clothes and toilet floor anyday. 

In closing, my friends, I'd like to talk about something. The old AP, Elder Dayton was such a homie to me, and he finished his mission this Tuesday. On Friday night he just showed up in the front of our house here and it was so rad. He was staying in the hotel across the street from our house visiting his areas with his parents and so on Saturday he came and did studies with us. He brought up a super rad topic, which is recognizing the Spirit. I feel like satan sends so much ish into our minds just to confuse us, and it's so freaking annoying. I feel like it gets super frustrating because it's hard to determine which thoughts are from the good side and which are from the bad side. As he was explaining stuff to us, he started to show us a few scriptures which were rad, and one that I loved was in Moroni 7:16 and it says something like "everything that makes you happy and feel warm and makes you want to believe in Christ is sent forth from Christ” which I thought was super cool. I know it's still hard to know what things are making you feel temporarily rad, and permanently rad, and that's why we have the ability to pray and ask God to help us discern between what's good and bad. I am really trying to better my ability to recognize when God is trying to help me out, and when Satan is just being laaaaaame. I find myself searching and analyzing the really strong feelings I feel from the Spirit, and when the not so strong feelings, more like whisperings come into my brain, I find it easier to know what's going on.

 I know that in this life we all have changes, some more uncomfortable than others, but nonetheless they're all changes. I know that for some people a change may be losing a brother or a best friend, and for others it may be watching a loved one getting railed by addictions which all suck so bad. I know that these changes are so uncomfortable, and sometimes they just get you in the jimmy. Something that I also know is that there is a method to all this madness. There is a dude, named God, who is orchestrating all of these sounds and noises into something that is, at the moment incomprehensible to the human mind. Sometimes the only way to get used to these changes is to just get accustomed to missing your best friend who is up there with God, and that's just part of life, but the one thing that I have learned through every change in my life is that something good always comes from it, and that an infinite amount of love is waiting for you. Don't be mad at God for these changes, because you're gonna reach the day when all you're doing is thanking him for all you've learned from them.

That's it for this week. Sorry it's nothing special, I'm still trying to figure out my life here I'm a tiny bit disorientated. I didn't take a lot of pictures so here are some pictures haha
Love, Elder Porter

Me & Agent K

Legos

Pedro's cross, and the real silver Virgin Mary and Jesus my neighbor gave me before I left.

Week 24 - 6 MONTHS and Transfers!

**From Mama Lynda. . . It’s soo hard to believe Porter has been gone 6 MONTHS! After serving for 3 transfers (4.5 months) in his very first area, Porter is finally being transferred. He’s going to everyone’s favorite area to serve in. . . waaay down South in Campo Grande! (it’s cooler, and less humid) Porter is super excited!

Hello, I found out I'm getting transferred to Campo Grande which will be a 16 hour bus ride. The hardest part about packing my bags and all that stuff was probably taking apart all my Legos hahah my fingers are so hurty.

So the week was a rad one. Not gonna lie Castro and I have been a little down in the dumps lately. We have been having a hard time finding people to teach and every FREAKIN time we find a family who's all amped on Jesus like we are, they're never married and its like a FRICKIN 3 month process to get married here it's such a sham. So we have been praying for like the last 4 weeks to find some people right, and last week we get a call from these sister missionaries in Salt Lake City and they were like "yo this dude named Edson found the Church through the website and we've been teaching him and now he's interested in the Book of Mormon so yea were gonna give you his address” so that was super cool. We end up finding the address on our PAPER map we have hanging on the CEMENT wall and ends up he lives way on the other side of the land in the 3. We called him and were like what's up man and he was like what's up dudes and then we were like we wanna visit you and so he was like cool. Tuesday, last week rolled around and we tried set up an appointment with him to go to his house at like 7 with a nice couple in our branch but his phone didn't work so we just decided to go peanuts to the wall and drive out there and we show up at his house and he was home yeeeeeee. We literally had the most beautiful lesson with them. Turns out they're MARRIED, they both have some insanely crazy desires to find God and a church that actually teaches super bad a stuff, and they have a vespa so they can drive to church. I literally have never been so amped to find a family not kidding. When he told us he's married I did a freaking gnarly air fist bump when I thought he wasn't looking, but he saw the whole thing and just looked at me half stoked and half confused hahaha but what I'm trying to get at with all this is this... for 4 weeks Elder Castro and I were praying our tiny hearts out begging God to give us some dudes who were ready for the message. What we didn't know was that on the other side of the planet in Utah, God was prepping this rad couple while we thought He was just kindof putting us on the side. That 4 weeks of faith exersizing struggle and little success teaching new people made that tiny moment with our new homie Edson so much more special. I know God is listening to your prayers, as well as mine, and that if we could only see all the things that are being prepped, maybe even on the other side of the globular, we would be absolutely boggled in the brain. Don't lose faith, your prayers of struggle are being heard <3

We went to the supermarket to buy salt for one of the sisters that was making us lunch and I asked the worker dude where the salt was, and he just looked at me and yelled “salt” so loud in a high pitch voice so I yelled it back at him hahaha and then he showed me where the salt was and when I grabbed a bag of salt I yelled “salt” and then he yelled salt again and then I just left and we didn't say another word ahha. Every time we'd pass that supermarket I'd just toss a quick little scream in the store and I'd always hear in the back of the store a little high pitch “salt” hhahahh has me dying! 

When we got the phone call about transfers we were in Balbino's house, and after we got off the phone and all that jazz I shared one last lesson with them. I shared D&C 122:7 that talks about our struggles, and how every freaking crappy time in our life will end up being for our good. I bore my testimony about how I truly know that times in our lives get super difficult. I started to just break down and cry and I began to tell a story about some of my own personal difficulties. I bore my testimony for them that in those times of sadness and darkness, when I truly felt like there wasn't hope, when almost every single thing I loved and knew just wasn't workin out for me, the only thing that kept me goin through those hard times was the love Jesus has for me. We all started leakin tears, and I told him that the reason I am a representative of this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not because my parents go to this church, or that it’s cool we get free pieces of bread every week on Sunday, or that I think Mormon girls are cute, but I told him that I am a missionary for this church because in no other place on this whole entire planet earth do I feel that perfect love like I do in this church. I am not out here trying to tell people that our church is better than theirs. I am not out here trying to tell people that the church they go to is wrong... that would be the lamest ish ever. I am just trying to help people be happy, and the only place where I draw true happiness is from the Church of Jesus Christ. I pray that if you are struggling you remember that I am always here to talk, but more importantly you can always draw true and lasting happiness through prayer to our Heavenly Father. I promise you guys that you will feel of the love that the Savior has for you. I promise that with every fiber in my being. I know that your difficulties will be made up to benefit your lives in ways that you can never imagine, but you don't have to do it alone. Let the Savior take your load.

This week I was eating some freaking tough as leather meat after I ended a Fast and I was trying to chew this frickin stick of plastic and I bit my lip so hard and bit a hole through my lip, but only on the inside so now I have this little tunnel on my bottom lip. It hurt like a son of a.  

I wanna close with my testimony super quick... about love. Really you've all heard it before, but I'm never gonna stop saying it. Love is what really changes people. I have the strongest testimony about how when people feel that you truly love and care about them, that opens them up and through that love they will change faster than anything else. I have a testimony that when we are loving, we receive more love and then we're happier and then we wanna love more and it's just the raddest thing ever. It would be so nice to be sleeping in til 10, eating my moms food, playin some nice gamecube, but something that is way cooler than gamecube is love. If you want to feel loved, go love someone. If you feel like no one cares about you, go care about someone else. Through love, and just being your sincere self, miracles happen. God doesn't expect you to be perfect, and if anyone tells you that, they are so incredibly wrong. All he wants is for you to try. Try to love someone. Try making your siblings bed, or try buying a homeless dude food, or try shoveling someones driveway or like give your mom a hug or something. I know this sacrifice out here is worth it. I love you guys, and I hope you know that this love that I am feeling through trying to love others is changing my life.

I'm gonna start putting a joke at the end of every weeks email. Here it goes... what is the difference between an old man and a tire... when a tire gets bald you can't comb it over AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Hope your week goes lovely this week. Heard it was a little chilly last week. Would be good to wear a jacket when you leave the house.

Love, Elder Porter

Salete

My lip

Final moments in the mango tree

Week 23: BAPTISMO

**Note from Mama Lynda. . . as Porter talks about his sweet experience baptizing Pedro (below) keep in mind. . . just 4 weeks ago (Dec. 30, 2018) Porter shared a story about a group of teenagers who, every time they saw Porter and his companion walking down the street, they would start yelling every swear word they knew in English. After that happened a few times, Porter was over it, so he said to the group. . . “Who wants to hear about Jesus Christ?" Immediately Pedro (15 years old) was the ONE who said “I do! Come over to my house tomorrow.” So they did. That sweet boy is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his parents will likely be baptized soon as well. Powerful stuff!

Hello lifeforms from the normal life realm. I wonder how things are out there.

This week I got kicked in the children like 40 times every day by the devil. It was ridiculous hahahah. He would try to make me feel bad for like tying my shoes wrong or closing a door wrong or unplugging a fan wrong or pouring water wrong haha like literally the most nutty things. The fool gets desperate on us sometimes. Something that is super important is that we cannot start to believe the things he is telling us. There isn't a wrong way to tie your shoes, or put water in a cut or zip a zipper or anything absurd like that hahahaha.  I won't lie I started to believe some of the things he was telling me and it made me a little sad, and then I would like get sad because I was sad and it was just a freaking STUPID cycle. We cannot let that cussbag start to tell us everything we do is wrong. The way you tie your shoes is perfect. (:

On Friday Elder Nye and I taught this lesson to a less active chick and her neighbor. I was having a really hard time staying focused and feeling the Spirit and it was kindof rough for me. I said a prayer and the Spirit was like dude, just really try to focus on them, so I did. After I made the decision to just listen to what these dudes were saying, everything changed. I felt like I should share my testimony with them, and it got so emotional so quick. It went from being such a doozy of a lesson to an incredible and needed experience. This whole lesson turned into a something super spiritual because I just chose to listen. Something I think that's super duper interesting is that I believe each one of us has people in our lives that need to be heard. People that are right in front of our faces that we need to listen to. As you listen and try to help your loved ones, out of nothing less than love, I promise you that you will see changes in your lives, and the lives of all those around you. Take some time to just listen.

The Iago baptism fell through... but the Pedro baptism was so good. I had such a beautiful and special experience. Never have I had a feeling such like I had in the font with this kid. Right as I started saying the words for the baptism I froze and started to get so emotional, and then I noticed that Pedro was super emotional too, and then I baptized him and good grief I have never felt like that. After I dipped him, he came up just bawling and he gave me the biggest hug ever and was just like "I love you dude” and we just hugged in the water for like 30 seconds and it literally brings me to tears thinking about it. This gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not for the perfect. It is exactly and specifically for those who sin, those who smoke 150 cigarettes a day, those who have problems with self harm or cannot see the purpose of living another day. I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that this gospel is for you. For all of your imperfections and infirmities that you believe cannot be taken. I bear witness that the love of our Savior can take away anything. You are everything to Him, and He will do anything just to see you be happy. Let him take care of you. 

This week I listened to a BYU Devotional by Elder Uchdorf called “Can You Hear the Music.” It changed my life. I want to focus on a few things before I close this email. First, our Savior is real. He lives, He breathes, and He knows you. I really feel like people look over that, when someone says it, so go back and read that sentence again. The Creator of this world has a body, He can talk, He cries, He has hair. He is REAL. His gospel, the true and infinite power that is held within it, is not for the perfect. It is for you and me. The complete and utter imperfect. Your mistakes, your imperfections, your downfalls, your heartaches will never make you unqualified for the love of our Savior Jesus Christ. I promise you with all that I have that the Savior's love drowns out any pains that we feel, any mistakes that are made are erased, and an infinity of love and happiness is felt when we come to our Savior. Nothing you can do, or have ever done in your life is greater than the love the Lord has for you. That love outweighs everything. I bear my testimony to you guys that I know our Lord and Savior lives. I know that He has marks on his immortal body because He chose to suffer and die for you. His love is available. Ask for it.

Alright, last thing… honestly, we have been having some minor malfunctions with some members here. I just wanna say something super quick. This whole world is full of some pretty freaking stupid people hahah. Like really next level morons. I want you guys to always remember who you are, and not let those super special people ever come between you and the Lord. Don't forget the feelings that the Spirit brings into your lives. When times get tough, remember those feelings that pulled you close to the Lord, and when people enter in your life who are just trying to give you a nice jimmy punch, and nothing more, don't ever let them affect your feelings between you and Jesus. I know this church is true with all that I have, and I also know that people all around the world leave the church because of people who think it's their job to correct everyone. Please never forget the reason we are in this Church is to follow our Savior, and not some power hungry fool.

I love you guys. Shoutout to all my buddies serving the Lord together, love you guys.

Random story. There was a sign in the middle of the street and Kevin told me to jump it, and my manhood was not about to get challenged, so I jumped it and on the other side was like a foot of mud haha. Luckily only my buns got a little bit muddy.

Pedro and I - January 26, 2019

Kev and I forgot the font was filling up on Saturday so when we got to the church it was just overflowing everywhere

Dirty buns

Week 22: 5 1/2 months down

Hello people who I care about.

Firstly I wanna say thank you to all of you who told me to put on sunscreen.

This week was so freaking rad. I learned a truckload of things. First things first we had some freaking gnarly lessons on Sunday. I'm talking some real stuff alright. Alright first lesson, one of the members has a step grandson who is 13 and he's so rad. His grandpa is like hardcore Catholic, like pile-drive in the face Catholic. Like dunking babies and stuff. We had a huge conversation with him and his grandpa because his gpa wants him to get baptized in the Catholic church but he doesn't want to. This grandpa started to go on a random tangent about free agency and right when he finished talking about how important free agency is I asked him "so if your grandson Iago wanted to get baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ would you let him exercise his free agency and do so; and then he just knew he was in a pickle hahah. Castro then swooped in with a flying punch and goes "alright Iago, what do you think about getting baptized this Saturday January 26... and Iago was like ye. So yea. That was rad haha. Also we had a super good lesson with Salete and José and they agreed to start prepping to get married! Ye. Also we had a lesson with Balbino and his family with Lazaro and Fabianna's family and we talked about eternal families and all the goods and they told us they would start getting the show on the road with their marriage. I got so sappy when I bore my testimony about my family. Nothing is better than having my old folks sealed for eternity in the temple. The happiness and joy that I feel as a kid from knowing my family can be together forever is something that gets me so emotional every time I think about it. I love this gospel and I know that this gospel is the gospel of happiness. Nothing is more important to God than our eternal happiness with our families.

This week I had a super rad tender mercy happen every day. Without a doubt when we would leave the house I would see like 4 yellow butterflies while we were walking around doin work. I know my buddy Beau Richey is lookin out for me! <3

On Friday when we were talking with Pedro and Balbino, Castro and I felt prompted to ask Pedro if he wanted to be baptized this week and he was like are you kidding me I totally wanna so we moved his date up to the 26th which was super happy. Also during the same lesson Balbino said something that literally almost murdered me hahaahah. We were sitting there and after we invited Pedro to get baptized and Balbino was like hold the phone Mr Roskelley, how come you didn't ask me to be baptized too and I was like bro do you remember how we talked to you about the law of chastity and marriage and all that jazz 3 times, and he was like ye, and then we were like well you gotta be obeying that ish before you can be baptized, and then he just looked me right in the face and was like "Elder Roskelley, you're telling me I have to be married before I get baptized” and I was like "yes old sport, I hate to say it" and after that he just got silent for I kid you freaking not 25 seconds haha. I just sat there waiting and then he looks me right in the eyes and yells "BARACK OBAMA” so loud hahah and I just lost my marbles hahah. I literally peed in my pants a lil I was laughing so hard. Like I'm sitting in the middle of this random house in a city 250 miles from the nearest McDonalds, and a man named Balbino with 4 dogs and 2 children chose to yell the name of the first U.S. black president above every other 2 word combination possible. ahhahaahhahahah.

My toothbrush cap fell in the toilet on Tuesday and I really didn't want my toothbrush head to get dirty to I fished it out and washed it off and slapped that puppy back on... nah haha I'm just bustin your chops hahha I ain't ever touchin that cap again. He's got a new home in the bottom of the toilet here in Primavera do Leste.

Quick last thought for you guys. I found this super rad scripture in First Nephi that nobody has heard of before and it goes like... I will go and do the stuff the Lord asks me to do because I know that He will always provide a way for the things he commands us. The reference is 1 Nephi 3:7. When I read that verse again at the beginning of the week I really realized something. Every single one of us has some major difficulty in our lives. Maybe this difficulty is literally eating you alive and you feel so dead inside every day. Maybe you feel as if God himself has abandoned you. I stand as a witness to you guys that our Heavenly Father NEVER forgets about us. He is literally in control of everything. I know without a single doubt in my body, even down to my little pinky toes, that literally every difficulty has a way out, a light at the end of the tunnel, and if we are willing to trust in that, then nothing the evil dude can do will ever be enough to get us to quit. Sure he might get REALLY freaking close, but it will never be enough because he's a loser and thinks he's a playa but he's not. I bear testimony to you guys that every day out here on the mission is not easy, and the rest of my life sure as freak isn't gonna be easy, but as I take it one step at a time and trust that my Heavenly Father has laid a way for me to make it through today, I never have a worry. Nothing is more rewarding than serving the Lord and giving what I have to Him every day. I know that you guys may be struggling, and may be wanting to give up so badly, and I'm sorry for your struggles. Remember that I love you, and your families love you, but more importantly your Heavenly Father and Jesus love you more than anyone. There is a trail laid down for you to succeed. The Creator himself is surrounding you with angels, and you will look back on every difficult time you've ever had in your life and thank God for everything that you learned from them, only if you choose to continue.

I love you guys so much and miss you too, but we still got a year and a half or so to go. Keep it focused and enjoy what you have a little more for me this week. (:
Love, Elder Porter

Elder Castro’s (Kevin - far right) birthday is tomorrow 1.22.19!

Here's a picture of Elder Nye's burn line.

Our neighbor's Bday was Sunday so we made him a cake. Here is the cake.

Balbino got a pitbull and when he showed up with the dog he handed it to me and goes "give this dog the most American name you can think of” so I shouted “Frank”, and now his name is Frank. Here's a picture of him.

"Autopilot Porter": I am out of clever names for the emails. So here is email 21 haha

Watup my young friends.

Ye ye it was a week week that was good good. 

This week I saw this dude at 11:30pm riding his horse down the street and I was listening to classical music, and few things have struck my fancy more than 11:30 horse rides with classical music.

This week I did a lot of thinking. Thinking about how each one of us has those people that we are searching for that are elect. Thinking how a big thing on the mish is finding the elect people, right, but I'm starting to think that that ish isn’t just a mission thing. Each one of us has elect people that are waiting for us to find them. Each one of us has something that is WAYYYY too bad A to keep to ourselves, that needs to be shared with others. The Lord doesn't just prepare people for the missionaries to help, but for each one of us who is just puttin in the daily dosage. You, the sham reading this email thing right now, you have somebody waiting for your impact on them. You could sit on the computer and try to find videos of Doodle Bob talking backwards... (ps, thank you to those who searched that for me hahaha I was losing sleep over it), or you could bee bop around town trying to find your elect friend that's waiting for you. I challenge you in the morn when you get out of bed to pray for who you could help. This gospel isn't the gospel of how rad we are on Sunday for 2 hours when we go to church, but the gospel of helping others every day. Don't get so caught up in the nitty gritty jumbo that everyone loves to talk about just to sound cool or something. It's all about lovin. Find that kid who needs a hug or a piece of gum or even a high five. I give people high fives on the street all the time and it always puts a smile on their face. I literally scream "HIGH FIVE” in English and then launch my hand up and it works so well. Like 74%.

On Wednesday we had lunch on the other freakin side of the earth. The bus only passes every 30 mins to go out to the 3 and so we missed the 10:30 bus, so we waited for the 11 o'clock guy but he didn't show either so finally around 11:45 the bus finally shows up, and apparently the buses were having some technical difficulties (beep boop) so when they finally started working there were like 132 people at every bus stop hahah so the bus was so full. The family who we had lunch with has a car but it ran out of gas so we had to walk the 2 hour voyage back, and it was so freaking hot holy moses. Like a different level of hot. I think it was up to like 102 and I forgot to put on sunscreen, but when we were walking we walked passed the jungle and wanted to explore so we did, and then we walked passed the lake and had to skip rocks so it ended up being like a 3.5 hour fiasco ahahha so now I am so freaking sunburned. But it was so worth it. I got a rock to skip 13 times so like yea I'm burnt to a crisp right now, but seriously 13 skips. Not even skin cancer can take that away from me.

The baptism was seriously the most relaxing experience ever. Before Joao Pablo got baptized he was super nervous, and I was sitting by him talking to him and I was like yo tiny man, wanna say a prayer, and he was like yip so I offered a prayer for us and the peace that overcame us was tremendous. The Spirit really is the best comforter.  Joao looked at me after the prayer and was like thanks man, I needed that. After everyone got baptized and everyone was changing back into normal clothes, I had a rad experience. I was sitting there alone on a bench in the church and the Spirit just full on pile drove me. I started just spewing tears everywhere haha and I just had the most incredible feeling ever. I knew this work I am doing, with all the difficulties and times that just suck is literally the most important work on this earth. I literally love this gospel so incredibly much. Nothing is more rewarding than feeling these mission feelings. After I had my little watery moment we all met up in the chapel, and I found out that I wasn't the only one who was crying haha. Literally almost all the members, and even the visitors were overcome by the Spirit. Everyone was so touched, and so incredibly friendly and happy and willing to help each other and just everything was beautiful. I really hope that all of you who are thinking about serving the Lord, to search for the right reasons to go, and really commit yourself to get out for a couple months and help people find this happiness. It's not just about baptisms or teaching one billion lessons or fillin your planner with like 4758 names and adresses, but its about helping people find love and happiness through Jesus. I know it sounds so cheesy, but its real. Jesus Christ has the power to make everyone freaking happy. Not just normal happy. 

Last thoughts. Pedro, and his dad Balbino have been progressing so well. We had a lesson with them yesterday night and during the lesson the Spirit overtook me. It was like I just put myself on autopilot and let the Spirit talk haha. Autopilot Porter. But for reals I was talking to them and I bore my testimony to them and the Spirit was so lovely. I told them that I know without a doubt that this church is true, that everything we are teaching is true. I bore my testimony about how much this gospel is changing my life, and I promised the same blessings for them. I told them that I would be willing to defend this church, and literally even die for it if it came to that, because my young 18 year old heart somehow knows that this gospel is more important than anything. We challenged them to get baptized on the 2nd of February, and we are really gonna try to help them open their hearts to the Spirit so they can feel of the same happiness for the rest of eternity.  

I freaking love this gospel and this mission, and there is nothing I'd rather be doing at this moment in my life than serving my homie Jesus Christ. (actually a canyon drive with a hot babe would be pretty rad right now... but the more I think about it, the more I realize how the Spirit is cooler that any hot babe...) but yea.

I love you guys.

I’m gaining weight, and members :)

Sittin by the lake drain

The burn line

Week 20. . . January 7, 2019

Salutations my children. Are you ready for your weekly dose of smooth jazz...

This week was so awesome. There was a ton to be learned this week and I am grateful for every time I got toasted, because it always helped me learn.

Alright first things first, that kid who I said could get baptized this week, his hard A Catholic dad made him move back to his city on Thursday so we weren't quick enough, but he still has the desire to get baptized so were gonna get in contact with the Elders there and hopefully they have the opportunity to dip the tiny man.
But let's get started. So for the last couple weeks I haven't really felt like myself. I found myself just going through the motions, trying to teach a truck load of lessons and not really trying to love people. It wasn't until Sunday I realized what was goin on. So one of the members Irene, has this 17 year old and he's just the worst. He always smacks me on the back of the neck so hard and calls me mean names haha and just has a brick for a head. It drives me up a wall. My mom, and Drake know I'm not too fond of being touched or smacked. But on Sunday we were over at their house getting ready to eat lunch and Gustavo (the smacker) came in the house and he seemed super sad. I started talking to him, and normally we just absolutely toast the sin out of each other until someone ends up getting butthurt (it's always him) but this day was different. I started talking to him about what was wrong, and why he didn't come to church, what he's feeling like and if I could help him with anything. He told me that he has some anger issues and that he ran out of his meds hahah so he's been kind of super bi-polar the last couple days. We just talked for a little bit and I really started to feel for this kid. I was like dang, this kid is only annoying because he's insecure and doesn't know how to communicate with people, and all I was doing was feeding his fire. The moment I calmed down and stopped being a dirtbag in return he was super chill and opened up to me about what he was feeling. I invited him to go do a couple visits with us and he told me "I’ve got plans today but next Sunday after church I'll go visit some fools with you guys” and I was shook. He always talks so bad about the Church and missionaries, but because God helped me show like 3 teaspoons of love for him, he was so willing to return. I was incredibly humbled, and kind of taken back by this whole moment. It reminded me the power that love really has to change people. The tiniest amount can do so much. He started talking to me about what music he likes and he just freaking loves rap. We talked about rap for a sec and I talked to him about how when I went through a phase where I only listened to rap I was always so freaking tacked off hahaha. Literally always mad. I told him there's gotta be some balance in all things. After that I gave him some Rolling Stones, and Eagles songs and he loves the song Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones haha. i promised him that his anger would start to go away as he started listening to more Rolling Stones haha, and of course by coming to church again. 

The golden boy, Pedro. Gotta love him. On Wednesday we went to give a lesson to him and we found him and all his tiny people playing soccer in the street. They were like Yo do you fools wanna play and I was like pffffffffft ye. Kev and I played with this one other kid and were out here thrashing these tiny tadpoles. After like an hour and a half we started to get a little pooped haha and then disaster set in. These little kids somehow had so much energy, like they've gotta be hopped up on coffee and Brasilian meat or something hahaah. But this one little kid shattered the sunshine out of my ankles hahaha and I literally fell on my back. Like it wasn't like I was going easy or anything I was trying to earn my keep haha, but no. I got throttled. We're talking like blindfold ninja chopping through cement blocks with their hands throttled. All of the little kids just erupted with laughter hahah. But after we all played the kids loved us and we're gonna visit them all. I suggested something for headmaster Kevin… as we were departing,  I said I think it would be cool if we rounded up all the little saplings like a group of sheep of something hahah and got up on wood crates or barrels in from of them and just cried repentance unto them. hahaha. 

On Friday the completely unexpected happened. Like the last thing I thought would ever happen on a mission happened. President Granja came and visited us, and it was so good to see the old goob. We were all talking about our house, and he was asking us some questions and we have this one glass sliding door that leads out to this tiny balcony thing, and he asked us if we leave it open at night because it gets really hot and we responded "no because we don't want the bad spirits to enter.” Then he goes "you guys are very smart, it's good very good to keep the bad spirits out, especially the wet ones.” hahahahahah and I literally had to register what he said for like 4 seconds and then I just exploded laughing haahah and then he just started laughing so hard with me and I literally still don't even know what happened hahaha. President Granja hahahaha.

One last story for you. This week we really really sought some inspiration on the people we were teaching. We fasted and prayed and came to the conclusion we needed to ask Joao Batista's kid, Joao Pablo if he wanted to get baptized on Friday we took him to get some creamed ice and then gave him a special little lesson. His mother passed away and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and how the door to eternal life with all of our loved ones is baptism. Then we rolled the baptismal invitation in front of him and his response was super duper mature. He, 14 years old, goes "I really gotta pray about this and think I just don't feel ready right now” so I was like "that's perfect, go pray and then get back to us about what you feel." The next day we went back to his house and were trying to get a hold of him and trying to call him and he wasn't answering, and then all of a sudden he just came out of his house and was like "yo wuddup, my phones dead but if you guys wanna talk I have a lil time rn.” So we were like yew. Then Castro asks "did you talk to your dad about getting baptized, and he goes yea, so yesterday I prayed to him and really asked him what I needed to do.” He interpreted “dad” as Heavenly Father which I thought was way too cool. But after that he got super sad and goes… I had a dream last night, and I was like dang dude what's this dream gonna be... then he goes, and in this dream, i saw myself getting baptized... and then it was quiet for like 20 seconds and he goes "I wanna get baptized” and then I just screamed “YESSSSSS” in English so loud hahaha and picked him up and swung him around and gave him the biggest grandma kiss ever right on the top of his little afro head. Like it had the squeaky kissy sound and everything hahahaha. It was just my first reaction haha I couldn't control it haha. But he told us he wants to get baptized next Saturday and so yea (: it's gonna be so smoothe.
Anyway yea, my ankle still hurts hahaha.
Love you guys.

Elder Porter

Presidente Granja

Acai boat

A esquadrao

Throw’n it back

December 30, 2012.... Week 19

Hello my loved beloveds.
This week my testimony of miracles grew larger than the big green giant. I would be fully willing to physically back up any spiritual challenge I was faced with in the future now because of what happened this week. I'm not going to share everything about the experience that I had, but I fully know without a doubt that Heavenly Father will never ever give us any command, no matter how insanely freaking microscopic tiny that ish seems, without providing a way for it to be completed, and without the blessings that follow without a doubt. God has such a beautiful way of doing everything. The way he winds every single one of our spiritual strands into such a colorful peice of art will always be something I cannot begin to understand. I hope this new year you guys can really test our Heavenly Father, test his promises all over the Book or Mormon and the Bible, and truly start to see these strands connect you to things you'd never even imagined.

 But let's get real for a second hahaha. I'm out here, and every day I write in my daily little planner thing. I am sitting here confused out of my cranial bone how on earth 2018 is gone when I still write 2012 in my planner hahahha. I thought about 2020 when I was like 8 or 7 or something and I was just absolutely boggled to the core, and now it's in like 365 days or something. Like something is not right. Someone tell me something to ease this feeling that is somehow murdering my brain in someway I've never felt before. Somehow were already in 2019. 

On Sunday I had a funny experience with Romualdo and Ryani. Ryani loves to choose to not understand me and Kev and the other American who showed up, Elder Nye. She literally chooses not to understand us. She told us she didn't understand Elder Nye's companion, who is a Brasilian, after he prayed hahaha because she thought he was an American hahaha. On Sunday I was completely over it. We finished teaching the lesson to her and the whole time she had asked me to repeat everything I said like 3 times so when we finished the lesson I go “alright let me dish out a quick prayer and then we can go on our merry way" and she goes "yea you can try but I probably won't understand” hahaah so I prayed in English HAHAHAH and she was just absolutely stumped hahaha she had no clue what happened. After that I was just like "alright see ya later” and then she stopped us from leaving and was like wait what did you say in the prayer, so I told her, in Portuguese, and then I was like "cool now you understand me huh” hahaha. Freakin Brasileras 

I think the hardest thing about Skyping the family on Christmas was seeing carpet... I miss carpet!

So all the little kids down here love to say every English cuss word on the whole entire planet in the exact moment they find out I'm American ahaha. There's this specific group of kids who always wants to talk to us, and this week I decided to ask them who wants to hear about Jesus because I was sick of hearing cuss words in stupid person English hahaha and one kid spoke up and was like come to my house tomorrow, so we did. His name is Pedro, and I have never been so amped on a kid. He's 15 and I have never encountered someone who has such a rad testimony about the church of Jesus Christ without actually knowing the Church of Jesus Christ hahahah. I talked to him for like 45 minutes, and bore my testimony to him about this Church. I looked at him in the eyes and said listen Pedro, you have something special. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ need strong young people to rise up and change our very evil world. I told him that there is nothing that I love more than this gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ, because I could sure be doing things at home that are a lot more fun, but I chose to come here because I know that nothing is more important than bringing this happiness and joy I feel every day from this gospel, to you and your neighbors in Primavera do Leste. We both got a little teary and had such a powerful little time. I am still the same kid from Utah who likes to throw water balloons at cars and sleep in til noon and eat lemons, but something is different about giving my time to the Lord. I feel full with a sense of purpose, I feel as if every day my Savior is literally pushing me. I feel like on the days where I am physically and mentally gassed, if I can just decide to put in the effort to teach that one last person I receive a physical and spiritual boost from the other side of the veil. We've gotta decide we are mentally prepared for the challenges we will face in our lives, and if we do so our physical and spiritual energies will be so blessed. 

Just super quick about my Christmas. We went to Lazaro and Fabianna's house for the 24th and my wonderfully beautiful mother sent me some gingerbread houses and sugar cookie stuff so I took that over to their house and when I first showed up everyone was so depressed hahah. I put on “Jiggle Bell Rock” and was just scream singing and dancing like a kook in their house and after playing “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey and everyone was a little happier and then by the end of the night everyone, even the adults were like fighting with the kids about who got to decorate which part of the cookies and tiny candy houses it was so freaking funny hahah. I freaking LOVE Christmas. It was 95 degrees and sweaty as sin and I ate an ace load of meat and rice and beans, but the Spirit of Christmas was felt. 

One of the members has a kid who's not baptized and she brought him to our little Christmas party at Lazaro and Fabianna's and he loved it so much. We gave him a little lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then invited him to be baptized. He and his mom are gonna coordinate a date because the kid told her he's starting to want to be baptized. He could be baptized as early and this Saturday so Castro (Kevin) and I are pretty freaking happy! (:

There wasn't anything I've ever felt, like focusing on everything and everyone else other than me for Christmas. It was a truly different feeling, and it was a Christmas I won’t ever forget. I was so so happy this week because even tho it’s hard being away from everyone back at home, I was lucky enough to be helping other families grow closer to the true meaning of this holiday season. It was such a happy and fulfilling feeling that I will never forget. Through having fun with our families and friends, we feel the love Christ has for each one of us through the Spirit, and not much is better than feeling of that happiness. 

Last thoughts. We had a family come to church this week who we have been visiting for like 2 months now. This was their first week in church. We just kept feeling like we needed to visit them even though they weren't progressing a ton, so we did. Today in church I asked the wife how she was liking it, and she literally just looked at me almost crying and told me that she has a lot of things to change and that she is feeling like she needs to come to church more and start reading the scriptures and saying her prayers more. I am 100% certain she wouldn't have had these feelings sitting at home in bed hahaha. If we want the blessings we have to ACT first. Her drive and desire to start changing went through the roof because she came to church once. If you are struggling and you don't know where to turn, start by doing the little things the Lord is asking, and lights will start to illuminate tiny thoughts in your mind and start to give your hours and days purpose. It's up to us to act and develop our love for Christ, and everyone around us. We have to decide we’re ready to get up and go before things really start rollin.

I freaking miss you guys lots and I love you and hope this week was so full of happiness for you guys!
p.s... Elder Nye (from Ohio) told me that Doodle Bob from Sponge Bob is actually just talking backwards, and if you record him talking and play it in reverse he's just saying real stuff. I need someone to test this theory for me please, I literally have to know. Please someone test this for me and send me an email next week with the good news. Thanks!
Elder Proter

Sugar cookies with the saplings

Please make fun of my Legos

The dude who we always buy meat kebabs from

A candid

Christmas Ever 2018 - Gingerbread Houses (the first time any of them had tasted gingerbread - they LOVED it!)

Hohoholy it's Week 18

Hello people! 

I literally freaking hate Bob’s now. I hesitate to say that I will never eat there again because it gets pretty desperate out here in Primavera dude, but I literally don’t think I’ll ever eat there again. On Monday my organs got absolutely demoralized by all of the freaking trash food they serve. I literally woke up like 74 times Monday night and hurled my intestines out hahaha. WHAT A FREAKING WAY TO START MY WEEK. 

But anyway as I sit here listening to the Josh Groban CD my mother sent me, I sit pondering on the lovely week that truly unfolded after the inconvienent events that occured the night of Monday. On Thursday we boogied over to Cuiabá for the Christmas conference and I saw my good friend Elder Fartinez hahaha. This conference was way too freaking rad tho I never thought I could get so freaking warm and exited about seeing other missionaries hahaha. But on Friday in the morning before we started the conference we went to an old folks home and hungout with some FREAKING old people. I’m talkin like ancient, and every single one of them was cuter than a button. I had a super special experience with this dude who I literally love. His name was super long and complicated but were just gonna call him L.

Alright so how I found my homie L. I was sittin there singing some hyms with a group of dudes and I got this feeling like “get up and walk around aimlessly” hahah and like I knew it was from the Spirit so i just went for it. I got up and started walking around and then I saw my homie L. He was chillin in his wheelchair alone and the Spirit literally blasted me and was like go sit by that old man, so I grabbed a chair and just sat by him alone. The second I sat down I realized he was super blind, so I just started talking to him and I described my face to him for some reason haha and then I just asked him about his life and then I felt like I should sing for him hahah so I flipped open my hymn book to Silent Night and was like "do you think I can sing a song for you” and he was like man I would love that more than anything, so I started singing for this dude, but dude I started singing and I kid you not I got half way through the first verse and started to feel the tears comin and I was like alright hahah, and then the second I hit the next verse I was in a full sob. I kept trying to sing for him and I had all these tears running down my face and the Spirit was just insane. L just sat there holding my hand listening. In that moment I felt happier than I have felt in a long long long time. I felt the pure and everlasting love for this dude. I kid you not I felt as if Christ was truly loving L. through my tear filled words. I felt as if nothing on this whole entire earth mattered more to me than that old blind dude in a wheelchair in Cuiabá Brasil. I have never felt such a pure and intensly concentrated love of our Lord and Savior for any human being in my life. After I finished the song he looked up at me and looked me straight in the watery eyes and just goes “thank you” in a super calm and peaceful voice. Wow. I have some gnarly chills right now. Gosh I miss L. In that moment I felt a love for someone that I didn’t even know was possible of feeling. I gained the gnarliest testimony of loving service. Through giving I recieved 34 times more than I could have ever dreamed of getting. Holy moses

After that we took these buses back to the conference but these buses were just SO grizzly haha. The exhaust didn’t leave the back of the bus properly so we all just got freaking RKO~d by so many different fumes and when we finally got to conference I was on a different level haha. But President Granja gave the nicest talk ever. He talked about love for like an hour and a half and he brought up something that scrambled my eggs. He goes "alright, so Jesus Christ, he literally came here to this earth and every single thing he did was through the power of love. He took upon every single pain and sin of ours because HE LOVES US" and I just sat there and tried to register what he just said. I’d heard that phrase like 65 times in my life already, but this 66th time it really hit me. I realized in that moment that literally love itself was the driving force to complete the most painful and powerful thing ever completed. Through love, the most simply complex thing on this planet, Jesus Christ himself completed the Atonement. Without that insanely deep and indescribable love, he would not have been able to complete the task at hand. He did it out of LOVE. Literally it sounds so cliché but love is the most powerful thing in existense. Love is why we wake up, or why we brush our teeth or why we make cookies for someone. Love is literally freaking everything. If we could only start to comprehend the power that loving people truly has, imagine how our world would be changed. Love opens the door to literally do freaking everything.

I wanna toss a quick shout out to first, my mother. Mom I love you more than anyone on the planet. . . and dad too. Secondly I wanna toss some gratitude out to every single one of you that wrote me handwritten letters for Christmas. I wish I had more time to write every single one of you individually. I love you guys more than my English will permit me to show at the moment haha. And thirdly to all my homies serving, or at home, doing the little things every day to become closer to Christ. I love every one of you. 

Have the best Christmas ever tomorrow dudes. Do something to make this a Christmas you’ll never forget <3

ps. I tell everyone here than I am President Trump’s nephew and they lose their biscuits every time hahah. Nothing better than joshin some good old Brasileiros. 

I love you   

My new friend Elder Bleazard

After 2 months of just me and Kevin here in PVA, another companionship finally moved into our apartment yeww (Elder Nye & Elder Ribiero)

Merry Christmas 2018

A Lego my mom sent me (: (Chewbacca & the Millennium Falcon)

I'm staying another transfer with Kevin here in PVA - Week 17

What a week we had indeed.

This week started out so wack hahaha. So I don’t think I’ve ever talked about Angela but she is literally our mom down here in Brasil. She feeds Kevin and I every single day I kid you not. She and her family are crazy religious and they’re so hooked on their church. It’s called the Assembly of God. But to get to the story, like 3 weeks ago she told us she wanted to do a little special niglt for us so we planned for Monday the 10th, and the day finally came and we show up and they literally made 4 different kinds of meat and invited 35 people from thier church to meet us because for some reason Angela literally loves us like children hahah. We were expecting like a cute little night with like the 8 members of thier family or something like that. You know like something that normal people would do... but I am not messing around 12 of the 35 people brought instruments and were playing hymns from their church but all the old ladies were singing so horribly hahah it just toasted the nice instrumental haha. But things got weird when all of the ladies there started pulling out veils and before Kevin and I even knew what was going on all of the ladies had these white veils covering thier faces and heads and it was SO wack haha. Then this dude stands up and goes "alright were all hungry so were just gonna say a simply prayer and then eat” so Kevin and I were like “yeeeee” because we were hungry, and then this dude just starts chanting all this freaking wacky stuff and then everyone yells AMEN and dropped to their knees at the same FREAKING time hahahaha and then the dude just started shouting a prayer and everyone was just yelling praise Jesus glory Jesus alleluja amen over and over and I started laughing so hard it was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced hahah. I looked over at Kevin and he was trying not to laugh so I had to crack him so every like 8 seconds I'd literally shout glory to the infant baby Jesus or something like that and Kevin blew up hahahaha it was so funny. It was hands down the strangest thing I’ve ever been surrounded by. After the prayer finished and all the ladies took off thier veils the dude who prayed invited us to "enlighten them with spiritual knowledge” hahaha so Kevin and I talked to them about how it’s cool that they pray kneeling too, and that Jesus loves everyone ahhaah. I definitely got level 76 battlehammered by this experience it left me absolutely boggled for the rest of the week haha. 

Alright so were gonna get the sad stuff out o~the way right now so we can end the email happily haha. SO, this week. I’m not gonna lie this week was hands down the hardest week of my life. I have never felt so lonely and so absolutely abandoned like I did this week. On Saturday, I had the hardest day of my life. I woke up and literally could not find the energy to get out of bed. I couldn’t see myself getting through the day. I talked to Kevin and he told me we could just take it easy for the day. from 6:30 am until 6:30 pm, almost to the minute I layed in bed crying and praying so freaking hard and literally for the whole entire day I felt completely lost. I had never felt lower in my life. I called one of the APs on the phone and was like "dude, I’m literally getting pulverized out here, gimme something"and so he told me something that helped him a ton in difficult times, and that was "really try to focus on the Savior’s life, and read about him in the scriptures” so he gave me some passages in the New Testament and I went to work on studying. Through studying I really realized that Christ suffered SO much more than just in Gethsamane and on the cross, even though those were the 2 greatest periods of suffering, but the thing that He always did was find it in Him to go and help someone else. I told myself I was freaking over being literally engulfed in sorrow, but by the time Kevin and I got all ready it was like 8:15pm. I said a quick prayer for guidance on what we should do, and I felt like we should visit Dianna, but she lives 40 minutes from our hosue, so I told Kevin to put on his running shoes and we ran to Dianna’s house in our missionary clothes and got there at 8:35 ahaha. When we showed up she was absolutely torn to pieces. She and Edson got in a gnarly fight and they very likely will get in a divorce. She immediately recogized that I was physically torn up haha and also emotionaly unwell, so she asked me what’s up, and then we just started talking for over an hour about literally everything that is destroying us right now hahaha (don’t worry we got permission from president Granja to stay out late.) I shared Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 with her and talked about trials. After we talked she looked me straight in the face and told me "through all the suffering, all the pain and affliction that I am feeling, through literally feeling like God had entirely abandoned me, I know that he will always answer my prayers because He sent you here to talk to me. I need to tell you something that I’m feelin so strongly right now, and that is that your Heavenly Father, and your mother and more proud of you than you will ever know.” And then we both just started crying so hard hahahah it was the happiest sad moment in my life. After that I felt prompted to give her a blessing of comfort so Kevin and I did that, and I literally felt the Spirit guiding my every word. It was so incredibly beautiful. I know for a fact, literally as sure as I live today, that I was able to help her feel like there is still hope because of what I felt earlier that Saturday. I knew breifly the deep and lasting pain she was feeling, and that is because I suffered such pain for myself. I literally have the most insane testimony of our trials, and that they will always always freaking always serve a purpose if we are willing to endure them. It is so worth it to continue to endure, and remember God is orchestrating everything.

Alright now that that’s off the chest we can lighten up a lil haha. This week I got kissed by 2 people. One was on the cheek by this old lady bag of bones hahhahah and the other was on the hand by this 6 foot 8 dude who was drunk off his brain hahaha. I wanna talk about the drunk dude story because it’s better. We were walking down the street on Sunday and this lady literally runs out into the street and yells "are you guys people of God” hahaha so Castro and I were like you bet your bottom dollar young lady haha and then she was like I need you to pray for my daughter right now come into my house. So we went in and her daughter and this massive dude were drunk off their sanity so I just had to have some fun with it hahah. I told them that I was from iceland and they literally were in shock haha. The second I said that the giant dude stood up and gave me the biggest hug on the earth and held onto me so freaking tight and then when he let go of me he grabbed my hand and gave me a huge slobery wet smooch on the hand and I started laughing so hard so then he started laughing and then everyone was laughing hahaha. After that I was like "alright lets pray” so I prayed that they’d stop drinking because they know it’s stupid, and that they would be safe while they were drunk and not do anything dumb ahahah it was a very strange strand of occurrences. I told them we’d return on Tuesday at 3:00 at their house when they were a little more stable.

Quick update on the Church stuff and people we’re teaching from this week. We called every single one of our people we are teaching and the only people who showed up to church were Joao Batista and his fam. Sometimes stuff happens. William is avoiding us, Lazaro is still reading the Book of Mormon but doesn’t wanna wake up for church. Branco and Vania moved back to their home town :( (we gave them a pic of us together and a pic of the temple) Romualdo and his wife seem to be fighting less. There’s a ton more dudes but nothing super interesting is happening with them. But besides the fact that almost no one showed up at church, almost everyone is reading the Book of Mormon and really understanding our messages. It’s rad. The Spirit is truly changing thier lives through the small and simple daily things. Also the Primary Program was this week and my heart got absolutely melted by the off beat translations of all the cute Primary songs hahah.

Well that concludes another week here in Paradise do Leste. I love you guys, and no matter how depressing my emails are know that I really do find happiness in every day and that I am loving my mission :)

The last pic with Branco, Vania and Kassio (finally got a smile)

Christmas party at the church (had 40 pounds of meat... not kidding)

Kev and I using our matching Christmas ties (which we made) and the Christmas socks my mother sent us :) 

Week 16 letter

Wut the eggs. It’s almost the end of 2018

On Monday after Pday ended we ran over to Branco and Vanias house to say hi. When we walked through their gate I saw their kid, Kassio, sitting there naked in a bucket and I involuntaraly yelled "that is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life” and then he started dying laughing and I literally almost fell over. I got absolutely nuclear punched by the level 84 cuteness I was experiencing hahah. After we gave the lesson I gave Branco a white shirt and tie and taught him how to tie a tie and I straight up felt like his father hahahah. Every time he messed up I was like "now now buddy lets restart” haha but after a couple tries he had it down to a science and I got my first feelings of the happiness you feel as a father hahaha.

So on Thursday we went to Rondonopolis for the zone confrence and it was so freaking rad. Castro and I hadn’t seen other missionaries in 2 months hahah it was so so wack. We were out here feeling like dried meat every day hahah. But when we were in Rondonopolis I had a super rad experience I wanna share. We had splits with the ZLs and I was with Elder Wilson and he’s like the most proud American on the planet it was so freaking patriotic. We went and visited this lady who has this gnarly problem with smoking. She smokes like 30 sticks a day haha. We sat down and I started talking to her about just her life and all that stuff and then I went full on brute mode and was kind of firm with this lady. I was just like dude you know smoking is wrecking your life for real, like what’s the motive and she was like I have a ton of family problems right now and it’s like the only relief I catch now a days. Then I got all soft and was like listen, I’m pretty sure that hands down, without a doubt, the most incredibly annoying thing on the earth is when someone walks in your life and starts telling you that you need to change, so that’s the last thing I’m gonna do, all I’m gonna do is invite you to change. I told her the most powerful thing in this entire universe is love, and that through love she could overcome all the problems she’s getting flamed with. I told her, listen my dear, I promise this fake relief you get from smoking that you think is the bomb will get absolutely slaughtered by the love that our Heavenly Father and Jesus have to offer. I told her the relief she will feel from having that love in her heart will literally RKO every feeling she gets from puffin every day. I promised her that if she knelt down and told Heavenly Father "listen dude, today is the day I am gonna start trying to quick smoking” she’s gonna feel of that boost the love of Christ brings into our lives, and that’s what’s gonna lead to the change. Not the 43 other missionaries that told her in a freakin stereotypical missionary voice "listen you need to listen to us and follow the word of wisdom because that’s what we believe so yea quit smoking you old hag” because nobody likes to be told what to do. I challenged her to just try smoking one less cigarette every 3 days, and pray to God every day for the stength to overcome this, and I promised her as a representative of Jesus Christ that if she did that she would overcome her addiction. I truly felt the love of God and Jesus Christ already changing this lady, and that was so freaking rewarding. Like I’ve said 10394 times before, love will cure a person faster than anything else. Just try it. 

So, my mom is officially the best mom on the whole entire planet. She sent Kevin and I some goodies and boy did we enjoy. I have to say the thing that was hands down Kevin’s favorite was the freaking dehydrated pototoes AHHAAH. Dude this kid railed this package of powder potatoes and was like "bro I am moving to the USA and I am gonna eat this stuff every single day” and I was like pal, if you think this goop here is good then your gonna get your brain cells absolutely clobbered by food in the States haha. But if we’re being real the dehydrated potato is pretty underrated. I don’t know if I’m just absolutely deprived off my mind out here, or if they’re actually super tasty, but I must say that pack of Idahoan potatos was pretty enjoyed by me and my Peruano amigo here in Primavera do Leste. 

On Wednseday Kevin and I went weird on the service projects. We did 2 service projects that day and it added up to like 5 hours haha. I have a burn line from my necklace, from my white shirts, and also from the normal shirt I used to do the service in haha. We cut Edson and Dianna's grass for the first project and then they gave us food and it was rad, and then the second one was in the house of one of the members and we just moved a freaking small backyard moutain of dirt into another location in the same 20 foot radius, but hey what needs to be done needs to be done haha. 

Last tender story. Our guy Homualdo and his wife literally, like literally get in a fight every day. It sucks so bad. On Tuesday we went to visit Branco and Vania but they were out doing Branco and Vania things with thier kid, so we just headed to the next people’s house we had marked and when we started walking I got fully evaporated by the Spirit and He told me "go teach Homualdo about the Atonement” so I was like yea I’m gonna do that because I don’t wanna get struck by a bolt of lightning haha. So we went back and clapped our hands in the front of Homualdos house and he took like 5 minutes to come out. The dude was just absolutely pummeled. He was so freaking sad. He said he and his wife got in a gnarly fight and he just felt like a rock. We sat down and we shared Alma 7:11-12 with him and we just talked about how the Lord suffered for literally every microfiber of pain that we feel. Every teeny tiny toe stub was already suffered. We talked about how the Lord is the only dude who knows EXACTLY what he’s feeling, and that without a doubt if he went to the Lord, he’d feel Him take all the pains he’s feeling, and have the courage to start healing his realtionship with his boo. It was incredibly strong, and I fully didn’t feel like Porter was talking, all I was, was a hose, letting the Spirit talk through me. After we closed the lesson he just sat there shook and was like "dudes, that lesson brought a peace into my heart that I haven’t felt in a long long time. I really need this stuff in my life. Thank you guys so much.” and I almost broke down man. Sheesh. The power of the Savior's love, and His church, truly is something so special. 

This week my chest got burned through my white shirt hahahaha 

Love you guys! 

Go help someone feel that love this week.

**note from mama Lynda. . . Porter FINALLY just received 3 packages that have been sitting in the mission office for over a month now. . . including a Thanksgiving package that pretty much had everything for a Thanksgiving dinner but a turkey hehe.  Hopefully that helps explain the story about dehydrated potatoes ;)

Kassio

Service at Edson and Dianna’s house

Kevin and I with Pres and Sister Granja

The rad tree Lovely Lynda sent Kevin and I - love you mama

Ho Ho Holy 15 Weeks

Greetings. This week it rained a ton and it made for a slippery week

in a good way

Wednesday was a rough day. It was some straight up nonsense. Throughout my study that morning I read a good amount of stuff about opening our hearts to the will of the Lord, and by doing so our paths will be guided and we will feel full with a sense of purpose, we will be filled with happiness and absolutely overflowing with love. The promises of comfort we have through just choosing to follow Heavenly Father are so rad. Later that morning I felt like I needed a blessing from Kevin but I already got one on Tuesday and I almost didn’t ask him because I was being a moron. In that moment realized I just studied for 3 hours about opening myself to the will of the Lord and I got absolutely white knuckle serpent punched by everything I was just studying hahah. Like really? Why was I thinking of closing myself off to the blessings the Lord has for me. It was so innocently done and I didnt even realize I was doing it. Satan is a sneaky ape. Literally the first line in Kevin’s blessing he gave me was this... "the Lord does not want you to suffer in the mission.” That kind of caught me off gaurd, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. I’m out here getting absolutely pulverized at times, but then Kevin is telling me in this blessing the Lord doesn’t want me to suffer: Makes sense... but actually makes sense haha. In our lives when the dificult times are thrashing us, we tend to close ourselves off to the blessings of the Lord without even realizing it. If we aren’t consciously trying to stay on our trails the Lord is carving out for us, we tend to start walking our own path and eventually we walk off like a cliff or something, or walk into a boulder or trip over a stick and it always ends up terrible. I really realized that it’s not natural for human beings to be choosing the right. Tell me I’m wrong please, but I’m pretty sure it would be a lot easier to be at home right now taking boxing lessons or something rad like, but I know I need to be doing this mission thing. It’s so easy and so natural to just walk our own path and that’s why we need to be actively receptive to what the Lord has for us. Wake up and consciously follow the path that God is tossing down for ya.

On Thursday we were conversing with the good old Branco and Vania and we had their neighbor join us for the lesson. We got Branco and Vania to bear their testimonies and it was awesome. I was so stoked to hear them bearing thier newborn feelings about this gospel. It was so rewarding. While they were talkin to their neighbor Kevin tossed me the baptismal handsignal, like he wanted me to lob a baptismal invitation to the guy or something and I gave him the look like “wut” and then he made the hand signal one more time and I flashed back to President Antonio’s house 6 weeks ago when I denied Kevin’s invitation to give the message and I got kidney punched by those same memories hahaha, so in an effort so avoid another church talk I invited this dude to be baptized. His name is Homualdo and he has this level 12 cute kid that is the most shy little bean on the earth and every time I see this little kid I sneak up behind him and tap on his shoulder and he always turns around smiling until the second he realizes it’s me and then he almost jumps out of his skin every time haha its my favorite thing. Scaring timid little kids haha. But really the invitation with Homualdo went so stellar. We’re gonna keep working with the man and keep trying our best to invite the Spirit into his life to do the real teaching. Yew.

Alright dudes, were gonna get a tiny bit sensitive again. On Friday when I woke up I felt sadder than an 16th century poet. After studies, Kevin and I left to go change a life. We were like 15 minutes from the house and Kevin goes "dude I forgot something we have to go back to the house” hahah so I was like alright whatever little boy we can do that. We got to the house and I knelt down next to my bed and started literally praying with every last crumb I had in me. I literally said "Listen man, I am getting railed out here, please take my sadness, surround me with angels, just give me anything” and then I finished my prayer. Right after the prayer I chilled on the knees for a moment and got some really cool thoughts. One of them went like this... "listen Porter, I, your Heavenly Father hate seeing you so engulfed in sadness. It pains me so greatly. All of the angels you’ve always had surrounding you, they’re crying with you. We are here mourning with you, don’t you ever forget it.” And that just made sense to me. Without the oppositions in our lives we’d be freaking nothing. We need the opposition. But we also need to remember Heavenly Father isn’t happy to see us getting absolutely broken down to the core. He is crying with us, He is sending our loved ones who are on the other side to lay and mourn with us. They are always with us, but he can’t take our trials until they’re finished because that’s not His plan. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you are feeling completely deserted, like everyone has left you and you’re entirely alone, remember the angels that all of us have are crying with us, that Heavenly Father is pained so greatly by your sadness, but we must go on and continue. Don’t ever decide to give up.

Quick update on a couple of the dudes we’ve been teaching. We tried to visit William and Lazaro this week but they were always gone when we showed up. We show up to church on Sunday and William is just sitting there alone hahahhaha I kid you not this fool got on his motorcycle and rode it to church in the rain with a hole in his chest still oozing who the freak knows what. It was fast and testimony meeting and Branco and Vania got up and bore their testimonies in front of the whole group of 40 people that were there haha and laid a nice testimony down. When they got up to bear their testimonies I literally, like actually literally almost shouted FREAK YES hahahah. William stayed all three hours of church and ended up loving the whole thing. We had a class about families and good old William has 7 kids with 7 different women haha so when the dude giving the lesson says “our children are blessings” William goes "well if my whole life goes to ish at least I’ll always know I have 7 blessings hahah.” Also, Branco got the Aaronic priesthood, and when he got ordained I let out a quick “yeh” in the middle of Sacrament meeting and he was stoked on it hahhaah. He started to laugh while he was standing. We also found Lazaro drinking at the bar on Sunday after church so I took advatage of the moment and started to mess with him a little bit haha. All were gonna say is he said some interesting things (; We have some super rad upcoming people that God is helping us prep. Should be a super good last 2 weeks of the transfer. 

Last thing. The super cool thing about this week was that it was an absolute bore, but I learned so much. I think my love for these people grew more than the Grinch’s heart. The opposition that each one of will have isn’t punishment. Don’t treat it like it is. Go hug your family members and give someone a little extra love this week.

Also, go rail someone in the face with a snowball for me this week hahaha

Over and out 

Elder Porter <3

Email: proskelley@myldsmail.net

photos:

1. Kevin and I drilled two holes in our cinderblock wall so we could put the basketball hoop in a more accessible play spot.

2. Eating some creamed ice

3. Brancster and Vandangle spiritually smiling (again)

Elder Castro, Vania, Branco & Kassio

Week 14 yeet mode

Hello my American friends and family!

I got a haircut this week. Pretty cool. That’s about it. Love you guys.

Nah I’m teasin, we got something.

So literally everything makes so much sense now. Every freaking little thing makes sense now. I have been teaching families here for 2 months, and literally almost every one of them has a really crazy annoying kid haha. Like literally level 13 annoying you have no clue hahahah. I cannot express in words the mastery they have in the art of being annoying. Let’s be real tho, when I was a little kid i was such a moron. For real. I was always always getting toasted for everything and it sucked ahaha. Having said that, I wanna relate all that jazz to something spiritual (yea what’s new.) During my time out here I've realized Heavenly Father is always toasting us with trials, and during our trials its always such a doozy haha. Now looking back on every time my parents crisped me as a kid, I realize that like 85% of the time it was out of love (; nah just kidding we’ll bump it up to 87% haha. But the reason they were layin the lumber on me is because they loved me.They didn’t want me to grow up to be a dirt bag, they were trying to shape me into a decent lad. It really wasn’t punishment at all (also like 87% of the time tehehe) but literally it is the same thing with Heavenly Father. Although we sometimes view our trials as punishments, they are nothing shy of pure love. They are truly only to shape us into the dudes we’re made to be. Being out here on the mission it feels like your trials will never ever freaking ever end, and you know what I realized, they literally won’t ever end. For the rest of your life your going to be getting throttled by stuff that is everything but cool beans. Every day your gonna get absolutely hurled off an emotional cliff, but something that is beautiful is that we have the power to change our trials. We have the power to change our attitude and accept that God is only giving us trials to help our sorry keesters. I am still going through trial after trial out here on the mission, but I am the happiest sap on the planet. I just hated being sad and feeling like a absolute bag of flesh every day, so I just changed my outlook on everything and that made all the difference in the world. Accept Gods help and have the faith that He knows what he is doing. He’s just molding your cute little spirit into something radical.

We popped into Branco and Vania’s house on Tuesday to confirm everything with them and they were literally on the verge of exploding. It was the raddest thing. They were truly just beaming. Branco looked me straight in the face and told me, "you know what, I am so amped to get baptized and I feel so ready dude” and literally I freaking lost it again haha I literally did a tripple fist bumb in the air and just  whispered “yessssssssss” and it literally was the most unrefined goodness I’ve felt in my life. We might be doin it out here fellas. 

So yea, we got the address of this little 12 year old kid named Deylon from the old branch Pres Eric, and when he gave us this kids address he goes "învite this kid to be baptized the first lesson you give” so we were like aye aye captain will do sir.  On Wednesday we found out this kid lived waaay on the other side of  town so we freaking walked an hour and 10 minutes to his house and right when we showed up Kev dawg jokingly goes "so buddy, you ready to get baptized this Saturday haha” and this little grom goes “ et's do it fellas” in this sarcastic tone ahaha so we all had a good laugh about it and sit down to give him a nice lesson about the gospel and he goes "so what to we have to do to get baptized on Saturday” and literally in that moment Kevin and I looked at each other and I’m thinkin "what the dew just happened” ahahah. This kid had already taken all the lessons from the sisters that were here like 3 years ago hahahahah he literally had everything he needed to be baptized and I was so happy I almost leaked my pan. We ran a quick 25 minute refresher of everything we could think of that he needed and then went over the baptismal interview questions with him. For some reason he felt like right now was the time he wanted to get baptized. HAHAH WHAT THE YAM IS THAT hahaha we showed up on this kid’s porch and literally he might as well have already been zipped up in the white jumpsuit hahaha. So yea. I really still don’t know what happened. I have a feeling that’s not really normal out here, but I accept all things with open arms... except hugs from Brasilian chicks for the next 2 years... 

And I think were really doin it. On Saturday we spent like 3 hours cleaning the font because it’s outside and it was dirty as sin. After we cleaned everything and filled the thing with some clean Brasilian tap water the Branch President showed up with a ton of people. He was assigning people different things for the baptismal program and he didn’t have anyone for the spiritual message and for some strange reason he looked me right in the face and goes "man I really wish we had more people here because there’s no one left to give the spiritual message” so I freaking took it personally and looked that old sack of bones right back in the face and said "you know you never asked me if I wanted to give the message, and you know what, I'd be happy to.” hahha with all respect. I was super nervous like 10 seconds before I gave the message and had no clue what I was gonna say so I shot up a speedround prayer and hopped up and started talking about the Holy Ghost, and of course before I knew it I was sobbing my eye sockets out again haha. The boost I always feel through praying, and coupling that prayer with action is one of the most powerful forces I’ve felt in my life. When I finished the message the Branch President got up and goes "âs we can all see Elder Roskelley’s Portuguese is better than we thought, and were very grateful for the spirit he brought.” Thanks old man. After that we boogied to the baptismal font. Here they call it a baptismal sink, thought you’d like to know that. But honestly I got tripple knuckle throttled by the Spirit, specifically when Vania was getting baptized. Literally this work is the most beautiful work on the planet. I have never felt so full of love in my life. After everyone got baptized the sense of comfort and happiness nearly put me into a coma of love. I am still absolutely confused to the core how I developed such a insane love for these people in such a short time. Missionary work is the most beautifully fulfilling thing. 

Last thought. I feel like when people hear the words "missionary work” they feel like they have to have like some name tag and a shirt and tie on 24/7 to be a missionary or something crazy like that, but like I’ve said 1000 times all missionary work is, is love. Love through sharing a smile with someone, or telling them you like the color of their shoelaces, or trading Pokémon cards or something like that. Literally I cannot put a definition on what love is to you, but whatever it is go share it with someone this week. It will make your life so much brighter. I can promise you with all that I have and hold that your life will immediately improve. Your mind will be opened to the incredible amount of things you have to be grateful for, your love for yourself, and the Lord will grow exponentially, and you will literally, physically notice a change in yourself through loving. It still blows me away how humongous of a physical impact something so deeply emotional can have on a human being. 

I love you guys. Every one of you.

Go show God you’re grateful for what you have through love.

Elder Porter <3

Email: proskelley@myldsmail.net

PHOTOS

1. Hanging out on the apartment 

2. Reppin the white meat and cleanin the sink (font)

3. Baptism (: (I promise their spirits were smiling)

Lucky week 13

Hello. If you are reading this that means you are special to me, and I love you. 

Hot dog do we have a lot to talk about this week. yeew

On Tuesday, oh boy was it a Tuesday. Take that however you want. One of our lady investigators, Vania, was super duper sick and so Kevin (Elder Castro) told her we would love to come over and say hi and give her a blessing. We showed up there, talked to her for a sec, and then got ready to give her a blessing. Literally 30 seconds before we gave her the blessing Kevin looked me directly in the eye balls and goes "its your turn” hahahah dude like are we for real. I have like barely a month and a half in the field actually speaking Portuguese. I literally didn’t have time to make an excuse, I only had time to toss up a quick prayer begging God to help my sorry buns. I was absolutely mortified to give this blessing. I put my hands on her head after Kevin annointed the oil, and then literally the Spirit just spoke through me. The only analogy I can think of to relate this incredibly radical experience to is this... I was like a nice garden hose, and our homie Vania was like a lovely flower. The Spirit was, and will always be the water that each of us need in our lives every day if we want to grow. The thing that I really realized that’s extra super cool is that the whole time I was giving the blessing, I was the spiritual tool the Spirit was flowing through. I myself, felt the power of the Spirit incredibly strong, and I left that experience with an increased faith in prayer, and in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is so special to always remember that, through helping others feel the Spirit by being good hoses, we also feel the Spirit and grow from the experiences we have helping others. It’s literally way too perfect. If you want to grow your love for the Lord in any way, shape, or form, and feel the cozy warmth of the Spirit, go be a hose(:

This week, yet again, it rained a TON. Kevin is literally scared by everything hahahaha. Literally every time there is thunder or a dog barks when were walking by a house or a person yells literally anything scares the dude hahah. Every time he gets scared he literally jumps on me and grabs my arm and every time I am just like I promise everything is okay little buddy haha. By far his biggest fear tho is chickens HAHAHA. One day we were walking down the street and I saw these chickens like 30 feet away but Kevin was walking with his head down and didn’t see them til we were like 4 feet away and he screamed SO freaking loud and it had me dying haha. The ground was wet so when he tried to run away his shoes just slid and he was running in place like when a cartoon character gets scared haha. I ran around the back side of the chickens and got them to fly towards Kevin and I kid you not he was mad about it for like 3 hours after that hahaha. I freaking love joshin with Kevin.

Goodness... We have a real actually seriously serious baptism marked with Branco and Vania. I literally am so stoked, let me tell you the story. We visited just Vania alone on Tuesday when we gave her the blessing and asked her to pray about getting baptized, and when we showed up on Thursday she told us that she had prayed, and that she talked to Branco and told him that she wanted to be baptized. He was still super duper skeptical about all of it. This whole entire week Kevin and I were just begging God to help us know what we need to say during our lesson with them. We sat down and started talking to them and literally I’ve never felt so nervous but had the Spirit so strong at the same time haha. I started talking to them, and shared with them the conversion story of my Gramma Mary. Love you Grams! I told them that they don’t need to have the complete knowledge of everything right now, all they needed was the desire. We kept talking to them and Branco just kept denying. It got to the point where I was ready to debate with this dude all freaking night until he said yes haha I was not leaving without a yes haha. I prayed right there in the lesson to know exactly what to say, and the answer I got really actually shook me. After I prayed and knew what I needed to say I looked Branco straight in the face and said "Branco, I can promise you, literally in the name of Jesus Christ himself, that if you accept our help right this very moment to be baptized with the love of your life, you will feel prepared, and have the desire to be baptized on the 24th of November.” And after that everything literally just went quiet for a little bit, and then he just goes "vamos....(we will)” AND DUDE I LITERALLY HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE STOKED IN MY LIFE hahaha I am not kidding hahahah. Kevin was trying to keep it calm but I literally was going crazy hahah I grabbed the Book of Mormon that was in my lap and held it in the air and shouted “YEEEEES” hahah it was way too G it was like a freakin movie hahaha I was so dang stoked hahahah. I literally have had very few times in my life where I felt the Spirit stronger than in a tiny little house in Brazil in Primavera do Leste. YOOOOOOOO I’M ACTUALLY DOING IT DUDES hahahahahhaha. All it took was 3 months of roudhouses to the face, and some faith hahahaha.

On Friday night we were having a cute family night with Edson and Dianna about eternal families and we had two member families there and it was dope, but we were watching a video about temples and the Mt. Timpanogas temple popped up and it absolutely falcon punched my feelings right in the face hahah I freaking miss the mountains and the temple and y’all folks back at home gee wizz hahah. We live in the most beautiful place on this whole earth.

Branco and Vania were the happiest people I’ve ever seen in my life in church on Sunday. They were just beaming. They were inviting everyone to their baptism and laughing and smiling and just being amazing people. It was so rad. I literally am so stoked that Branco is already seeing the blessings of acting and following the Savior. I love these people. They are really proving to me that when we do those things we know are right, even when its so freaking hard, we will be so insanely blessed with happiness and joy and laughter for as long as we stay on the path. 

Last thing. On Saturday night we showed up at one of our people’s houses and there was the kid there that had been studying English for 4 years and he was dying to speak English with me hahah so I started talking to him but literally couldn’t find the freaking words in English it took me like 5 minutes to switch my brain haha I felt like such a goon. This kid was so amped to speak English with me and for the first like 5 minutes I could barely even speak haha. But I think it’s like super really cool I have 3 months in the mission and am already forgetting English. When I get home again my face and arms are gonna be black as midnight and I’m gonna speak a different language. Just what I want (: Hope your ready for that mom. I already have a tan line on my neck from the collared white shirts haha.
Welp thats about it.
Amo voces! Façam esta semana algo especial...
Love you guys! Make this week something special(:

Elder Roskelley

proskelley@myldsmail.net

We love Elder Castro!

Porter’s “tan line”