Elder Porter in Chile

Boom! I got transferred... about 20 minutes away.  I think because the micro bus took a very long windy route.  Good news is I still get to see everyone that I knew in zone conferences.  My new companion (number 11) is Elder Jensen and he has 1 transfer less than me.  He too is from Canada like my last comp and they actually have a lot of friends in common. We had a really good last week in the sector that was filled with doing interviews and finding some cool new people.  But I have to say the best part of the week was church. As a missionary, it can be the most stressful morning of the week trying to verify and get people to come.  Well, it was still that way, but we were able to confirm our 2 friends from last week and the other companionship confirmed their 7.  Yes, we had 9 confirmations at church.  Actually it took so long that the sacrament put us over the hour and to the disappointment of the high councilor visiting, he could only speak for 2 minutes.  Yes, a missionary

Final week of the transfer happening.  Looking like there might be some changes in my companionship. We had a really goo week working and finding some new people.  We finally got a couple to come to church that we have been working with.  and we had 2 baptisms! TA The weather has been pretty brutal.  Cold showers are now my best friend and I hate cold water.  Elder Baines and I decided for lack of people in the street to knock some doors and ask for water as a contact method.  Everyone rejected us but they all gave us some much needed drinks.  It can be a little sketchy because the water here is loaded with heavy metals (copper, arsenic etc..) But my body is used to it now. Some guy even gave us an ice cream bar!   It is good to know that with each rejection, it just gives us more time ot find the ones the Lord is preparing. Ran out of money because I had planned for a 4 week month instead of 5 weeks and so Elder Baines and I had a fun 3-4 mile run to centro to pick up money.  Ca

Yes, this week just flew by. Highlights 6 intercambios (exchanges with other elders) to do interviews in many different parts of Antofagasta.  Result: The ward had 7 baptisms this weekend!  It was lit!  Elders San Martin and Cachiguango are really good missionaries and it is a pleasure to share the ward with them and learn from them. RAIN !  It drizzled last night waking me up at 2:30 with a wet bed.  Being as it never rains, the tin roofs are put on top of the houses with very little thought to what angle they slope towards, which in this case, happened to be right above my bed.  Still slept good though! My comp got bit by a big dog so I have felt a little wary while walking this week. We got to eat lunch with our amigos today and it was really great to get to sit down and really get to know them better.   We just keep working here in the field of the Lord.  Really excited and grateful for the experiences I have had and for the next few months that I have left. Didn't

Well, the thing is that the weeks just pass by so quickly that I really honestly don't remember a whole lot.  Something cool this week is that we have a new schedule where we eat lunch at 1 instead of 2 and we do practices and study from 2-3 and then idioma ( language study) from 3-330.  It makes everything flow a lot smoother and I like it.  We found 56 new investigators this week. but only 2 came to church :(  Thats the hardest part to get people to fulfill on their commitments.  But it is part of the fun.     I also am now able to write a little bit more in my journal.  I had an interview with Presidente this week and it was really good.  Elder Baines is super good, and we get along well. We decided to hike the anchor today for preparation day.  You can't really see it in any of the photos. It's like the Y of Antofagasta but it really only took like 30 minutes to get up there.  

part of new area We had a really cool week last week and found a lot of people.  We brought 7 to church yesterday so I was able to leave Elder Burton with a lot of work.  With it being Consejo de Liderazgo on Thursday, the district leaders are invited, so actually the guy I am replacing here is staying until Thursday and we'll be in a trio. Well, cambios have passed by again which means I am entering the 4th quarter of the   mission.  All the sisters from my group go home today and tomorrow so it's a new phase of the mission. I also got transfer calls on Friday and now I will be writing y'all from Antofagasta.  It's not as pretty as Iquique but a lot bigger!   My sector, from what I can see, is  hills and  tomas( shanty towns or slums )  so that should be exciting.   I will miss Iquique and the people there. I will be finishing the training of Elder Baines  who is from elder Burtons group . I am now a stepdad to use the mission terms. It should be pretty

Feliz Navidad! Christmas felt like forever ago, but it was really great.  Ate some turkey, chicken, potatoes, and rice and did some gift exchanges. Shout out to Elder Burton for the sweet shark socks that I will be wearing on  Pday . Also got some candy and cologne, but the best part was just being able to get out and see and visit other people.  We made some brownies and were able to pass those around to some people. So this week was really a different type of week.  We had a really great time at the Christmas conference for missionaries.  The zones from Arica came so we had about 60 missionaries and a lot of fun.  The best part was that the office had asked all the families to make a short video and so while we were all eating our lunch, they showed a reel of a lot of families.  Some were really funny and others more heartfelt.  It was a really cool thing to see my fam up there.  Obviously we also had the Skype call today and that was also really good. Flash the U Friday