Elder Porter in Chile

Hello  all. It has been quite the week.  I had the chance to do everything as the penultimate week of my training.  Next week we have cambios and there is a chance that I may get transferred.  Who knows where.  The only thing is if I move, I have to leave a lot of the food I bought today in the Pension.   I did buy peanut butter today and it is very expensive.  I will be taking that in my suitcase but the rest will stay.  We are working super hard this week to do all we can to leave the sector in a good place if we leave.   Today for Pday we went to go see the Mummies that are here in a museum.  Apparently they are the oldest in the World.  Who knew?  It was actually nice to go see them because the museum is more up in the valley and there is actually a lot more green there.  It didnt feel like we were in the desert anymore.    This week we also finished teaching a family for baptism  next Saturday  and afterwards we got to see and hold the llama that they had purchased th

Hello my friends! Can´t believe how fast the time has flown.  At the end of the next cambio (cambio is a transfer cycle)  I will have 6 months in the Mission!  Aghh.  when I think about that the time seems so short.  This cambio ends next week and then I will be done with my in-field training.  That means I have to lead the sector this week.  Lead the planning, lead the lessons, coordinate with members.  It seems like a lot, but I have a good comp and I am learning a lot about faith.  God doesn´t care so much about the place we are at so much as the effort we are giving.  If we are giving the effort, He can work with that and make up the rest.   We went to the caves today for Pday and that was really great.  It is really pretty, there are tidal pools and wild lizards and crabs and all sort of things.  And also no people so it is a little expensive to get there, but worth the trip.  I would post pictures but my card reader is with another missionary right now.  Next week I will se

What a long week.  A part of that was that we had of time of not working on Monday  and Tuesday  for Zone Conference.        The zone conference was really good and this time I understood a lot more!  Gift of tongues is real.  But really we talked a lot about Hard work.  It is necessary for many of us to pass through hard times, but hard is good.  It is a sign to us that the Lord trusts us enough to do whatever it is and grow from it.  This principle I have seen a lot of in the mission, but even though it is difficult in the moment, I already see how much I have grown and changed since I left back in July.  If we replace our fear with faith, it helps us have patience and humbles us to rely more on Jesus Christ.  The other part of the conference was working with members and recent converts.  You are really critical to the work!      We had a baptismal service for Roberto this week which was really nice.  I had the privilege of confirming him  on Sunday  during Sacrament meeting.  We

Hello Everyone       I have had a great week and I hope it was the same for ya'll.  I completed 3 months in the mission last week and to celebrate I ate a delicious churasco.    Hoy día we went up to the Morro that is here in Arica and that was just fantastic.  It had some great views but I also realized how brown it is here.  There really is a limited amount of green.      I learned a lot about patience this week with myself.  I have noticed that I am still in the beginning of the mission and there is time.  I received a really personal impression from the Spirit during this week and that has given me a lot of comfort and peace.  My testimony of the fact that God knows us and helps us as we strive to develop and learn more has grown so much since coming out.  It isn´t always easy, but when it is easy I get complacent, and that is not why we are here.  We are here to grow and progress!  We have seen that with one of our investigators that we met last week.  He had a lot of tr

Hey all!   Crazy week and I don`t have a lot of time to write.  My computer that is in the internet cafe is super slow and wasted a lot of my time :) so forgive me.      I got a new comp.  He is Chilean and is 23 years old.  Turns out my 2nd or 3rd or 4 cousin, no sé, but someone related to me was the hermana that converted him.  We get along great and he really knows how to go about doing the Lord´s Errand.        Conference was super great!  I hope you all had a chance to listen to it this weekend and if not, it's on  lds.org .  Just a few highlights that I picked upe was the need to focus more on Christ.  All light comes from Christ and we really can´t develop any Christlike attribute or I  guess improve at all unless we focus on Him and act out of our desire to become more like He is.  I also learned a little bit about obedience to the commandments in my personal study this week.  God gives us commandments because He loves us.  His purpose for us is also to become lik