Elder Porter in Chile

Buenas, Pues, I got my 3rd Hijito from Antofagasta last week.  His name is Elder Burton from Ogden, but he doesn’t look as gringo as the rest.  He plays good soccer and his Spanish isn’t too bad por una semana en el campo ( 1 week in the field).  Actually, he is a lot like my cousin Jake so we get along pretty well. This week we did a lot of things, but 2 highlights.  The first was our Christmas Service Project,  We went to an Ancianato (old folks home) and sang and visited them with our Christmas hats.  There was also a man there who destroyed half the Elders in our zone at chess.  The other half didn’t get a chance to play.  It was really awesome and fun. The second one was that we have been teaching this Haitian couple for about 2 months and now this week we will go take out an hour so that they can get married.  They will be baptized  either next week or the one after.  They are really awesome and I can’t wait ...

Well, we received cambios this week and right now I am writing from ..... IQUIQUE. That is because I did not leave. So it will be close to a year that I have been in almost the same area. Elder Mayfield left to go to Copíapo last night. So I said goodbye to my 2nd son and received news that I am staying to have a 3rd SON!!! So I am stoked to train again. Really I learned so much from these 2 past cambios. The only thing is, this is my 3rd sector and I will be completing a year and a half at the end of this transfer. Its looking like I may only have one more left if the pattern continues. Our week was super dope. We baptized Juan who is 10. This kid is super smart. He is able to pretty much remember everything that he reads in the Book of Mormon and is coming to church on his own on his bike. His family doesnt have much interest but we are going to focus on them and make it happen. Fun experience during the last week. The streets were unusually super empty on Tuesday and Wednesday so w...

July 9, 2018 S o this week was super awesome with a little twist from pday.   My leg is fine and I am sure glad I got that tetanus  shot .  Basically we were on the beach today and i was running and there was this half buried concrete box with iron rebar that I didn't see and I landed on it and it took some flesh out of my shin. Sorry I cant send the photos.  The computer I am on doesn't have a place to put in the SD card. but that is why we are writing so late. This week was way awesome.  The week anterior we were told by a active member that she was  going to marry her convive (live-in) boyfriend tomorrow and she wanted to know what it took to be baptized.  So with that hope, we went over on Friday night to teach the Restauración and the Spirit was so strong.  Elder Luque gave the first vision and the spirit was whoah.  We usually take a pause after saying it so that the investigador pueda sentir el Espiritu testificar (can fee...

May15- May 21 Super crazy and I am running short on time so sorry! Probably the biggest news is that Elder Turner and I received special Transfers!  and it is not because we did anything bad. My comp is going to open up a new sector in Calama which is way hotter and colder than any other city in the mission.  It is like 4-5 thousand meters above sea level.  My new comp is coming in from another mission (south of Chile) and is from Argentina.  He is really new in the mission and I get the opportunity to train him de nuevo.  I am excited and a little nervous.  Its a big responsibility but I look forward to the challenge.  One thing Elder Turner and I decided to start saying is One degree more.  Whats the difference between water at 99 and 100 degrees?  It boils and so we are wanting to give just that little extra effort.  Should be a neat experience. So today was also my birthday and we were able to visit the Esmeralda boat t...

Hey all. So It looks like there are some new cambios in the zone and I am not part of it.  I am staying with Elder Turner for 1 more cambio making it 3 in total so far. This cambio ends in June when I complete 11 months in the mission which is so crazy to think about so I will just try to focus on the upcoming weeks. We had a really good week as far as meeting new people but we only had 2 investigators at church :(.  We are surprised every time some cool person just seems to pop up in our path, but we know it is the Lord's doing and he is showing us the people that are prepared.   We did have to say goodbye to Elder Turner (the other one).  He is going to the office in Antofagasta, but it was way cool sharing the pension with him.  We had a great house this last cambio but we will keep it going.  We did hang an American Flag outside the house with our names which was really refreshing.  It was kind of neat to see it flying and gave us some a...

Hey GUYS- This week has just been a blur.  I did a few intercambios, used my new camera a lot, and most of all, taught some dope lessons.  We actually had a really neat opportunity to have a lesson with the aunt of one of our converso recentes.  We invited the matrimonion misioneros to come and help us, because one the main focuses that we are making with her is about marriage.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that the family is sacred and that children have a divine right to have a father and mother commited to each other through marriage.  Children learn and have the best chance of success in this life when these circumstances are present.  Anyways, Vanessa has a pareja (little bit more than a boyfriend in the sentido of spanish) who lives with her and on Friday we helped them come to the decision to formalize their relationship and get married! That was probably the biggest miracle of the week.  Of cours...

Andrew Porter Mar 26 (2 days ago) to  me Hey guys, Sorry about the late email.  We spent pretty much the whole day moving into the new house.  That is what we did for Pday and then we had to go down to Iquique para sacar plata.(take out money)  So that took some time.  This email will be pretty short so super sorry about that but I am uploading a lot of photos  :) This week well just   Friday   was probably the strangest day I have had yet.  It started off with us packing up a lot of the house and moving it to the front patio.  We got to live out of some plastic bags and our suitcases for like 3 days.  Anyway that same day we were invited to preach in a fairly large Evangelical church which we are probably doing   on Saturday   after the afternoon session.  Also Sarah, the 8 year old girl we baptized made us some dope necklaces and it was pretty cute.  They are just...