Christmas in Uruguaiana

CHRISTMAS in URUGUAIANA

Feliz Natal (Merry Christmas) guacho style!!!! 

Oi!!! I am here in Uruguaiana and LOVING it!!! Seriously! We live in a little apartment with two other sisters. It is a tiny place, but I love this place. I have truly learned how to live with very little. My companion is amazing and we are loving serving together. Her name is Sister Coelho dos Santos and is from Pará, Brasil. 

      My companheira. (My companion)

My companheira é O. 

I love serving with her.

Sister Coelho dos Santos is from an area next to the Amazon river (way up north) and talks with the accent from Rio de Janeiro and Portugal. It is sweeet haha. It's a ton of "sh" sounds. I wrote about my week in my journal and just took a Picture. I will send them all to you. I will be calling you all in about an hour and a half!!!!  Hope your all going to be there!!! Presidente Parrela let us write today!!! Wahoooo!!! 

JOURNAL ~
So, I am here in Uruguaiana, Brasil. I have been learning lots already. We shared the ward with the elders - Elder Magalhanes (Brasil) and Elder Poulson (American Fork). The members are amazing. The bishop is amazing. The leader of the mission is incredible, and our area has people that actually want to listen. We have already seen so many miracles. It was raining really hard this week and we didn't have umbrellas, but God doesn't stop his work. It started pouring rain and I saw a woman smoking on the side of the road. The spirit told me to talk to her. Tons of people don't have a full set of teeth. It's sad. This lady only had one tooth and it was so hard to understand what she was saying. Another day it started pouring too and so we went under a tree in front of someone's house. A young woman let us in and her uncle was there sitting on the porch with us. I began talking to him and we came to find that he is a less active member. It was amazing talking to him realizing that God led us to him and was giving him another chance to return to church. The spirit truly testified to my heart that God led us there. He is in charge of this work. I'm so grateful he is using me as an instrument to bless his children. There are no words to describe the amazing feeling that comes to a missionary when they receive a witness that the spirit is guiding their words and actions. We are teaching a cute couple of 22 years of age that are expecting a baby. They are super interested in the Gospel and came to church on Sunday with us. They both accepted baptism and marriage and are loving the lessons. It is so fun teaching them because we can see the desire they have to be able to be an eternal family. They are willing to do anything to make it to the temple to be sealed. They are elect children of God that I know we were meant to find. We are teaching so many amazing people. I love Uruguaiana. Us sisters joke that Santiago was a test, and if you pass the test, you get to make it to Uruguaiana.  

Leaving Santiago

Santiago was amazing, but it's hard. The people here are so open and willing to listen to us, it's awesome! Today was Christmas and we ate churrasco in the house of a member. It was so GOOD!? They had potato salad, beef and pork churrasco (I wanted to cry it was so good), fruit salad and rice. So amazing. 

I loved having Christmas here with these amazing guachos . There is no place I'd rather be right now, and no other thing I'd rather be doing right now in my life, than being a missionary here in Brasil. I feel so blessed to be a missionary at this time. The news of the Church of Jesus Christ is one of happiness. I know He lives. I know He loves us. I'm so grateful for the love that God had in sending his perfect Son to earth to give us an example and to save us all. Through him, we can overcome anything and live again with God, our families, and our Savior in complete happiness forever.

Conferência de Natal!!! (Christmas conference). 

I am so excited because in a couple weeks I will be going on divisions with the sisters in Alegrete and I will be serving with my sweet companion Sister Hansen again!!!

Minha companheira
(My companion)

 The elders I served with in Santa Maria! It was so fun to see them because I've changed so much.

The rain entered our house through the window and got my companions bed wet!! She slept on the ground.

 

We came home soaked!!!!! It was hilarious. We used huge plastic bags to keep our stuff dry.The weather here is bipolar. It looks like it won't rain and then it rains haha and sometimes it's super hot and boots don't work with the immense heat.

My shoes are getting killed!

The rain was horrible this week!!! We walked in a literal lake all day with a broken umbrela that a member let us borrow haha

The chickens here are half dinosaur!!! haha jk
It is an ostrich egg.

These two are the CUTEST old couple that we visit. They are less active and are stinkin' adorable and totally gaúcho. 

TRAINING TRANSFER! 

Peruvian, American, Brazilian, and Argentinian 

working in Santiago together.        

  

Báh tchê.(looked it up. Is Brazilian slang for -"too ridiculous for words"). I don't even know where to begin with this week. I received the Christmas packages from my F. grandparents and my mom and absolutely LOVED them!!!   

I was dying at everything I received. Thank you so much for everything it was perfect!!!
This week was full of teaching, running from appointment to appointment, sweating like crazy all day because of the heat, insane humidity, and seeing miracles.  

Popsicles in the heat. 

But I wanna share what happened this week with transfers.

So, normally we get transfer calls on Thursdays instead of Friday because President P. receives revelation super fast but on Wednesday this week, while I was getting ready for the day, we received a phone call. I saw that it was from the Assistants to the President. I immediately thought, we didn't do anything wrong, did we?' haha   So I answered the phone and the elder started to speak. "Sister Porter, President Parrella wanted me to talk with you. "You have now been called to serve as a sister training leader."....ahhh my heart was beating so fast!! I about died. He then continued to explain the role of this new calling and what I need to do as a leader of the sister missionaries. I literally panicked. I feel so inadequate and am still new to the mission but I have learned that in the mission, Heavenly Father calls us to do hard things because he knows we can do it. I feel so humbled to have received this calling. I completely didn't see it coming. Sometimes when we don't feel ready for greater things, our Heavenly Father gives us challenges to make us grow and be stronger. I am so excited to help the sisters here in this mission. I have already passed through a ton of things while on the mission. Things that have helped me grow, learn, overcome my fears and weaknesses, and change who I am personally as a daughter of God and as a missionary. I have completely changed while on the mission.  

I am so grateful for the confidence God has in me to lead the sisters here in the mission to be better and work harder. On Sunday we went to Santo Angelo for stake conference. and guess who was there? Presidente Parrella! ahh I went up to shake his hand and he said "Congratulations, Sister Porter. Heavenly Father trusts in you. You will be a great leader." I about died. I didn't have any words but receiving this calling has made me really grateful for the opportunity I have to share the things I have learned with other sisters so that this work can go better. 

Our zone

I will be heading out for the city of Uruguainana tomorrow afternoon to be the companion of Sister Coelho of Brazil. I am so excited! I am going to be on the border of Argentina! and my comp, Sister da Silva will go to São Gabriel to finish training a sister. My city! haha I feel so immensely blessed. I cannot describe the love I have for the gospel and this amazing work. We are so lucky as members. God is real. Christ lives. This is the truth!!

Sister Porter

PS: I wont have P-day next week because Christmas will be our P-day but I will be calling on the 25th. I cannot wait to see you!!!

The next time I will talk to you will be through Skype in Uruguaiana!! So excited! xoxoxox

Our district

Ward Council

Less active family we visited

MANY MISSION MIRACLES

Olá! The first thing I see on the computer is that my dear Uncle S. died. What sad news. He will be missed. I am so excited to be able to speak face to face with you all in 3 weeks! I want to hear how you are all doing and tell you about Brazil. This time of year is crazy. This week we will have transfer calls. De novo!(again) and transfers are next week with our Christmas conference that same week. Time is flying. I am trying my best to make my emails better, but as a missionary we really don't have time to write everything. After writing the president, punching in the weekly numbers, and seeing who wrote, we don't have any time. A couple weeks ago the timer started beeping that I only had 10 seconds left and I needed to send something to you all, so i just said "love you all" and sent it off. It's tough with the time we have. Any missionary would know. Honestly, I am having a hard time writing in English. I think I want to just write in Portuguese and you can use Google Translate. It would be a lot easier for me :-).

Andando na chuva! estávamos molhadas(Walking the rain. We are soaked!)

Funny things that happened this week:- Whacked my face into a wet tree branch with a ton of people in the street. My companion couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard.

This week was literally a miracle. Every single day had a miracle in it. 

-Visited a less active and talked to her about her family and then I questioned "Sister Magali, "Have you already been working on your tree?" (family history)....she says, "No, she needs help"...comes back with her Christmas tree....hahahaha

T. - she's 14 years old and we've been teaching her for a while now. She reads the Book of Mormon and prays, but won't come to church. We planned on cutting her and moving on so that we don't waste time with someone that doesn't really want to change. But, when we got there we asked her one last time if she had prayed about these things and to our surprise, she said she had prayed and felt a calm feeling that was so powerful that she cried. Wow what a response it was an amazing lesson all of Friday was just a huge miracle

J. - she is so sweet and has such a cute little family. We planned on teaching her about the word of wisdom, but in the middle of the opening prayer the spirit told us that she needs to hear about temples and about eternal families. She told us she wants to be baptized and she received an answer. Miracle.

 

Happy in the street after witnessing a miracle 

L. - we are now as missionaries sharing a Christmas video called "Nacio el Salvador" the whole world is using and we were wondering what to do one day after all of our lessons fell through. So we started tracting and I felt the need to talk to a lady sitting with her dog. We were weren't instantly accepted, but she let us in. We shared a video with her and she said she felt something different. She prayed for us by calling us angels and thanked us a ton. Miracle.

O. - we planned to visit a less active, but he wasn't home. This means God has other plans for us. We started walking down the street and thought of O.. She is the mother of I., the boy who was baptized. We walked by her house and it looked like she had visitors, so we stopped and prayed to know what to do. Immediately, we both had the impression that we needed to visit her. It started raining and so we hurried in to her home. She welcomed us in and we saw she didn't have visitors. Immediately after we entered her home, the rain stopped. God really was leading us to her home. We did not know what to share with her, but a scripture came into my mind – D.&C. 121:7–8. As I flipped to the page, my companion gasped with the look of shock on her face, she said, "I was thinking about the same scripture." We talked about trials and with tears in her eyes she expressed her gratitude for us. Told us she wants to go to church every Sunday, and that she feels calm\alleviated when we visit her. She shared with us the feelings and her heart and the things she is struggling with. We just listened. Didn't say much. But the spirit taught her.

M. – we have been working a ton with her. She believes in everything but doesn't fulfill commitments. But randomly, we felt we needed to stop by her home. We shared a message about Joseph Smith and just as we were about to say the closing prayer, she says, "Sisters, I have been praying a ton and I'm trying to receive answers. The other day I received an answer that this church is true. I miss the church and the feelings I have there and your visits. I have been feeling like something has been missing, and I know it is the church. I want to be baptized, but not yet. I want to go to church every Sunday and soon be baptized." Miracle.

This Sunday was the best Sunday. M. came to church with all of her kids. Two less actives we were teaching came and bore their testimony. We bore our testimonies. I. bore testimony, and shared his conversion story. Everyone was moved. A woman in our area came to church we had never met her but she just felt to come to church and came alone. It was so amazing.

Nossa cappella (our chapel)

 

A cute little girl that dressed up for us hahaha We love her so much!

I love this work. I love these Gauchos more than anything. We are working so much and seeing the spirit work within us to bless those children here in Santiago. Every week when our district leader calls us he is in shock at our numbers and how many amazing experiences we have. Truly this is God's work. He uses his children, who don't know much and blesses lives. I could not be more grateful for the many experiences we have daily, the blessings God gives us as missionaries and members, and for the priceless time I have personally to be a witness of Him. As I look back to when I first came into the mission, I can see how much God changes us and mold us into who He wants us to be. I know He lives. I know His plan is so much greater than we can ever imagine. His gospel and love for us is perfect. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a missionary and share with others the knowledge that we have. I can't believe I'm here actually doing what I've always dreamed of. I love Brazil. I love my Savior. This church is true. Remember Him always and He will direct you to what you need to do. I love you all!

Ten um a boa semana! Sister Porter

Bus station on my way to Santiago, it's a way old pic but I thought you'd like.   

 Our view walking to lunch.   

Wanna Be a Ward!

WANNA BE A WARD!

I'm freaking out....it is December already  What the?! The time is flying!! This week "trabalhmos até o pó!" (we worked to the dust). It was so fun. I love serving with Sister Da Silva.

We have a great time and truly want to change this area together. We are in a branch, and so we are trying to help them become a ward. They only need 2 more men with the Melchizedek priesthood to become a ward. So we are trying to find those men. We have been trying to find new investigators and man its been rough. I don't even want to know how many doors we´ve clapped and how many people we´ve talked to. A ton! Many rejections, but it's all good work and we are trying our best.

It is so sad knowing they are rejecting Christ and his church though.  But someday they will know and they can't say that we didn't try to tell them of the happiness that we have. We had another lady yell at us this week and it was tough. She was talking so horribly at us that my companion started to cry. We have been learning a ton together. There have been some tough experiences that we´ve had here together but I know that this church is true. I know it because of experience. I received an answer and I cannot deny it.

The atonement is so real. We have been feeling A LITTLE bit of the rejection that Christ must have felt and man how much more of a love I have for Him. He is our ultimate example.

We found elect children of God this week too. It was pouring rain, and there was no one in the street, but I saw a man and I immediately felt/thought "I know him from somewhere. I've seen him before!" and the spirit told me to talk to him. So I did and he began to tell us that he had been searching for the true church.  We taught him about the restoration. The spirit was so strong the entire time. He accepted everything and believed in everything. We challenged him to be baptized and he accepted. It was an amazing experience. I know the spirit guides us and tells us what to say and when to say it. He is so real.

I. received the priesthood and blessed the sacrament yesterday! It was so wonderful and special to see a young man who was doing drugs and horrible things a year ago , blessing the sacrament now. I love this work. The gospel changes people.

I love being a missionary. This is such an amazing time!!! I love these Brazilians. I love their culture. I love the hard days and the good days. I love teaching the gospel. I love the people we teach everyday and the things I learn from them. I love my Savior.

Sister Porter 

White & Wishfully Working

OI!! I am loving my companion and new area.  Everyone is still calling me Sister Potter and everyone stares at me like I'm from outer space (because I'm an American)..haha it's great. Santiago is a great city! We have been studying the Book of Mormon in English and Portuguese and it is a blast helping my companion learn. We laugh a ton and get along really well. This week was tough. The people here are either of the Evangelica or Espirita churches and don't want to listen to us. We talk to everyone and anyone. Trying to find the elect children of God that are prepared and ready, but man, these people are tough cookies. We laugh so hard at how we seem to find the psycho people that don't make any sense and try to preach to us. My companion always says "What the? What is the matter with these people?" haha We have had so many weird experiences this week. People don't want to hear from us when they know we are the Mormon's but it's all good and it's all part of the work. It was really funny this week making contact with people in the street. I always talk to everyone, and naturally assume they aren't members and haven't heard from the missionaries. Wrong! It was so embarrassing this week making contact with members and not knowing that they were already haha. I started talking to someone in the street....: "Hi, how are you? Sorry to interrupt, but we are missionaries from the church...." and my companion: "Hi Brother N."....um ya embarrassing haha. We laughed so hard. Happened to me about 3 times this week.

Caught in the rain! 

Another funny thing that happened. A lady thought that I had a sickness and was looking at my eyes and face and then said;"No, you're just white" and compared me to the refrigerator. hahaha How awful! I'm so white and I don't know why. 

Our zone

We are working with amazing people. A. P. is an investigator of gold! She loves the lessons and we are so excited to help her and her family. D. is a really special man. He always is at church and loves the sisters. He even bought us lawn chairs so we can teach him outside his house haha. He is this cute old man that really wants to get baptized but can't because of a crime he committed a long time ago. He shot and killed a man. But he has changed through the atonement and is such a powerful example of faith. President Parrella sent a letter to President Monson to ask permission so that he can be baptized, but we dont think he will accept because he willfully killed the man in defense of his life and it's been about a year and a half. We are keeping faith and are excited for the day he will be baptized. This week we were teaching a man about the Plan of Happiness when his wife came in and started yelling at us and asking us a ton of questions. She was arguing with us and was trying to prove us wrong. She was treating us like dirt. It was a horrible feeling. Normally the people here are so welcoming or just reject with respect, but this woman had no respect and was slapping us in the face with her unkind words. I was completely shocked. We left, of course, but I have been thinking a lot about this experience. I've thought of how much more our Savior went through! How many people treated him poorly! My heart hurt hearing her words, but I was reminded that Christ's life wasn't easy and that He was more than rejected. I am so grateful for his sacrifice and love. I can't imagine how He felt. I love you all!

Sister Porter

Shoe shots -Above two pairs died this week and someone lost their teeth in the road.