Happy 4th of July!!! :)

How’s it going? You have slacked on writing me this week… I have gotten one letter this entire week and that was from Syd. So thank you Sydney, you are not a slacker. :)

So I have 4 more days here at the MTC. It’s such a crazy feeling! I can’t believe how quickly 2 months flew by! It’s crazy to think that next week at this time I will be living in Portugal!! So nuts! A quick heads up… don’t send me anymore Dear Elders. I won’t get them! We don’t get Dear Elders on Saturday or Sundays, and typically we would get them on Monday, but the mailroom isn’t open because of the 4th of July. So if you send me them, I won’t get them! So I would say your best bet is just to e-mail me back, and I will be able to read that when I get to Portugal. Also, I still have not heard when we will be able to call home. I’m assuming it will be when we are in the SLC Airport, because our layover in NYC is only like an hour and a half. So don’t silence your phone, because I will be calling like around 7am. I know it sucks that it’s early, but it’s better than nothing. And if you don’t hear from me in the morning, it will probably mean I’m calling from NYC… so just keep your phone close to you all day, because I don’t know a for sure time unfortunately! And if you don’t hear from me at all, it will probably mean for some reason we weren’t able to call. Hopefully that isn’t the case! I’ve heard from most of the missionaries we are able to call! So you better answer your phone! :) or I will just leave a voicemail or something ha.

So things have just been crazy getting ready to go and all that. It feels unreal that we are leaving on Tuesday! They called 6 new zone leaders on Wednesday, so we have to help teach them all what to do.

Mom- I had to get a shot yesterday and it cost $97! How stupid is that? I hate how dependent on shots this world is. You already know my feelings about that :) But I put the money on the CC, so I was just warning you. Also, I will need you to call the bank and let them know I will be living in Portugal after Tuesday! Thank you :) are all my loan stuff taken care of? It feels weird not to know anything going on in the outside world haha.

I plan on sending my uke and stuff either today, or tomorrow. Either way, you will get it sometime next week I’m assuming. So tell Dad to check outside for a package. I’m really not looking forward to packing, I hate to pack! I’m really not looking forward to such a long plane ride either haha! I’m going to catch up on a lot of sleep. But unfortunately for me, I don’t fit in planes very well. And that is going to make for a very uncomfortable 12 hours from NYC to Paris. I’m so excited to see what area I get assigned to in Portugal though! I have heard so many amazing things about Portugal!

So after I find out the guidelines on music, I will want some CD’s sent to me! I have no music, and I will be in desperate need. So I will let you know after I e-mail from Portugal. I have no clue when P-Days or anything are, so I don’t know when it will be. I’m assuming it won’t be next week I get to e-mail, but probably the week after. We will see. One of my buddies who is in Portugal already, sent us some pictures. It looks sooo rad!

So tomorrow, they are doing some sort of 4th of July play/musical thing ha. I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m glad we get to do something for 4th of July atleast. And the rumor is that we get to watch some fireworks afterwards, which makes me very happy! :) I hope the rumors are true!

So this week we had Elaine S. Dalton come talk to us- she is the YW General President. It was such a great talk! She talked about faith, and always pressing forward. She talked about how faith is a principle of power. It is also a principle of action, we must act. We will have opposition at all times here on our mission, but we must push forward. We must exhort all our power, and have confidence and faith at all times. She talked a lot about not being afraid to open our mouths. Never make a decision to quit, or turn around, in the middle of a hill. We must make it to the top. We were not sent here to start a race, we were sent here to finish one. This is the greatest race we will ever run. But the Lord is here to help us every step of the way. It was such a great talk!

Speaking of which, last Friday was amazing. I forgot I hadn’t emailed about that yet. Jeffrey R. Holland, Dallin H. Oaks, Richard G. Scott, David A. Bednar, Russel M. Nelson, Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, and Neil A. Andersen were all in attendance. Dallin H. Oaks gave the talk. The Spirit was so strong! It was awesome to see all them sitting all in the same room. We were probably about 40 feet away! Great stuff. I wish I could type more about it, but I don’t have time!

So it’s time to start busting out those foreign stamps, because in 4 more days I will no longer be living in this country. It’s going to be so crazy. I’m really not that nervous, more anxious than anything. Some people in our zone/district are starting to get super nervous about leaving haha. It’s going to be the adventure of a lifetime though, I’m so stoked!

So like I said, DON’T send Dear Elders. I won’t get any of them, so there is no point. Just e-mail me back, or just wait to hear from me by phone hopefully. As soon as I’m able to e-mail from Portugal, I will send my address.

Eu amo-vos muito! Please keep sending the letters! All my friends- I don’t have a whole lot of time to e-mail so please send me a physical letter if you want to talk. I only have enough time to e-mail my family really. And if you do send me an e-mail include your mailing address with it. That will be the easiest thing for me. I wish I could take the time to e-mail everyone of you, but unfortunately I can’t. But I still want to hear from you.

Life is amazing. Smile every second of it. Enjoy every single breath. We are so lucky to have what we do. Don’t let yourself get discouraged, because when you are discouraged life passes you by. We must enjoy every second we have!

I love you all so much. Portugal here I come :)

Elder Porter