Ha it has been a crazy week. I’ve never in my life have walked more than we did this past week. I think you could tally up every step I have taken in my life before this past week… and it still wouldn’t be more! haha. We proselyted 32 hours this week. Who knows how many doors we knocked… we received many numbers (many of which were fake, or they just never answer)… we had many doors slammed on our face… and heard every excuse in the book of why people couldn’t talk to us. But I loved every second of it!

So we have these two investigators… Monis and Maria. Maria has a brother named Carlos, and Monis has a sister named Nayama. They all live together in the same house. Carlos and Nayama were baptized a few months back before they closed the area. However, Monis and Maria were not baptized. They have a little boy (around 3 or 4 months old) but are not married. Maria wanted to be married and baptized back when Carlos and Nayama were… but Monis did not want to be. He had a relationship with more than one girl… and was not really too interested in the church.

So that’s the story behind them. Now here is our story.

So we began teaching Monis and Monica when we arrived. They are super awesome. They started attending church every week, and they like us to come teach almost every night of the week. Monis has been totally changing. He started volunteering to say the prayers in our lesson, and he was always participating. During one of our lessons, we talked about baptism. But obviously, they had the roadblock of marriage first. So we thought it would be a bit of a sore subject. However, we still brought it up. Monis then told us that he was ready to change his life, and live a better life for his family. He said he was ready to take the step towards being married! So awesome! He just told us that he wanted to get married soon… but didn’t know when. So we left him a challenge to pray about it and figure out a date.

So that night Elder McClellan and I prayed to find a date for them to be married as well. We went back the next day, and we asked Maria and Monis if they had prayed about a date to get married. However, they had not. So we decided to each individually say a prayer, one person at a time, to find a date. We went around the room and we all said a prayer to feel what Heavenly Father had prepared for them. Note: Elder McClellan and I had already felt a certain date for this to happen. When we were done we took some time to think and feel the Spirit. We then asked Monis how he felt. He told us he wanted to be married the 4th of September… and baptized on the 5th! Those were the EXACT dates Elder McClellan and I felt the night before! So awesome.

So we marked them to be baptized this upcoming Sunday, and married the day before. We brought a member who knows the whole marriage process real well to our next lesson. He went over all the process, and even told them the church is willing to pay for everything (they don’t have much money). However, we developed a small problem. Monis doesn’t have his birth certificate. And he is from an island off the coast of Guinea (Africa). So we are working on getting that sent here now. So the wedding/baptism probably won’t take this week. But it will happen soon! As soon as that paper comes they will be married and baptized! I’m so excited for them. So that is awesome.

So we have two marked for baptism now, but we are just in the process of waiting. But we have been blessed for our work. We have some more investigators who are really really close… they just have little bumps in the road we need to get them over. I know with time, they will accept the gospel.

One of our investigators in Carregado, Augustino, was baptized on Saturday. I was super happy to hear that as well! We worked a lot with him, and it took him a while to make the decision. I knew he’d make it sooner or later.

So things have been great here. A LOT of work. But it is paying off. The second I hit the bed at night I fall asleep… and I don’t wake up again until the annoying alarm goes off.

I’m loving life, and enjoying every second of it. It has been quite the journey so far. I can’t wait to see what Heavenly Father has next for us!

Love you all, and miss you.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Porter

So all is well here in the new area. It has been a crazy busy week! We have been knocking, and knocking, and knocking. And talking to people on the streets, and talking, and talking. Our area isn’t even right in Miratejo. We live in Miratejo, and our chapel is here… but our areas are at least a 20 minute walk. So we walk a bunch. It isn’t too bad though, but someday’s it can get pretty hot! We have been doing most of our work so far in two cities called Corroios, and Feijo.

We have had many doors slammed on our face, many people tell us they aren’t home as we are looking at them, and most people tell us they aren’t interested ha,ha. It can be a bit discouraging at times, but we just keep moving forward. We have found a few interested people though, so hopefully we can keep up that interest. We already had a few investigators living in the area as well… so we have been working with them too. We have been working our hardest, and I know we will be rewarded sooner or later for it!

One guy this week answered the door and just started shaking his head. This isn’t an unusual thing to have happen, but he was different ha. He told us we are living a lie (and he said all this in English). He told us we are wasting our life with this, and that we are “light years away from the truth”. It was kind of funny. We had a good 10 minute conversation with him. I told him that he can say what he wants, but I’m happy with my life, and I know these things are true. He told me I wasn’t happy with my life ha,ha. He was a very bitter person though. I then told him that one day he was going to know the truth. This didn’t make him too happy ha,ha. He told us when we turn 50 or 60 we will figure out that we lived one big lie. Ha some people are so bitter, it’s funny. But yeah, we were nice and respectful… I could have said a lot more than I did, but I just remained quiet. Ha,ha. It was funny though.

We have one investigator, Ilda, who we taught this week. She is a younger lady with two children. Her husband died a few months back. She has been looking into the church, but isn’t sure if it is true or not. We watched “Together Forever” with her. We watched the last part about a couple who had their little girl die. They were really bitter/messed up about it at first. But they discovered the gospel, and know now that they can be an eternal family. Ilda really liked this. She even had tears in her eyes. The Spirit was really strong! It was cool.

The chapel here is so nice! It’s 20x the size of Carregado. They have a fully functional ward, and we don’t have to teach classes or run anything there ha,ha. The members are super cool! They are always willing to help us with the work! It is a great blessing.

We live with our zone leaders- Elder Witwer and Elder Risenmay. The apartment is a bit cramped, but it works! It’s fun being in a 4 elder house though. They are great missionaries, and we are learning a lot from them. They serve here in the Miratejo area.

One of our investigators in Carregado is marked for baptism this Saturday! That makes me happy! The new missionary there is having a tough time with the language though haha. I remember it all too well. He made me ask Elder Barbosa what they will be doing this week ha,ha. The language is coming along better for me though. I can carry pretty much most conversations and understand close to all what is being said most of the time. What a blessing!

So it has been a week full of walking, talking, and knocking. We have found a few people, and taught quite a few lessons. I know if we just keep working our hardest, we will be rewarded for it. We have made it a goal to just talk to everyone we can. We don’t know which people the Lord is preparing. It is tough at times… and you just want to call it a day before the night is over… but we keep moving forward with faith. I love it here though, and the people here are great. Keep us in your prayers that we can find some people to teach! Any extra praying will help !

Love you all and thanks for all the support!

Elder Porter

Here is the news:

I am getting transferred out of the area into a new area called Miratejo. It is near the Lisbon area. My new companion is going to be Elder McClellan. Yes, the same Elder McClellan I was in the MTC with. How crazy is that?! haha. But that’s not all…. oh no it isn’t… we are opening up a new area in the mission! Yes, a brand new area! This can’t be real! Two missionaries going into their second transfer opening up a brand new area?!?!?! I’m freaking out! It’s going to be quite the challenge. I will be the one taking on most of the portuguese I have a feeling. His portuguese isn’t bad, but because of my circumstances, I think I understand/speak a little more than he does. Ha,ha I thought I’d paddled in from the deep end a little bit, but I’m getting thrown right back out! It will be a great experience, with a lot of learning. I guess we will be living in the same house as the Zone Leaders as well. One of the zone leaders was a companion with Elder Barbosa in the past, and Elder Barbosa says he is way awesome. So that will be cool.

As for Elder Barbosa- he will be staying in Carregado. He will be training once again. There is 22 new missionaries arriving this trasnfer I believe. A ton!

I’m sad to leave the area. I made a lot of good friends here, and have many memories I will always cherish. But I’m needed somewhere else. And I know the Lord will help us with this challenge.

Keep us in your prayers haha. We have A TON of work ahead of us. Opening up an area is not an easy task. I’m excited though. It will be a lot of fun. And I already know Elder McClellan very well, considering I spent the first 9 weeks of my mission with him in the MTC.

So I have a lot of packing to do tonight, and a lot of goodbye’s to say. Tomorrow I will be heading out to the mission office in Lisboa to meet up with Elder McClellan. And from there we will be heading to our area. I have had quite the experience here in Carregado. I have run into a burning building, seen the Lord’s work as he prepares these people to hear the gospel, went 6 weeks with hardly speaking a word of English, learned a new language, have felt every emotion possible, and many many more things. I have many stories to share from this area, many of which I’m not allowed to send through mail. We will have quite the story time in two years I have a feeling. I can’t believe my first transfer has come and gone. Time is going by too quick. But I can’t wait to take on my next challenge.

I love you all. I will update you next week with how the work in the new area is going. Once again, keep us in your prayers. Keep my dear friend Carlos, and his family in your prayers. Keep Abel and his family in your prayers as well. And also our friend Kintino who was put into jail Saturday night. Ha that’s a lot of people, but they all need the prayers! Thanks for all.

paz e amor,

Elder Tyler Douglas Porter

oh and ps… I have pictures from some of our baptisms, etc. but I left my flash drive in the apartment. So I will try to remember to send them next week!

It has been a crazy awesome week!

We had a zone conference this week in Lisboa with Elder Texeira of the first quorum of the seventy. It was an all day thing. It lasted from 10am-4pm. It was awesome. I didn’t understand it all though, because it was in Portuguese ha,ha. He also served here in Portugal. He talked about his mission and how it changed his life. He was very emotional when recalling his mission stories. I hope I’ll be the same way in two years! He talked about the importance of baptism, and how we always need to be working hard and never stop. It was an awesome conference. We heard from his wife as well. As well and Elder and Sister Torgan. Very spiritual. I was able to see Elder McClellan, Elder Kofford, and Elder Peck too. They were in my district in the MTC for two months. So we all grew really close there. It was awesome to see them and see how they were doing!

So this week we had the opportunity to do some service and help move a family into a new apartment. They had a lot of stuff! And moving here is definitely nowhere near as easy as it is in the US. Nobody has trucks here. Everyone has tiny hatchback cars. So just imagine that. It was a lot of work. The best part? Elder Barbosa and I got to carry um frigorífico (refrigerator, cool word huh haha) up 7 flights of stairs. That was quite the task. Carrying a refigerator anywhere is a task. But try doing it up 7 flights of narrow stairs. We managed somehow. But I think my arms were ready to fall off near the end.

So let me tell you about one of our investigators. His name is Leonardo, but most people just call him Leo. He turns 19 tomorrow (August 3rd). He has been an investigator the entire time I’ve been here. He was marked to get baptized a couple of weeks ago… but a couple of days before he decided he didn’t want to be. He decided he didn’t want to be part of the church, and just didn’t find it too important. This really upset me. I love the kid! But I knew if he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t ready. We can’t push these things. But we started teaching him again last week! He had a total change in heart. His buddy René, asked him if he truly thought this was the true church. It got Leo thinking. And the more he thought about the more he realized it was! So we started teaching him again. A few days ago he told us that he wants to be baptized and he wants to do it on his birthday, which is tomorrow! I’m so excited. Oh and get this! He has already paid tithing! And he isn’t even a member yet! We told him he didn’t have to pay tithing until he was a member. But he told us he wanted to. He said, “it’s a commandment of God, so I need to do it.” How amazing is that?! He doesn’t have very much money at all, but he is willing to pay because he knows that he will be blessed. Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting he got up and bore an AMAZING testimony! This brought tears to my eyes. He talked about how he KNOWS this church is true. He even said he can’t wait for the day he will have his own family, and they can be a part of this gospel. He said he knew that one day soon that the chapel in Carregado is going to be completely full of people. I know he’s right about that as well. Seriously this made me so happy! He’s not even a member yet, but he has such a strong testimony. This gospel is so amazing! I can’t even put into words how excited this made me. So tomorrow is going to be a very special day. Please keep Leo in your prayers!

Yesterday as we were waiting for a meeting to start, we had two people randomly walk into the church. They were two boys of 11, 14 years of age. We began teaching them. The 11 year doesn’t seem too interested. But the 14 year old is completely interested. The second we finished our lesson with him, he asked when we could talk again. I have a feeling he will be getting baptized here soon! This is the second time someone has wandered into the chapel. Oh, and the first person that wandered in, Sergio, is still doing great! We meet with him about 3 times a week and he has kept every commitment so far. Everything makes sense for him. I think we are going to try and mark him for baptism this week.

So as you can tell, the work here is wonderful! I absolutely love it. This mission is amazing. I am going to have so many stories when I get home. Some of them I am not able to share over e-mail, but I have seen so many wonderful things. I have seen some very heartbreaking things as well. But nothing brings me more joy than this gospel. The fact that I can spend the rest of my life with my family means everything to me. The more I teach families, the more I teach little kids and joke/play around with the little kids around here, the more I realize how much you (my family) mean to me. I’m beyond grateful for you all. Love isn’t even the word to describe my feelings for you! Thank you so much for your amazing examples and always being here for me. I’m so glad we can be together forever. I want every family I meet/see here to have that same opportunity!

Oh so the elevators in our apartment building is broke right now. So that means every time we leave/come back to our building we walk up/down 176 stairs. We live on the top floor of an 11 floor building. haha it sucks! Earlier we brought groceries, and a lot of them! That was not a fun trip up.

Things here are great though. The weather has been very hot. I have 2 weeks left of this transfer. I don’t know if I will end up staying here next transfer, or if I will get moved somewhere else. We will have to wait and see. Transfers are on the 17th, and we find out on the 16th what we will be doing. I can’t believe how quickly a month went by!

I love you all. I’m doing great. The work here is great. I would love to hear from a few friends. If you have the time, write me!

Love you!

Elder Porter

Sorry I have been slagging in the posting of new letters. It has been a crazy month and I have not been home since July 4th. I will do better and keep up from here on out. Here are 4 or 5 new posts. Enjoy!

Thank you all for keeping in touch with Tyler, I know it means a lot to hear from you.

This is your son writing you in some random scorching hot building near our apartment. But there are computers here, so it works for me.

If I were to tell you this hasn’t been the hardest week of my life… I’d be lying. I have shed more tears this week, than in my entire life combined I think. I’m not even kidding. It has been so rough. I can hardly understand my companion… I can hardly understand our investigators… I can hardly understand everyone around me. I’m surrounded by many many people, all of whom can’t understand me… and I can’t understand them. I have been so lost lately. The thoughts of, “just go home, you are wasting your time, you will never learn the language, nobody understands you, etc.” have run through my mind probably at least a million times. It’s so so hard when you can’t communicate your thoughts. And when people say something to you, or ask you a question and you don’t have a clue what they said. This is not the same language I learned in the MTC. I felt confident coming in here, but that quickly changed!

There have been so many instances when I have understood a little bit of what our investigator has said… and there’s SO much I want to say… but I can’t. I open my mouth, but the right words don’t come out. It literally breaks my heart. It’s so tough! I’m almost in tears just writing this.

But through all the struggles and pain of not understanding anything, I have learned so much. I have learned patience, and I have become very humble. Maybe this is what I needed in my life. I realize that, but it still doesn’t make it much easier ya know? Sometimes it’s just nice to have someone there to talk to, but I don’t have that. I don’t understand what is going on most of the time, I just leave when my companion says it’s time to leave… and I follow him around until we end up where we are supposed to be.

My companion has absolutely no money… and I’m not sure why. So basically I’m supporting him and myself. Supposedly he is getting some reimbursement from the mission president… so hopefully that comes soon. We have hardly any food… this is the longest fast I have ever been on ha,ha. Food here is weird too. Definitely WAY different than America. I miss American food so so so much. I don’t even like the milk very much here. The milk is weird… you can just keep it on the shelf until you open it, no need to refrigerate it before opening it. It expires in like 2030. So we bought some milk today… and I can bring it home in 2 years, and it will be as good as new. Yuck. The other day we had spaghetti? at a members house. They called it spaghetti at least. I’m really not too sure exactly what it was… but it did have noodles? Interesting. The bread here is amazing though. I haven’t really eaten a lot more than that. So I will keep you informed about food, the more I eat.

I baptized Leopoldo de Castro Ramalho on Saturday. It was really cool. The water was absolutely freezing though ha,ha, took me by surprise. Just to get to the church with the baptismal font was a journey. We took a train, a bus, and a taxi. I really didn’t know what was going on, I was just along for the ride. Another kid named Rodrigo was baptized as well. We are marked for 3 more baptisms this week. So that is awesome!

I’m really bummed about the camera thing. :( have you figured anything out about that yet? I sure hope so. Our bags never made it on our plane either, and we didn’t get them until the next day. That’s because we had to run through JFK just to catch our flight. I had a feeling our bags didn’t follow. But that wasn’t a big deal, because we have them now.

We have been doing a lot of teaching lately. That’s pretty much what our entire days consist of. We have even gone proselyting yet. Crazy huh? The area, Carregado, is pretty cool. Lots and lots of Cape Verdians live here. Our apartment is decent. In American terms, it’s a dive. But for here, it isn’t too bad. Could be a lot worse!

My mission president and his wife are really cool! Very down to earth, and great people. We stayed the night in the mission home on the first night. It was a very nice home. I think it is the only home that has carpet here in Portugal too ha,ha. They have a beautiful view from the house. One of the elders here went to Bonneville High, and another went to IF. Ha crazy huh?

So I don’t have Brittain or Landon’s e-mail addresses but tell Brittain HAPPY BIRTHDAY for me from yesterday, and tell Landon HAPPY BIRTHDAY from me today! I love you guys! I hope you have/had an amazing birthday. I wish I could’ve been there! :)

Oh so about the music. I can listen to any music that is condusive (sp?) to the Spirit. It doesn’t necessarily have to be church hymns it just has to invite the Spirit. So you should go through and make some CD’s for me. You can even put on some Jack Johnson and artists like that. Just make sure the songs aren’t talking about love. They don’t want them to have romantic lyrics. So use your best judgement! So just send my package whenever. Who knows when I will get it though. It gets sent to the mission office, so I won’t be able to get it until I go there for a transfer or something, or if someone in my area happened to grab it for me. Could be next month, or longer. But either way, I’ll get it eventually. It’s the safest, most reliable way of doing it though. I sent you the address already, so you have it.

This has been such a hard week for me, and I have a feeling this week won’t be a whole lot easier. I need your prayers! I’m really working hard. I’m trying not to be discouraged, but it’s really really easy to feel that way! I’m sory I have complained so much, but this is my only time I can express myself. I really do love missionary work though. It is the best feeling in the world to see that light of Christ come into someones eyes. There is nothing more satisfying. It is the only thing keeping me going!

I don’t think I’ve ever missed home as much as I do now! I love you guys so much. I have taken you all way too for granted. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being such a blessing in my life. Seriously. I have the most amazing family and friends in the entire world. Sometimes it takes experiences like this to realize it. But seriously, thank you. I can’t say it enough. Thank you mom and dad for being such amazing examples, and such great parents. Thank you Brady, Landon, Brittain, McKenzie, and Sydney for being such amazing brothers and sisters. Thank you all my friends for being awesome. Two years is a long time. But in comparison to what our Savior has done for us… it is nothing. I’m so glad I made the decision to come on a mission. This is something I will hold close to me for the rest of my lie, I know it!

It has been a roller coaster of a week, but I am doing well. Even though I have been lost, I know my purpose here, and I’m going to do everything in my will to achieve that purpose. I don’t want to leave anything behind here. Nothing at all. I’m surrounded by millions of people I don’t know, and I can’t understand… but I do know one thing. They are my brothers and sisters. They are children of God. In God’s eyes, they are just as important as I am… the President is… or any celebrity or athlete is. Nobody is no more important than someone else. It’s hard to see it this way sometimes… but it’s true. Life can be rough sometimes, and we all have our trials. But we have a Heavenly Father, and a brother, Jesus Christ, who love us more than we can comprehend. I know this with all of my heart. I need to toughen up, and keep pushing through!

Oh an interesting fact. Yesterday at the church, I saw a picture on the wall. I went and looked at it, and it was picture of the ward here with a couple of missionaries. One of them happens to be a teacher at the MTC now, Elder Nelson ha,ha. I thought that was funny. It was cool to see a familiar face like that. Even if it was just a picture.

The ward members here are great! There’s not many of them, but they have such strong spirits. The church is tiny, but it makes no difference. You can feel the Spirit nonetheless.

There is no such thing as air conditioning here ha,ha. It is very hot. I hear the winters get very very cold. It is because of the humidity in the air. I guess it pierces through the skin. I guess someone from the Ukraine that is living here now, said the cold weather here is worse than where he came from. Uh-oh! I guess I will just have to see for myself. I will have to buy myself a coat when the time gets closer.

My companion is a cool elder. I don’t know a whole lot about him, since I don’t understand a whole lot that comes out of his mouth. I do know he is a convert, and was baptized about 4 years ago. He is 24 years old. He is from Cape Verde, Africa. He loves soccer… ha,ha. No, he is a great kid though. It’s a little tough for both of us with the whole language barrier, but it’s good for both of us. I’ve been trying to help him with his English, and he helps me with my Portuguese.

I’m safe, and I’m doing alright. It is very difficult, but I kind of knew it would be. I didn’t expect a trainer that knew no English, but hey, you make the best of what you are given right? Ultimately, it is going to help my Portuguese more than anything else. Just right now, it makes it a bit difficult. But I’m positive I will be blessed because of it. I’m just going to make the most of what I have, and keep moving on forward.

I love you guys more than anything in the world! You are my everything. Thanks for everything you do for me… seriously.

Eu amo voces.

Elder Porter.