Being Transferred

Hey everyone,

I guess I have a few things to cover in this email since I wasn't able to send one last week so here we go.

Last week we went to a Mardi Gras parade, and if you don't know anything about Mardi Gras it is a holiday down here right before another holiday called Lent which is where you repent for things and fast for a month from something you like to do; ie: drinking, smoking, partying, soda etc. and so Mardi Gras is where everyone decides to do as many crazy things as they can because they are going to have to give them up pretty soon.  Everyone is drinking and partying as hard as they can. I was literally surrounded on all sides by drunk people, high people, people making out, and at times people that were doing all three. Then when the floats went by everyone lost their minds trying to get beads and all the knick-knacks that they throw at these parades. It was actually a lot of fun, but also very weird. It is pretty much the farthest you could get from the bubble of Utah. So that was definitely an experience.

Then the biggest blessing that happened this last two weeks is again with our investigators Axel and his brother Allen. They went on a trip to Navoo this last week with the youth in the church and they had an awesome time.  When they got back it was Saturday night so we couldn't see them, but then they came to church the next day and it was fast and testimony meeting. Axel got up and bore his testimony about how he loved the church and all the amazing things that Joseph Smith did and how much Joseph sacrificed for the church. Then we were talking to him and his brother after church and we asked if Axel still wanted to get baptized this weekend.  Because if he did we would have to teach him three of the lessons today. He said yes.   Then we asked his brother what he thought about being baptized. Allen said that he just had to ask his parents but he would be interested in it too. We taught them all three of the lessons that day and now we may have a double baptism this weekend, if their parents aren't too busy so that will be awesome!

Love y’all and hope you have a fun spring break (not sure when that is to be honest)

Elder Porter

My District

Sorry guys today emailing was a little crazy so I don't have time to do a full group one  Here are some pics of the last little bit and of some stuff I got at Mardi Gras (btw to people around here the coconuts are pretty much gold).

I want laser eyes!

La Migra!

Hey y’all how was your Valentines and presidents day?

Out here they are just another day, ha ha you can’t really celebrate Valentines day as a missionary, and Presidents day just moved our p-day to Tuesday this week so not much change in our normal schedule.

Anyways here is a story for y’all. Since Donald Trump has taken office all of the Hispanics we talk to are a little afraid that they are going to be booted over back to their own countries, and that there is going to be a wall they can’t get over. They have told us that apparently there are some Hispanics that are now training to get fit enough to climb over a wall. I have been in a few brainstorming sessions about ways to get around the wall ie: tunnels, planes, and catapults. Ha ha its been pretty interesting. Everyone is also a little bit more afraid of us now. When they see us in our white shirts and ties walking down the street they think we are immigration. I was talking to some of the other elders on Sunday and they told me a story about how they were tracting down a street in Kenner and there was a party going on outside with a whole bunch of Hondurans, but when they started walking up the street and the people in the party saw them, they all ran into their houses. They didn't walk, they ran as fast as they could so they wouldn't be caught by La Migra. So tracting is going to be a little harder from now on.

Also this last week we got our investigator axel on date for baptism on the 11th of March, right after transfers. so I probably will not be seen his baptism but that is ok with me as long as he goes through with it. He is super solid though and has been reading the Book of Mormon since before we even started teaching him, thanks to some of his friends in our ward.

Love y’all

"No Need to Fear, We God's People" --Jules

Hey everyone, how are y’all doing?

Down here it is going pretty good. Have had some good success with finding new people this week and have 4 new investigators from this weeks tracting. It was a pretty good tracting week. But I don't have any crazy stories from that.

The crazy stories from this week is that Louisiana got hit by a couple tornadoes this last Tuesday. There was quite a bit of destruction in some parts but where I’m at was relatively untouched so that is a blessing. All I got to see was a whole bunch of storm clouds and lightning. There were no missionaries that were even close to the action, so hence the title of the email, spoken by one of the crazy people in my comps last area, when a tree near them got struck by lightning. "No need to fear, we god’s people." Apparently that guy is currently off the grid, speculations are that he is currently in the Grand Canyon either preaching about Jesus, the NSA, and/or Aliens.

This week we had some fun times with our most promising family. We were in teaching Axel's family this week, when his younger brother and his dad decided to sit in on the lesson. Usually when we show up they come down and talk to us for a little bit, but once a lesson starts they disappear up the stairs. This week they stayed and we had an awesome lesson about eternal families, and afterward the dad asked about church and when it was, so this next week he may come by.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!