I love this work! (Week 29)

SO this week we had Zone conference and President Robertson and his wife, the Assistants and a Missionary Couple shared some words of wisdom with us. The Hermana Missionary taught us the proper way to conduct music. Before her instruction I had thought that conducting the music was pretty simple, but I quickly realized I had been wrong all this time...haha...even with my 10 years of piano lessons, I basically knew nothing about music!!. Usually if I led the  music, I just did something like "okay on three 1...2...3..." and then start waving my hand around to signal that it was time to start singing. I usually drew my name in the air instead of an actual structure but now they’re inviting the missionaries to start learning how to actually do it. hahaha. It’s so hard!!! Moving on, I got my first haircut in Argentina (not done by another Elder).

We are super excited because this area is kicking right now. Ever since started working with Jorge Quevedo (recent re-active and father of recent convert). We have been receiving a lot of work from the Lord. We have started working with Jorge's family now, to re-activate them and also working a lot with his girlfriend Augustina who wants to be baptized. 
Jorge had a surgery on Saturday for his Hernia, so he is trapped in bed until he heals.  We gave him a blessing and we hope he will heal quickly because he and augustina have already shown a truck load of faith. 
We also found a lady this week who we think is awesome. She is friends with some active members in the ward and also has talked with missionaries in the past. We taught her a lesson and it went super great, we even managed to get a baptismal date with her for next month and we have high hopes she will progress well.
ALso we have been working with a man named Luis who is a special case. He is a special case because 1. he smokes and drinks, 2. he has almost no family and lives alone, 3. WE can barely understand him, 4. he can barely understand us, 5. he has talked with elders in the past but they were never able to help him and ,6. He wants to quit smoking but has no faith that he can. Me and my comp are praying all day and night that he will have the strength he needs to overcome his addictions. We have a great hope that he will progress because he seems to sincerely want to change. We just have to be patient with him. 

My favorite part of the week was last night. We had a lesson that I loved a lot and that I want to tell you guys about. There is this family here in our area and they´re less active and super nice, and their family is huge, consisting of the mom and dad, a lot of Brothers and one sister who are all married now and have kids and for one reason or another they either hate the church or just have no desire to return, though if we show up and share a scripture they always say that they feel spirit and realize the need to return to church. Elder Wihongi and I have been working alot with this family and we visited one of the brothers yesterday night. Probably not the smartest decision because they were watching soccer and also this happened to be a night where almost the whole family was there with all the brothers and their families and in the mix was some non-members, baptized (but inactive members), genuine people who wanted to change, people who don't know what they want in life, and people who genuinely hated the church. And we were in the midst of them and they were loud. hahaha. One guy was making sarcastic remarks to offend us and then the wife or sister would hit him and tell him to go away. Some of the people asked us questions about ourselves and other people were trying to make their fellow family members mad by telling us where they lived so that we could visit them because as they were saying "this sheep is super lost"! They would laugh uproariously about that. Eventually they let us share our message. This is the part I absolutely loved about this lesson. Up to this point it had been extremely loud and raucous in this home, but When we started the prayer the room immediately got quiet and everyone listened to the guy saying the prayer. The silence continued during scripture we shared. We shared Ether 12:27 with them and we testified to them quietly and simply about what they had to do be happy in this life. The spirit was present in that moment and my testimony grew tremendously from that moment when I saw these people silence themselves in respect for our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that wickedness is weakness and that righteousness is might. 
This week was amazing. 
Love you guys,
elder ren Porter

1 & 2. A typical home in the "campos" or farmland of Mercedes. The Campos are a very humble area of my mission. 

3. A typical rooftop of a home in campos. They have to use heavy garbage to hold the roof down.

4. Me walking down a typical alleyway in the campos. They use tarps to cover walls and windows because they can't afford to buy more. It's very cold in their homes. 

5. On a lighter note, this is the "city" part of Mercedes. I call this picture, "Elder Wihongi....Island princess....lost in Argentina." Hahaha

Ride on the handlebars?? ...Ok!! (Week 28)

SO this week we had a baptism. We didn't think the baptism was going to go through, so we were a little unprepared and surprised, but also super happy. Bianca was baptized by Elder Wihongi and I was able to confirm her and bless her with the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. This was my first time ever doing that blessing. It was such an amazing spiritual experience. I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of this family's joy. Bianca is the daughter of Jorge Quavedo. Jorge is a member but he's been inactive for years and he has a girlfriend who is not a member. We've been teaching The Quavedo family since I got here to Mercedes. The Baptism was awesome, as well, because Bianca and her Family showed up, score!! But also, some less active people that me and elder wihongi have been working a lot with lately showed up for the baptism and they happen to be friends of  Jorge's. Also, Jorge´s parents were there. They are active members. The spirit was so strong and they cried during the last part of the meeting when Jorge got up and bore his testimony about the restored Gospel and about how he knew that the covenant Bianca had made was extremely important and that he was Extremely happy in that moment for her. Amazing experience!! Elder Wihongi and I are SO Happy for Bianca and her family. Jorge has an operation on his leg tomorrow so we are going to pass by and give him a blessing and we have a hope that we will heal rapidly so that he can marry his now fiance Augustina and so that she will be ready to be baptized this next month as well.


WE have also been working with some other people who we believe have some great potential. We’re focusing on one family in particular because they are a family of girls about the same age as Bianca. We are trying as hard as we can to start building up the young women's program here because, as of right now, it only consists of Bianca!!

This week was also super crazy because of the never ending problems with our bikes!! This week my tire exploded twice. I had to get a whole new wheel and then the guy insisted that I get new brakes because my bike hasn't had any brakes since I got it! Haha. Then I had to get a new tread because two days ago the tire exploded again!! My bike is almost perfect now, except the wire for my new breaks is too tight so i've been riding with the brakes on the bike wheels for a few days. It's fine though. My legs are super awesome now like they were when I was on the swim team! Haha. 
Also, elder wihongi and I were heading to a lesson/lunch appt. this week and Elder wihongi had just fixed his bike but as we started going we realized there was another problem. His chain kept falling off! haha. We didn't want to be late, so we walked to a recent convert´s house and dropped off his bike and started heading over again. And what do you do when you have miles to go and a short time to get there and only one bike for two people? Yip, you decide who is stronger and bigger and you have that person pedal while you jump on the handlebars!! I jumped up and held on for dear life!! Poor Elder Wihongi had to pedal my bike, with the brakes that were rubbing against the wheel, and my 6'4, 145 lb. body, for several miles,  against the wind! On the plus side, we made it to our appointment AND we got a video and pictures of our unprecedented journey to lunch (video attached below!). ELder Wihongi and I are probably one of the most unified Elders in our mission. It's been a great experience serving with him. 

Another reason This week was so awesome is because of how much food I've been eating! We don't get fed very well by the members in this area, but the food is really cheap so me and my comp buy tons of food and cook it ourselves. Remember last week how I told you I bought a ton of food? I ate 30 of the eggs I bought this week and 2 kilos of potatoes and onions. In other words I’ve been living in Luxury!!!!!!!

This week was awesome!! Loved it entirely. 
I love you guys.
Elder Ren Porter

1. Elder Wihongi, Bianca, Me (at Bianca's baptism)
2. Me, Elder Sales, Augustina (future wife of Jorge), Bianca, Elder Wihongi, Jorge (at Bianca's baptism)
3. My district--me, Elder Lopez, Elder Sales, Elder Wihongi, Hermana Cheever, Hermana Sierra

Dogs....again??? (Week 27)

So this week was pretty sweet! We had a strange/amazing, experience. Elder Wihongi and I were heading to a lunch appt. with a member, when the wheel of my comps bike broke and we were forced to walk the rest of the way. Right when elder Wihongi picked up his bike to start walking, the intertube exploded inside.....right next to my ear. It was super loud and it scared me for second. Luckily it also happened to scare all the dogs who had been barking and chasing us! Yes! We walked, tranquilo, to the lunch appointment. When we left, we started heading back to the apartment to drop off our now dead weight. As we were walking down a road we saw this little chihuahua being confronted by three big dogs. They were barking at it and lunging at it. Then this bigger dog came out of no where and grabbed the chihuahua by the neck and started throwing it around like a ragdoll. Elder Wihongi immediately dropped his bike to the ground and chucked a rock at the dogs. They scattered and the little dog ran off yelping super loud. I have to say, as much as dogs have bugged and annoyed me here, I was slightly traumatized by what I just witnessed. It was so mean and unfair. That chihuahua is super tiny and there were 4 big dogs trying to kill it. So, as I said, Elder Wihongi jumped right in while I just stood there for a second like a loser. I came to my senses, dropped my bike as well, and chased after my comp, who was running to rescue the chihuahua with a giant rock in his hand. I started yelling "basta" and "cucha" at all the other dogs that were now gathering around the commotion like vultures.  Eventually we managed to grab the little chihuahua. We then headed towards the crowd of people who had come outside because they heard the whole thing, from their houses. We started asking around to see if people knew who this dog belonged to, but we couldn't find an owner. The people who had come out of their houses told us to go try some lady who lived around the corner to see if it was hers. But then another lady said "I'll take the dog to one of my friends house down the street, she likes dogs." So we were like "sweet. take it." Elder Wihongi and I were starting to walk away when some random kid came out and said  "Hey, I can fix your wheel for you!" Before we could say anything, he had changed the wheel. We were like, "well...we don't have any money, but we will come back later and give you some candy and your wheel back". We started riding away again when someone ran to catch us and told us to come back. So we turned around and went back. We started talking to all the people. We met the friends of the lady who took the dog. As we were talking with the lady who took the dog and her family, it turned out that this person, who we had just met, was an old investigator of the church and her son had been baptized in the church many years ago!! Say what??  We were like "wow! Can we teach you something?" They said "yes. But you are not allowed to convert us." We said "ok. We'll try not to." hahaha. They were a super cool family. The next day we returned to the house of that kid who helped us, to give him candy and we were able to meet his mom. We asked if we could share a message. She accepted. We taught her and set a baptismal date, right then, on our first visit with her for the next month. So...because my comp got a flat tire, which forced us to walk, we happened upon the dog attack, which drew a crowd, said crowd witnessed my comp bravely throwing himself into the fight to save that little dog and also witnessed me, standing traumatized, until eventually stepping up to yell "Cucha" (not as brave, but still). So from that, we met two really awesome families. Coincidence? I think not. By small and simple things. haha. I don't know why Heavenly Father does things the way He does, but I trust His eternal wisdom. Maybe it HAD to be dramatic, in this situation, to catch the attention of certain people? I don't know. All I DO know is that I am on the Lord's errand and I need to be ready to testify and teach in any and all situations. 

We set a baptismal date with another girl that we've been teaching for a few weeks as well. She is getting baptized this next Saturday. She is super excited. All in all, this week was completely unexpectedly awesome in the extreme. 

It has been a little hard at times as well though. One thing I love about new experiences is that when something new does happen, you get to see yourself react and see where you are lacking. You also get to see where you are progressing. I realized, for example, that I don't like dog fights! Who knew? I'm actually mortified by them but when called to action I can yell "doghouse" to the biggest dog!! I think a lot about Ether 12:27. I love that scripture!! The knowledge that I won't be stuck with the frailities and weaknesses of life forever, gives me so much hope. It helps me remember my God and my Savior Jesus Christ more. And it helps me remember how much I need them always in my life. This week was awesome and I learned a ton about how I can be a better person and missionary. I'm so grateful to be out here. 

Love you all,

Elder Porter

This is our investigators. The family Quavedo and a young girl we're baptizing this next Saturday. We were making lunch with them in the picture. It was delicious!

Look Ma....no hands!!!

So half of our area is in the "city", and the other half is "farm lands". This is the NICEST "road" (I'm being generous by calling it a road) we've found, in the "farm lands". Most of the "roads" are waaaayyy worse than this one AND most of the roads have dogs that jump out at you as you ride down them. 

And for my next trick....lesson charades!! (Week 26)

Hi,

SO this week me and Elder Wihongi did great. I feel like this area is progressing a lot right now and the Lord is preparing the people here, for the conference coming up, which will turn this branch into a ward. We have been getting lots of great possibilities lately in this area. One family in particular we are working with is the family Quavedo.

The Hermano is menos activo but his novia right now is not. He's the only baptized member in his family. We started visiting them to try and re-activate the Hermano, but after we started teaching him we realized that the Hermana was interested as well. So we started visiting Sergio and Augustina more (that's their names) but for some reason we always showed up at the worst times, right as they were leaving so we were only able to share a quick scripture and plan another day to come back and teach the first lesson to Augustina. Every time we went back they told us about something interesting and spiritually impacting that happened to them that week. Augustina told us, one time, she already knew our message was true and wants to join our church and we still, at this point, had not even taught a her a full lesson!! haha. it was awesome. And Sergio helped us so much, as well. He would answer her questions about the church when we weren't there and then tell us the answers he gave her to make sure he told her right. Finally when we had time to sit down and talk with them, we taught them the first lesson, and Sergios daughter (who was an old investigator) was also there. We Managed to set dates and goals for them for baptism. The best part was that me and ELder Wihongi barely had to do anything with this great family. They had already decided, in their hearts, they were going to follow Jesus Christ and do what was necessary to start their path of discipleship.


Also, Me and Elder Wihongi have been growing more unified as a companionship and missionary work has become more enjoyable than ever. Elder Wihongi is a capo. He is hilarious and we quote "lord of the rings" lines to each other all day. So, As I mentioned last week, me and elder Wihongi are about equal in our Spanish speaking skills. This has made for some rather interesting lessons and situations. But, since me and Elder Wihongi are both struggling with the language right now, our “charade abilities” have skyrocketed! Elder Wihongi is particularly good at it. I feel like we could teach a whole lesson together, right now, without saying anything at all. Just letting our bodies do the talking for us!! If they ever have a ward or stake talent night…...watch out!

Mercedes is awesome and I’m super excited for the next couple weeks here. It's starting to get cold. I busted out all my winter gear. We'll see if we got the "right" clothes and shoes for this area during the next couple of months. It's not TO bad yet, but I do have to apologize every single time I shake someone's hand here, because they always go "oh geez, your hand is like Ice!" Haha. 

This might sound strange, but i love how difficult some of the people we've been meeting here are. I love it because my personal study has become so much more focused and has been so much more effective. I have to be on my “spiritual A game” here in Mercedes because we’ve come across some very difficult situations. We met a family the other day and were able to teach the first lesson. Everything was going good. Nice and normal. Then afterwards, they asked us to bless their house because they were being haunted by spirits. haha. Awesome. We also met another lady and some of her family last week. She belongs to a bizarre religion. We've been begging and pleading with her to give up her religion because it superbad and crazy!! They basically worship spirits and sometimes sacrifice animals. We were super blunt with her. We were like, “Hermana this is wrong. You're not going to find peace in this at all. You need to throw all your religious trinkets outside your house and not practice for two weeks and see the difference." She declined because she said one of her “religious holidays” was coming up and so she couldn't stop because the "Saints" of her religion were coming down soon (from the sky) to do some ceremony with the practicers here. Hmm...We´ll go back in a couple of weeks and try again. But her family is really cool, if not a little loud. 

We also have been working with a guy who believes all we have said so far, Like everything. BUT, he can’t accept a latter-day prophet. Oh man, that was such a frustrating lesson!!


So…….Bikes are Awesome! So much faster than walking. But the dogs are also a little more brave when you're on a bike! There’s nothing scarier than a big black dog coming out of the shadows of death and trying to bite your feet! Though, when you're in this situation you can do a number of things. I have created a list of evasive maneuvers that I am testing out.
1) Pedal to the metal and get out of their.
2) Kick it in the face….while you continue pedaling with the opposite foot. (Sorry dog lovers.)
3) Yell “CUCHA” at them, which means “doghouse” in spanish.
4) Get off the bike and start fighting them, with  said bike.
5) Pick up a rock (which usually works because they are smart enough to figure out that THAT means something...)
6) Throw the rock.

All very useful and very effective. My personal favorite is the "CUCHA" technique, its simple, but effective. 


For some reason we don't get fed here in Mercedes as well as we did in Villa Tesei. That has been difficult, because Elder Wihongi and I LOVE to eat!!!! Luckily the food here is super cheap, so me and Elder Wihongi have been buying and making our own great food lately. I bought two kilos of mandarins today for $1.50. AWESOME. 


But anyway, this area is awesome! I love it here and I love you guys!


Elder Ren Porter



Pics
#1 & 2- me and Elder Wihongi (all bundled up for warmth)
#3 & 4- some of the awesome Catholic Cathedrals
#5-the “farmland” part of our area
#6- a road near our apartment

New Area and New Companion (week 25)

Dear Everyone,  I am now in Mercedes. It is one of the oldest missions in all of south america. My new comp is Elder Wihongi. He's awesome! He is from New Zealand, he's 6'5 (and probably 3x my weight), and he's big into Rugby. We are quite the sight to see walking down the streets of Mercedes. A 6'4, skinny, white Yankee and a 6'5, buff, Polynesian. He speaks English with a really cool British accent and he speaks Spanish about as good as I do, it's made tracting a little difficult, but what we lack in verbal skills, we're trying to make up with sheer determination.  

We have bikes here, but so far, it has NOT made my life easier.  I got a flat on my second day here, so I changed out the tire and went on my merry way. Next day......got another flat. We stopped and I filled it up with air. Later that same day.....got another flat!!! At this point it's 6:30 in the evening and we're about 7 miles away from the train station that would take us back to our apartment, and the train was going to leave at 6:45. I had to ride on the handlebars of Elder Wihongi´s  bike while he pedaled and I tried to hold on for dear life. The best part was seeing peoples faces as we passed them!!! Haha! 

This area is huge!!!!! We literally have a cross section of all walks of life. We have a giant, rich, historic city. Then we have farm fields and dirt road towns. We have apartment buildings, the embassy and huge, beautiful giant catholic cathedrals. And then some really poor areas. We have random towns that can only be reached by taking a train. We have people who live in Huts and on farms and are very poor and then people who live in homes and apartments and are very wealthy. It's very diverse. Its awesome, but huge!!! Which makes the bike situation so frustrating. We've had to do a lot of walking because of the bikes, but hopefully Heavenly Father will bless us this week and I'll have nice, full tires! If not, I'll have to get comfortable riding on Elder Wihongi's handlebars. I just wish my legs weren't so long. They drag on the ground unless I hold them up. Oh well, the Lord will provide a way. 

So, Elder Wihongi has been here for ten months. And I've been in Argentina for 5 months. There are two other missionaries in our apartment. Elder Sales and Elder Lopez. Elder Sales is from Brazil, he's been here for 6 months. Elder Lopez is from Guatemala and he has been here for ONE WEEK. We have to sister missionaries in our district also, ones been here for 7 months and the other 4 months. Elder Sales is the district leader and I think we have the youngest district in the entire world!!!!!

But anyway me and Elder Wihongi worked super hard this week and visited a bunch of people. We found some new people and we have 4 people right now with a baptisimal date. We also have alot of great other possibilities! Also, and the ward here LOVES missionaries. It's awesome here and I'm super excited for this area. I was sad to leave Villa Tesei, but Mercedes is going to be amazing! Sorry I can't send any pics. I forgot my adapter for my camera. I'll send a bunch next week.

Love,

Elder Ren Porter

I stalked blogs and Facebook and found some random pics of ren's new comp on the "Buenos Aires West mission" Facebook page. This is Elder Wihongi...these are from the MTC (sorry to whoever I copied these pictures from!)

In this pic, from the MTC, Elder Wihongi, is the one on the very end (in case you hadn't figured that out on your own)

The Parable of the tie! (Week 24)

First things first,  Happy Mothers Day!!! Not only to my mom, but to my grandma's, and aunts, and to my second mom (sister Betz). Thank you for loving me and teaching me.

Seeing my family yesterday was awesome, especially because Gerardo, Belen and Nefi, Franko, Enzo, and Gustavo were there. Who are all the people I baptized or helped convert here in Villa Tesei. Super fun. They got to meet my family and talk to them. It was so cool. 

Also, the other Big News is we had transfer calls yesterday and as totally expected, by everyone and their dog, Elder Porter got transferred to the farm fields (campos) of Mercedes section-A. I was talking to president Robertson and he asked me if I thought I'd stay in Villa Tesei a little longer? I jokingly said "Ya, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be here my whole mission." (I've been in Villa Tesei the whole time I've been in Argentina. I've never been transferred.) He jokingly said back to me that "He thinks I need to workout those long legs on a bike for awhile." Which kind of gave it away that I'd be going to the "campos" or farm/country area, because that's the only place they use bikes. Everyone else stayed in Villa Tesei and we think Elder Rojas´s new companion is a Latino, which means now the number of yankees to latinos will finally be tied in our apartment. hahaha. Unfortunately, none of us could understand our zone leader when he called or we just weren't listening, so I have no idea who my new companion is, but vamos a ver, we´ll see, his name sounded latino, which would make sense because I've never had an American comp so far. I'm excited to see who it is. Awesome!!! Also Enzo Se Bautiso´!!!!! Enzo was baptized on saturday by his cousin Franko (my very first convert)!! It was such an amazing baptism. The spirit was so strong and Franko did the baptism perfectly. Capo! President Robertson ( our mission president) came to the baptism and he told us, "wow that kid looked really happy. I have no doubt he's going to be a future missionary." And Franko is about to put his mission papers in!!  I told Franko that no matter what, I'd fly to Argentina when he gives his homecoming talk after his mission. I can't wait. He's going to help so many people. 

So, Most of the people here live in very humble circumstances. They don't have money for things we take for granted. One of the things they don't always have money for is church clothes. All of my converts and friends I've made in this Ward and area are always admiring my ties (my mom has good taste). I knew I was going  to get transferred so I brought a bag with ALL of my ties to church on Sunday and let them all pick their favorite one to keep. It's pretty funny because Enzo wanted the one I wearing, which was actually my most favorite tie, but I was happy to give it to him. What do I care about a dumb tie anyways? It's amazing how UN-superficial you become when you're surrounded by such humbleness. It was a simple thing, a seemingly inconsequential thing to you or I, but they were so grateful and happy. It made me realize how many things I've taken for granted in my life. I've never had to go without, and I'm grateful for that. But I'm even more grateful that my eyes have been opened. That I got to learn and see, firsthand, how blessed my life is and has been.  It fills me with immeasurable joy to think of Enzo passing the sacrament for the first time in my "favorite" tie, or Franko wearing my tie on his mission, or Gerardo wearing my tie when he and his wife and son are sealed for eternity in the temple. 
Funnily, while we were skyping my family on Sunday, Enzo was just in his regular street clothes but he was still wearing my tie around his neck. My mom saw it on the screen and said "hey ren. That's your favorite tie."  Haha. (Down below is a picture of Enzo's baptism day, where I'm wearing said tie....for the last time.)

What a great week, seriously. We tried hitting some areas we don't usually work in because the work is so hard in these areas. We were blessed and able find some new people and re-find some other really awesome people. There were some days, as well, where we were looking for people for a solid couple of hours and found nothing! But I'm grateful for those moments because it made us appreciate the miracles that DID happen.  We were walking all around one day looking for some people we had planned to contact and we weren't getting anywhere. And then bam we got a lesson and then after that one we got another one. It took us all day but we managed to get 2 lessons. Those lessons, for me, were very special lessons, filled with spirit. You feel so much more gratitude for things when you have to work hard for them.  And I know that finding and teaching those people after so much walking and searching was the Lord's blessing to us for just pressing forward and not letting discouragement get the better of us. That day was awesome. 

Also, all the elders  and sisters in my zone had a meeting yesterday morning with the stake president, his counselors and president Robertson and it was Great. I especially liked it when one of the Counselors talked about the newly baptized youth named Enzo in the Villa tesei ward who was baptized by Franko (Hey! They're talking about my spiritual brothers! I perked up when I heard those names). But something really awesome he said, as well, was that we need to start talking to more youth in our areas, which is a great invitation. There are ALOT of youth here and they need ALOT of help. It is really hard to be a youth here in this area. There are so many kids here that are starting to drink and smoke at 13 or 14 years old and then by 15 or 16 alot of girls are already pregnant. Most kids here don't finish school and there aren't a lot of jobs, so a lot of the youth just stand around outside harassing people. It is really sad stuff to see and there is so much need for help. There is so much need for leaders. So much need for kids to join the church and leave on missions and come back and become the future bishops and stake presidents and so on. Sometimes its really hard to talk to the kids here because you're  never sure if they are serious or just joking around with you or stringing you along for their own amusement. So, I'm so grateful he invited us to do that because from what I have seen from the youth that HAVE joined the church here is that they are stalwart examples to me of perseverance and faith and they have the most powerful testimonies and such strong spirits. We need more of them because they have SO Much potential to do good and I can see that they are already so much better than me and I feel so humbled by the youth here, especially when they are the only members in their family. 

I consider it a miracle that I got sent here at this time in Villa Tesei to help people come unto Christ and by having the opportunity to see such progression and strength happen in such a seemingly short time. I'm freaked out honestly by how happy I feel just seeing someone I've come to love realize that God´s love is real and attainable and then feel the confirmation of the Spirit whisper into their hearts that these things are true. To witness the change of their countenance as they except the gospel into there lives. It makes up for all the heat, exhaustion, dehydration, frustration, sadness, and pain....a hundred fold. I'm very sad that I'm leaving this area and these people that I love with all my heart, but I am also excited to go to my next area and meet new people. Franko says it best. He said "its sad that you are leaving but I know this is God's Will for you to do this, because there are other people, like me, waiting for you.  I'm just happy you came for me too!" 

This work is true and the evidence is found in the members of this church. I know that God´s Love is real and He is a God of miracles.

Love you guys,
Elder Ren Porter

Baptism, me (with THE tie), elder rojas, franko, enzo, angel, enzo´s mom, enzo´s brother elias 

Baptism. All the same people from above PLUS  fransisco and president robertson!

me and brother omar our old mission leader. coolest guy ever! I love him alot.

W.W.M.S (What Would Mom Say) (week 23)

First let me tell you about my week and then I'll explain the title of my email. 

Bueno. Entonces. This week Elder Rojas and I killed it. We met a new family named Lorena and Maxi. They were a reference and they are golden. They came with us to mutual and we taught them the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. Lorena asks the best questions and she is studying the church so much and already has been studying Relief Society on LDS.Org and studying all the other books of scripture. Maxi has already read, in the first week, to chapter 18 of Nephi. What a capo! And he also really hit it off with Franko and Enzo. Enzo is about to be baptized this next weekend and Franko (my first convert in the mission field)!! Awesome stuff. 

Something cool happened to me and Elder Rojas yesterday. We decided to work in our Yellow and Orange zone which is a really hard part of our area. We call it the deadzone because there is not a lot of work done there. It's hard to contact people there and people have a little more money or are more wealthy in those areas. And for some reason this greatly effects the work in those areas. I much prefer the poorer part of villa Tesei, even though it's more dangerous. But The people are just so humble and nice. But we made a decision that we would dedicate a sunday there. So we did! We made some plans for this past Sunday and at about 7:30 all of our plans fell through. hahahaha. As expected, but hey, what can you do! But as you will see, "our" plans are not always "Heavenly Father's" plans. So we should never get discouraged. He is always guiding the ship. So we tried looking for someone we had contacted the other day to see if we could get a second lesson with her that day, we weren't able to find her. So as we're walking around, we see this guy working at a kiosk and we start talking to him. And We had a fairly good conversation, as well. And then some people interrupted our conversation to buy something from the kiosk and they were also very friendly and nice and not what I had expected for this area. That's what I get for prejudging this area and the people in it!!! So we finished our conversation with this man and left a pamphlet and continued on. We then tried to look for this random girl from the ward that the bishopric wanted us to go by and visit.  The problem with this plan of ours was that 1. I wasn't really sure what her name was 2. we weren't sure at all why we were going and 3. I had no idea where she lived haha! I know my mom is rolling her eyes right now because all three of those things are "classic Ren moves". Anyway, we still moved forward and hoped Heavenly Father would guide our steps. We started walking down this one street and I suddenly remembered that we had a reference on this street and we could try contacting them. I stopped for a moment as this thought hit me and then I realized something else! We had stopped in front of a house that I recognized because I had contacted it with my previous comp, Elder Ortolano about a month ago. So, I thought, hmm...maybe we're suppose to ask these people where the contact we were looking for lives. So we went up to the house and I had about a 1 out of 10 on the hope scale that we would get an answer. But then a man came out and I recognized him as one of the people we had contacted here the other month. We started talking with him and we said we were looking for so and so that lived on this same street. He said he had no idea where that person lived, but then he said "My wife is super sick. Will you come in and see her"?  We said "yes" and entered into his house and met his wife. She was super sick and laying in bed. Two of their friends were there as well and we were just talking warmly with all of them and we asked if we could bless this lady. We asked for olive oil and consecrated it and anointed it. And then we blessed this little hermana. The spirit was strong and it was a sweet experience. Afterwards we taught them a little of the Restoration and they invited us to come back and visit them. For someone looking from the outside in, It was really something random. Some might say that was just weird luck or a coincidence, but I know it was a miracle. Who guides this ship?? I have no doubt who! Our plans fell through for the night because Heavenly Father is aware of ALL his children. We met people at that man's kiosk who were nice and friendly. This helped change our attitudes towards this area, which spurred us on to continue walking. Our bishop asked us to contact this woman, but we didn't know how to find her so we walked, hoping to be guided. We ended up on a street I actually remembered, in front of a house I actually remembered. They opened the door to us and invited us in. And we were able to bless this man's wife, this beloved daughter of our Heavenly Father. Is this random? No. Heavenly Father and our Savior know us all. He loves that sweet little Hermana and her family. We were led to that house to bless and comfort her in her time of need. Of that, I have no doubt. 

For me, this was nothing short of a miracle and a reminder that God is directing the work and every setback or trial has a purpose. It was amazing to me and in reality I still can't really believe that it happened, but it did and I cannot deny it. I am so glad that God directs this work and that He is a God of Miracles. This work is true. 

Now, about my email title.....
Something I have really been focusing on this last month is maturity and love. To be straight forward, its this, every time I do anything lately I think about you mom. I think about what you would say to me. If I ever think about something or am wondering if I should do something or not, I would wonder about you and think to myself "What Would my Mom Say." Whether it's something dumb, like should I say this joke or not? Or if it was...should I listen to this or not? Or should I do this or not? Whenever there is a thought from satan to be disobedient or to do something unworthy of myself, I think of you and what you would tell me if you were standing right next to me. My mind always thinks, "what would mom say"! And I'll tell you what!...It has made my life tremendously easier. I haven't had to worry about whether what I was doing was good or bad because I always knew what my mom would say. "Yes ren, that's okay." or "no ren, thats ridiculous"!! I love it. Thanks mom! You are still my mom even out here. I'm so thankful for you. I'm also so grateful for all the service you had me do before I left for my mission. I know I didn't act like I liked it, but it had a huge impact on my life. Going everyday with you to serve at the child crisis center was so hard and I didn't want to do it most of the time, but I couldn't help but feel grateful for all the blessings I've been given after spending time with those kids who had nothing and no one. I am so blessed. Thanks for making me do that. I love you mom!

So, a month ago my mom said that what she really wanted for Mother's Day was for me to pray about someone I could do extra service for. Something separate from my service as a missionary. She wanted me to look around me, pray about it, and do a random act of service on my own. 
So, I don't know if this is what you had in mind but here we go. I have also been working on my charity and patience. Especially with my comp. My mom doesn't know any of this because I'm the "suffer in silence" kind of guy, but these past couple of months have been really hard with my comp! We have argued A LOT and I have been close to strangling him many times. My patience has been tried A LOT these last 2 transfers, because I was just hoping that one of us would get transferred so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. And I have no doubt that he felt the exact same way towards me. I'm stubborn and have many qualities that probably drive my comp crazy! Don't get me wrong though, there were days and sometimes even weeks that it was the complete opposite and we have been closer than any two people can be, but it has been a very slow progression with us.  But, after I read your email a couple of weeks ago about serving someone, I immediately thought of My comp. I didn't even have to pray about it. It came to my mind immediately and I decided to change our companionship. I knew I couldn't change him. But, I COULD change myself!
I was tired of being miserable and angry all the time and I just wanted us to work unified and be happy. So I made the decision to not care about who was right or who wasn't and to stop focusing on the things that bothered me about my comp. Instead, I would just look at the good, important qualities of Elder ****. Basically, I was trying to look at him with Christlike eyes instead of my dumb mortal eyes. As I did this, I saw, in him, a great missionary. I saw someone who has and will do lots of great things in Buenos Aires. And  I saw someone who will do great things in the church in the future. What a difference this has made! We have been such a unified unit lately and missionary work with him has been such a joy, it's unbelievable. 

Something special that happened between us as well is that we were talking one night and he told me that I have been his comp longer than any other companionship throughout his whole mission, by a large amount. He also said that I had had the most patience with him than any other elder he had served with before and though we argued sometimes, he thought we had a really good companionship and that he had learned alot from me about patience and humility. I told him he was a great missionary and a great example for me and I was happy to be his companion. This is something that would've been so hard and nearly impossible for me to say a few weeks ago. But because my mom had challenged me to be of service to someone and Heavenly Father had put it in my heart that I needed to serve and love my companion, right then in that moment, saying those things to Elder ***** was something easy and a pleasure to say and was the truth from my heart. I learned a great lesson. The more you serve someone, the more you grow to love them. When you let go of pride and the natural man and try to see someone like Christ would see them, it's impossible not to have your heart and mind changed...for the better. 

Happy Mother's Day! See you over Skype on Sunday!

Love,

Elder Ren Porter

Ren's email: ren.porter@myldsmail.net

Elder Rojas, Garardo (our recent convert), Nefi (his son), and me