I Fear No Man! (Week 34)

This week......Wednesday was my birthday. We had interviews with President Robertson. The others Elders had a baptism for a lady named Jorgelina. Hermana Cheever got Flashed out of the area and we have a new Hermana from the United States named Hermana Lloyd and.......... I think thats it, well I hope thats it, i always forget the cool stuff and remember the boring stuff. 

But, whatever, down to the details. First off the Elders Quorum President gave us a Ping Pong set, that belongs to the church, because we had planned to do an activity this Saturday but it didn't pan out so we have been playing ping pong all week!!! We play Right before bed, While our food cooks, all P-day, when someone is using the bathroom, And after i write this email we´re going to go play Ping Pong WOOO!! 

In the continuing saga of our missionary bicycles, Elder Wihongi's handlebars literally broke off while he was riding his bike. Uhh...is he super-humanly strong or are our bikes pathetic?!?!  (Picture below) Nothing better than your handlebars breaking off while you're on your way to an appointment. And an added bonus....it's still mud-central here! Woop-didi-doo!

Also it was my birthday on Wednesday. I'm 19. My dear sweet companion made a giant, 2-inch thick, pancake for me and then we also had our usual giant heap of potatoes, onions, mushrooms, and eggs scrambled together (picture below) It was a good day!!! And we sang a rowdy round of "Happy birthday to you" in Spanish. It was Super Awesome!! 

The best part of that day though was when we had a cool experience....

We were biking out to an investigators house and along the way my companion had the impression that we needed to stop and pray. So, we stopped, took 6 really cool photos and then we prayed. After our prayer we got back on our bikes and, once again, started heading to our investigators house. About 5 seconds in we received a phone call. It was a member of our ward calling to say that some new people were moving in next door to them and that we should come help. So we promptly dropped our current plans and went right over. When we arrived we awkwardly introduced ourselves and asked if we could help. The lady we were talking to said "Uhh...No!" But we didn't let that detour us. We just changed tactics and asked her where she was from and we struck up a conversation with them. After a little bit, right as the conversation was about to die, the husband of this lady who had been unloading while we talked, looked at us and said "so are you guys going help or not?" Haha. We immediately dropped the conversation and picked up a box. After everything was unloaded the husband was talking to us and he seemed impressed that we had rode from out of nowhere to help them with their boxes. We said "Well, yah....we heard you needed help and we like helping...so here we are." He was a super friendly man and he promptly said we could come back anytime and to talk to him and his family about the gospel!! Super cool Experience!!!

Elder Wihongi and I have a new saying now that we always use. I Fear No Man! We use this phrase whenever we feel scared to knock on a door, or to contact someone, or to teach someone. We simply look at eachother and whisper-shout "I FEAR NO MAN" and then we practically run at the next door looking for the next person to baptize or call to repentance.  It does wonders for our fears. A good part of the inspiration for this phrase comes from Moroni 8:16

 16 "Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

Powerful!!! Love that scripture.

I Fear No Man!!!!!

This work is true! Its hard, but there is a never ending supply of hope that Christ offers us. 

I love you guys. 

Elder Ren Porter

Taking the time to appreciate the sunrise!

My birthday breakfast!!

Ping pong

New sister missionary

Elder Wihongi's handlebars literally broke off while we were riding!!

No More Sugar! (Week 33)

For some reason I was really really tired this week, like “first week of the mission tired”!  I kept thinking… what in the world is wrong? why am i so tired? And then I realize, it’s probably because I ate A LOT of sugar this week!! Haha. Did you all know I’m allergic to sugar? And wheat, dairy, grains, nuts, and everything else that tastes good!!  I’m definitely going to try and cut off the sugars this week, but its super hard because my companion loves the sugars, as do I!

Also, remember how I said it was raining like crazy here and we were worried about it flooding? Well it didn't flood, but I now live in a mud bog. It's been really interesting trying to get places on our already pathetic rust bucket bikes through dirt trails and roads that our now giant mud pits. I will be an expert in all bicycle related evasive maneuvers involving dogs, handlebar riding, and mud cycling by the time my mission is over!  Many different missionaries told us I would need really tall boots in my mission. My mom ordered these sweet boots from horse.com, they're for mucking out horse stalls on a farm, and in my case, they are for getting anywhere in our area without sinking through the earth or being covered in mud. Thanks mom. Sadly, they are very nice boots (even covered in mud) and everyone who sees them says "hey, those are really nice boots! I like them"! Which in my area translates to "hey, those are really nice boots and if you don't get away from me fast, they will be mine!!!" I'm constantly paranoid that someone is going to jump us one evening and demand to have them! Haha. 

But anyway, besides that, the week was fantastic. We talked with the Family Quevedo this week and it looks like they are going to wait to be married after all. Jorge, the father of the family, has a lot of fear about rushing things to much because of his past marriage experience.  Elder Wihongi and I have tried to guide them to have more faith and to just go for it but they are firm, it seems, in the decision to wait. I believe  they have also started to get annoyed with us a little too because of how much we are pestering them to get married.  We have heard stories about some missionaries who would be to aggressive and incessant with their  investigators and it winds up pushing them away from the church and not towards it. We don't want that happening with them  so we decided to drop it for now and just be their friends and support them as they progressively move forward. We feel fervently that in the near future they will be married and Augustina baptized and they will be an active amazing family here in the church.  For me and my comp It doesn't really matter if WE get to baptize them or if WE get to take credit. It’s the Lords work and they are the Lord’s children.  I'm  just thankful I was able to meet them and share the gospel with them. They are my friends now.  We are happy that they have progressed and we pray that that will continue and that the gospel will become a part of their eternal progression.

Our Good friend Luis is still Progressing!! Slowly but surely he is progressing and though he cant really hear us at all because his hearing is going or read the book of Mormon because his sight is diminishing and the letters are to small, He has been feeling better and better every visit.  And his smoking habit is improving,  cigarette by cigarette. It’s a kind of funny and not the usual way of teaching someone, but because he can’t really understand most of what we say, in our halting Spanish, we have become his friends. When we’re with him, our time is spent cheering him on,  making him laugh, trying to motivate him and trying to help him know that we are here for him and love him and, more importantly, that our Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ love him. 

The Family Fernandez is finally showing some signs of progressing as well. We finally got to talk to the Hermana and we were able to bear our testimonies and share our beliefs. We also took the opportunity to teach her that the church she belongs to is wrong and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the only true church on the earth. We invited her, as we have done a million times before, to read the Book of Mormon, to pray to our Heavenly Father about it and find out for herself it is true. She finally agreed and said “Well if i read this book, I’m not going to do it because i like you guys or because i Like how your church smells (apparently our church smells good! Just FYI)! I’ll read it and if I find it to be true I will be a member and not a fake member!” Ha, we stopped in our tracks and practically yelled at her that that is EXACTLY what we’ve been asking her to do!!  We are hoping this will be a big step for her in coming closer to the waters of baptism. It was kind of funny and a little uncomfortable in how we approached this lesson with her. As a missionary, sometimes you have to go slow, sometimes you have to back off and sometimes you have to be brutally honest. This was a “brutally honest” time for us, as we lovingly destroyed the church she belongs to!  I spoke very directly about the gospel, why I know its true, and why she needs it in her life. We were very direct but it’s because we love her and her family. We want them to be happy and we know that true happiness is found when you seek after and follow our Savior Jesus Christ. 

We also performed a Heroic Act Of Service, Like super heroes almost. We were heading to our area and a man called us. With not even an instant of delay we slammed on our breaks and swooped into the rescue. The man said “help! this lady has fallen and she cant get up!!”. WE looked over the fence into the yard of the house he was pointing to and saw an elderly lady sitting in her door way.  We asked her, over the fence, what we could do to help? She said “Can you get the keys and open the door?”  Why, of course, random citizen.  Step back!  And  with the assistance of my faithful sidekick Elder Wihongi,  I scaled the fence and landed, light as a feather,  on the other side of the ….Like Batman!  I then began the mighty search for the infamous keys and i could not find them…haha…Not so much like batman! A little crowd of similar elderly people had gathered to watch my heroics and they were all yelling at me, in Spanish,  saying…”the keys are in the door! The keys are in the door!”  but the lady had like a million doors in her house and apparently I was looking at every door EXCEPT the right door! My Sidekick Tried Helping me by telling the crowd that i didn't speak Spanish, I only spoke  Chinese! haha. A few minutes later I located the keys and opened the  impenetrable gate, thus saving the day.  Before they could give us the key to the city, we got onto our faithful rust buckets  (bikes)  and rode off into the sunset to the sound of five old people yelling words of praise (I’m assuming) in spanish.

We did have one very odd thing happen this week. For some reason a bunch of the missionaries in our district decided that  Elder WIhongi and i weren’t happy or excited about our area. They said we were “dis-animated” about our area or something like that.  So they organized a district wide meeting to help Mercedes A (my area) to boost our morale. Haha. Their hearts were in the right place, they were just wrong.  It was a very confusing experience because, up until that moment,  i had thought that i was very “animated” and excited!!! hahaha. It was probably all the sugar induced tiredness that made them think we were “dis-animated”!! 

On a whole this week was amazing and I learned so much!! 
I love you guys,
Elder Ren Porter

This "road" is actually not that bad, compared to some of the other ones!

My sweet "horse-stall-mucking" boots.

What I Know For Sure (week 32)

SO this week was full of Rain, Rain and more Rain. It's weird for me because I'm from Arizona and it would rain like once a year there so I'm really not used to everything being so wet all the time. I feel like I'm starting to sound like my brother Cole who's on his mission in Tahiti because he talks about how much it rains in Tahiti in his weekly emails! Haha. The streets, or should I say "dirt trails", that we ride on are giant mud bogs now. Good times. Luckily elder Wihongi and I always seem to be in a house, or in church or in our apartment just as the rain starts to pour down on us. We are hoping it doesn't rain to much because that would probably mean an evacuation of Mercedes. Mercedes is kind of like a big bowl. I was told that Mercedes is infamous for being a frequent flooded area, like really bad flooding, up to a one story house bad, I'm told. So with some luck and prayer mercedes will stay safe. My first companion, Elder Ortolano, served in Mercedes this time last year and I remember him telling me that one time Mercedes Flooded and everyone was emergency evacuated. Him and his comp lost contact with all their investigators and all they did for a few weeks was service to help clean up the mess and help people that had been misplaced from their homes. I pray that it won't get that bad but who knows, it could still happen. 

This week was a little difficult, the family Quevedo are having some troubles getting their marriage papers turned in because they have to wait a month. And once they are married they then have to take 10 days off of work, as mandated by the law. And they are a little worried that Jorge will be fired because of that and also because his work, right now, is already laying off some people because of some growth happening within the company. There is just alot of uncertainty in their lives right now. Satan is trying so hard to dissuade them from getting baptized! We have been fasting and praying about it and we are hoping to push them to be married this next month.

A mission has been the best and hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Its the first time in my life that I've been both sad and happy at the same time. So physically and emotionally tired and yet so energized at the same time. The people here befuddle me sometimes. As a missionary, my sole purpose here is to teach people about Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. About the joy and happiness that can fill their lives by following our Savior. But most people don't want to hear it.  The things people say and the things they do are so frustrating to hear and yet so exciting because it provides a challenge for us as missionaries to overcome, which then helps us to rely more and more on faith and Jesus Christ as we venture out each day to find people to teach. 

I do not know everything and I am so imperfect but what I DO know is that God exists. God Loves us. Jesus Christ is His Son. I am a Missionary. The Book of Mormon is true. Peace and comfort and a safe haven from the storms of life are found in Christ. He can Help us. He wants to help us. We can ask for help. He will give us what we need. Reading Scriptures, Praying to God, and Going to Church are vitally important. I left my family and home to come to Argentina and teach the gospel. I love my family.  I love God and Jesus Christ. I love Argentina and its people. I have been called by a prophet of God to be here In Argentina and I'm here to teach people and families how they can be eternally happy. And I am a son of God. 

THis work will always progress. 
i love you guys. 
Elder Ren Porter

Zone conference (I know I look short in this pic but it's only because I was standing behind Elder Wihongi. He and I are actually the exact same height. Haha)

Less...awkward robot, more...servants of God (week 31)

Woah. so this week was something.  First off, none of our investigators came to church on Sunday and Argentina lost the Copa Americana finals in soccer yesterday. Secretly, Elder Wihongi and i were rooting for Chile to win yesterday in the Copa Americana. It was done out of spite that none of our investigators came to church. hahaha. Don't worry, I've already repented.

That's all the bad news, and theres not a lot, so thank goodness!! Besides those two things, this week was pretty sweet. We were able to meet alot of our goals this week and we are super stoked now. Also we have been getting progressively better with our teaching. I'm proud to say we're teaching less like awkward robots and more like servants of God!! 

So, now I know that I don't just have bad luck with the bikes here, I also have train issues! we had to go up to a little town in our area called Gowland which you can only reach by a 50 minute train ride. So we took the train up there and we visited all the less active and investigators we know and none of them were home (of course) so we went back to the train station to go home. As we're sitting on the train platform waiting, a guy comes up to us and says the train workers have gone on strike! Huh? So in the one hour that we spent in Gowland, the train went on strike!! My comp and I are thinking "oh good, we were hoping the train would go on strike today!!!" "Hope we can find some sketchy bikes to ride so we can get home by nightfall." So, we found some sketchy bikes and we started the LONG bike ride back to Mercedes. Sadly, we took some weird route that ran along the train tracks and we were on that trail FOREVER. The whole time i was just waiting for some random thief to jump out of the brush and rob us of our candy and cameras but luckily we had luck and that didn't happen. Instead, we were just chased by random dogs!!! But, because we got lost, we found out that we have a small lake in our area, a bunch of brick making Bolivians, and also another small town that we didnt know existed. So it was all quite eventful. 

Its Steadily getting colder here and its also coming into to the rainy season. Yippee. So there always seems to be a constant wind blowing and it always seems to be blowing against us, no matter what angle or direction we ride our bikes!!! haha. 

We visited a less active family this week and it was funny because at the end of the lesson the fathers uncle walked in and we met him and then we asked the family for references of other people we could visit and as we writing down some references we asked if there was anyone else we could visit and the uncle was like "Umm...you can visit me!" We looked at him and looked at eachother and were like, "Oh man! We are so lame!!" Did I say we were "less awkward robot and more servants of God?" Haha. Anyway, we quickly covered our awkwardness and asked the uncle if we could come tomorrow? It was super funny afterwards, as we were thinking about it because it was so random. So we visited him the next day and we managed to set a date for him to be baptized! Crazy.

Elder Wihongi and i have been sharing messages alot about the Atonement lately. The moment in Jesus Christ´s life when he suffered for all the sin of the world and sweat drops of blood for you and me.  We have really been trying to drive home the supreme importance of applying the atonement. I forget sometimes the significance of this, the ability to throw off my burden and guilt and to feel happy once more is not something to kept to oneself. We teach of the neccesity of praying on bended knee to God To receive this gift and not to wait but to apply it in our lives and apply it now!
I know that the atonement is of supreme importance and it is, in reality, something real. Jesus Christ really does exist and He Did do that for me and my family and all the people past, present and future. This knowledge of the Atonement is mine and no matter what happens i know that it is true. 
I love you guys and i love this work!!
Elder Ren Porter

The first pic was taken on the train platform right before we were told they were on strike! And the other two pics were taken on our journey home from the train!

Member Missionaries (week 30)

So this week was pretty awesome. First off, I ate A LOT of.....potatoes, eggs and onions (just like last week)!! Second my area, Mercedes, was created into a Ward which is Awesome because its been a branch since 1944!!! And the district of Lujan, Argentina was made into a Stake, we celebrated by eating A LOT of..... potatoes, eggs and onions!!! Lujan is an area that covers about 230,000 kilometers (i dont know how much that is in miles but i assume alot). Elder Texeira presided over everything and with him was Elder Carter (mission President right before President Robertson), who was called as a 70 this last General Conference and also President Benton-Current MTC president In Argentina and our current Mission President (Robertson). It was a great experience. The Ride home was fun, we all rode on a sketchy bus. I was able to sleep a little bit and we only had to stop once because of a car running into us and shattering its window. Good times.

Also the first group of missionaries that came here with President Robertson (current mission President) left for their homes today. It was quite a big group of missionaries. They made up a big chunk of great leaders that we had here. Also, we received transfer calls yesterday and I am..........staying here in Mercedes!!! AND....I am staying with Elder Wihongi!! Yes!! Anti-climatic, but Awesome. We have been knocking on wood for two weeks now, none stop, Hoping we would stick together again this transfer. We celebrated by eating A LOT of potatoes, eggs and onions!! Elder Lopez and Elder Sales and Hermana Cheever are all staying too, but Hermana Sierra is leaving. 

Me and Elder Wihongi are super excited we're staying here because that means that we will both be here for the wedding and baptism of Augustina. Coolest lady ever!! 

I feel like I`ve done alot more this week but i cant remember anything that happened...hahaha.  I'm sure it was all good though!!

I want to say some things about the  importance of members in missionary work. I have not realized, until now, how important members are in missionary work. I know now that, for an investigator and recent convert to have a member-friend will not only help them feel welcome in the church but will help them not leave the church. I wish i could be there all the time for my investigators and recent converts. When they are feeling lonely, distressed or confused, I just want to stay with them 24/7, give them a hug and tell them to hold on, have faith and don't give up, but as a missionary I can't do that as it will hinder the progression of the `person. I have never realized truly what it feels like to walk into a new and exciting experience full of new words, new people, new concepts and new cultures. The closest example for me would be....walking into a new country. The work progresses everyday but I feel sure in saying that the work would progress so much faster if members participated as well. 

I do love all the help we do receive out here, it helps alot more than people think it does for us missionaries!!!

Love you all, 

Elder Ren Porter

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