March 30, 2015

       This week was really good we started the week off with interviews with President George. He is amazing and full of love! He knows exactly how you might feel.  He always makes you smile and has the strongest testimony ever! Every time we have interviews with him I feel like I want to do better! He's amazing! Also Sister George made breakfast for us and we ate in the mission home. Maria de Jesus (the wife of Uvenzo ) well we changed her baptism date for April 11. We just need to teach her a little bit more. They are great! Uvenzo has been paying his tithing every week! He has been filled with so much happiness this week! He also received the priesthood this Sunday and is now a priest! I also gave him one of my shirts because he doesn't have one. Elder Gonzalez will give him a tie. Maria de Jesus asked us this week what she needs to do to enter the temple. She is exited and wants to have a family for all eternity! We also should be baptizing two kids this week. Luis Angel and Martha. They are preparing to be baptized on Thursday(: lets see I think that's about all for this week(: Have a wonderful week family and friends, I'll be thinking and praying for you all(:

 

Some interesting food I ate this week

WHOOO!  I received a package from the young women!!! ya!

The missionary purpose in the language of Tsotzil

This week...I lost my name tag... I feel very sad!  It's the tag that had a picture of my family...but oh well, things happen.

General Conference soon!

Birds that talk!

My new cool mochila.  I thought Melissa would be jealous!  (:

When Elder Oaks came

Teaching Luis and Martha

 

March 23, 2015

This week was great! We finished the week with the baptism of Uvenzo. He was so exited for it! Elder Gonzalez did the baptism and I confirmed him a member of the church on Sunday. I was very happy and surprised that he had so much support. About 3/4 of the members in the ward (that are active) showed up to his baptism and congratulated him! And welcomed him in. They gave him and his family presents and church books! Wow he has a ton of support!  His wife will be baptized in 2 weeks and Uvenzo will be able to baptize her! Wow I'm so exited! Also in one year they will be preparing to enter the temple and I will still be here and will be able to enter with him! I cant wait haha. He has been the Golden investigator. Since day one he was a contact on the street in front of his house, we invited him to hear a message about Jesus Christ, he accepted and we made a day and a time the next day to teach him. In the first lesson he was very interested but didn't know anything about the church. When we ended I was pretty sure that he recognized us as missionaries of God. The next lesson he wasn't home and we couldn't have any contact with him for one week! Elder Gonzalez and I were very worried because he wasn't gonna show up at church. That Sunday he showed up! AND with members in his car, he brought the member to church! He loved church and assisted every week! Every thing we taught him he accepted(: and he stared to change! Now he is a member and I think he will be bishop in one year! haha he always tells us ´´I will keep that commandment because God commanded it.´´ and he says if God wants me to be baptized that day I will do everything I can!´´ He's amazing(:                       Also this week it has been VERY  HOT! woww! Its also been VERY humid.  I've literally been sweating all week non stop! And in the night its hard to sleep with so much sweat haha. I've really been liking the showers... they're not cold anymore...there just perfect temperature! Also we traveled to Cintalapa again for another interview for baptism woohoo! This week our zone had 5 baptisms. ¡ Que Padre! les amo mucho, que tengan un buen semana! con Amor Elder Portlock. I love you lots, have a good week, with love Elder Portlock

Yup...

Lehi's Dream!  It's on the birth certificates here in Mexico!

Part of my area

Uvenzo's baptism

March 16, 2015
Hey Family and friends(: the week that passed in the mission(: haha well this week was long but also really great! We had a TON of forms to fill out for the zone! We spent 7 hours on the computer on Monday filling things out and calling the zone to ask questions and all! haha wow it was an experience(: on Tuesday we had our zone leader conference, we focused a lot on the atonement of Christ and the importance of it, which is what we did for our zone conference with our zone. Elder Gonzales and I both gave 10 minute talks about the atonement and then had the district leaders teach certain topics that will help out our zone. haha lots of conferences this week. Then on Wednesday we finally got time to work in our area, and got a lot of work done.  On Friday we had an activity with the young men, they were gonna have a mini mission where they sleep with the missionaries and work all day haha so Friday night was the mini MTC where they watched videos and the stake president talked to them, then they were all assigned to different missionaries, Elder Gonzalez and I had 5 young men with us! So at night we taught them all the things about the mission and went to sleep at 10:30...well Elder Gonzales and I did haha but the boys were up all night talking hahahaha, then in the morning we studied and then started to work.   2 went with Elder Gonzalez and 3 came with me, and wow! they were so exited and very emotional to work haha! They made soooo many contacts it was great! So we had a wonderful day with them! Which was also a blessing for us, because we didn't have a lot of time this week to work in our area, but with the 2 full days of working we were able to find a lot of success.(: Well things are doing great here in Tuxtla haha. we have a baptism next week and I'm very exited for it! U.... is such an amazing investigator! I hope that things are doing well back at home, I love you all so much(: Love Elder Portlock

We need to make this

My zone

Making presents for the ward members

The young men

We had a ward conference this week so we helped the ward make these presents

The young men with us

March 9, 2015

This week in Mexico: haha, well this week was pretty good. Not a lot of new news. But this week we had more inter changes with  the missionaries. I went  to the pueblo of Berriozabal with elder Dias to work for a day. The pueblo is about 30 minutes outside of Tuxlta. I love being able to see the pueblos, they are a lot smaller than the cities and they also have less things. I spent the night there. And wow I don't know why, but It was FREEZING! I didn't know it would be cold so I didn't bring any sweater or coat! And I froze hahaha. The wind was also very cold! Wow! Also in Berriozabol we got a call from a member who is sick and needs a blessing.  As we arrived at his house I almost broke out in tears to see his house. It reminded me of the house in the old movie of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It looked very old and it was very small. As we walked in, the floor is only dirt and he lives by himself, he looked really old as well. This man has a a giant cyst from birth in his neck but also was sick with other problems. He could barley talk, I wanted to cry to as I saw his situation. But we gave him a blessing and sung hymns with him and prayed and blessed his house. He wept as we did these things and thanked us. And we left his house and thanked God for the blessings that we have in life. I hope every one at home is grateful for the things we have and for the health that we have. Also in the morning the next day I took a shower with a bucket...it was very fun actually(: This week here in Tuxtla we had a lesson with a family of 5 that we are teaching and preparing for baptism, (  they are great by the way (: ) during the lesson we were teaching about the importance of families. I told them how great my family is and talked about each member in my family.  I told them my purpose here is to leave my family for 2 years to find this family and help them that they could be together for eternity. The father of the family began to cry for the love I have for my family and for the service I am giving. I hope this family will progress and begin to have family prayers as well.  I hope everything is doing well in Riverton (: I love you all, keep it up and KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!!!!! Love Elder Portlock

 

PDAY!

This was Elder Jimenez's last day in the mission!  Man, I love him so much!  He was like my "mother" here in the mission.  He will be studying at BYU in a few months.  I told him to visit my family, can't wait to have a picture with him and my family.

I found some friends from Aguilas!  I was so happy to see them!

Elder De Leon!  He is from Riverton and we graduated the same year.

We are losing missionaries

I don't know what this is...I think it's a school

Elder Diaz en Berriozabal

teaching ourselves

The branch building in Berriozabal

 

 March 2, 2015

Well, as I end this week and write about what we did I hope that I will be able to remember all that we did, because I have a lot to write! I will begin with TUESDAY.  On this day we had our meeting with the district leaders. As Elder Gonzalez and I were thinking a lot about what we could do for our zone we came up with the solution that we need to make plans that are efficient and better. We taught about making plans and the importance of making plans.  Our district leaders all came up with some really great plans and during the week were able to lead the districts.  Now at the end of the week all of the areas completed their goals and the numbers that they made! We had a lot of success as the zone! I hope that we can keep it up and always make plans in life that we can achieve!

WEDNESDAY: we got a call from the assistants on Tuesday night. They told us that we need to cancel all of our plans and lessons tomorrow and report ay the hospital at 9 pm. We did exactly what they said without hesitation. We arrived at the hospital at 9 and they informed us that it is our turn to watch and take care of someone.  We took care of the president of the branch in the areas of the Altas of Chiaps where only Latin missionaries can serve because it is very dangerous for the North Americans. It's the area of the Indians where they speak the Tzotzil language.  Anyways, he's in the hospital because he had stones. Our job was to watch him all night and all of Wednesday as he recovers. Wow! The stone that they took out was HUGE!  As big as a mouse for the computer! haha. well during the night was pretty fun. haha I'm just gonna say that it was my FIRST time in the mission that I studied till 2 in the morning studying the scriptures haha, At 2 it was my turn to sleep and Elder Gonzalez to watch him. Then at 4 in the morning it was my turn again! Wow, I was to tired hahaha, at 8 in the morning we helped him eat, helped him get into the shower to clean himself and then we dressed him and took him to the offices so he could rest. Soooo, we stayed in the offices with him ALLLLL day until 9 at night! Wow, I studied a ton of stuff haha! And Elder Gonzalez and I were able to make food in the kitchen. Wow, what a experience! SATURDAY: this day was amazing! We had the opportunity to arrive at the stake center in Grijalva (my first area or my first church building that I started the mission in haha) ALL of the missionaries in Chiapas came down to listen to Dallin H. Oaks who is an apostle. He came to speak to all of us! Wow, it was incredible! When he walked into the room I could feel the spirit testify to me that he is a man of God.  Wow! President George talked first about the attributes of Christ and a lot about the importance of correcting people the correct way. Then Elder Walker of the 70 spoke and talked about the culture of the mission that we should obtain. The culture is Preach My Gospel, and it is the same in every mission. He told us to live this culture and be dedicated in this culture. He also talked about having an end in mind in the mission and that it is very important to do everything you can!  It was great. Then Elder Oaks spoke, well he doesn't speak Spanish so he had his translator there.  Wow.  It was really cool to see how they did it! Elder Oaks would say a sentence or 2 and the translator would repeat it in Spanish! It was incredible to see it, and for me, well it was awesome to hear the talk in two languages, haha, because he spoke in English and then I heard it in Spanish! haha When he said something funny all the North Americans would laugh first and then in Spanish and all the Latin missionaries would laugh hahahaha. When he talked he told us that he doesn't usually have talks prepared for missionaries, he just likes to talk and speak whatever he feels like he needs to say.  He first talked about the importance of looking like a missionary and looking neat and clean.  But what he talked about more is marriage!?!?! haha  He told us that after the mission we NEED TO LOOK FOR A WIFE and not wait a minute! He said that we are half men until we are married! And he told the sister missionaries that they need to tell the men when they get back from the missions to divorce the man and become a man! haha wow! He really made a statement about the importance of marriage! He then also talked about the importance of the sacrament and how the investigators need to know about it. Then he talked about the importance of prayer and never just assume that the investigators just know how to pray, we need to teach them. Wow it was such a great experience! SUNDAY: wow for today I just want to talk about my investigators. We found someone that is golden!  This is the 3rd time that he has been at church!  His name is U.... he has been learning so much!  He wants to be baptized and be a member as soon as he can.  We told him that he has to wait a few more weeks to prepare and attend church at least 5 times to learn more.  We put a baptism date for March 21st, and when we invited him he immediately said "Yes! If God wants me to be baptized that date I will do it! God will bless us!" Wow! He is so exited!  Even a week ago on Sunday he told us that he couldn't go to church because he has a lot of things to do, well what he did is showed up at some members house honked the horn and yelled are you gonna go to church today??? haha  Within a minute the members were in his car amazed that he wanted to go to church so bad! He was only able to stay for sacrament meeting because he had to take his dad home in another city. But wow! He KNEW that he needed to go to church to learn! This Sunday he showed up and we taught about gospel principles, because only it was him and his wife in the class.  We decided to teach them the lesson about the Word Of Wisdom.  haha When we told him that he couldn't drink coffee, he immediately said, "I wont drink coffee anymore, if God commanded it we wont drink it!" haha wow!!! I love his dedication! He is amazing and very humble! Allllso we found a family of 5.  They are amazing and accepted a baptism date in April! Wow, we will continue to work with them too! We had a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong and they are amazed to have learned it! They are a humble family who believe in God but don't read the Bible very much.  But they are very very exited to learn more!....wow this week was amazing! Truly amazing! Also this week ended the cambios. We got the information of cambios this morning, well Elder Gonzalez and I are still together :D  This is his last 6 weeks of the mission! Wow!  He is very emotional right now!  Also there have been a lot of changes in the zone! I'll write more about it next week.  Well family and friends, take care until next week! You are all in my hearts (: 

P:S ( don't judge my horrible spelling... I'm literally forgetting English....) haha Con Amor Elder Portlock

 

Le flag

Me sleeping

Me sleeping

Presidente de la Rama

Eating in the offices.  Whooooo   :D

POZOLLLL!!!  :D

Eating food at a cool restaurant

Watching Presidente de la Rama

Wow....The fish I ate  (:

With Antony and Jared.  They are awesome youth preparing for the mission!

I'm eating the corn from Nacho Libre!   :D

Familia Hernandez Espinoza