Monday, February 29, 2016

February 29, 2016



wow Dear Family(: I love you all so very much(: wow thanks for telling me that this day is special hahaha. I would not have even thought it(: wow that’s so interesting hearing all of the changes in the ward, people moving out, getting ready for their missions! And the girls getting married! wow(: life will be so weird and changed soon(: The second coming is one of my favorite topics, and I love listening and reading and teaching about the 10 virgins. I don’t see the second coming as being scary, I’m actually happy that it will come. But yes for some it would be scary, so that’s why we need to change our lives. It’s like the commandments. They are the standards that God has given us to train us to become gods (: if we keep them we will be fine (:
 hahaha ok the questions, I like these(:1. what is different where you are compared to where you have been? well , if I understood your question right, Comalapa is completely different from Tonala haha, there are no hammocks here in Comalapa because is a lot colder than Tonala. I’m now in a small city and the people are more poorer. We don’t eat a lot of fancy food, most like beans, rice and chicken haha(: its yummy(: 2.  What do the people do for transportation?  We have buses, but van buses. We use them ALL the time (: they are super organized with them and they goooo super-fast hahaha(: sometimes I think I’m gonna die. but now I’m used to it haha. oh! and they have moto taxis, they’re just little taxis or bikes with seats. 3. What do the people do there for work? Well, 80 percent of the people have worked in the United States for several years in farming to send money home, annnnnnnnd the all work in the market . There’s not a lot of education here, which is really needed, OH! and there tons of taxis, we use taxis a lot (: 4.What is a typical day like for you? wake up at 5:40 and run and go to the gym. at 7 I shower and eat breakfast. at 8-11 we study and at 11 we start working and visit people and at 2 we eat with the members or at home, and at 9 we go to the house and at 1030 we sleep (: its awesome (. 5. Do you have hot running water, or do you have to fetch your water yourself? No, I have not felt hot running water for some time now.......hahaha no here in Chiapas we use cold water and its super freezing in the mornings, but I’m use to it now! I’ve learned how to just throw my body in the water (; hahaha 6.How are things going with your companion?  Do you work well together?  Well, we don’t work the best together, and we have a lot of differences, but it’s also part of the mission, he’s great. haha 7.What is church like? Church is church haaha, well normally we help with everything. We bless the sacrament and pass it. And normally we give talks...we teach the gospel principles and sometimes we teach priesthood. We have an attendance of about 30 people. The work is growing (: and the members are great (: 
           And about my week (: wow! full of tender mercies!!! on Thursday we traveled to Comitan for our district meeting and after we had inter cambios with the zone leaders, so we went to a small town about an hour from Comitan called Rodolfo Figaroa and a brother called brother Soto took us in his car. On the way down the police stopped us and said that we were going really fast, and we had two sister missionaries with us too, so there were four of us in the back so we thought he was gonna give us a really big ticket... He asked us who we were and he said. Oh! Do you know Jeff Jones??? And Elder Jones said! ya!!! That’s my uncle!! And the police said so you’re from Chihuahua! And Elder Jones said ya I’m from there (the really amazing thing is that it’s all true!!!) and then the police said oh wow! That’s fine, have a nice day. Wow... we were ALL in aww and started to pray and thank God for the miracle, we knew that God needed us in the small city. We finally got there and worked for about 2 hours, and literally the spirit of God was in the town, we had several powerful lessons with many tears, and tons of references, and we were trying to leave but tons of people were contacting us asking who we are and when we will be  coming back, and some even told us to write their names down! wow the whole night I was thinking about how great God is(: On Friday, we had our and my 4th last activity of the mission, It was great and we went to 2 places, Teram Puente (full of Mayan pyramids(: and to Chiflon, a huge waterfall and cascades, with the most clearest bluest water I have EVER seen in my life(: wow! I HAVE to take you all here(: and the other thing that happened on Saturday, we were looking for an old investigator called Ana, that we found her registro in the house. So we found her house and a 15 year old girl let us in and said, Ana will be home in about 10 minutes, she let us in the wait and gave us water to drink, about 2 min. later an old man came into the room and asked us ...¨ who gave you permission to enter my house¨¨.....I told him that the girl let me in and he then said. Get out of my house right now!¨and I didn’t even hesitate, I told him ok, that’s fine, don’t worry we’re leaving and left the water on the table and we ran out.!!!! wow I couldn’t believe that he ran us out of his house. So that was interesting(: haha That’s my week for now(: I love you all so very much(: Love Elder Portlock





A great family here.  (:


Teram Puente



















Wow!  The food Yeni prepared for us  (:


Eating with Yeni and Osiel




Monday, February 22, 2016

Feb. 22, 2016


  Well for this week not a lot happened to be honest. We’ve been working with a lot of less active members this week. And I feel like they hardly know anything. Elder Oaks has been talking about the importance of baptizing converts to the church, which means that the people really repent and have a strong testimony before baptism. Because the problem is that a lot of people get baptized but really don’t have a testimony. I have been thinking about this for a bit. Our investigator “Y” is amazing. She still can’t get baptized but she is a convert and has such a strong testimony already and she is friends with all the members. Her sister “I”  should be getting baptized in 2 weeks which is really amazing (: I love you all (: have a great week (: Elder Portlock

Teaching "B".  "B" is a convert of 2 years.  He unfortunately fell again into drinking and living on the street.  He is less active and we are helping him.  P.S.  His mom locked him in his room because he is a rebel and always drinks.  I love this guy.  He is my friend and I will never forget the lessons we have had.


Elder Martinez and I - we bought the same bag pretty much.


This is a small town called Pacayalito, about 10 miles from Guatemala.




A cool parade, they're Catholic traditions.  They are dancing in the street and praying to a saint.




Having a good day with Julian


Monday, February 15, 2016

February 15, 2016


Wow! Happy Presidents day hahha, thanks mom for reminding me that.(: and Happy Birthday to my beautiful 13 year old sister, Emily! Felicidades(: Well Also congratulations Hermana Hansen. My family told me that they saw your homecoming! That’s great! Le invito a mi homecoming tambien haha.  Wow! I can’t wait to see the new Provo temple in person; I saw a video describing the features haha! But wow! And for the care package...ummmm I don’t know what more I need, haha just surprise me(: I’ll also be sending home one more package, what can  I send you guys from Mexico?
 Well For this week it was awesome! We had to travel A TON but we also did a lot of stuff. On Tuesday we received a reference from a 20 year old boy who lives right now in New York. He called us and said that he just recently got baptized and wants his family to be able to receive the gospel, so he gave us their information. We went that very morning and traveled about 1 hour from here to a very small town called Pacaylito. I love visiting new areas especially where there are no members and I feel like we are the only ones with true authority. haha Well we visited the family and they accepted to come to church and they did! And they really liked it! Tomorrow we will be visiting them again(: On Saturday Elder Oaks and Elder Clayton came to visit! Wow it was incredible and I learned a lot! I also recorded the entire 2 hour session! I’ll share it when I get back, but they talked about preparing ourselves spiritually, talked about being guided by the Holy Ghost, and also about authority. Elder Oaks knew that the Pope was also in Chiapas and he said that Elder Benjamin De Oyos (of the seventy of Mexico) was invited to meet with the Pope that same morning. And Elder Oaks was saying... “Elders and Sisters, we know who has authority in that room'” hahaha Elder Oaks is amazing! This is the 2nd time that he has come to the mission; he is one of my favorites! This same meeting I was able to see all my good friends and companions! I saw Elder Fackrell, Elder Gamboa, Elder Contreras, Elder Feliz, and Elder De Jesus. Wow! I love the mission so much! Also this week I traveled to Comitan to interview someone named Aldis for baptism, it was great and I loved the interview. I also felt like I was teaching a lot of things. Then I received a phone call on Saturday and the sisters from Comitan said that Aldis wants me to baptize her. haha So I traveled again to Comitan on Sunday to baptize her. (: for the investigators, wow Yeni has progressed a ton.  We officially ended with the missionary lessons and she wants to get baptized so bad, but she still needs to get married or get separated. Something will happen soon, I just know it. And her sister Itzel said that she wants to get baptized, so we have her baptism planned in 2 weeks(: we have two jovenes, Mendrik and Mayer. They are also really great! They attended for the 2nd time and they will be getting baptized in 3 weeks(: OHHH and the biggest thing that happened in my week was a little kid named Jonny from Comitan called me the other day (I know him from intercambios) and he asked me if I could sell him my bag. haha I said of course but I need to buy a new bag first. haha So I bought a new bag that’s really cool, and I gave Jonny my bag for free. I told him haha , ´´There’s a scripture that says ask and ye shall receive!´´ haha I also made him promise to serve a mission! haha He’s awesome and he was super happy that I gave him my bag, and I also feel happy that I served him and made his day.(: well that’s pretty much my week(: this next week I’m super pumped to work hard and receive some blessings from God(: I love you all stay happy(: Elder Portlock

My Zone!

WOOO!  Elder Oaks and Elder Clayton

Happy Birthday, Emily.  We lit off a Chinese candle for you!

The Baptism of Aldis

I gave Jonny my missionary bag  (:

WOOOOO!  ANTHONY O ELDER SANTOS!

Before he went on his mission, he was a great friend of mine!  I knew him from the beginning of my mission and now he is in Honduras!  Wow!  I'm super happy to see his picture!  ANNNNNNND  THAT'S THE TIE I GAVE HIM  (: