This week was better! The language... still hard! But we had zone conference which was really spiritual and helped me a ton. We just had training on how to be a better missionary, and President Beynon and his wife both gave really good talks. We found a golden family! We knocked on every door except their´s for some reason, and had a feeling we needed to go back and knock on their door. So we did, and they came to church, and the dad, Nildo, stopped drinking, and the mom, Mariza, quit drinking coffee, and they have 4 kids! Jendersen is almost 14, Vitor is 11, Joyce is 10, and Jamile is 5. They are all so cute and always want to pray, and always read the Book of Mormon and it is SO neat to watch them grow spiritually and gain a testimony. They got married, civilly, and we are going to have a big wedding and baptism for them. I am so excited! The dad is strong. He reads the BoM everyday at work after lunch, even though his coworkers make fun of him! I know they will go through the temple in a year and he will be a leader here in this area. We baptized Edvaldo on Saturday. We found him one of the first days we were here, but then couldn’t find his house. We saw him on the street the next day and he said, I waited for you guys to come and was worried, but then I was comforted and knew I would see you again. He is 21 and is a neat kid. I hope he makes friends in the ward and stays active. We did splits the other day! We had too many appointments in one day so we got a couple of the ward missionaries and split up. Adriana and Wellington (a 17 year old boy who can't wait to be a missionary, super strong, a convert of about a year and a half) came with me and I spoke as much as I could in Portuguese and then they would talk to the people and make sure they understood what was going on and then they bore their testimony. They are super strong and it was a good experience. There is an elder that comes home on Friday, from Kaysville! Bronson Nye, he is awesome! It will be weird when I am in that position. I apologize right now, those of you that know me really well already know, but I either seem to say the same thing like 3 times, or I forget to say it at all. So if I have already written about something, I am sorry! But I love and miss you all and hope you are having a good week!
Love, Sister Porath

The week of random things! I finally realized how hard the mission really is. The language is probably the hardest, everyone says it will come but I don’t understand how. So I had a few days where I just got completely overwhelmed and started crying. So if anyone has advice…. I would love to hear it! BUT we are teaching some awesome people, including a family who is really open to learning everything, and wants what will be best for their kids, they invite us to stay for dinner a lot, and the kids love us. They came to church last week and hopefully will this week and will be able to get married, and be baptized! It is so interesting because we knocked (or clapped) at every house on this street on one side, then crossed to talk to someone on the other side, then we were leaving and my companion said she felt like we should go back and do the one house we had missed, so we did, and this was their house! Also, there is one street, a really long one, that we have been working on everyday, except for one afternoon we decided to start in a new area, and that same day, there was a shooting where we would have been! Nobody died or anything but we were blessed to not be in the area. Sometimes I walk down the street, crunching leaves and think about home :) It makes me wish I was at school… but it makes me feel a tiny bit closer to actually being there! EW. I had to kill a huge cockroach that was in our shower! I will try and send a picture… it was so nasty! And then we had 2 more the next 2 days in our house too! In our district it is just us 2 and 2 elders. They are nice, one is Brazilian and one is American that just got here a transfer before me. My apartment and area is like 30ish minutes from the mission home, but we just have to jump on a bus to get there. We are really close to the airport. We don’t have cars or bikes, we walk! Everywhere always and take a bus or van if we need to go to district meeting or conference or something. The members feed us lunch everyday. It is always rice and beans, meat, juice or soda and maybe some sort of vegetable. It is good especially because we are always so hungry! Then we eat dinner at 9 when we get back and that is just food that we buy, so something simple like rice, soup, noodles, eggs…It is SO hot. I burn even with sunscreen, and drink lots of water and sweat like a pig! It is gross! But then at nights outside, I still get a little cold! Well I love you all and pray for you… pray for me.. I need it!

Thanks for the update on everyone! We did have the baptism! I am trying to upload a picture. Wont work. I sent a letter home today with my christmas wish list, i did buy sandals today though. The mailman said it will take 15 days to get there though! So let me know when you get it. I am trying to get used to things here, its just different! But I love you all, tell everyone hi! Thanks for everything!! Love, Kiley
It is still hard for me to believe that I am a real missionary! This week was good, long, and hard! Not too bad though... I have a billion bug bites, I want a mosquito net! One morning I woke up and my eye was basically swollen shut... bug bite I am guessing, I tried to attach a picture but it wouldnt work! My companion is amazing! She is so cute, so sweet, and helps me with portuguese, and is fluent in english! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful trainer, I wish I could be just like her, right now! We saw a dead turtle in the median of a road, and a 3 foot long dead snake! I am glad it was dead and not alive! I got blisters my first day on my feet, in 2 different places, from 2 sets of shoes so it was hard to figure out which ones to wear, but I got some sandals today that should be perfect! We went downtown today! It was so much fun, like a regular day shopping! Downtown is more like a regular big city, new york or something, but where we live is dirt roads, small simple houses, and just tiny markets to buy everything. I got a skirt too, and some more shampoo and conditioner and body wash. We had a baptism last Saturday night! I really wanted to send a picture but again, it wouldnt work, maybe next week. It was Fatima a 52 year old lady, she is always so excited to see us and is so cute! She doesnt have any teeth and I cant understand what she says but she always wants to hug me! It was really exciting for her, and a great way to start off the mission. We have 5 more scheduled for this transfer so far, One is this Saturday but it is a 14 year old girl Fabi, and we have to get her moms permission and she doesnt want her to so we are praying and doing all that we can to help her. I will write about the others when they get closer.. We have a mission blog...Brasilmaceiomission.blogspot.comYou can go there and see new pictures and stuff! Being a missionary is great! It gets hard, but is rewarding when you help the people have such happiness in their lives :) I hope you are all doing well and striving to be the best you can be!! I love and miss you! Love, Sister Porath

More pictures of Kiley and Missionaries

Pictures of our dear missionaries.

Last day at MTC:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikaguima/

Erika Guimar�es.

Maceio!!

Hey! We get 200 Reis, which is roughly $100 a month. For food and everything so I hope it will last right. I would love to serve in an orphanage too. If I still have more free single adult time... I really want to do it! Thanks for the advice, I love you! Wow! I love Maceio! Yesterday was such a great day, we flew out, were greeted by President and Sister Beynon (who definately knew I was coming, and were so excited for me to come!) They are amazing! I am so grateful to be serving with them. President said this first transfer I am going to need to remind myself to survive. Everyday, and then it will get easier and I will be able to serve with all of my heart! My companion, Sister Englert, is amazing! She knows English, but is from the southern part of Brazil. She is such an awesome missionary, really confident. I cant wait to learn everything from her and be just like her. After going to the mission home for lunch, orientation and meeting everyone, we headed to our apartment. It is little and just cement walls, tiled floor... very humble. I even saw my first cockroach run under my bed. Ah! haha But we arrived there, and sat down and she said, Lets get to work! So we pulled out the area book and read about the investigators in the area (because she was transferred here too, so we both dont know where anything is, and I dont know the language!) and we planned who we would go meet, and teach. We didnt even know where they lived. But she just asked people on the way. And then we ran into a lady and her 2 kids who are members. Danielle is a 9 year old girl and she showed us where the streets and houses were that we were looking for to teach them. She even sat through all of the lessons with us. I will never forget this sweet girl and all that she did for us. It was a simple miracle. I am so excited to be here and to do this work everyday! I know it will be hard, but it will be so worth it! We even have a lady, who the other missionaries taught and she was going to be baptised on the 24th, but my companion asked her to move it up, so she is going to get baptized this week I think! SO neat! I love this work and am so excited and grateful to be here. The weather is nice, very sunny (I am glad, I missed the sun while I was in Sao Paulo) But also hot, we havent been out in it too much because it was dark last night at 7 when we went out. So today will be the test, but there is also a breeze which is nice. I am in the area that is farthest from downtown, big city, beach! But it is fine, it is kind of like the countryside and all of the houses are little, and the roads are very bumpy and all dirt. My p-day is now wednesday as you can probably tell. I was so lucky and blessed to have a letter and package waiting for me at the mission home!! :) The package was from my teacher at the CTM, Irma Erika... she is SUCH a neat girl! I miss her already and hope she is doing well :) It had candy, sunscreen, toothbrush stuff. notebook, pens... so many things that I need! I am so grateful to have had her as my teacher, and now as a friend! I will only be able to get mail every 3 weeks or so, but would still love to get lots :) I do know that when I am more focused here, and know the language better, it will be easier to forget myself, and not worry/think about things at home or with all of my friends, and just serve 100% and put my whole heart into it. I know this will prove to be the best time of my life if I can to that! Conference.... What an amazing little shove out the MTC doors and into the field.... oh boy! It was amazing! I swear each time it gets better and better. And I felt like all of it applied to missionary work! I know we need to have the spirit... and the way we can do that is by being obedient. An elder at the MTC gave me and my comps a blessing before we all left. I was blessed with health and strength IF I am obedient. I know this will be true and I am trying my best! I am so so grateful to be here, I know this is where I should be, I love this gospel so much! I love you all! Have an awesome week.... take a picture of the changing leaves for me :) Love, Sister Porath

A Link to pictures of Kiley and fellow missionaries!

Hi Family Porath, Family Read, Family Young, Family Wardle, Family Smith, Family Feuz and Family Keicher!

This is the Link with all the pictures of our dear district ( last p.day in S�o Paulo )


http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikaguima/


Have a great day!

Erika Guimar�es.

Hey! I am flying to Maceio with 5 or 6 Brazilian Elders and 1 Brazilian Sister… I don~t feel quite ready to jump into all Portuguese but I don’t feel like I would be able to get much better staying at the CTM any longer. I just need to take the plunge! I cant wait to see wedding pictures… Wish I could have been there. Let me know all the details too! Oh they are just driving to Cali for their honeymoon? Are they staying at Crosbys place again? I cant believe they are married! I don’t know when my pday will be… it was good to hear about Tay and Kins, please tell them I REALLY want them to write me! I even emailed Kins and she didn’t reply. They can just email.. its fine but I miss them so much. I hope Mike can be successful with the loan officer! Will you post a status update on facebook when you add my email to my blog? Also put my email address on there and tell people they can email me whenever! Irma Erika said she doesn’t need the ring anymore… so maybe we can still just buy her one? I want to call you guys! Do you have a calling card with minutes? I guess the only way if you do have one, is you can write me on Dear elder and it will get to me before I leave and let me know all the info. If not.. its fine I guess, but President Woodward did say it is ok to call. I love you mom! Thanks for everything.. I sent a few pics home today with a letter, were you able to look at all of them from Irma Erika? Thanks again! This week has been a good one! We went proselyting again, in the big city! We went to a plaza… it was so neat! Just a big open space with people sitting everywhere. The first lady we talked to seemed really interested, after we were done and walked away, she kept reading the Book of Mormon! She was super sweet and was helping us when we struggled with a Portuguese word. We talked to a guy from Africa… in English! Because he doesn’t know Portuguese. He said he had a friend in Africa who was a member and he always wondered about our church like the origin, and why we are called latter day saints. So we taught him all about the restoration and it was awesome! It is hard to know if anything will come out of handing out all of the Book of Mormons but I bet eventually, somewhere down the road, it will bless or convert someone. At least I can tell myself that right :) Ok also… since we have been at the CTM FOREVERRRRR my companions and I decided to have some fun. We put on a puppet show! Hahaha It was SO much fun and ended up being really funny! We stole silverware from the cafeteria, made a dress for the sisters, and put toothpicks on for arms… And hung up a sheet, turned off the lights, and used the flashlight, and acted out a day in the life at the CTM! Almost all of the American sisters came, and a few of the Brazilians, and they all laughed a lot! The elders said they heard us, from the 6th floor! (and we are on the 2nd :) It was through the windows though. Anyway… just a little something for all of the girls to remember us by! I have to say the closing prayer tonight at the devotional…. In PORTUGUESE! I am nervous! Praying was the first thing we learned how to do, on like the 2nd day, but still… I have a feeling I am going to get up there and totally blank! I might not be able to write next week… but I hope I can after I get to Maceio! I love you all and am so grateful for your support and willingness to listen about my adventures! Keep smiling!! Love, Kiley