September 20th Email

I cant wait for this weekend, to watch General Conference! (I am hoping I will be able to hear it in English! It is weird, when the Prophet has a different voice!)
We were able to assist the general broadcast of the Relief Society. It was amazing! I LOVE hearing from our leaders, and the Prophet. I am always amazed at how everything I need to hear.. is said!

So... we had the baptism of Thalison! He is a 12 year old boy, and his parents are separated but both are members. His dad is active, and his mom inactive. He was so excited to finally be able to be baptized! We had a few complications on Saturday, and ended up doing it on Sunday morning. But it was still special and a great day!

Other than that, we have still just been knocking a lot of doors. We were with a member one day, and he was all, "hey I have a friend that lives on this one street that is a little far away, do you want to go?" We said sure! And he led us there. We ended up in a part of this subdivision, that we didnt even know existed! It was funny! SO... we have been working there a little bit, and have been able to teach the Restoration a little bit more, but most of the people already have a church, and don't want to visit the true church! It is frustrating, and I wish I could do more... but I will have to just keep doing my part, and planting the seeds :)

Lets see... it is almost officially summer again... can you talk about HOT?? It is getting hotter and hotter each day... I seriously am going to be a popsicle when I show up at the Salt Lake Airport! Yikes! Anyway... I love you all and hope you are having a great fall!!

Love, Sister Porath

Kiley's September 20th Email

Sarah here.... Ky asked me to start posting her weekly emails on her blog for people to read, Here is her email from last week:

Well... I will send a quick update of the work! We are still... knocking a billion doors. BUT are having a little more success!
A member, Raul, came up to us and said that he has 2 sons, with his ex-wife, and he wants them to be baptized. So we went to talk to his ex (who also is a member, but inactive) and she supports them to be baptized, as long as they choose it, and will be dedicated to the church. The boys are 10 and 12 years old! The 12 year old, really really wants to be baptized and he knows that the church is true and wants to go each week soooo... his baptism will be in the next couple of weeks! His name is Thalison. Leandro, his little brother, is a little scared of committment (yes... a little strange, cuz he is only 10!) But his parents are leaving it toally up to them and letting them know the responsibility they will have when they are members of the church. So Leandro is going to wait a little longer. But it ws really neat when we went to share a message with them. Ana, the mom, really felt the spirit and was so happy, she teared up, that we went to visit her. We are hoping she can return to church too, but not asking for all these miracles at once!

We also returned to visit an old investigator, who works with, and is a friend with a member (a stake high counselman... or something like that.) She isnt keeping the Word of Wisdom, but she said she wants to. She said she wants to be baptized and knows that she can quit smoking, and drinking coffee so that she can be baptized! It was another neat experience. Eliene is her name, and we are now visiting her a lot and trying to help her quit. She is slowly inproving.. and her baptism will arrieve sooner or later!

The members of this ward have woken up. They have realized that missionary work, isnt only the missionaries! It is for them to do too! They are starting to help us a lot more. It is such a blessing! After one day in the past couple weeks, where I almost started crying in the middle of the street, after knocking a billion doors, I have really started to rely on the members. We told them that we cant do this work alone. The youth have really stepped up to help us. They go out and work with us everyday, they introduce us to their friends and neighbors... it is great!

I know that the Lord puts us in the right places at the right time! I also know that "Anything easy, is most likely not worth it!"

We can all lose ourselves, for our Savior, and we will all gain eternal life! (Mark 8:35)

I am soooo grateful to be here in Maceio on a mission! I love the people, and I love this gospel! I love and miss all of you.. but the time is passing quickly... I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Sister Porath :)

Update!!

Its been a little slacked here... we will try and get it up to date :)

Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 18:41:18 -0300
Subject: Its JUNE!!!
Hard to believe it is June already! On Saturday... I will hit my 10 month mark! And I know I keep saying this... it is winter now, but, it really isnt any different at all! It isnt even raining like it should.. I think all the moisture is heading to the northern hemisphere with the snow that you guys got last week!

This week, I want to write about Adriana. She is a 22 year old woman who is really really neat. She is living with a man, the dad of her son, but they need to get married. She has been going to church and reading the scriptures and she said ever since the first lesson, things in her life have gotten better! Her and her husband get along better, she has more patience and peace in her life. She is amazing! She wants to help her little sister and already has a testimony of the church.

We are also teaching a young woman named Patricia. She seems really interested, but she was sick on Sunday and didnt go to church. She is 1 6 and has already lived with a man, not to mention he was 40, but it didnt work out so she moved back home. She is in a rush to get married it seems like, so her and her boyfriend are going to come to church on Sunday she said. I really hope they do! She always has questions about everything... it is good!

We taught a lady named Angela... but she was a little creepy. In the middle of the lesson, she stopped me and asked if she could tell us about her life. We said sure! So.. she started talking and told us that... she sees things. And hears voices.. and we kinda got really freaked out! We hurried and finished the lesson, so that we could leave. When we were about to say the closing prayer, her husband showed up. So we waited for him to come in and get settled, then we prayed. We stood up to leave and they offered us cake and soda... but we kindly said no thanks and ran as far as we could!! It was crazy!

Speaking of crazy... I think I have lost a lot of my smartness I had. So we were walking down the street and I saw a low hanging power line. I have ALWAYS wanted to touch one... but word to the wise.. never touch one!!! I let my curiousity get to me and I touched it super quickly. Nothing happened, so I touched it a little bit more. Still, nothing happened, so we just kept walking. A few seconds later I felt this sharp pain in the back of my head. I asked my companion if there was a bug or something in my hair, she checked it and said, "No... why??" I explained to her that it was hurting... still... and then it clicked. The electric current had gone through my whole body and I got the shock in my head!! It was a weird feeling... But I offer a bit of advice...Listen to what you have always been taught and never touch a power line!!

On a more serious note, there was a recent convert that we talked to this week. It was really sad, she didnt go to church on Sunday, so she was telling us why. She had gotten in a fight with her husband, and it was a bad fight. She is now trying to decide if she should stay with him or not. I am praying for her everyday, I know she would be better of without him. She already has such a strong testimony (she has been baptized for 2 months now) and she is only 22 with a 5 year old daughter. She promised she wont stray from the church, and she reckognizes that all of these trials are the enemy trying to get her to not stay stong in the church. She is amazing. Her name is Nil. After she told us all that happened, we prayed with her. I started crying because I really felt the pain that she was feeling. I want to be able to help people have a better life and not have to deal with so many problems like this. Next my companion started crying, and then Nil cried. It was a good moment, the spirit was there too. I think she is doing better now, and I know she will stay strong and not let anyting get in the way of being a faithful member of t he Church of Jesus Christ.

I hope that we can all remember the importance of all the little things that we do. The church really is true, it is perfect and Christ is the head. He leads us each and every day.
Elder Cook said this this last conference,
"If we want the inspirationof the Holy Ghost, we need to slow down , listen, be worthy, and follow the promptings. "

I am so grateful to be here and to be able to help these people have better lives, recieve the blessings of the gospel, and eventually return and live with our Heavenly Father. :)

I love and miss you all! Have a great week!!

Love, Sister Porath

P.S. CONGRATS to the grads!!!! Kinsey... my sister is graduating from high school!!!! Also my cousins... some friends... :) Parabéns!!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

We had a great family night last night. This lady, Antonia, is an inactive member. Her husband and oldest son were killed in their house one night a few years ago. Her sister, Margarita, and her family are active members of the church. The elders that work in our ward too, just happened to knock on Antonia's door and invited her to come back to church. I know she needs strength and help so we all went there to have a family night. She chose my companion to give the message. She shared the scripture 2 Nephi 27:23. It says that God is a God of Miracles. The spirit was really strong. I know she was inspired to talk about that. Then each of us missionaries bore testimony. I had a feeling I needed to talk about Gods perfect plan for each one of us. I have a really strong testimony of this because of the things that have happened in my life. Antonia said the closing prayer, and almost cried. It was amazing. I know she will return to church, and be able to have strength to continue to go and to rely on the Lord. I know God works in mysterious ways, but everything happens for a reason. I am so grateful for my testimony and the fact that I am here to help people gain trust in the Lord and gain a testimony also.
Love you all!
I also have a new email address. It is kiley.porath@myldsmail.net Hope to hear from all of you!!

Kiley and her first family she baptized!

Wednesday, March 3

I cant believe it is March already! We had zone conference this week and it was really great. Also... on Sunday , we visited a few people and every house we went to, the person was sad or suffering in some way. It was hard for me because I didnt know how to help. One lady- Claudia- really wanted to go to church. So she went to the store in the morning and bought everything she needed to and then went home to put it all away and head to church with her little girl. But her husband was drinking and wouldnt let her go. He wanted her to stay home and stay in the kitchen and cook food for him and his friends that were drinking... all weekend. She was super sad, frustrated, upset when we talked to her because she is always working or at school and she had free time on Sunday but he woudnt let her go. We are going to try and help her but I am not sure how. The next house is a family that has 8 kids. And 4 of those kids, have ids of their own. Their dad died awhile back, their mom smokes like no other and doesnt have patience for them. Two of the teenage girls, that have toddlers, dont treat their babies very well. One is always smoking and they just yell at the kids. It is so sad to see kids that have no choice but to grow up in that kind of environment. We are teaching one of the older brothers, Cesar, who is going to get married and baptised :) But he has a hard time with how things are at his house too. The next house was Josefa. She is an old lady that can barely walk. She lives alone and doesnt have any help around the house. There is something wrong with her knee, and it really hurts her lower back to walk and stuff. SO my companion gave her a massage, but there isnt much else we could do. Her house had just been cleaned and we just visited with her for a bit because she is lonely. This day was hard for me. I wish I could do more to help everyone here. I know that the gospel of Christ will help them, so I am here to share it with them and help them make the little changes they need to in order to recieve the blessings. I am so grateful for the home and family I grew up in. Yes times were crazy... but things are great! When we keep the commandments, we recieve the blessings and happiness that come from God. I am so grateful to be here and am doing all I can to help the people here to have a better life :) Love and miss you all!!Love, Sister Porath

Wednesday, February 25

Hey! Aw… it is always so great to get emails! This week was another good one :) Lots of rain, and lots of work. We have talked to a billion people, invited them to church, and asked them to listen to a message. But most of them had an excuse and we are still at level zero in the teaching process. It is kind of frustrating because we are working so hard! We even had 2 other sisters, Sister Viana (who got here with me) and Sister Moyle (who I met in the MTC and she got here one transfer after me) staying with us at our house and working with us everyday. With 4 of us, we were able to always be finding new people, while the other 2 taught people that accepted. I had the chance to go out with Sister Moyle a couple of the days and it was scary! Just us 2 Americans, with 6 months or so here in Brazil… out doing the work! BUT it was a huge growing experience for me. I had to actually converse with the people, and start and end the lessons, which I hadn’t really been doing at all cuz my companion always does it. So I got more confident with the language and realized how much I really do know! SO even though we don’t really have any investigators right now, the work is going well and I am still happy :) Oh and another really simple silly experience I had this week… so with the rain- the energy always gets shut off! One night, we were sleeping, but the energy turned off. And with this- off went my fan. I of course woke up sweating… checked my clock (that runs on batteries) and it was only 2:30. I thought I was going to die! I was so hot, and couldn’t sleep. SO I got up and got my hair wet… that helped a little. I laid back down and still couldn’t sleep. So I prayed for the energy to come back so that the fan would come on and I could sleep… annnnnd like 2 seconds later… it turned on! It was super simple, but I know that God is always there even in those moments for us! I am so grateful for this gospel! Annnnnd for all of you! Love, Sister Porath

Wednesday,February 17th

Things are going so well! I love my new companion, Sister Cataca. We are working hard, and starting to knock on all the doors in our area, again! So far we haven’t really found anybody interested. It was hard with the holiday that they have called Carnival. Everyone travels, and drinks.. its kind of like our Mardigras I think, and spring break too! The city was deserted! It was so strange. But hopefully the rest of the week, the work will get better. I also had many episodes with ants. They are EVERYWHERE!! I hate them! They get into anything and everything. I have to keep things in the fridge! It is the only place safe from them. Grrr. It is annoying. Well… I hope you can all imagine me trying to kill an ant farm.. and they start crawling up my arms and legs and then the rest of the night I felt like I had them crawling all over me. YIKES!! Oh the great things about Brazil! Hope all is going well… miss and love you!!Love, Sister Porath

Hey!! Its a new week, new transfer... and new companion!! Sister Cataca- She is super cute, and super sweet and fun and I am excited to be with her this transfer! Elder Gabriel was transferred too, so we have a new zone leader, Elder Holbrook. He is from Virginia. So this transfer will be different, but will be good too! Oh.. Monday night, my companion Sister Zorzo had to go sleep in Maceio so that she could be in a training meeting at 8 Tuesday morning, so… I went with her! I was sooooo excited to go! We got to sleep at Sister Englerts house! She was my first companion.. and her other companion, Sister Moyle was there, and her NEW companion, Sister Smith was there too. So in the mission the missionary who trains (who is the first companion of a new missionary) is the mom (or dad) and now Sister Englert has trained 3! So I have 2 sisters (Moyle and Smith) and Englert is our mom! It was soo much fun to be there with all of them. We stayed up until 2 just talking… in Portuguese! Then we woke up at 5 and had to get ready to leave. Sister Englert and Zorzo went to their training (Sister Smith went with, cuz she got here earlier than normal) and Sister Moyle and I got a bus to come back to Arapiraca. She had just gotten transferred here and I knew it would be good for her to have someone to travel with :) OH annnnd I went with Sister Englert to visit the family that we baptized! Nildo, Marisa, Janderson, Victor, Joyce, and Jamilly. The kids were all sleeping already, and they woke them up and we took a picture :) It was sooo great! They were so happy to see me, and even commented that I am talking a lot more in Portuguese! So that was one of the best nights so far! I hope I can visit them again eventually and talk more. They are super strong in the church. The dad is first counselor in the young mens presidency, the mom is compassionate service leader, the 14 yr old is president of the teachers…. Aw. They are amazing! It is one of the best feelings in the world to know that because I am here serving a mission, their family is blessed with the gospel in their homes, and with strong testimonies of Christ and His church. It is times like this that I will never forget :)Happy Valentines Day!! I hope you feel my love, clear from the other half of the world, where it is always summer! Love, Sister Porath

So I had an email all typed up and I clicked send and it erased and didnt send! Grrr! But anyway, I had a great New Years Eve! We went to a members house and ate a ton of food and listened to music! Then we went home at about 10 because the Elders wanted to go and we needed them to walk us home to be safe. The next day we went to an activity with the ward and played by the water, and played soccer, a few other games, and had a bunch of snacks too. It was a lot of fun! They had a horse there for a little bit for people to ride too. It is a lot of fun to spend time with the members, I know I will miss then when I get transferred, and a ton when I go home! They are really neat people here. And on Sunday… I bore my testimony in Portuguese! I was super nervous, but I only messed up a few times and it went well! I am so grateful for this gospel! I know it is true. I know that we can always turn to Christ for help in our lives. He wants to help us, He doesn’t want us to suffer. I know everything about this church is true! And it is perfect! I am so grateful to be on a mission and to be able to help people hear about Christ´s gospel. I am so grateful for all of the love and support I have. I hope you all have a great year this year in 2010! Love, Sister Porath