Oi! So..... its been another week! Oh and we switched p-day this week because we have zone conference tomorrow and people traveled here today so that they can travel there with us tomorrow. I got a hair cut. Mostly just a trim, but he/she (a man that wants to be a woman and dresses like one and I don’t know if he/she has had any surgeries or not BUT… it was interesting, my companion suggested him/her so I just went for it!) kind of layered it in the front. I like it though! That same night, there was a huge rivalry soccer game here. The team that won, Flamego´s, have TONZ of fans! Everyone was driving around after honking their horns, it was crazy! There was like a parade of 20 cars and 40 motorcycles with everyone hanging out the windows waving their flag or t-shirt. Elder Gabriel, one of my zone leaders, is trying to convince me to root for this team. I might choose them! But my companion and Elder Shawcroft, my other zone leader, want me to pick Palmares! So I don’t know! I am just going to wait :) A few other random things… I live on sweet and condensed milk! I have it on bread basically every morning and night! We have it on crackers, on this food called cuscuz, its like cornbread almost, it is so good! Every week the ward has a family night at the chapel and last week the Bishop got sick and called us and we had to teach the lesson! I was sp nervous… but it went well! We had a baptism last week, it was really neat. It was a man named Valdir, he is in his 30´s and is really spiritual. Now we just have to keep visiting him to help him remain strong in the church. Oh! This week was a trip to the temple for the stake here! They left Monday morning, and will get back Friday night. It is about 6 hours away, the Recife temple. I think they have a place there that members sleep at. And since they don’t get to go very often, they go into the temple for the first session early in the morning, and usually only leave at night after the last session. They do as much as they can while they are there up until the last second. I think it is so neat and they are so dedicated! I definitely miss being able to go to the temple every week. And I feel SOOOO blessed to have so many so close to me in Utah! This week I have realized I need to strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ. I need to learn more about him and rely on him and apply the atonement. So, I have started to focus on this every morning when I study and I have the felt the spirit stronger! It has been so neat! I am doing well… Christmas is starting to go up everywhere… super strange because each day gets hotter and hotter and the other day I saw a picture an elder had of snow… and my heart loooonnged for it! Oh boy… I better just enjoy the next year and couple months of summer! I love you all and am SOOO grateful for your love and support and our relationships :) Have a good week!!Love, Sister Porath

Hey! I cant believe it is December! Yikes.. anyway, the work is going, but pretty slow. So I will tell you about the city! Everyone blasts their music and tries to make it louder than their neighbors, so you actually cant understand anything because there are 5 different songs playing! The cars all rattle as they drive down the street too. We don’t have water for half of the week. It is really frustrating. They turn it off in the city on Sundays and it comes back Wednesday night or Thursday sometimes. So everyone has a reserve tank and makes it last the whole time. It is hard! Last week we had to shower by bucket for a couple of days but this week I was really good at conserving it and only ran out today… halfway through rinsing the conditioner out of my hair! But a bucket works wonders and I managed to finish just fine. Everyone has a motorcycle or scooter. And if they don’t, they have a bicycle! And the other day I saw a guy washing his, like you would a car. It made me smile! There are a lot of frogs… dried.. and smashed in the middle of the road! Every time I see one, I want to pick it up, stick it in an envelope, and send it home :) There are a billion cats, lots of dogs too. And TONZ of guys that walk around pushing a handcart thingy that has a speaker and says… (I translated it…) Popsicle and Ice Cream!... Caico! (The brand) so if it is in the afternoon, I always want to buy one, and more often than not, I do! It is only 50 centavos here, which is like 25 cents there! All the kids run around in just underwear… its funny! Annnnd it is because it is up to 100 degrees everyday! And only getting hotter… I am going to die! I saw the movie New Moon sitting at some ones house… I wanted to watch it so bad! BUT we are only allowed to watch Disney so I will have to wait. Oh and speaking of the moon, I always look up at night, and if I am feeling homesick, I just think about my family or friends sitting at their houses or wherever… under the same moon :) It makes me feel closer to home… We did have a baptism last week! It was neat, Jorge, a 22 year old boy. He is really nice and always smiling. We don’t have one marked for this week, we are hoping for a miracle! It is hard to find new investigators here… Anyway.. Christmas is getting closer! It is so weird to see all the decorations here, it is fun, but just so different because it is the middle of summer instead of winter! But I love and miss you all and think about you tonz!!... when I have a free minute! Love, Sister Porath :)

This week has been good! I am getting used to the new city, and I love the members here. They actually have a chapel and have a decent size ward, about 200 people. The bishop is amazing and helps us out a lot. We had a zone conference on Monday.. it was really great! We had good training, and I met all the missionaries in my zone. I only knew Elder McKay (who is Sam and Taylor McKays cousin) and a Brazilian Elder Luis (from the MTC.) But everyone else is really nice and really fun! After, about 8 elders, my companion and I went to a Rodigio BBQ place! It was SO good! Then we took a motorcycle taxi back to out house… it was a little scary (in a skirt, sitting sideways!) but it was fun and exciting! And when we were doing visits and lessons and appointments after, I really felt the spirit. And I was so happy and I talked to people on the streets! It was a really, really good day! And also, everyone here does this snap thing, and I never had the desire to do it until today, so I tried it and got it down on like the 3rd try! It was awesome! Ah.. I always think of things I want to write and then I get here and forget everything! Or… I run out of time.. And on that note.. I love you all! I hope you have a great week :) Happy Thanksgiving!!!Love, Sister Porath

I have to start by getting the HUGE elephant out of the room... I was transferred!!! I pretty much knew it was coming, so that Sister Englert could train one of the new girls, but I wasn’t ready for it or for the reality of it really happening. So.. I am now in a city about 2-3 hours inland called Arapiraca. My companion is Sister Zorzo. She is really sweet but doesn’t know any English. She is excited to learn so hopefully we can get a good schedule down and both learn a ton. It is so hard being in a new place, not knowing anyone or anywhere, and not being able to communicate very well. Especially for Christmas this will be hard, but I can do it right?? We do live pretty close to 2 elders, they are our district leaders and serve in the same ward, but the area is split into 2. We have lunch with them everyday and one if them is American so I can talk to him almost everyday so that I wont go insane. His name is Elder Shawcroft and his dad was a mission president in southern Brazil, the Campinas mission! So I was in the very outskirts of Maceio, the huge capital city, before and it seemed like the middle of nowhere. Now I am in a smaller city, but it seems like a bigger city! The roads are either paved, or most of them are big rocks that were laid down and then stuff between them, kind of like tiles.. anyway. It is more city like and I guess I like it. Hahaha We did have another baptism last week. It was a little girl turning 8, her older sister is a member, but her parents aren’t married and aren’t members but she had a big birthday party and baptism. It was a lot of fun! I guess that is all of the news… it is even hotter here.. I don’t like it! I am missing winter a lot! But last week when Sister Englert and I cleaned/defrosted the freezer, I mad a snow man! I will attach a pic, the internet is faster here now that we aren’t in Africa! I love and miss you all, I need your prayers, I need strength, but I know I am where I need to be doing what I need to be doing so The Lord will pull through on His end of the deal. Love you!!
Love, Sister Porath
P.S. Christmas is coming…. And I would love to receive a little love from you in the form of a letter! :)
All I want for Christmas are letters letters letters from everyone! I have been writing Kyler, he seems happy to hear from me and his strength helps me too. I wrote most everything in the weekly email this week… This is really hard but I know it will get better. I will hopefully get to see Sis Englert in a few weeks at Christmas Conference. It will be good to see the new sisters too.

Kiley at the mission home in Maceio Kiley and Sis. Englert

Hey! The wedding and baptism were SOOOO great!!! The cake was gorgeous! We had to run around and get everything ready, we had a lot of help from a few people but it would have been a lot easier if more people had helped… but.. it was beautiful and the family is so happy and strong in the gospel already. It was so cute to see them at church on Sunday, they had their scriptures, and real church clothes (from the wedding) and looked official and like they had been members for years! It has been so neat! All of the other missionaries that I tell the story of them to gets jealous because they have been out a year and still haven’t been able to find an entire family that is ready to live and receive the blessings of the gospel. We had family home evening with them on Monday and we asked Janderson, the 14 year old boy, to prepare a little lesson. He did SO well! He even planned an activity which was questions everyone took turns answering. They were really good and thoughtful. Some were from the lessons we had taught them, some about the gospel, and some he wanted suggestions on how to have a better family night, and how they could be more united and learn as much as possible from the gospel. It is amazing. Next week are transfers… yikes! I will be happy to stay, or to go. I know The Lord is watching over me and knows what I need, and what will be best. I hope you are all letting The Light of Christ shine through you to others… just smile :)Love, Sister Porath

Everything went so well with the wedding and baptism! My feet are good… I just have a huge blister on the side of my big toe, so it doesn’t hurt and I can still walk and wear my sandals and all. It keeps getting smaller, then bigger, then small again and so on… soo I bet it will just be a huge callus. But I did get sandals here and they are great. I got 2 pairs they were on sale and should last me my whole mission. Transfers and new missionaries are next week… so I might be seeing them, soon and might not. I wonder if I will stay or go! Trev is doing a ton of genealogy and when I get home I want to go through the temple with you for everyone in our family. I think it will be SO neat! I am loving the mission and love and miss you all! I think that is all for this week… any questions? Haha thank you for EVERYTHING! I love you so much and an so grateful to be here! Love, me!

For some fun pictures of Kiley and the missionaries of Maceio, Brasil to go brasilmaceiomission.blogspot.com

This week was good! But on Saturday, it is going to be one of the best days in the mission so far! We have been teaching a family, and they are going to be baptized! We are having a big wedding too. A lady is making a big cake, and we are going to have it all decorated, I am so excited! This family is AmAzInG! The dad quit drinking alcohol, the mom quit drinking coffee, and the kids are 14, 11, 10, and 5. We have been teaching them every day and it has been so neat to watch them learn and grow spiritually and gain testimonies. I know they will remain strong, and the dad will be a leader here in the area. Not much else has happened, we just walk a ton, teach a lot, and sweat even more! We had a baptism last Saturday as well, a 15 year old girl. She is really excited and loves coming to church, and the activities. I wish I could carry a video recorder for a whole day so you guys could see what it is like here. It is so different. The other day I killed 2 cockroaches and we found a dead(luckily!) lizard about a foot long…. In our back porch area! The other day, we were walking back from lunch… My companion was on the phone, I was following her, and watching my feet to make sure I didn’t step in anything and I ran into a tree! I don’t even know how it happened, but it scratched my face! My companion is awesome, she is really forward and blunt and isn’t afraid to tell people it is their salvation that they don’t have time for, or care to change for. We laugh a lot, cry a little, and eat a lot of sweets! Haha well… we crave them.. and try to eat them when we can! I hope all is well with everyone, I cant believe it is November!! Keep smiling :)Love, Sis. Porath
Where is Drew going to go to school? Oh tell Mike… everyone here has a water storage tank! Because sometimes the city will just shut off the water…. I remembered that he thought it would be a good idea to invent that. How is his work going? Kins finally emailed me last week, it made me so excited! She didn’t reply yet, so hopefully next week. My comp wants to marry Kyler! Haha Things are good, different and hard, but I am still alive right! Here is more Christmas stuff… we only get letters like once every 3 weeks so hopefully I will get yours soon with the pics! Thanks for everything… I am getting more used to things, and am curious to know if I will be transferred or not. I think I will be fine either way. I know it will be harder with a Brazilian companion that doesn’t know English, but it will force me to improve. I better run, but tell everyone hi and thanks! Love you!!