8/24/20

Hey everyone. This week went super fast again. We had some more wonderful opportunities to serve some members of our branch this week. We helped sand a table and some doors and that was really fun. We also went to this person's house and power washed their driveway which was super fun. Me and Elder Hoffman were joking about starting our own business when we got home since me and him have been out basically the same amount of time haha. We also helped paint for that person and organized their shed. It's been really good to get outside and talk to some people, but the one thing is that it's the middle of summer haha. Everytime we go and do some service we end up coming home pretty dirty and sweaty haha. 

 

This week as a really cool experience we had the opportunity to go to church in person for the first time. It was really short but really fun because we were able to meet a couple of the members of the branch. Our Branch President asked us to introduce ourselves and give a small testimony and that was really fun. I wasn't worried about it much because it only had to be a minute long. I shared a scripture in D&C 6:36. 

 

We had some really good success finding this week. We found a family of 5 and it was really cool because about 2 weeks ago we went contacting at a park nearby and contacted this one person named Dex. We were finally able to have a lesson over the phone on Sunday and talk with his family while they were driving. Dex told us that he has been wanting to help his family become closer together and grow their faith in Christ and God. It was a really cool experience. We are also working with a couple other people whom we are getting ready to give an invitation to baptism. His name is Raul and he is super amazing. He really wants to learn more about what he can do to help his family and grow his faith. We are super excited for this next week because we are going to finally have our zone conference in person!! It will be only for a couple hours but it's still in person. We found out that the San Antonio Temple is going to be starting its stage 2 in September so my companion and I might be going to the temple soon. Today for P-day Me, Elder Lymke, Elder Hoffman, and Elder Christensen went hiking at a park called Landa Park. It was super fun and after we went and played Frisbee golf. There was a spring of water that was super clean and you could drink it so we all drank straight from the spring. It was super good water haha. 

 

I'm super grateful to be out here serving the Lord. I've seen so many blessings from being on the mission and helping other people. My Spanish is coming along pretty well and its amazing helping my companion learn the language. The church is growing and is really strong down here. I've met some amazing members here, have heard their testimony and will always remember them. I have a big testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us and if we choose to follow His plan we will be blessed and find peace and happiness. 

I'm super grateful for all of you. I hope you all have an amazing week!

-Elder Portlock

1. The 4 of us standing a table. 

2. Me and Elder Hoffman drinking water from the Lands Park spring. 

3. We found a snake at service.

4. Me and Elder Hoffman power washing. 

5. The 4 of us doing service.

6. The 6 of us hiking. 

7. Me doing some more yard work.

 

 

 August 17, 2020

Hey everyone! Its Monday again!

 This week was really good. We had the opportunity to go and help a family named the Rockwell’s with their yard on Tuesday. It was super fun and we were planting trees and helping build a garden. We found that in Texas it can sometimes be pretty tough to dig because you just have clay and rocks haha. After we finished they gave us dinner and they made us cheese enchiladas with rice. It was super good and for desert they cut up a super juicy watermelon. It was the best watermelon I have ever had. I'm pretty sure that they are just better in Texas haha. Brother Rockwell is actually our branch mission leader so we talked about people we are teaching and he really wants to get involved. He is super mission minded which is really awesome. On Wednesday we went to another person's house and did some tree trimming. We made it so that the road didn’t have any tree branches in the way because it's a small country road. It was super fun. We’ve been doing a lot better finding people this week than last week. We found 3 people who are pretty awesome and want to learn more. One of them is Chayo Alvarez and she is super kind. We dropped of a Book of Mormon to her house and she was super excited to get it and start reading. On Thursday we did our Weekly Planning and that went really well. It didn't take too long since we don’t have a whole bunch of people right now to teach. But soon we will because we are getting a about a referral a day of someone who is interested. Our Branch President got us chipotle for dinner which was soo good. He loves feeding us and said that if we ever need anything to let him know. On Friday we basically almost drove to Austin haha. We have a member who lives on the very edge of our mission boundaries in Kyle that we went to pick up dinner. It was a pretty long drive but really fun because we kinda drove all over the place that day Haha. We are having such a fun time calling the members of the branch and getting to know them better. Next week we are going to have our first meeting in person which is so exciting. We are finally going to meet everyone in person and stuff. We went to one of the member’s houses on Sunday and when we were leaving we saw this giant green grasshopper. I'm soo sure now that everything in Texas is bigger haha. We got a picture of it next to one of our hands to compare the size. I really liked the “Come Follow Me” from this week. It was talking about the stripling warriors and how they fought with trust in the Lord and there were 2 verses that I really liked that described them a little. 

 

Alma 53

20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.

 

I love those verses because if we follow the example of these stripling warriors we can get through all the tough and hard things. We can be ready for all the challenges that come our way and we will see so many blessings in our lives. 

 

I hope that you all have another wonderful week and I'll see you later!

 

-Elder Portlock 

 

 

 

 August 10, 2020

Hey everyone!!! This week was amazing and a lot happened. 

 

On Thursday I got transferred up to De Zavala and it's been really good. When we got to our apartment there wasn’t really anything in it except like a bunk bed haha. We are sharing the apartment with 2 other Elders and so today we stocked up on food and got everything we need. Hopefully soon we can get some more stuff that we need. I've been helping my new companion Elder Lemke learn Spanish and teaching him all about the mission. It's been super fun and a good experience. I'm also now driving so that's like one of the best things. As senior companion you get to be the one who drives so I'm really excited to finally be one. We went to the Giant gas station called Bucky's today and that was super cool. We already started finding and teaching new people that we don’t even know haha. One of them is Pedro Blanco and we were doing a pass off lesson with some other Elders and we invited him to be baptized. Hopefully he decides that too because that would be really cool. We also found a couple people while street contacting. It was really cool because we went to this park called Landa Park and there were lots of people there. It was a really good opportunity to get to talk to people.

 I also got Raising Caines for the first time in forever haha. I love Caines so much. Our second day in the area the other Elders in our apartment found a lizard and caught it. It was super funny to watch them. Before I got transferred the Castro family in Eagle Pass gave made us some waffle cone ice-cream treats. It was super good and filling. Also, Magally, who recently was baptized gave us tons of pizza. She was super sad that I was leaving so we were talking and we said that when I finished my mission that I'm coming back to go to Piedras Negras and were going to get tacos and stuff haha. I'm gonna miss them all so much. I hope everyone had a super good week and I can’t wait to talk to y’all again!!!

 

-Elder Portlock 

 

 

Pictures from the week!!!

 

1. Me and Elder Johnson watching the sunrise.

 

2. Me and Elder Lemke street contacting.

 

3. The 4 of us at Buckys.

 

4. Me in front of a super cool “my little pony” car haha. 

 

5. My last district playing basketball.

 

 August 3, 2020

Hi everyone.  I hope your week was super great. This week we got our transfer news and I'm going to be leaving the border and I'll be going back to San Antonio. My new area is called De Zavala and the cool part of it is I'm going to be a trainer. I'm so excited to begin teaching and helping our Heavenly Father’s children in De Zavala. It’s going to be a huge change and especially because I'll be training a brand new missionary so he will be looking up to me for answers and guidance. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle it Haha. De Zavala is also like on the other side of the mission so I'll have a pretty long drive ahead of me haha. 

 

This week was pretty amazing. We had many opportunities to serve the communities around us with helping out with food distributions. On Wednesday we traveled up to Brackettville which is about an hour drive north of us in Eagle Pass. We helped out with a food event and it was so fun. During the food Distribution there was a person who asked us why we don’t have any hats on because it was so hot and she took a hat sitting in her car and gave it to me. I told her I was okay but she insisted so I took it. It was a pretty cool hat too because it was their high school team football hat and it had an Adidas logo. I guess I have a new favorite hat. At the end of service there was a guy who was a member of a community and museum called Fort Clark. He told us he was grateful for our help and gave us passes to go up for free while we were up there. I'm glad we accepted it haha because it was soo cool. We went to this museum inside the fort that had old military guns and uniforms and stuff. It was super cool to learn a bit of the Texan history. We got lots of pictures.  We went to this really good BBQ restaurant called Ziggy's. I ordered a BBQ burger and that was the best burger I've had in a long time haha. We didn’t get back until around 3ish that day. 

 

On Thursday we had a devotional and the church historian Elder Curtis talked to us. It was so cool because we discussed about the history of the Book of Mormon and the manuscript for a little and he showed us on screen actual pieces of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. He showed us a small history of the church and that was really cool as well. It was such a blessing getting to hear him and his wife give their testimonies. It was a really good boost for the week. 

 

On Friday we had another service opportunity in Eagle Pass and we helped hand milk and other food at a distribution. It was super fun and we did that for about an hour. The rest of the week went super well. We have been teaching and finding people. We Put Martha Chacon on baptismal date this week. It was super cool because we were teaching the plan of salvation and we were talking about things that our Heavenly Father wants us to do as a part of his plan. We talked about baptism and invited her to be baptized next month in September. She told us yes and would prepare. I'm so grateful to be able to teach the gospel and help other people. It’s such a blessing for me and I know the Lord needs me here in this time right now and that I will continue to bless many people’s lives. I hope you all have a super good week and I can't wait to let ya’ll know how everything goes next week!!

 -Elder Portlock.