Isaiah 40:28-31

Man!  It was such a good week this week!  I don't even know where to start!! 

MONDAY:  P- day (my favorite day of the year) was really good as always.  At night we had a Family Home Evening and dinner with the Rodriguez family and Cody.  For the activity I did that one thing where we turned off the lights and I told them to draw a lot of things in the pitch black.  It was really funny and fun even though there was no one younger than 19.  Thanks Dad for teaching me that one haha.  Then we gave a lesson about how Jesus Christ should be our light and how we need Him to do anything to its full potential.  For the treat we just did arm wrestles hahaha.  I was undefeated until their youngest son came home from the gym at the end of the lesson, he's only 15, but he looks at least 25 and is jacked out of his mind.  He squashed me.  The lesson still went really good though and we all had a great time.

TUESDAY: We got a new roommate in Brother Kelly's house!  Juaquine moved into his apartment with his family last week so we were back to normal, but that only lasted a few days.  Joseph Hauk (howk) is the new guy and he is way cool.  He's 35 and unmarried, but he's got a rock solid testimony and has enlightened our days quite a bit.  He served his mission in Ecuador, so he has been helping us a little bit with our Spanish as well. I have loved talking with him and getting to know him.  It's gonna be neat to have him for the holiday season.

WEDNESDAY:  We had Zone Conference and President Heap blew my mind, as usual.  He taught about how Jesus Christ, during His mortal ministry always went about "preaching, teaching, and healing".  President focused on the healing part.  He says that all too often missionaries go around and they teach and they preach, but they don't heal.  Not like Priesthood power heal, but like Holy Ghost, discerning needs, and applying Gospel heal. It really inspired Elder Gillette and myself and we have loved trying to apply what we have learned into the day to day stuff.  AND I GOT TO SEE STU GADD!!  It was so so so cool to have Tom, Stu and I all together again!  You know in the Book of Mormon when Ammon gets all pumped because he see's his bretherin? So pumped that he drops to the ground and loses strength?  Well that didn't happen to me, but I was still really happy.  We laughed so much.

THURSDAY: We did service at the Humane Society and I got to play with 7 little puppies.  It was pure bliss.  I love puppies.  Then we helped some lady from Tom's area move, she made us really good brownies.

FRIDAY:  THere was a Thanksgiving activity at the Chruch.  All the branch member made some kind of tasty food.  The best part was the brisket, easily the best I have ever had.  Texas and Mexicans know about their brisket. 

SATURDAY:  I ate a Ghost Pepper!!!  It's supposedly one of the hottest pepers and I just popped it into my mouth and ate it whole.  It was nuts.  My whole body hurt!  I felt like molten lava was pouring out of my ears and I had the hiccups for 5 hours, but other than that I suffered no damage hahaha.  I instantly earned the title of man though, in the mission.  Worth it.

SUNDAY:   We have a less active member in the branch named Jesus, he's 21.  He's been slowly progressing the entire time I've been here and I've gained a huge love for him.  Yesterday at church I felt like I should ask him to come out, I've asked him a million times before, but I tried anyway.  He agreed to come for 1 hour right after church!  We took him and our recent convert, Cody, to visit another less-active family in the branch.  We taught about Jesus Christ's atonement and about how we can apply it in our lives.  Both Jesus and Cody bore really good testimony and had some good comments.  Jesus, at one point in the lesson, shared a story about when he prayed for his dad's health and it happened, he explained how that was how he knew that God really does love us and that Jesus Christ really is the Savior.  The spirit was so strong.  The family we were visiting then opened up and explained a trial they are having in their life right now with a family member being extremely sick.  We were able to give them a blessing of peace and comfort.  It was such a killer lesson for all of us, we all were "healed" to some degree.  The best part, to me, is that Jesus set up a return appointment for us and offered to give us a ride.  He felt the spirit and he knows it's true, now he's being a missionary.

This work is the best.

I love y'all so so so much!! Have a really good week. 

Love,

Elder Caleb Porter