Wayne's Version of How We Met.

My sister, Cheryl, invited us (the Porter family) to share how we met our spouses for Valentine's Day. Here’s my story written February 14th, 2009:

As family and many of our friends know, Sandie and I met while we served missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Brazil.



I first met Sandie in Cosmopolis, Brazil, October 1987. Cosmopolis is a small town north of Campinas in the interior of São Paulo surrounded by sugar cane fields and orange groves. Sometimes at night, you could see a glow from burning sugar cane fields, and the ash would fall on the town.

Sugar Cane

I checked my journal to see what my first impression of Sandie was. I wrote this on October 27, 1987; "My new district has four sisters. It's a bit strange because I'm not used to so many girls; I've been working with Elders only the first part of my mission. ... Sister Sandie is always happy and sparkly. She and Sister Oaks have a great companionship." I remember much more than what I wrote in my Journal about Sandie that Spring and Summer (October to December, 1987). In Brazil, October is springtime. Sister Oaks and Sandie waited for me in the Chapel the first time I met them in Cosmopolis. It was a converted shop the Church rented for our Branch meetings, and the Sisters lived in one of the Sunday School classrooms during the week. Our apartment wasn't much bigger than their classroom, and we eventually swapped apartments with the Sisters because they wanted more privacy than the Sunday School classroom afforded. Each week, whoever lived in the Sunday School room had to stuff all their belongings into the closet and set the room up for church.

Sandie in front of therented shop where we held church meetings.

The Apartment

Since the new Church building was under construction, new converts were baptized either in the local river, or in a member’s pool.

I discovered that Sisters Sandie and Oaks (now Cindy Bezas) had been assigned to the same small town as us Elders to conduct “Programma Amor”. They were to visit members who had fallen away from the church, teach gospel principles, and invite them to return to the fold. Sandie and Cindy were exceptional teachers and the people they served loved them dearly.

Sandie and Cindy with a woman they taught, Sirlene.

Because we worked in the same small town, we had many shared experiences. We met for district meeting once a week, were frequently invited to Brazilian homes for lunch together, went to Sunday services and other church activities together, met for baptismal services, shared a pair of bicycles between the four of us, went to zone conferences and activities together, and spent some “P-Days” (or preparation days) together.

Elder Andrew (Taylor) Pretending to be a nerd like me on P-Day.

This is one of Sandie’s favorite Cosmopolis lunch stories. There was this one time when we went to a member’s house for lunch. After the meal they asked if we wanted to know what we ate. We looked at Sister Sandie and Sister Oaks quizzically and then responded that we would. Our hosts told us that we had eaten Tatu. See photo below for a picture of a Tatu.

Armadillo (Tatu)

Rotating fans were important for sleeping in Brazil to keep you cool and to keep the mosquitoes and cockroaches away at night. The Sisters left a nice one at the Church after we swapped living quarters, but it disappeared shortly afterwards. Later, my companion and I discovered that the Sisters had quietly taken it back to their “new” apartment.

We had trials in Cosmopolis which eventually helped strengthen our friendship. On November 26th, I wrote, “The sisters have had some problems this month. Sister Oaks got lice in her hair. Sister Sandie has had (health) problems (also) … We gave them both blessings. …” On November 24th (This was a P-Day), Sandie wrote, “The Elders made us French Toast for breakfast, ... Elder Porter came in afterwards and started talking to me. He was feeling real homesick too.” On December 1st Sandie wrote, “Today was a good day. We ran quite a bit. I was able to get up and stay awake and I really didn’t feel tired. So the Lord is blessing me a lot. We went to district meeting. Elder Andrew was sick. So instead of our meeting, I made him some soup.” Elder Andrew and I called it “Sister Sandie’s Slick Slimy Sick Soup”. It made Taylor feel better.

Both Cindy and Sandie have beautiful voices. My companion at the time, Taylor Andrew, is also musically gifted. At a zone conference in Campinas with an area authority, Sandie sang a solo. In her journal on December 12th, she wrote, “After lunch Elder Gibbons signaled for me to go up front. He told me that I have a beautiful voice. I sang a solo of Silent Night in Portuguese.”

Sandie didn’t write too much about me in her Journal, but her comments were mostly positive. On December 7th, she wrote, “Welcome, welcome P-day Morning…. I cut Elder Porter’s hair. I think I got it too short. Oh well, he’s a missionary. He is a great district leader also. I’m so impressed by him, he is certainly here for the right reasons.” On December 17th, Sandie had her 22nd birthday, she wrote, “Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday dear Sandie, Happy Birthday to me. You guessed, it’s my birthday. … No one said anything, and I only got one letter … Tonight the Elders surprised me with a birthday cake and a card. It was real sweet! Sister Oaks made me a card“. But Sandie wasn’t always pleased with Taylor and I. For example, there was the time when we returned the Sister’s bikes late after we borrowed them to run to the outskirts of town. And the time when their refrigerator broke and we couldn’t fix it. Eventually the refrigerator was “fixed” by replacing a fuse at the entrance to their apartment, but they found that the electric shower head would not operate while the refrigerator was plugged in. Luckily it was hot in Brazil, and they could tolerate a few cold showers.

We spent Christmas together that year and it was one of the most memorable ever. I’m afraid I didn’t write anything in my Journal, but Sandie did. From Sandie’s Journal, December 24th, 1987:

"We got to the chapel in Campinas only to find no-one there. The Elders – Porter, Andrew, Walden, and Nebeker jumped over the fence. So Sister Oaks and I slipped on our Bermudas under our skirts and climbed over also --- it got a good laugh!"

We had a quick meeting and then left to an orphanage. We all piled into a car. We had lunch there then a program with these children. … We started out singing Christmas songs. As the afternoon went on, stories were told. We divided into groups and the kids did skits of biblical stories. Our kids did the Good Samaritan. We then had interviews with these kids. We had four: Carlos, Wonderlei, Rogelio, (and) Laudeceia. Carlos was 13; Wonderlei, 11; Rogelio, 15; and Laudiceia, 11. We talked about Christmas, (and) the love our Savior has for us. We took pictures afterwards and ended with a prayer. Then we all played games.

I remember playing with the kids and having the orphan boys show us how to climb the mango trees. In the evening after the visit to the orphanage, we watched “The Fourth Wiseman” before returning to Cosmopolis. The next evening we joined the Sisters for some caroling. I can’t remember who sang soprano or alto, but Taylor sang tenor and I had the base part for the songs we had practiced. Here’s what Sandie wrote in her December 26th, 1987 journal entry:
"After we met up with the Elders, we went around to member’s and investigator’s houses singing Christmas Carols. The spirit was so strong. Many ended up with tears in their eyes. Then we got brave and sang in an extremely busy park. It was great. At about 9:30pm, we decided to grab a bite to eat. Yes, only missionaries, we sang in the restaurant. It was so neat!"

Inevitably, we were all transferred out of Cosmopolis. When Elder Andrew was transferred, Sandie Wrote, “Elder Andrew received a telegram, he was transferred to Indiatuba. So much for the ‘Cosmopolis Social Club’ as the zone leaders called us. We are all such good friends.” (Sandie’s Journal, December 29, 1987) When Sandie and Cindy left, I wrote, “It was kind of sad for me when the Sisters got transferred, I had kind of gotten used to them. … I miss Sister Sandie and Sister Oaks” (Wayne’s Journal, January 14th, 1988) . Sandie went to Píracicaba, Riberão Preto, and Araraquara before returning to Denver, CO. Her parents picked her up from Brazil and visited Iguaçu Falls, Rio, the Amazon rain forest, and Peru with her. She eventually met me again serendipitously in Provo, UT. I remained in Cosmopolis till March, 1988 before moving on to São Jose do Rio Preto, and Belo Horizonte. I returned to Provo, UT in 1989 after visiting my parents in Windham, ME.

Here’s some pictures of Sandie on her mission and touring with her parents.

Sandie and Lilian Vaz with a family they taught in Brazil:

Sandie and her Mom at Iguaçu Falls

Sandie and her Dad in front of the Christo Redentor statue in Rio.

Sandie at the Beach in Rio:

Me on the beach in Rio: (I had to throw this in, but Sandie and I were not at the beach at the same time). The military police kept me from boarding my flight from Rio to the States in November, 1988 because of some problems with my documentation. It took an extra day or two to get everything straightened out, so I had some time to visit Rio.

Sandie on the Amazon:

In Machu Pichu, Peru

Sandie and I met each other again in June 1989 in front of the Brigham Young University administration building where two sidewalks cross each other. You could say that our paths literally crossed again. We exchanged phone numbers, and soon the seed of friendship that we planted in the “spring” of 1987 grew and blossomed into romantic love.

We were dirt poor so we spent most of our free time on quiet walks, hikes, cheap $1 movies, shopping together, babysitting her four nieces, and BYU devotionals. We fell in love, became engaged, and were married on November 25th, 1989.

Sandie and I will reach our 20th Wedding Anniversary this November. We’ve shared many joys and tears. Our love has grown each year, and 20 years later continues to grow and bloom.