In the Head of Hannie: April 6, 2015

One last picture of our house before we had to move.

#Trunky

The #Trunky is in reference to General Conference this past weekend. If you are a missionary you will know exactly how I am feeling. All of the missionaries in our zone were gathered at the Century Building watching and making awkward eye contact with each other about how all the talks were based on Marriage and Families. Although all talks mentioned this and it is not quite the stage of life I am at yet, I still learned quite a lot. One thing that I learned is the importance of a family. Getting married and having a family has always been a goal of mine. While growing up people would say "I want to be a doctor" or "I want to be a lawyer" but I always said "I want to be a wife and a mother." However, in recent years that has changed. I always wanted to be married by 21 but the closer I get to 21 the more scary the thought of me being married is. I don't feel quite old enough. Now 41 seems like a better age. But after this conference things have been put back into prospective for me and I need to make having a family a priority. I should not put it off for selfish desires, I should be a "Defender of the family unit."

On a missionary note though, the things I learned from conference is that I, Hermana Porter, need to be more organized and diligent. Diligence and obedience is key and it is something I'm not the best at. I'm not the worst but there is a lot of improving I can do. I also need to start focusing on the principle I am learning here on a mission and also how that applies to real life. Everything can help me out later on. I should understand the principle behind mission rules and I can understand how that can help me thoughout my whole life.

I love General Conference and I am so glad that Lord has given us a living Prophet that can lead us and guide us. I'm grateful for the spirit we can feel while listening the words of the prophets and the apostles who have been placed on this earth to guide us and help us remember the "eternal perspective" of life. General Conference is one of the many evidences that there is a loving Heavenly Father who wants to guide His children.

This week out in the mission field has been quite crazy. It is, in fact, quite hard for me to remember what has happened over the course of these few, 7 to be exact, days. Here are some of the exciting point of the week that I CAN remember.

1. Every Monday we go over the Araujo's (mom) and the Paniagua's (daughter) for FHE. We read the book of Mormon with them. The have just recently started coming back to church so really want to read the book of Mormon. They are on fire. Hna Paniagua's boyfriend (Jorge) is investigating the church and has a baptism date for the 18 of April. We are so excited for him. Anyway, they alternate going to church here, in Lodi, and there, in Brentwood (Jorge's designated church building). That Sunday, in Brentwood, the lesson was on the importance of missionary work and helping the missionaries with finding people to teach and going out with them. She said "I didn't know I was suppose to be doing this...when can I go out with you?"

That experience with her taught me something super valuable. She had learned something in church and then decided to apply it in her life. How often do we do that? Do we ever do that? She took a leap of faith, stepped outside her comfort zone and asked us what she could do to help. So often I got to church and by the time I get home I cant even remember what the speakers have talked about let alone what I should do with what they have said. I need to pay more attention and be like Hna. Paniagua. See what I am not doing, and then do it.

The miracle with that story is that Hna Paniagua came out with us the very next day. We had a lesson planned but it fell through. Instead of saying, "Oh man, next time," we asked her to come to our back-ups with us. We had 3 planned and none of them were there. Then the last person we took her to was Estela. She was there and it turns out that Hna Paniagua and Estela needed each other. Estela has cancer and so did Hna Paniagua's mom. She was able to fellowship her perfectly and we were able to add Estela to our teaching pool! It was a true miracle. After that spiritual experience Hna Paniagua gave us some referrals. She felt the spirit of missionary work and then acted.

2. We added 4 new people this week!

Last week we dropped all of our investigators. None of them were progressing and we felt like it was a waste of the Lord's time to keep going by people's houses that weren't even home. We took a leap of faith and drop everyone.

We made a goal this transfer to contact all the drops in the drop book. We started this week and we added some of them.

- Ortencia and Amilio. They are a wife and husband and they are awesome. Ortencia used to be really sick and that is why they dropped her. When we first stopped by they were on their way out but said to stop by Friday. It didn't seem too sure that they would be there. Friday we went over and knocked on the door. Amilio came out and said "We've been waiting for you. Ortencia needed to go to the store but I said 'the muchachas are coming over!." She should be back soon." We told us to sit down and tell him everything we had to say. He wanted to know our whole message. We taught them the restoration twice, once again when Ortencia came back, and they loved it. They want us to come back on Tuesday. We added both of them :)

- Estela. I already said a lot about her. She is just really sick but she has a lot of faith and we are really hopeful about her.

- Noemi. We aren't sure how solid she is but she was really nice. She was at her moms house and told us to come back the next week so she could learn more. We are going back Wednesday!

Back onto things that happened this week.

3. I killed a chicken.

The Crosiers went out of town, the family we are living with (brother crosier texted you mom, we live with them), and they left us incharge of their animals. They have some fish and a duck and some chickens and some baby chicks. I warned them that I am NOT good with animals...the example I gave them was Frady (the cat). They said they were going to leave Hna Sellers in charge then. The day they got home we came home and one of their chickens had gotten hit by a car...I warned them! haha

They weren't mad at all thought, they said it is a part of life and that is the 15th chicken they have had that happen to.

QUESTIONS

How's the language coming along? You haven't mentioned that for a while.

Meh. It hasn't changed much as far as I can tell. I'm studying a lot more but I don't feel like it is much better.

How is Galt and how's the work going?

Picking up. We have a lot more goals this transfer and we are relying a lot more on the Lord and what He wants us to do and WHEN He wants us to do it.

Did you get the package for Easter and conference?

I did! Loved it. Got a ton of letters on Saturday too! thank you!

How often do you ride your bike?

We haven't since we moved. We are far out in the country. We are really stressed so not sure when it will happen again.

What is the best thing that happened this week?

Adding Estela. That lesson was amazing.

What is the funniest thing that happened this week?

The Easter package went on quite an adventure. The Stockton Zone leaders accidentally took it so Elder Wednt and Elder Snapp had to go pick it up. They got it Saturday in-between conference sessions. They texted us and said "We got the package for you and opened it, so no worries." I said "Oh yeah? How does the Easter dress fit?" and they said "A little tight in the hips." and then I said "Oh no! If it doesn't fit you then how is it going to fit me?" It was really funny.

They then made me open it in front of them. They LOVED the whoopy cushion. Elder Owusou saw the period medicine and said "oh, I wont be needing that." It was really funny.

What are you studying for your scripture study?

The Book of Mormon. I'm reading it and highlighting every time it refers to Christ or God and their attributes or the times it talks about the Doctories of Christ.

How is it going living with the family?

We LOVE IT! It was so amazing.

How was it driving the mission car?Love it. We don't get in as many fights :)

Alright everyone. I love you so much and I'm grateful for all the prayers you are sending my way and everything you are doing for me!

Les Quiero,

Hermana Porter

PS - Oh yeah, Thanks to Sarah Faulstick for the package. I am not very good at remembering to say thank you but my ward and family are great!!