In the Head of Hannie: June 29, 2015

Saying goodbye to President and Sister Jardine

Holy 10 months!!

Yep. That's right. I've been out 10 months. Who would of thought. That means I have only 8 months left and the panic has started to set in.

So here is the thing that I learned this week. LOOSE YOURSELF IN THE WORK. This was the Zone Focus that we set last week and me and Hermana Carpenter have been working really hard to achieve it. We started our small and now we feel like we are working really effectively. We pinpointed the time that we felt like we were being the least effective and that was in the car. We spend a lot of time going from place to place and from Lodi to Galt to Lodi again. There was a lot of time that we'd spend in the car not doing anything. We started by making a list of things that we could do in the car. Let me tell you, for every one thing that we crossed off we get 3 things added on. Also, we see that it is blessing our work because it shows us the people who are truly interested in our message.

This week was good. We added 5 new investigators. A recent convert in our ward brought his mother in law, brother and sister in law to take the lessons. They are super interested and they came to church on Sunday. They stayed for the first 2 hours. They said it was different to what they were used to but they liked it. We met a few more people who seemed really interested we just make return appointments with them though.

We are planning to have a baptism this week. Her name is Janell and she is going to have a miracle baptism, I can just feel it. She is 10 and has been coming to church with her dad. She has been taught everything the only thing is that her mom wont let her get baptized. We have her whole baptism planned for Saturday. We have the program made the talks assigned and the font reserved. We are going to fast with her tomorrow and we are praying really hard that her moms heart will be softened. Her grandma (who is a member) is coming up from Texas so she can be there. Our faith is high and we really feel like this is going to happen.

Who did you have dinner appointment with this week?

We had a dinner appointment with the Perez family. During dinner we have been focusing on the first vision and asking them to make a list of people in their lives who could use the gospel. We are making a return appointment with them so they can talk with us about the next step is that they can do with their friends. Hermana Perez was super excited about it and she also wanted us to help her with her family history work. Serving the members, CHECK. I really should have paid more attention to dad though when he was trying to teach me how to it.

How are you and your companion getting along?We are best friends! We are working getting our studies done because we love each other so much that we just talk and talk and talk. Things have gotten a lot better. She is such a classy person and we are working SO hard. It is going to be a great 8 weeks.

What was your favorite thing about this week?So last night to start off the new mission we had a little get together with the zone and we shared our testimonies. At the end we wrote all of our fears down and tied them to a balloon and let them go. Well you see, homegirl here, let her balloon go and it got stuck in a tree. After forever of it not getting itself out an elder climbed up into a tree and he got it out. When the balloon let go the fears i tied to it fell. Guess I wasn't meant to let my fears go.

Do you still go to a Spanish branch?

Yes. I only work in Spanish work.

Did you get to see Cody Perry? What's the weather like now?

I haven't seen him yet but I did hear that he was in my mission now! How exciting! Hopefully this week. The weather is really hot. It is in the 100's almost every day. The high has been 114. It isn't too bad though because it is different heat than home.

What's your favorite thing about the area you live in?

There are super nice people. They are all so loving and kind. I love everyone here.

Have you met your new mission president yet?

I haven't met him yet. He just landed last night and the split officially happens on Wednesday. We will probably meet him this week sometime.

Love you all,

Hermana Porter