October 12, 2015

Leaving my Samoan girl!!

Tengo un tos ‏

Well I got a cough yesterday. I guess that is what I get for not getting a flu shot yet. I'm going to day, so don't worry. This is the first time I've been sick sick in like a year and 2 months. That's crazy. Haha Beniciones from the Lord. So this is how this last week went.

Monday. 

We got a call from Sister Palmer we were moving stat. It took us all afternoon but I'm glad to be out of that garbage pit. It was so gross. Plus now we have a functioning shower! What a blessing, I can get clean now! I'm not a funky monkey anymore. Because we spent all day moving we missed out two appointments that we had that night. We were a little disappointed but we tried to see them anyways and we just got return appointments for different nights. We are now living with Sister Dimpter. Crazy story, her son Elder James Dimpter served in the Louisville Kentucky Mission and he served in the Madison Ward of the New Albany Indiana Stake. He also thinks Larry Porter, the Stake President, is the coolest guy in the world. Isn't that crazy? He knows dad. I'm sure we don't remember him but he remembers us. What a small world. Anyways, Sister Dimpter is single and she is amazing at doing missionary work. She works hard core with the less actives. She has over 35 people she has befriended in her missionary efforts. She keeps us motivated sometimes. 

Tuesday.

Was a day of eating. We had a few lesson that were in the morning but all of them fell through. We looked for some new investigators that we could add and also some less active members. I was pretty unsuccessful. Then we had to go grocery's shopping because we didn't get to do that on Monday because we were moving. Then we ran home and dropped our food off and then after that we went to an appointment in Newman. The lady is a returning less active and she was like "I made you food" Well the bad thing was that we were going to be having dinner in like 5 minutes. So we ate her food and then after that we went do dinner. We are teaching this ladies son who is 8 so he doesn't count as an investigator. But he just started coming to church recently and he is going to get baptized soon. His names is Moses and we are basically best friends. He loves Mario and I love Mario, only when it makes me his best friend. haha We taught him the restoration and it was really well. He loved it and thought we were cool and he actually know a lot for never going to primary. 

Wednesday. 

We went to dinner with Hna Rosas and we ate some spicy food. She didn't mean to make it spicy but she did. Even my native companions were dying so it wasn't just my weak sauce white genes. But we ate chicharron and it wasn't that good. Hna Ku always told me I'd love it and that she'd make it for me but she never did, and I'm glad she didn't. It is a super chewy pork dish and it was G-ROSS. After her we went to see a lady who is less active. She just had baby and he is SUPER cute. We asked her if we could start coming over to teach her family the lessons and she said YES! WE taught her the restoration that night and it was a little rocky. We need some practice in making sure we distribute the time equally between the three of us. Also, there were a LOT of awkward silence gaps. We are getting better though. I'm learning to be quite until one of them speaks...sometimes that's a few minutes...

Something else that has been happening is we are tying to seethe less actives and a lot of them say that they were never baptized. There was this lady who said the elders always stop by looking for her but she hasn't ever stepped foot into our church. That has happened twice. I'm not sure if the people here in Crows Landing are just a little crazy or if it is true. I guess we will find out.

Thursday. 

WE had the BEST dinner with our Branch President and his family. They are so amazing. Sister Martinez doesn't speak Spanish at all but she is learning because she is in the Relief Society Presidency. We walk into her house and she says "SISTER! I'm trying to be a good missionary and I think I'm going to be having someone come over for dinner who isn't a member. Hopefully it all works out right!" She invited her ex-son-in-law over for dinner. It was so kind and he wants to feed us at there house every time we come over. He wasn't going to stay around for the spiritual thought but he did and Sister Martinez was just crying she was so happy. We talked about prophets and the general conference. He was getting ready to leave and she was crying and he said "What's wrong" She said "Nothing, it's called the spirit. I'm just so happy you are here. If you ever want to meet with these ladies call me and I can set it up." It was a tender experience and I'm glad she felt the power of missionary work. 

Friday. 

We had a lesson with a lady named Silvia. She had forgotten about our appointment and had fallen asleep. The whole lesson she was nodding off. The good news is she accepted a baptism date. But we didn't count it because she had not clue what she was committing herself to. It was a really funny lesson. Then we got to know our Elders Quorum president. He is the sweetest man in the world. He is do sad that our ward is down to 20 members. He is going through dialysis and isn't able to what he used to. He said he wants to come out with us soon though. He is the only member in his family and he is so sweet. he always says "they'll come around in their own time. and the more I have you over, the more exposure they get." He is the cutest man. The sister training leaders decided to make a surprise exchanges with us. It was quite the fun night. I got to spend it with Hna Carpenter and we got to catch up with each other. It was quite a nice time. 

Saturday.

I realized that we need to spend more time outside the car and make an effort to talk to everyone. Hna Carpenter reminded me of that. 

Sunday. 

We went to church and then had a crazy long chat. It was quite the evening. We have some goals though that we will all be working on and hopefully that will help somethings to become better. There have just been a few things that were off and now we are back on again. I'm excited to see where this week takes us. 

I love you all so much. I hope you have a great week and you make good choices and read your scriptures and say your prayers. 

Love, 

Hermana Porter.

 

Ana's baptism!!!  She is Beatriz and Enrique's granddaughter.

Saying bye to Genny Garza!

Amelia Perkins, we look like twins in this picture.

 

Bye Bye Ellyn.  I miss my YSA friends.

Saying bye to Hermana Sellers.

Baby Maya is tired.  haha  She sleeps in the car all the time.

The District.

The lady we moved in with made us blueberry muffins.  She's the best!!!

What my area looks like.  Five towns of this dirt stuff.

We were together for a day!  Reunited with Hermana Carpenter!

The Trio!  Hermana Me, Hermana Martinez, and Hermana Maya!

 

October 5, 2015

This week has been crazy, seriously crazy. Here is a play by play. 

So Monday we went to dinner with the Gutierrez family. They are SO funny I love them so much. We had dinner twice with them this week so we have gotten to know them fairly well. Anyways, Hna Martinez has been suffering with this horrible cough for two weeks. Well, we were mid spiritual though and she got a coughing attack. She got up to go get a cough drop and then on her way there, barfed all over their floor. It was quite the traumatic experience, for all of us. Hna Gutierrez was so concerned that it was her food that had made her throw up but it was just the cough. Hna's kids thought the whole thing was quite comical as well as me and Hna Maya. Well, that night we had to go wait at home anyway for a plumber for come and fix our shower because we had been bathing with a cup for about 4 days and finally we called someone about it because we were tired of it. The plumber said he would be by sometime after 6 but we waited until 8:45 with no luck. Hna Martinez was so sick so we called Elder Graham and Elder Jarvis to give her a blessing. Bless their souls they took the 45 minute car drive out to our area and helped a sista out. 

Tuesday we had appointment after appointment, but guess what. Not a single one was there. WE spent most of the day walking around looking for people to teach. It came up with no luck.We had a lesson that night with a lady named Maria. She is really lonely and is mostly looking for someone to talk to. We were there way longer that we should have been listening to her talk about Catfish. Who knew someone could have a one sided conversation about Catfish for 45 minutes...we sure didn't.  

Wednesday looked a lot like Tuesday. We spend a lot of our days "finding" with almost not luck. We feel that this week is our week though. WE are getting maps of all of our areas and we are determined to talk to everyone and their dog about the message of the Restoration. I want these Hermanas to know what missionary work is, not wondering around aimless. We tried door after door with not a lot of success. 

Thursday we had to wake up early to take Hna Martinez to the doctor so we could get some medication for her cough. Turns out she had a upper respiratory infection so it was a good thing we went to the doctor. Right after the doctor we had to go to Turlock for a zone training. Elder Torres gave it was it was really good. He talked about making sure we follow the spirit. We watched quite a few videos on President Monson and his life experiences. I learned a lot. Elder Torres made sure he pointed out when we were feeling the spirit and that we were writing down the revelation that we were receiving. He asked us who we wanted our role model to be. I decided I wanted mine to be Jesus Christ. I can always count on Him to have the perfect example of whatever quality I want to emulate. That is why this week I started to study the New Testament. Let me tell you, I love that little book. Anyways, at the zone training, Sister Palmer was there and she wanted to come and look at our apartment. When she got there, she was appalled. She kept saying "This isn't safe" "This isn't clean" "WE have GOT to get you out of here." I don't know if it was lucky or not, but the land lady was happening to come that day to check if we actually needed a plumber to come and fix the apartment. Let me tell you, we actually did. Sister Palmer had words to say with here and there was a little bit of an argument. It ended with us having our 30 day notice and having a plumber come the next day. 

Friday, we spend all day shut into the apartment. The plumber was suppose to be there at one and didn't get there until 5. Say what? By 4:30 I was over it and I called Sister Palmer crying. She told me we were in luck cause we would be moving out on Monday. OH boy was I happy! We were all happy. During our companionship inventory we all said the thing that made us the most angry this week was the fact that we had to stay in the apartment so much. We were excited to get out of there. We were also suppose to have dinner with the Aldana family but we though she had called to cancel 5 minutes before the appointment. Turns out it was our 7:00 canceling so we didn't show up to dinner. WHoopsies. Hna Aldana called at 6:30 asking where we were. It was a big misunderstanding but we got it cleared up. Not a good way to make a first impression. Hopefully there is not hard feelings. 

Saturday and Sunday were conference filled days. This conference was so good! I LOVE conference so much. Sometimes I wish it was every weekend. I learned so much and I have so many things that I am excited to work on. Some of my favorite talks were President Monsons, President Eyryings and President Nelson, and Elder Holland. I learned so much from these men. I got to make sure I am doing what I know to be right and being a light to the world and a defender of the believers. This is not the time for us to sit on the sidelines and watch, we have GOT to ACT. What I am today will to be good enough for who I need to be next week. I've got to be continually trying and becoming better. I've got to have to the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. If not, I will not be strong enough to fight in the spiritual battles of the future. I'm so thankful for the Prophet and apostles and the guidance that God gives to us through them. I'm thankful for the growing I have to do in the next 6 months and for the rest of my life. 

This week in my studies I finished 2 Nephi and I'm almost done with Jacob. I actually understood quite a bit of 2 Nephi. I'm not sure if I should be proud or worried that I'm understanding the Isiah chapters of the Book of Mormon. I think I should be happy? 

Alright, I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Make good choices and write me a letter! 

Love,

Hermana Porter

September 28, 2015

Week One with a Newborn

This week has been so crazy and this p day has probably been the craziest day of the weeks thus far. SO news, my companions names are Hna Martinez and Hna Maya. They are the cutest things in the whole world. They both speak Spanish from birth but they were basically raised in the US so they speak perfect English. (thank goodness) We are opening a new area basically and so things here have been pretty stressful. We have some really high hopes for this next transfer and I'll tell you about some of those in a moment.

So we got together on Tuesday and we didn't get home that night until 10:35. IF you know anything about missionary life you know that we are suppose to be sleeping at 10:30 so we started off on a bad note. The zone leaders came and unloaded all of our stuff for us and we didn't get into bed until around 11:30. The bad news is that we moved into the grossest place ever. It is super dirty and almost none of the appliances work. Our shower, doesn't work. Hot water, doesn't work. Sinks, don't work. Luckily Hna Carpenter and Sheffer came over on Saturday and helped us clean quite a bit. We got one sink working (turned out it was just clogged with Elder hair...we all almost threw up.) The shower and kitchen sink are still broken though. We have a plumber who is coming to fix that this evening though. Also we don't have a place to do laundry so we are hoping to recruit one of our members to help us with that. (we can't find a laundry mat either)

We have had one super powerful lesson thus far this week. We went to see a drop (who Elder Perry actually taught) whose name is Olga. She is the nicest woman ever. The lesson was struggling. I was talking the entire time and I'd try to get the Hnas to talk but we'd just sit in awkward silence and then finally I was like "hnas, explain this scripture to her." as soon as they started talking the spirit came SO strong. Olga was feeling the spirit, I was feeling the spirit, they were feeling the spirit. it was an amazing experience. They explained to her Alma 7:11-13 and they did such an amazing job. 

Another spiritual experience we had is that Elder Graham (WE ARE BACK TOGETHER!) Challenged us to pray to know how many baptisms our area could have this next transfer. We gathered in our apartment last night and we started to pray to know how many people the Lord would have us find and help come unto baptism this transfer. WE started out thinking it was only 3, 5, 8. Then we prayed for the next hour and decided it was 8. The spirit testified to us hard core that that is what we needed to be doing. But here is thing. On Sunday we went to church and our branch is tiny. I thought Lodi was small, this is smaller x10. WE had about 27 members there. So we also set a goal for people we wanted to help reactivate as well. WE all came up with the same number which was 15. President Palmer came and talked to us. He said that he know we can make this ward 500x more populated than it is now in the 3 transfers that we are expected to be there. That means that we need to make our branch grow from 27 members to 147 members. WE are ready to work and find those who the Lord has prepared for us. 

I am struggling a little with training. I feel a little inadequacy and I'm not sure how much I should be saying or doing or what ever. Hna Hurley was such a good training and I'm not living up to her but I'm doing the best I can. She just always seemed so composed and that is not me. But I'm learning that I just need to make Christ my focus and I will do good enough. 

I'm sorry this week is a little short. We had to come to a library and we only get 45 minutes. Hopefully next week it will be better. I love you all! have a good week. 

Love, 

Hermana Porter

P.s. The library wont let me send pictures. You'll have to wait until next week! 

 

September 21, 2015

I'M PREGNANT WITH TWINS!!!!

Holy Transfers. I can officially say I don't like transfers anymore! Just kidding. So here is the scoop! President PROMISED me that we'd get our transfer calls Saturday night. Well, Saturday night came and went and NO transfer calls. Me and Sister Maukeni both went to bed SO angry. All we wanted to know is what the next 6 weeks of our lives will be like.  We woke up Sunday morning and we got a call from President Palmer. He said that I was released as a Sister Training Leader but I was being called as a trainer. Then he said, there's a twist. You will be training not one, but TWO new missionaries. Can I tell you, I about fell out of my seat! I think I almost died right then and there. But I'm over it and I'm actually not stressing about at all. I feel so much peace. I think Heavenly Father is just trying to help me prepare here. So the verdict is: I am now Hermana Porter again and I am going to be training two new missionaries. Hopefully I am still alive next week! haha

This week has been a great week. We had two lessons with member presents! How amazing is that? One is with a man named Kevin. Kevin has been meeting with missionaries for a while and he is reading form the Book of Mormon. We were able to go with our branch mission leader, Ryan, to his appointment. We resolved some of Kevin's concerns about praying for an answer. He said he doesn't feel like he can pray because too many people already ask God for too much. He just wants to tell Him all the things he is thankful for. We told him they only ways to resolve his doubts is through prayer. Heavenly Father wants to be able to answer his questions and doesn't like it when he is constantly worrying about what's true or not true. During the lesson I realized I need to take more of my own questions to the Lord in earnest prayer and seek out the answers so I can grow my personal testimony. Our other lesson was with a guy named Amando. We went out with our member Ellyn and we were talking to her about how we don't have any investigators and right when we got home (aka back to her house) she said "Come on" and took us across the street to her neighbors house and we scheduled an appt for the following day! It was a really good lesson and Ellyn and Sister Palmer came with us. He had a lot of really good questions. He didn't want to be baptized but he said he would like to know more. The spirit was really strong. 

Here are a few things that I learned this week. 

Everyone has to have a clicking moment when it comes to the gospel. They have to have a moment when gospel makes sense for them and is something that they want. That is the point when all kids choose to live the gospel on their own or converts get baptized. They do it because they know it will please the Lord not because of obligation to someone else. Sometimes that clicking moment comes really quickly and others, it takes people awhile, but eventually it will come. 

Next I realized why I love my mission so much. this week Sister Maukeni and I were having a chat in the car and we were talking about how one day, we hope our daughters will go on missions. Then I was thinking, why do I wish that they would go? Because it is here on the mission, that as far as I can tell, I have learned what it means to fulfill our callings. I realize how important it is that we give all our time and energy to the Lord in all that we do. I've noticed when I started to do that, that joy came though the work. I know how important it is to constantly be doing missionary work like going and visiting less actives in their homes or going out with missionaries or making conversations with all those around us. We will feel so much more fulfilled when we do that. 

I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to grow my testimony. That's all I need to do here, I grow and my mission will have been successful. 

I love you all. Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Porter

P.s. I got to go to another baptism this week for ANA. Beatriz and Enrique's granddaughter! It was a beautiful baptism and it was great to be able to see Lodi again!

September 14, 2015

 

New Haircut!!

 

 

This week has been great. I'm reading in the Book of Mormon in Nephi, the first book. I started it over and I love it even more this time. I am in 1 Nephi 19 and I read verse 9 which I don't think has ever caught my attention before. It is a beautiful verse talking about Jesus Christ. It reads  9) And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.

Isn't that just beautiful? Christ did it all for us because He loves us. I think that might be my new favorite scripture. Maybe. Alma 7:11-13 might still take the number one spot. 

I was also studying a spiritual thought that my dad had sent me a while back. It was about the "as if" principle. If we would like to become something then we should live as if we already have it. That is something I have been reminded of this week and something I am going to apply in my life. The aspects of my life I want to apply it to are cleanliness and diligence. I feel like I get motivated to be clean or diligent and it last for a day maybe two. But if I try to remind myself that I am a clean and diligent person, then I will act as if I already have that as part of my life. Then it will become habit and then part of me. Me and Sister Maukeni were listening to a talk this week about change and about how most people let doubt keep them from changing because they see change as this huge long process that takes years and years. Elder Holland, very firmly, said that we shouldn't let that fool us. Change only takes as long as it does for us to get to our knees and tell Heavenly Father that we earnestly want to change. I LOVE that. Isn't that so true? That is something I am going to try to start to implement in my life. 

This week I got to go on exchanges with Sister Neeley again. Can I just tell you I love that sister? She is so motivated and has such a desire to work hard a be exactly obedient. It rubs off on me every single time I am with her. She is a new missionary but she seems like shes been out for years. She already has all the ropes down but she still has that new missionary fire! I wish I could be her companions so bad. We had a hilarious dinner with a few of our member. Jacob was feeding us be we couldn't go there alone because he lives by himself. He got LIz and Ellyn to come eat with us and they brought their friend William who is from Hong Kong. William just got to the states that day and he was cracking us up. He said "The first semester of college I ate 40 pounds of potatoes because I didn't know Wal-Mart sold rice." He was so serious too. Then he told me "You have the perfect complexion. You are so fare." Just imagine all of this in a Chinese accent and you would be laughing too. 

After our dinner Jacob came with us to an appointment with to a guy named Kevin. Kevin has investigated the church a lot before and he is really sick so Jacob and Brett came with us to give him a blessing. It was a really good experience for all of us. I hope Kevin felt the spirit strongly. WE haven't been able to meet with him since so we hope to talk with him about it the next time we see him. 

We met a promising guy named Marcus last night. He said he was going to come to FHE tonight at the church and to our huge "party" (thats what we tell the investigators it's called. haha)  this next weekend. He said he would come. WE are pretty stoked about it. 

I didn't hear back from any of you if you wanted to read the Book of Mormon with me. Does anyone even read my blog? Hope to maybe here some things this week! 

Love, 

Hermana PORter

 

 Right before a Sister's Conference

 

SELFIES!

I scream, You scream, we all SCREAM for ice cream!

I finally got a map of the United States!! (I've realized on my mission that I really don't know my country, at all!)

Yeah, I wore a blazer.........gross!

 

Monday, September 7, 2015

With Sister Palmer

I feel a lot of pressure to write really good email and because of that, I think they are starting to get stinky. Things in the Y.S.A Branch are hard and weird The branch is so good and they are working really hard to find us people to teach and we are working really hard at finding as well, there just hasn't been a lot of success yet. This week we did have a few good lessons were pretty cool.

We had a lesson with a man named Kevin. Kevin is a drop that we had heard about multiple times and so we finally decided to go check him out. We had tried at the beginning of the transfer but his grandmother said that he was sick and he wasn't up to company. We went back this week and we had a really spiritual experience with him. We had to meet with Kevin in his room and so we pulled up two chairs next to his bed. Sister Maukeni, noticing the empty aquarium next to his bed said "What's in there?" He said "Nothing, right now. But just to let you know there is a 8 foot long Boa  Constrictor loose in the room right now." As soon as he said that, I pulled my legs up on the chair and I was like "Oh my goodness. Where is it." I legitimately started to cry. I think I can say that my biggest fear is snakes! He started to laugh and then took us around the corner and showed us the huge snake. It was the grosses thing I have ever witnessed. I was so scared. We then continued to talk to him about how he was doing and how it was going. He told us about his experiences with the missionaries that he had had in the past. We asked him what he though of the Joseph Smith and the first vision.  He said " I believe that, that, is something true. Joseph Smith had that vision and the Book of Mormon is true as well." The spirit was so strong in the room. We were all crying. Sister Maukeni then bore sweet testimony on how the Lord knows each of us and what we need and when we need it. That there is no coincidence as to why were there that nigh and that we came when he needed us the most. Then, she offered one of the most powerful prayer and when she was done we could all feel the spirit really strongly. We were really excited about the experience and told everyone. We have a lesson set up for this week and hopefully we can get him a priesthood blessing.

That same night we had dinner with a really awesome member of the YSA. Her name is Rosemary and she is one of the ward missionaries. She told us on Sunday to tell her if there was a day we didn't have dinner and we texted and she took us to get some Mexican food! It was SO good. She told us all about her mission in New Mexico. She served on the Navajo reservations and she had some pretty crazy experiences. It was such a good dinner. We had really good conversation and I felt for the first time in a long time we got somewhere with a member. She understood what we were trying to teach to her and the spirit was strong. She was so easy to get along with. Sometimes YSA is hard because they are all return missionaries and you feel like they are judging you but dinner with here was a judge free zone! It was a good night. 

On Wednesday we went out with our branch mission leader Ryan. We had an appointment lined up but it fell through. We decided to go see a member of our branch Skye. She is going though a hard time right now and we had a really good lesson with her. We talked about Enos and his experience and the spirit was strong in the lesson. We talked about faith and about how it is only through faith that anything can be accomplished. Fe is such a broad topic that you could study for years and still not completely understand. That gospel is beautiful like that. Sometimes it is frustrating like that too. 

Exciting news!!! I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON THIS WEEK!!!!! It was a monumental day. It was good this time. President Jardine extended a challenge that was to highlight every time the Book of Mormon talked about Christ, said an attribute of Christ, or Christ was speaking. It was so beautiful. My testimony of Christ has definitely grown since reading it again. I wanted to extend to you, everyone reading, to read the Book of Mormon with me for the last 6 months of my mission. I want you to email me if you accept. It is one tab a month and then by the time we finish, I will be home! I want you to choose a topic and read it. Family of mine. Accept it. If you don't I'll beat you up in 6 month! 

Alright, That was about the extent of my week! I love you all so much. Let me know how your week was! 

Love, 

Hermana Porter. 

 

 

I actually have more

We had an appointment set up with the zone leaders this week for a pass off lesson. The pass off lesson didn't actually happen but we had a really good lesson with a girl named Haley. Her grandma is a member of the elders ward and she is YSA age. She is also a member but wants to get active in the YSA ward. She was telling us about all of her missionary experiences that she's had in the last year. They have had 3 people be taught and baptized. It was so cool. The spirit was strong in their home and we got to spend D&C 18:10 and 15 with them about bringing people unto Christ and how great our joy is when we do it. This is a glorious work we are in. 

We also had an exchange this week. I got to go with Sister Clifton and we worked here in the YSA. She is the cutest girl in the entire world. We are going to be best friends after the mission, I'm almost positive. She is from Georgia and she is such a good missionary. She has the biggest heart in the entire world. I love her so much. 

Sunday was really good. We had a really good sacrament meeting. They YSA have amazing testimonies about the gospel and so many aspects of it. I love hearing people testimony. I feel like when people bare their testimony to me it makes me love them even more. Sometimes I don't like people and then they tell me their testimony and I'm like....I LOVE YOU. haha 

ok. officially done. 

 

 

August 31, 2015

SUPER STARS!!

 



A, hopefully, long email.

Alright, a lot happened this week considering I hit my year mark. Yeah, all of you who doubted that I'd even make it though the MTC, take that. Hermana Porter is here and one year in the making.

So this week was a week full of meetings and I learned SO much. SO MUCH. I'm going to talk about 

1. The meetings. 

2. My blessing. 

3. What I've learned one year in the making.  

So, our mission has been having some problems with getting a long with one another. Nothing TOO serious but yeah. SO President held an emergency Mission Leadership Counsel and we talked about it. Since this is the first transfer with every one combined we decided that we needed to start fixing it now because next transfer we are getting so many new missionaries and they can't come into this environment. The spirit was so strong as we talked about what we could do to help the mission. We decided we were going to help them by teaching them about the Christ-like attributes. WE also needed to make sure that we are setting the example and helping all those who we are serving with. THEN we went back and we taught what we learned in our MLC to our zones. Ours turned out to be a huge companionship inventory and it was kinda awkward but IT actually was really beneficial and the spirit was strong. Sister Maukeni said I got a little sassy and motherly...oooops. haha. 

After that meeting, on Thursday we had Elder Hamula from the 70 come and speak to us. IT was SUCH a great conference. He talked about the importance of exact obedience and also about how we are to work with our ward and stake leaders. He encouraged us to have dinner regularly with our ward mission leader, bishop and stake presidents. He also told us to make a focus on those who will be prospective elders. He said that is where the finding is at. Really all the church should be making a focus there but a lot of us aren't. He said if we start working with the prospective elders and their families he promises us that here will be so many baptisms that new stakes will have to be made. I thought that was a crazy CRAZY promise. But he showed us the numbers to back it up so we are going to start. The spirit was so strong in those meetings and we received SUCH good counsel. I'm so grateful we got to have those experiences. 

So for the last 6 weeks or so I've been having really bad head aches. They have been getting worse and worse and it was pretty bad. I've made a promise to the Lord that I was going to keep pushing through it and that I was going to keep working. Saturday it was nearly impossible to work and we were on exchanges. I felt like I should get a blessing and then Sister Neeley (the sister I was on exchanges with) said "Maybe you should ask for a blessing." When she said that I got an overwhelming feeling that I needed to ask the assistants for it. Well, a lot of things happened that night and it was looking like I wasn't going to get it. We were on our way home from exchanging back and it was almost 9:30 pm. and I was like "We should just stop by the church and see if they are still there." We did and they were. They gave me a blessing and it was probably one of the most powerful blessing I have ever received. The spirit was so strong. Elder Murdock gave me the blessing and he told me things that I needed to do about things I was struggling with that I didn't even know I was struggling with. The spirit was so powerful and I was so grateful for the blessing. The crazy thing is that after the blessing Sister Maukeni and Elder Bosswell said that they heard Elder Murdock start the blessing but the couldn't hear the rest. The spirit was so strong in that room. Me and Elder Murdock were both crying. Ever since then...I have been feeling great. 

Alright, now I think mom has forgotten but I recently hit my year mark and she's asked me to tell what I've learned about the Gospel, about Myself, and about Others. She didn't remind me so maybe everyone forgot about my year mark but here is what I've learned so far. 

Gospel Sense: 

1. The scriptures are a STORY! 

Believe it or not the scriptures are a story and it is the best story in the world. I've noticed that the more I read the more I understand and the more I love them. I've started finding little jokes in the scriptures and so many other things that I love. Like when Captain Moroni writes his letter to Pahoran and chews him out and Pahoran is just like "sorry dude." I mean, haven't we all been in the situation before? Or if we take Ammon as an example, the poor guy just gets so excited all the time. And every time he gets excited, HE FAINTS! Isn't that so funny? I just love it so much. The scriptures have been given to help us, not to kill us of boredom. 

2. Follow the promptings of the spirits. 

Just do it. Do it always. Don't be fearful or scared just have the faith, jump out the window and see where the spirit takes you. Plus, when you ignore the spirit, you always kick yourself afterwards. Just keep listening and see the blessings that come along. 

3. God's timing is Perfect. 

Seriously, as you follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost you realize how perfect God's timing is. You just have to be willing to follow what He gives you. His timing will line up exactly with everything that needs to happen. We are SO blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves us that much. Before my mission I worried a lot about what I was going to do in 5 years or even 5 days but now, I know that as I follow the spirit, the Lord will never leave me and my life will pan out the way He wants it to. 

4. He will ALWAYS extend tender mercies. 

Every time I've been struggling and suffering He always gives me a tender mercy. Maybe it is an email or maybe a letter or a package, but whatever it is, it is always helpful. It just reaffirms my testimony that our God is a loving Father in Heaven who wants what is best for us. That brings me so much comfort. 

About Myself: 

1. I'm an emotional roller coaster. I"m just a hot mess all the time. I know all of you know that already but it is something that I've realized for myself. When things get anywhere greater or lower than a 4 on the emotional scale I freak out. My poor companions, they have to suffer so much. I've realized that the more I rely on the Lord the more Heavenly Father blesses me and the more I feel confident in my emotions. 

2. I have to have down time. That is something that I have learned on the mission. When I get home I have to have time planned where I don't do anything. On the mission every single minute is planned for you even the time to clean and that is too much for me. Because we have such a short amount of time to clean and do anything I feel like i have to use that to let my mind rest which make me lazy. 

4. I'm funny and that is not a bad thing. For the longest time people would tell me that I was funny and I took it as an insult. It always hurt my feelings a lot.  But I realized recently that being funny isn't a bad thing. I think I used to think that being funny meant I couldn't be spiritual or loving or kind or empathetic and that really hurt my feelings. But I realized that I can be all those things when I am funny. So now, i love the fact that I'm funny. 

5. " I am enough, I am of worth, there is a reason I came to this earth. I am a daughter o a daughter of God, I am enough." That is something that has been reaffirmed over and over again in my life. I feel like when being an SLT people expect you to have all the answers and be perfect  but that is quite the opposite in my case and I feel super inadequate but I've realized that I am enough and the Lord will qualify me. 

About Others. 

1. People like compliments. They will almost always talk to you for a long time if you start your conversation off with a compliment. 

2. Most people are doing the best that they know how. We get so impatient with them but really everyone is just trying to do their best. I've being trying to notice the good that everyone does. It makes me have a better outlook on life. 

Alright. That is all I have time for this week. I hope it was long enough. Hope you learned something. 

Love, 

Hermana Porter. 

 

 Old Companions Came to visit again

 

 Having Fun!!

 

Our Assistants.  Elder Bosswell and Elder Murdock (I found this on the computer I am using and I thought it was funny)