Hola everyone!!!!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Hermana Baker and I were talking about it the other day, and we really wouldn't rather be anywhere else or be doing anything else in the world. The days are hard, yes, but I hardly notice the hard times anymore because the Lord is so good to me! Missionary work is the most rewarding work ever!
This week was a great one. I really haven't had any bad since since the first two weeks. :) Bad moments, yes, but the Lord has been great in getting me out of them pretty fast. I love my district SO much. Seriously. They are HILARIOUS. The most HILARIOUS people you will ever meet (besides Bradon. His emails CRACK ME UP.) And I love them so much. They have taught me a million things about being a good missionary, and it makes me so happy to think of the kind of missionaries our elders will become at the end of these two years. Yes, they have a long way to go, but leadership does good things to you. They are fabulous.
So as you can tell by the headline, I got a cold this week. It's been going around our zone for a week or so now, and I caught it. But it only lasted a couple days thank goodness. We had a FREEZING COLD day this last week out of nowhere. We were dying because every other day has been a nice 70 or 80 degrees out. BRR. We didn't know what to do. Oh. And for some reasons mosquitos LOVE my left foot. I have four bites on that foot alone. Nowhere else! What the heck!
I just have to say, my companion is the BEST person in the world! It's amazing how well we get along! We are just the best of friends, and she even got me to like gym time! It's a miracle! (We were laughing at how ironic it is that SHE sprained her ankle and not me. She has to sit out in gym time now while I play. I would totally switch places with her if I could. Lol.) But we work SO well together. I am seriously going to take her as my carry on and not bring anything else home. I can't WAIT to see this chica after the mish! We will have so much fun!
But anywho, we have had a ton of teaching appts this last week. One of our investigators, Luis, is "getting baptized" this week! Yay! He's just soaking the information up! And we taught one of our other investigators, Armando, yesterday. It was our second lesson with him (he's our afternoon teacher, Hermano Castellanos) and after the lesson was done, he came into the classroom and told us in front of the entire district "Hermana Baker y Hermana Porter, PERFECT lesson. I have nothing to say. It was PERFECT. You both are ready to go into the field. Excellent job." We were SO happy. Hermana Baker and I are always so concerned about our investigators, and we are coming to know that as long as you just LOVE others, the Spirit will testify to them of the truth. They will feel your love through your Christlike example! I have no doubt about that! Even though I can't speak the language all that great, they can still get what I'm saying and feel that I love them.
I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE people. Seriously. I love everyone to death. I am SO happy that we are Sister Training Leaders because we have really gotten to know our girls this week. Hermanas Fisi'iasi and Olsen are JUST like we were the first week or two. Hermano Castellanos (our afternoon teacher) is their morning teacher, and he is always having us talk to them because they have our same needs. We love them so much!!
I have to tell you a story. So, our teacher Hermano Castellanos is SUPER gifted when it comes to personal revelation. All the elders think he is a Jedi Master. But he told us he has had this thing since he was young that he could feel other peoples emotions, and it was debilitating for a long time, but he learned how to use it on his mission. He was talking about it when he turned to Baker and I and said, "Someone's nervous. Is it you Hermana Porter?" It wasn't, but Hermana Baker was nervous about something, so they talked about it. Then a bit later we were asking him what our needs were since he said he knew, and he turned to me and said, "You are concerned with not being good enough." HOLY COW. He got it SPOT ON. That has always been an issue for me, and it's in the back of my mind now as I am learning and TEACHING in Spanish. But the Lord is making up the difference. Somehow I remember the words and know what to say when I need it.
One amazing experience we had this week involved two of our Elders who are now the Zone Leaders. Many people are having issues with Fastle because he makes Hermanas and Elders read the white handbook section about opposite gender rules. He's been really prideful and blunt, and finally I got so upset with everyone hating him instead of dealing with it, that I took Hermana Baker outside and talked to her about what we could do for Elder Fastle. I felt strongly that we should sit them down and teach them as missionaries. That's what we did. We taught them as missionaries, and we focused on our needs as leaders and how important it is for us to focus on others and THEIR needs and how WE can help THEM. The Spirit was the strongest I've ever felt during that half hour lesson. You know when you feel the Spirit and your voice automatically gets softer? That's how it was. Since that lesson, they have really grown in their leadership positions. It's been awesome. Those two are going to learn SO much about helping others and not themselves. They each have their own needs, and I hope they grow into even greater leaders in the field.
Thursday was insane. Hermana Baker got TWO packages of Krispy Kreme donuts from her mom in the mail, so we had a mini-party. Then Whipple and Hopkins kept giving us Chokis and Runts and candy, and then Hermano Hernandez brought us a million churros.... Talk about a sugar overload. I haven't been able to eat Chokis since then. Woof. But it was fun! :)
Oh dang. I passed my one month mark on Saturday. :O Time is flying! I don't want the mission to end!! Except, Hermanas Baker and Abernathy freaked me out the other day because they both feel like I'll be assigned as a trainer the first time I get into the field.... :S UHHH.
Scriptures that have helped me this week: Proverbs 3: 5-6 (Elder Seager pulled that one out for me the other day out of nowhere. I just started crying. Poor Seager was wondering what the heck was happening. lol) and Alma 26 (verse 22 specifically, but read the whole chapter and apply it to missionary work!).
Funny quotes from this week:
Hermana Baker: "They run a corn village??"
Elder Whipple: "An ORPHANAGE!" (She mishears things ALL the time!)
Elder Evans: "I was a triste little manzana." (he was relating his day to an apple.)
Me: "Did you shed any tears?" (Hermana Baker and I wrote elder evans a pick me up note to make him feel better)
Evans: "Give or take 27... but maybe 9."
Hermana Baker: "Whipple, would you ever call someone a sweet spirit?"
Whipple: "That could only mean one of two things: you're either butt ugly or just MEAN."
Baker: "whipple, someone called ME a sweet spirit."
whipple: "allow me to retract what I JUST said..."
ahhhhh I love the mission :) There are million more stories I could tell you all, but I will just leave it at that. I have never participated in a more rewarding work. Sometimes I get impatient with myself (Okay, often...), but I have noticed that the Lord watches out for his missionaries. He can't have us feeling down because he has people for us to teach. We need to be working all the time and learning all the time and improving all the time. I love it! I love being a missionary! I can't wait to get to Kentucky less than a week now! It will be hard, but I am ready to learn! I am so grateful I have Hermana Baker. We are SO blessed. I have just been great friends with her, and I love having her as a comp and a teammate. She has set the example for the rest of the mission.
The Church is true everyone! I am learning that every day! I can't express even a tenth of what is in my heart. It's like what Ammon says in Alma 26. I cannot glory enough in my Savior, and even if I praised him day and night, I still would not be able to say a part of the things in my soul about the Savior. He is my Redeemer, the one who died for us because he LOVES us -- he absolutely LOVES -- so much so that he would die for us and suffer for us even though he did nothing wrong. I am humbled each day for the things Christ does for me, and I love seeing the joy on someone's face when they begin to feel the Spirit testify to them of this. Our Savior is good, and He loves us.
I hope everyone comes to know their Savior as best as they can. The mission has really brought me closer to Christ in a way that I did not know was possible. We can't do this work without Him. It is His work. I can't wait to stand before Him someday and tell Him I gave it my all in serving Him. I love this Gospel and this work. Any problem we have can be fixed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My four-year baptism anniversary is this Thursday, and as I ponder on my feelings about that day, I get so excited about bringing others to baptism so they can have those same feelings as well.
I love being a missionary!
Love,
Hermana Porter
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