Tender Mercies

Hola yall!

This week was a good week. Even though we were busy with a lot of things and didn't get to proselyte as much as I wanted, we still experienced several miracles and received lots of tender mercies from Heavenly Father.

First, I have to tell you about Karen. She's a less active that we visit every week. Every time we ask her to say the prayer, she always thanks Heavenly Father and our families for letting us hermanas be here so she can love us and be blessed by us. So, just know that there is one person out here who is grateful for your sacrifice. :) Thank YOU for letting me be out here! I am SO blessed to be on a mission. I don't want to know what my life would be like had I missed out on this experience. AH. Don't even want to think about it!

The Lord blessed us with two tender mercies this week. Two new, young families moved into the branch this week from Utah and California, and both the dads speak Spanish! That means we have more members to help us in our work! It was an amazing, very tender blessing. We helped the second family move in over the weekend (they moved into a Parade of Homes house.... yeah. WOW), but both families offered their help to us hermanas right away. :) How great! We needed it!

We have some very sweet members here. Several are trying to learn a bit of Spanish so they can come out with us to teach. (For example, Sister Kathy Trego. Did you get her letter?) We have an enthusiastic branch president, and guess what! We're starting the M&MTC (Member MTC) this week! I'm nervous but excited! I definitely thinks it's one of the reasons why I'm here in Owensboro. We're going to see success from this class, I know it! It's designed to help members get excited and informed about how to do missionary work. Pray for us please!

I'm also translating in every meeting at Church. I LOVE IT. I thought I would hate it since I've been in Spanish branches my entire mission, but now I have to pay attention and make sure my investigators are understanding it all too. Plus, my Spanish is getting a lot better. The mission is 10x better when you can speak the language fluently. :) I LOVE SPANISH! I LOVE THE MISSION!

Overall, this was a good week. I'm still trying to figure out Owensboro and the work here, but I'm finding that President Hinckley was right when he said, "The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired."

I wish I could bottle up Corydon, Hikes and Owensboro for you all and let you experience everything I'm experiencing and feeling and learning on the mission. There's no way to properly express my gratitude, my enthusiasm, my sad moments, the wonder I feel as I witness miracles out here. I understand 100% why RMs have such a hard time coming back down. We're on cloud nine out here! The work brings more satisfaction in life than I've ever felt before. I could do this forever!

I love you all! Thank you for your support and encouragement and especially for your prayers! They are needed. :) LOVE YOU!

Hermana Porter