Weekly Email

Well, I'm not getting transferred! My greenie is leaving though. Weird! So yall can send letters to Owensboro still, cause I'll be here for at least another 6 weeks. :) 

What. a. week. I have never been so exhausted...and I hardly did anything! Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a lazy bum every day, but I had to take a lot of time outs to deal with things. I was an emotional roller coaster this week. Got a couple blessings, talked to the mission grief counselor, and went to the Capeners' a lot for lunch. Our branch members fed us a lot this week too, which was nice. Overall, I was exhausted emotionally and physically and mentally. Thank you all for keeping me in your prayers though. I have lots of help here thank goodness. And thank goodness for the priesthood!!! 

We had a chili cook off on Saturday night for the branch. We had some investigators come! Elder Fleener is from Alaska, and he made chili with caribou and moose meat in it.... I actually liked it! Isn't it weird to say that the weirdest thing I ate in Kentucky is caribou and moose? Not squirrel....

I don't really have much else to report about my week other than that. We had to cancel quite a few appointments because of me, but we did have some awesome lessons this week with some people getting baptized this month. I'm glad I get to stay and see some baptisms here in Owensboro -- finally! Pray for them! 

Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan of salvation. And thank goodness he does! I am so grateful that I know that plan and can share it with others. I've been learning a LOT about the Spirit World....and I'm realizing more and more just how merciful our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are. The Atonement is real, and God is there for us always!! 

Hermana Porter

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Heavenly Father works in very mysterious ways. 

This last week was one of the hardest...yet most interesting weeks of my mission. On Tuesday we went to a Zone Meeting, and our amazing zone leaders got us super pumped and inspired to make sure we're getting our 20 contacts a day. I was ready to go to work....and then I got sick for 3 days.

I started feeling sick Tuesday, and Wednesday we went out and worked, but it was so halfheartedly on my side... only because I had no energy or ability to do anything really! Elder Fleener and Elder Memmott came to the Capeners' and helped Bro. Capener give me a blessing. Bro. C gave me one of the best blessings I've ever received. (I love the Capeners. Have I ever told you that?)

I spent Thursday and Friday sleeping. I don't know what I had! It started off as fatigue/no energy whatsoever, and then my eyes started hurting, and then my whole body ached. I literally slept from 7:30 in the morning to 5:00 pm both days. My poor companion...I have no idea what she did for two days. I had to cancel my dentist appointment too. 

I was feeling pretty upset in the time I was awake because I wanted to go out and work. We've been struggling here in Owensboro Spanish these last few weeks trying to find people to teach, so I wanted to go to work to get our numbers up. And then I got sick. I didn't know what Heavenly Father was trying to teach me....until Sunday rolled around. 

I was feeling much better on Saturday, but we didn't have much time to work since we had Stake Conference, and we were going to Evansville early with a member. We unfortunately didn't have any investigators come since we went AWOL this week, but wow was it an amazing conference! Elder Bradley Foster of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy came. It was all about families, family history, and loving one another. I really needed it!

Anyway, let me tell you about Sunday. Like I was saying, I didn't know what Heavenly Father was trying to teach me with getting sick and whatnot, but on Sunday after we got home from Stake Conference....miracles galore happened. The Capeners dropped us off at 2:00 and then told us to come back at 5:30 for dinner. In between 2:00 and 5:30, we taught 4 lessons, set 3 new baptismal dates, and got 2 new investigators. Then after dinner, we found a less-active hispanic man outside of another less-active member's house, and we had no idea he was even a member until 20 minutes into the conversation he told us he was baptized and had just gotten out of prison. He said he was missing happiness in his life and was ready to turn it all around. We said a prayer with him, gave him a Book of Mormon and told him that it was the happiness he was missing in his life. We are going back to teach him later this week. 

I sat down last night, completely dumbfounded. Why did Heavenly Father bless us so much in such a short amount of time? Sundays are usually our least-productive day! (Everyone's at church, at the store, with family, etc.) But after three days of no work and no energy, Heavenly Father decided to pour it all out on us at once. I don't get it! I don't get why Heavenly Father would bless people like us.... Or at least THIS imperfect servant. I try so hard to be my best but come up short at the end of everyday. I get frustrated with the imperfectness of my work, and I've been wondering if Heavenly Father's just sitting up there shaking his head at me, withholding the blessings for this area for the next missionary. 

Like I said, Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways.

We now have 5 baptismal dates. We located 2 less active men we didn't know before. Karen hasn't smoked in 43 days. Jenny has given up coffee. Sandy & Lino are going to get their family sealed in the temple soon. And to top it all off, gas prices are down to $2.90 here! 

I guess we'll never completely understand how He works. I feel so unworthy of the blessings He so abundantly pours out in my life on a daily basis. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what He's trying to teach me, but I have learned a few things. Heavenly Father loves blessing His children. He knows we aren't perfect and that we make mistakes. We aren't perfect servants, but as long as we are trying to serve Him, He loves us for it. His love never changes. Thank Him for the blessings He gives you. Never forget His hand in your life. He's there. He always blesses us much more than we deserve....because He loves us. 

Hermana Porter

Back in Boots

It's FREEZING again!! THIS is the mission I remember from a year ago! Brrrr! But in other news, I get to wear my boots again! I'm going to be sending home quite a few pairs of broken shoes and just stick with my boots this winter. Also, we have no AC unit in our apartment, which means no heat....This will be an interesting winter. I just went and bought myself a couple fleece throws. Wish us luck. :S

General Conference was this weekend! It was fantastic! On Saturday morning all 6 of us missionaries went to the church, but we soon discovered that the satellite in the church wasn't working.... So we quickly ran over to the Capeners' and watched it there. Sister Capener is adorable! She set up a Conference Store (a table full of treats, juice, notebooks, markers, toy cars, etc.) and handed out Conference Cash to anyone who could answer questions about the talks. It was so cute! I bought a juice pack and Nerds. :) 

My favorite talk seems to be everyone's favorite talk: the one by Jorg Klebingat. Wow! It was amazing! I just listened to it again. Those are 6 wonderful principles I need to remember, especially in making sure I'm listening to the right voice. I liked the story he included about the sister missionary he was talking to. Sometimes we get so caught up in things and think we aren't worthy to stand in the presence of God. Of course we aren't -- we aren't perfect...yet! But as long as we're trying our best, He will help us and make sure we are confident in our standing before Him. It's a process! 

Sunday morning....what.a.morning! We had an investigator AND two hispanic members come to the chapel to watch conference! Our branch president hooked up the church's family history computer and streamed conference through it the night before, but the problem was....there were also 3 English-speaking members there. We had to put it in English then, and there was no way to get Spanish subtitles or anything... So I had to translate the entire session on my own. Talk about intimidating! Having to translate for apostles of God AND the prophet! I wanted to cry when I found out I had to do it, but I could feel the Spirit speaking through me during certain talks. I have NO idea what happened in the Sunday morning session (I'm listening to it right now online to catch up) because you literally just translate the words you are hearing and nothing processes, but I remember saying 3 phrases over and over again: Prophets, prayer, and personal revelation. Perfect! I think our investigator really needed it. He'll be getting baptized in November. :) 

That was my big adventure of the weekend. I love General Conference. How blessed we are to have a living prophet and apostles on the earth again. How even more blessed we are that we can hear from them in a conference every 6 months! The Lord knows our needs and inspires those men and women to say exactly what we need to hear. Study them all yall! ¡Qué bendición! 

We've been pretty blessed this last week with more progressing investigators. We have 5 progressing now! They all have lots of potential! Two have baptismal dates, and we're going to set more dates with the rest this week. :) As we've strived to be even more obedient, the Lord has blessed us. I love being a missionary!!! 

I hope everyone is doing well at home! Thanks for all your support and love! 

Hermana Porter