Peaches, Root Canals, and Pancakes

What a week! (I say that every week, don't I?) 

Lots of things have happened this week. First of all, an update on the M&MTC: not a lot of people came this last week unfortunately. We had a class about the Book of Mormon. It wasn't our best class, but on Sunday we were invited to branch council, and the entire meeting was focused on missionary work. So they're learning something! We were so excited. People even brought friends to church! :D We're working working working to get everyone going, and I think they're starting to get excited. We're working on a branch mission plan together, and we also made a Focus 15 list for the members to go visit. I love it when branch councils take initiative and the missionaries don't have to be naggy. haha. I love these people though. :) 

Second off, I went to the dentist in Huntingburgh on Thursday. The senior couple in our district (The Fullmers are AMAZING!!! I love senior couples!) drove us out there. The dentist told me that I didn't have a cavity, but he thinks it is a root canal.... UGH! I brush my teeth every daaaay... I don't really know what to do now! He told me to keep an eye on it these next couple of weeks, and if it gets worse, he says to come right in and get it fixed. But man, root canals are expensive! I feel bad! I don't really know what to do. It definitely is a root canal, I can feel it. We'll see. Maybe by magic it'll turn into a perfect, glorified, resurrected tooth and I'll never have problems with it ever again. 

We also had exchanges this week. We actually do blitzes with the STLs out here since we're so far away from Shelbyville/Louisville, so all four of us were working here in one day. We got a LOT done. Hermana Arancibia is awesome. She gets work done! I love it! She emailed me today to tell me "You'll be taking over this part of the Lord's vineyard soon, that's for sure." Yikes. Don't tell me that! Let me train first and then we'll worry about that! 

I did feel bad though because we asked the STLs to bring their bikes...and then Hermana Arancibia's got stolen! Hermana Luke and Hermana Binks strapped their bikes onto the back of our car, and someone STOLE it off the bike rack! They broke our bike rack and everything. But some guy that they contacted came up to them and GAVE them his $300 bike that had a flat tire. How awesome!! So at least she has a bike! :) 

We had a big Pioneer Day celebration in the park on Saturday with the branch. It was a pancake breakfast. "Grandpa" brought his band with him, so that was fun. They sang a lot of Johnny Cash haha. We invited 3 random people who were walking around the pavilion to join us! They were so cool! One was Tom, and he sang in the band for a bit! Then Joan kept riding around in her motorized wheelchair to invite even more people to the party. Talk about being a good missionary! And she's not even a member yet! The elders got their numbers and are going to see them. Unfortunately none of them were Mexican so we didn't get any new investigators. Oh well! 

I gave a talk in Church yesterday about pioneers. I think it went pretty well, except I was running on 2 hours of sleep. The night before, Hermana Luke decided to tell me the worst story in the world about an experience the elders next door had a transfer ago.... I really don't want to repeat it because I want to keep the Spirit in this email. But needless to say, I was up all night and didn't fall asleep until 4:30 am. So you can imagine how lovely I looked/felt on Sunday. :) 

Also. I had the BEST peach cream pie in the WORLD this week. SO GOOD. I'll make it for yall someday! 

So that was my week! Just learning, working and building my testimony. Whenever I feel like I'm plateauing in my learning, the Lord throws me a curve ball that helps me get back on the upward climb. I love the mission, I really do. I can't wait to see what happens these next few months. Transfer calls are on Saturday! Wonder what'll happen!! 

I love you all! Thank you for your support and love! Write me!!!

Hermana Porter

[No Subject]

Hellllooooooo everyone!

Guess what! Hump week is OVER! Now I'm just going to work work work and pretend like I still have another 18 months ahead of me. (I WISH.)

This last week was pretty eventful. We had another M&MTC class, and it was really inspiring and spiritual. I really hope these members are getting excited about missionary work. I've been flipping through "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton M. Christensen on p-days (we do laundry at our branch mission leader's house, and they have a copy of it), which is the book that our class is based on. I am convinced that every member needs to read this book and apply it. It's AMAZING. Tells us exactly how we can be every day missionaries. We're going over the principles taught in it, and I feel like it's working. I just want these people to catch the vision about missionary work. It's amazing!

We also had interviews with our mission president this last Thursday. That was fun. The training by the APs was....weird. But I liked my interview with President Brough! He's so enthusiastic and full of energy about this work! He's great! Our interview was short, but I really needed to hear what he told me. He said I was meant to be here in Owensboro for a reason and that there are people here who are waiting to meet me, people that no other missionaries could reach for whatever reason. He says there are people here that I will baptize and help. I really needed to hear that!

The APs also inspired us when they said that the work here in Owensboro is going to explode. They told us that President Woodbury had a dream that the Owensboro branch would one day become a "thriving" ward -- the biggest one in the state of Kentucky. I got chills when I heard that. Let's get to work!!

In other news, I have a cavity! But there is a wonderful Bishop in Jasper who's a dentist, and he said he would fix the filling for free. I was so happy when I heard that. I'm so grateful! Tender mercies all over the place.

ALSO. We're supposed to be getting iPads in the next few months. I'm not sure when my mission is going to get them, but they did say we would have to pay for them ourselves. They're $400. Shnikes.

We had a really frustrating lesson this week with a guy. He told us we were wrong, and that he feels sad whenever he sees/hears people preaching false things, and he feels it's his place to tell them the truth. He also said he believes the Bible is 100% correct and all we need to know to get to Heaven is in there. He even said if he died tomorrow, he knows he's going to heaven. (I thought Jesus and Heavenly Father were the ones that decided that??) He was just super belittling and trying to be nice about it. He said he read the first few pages of the Book of Mormon and says everything in it contradicts what the Bible says. We were just blown away. We testified of the Book of Mormon being the word of God along with the Bible and that this Church was true. Then, after he'd been talking for like 5-10 minutes straight, my companion goes, "Well, that's of the devil." and we said a prayer and left. I DIED. She is so funny! But yeah. Keep frustration out of the work.

We did have a great lesson with Erasmo last night though. He told us he feels unworthy for Church and baptism and is afraid of getting baptized because he thinks he's going to fall afterward. It was a tender experience. We testified to him of the Atonement and the power of forgiveness. I love the Spirit. He gives us the sweetest feeling ever and testified of truth. Erasmo's going to be just fine. He's got some things to fix, but he's willing and ready to go. We're going to baptize him on September 6th.

Well, that is it my friends! The work continues! I love you all and thank you for your prayers and support and love. Also, thank you LaRue Heaton for your letter! I really needed it! I have been reading the notes over and over all week and sharing them with other missionaries. It's been a good week.

LOVE YOU!!

Hermana Porter

Unhappy Hump Week

Humph :( I am being reminded from all sides (even from my own mother!) that this week is my hump week. This is terrible news! I'm having a hard time even thinking about it. Last night at the mission fireside, one of the elders going home in a couple weeks started crying, and I felt like crying with him. This is rough. I can't believe it's half over. I feel like I have so much more to do! :(

Lots of big things happened this week! First off, our first M&MTC went great! The Spirit was SO strong, and we had 10 members show up! Even though it was a small number, I know everyone felt the Spirit, and our goal is to have them invite even more members this week. Keep praying for us! This is the key to helping out our branch. The help we get from members isn't exactly the best (that's putting it nicely), and we're really trying to get them pumped. We're just having a hard time getting them to be more welcoming to the zillion inactives we already have and to get pumped about inviting more people. They aren't the most welcoming/warm branch.... But we're working on it! I am LOVING my life!!

President Woodbury had big hopes for our branch. We're pushing to become a ward, but the only way that's going to happen is if we get more people attending. Out of the 300+ on our roster, only 100 come every week, if that. We really need to get these less-actives back! But anyway, President Woodbury told President Cole (our branch president) that he would help the Owensboro branch become a ward. That's why we have 6 missionaries assigned to it. I feel honored to work here. :) We'll call this "How the Owensboro Branch Became a Ward." Woo!

ALSO! We met the Broughs this week, and they are AWESOME!! I love the Broughs!! They are SO funny and PUMPED about the work! And President Brough has SO much energy. He's amazing!! I am SO SO excited to be working with them! They've got the vision. :D

haha wanna hear a funny story? There's a Relief Society teacher in our branch who's really old and....well, she likes to prove people wrong by how much she knows. And she hates the sister missionaries for some reason. So yesterday she was teaching the lesson and asked a question, and Hermana Luke answered it, and the lady goes, "Hmm.... nope. You have a veil over your mind." RUDE! We're still laughing about it. That's basically a "nice" way of saying, "You don't know anything Sister." Ay ay ay.

Oh! And last night we got to go all the way to Louisville to the Charla! The car ride there was miserable because our investigator, Erasmo, drove us in his van that doesn't have any AC. I basically felt like a rag dropped into a bucket of water to dry. It's SO humid, plus it was 93 outside. Woof. But we made it to Louisville, and my heart was SO happy. I got to see Josue AND William! William bore his testimony and thanked me, Hermana Lawrence and Hermana Wilkinson for helping him. I also got to see HERMANA CARNAHAN and our investigator Dario!! I was so happy to see him! He's such a timid person, but he came! It's so good to see people I used to work with doing so well. :) Hermana Carnahan is doing great too! We miss each other so much! I love that girl!

The Charla itself was wonderful. Elder Blauer, who is one of our Spanish Zone Leaders (he's comps with my old District Leader, Elder Skousen, in Louisville right now) was bearing his testimony at the end, and he said, "My mom hung up a sign in my room that says, 'You could help so many people if you went on a mission'. I've tried to give 100% of myself to this work, but for some reason I always receive more." And he talked about seeing all the people who've touched his life and who he's helped over the years.

It's so true. I was on cloud 9 last night seeing all of the people who make me who I am. That's why leaving the mission -- or thinking about leaving! -- is so hard. I can't imagine leaving all of these people behind -- Josue, William, Dario, Jose, Hermana Carnahan, Hermana Lawrence, the people of the Rama Quinta, Corydon, Owensboro -- and going home to a life I don't even remember. These people have changed me. They make me who I am. I never knew I could love people this much. It hurts. That's why I don't even want to think of it being my halfway point in the mission. If I'm going to meet and love as many people as I did my first half.... it's going to hurt twice as much to leave. Ugh. Help!

I just wish I could relate to you all about how much my mission means to me. I can't thank Heavenly Father enough for this opportunity to serve Him 100%. I don't know what I did to deserve this chance to be here, but I'm going to thank Him every day for the rest of my life for it. This Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, and this is His Gospel. We are doing His work. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. It's the word of God. I want everyone to know it!

"Today is the day I will open my mouth. I'll shout from the rooftops! The words will come out. And I'm sharing my soul in the words that I speak and the love that has made me this way. Yes, today is the day I'll proclaim what I believe!"

Hermana Porter

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

Welcome to Owensboro!

What city is the fast food capital of the nation? What city is the home of Johnny Depp and his family? In which city is the Kentucky Motor Speedway located?

Welcome to Owensboro yall!

Leaving my beloved Hikes was so rough. Hermana Carnahan and I stayed up talking about our transfer together and about everything we learned. I miss that girl! She and I will be friends forever! I learned so much from her, and we had sooo much fun together! I hope she's doing well. I hope Hikes is doing well! 

Now I'm in Owensboro, Kentucky! I'm an hour behind Louisville's time, which is weird. Owensboro is in eastern Kentucky, by Evansville. I'm in the "Forgotten Evansville Zone." It's sooooo different from my other zones.... Not in a good way. We have a history of apostate missionaries here, which is rough. Luckily the elders we have here right now are all hardworking and obedient. Some of the stuff I heard about the past elders though makes me sick. BE OBEDIENT! It's not hard!! Anyway, we're called the "Forgotten Evansville Zone" because we're soooo far away from Louisville, and we're the last to hear about anything. We're not very united as a zone either, which is a huge bummer. No pride! My first District Leader, Elder Edwards, is now my Zone Leader. Also, fun fact! My trainer opened up this area that I'm in now! So I get to continue doing the work she started. :) 

Owensboro Spanish is interesting. We don't have any Cubans out here, which is a bummer. Lots of Mexicans and some Guatemalans. Doesn't really vary from that though. We have one bap date at the moment and working on another, but we really need to find some more people. My companion is going home this next transfer. She's in the big group of 11 hermanas going home, including my trainer, Hermana Lawrence. We get along just fine and laugh a lot. Really nice :) She's from Heber City, UT. 

When I got the call to leave Hikes last week, I was pretty devastated and upset. I couldn't understand why I was only allowed to stay there a transfer, and although I still don't understand it, I definitely feel like I am meant to be here in Owensboro. I'm still trying to figure everything out, but I know the Lord needed me here for a specific purpose. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm finding something new everyday that I want to change in this area. I'm going to work hard these next few transfers here!! 

One of my purposes here I think is to improve member missionary work. I am serving in a small English branch here, and me and my companion translate the meetings into Spanish. I was freaked out about doing that at first, but I actually love it! My Spanish is so much better than I thought it was! I love it! :) But anyway, we do a lot of work with the English members, which is very different than my last two areas. We have two other sets of Elders in our branch with us. One companionship lives right next door to us, so they're always knocking on our door to borrow stuff. Kind of bugging me, but they're cool. I'm just glad they're not apostate. 

Annnyway, our members here are great, but they're a little....lackluster when it comes to missionary work. We are going to start a new 8 week class called the M&MTC (Member Missionary Training Center) to help them better understand how to do missionary work. Elder Dahle, one of the new elders, said it worked wonders in his last branch he was serving in. We definitely think this is the key to getting the members more involved in the work! They are really pushing to turn into a ward, but it's not going to happen unless we get the members involved in the work! It's going to take a LOT of work, but we just had a new branch president put in, and he's very enthusiastic about it. Pray for us here in the Owensboro branch! 

I'm going to end this before it gets too long! But just know that I'm safe and happy here in Owensboro. I can't believe the time is flying so quickly. I'm going to make the best use of my time here and do what the Lord wants me to do. Pray for me! I love you all! 

Hermana Porter

P.S. I was blow drying my hair yesterday and all of the sudden my blow dryer started spitting fire balls at my hair....needless to say, I don't have a blow dryer anymore. 

Adios Louisville :(

I'm getting transferred. :( I feel like my heart has been shattered into a million pieces!! I don't want to leave! We didn't think anything was going to change, and if anything Hermana Carnahan would've been the one getting transferred since she's been here for three transfers now.... but we were at a dinner after a baptism on Saturday, and Elder Skousen, my district leader, sat down looking all depressed and said, "I just got the call." And my heart dropped because I thought, "Oh no, Hermana Carnahan is leaving." And when I said that, he said, "No, you are." I thought he was lying, so I texted the Zone Leaders....and sure enough, I'm leaving Hikes. :( :( :( I can't believe it! I've only been here a transfer.... and now I'm going? I've just been switching back between being confused, upset and sad.... I thought I'd be here for a long time. I LOVE Hikes so much...

I've just been reminded several times these last few days that, since being in an area only one transfer and then leaving is really weird/rare, God needs me somewhere else this next transfer. That's blatant. I'm excited to see where I go and why He needs me there, but at the same time it's made me wonder if I fulfilled my purpose here in Hikes these last 6 weeks. I feel like I haven't even made a dent in what I wanted to do here. But I guess God thinks I have. I'm hoping he'll send me back here later in my mission....but I'm running out of time. We'll see what happens.

Even though I don't really understand why I have to go or why I was here, but I've been thinking a lot about what I learned here. 1. I met my amazing companion, and now we're best friends for life! I love her to death! I'm really sad to leave her, but I know we'll be glued to the hip after the mission. Needless to say, I'll be going to Idaho a lot after I go back to Provo. :D 2. I learned how to speak Cuban Spanish! 3. I learned how to teach the lessons inside and out now. I can hold my own! And my Spanish has gotten better!

I learned a ton of other things.... but I'm going to have to ponder on my time here a bit longer, because I'm still trying to figure it all out.

In other news, I'm missing Jose's baptism next Sunday. :( That's a huge bummer. He's definitely ready and excited. This last week was an uneventful week until Saturday, when we got transfer calls. I've also been sick all week and lost my voice for 3 days. I sounded like a little boy. Ugh.

I don't really know what more to mention. The work shall move forward! I shall keep you updated about where I'm going. I'm really going to miss Hikes, A LOT.... But I'm trying to keep in mind that the Lord needs me somewhere else right now. Plus, I'm training in August. There are 11 hermanas leaving the mission and 9 coming in August 5th, so I'll be a trainer then. I need to learn my new area pretty quickly. .... Keep me in your prayers!!!

Hermana Porter

P.S. Send mail to 1325 Eastern Parkway, Louisville, KY 40204 until I get my new address.  

Of Allergies, Bikes and Cubans

Hola todos!! :)

This last week was amazing! We saw so many miracles! First off, we were challenged to start  the Book of Mormon over from the beginning as a mission last week, so we've been doing that.... and it's AMAZING!! I just want to read it all day! I have a hard time sticking to the schedule they gave us because I just want to read it all the time! I've never read the Book of Mormon and applied it to missionary work so much. It's eye-opening! I know what it means to apply the scriptures now! Ahhh I have just developed a love for this book all over again. :) It's amazing! Everyone should read it!

With that, we've invited an investigator and two of our less-actives to do the challenge with us! It's been great so far. They were all so excited about it. We stop by the less-actives' houses during the week to read with them and see what they've learned. We're convinced that if everyone reads the Book of Mormon, especially members who haven't read it completely, they will gain a testimony of its truthfulness. It's a promise in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon. Any person who reads, meditates and prays about the Book of Mormon will come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph was a prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth. Those are all pretty important questions that we all need answers to right? You can find them by reading the Book of Mormon! We're so pumped about this! I don't know why I never thought of it before! Well, I did, I just didn't realize how key it is to conversion. That's why we're here!

This week we started teaching this great family of 6. So far we've only been able to teach the mom since her husband is always working and her kids are never home, but she has a bap date now and is so excited to learn more! The kids will be there in our next lesson. :) We're teaching a total of 3 great families right now. :) Also, Jose is getting baptized in less than two weeks now!! WOO! And our investigator, Dario, has almost read the entire Book of Mormon -- in just 3 weeks! He is a sweet old man! We are so blessed here in Hikes. I LOVE THIS PLACE. I never want to leave!! I feel like the Lord is opening the windows of heaven right now and raining Hispanics on us. It's a Spanish-speaking missionary's dream. haha.

I have a miracle story to share! Ok, once upon a time there was a Steak 'n' Shake right down the street from the Hikes Hermanas' apartment. Then one night there was a hungry hermana named Hermana Porter, and as she and her companion were driving home for dinner one night she saw Steak 'n' Shake gleaming in the horizon. She convinced her companion to go there, so they went in to eat....and guess.what. The waiter was this super cute CUBAN girl!! She was 24, SUPER sweet, had a little bit of an accent. The hermanas asked where she was from, she said Cuba, and they went all Spanish on her! And guess what! The waitress asked what Church we were from (I'm done talking in third person haha) and we told her, and she said, "Oh cool! When I lived in Vegas I used to take the lessons from the missionaries and go to that Church!" WHAAAAAT! She lived in VEGAS?! I told her I knew Vegas pretty well, and she said she lived on South Maryland Parkway -- right by the mission home! -- and she got all excited! We were able to get her information and asked her if she'd be willing to take the discussions again, and she accepted! What a miracle! Unfortunately she's not in her areas, BUT she's in my trainer's area here in Louisville! :D Moral of the story: listen to your stomach because sometimes it's really the Spirit telling you to do something. It was such a miracle that she was our waitress at Steak 'n' Shake of all places! And how fortunate that we speak Cuban!

We also ran into Nadaj again this week as we were riding bikes. We saw her across the street and called her over to see how she was doing. She told us what had happened after Safe Place came and got her, and she said she hasn't been drinking since then! But she has smoked. -.- We talked to her for a bit about making good choices, etc. and told her to say hi to us if she ever sees us. I was just so happy to see the normal Nadaj. :) She's a sweet girl. Definitely looked/acted her age this time! Just hope she turns her life around... I don't think we were meant to run into her by accident.

Also, can I just say how much I love my companion?! She is GREAT!! I've learned so much about her this last week! We get along great as it is, but now I know her even more! She's awesome! I know a lot about her family too haha. :) Sometimes we talk wayyy too much and have to stop ourselves, but I just love how much more success we have as we get to know each other and get on the same page. Dream team for sure!!

Overall I feel so blessed to be out here, especially in this area. This is like the promised land of the Spanish world here in Kentucky. So many hispanics everywhere! I've learned so much these last 5 weeks (5 weeks already?! President and Sister Woodbury go home next week! :( Time flies...). I've learned a ton about myself, about listening, about using the Book of Mormon, about teaching, about caring.... You name it! I love love love my life right now. I don't ever want to leave! The mission is the best thing I've ever chosen to do, aside from going to BYU. (Go Cougs!!) My companion talk about it almost every night, what a blessing the mission has been. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times more: I know how to be a member of the Church now that I'm a missionary. My eyes have been opened! I love this Church! I love this Gospel! I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!!

And that is my life yall :) I love hearing from everyone! I hope this week goes well for yall, especially for Alecia & Jayden!! Happy wedding day!!! :D 

The Church is true and the Book is blue!

Hermana Porter