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

[No Subject]

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

[No Subject]

First off, I like birthdays on the mission! I got a card from my friend Dean in Germany and then a package from my family! Best package ever!!!! :) THANKS!!!!!!!!!!! I feel loved :) To celebrate today, we went and did laundry (boy do I feel like an adult), ate cupcakes with the Fedors, and now we're emailing. The Capeners are making me Cafe Rio tonight! And then we have a few teaching appointments. Fun day! 

So this week! What happened... LOTS!! First, we had a blitz with the hermana training leaders. Hermana Arancibia went home, so now it's Hermana Binks and Hermana Graham. I LOVE HERMANA GRAHAM!!! She is AWESOME! I am SO glad we had the exchange that we had together! She and I are going to be BFFs after the mish (hiking, photo shoots, etc). She is the BEST example and so great at missionary work. She answered a lot of the questions and concerns I've been having lately without me even asking. She is so in tune with the spirit and a go-getter. She knows how to do missionary work! I just LOVED working with her! I want to be someone like that. We talked to tons of people that day and had a great time. 

In the spirit of what I learned that day, I determined that we needed to be contacting more. I haven't put an emphasis on contacting at all during my mission, but Hermana Graham told me something that got me pumped about it. The promise is that if we talk to 20 people a day (among other things) our baptisms will double. We need that here in Owensboro right now! This last week we almost got 80 contacts. We're still working on getting 20 a day obviously, but that's the most I've gotten so far on my mission. We're on our way up! Exact obedience yall! 

Then we had interviews on Thursday with President Brough. He's amazing! I walked into the room with him, and he explained how our entire life is an upward climb, and although we may have steep drops now and then, we always end up higher on the climb than when we started. Then he said, looking right at me, "Hermana Porter, you will not be perfect in this life." We went on to talk about perfection and how we have this entire life to become better. He knew exactly what I needed...

The Gospel is true!!

OH! And guess what WE got to watch this week!! MEET THE MORMONS!! Just sayin, you all need to go see it when it comes out. We got to see it earlier since we as missionaries will not be allowed to go to the theatre when it's released (IF it's released in our area). It's AMAZING. I started off laughing at the beginning and bawling at the end end.

P.S. You missionary moms may want to wait to see it. Or at least take your tissues for the end because the last person in the movie is a mom sending her son on a mission. You'll cry :) 

Women's Conference was great! And I'm excited for General Conference too! We've been challenging everyone in the branch to create a list of questions you may have before Conference, and then as you listen to Conference, you will find answers to a lot of the questions you have. It works! I challenge you all to do it! Will you commit to making a list of questions/concerns you may have for General Conference? GREAT! :) I promise you will receive answers/inspiration!

That's my busy week! Our investigators are doing well. We're finding a lot of new people. We just need to get them progressing....what's hard about this area is that we are in an English branch, so as soon as we invite an investigator to church and they find out it's English, they don't want to go. I translate in Church, and I tell them that, but we've had a hard time getting people there lately. We're working hard! 

Lots of work to do everywhere!!!! Let's hasten the work!!! 

OH! AND! I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish today! I love that book. Truest book there is. Those prophets and people of God did exactly what I want to do: proclaim the truth to everyone I meet! Let's all do it! 

LOVE YALL!

Hermana Porter 

[No Subject]

Another week here in Owensboro, Kentucky! 

Lots happened this week...... for one, I locked the car keys in our trunk one night before a dinner appointment. We had to call a bunch of different members to figure out what to do. We eventually got our branch president to call his AAA, and they came and saved us. Funny enough, our dinner appt. was with him and his wife. haha. I'm such a ditz. First the tow truck/mud incident, and now this. 

One day this week we got our 20 contacts! (Meaning, we talked to 20 random people on the street.) That's the general daily standard for the entire mission, but it's rare that we ever get all 20, but we did on Wednesday, and it turned out to be our best day of the week! We got a lot done that day. We've been going to town finding new investigators and talking to people. Lots of potentials!

The Lord has definitely blessed us for our effort this week. We've been struggling lately because all of our main investigators have been floundering and falling off the face of the earth. But the Lord blessed us last night with a pretty golden investigator. We knocked on the door of a less active, but a different guy answered, and we ended up teaching him all of Lesson 1 (The Restoration) and setting a baptism date for November 8th! It was great! I'm looking forward to teaching him and seeing him progress! He was the most solid investigator I've seen yet here in Owensboro. :) I'm hoping he turns into another Josue (from my first area!).... ok, not exactly like Josue, but you know what I mean! He was solid! :) 

We also received the BEST compliment this last week! So, the Saturday before last, we dropped in to visit Karen, our less active who quit smoking (Day 22!!!) with the 15 Step Program, and she ended up having 4-5 seizures while we were there. Her two sons showed up, and we stayed with her for a while even after they showed up and all was well. We just wanted to make sure she was ok. Anyway, a few days later we went by to see her again and she said, "You really impressed my son Kurt. He told me, 'Mom, those two sister missionaries really love you. They stayed with you even after Jimmy and I showed up. They really believe in what they're doing. And they're just as beautiful inside as they are outside!'" I just LOVED hearing that! It made me realize that we're doing what we can as imperfect human beings to be examples of Christ. I didn't think much of it as we sat there with her that Saturday, but apparently it made a big impression on her son. 

Then, as we were about to leave after that visit, I said something along the lines of, "Well, Heavenly Father loves them (meaning, her sons) too." And she told me, "Yeah, but I don't think they really believed it until they met you two." :D 

There are lots of miracles happening daily in the mission field all over the world. I can't believe I've been given this privilege of being a missionary at this time in the history of the world. I have a front row seat to this marvelous work the Lord is performing! My mind is expanding daily. As I read the scriptures and learn from others, I'm always given a confirmation of the truth of it all by the Holy Ghost. I know as we continue to read our scriptures, learn, and pray about the things we are learning, the Spirit will always be there to tell us what is right and what is wrong. 

I can't believe I am a missionary! I can believe it, but at the same time I can't believe the Lord would grant me such a sacred privilege. The Plan of Salvation makes more sense with every passing day as I work and study. Heavenly Father really knows what He's doing! He has a plan for each and every one of us. This morning I was reading in Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage, and I read an interesting thought: Heavenly Father knows the disposition and personality of each and every one of His children because of careful observation through infinite time in the premortal life. He knows us. He has a plan for each and every single one of us. He knows what we need, what we will most likely do in a given situation because of our weaknesses or strengths, what we want.... He knows everything! And He has a plan. Learn about it. Grow closer to Heavenly Father. Learn of Him and His Son, Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study. 

I could just write forever! I love the Gospel! I love this work! It really is a "marvelous work and a wonder." I stand in awe at how amazing it all is. I know it's all true! 

Love, Hermana Porter

Holla!

Buenos dias todos!!!!

So it looks like I'm here in Owensboro for at least another 6 weeks! The only thing changing here is that Elder Holt is leaving -- sad! I enjoy Owensboro. Fun stuff! 

It's been a pretty normal week for us here. Karen is on Day 15 of no smoking! :) She's doing great! We also found a new girl, Anayeli, who we're really excited about. Jenny's bap date got moved closer, so hopefully that all goes well! But the saddest thing of my life happened this week... Martin dropped us. Or rather, we had to drop him. We had the most amazing lesson with him Thursday night. We read 2 Nefi 33 and basically gave him his last chance, and he ultimately gave it all up. He said, "It's like you're trying to throw water on a dead tree, trying to revive it." I cried most of the way home that night. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. :( I hope he gets it someday. I can't do justice to what all happened that night.... Sad :( 

Brother Fedor, our Branch Mission Leader, told us a bunch of mission stories last night, and he taught us how to teach Lesson 1 (The Restoration) using a timeline of information. WOW. I can't wait to show you all when I get home cause it blows your mind. I just gotta tell ya -- the Church is true! 

Funny story of the week: I'm going to title this one "Only in Kentucky..."

We were visiting a family that's been going less-active lately, and we were just talking to their 15 year old daughter about her baptism a couple years ago, and as we were talking I was kind of looking around her house at all the pictures and books and whatnot, and lo and behold, what do I see sitting there on the ground? A DEAD SQUIRREL. I did a double take and said, "Uhhh, is that a dead squirrel?" And she just looked at it, shrugged like it was nothing out of the ordinary and said, "Yeah, sometimes the cats will bring those or dead birds in the house" and then just resumed talking like normal. I was freaking out!!! A dead SQUIRREL! Ughhhh. Too funny. 

This transfer I set up a contacting challenge between us 3 companionships here in Owensboro. Our contacting has sucked this last month, so we're going to step it up and have a competition. WOO! 

Overall this last week was just having to learn a lot more patience, tolerance, diligence, hard work .... all the Christlike attributes outlines in Ch. 6 of PMG. :) I'm learning slowly but surely. I sure hope Heavenly Father continues to have patience with me. I sure need it. 

I hope all is well at home still! Keep me updated on all yalls lives! LOVE YOU!

Hermana Porter

[No Subject]

First off, I am SO excited for David & Melissa!!!! Yay for a new baby!!!! :D I also heard this morning that Kate Middleton and Prince William are having another baby too!! WOO!!!!

This last week was a LOT better than the one before. I started Thursday off by receiving a phone call from the mission president. He just said he wanted to make sure I was ok and offered some comfort/help. He told me of a time on his mission in England that he felt the same exact way I felt. I really needed to hear what he told me. I'm so grateful for mission presidents! Especially for President Brough. Mission presidents are great men.

The biggest miracle that happened this last week was that Karen, a less active lady we have been working with for months, QUIT SMOKING!!! We did the 15 Step Stop Smoking program with her on Wednesday and she hasn't smoked since! (She actually hasn't smoked since the Sunday before, so it's been over a week now!) She's staying strong and telling all her friends about it! We even hung up little signs all over her apartment and on her door, and people actually stop in and ask her what they're all about. They want us to teach a seminar at the activities center there in the retirement home. haha. We're going back on Tuesday (tomorrow) to teach one of her friends now! :D AND! Turns out that friend is another less active lady we didn't know about! Karen is amazing. She tells me to tell my family every week "Thank you" for letting me be here. She is a sweet heart. I'm glad we can help her get one step closer to making it back to Heavenly Father without any addictions. :) I love this work!

As for the work of teaching and finding new investigators, we found a lot of great people this last week, both for us and for the elders. We've had some great people put in our path. The only problem is, we find these people, teach them the Restauracion and then never can find them again. It's kind of a bummer! But we're still working hard and talking to everyone. I feel a lot better now this week. Although I'm still working on overcoming some problems, it's getting better. I love the mission. I wonder sometimes why Heavenly Father blesses me so much when I obviously am not the most perfect child. He teaches me how to be a better trainer.

Unfortunately, we lost all of our main investigators except for Jenny. Erasmo came to Owensboro this weekend and totally ditched out on church and now won't answer his phone. We're giving him a break for a while. We're also dropping Martin this week, and Gerardo is moving to a different state to work today. UGH! Sometimes it's so frustrating working with Hispanics who are only here to work, but I have to remember that we need to at least plant the seed whenever we get the opportunity. We're always finding new people.

I have been so blessed to know and meet the people here in Owensboro. I love the Capener family. They really take care of us! Sister Capener is the best example -- so loving and giving! And Brother Capener gives us free adjustments. He fixed my legs this week. (My black walking shoes weren't as wonderful as they advertised to be >:( grrr.) And I also love Karen, Sister Trego, Paula, the Inmans, the Wilsons.... I love them all! This area is full of wonderful people that I couldn't imagine living life without. :)

This week has been full of tender mercies. Lots of them that I can't even begin to list them. I feel everyone's prayers, and I thank you a million times over. Prayer is powerful. God is so aware of each and every one of us and our circumstances. Although we may doubt it or forget it sometimes, He is always there. And as is repeated in the Book of Mormon many times, His arm of mercy is always extended towards us if we will only repent and come to Him. More often than not, we keep ourselves from Him, not the other way around. Be repentant, humble and willing to do as He asks, and He will guide you for good.

I love you all!!!! Have a great semana! :)

Hermana Porter