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

The Fourth Missionary

I love my mission with all of my heart. I love serving in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission! I love my area. I love my companion. I love this time God has given me to learn, grow, and most of all, to change. A year ago, I was just finding out I'd be spending the next year and a half here. It's so unreal to think that I haven't been here forever!

My companion gave me a talk to read this last week and it changed my whole mission, my whole life. It's called "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge. I believe he's an Area Seventy now. It's a long talk about four different kinds of missionaries. The first is disobedient and goes home early, either by his own choice or because he's sent home. The second is disobedient but stays his entire mission, and it benefits him nothing. The third and fourth missionaries are very similar. But the only difference is that the third does everything the fourth one does, except he doesn't give his heart or his mind to the Lord during his service. The fourth gives up everything--heart, might, mind and soul. The third missionary can work with all his soul and might, but without his head or heart in the work, it benefits him nothing.

I can't get over this talk and how much it has changed things for me. Being here in Hikes has been a refreshing new start for me. I'm excited to set goals, to change, to become better at things I've been lacking. This talk has really helped me see how I can do that. The only intelligent way to serve a mission (or to live life) is to give it everything: not only your might and soul, but your heart and mind. The Lord gives you everything: breath of life, food, shelter, families, talents, challenges, gifts, your body (might) and your soul. What can you give back that he hasn't already given you? The answer: your heart and mind. He can't take away your agency or ability to choose. You can go through the mission (or life in general) working with all your might and soul, but what does it benefit you if you don't put your mind and heart into it? Why do it at all? It's not intelligent. There's no point. You may do a lot of good, but for what?

I could go on and on, but I'm telling you, this talk has changed my whole mission! My whole life! I want to be the fourth missionary! That's my theme now! I'm going to be the fourth missionary, and when I go home, I'm still going to be the "fourth missionary" in everything I do: school, work, family, marriage, everything. (I tried to find the article online, but it isn't online anywhere. Must be just a mission-exclusive article.)

Alright, with that in mind, we had a really good week. I love my companion so much! She's the best! We get along great, we laugh a lot, we work well together, we trust each other, good communication. I could say a million great things about her! And we are learning so much from each other. I love it!

This week we saw some pretty great things happen and some not-so-great things as well. We got to go to the temple on Wednesday, which was amazing. I love the temple so much. Then we had an amazing lesson Friday night with our investigator Jose, who's getting baptized in a few weeks. We brought a member with us, and they hit it off right away. It was so fun to watch them just jabber on and on! We left after the lesson, and an hour later we saw them still talking in the parking lot! The member called us later SO excited that he was getting baptized. He was saying how he'd never met a friend like Jose before and that he was so excited to see him get baptized. :') Oh these people! Unfortunately we didn't have anybody in Church even though three said they would definitely be there. But there's always this week! :)

Also, a Puerto Rican lady told me I had an Italian accent last night.... That's not really the accent I was going for, but it'll do!

I have a million more things I could share, but that'll do for this week. :) I feel like I have changed so much from being out here in the mission. It's something my companion and I talk about all the time: change. Change is a good thing! I hope I come home a completely different person from the one you knew before. Be ready!

I love you all! Read your scriptures!!!

Hermana Porter

P.S. Did you all see the "Because of Him" video they released around Easter? If not, watch it! It's AMAZING! Gives me chills every time! https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

Life in Louisville

First off, I forgot to tell you that I wasn't going to be writing til today because they changed our pday. As a zone, we got to go to the temple!! It was a refreshing experience. I was SO happy to be back in the temple. I miss going every week! We just went and enjoyed it and cherished the time there because we don't know when/if we'll be able to go back soon before we go home. President & Sister Woodbury came too! Sister Woodbury told us some neat stuff about temples because she and President used to be ordinance workers in the SLC temple. It was really unique, interesting things. :)

Second off, I LOVE LOUISVILLE! I love being in the city :) I know I've said it a million times, but I really do. I just thrive on city life. Yeah it's a little sketchy at times, but I never feel unsafe. Plus we're meeting TONS of new people from all over the world. There's this neighborhood we work in here, and there are people from Iraq, Bosnia, Africa, Cuba, Mexico, plus a bunch of Greeks, Arabics, etc. It's amazing! Kind of throws me off though because I'll start talking to them in Spanish or English and they won't speak either language.... Fun stuff!!

My area has its own unique challenges, but I feel like we're learning how to work with them. We do find a lot of new people, but it's just a matter of finding the ones that are going to investigate and get baptized and really take it seriously. Definitely getting a lot of practice teaching. :)

We had some really great experiences this last week. We've really tried to focus on teaching according to needs rather than just teaching a lesson. Sometimes we get in the routine of teaching a lesson as if the person is a wall, but we've really tried to focus on applying it to their lives. This week we taught a couple named Pablo & Maridelsy, and after we finished teaching all about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he just held it to his chest, closed his eyes for a second, then looked at us and said, "Thank you." It was so precious! And they've been reading it non-stop everyday! Go Cubans! :) It was a really special experience. I really hope they keep going. We're going to see them again this weekend.

Our super solid investigator, Jose, is getting baptized in a few weeks! He's SUCH a good guy! He's from Bolivia, and his parents are going to get baptized in a while too. He's just a super prepared man. We're so happy for him!

One hard thing about Cubans is that they drink a loooot of orange juice...which I can't have. I've had at least 5 tall glasses of OJ in the last two weeks. It's killing me! Oh well. I carry my water bottle with me everywhere now (cause it's stinkin humid and hooooot!), so I just say I already have something to drink.

So yep, such is life! Just working, teaching, praying, finding, talking to a million different people, riding bikes.... We did exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders last week, and I was on a bike all day.... what an adventure. We haven't started riding bikes here yet because my comp hasn't had a bike yet, but we're going to. It's just getting really hot and humid. I hope my bike lasts. It's not the best bike....but I hope it'll do for now. Pray it'll be fine! I also have to go buy new shirts for summer because most of my wardrobe is winter stuff. Woof. This'll be fun!

But anywho! Not a whole lot of time left today because we got back from the temple later than planned. Just know I'm loving my area, I'm loving the people, the work is moving along, and you are all in my prayers! :) Adios from Kentucky!!!

Hermana Porter

Welcome to LOUISVILLE!

I'M IN LOUISVILLE YALL!!!!!!!

That's right! I got transferred to the Hikes area and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!! I love it love it love it! And my companion is AWESOME. We get along so well and are laughing all the time. I just love it here! I can't stop talking about how much I love it!

Ok, so I work with a LOT of Cubans. It's a huge change from what I was working with in Corydon. Everyone in Corydon is from Mexico except for William. He was the only Cuban there, and I had a tough time understanding him. But here the majority of the people we work with are Cubans. I feel like I've taken a step back in Spanish again, trying to understand them. Different accent, for sure. Slowly but surely :) I LOVE listening to them though. It's so fun!!!

My area has one of the three largest refugee programs in the country, so we have TONS of different people here: lots of Cubans, Iraqis, Somalians, Indians, etc. It's amazing how many different kinds of people are here. The thing with Cubans is, they don't look Hispanic--or at least what we see when we hear hispanic. They can look Mexican, Black or White. They're a little bit of everything, but you can definitely tell they're Cuban when they start talking. It's so fun trying to guess.

We are teaching some amazing people. First we have Jose and his parents, Hidler and Josefa. They're so solid. Getting baptized in a couple weeks. Hermana Carnahan found them like 3 weeks ago. Then we have Miguelina and her 4 kids. Two of them are old enough to be baptized. They kind of happened upon her, but they are just THE SWEETEST people ever. They have the chairs set up everytime we go over. The 11 year old son is reading in the Book of Mormon by himself, and they all pray together every night. They are so special. They come running to us everytime they see us :) The hard thing is, the Dad doesn't like religion and doesn't like them to leave the house. We're doing a whole lot of praying that a miracle will happen and he'll soften his heart. They are so prepared!

The people here are great. We're always finding Hispanics every day all over the place. We've met some really kind, sweet people who are so ready to hear the Gospel. It's revitalizing! I love it! I just feel so excited about this area and about the mission. I can't wait to get out and find more people and share the Gospel with them!!! What a privilege it is to be on a mission!

Also, I'm in Hermana Lawrence's zone :) I got to see her at Zone Meeting this week!!!

Also, I'm in another branch here. La Rama Quinta. :) (5th branch) There are only two branches in the mission, and I've served in both of them now. hahaha. I'm so lucky. They asked me to give a talk in Church my first Sunday here (yesterday). It went well I think! I'm excited to meet more members and help them do missionary work. That's something our branch really needs: more member missionary work! We have to strengthen the members that we already have so they're strong enough to carry on and do missionary work themselves. Also, we have 8 missionaries in this branch (4 companionships). Wow! Different, but I love it :)

So yep!! Life is good! We're working hard with a lot of great people! I can't wait to tell you more about my experiences here because I know it's going to be a great time. So many miracles happen every day in the mission field. I feel so privileged to be working with these people and to be speaking Spanish. Hermana Carnahan and I were talking about it last night, and we just can't imagine NOT knowing Spanish and be around all these people.... I don't even know how I didn't recognize it all before the mission! There's a whole other world right here in our country. Knowing their language opens a TON of doors -- literally. :)

I love the mission :) :) :) I love being in the city! I love Louisville! Although we run into some sketchy people, I love that we can meet SO MANY people all over the place and talk to them. They're all children of God and need to know that. What a blessing!

Ok, to end this I want to share a funny experience. We were out with a recent convert, a 15 year old Cuban girl named Maylyn, and Hermana Carnahan told me to go contact some guy across the street. I started talking to him in Spanish and he said, "I don't speak Spanish." He told us, "My name is Chad. I'm from Hawaii." But he looked Chinese... and Maylyn goes, "Are you Chinese? You look like you're from China." hahahahaha. She barely speaks English, and that is what she got out. hahaha. It was the most embarrassing contact ever. The poor guy...

Life is good :) Keep it real Louisville!

Hermana Porter

Adios Corydon :(

Welp. I'm shipping out of Corydon. :( It's really bittersweet! I've been crying on and off the past couple days just thinking about it. On one hand, I'm excited to go, but on the other hand, I'm going to miss these people to death. Ugh. It's so hard! I just love these people too much! A year ago, I didn't even have my mission call yet. I actually think I put my papers in a year ago today. But I never imagined that I would be here, in little old Corydon, Indiana, and that these people would be such a huge part of my life.

William got baptized this last Saturday! He's SO happy! He was a happy camper this weekend. The baptism went really well. Lots of people came, and he was just happy as ever. :) Had a little lunch afterward, then it started raining and we got soaked. Overall a really fun day. Except I got the transfer call right after the baptism. I'm glad I didn't get it before. Then Sunday he got confirmed! The confirmation was so precious. Heavenly Father has a lot in store for our little Cuban! :) He and Josue are doing well. I'm excited to hear all about them during and after the mission.

We've been doing a whole lot of saying goodbye to members this weekend. Tonight is jam packed. We have dinner with Josue, I have to go say goodbye to the Van Uiterts, and then after, Presidente Chavez and his family are going to have another dinner and activity for us. BUSY!!! I still have to pack!!! I'm almost done.

I've learned a TON here in Corydon. I'm glad I started my mission here. These people have really set great examples for me as to what it means to be a member missionary. They are fantastic. Corydon had its little difficulties, but I'm just so happy I got to be here to see two baptisms after a long drought. I hope the new hermana really loves it as much as I did. Corydon is a special place, that's for sure. It'll be my first stop when I come back to visit. :)

I actually don't have a ton of time today since we have to go do a million more things, but I will write a nice email next week all about my new area. :) I'm so grateful for all yalls support!! LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Porter

A Cuban is in the Water!

HI HI HI!!!

Guess what's happening this weekend?! It involves a Cuban named William, a font full of water and a recent convert named Josue who has the Priesthood.

That's right! A BAPTISM!!!! :D

Lots of miracles have happened this last week -- actually, this last transfer! William gave up drinking, and now he moved out of his ex-girlfriend's house into a members' apartment! We have been praying all week that he would find a place, and yesterday we ran into him a few hours after Church packing stuff into his car and moving out. We were so happy! His baptism is a go!!! Josue is going to baptize him.

Speaking of Josue! Josue is doing GREAT! He has been blessing the sacrament since he received the Priesthood 3 Sundays ago, and now he'll be receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood in Stake Conference this month! It's because he's going to be receiving a calling in a couple weeks! I'm so proud and happy! He's taking all this very seriously and is doing a great job of staying active! I'm just so happy to see him staying strong. Seeing your converts endure and stay active really makes missionary work all worth it.

Alright as for this week, I have lots of stories to share with you. It involves getting locked out, playing volleyball until I got bruises, and going to a car dealership.

Ok. So. My companion and I have decided that we need to go outside to walk every morning for exercise because we get too warm and cozy in our apartment and don't work out. So Tuesday morning we left the apartment, walked for 20 minutes, then returned.... but the door was locked, and my companion left the key in the house. I had the phone, but nobody in the office was answering, so we ran up to the office to see if it was open, but it wasn't. Then lo and behold, guess who drives by?

The same tow truck guy that rescued us from the mud.

You can imagine the look of embarrassment on my face as I told him we locked ourselves out of the apartment. He called me bad luck then offered to help. So he tried picking our lock, but after 15 minutes, nothing was happening. Then we remembered we had a spare in the car. He opened the car, we got the key, and all was well. This guy is a heaven-sent tow truck man! He made sure we had his card in case of any other emergencies. Then we saw him again at O'Charley's the other night when we went to dinner. So embarrassing.

There are just some good people in this world!

We had to go to a car dealership this week because there was some big recall on 2013 Chevy Cruzes. We were there for an hour and a half getting our axle checked. They also changed our oil, which was bad. I checked it a month ago and we were just a 1/2 quart low, but when the dealership changed it they put in 5 quarts!!! I was on the phone with our mission car specialist man, Elder Halverson, and he said I need to keep an eye on it because we shouldn't be losing that much oil in such a short amount of time. Yikes.

Saturday night we had a branch activity again. They play volleyball as a branch every two weeks during the summer and invite tons of people from the factory. We had a ton of people there, and this time we brought pants so we could play! I have so many bruises on my arms, and one gnarly one on my thumb. I didn't win a single game. :( We got to present a nice spiritual thought, which was great because we had tons of nonmembers there (8 or 9 I think). Then the kids wanted to play soccer, so we played for a bit. Then we ate food (that was rough. We didn't have any utensils, so we ate chicken and rice with our hands...) and then the kids wanted us to push them on the merry-go-round. I AM SO SORE. I have never been more sore in my LIFE. Usually in the morning, as soon as the alarm goes off, I roll right out of bed on the floor, praying. But this morning I couldn't move my legs. Sooooo painful. I guess this means I need to exercise more....

One last thing. Church yesterday was really special. Our Branch President's son bore his testimony. He was going wayward for a while, and then something happened to him about 5 weeks ago that landed him in the hospital. And since then he's been coming to Church every week, and finally he bore his testimony yesterday. I was a special day in Church for their family! It was just neat to see the change in him and that he's turning his life around. Our Branch President cried. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!!!

Transfers are next week. I think I might be getting transferred. You can all send mail to the mission home (1325 Eastern Pkwy, Louisville, KY 40204) until I get my new address.

One thing I learned this week is that people can change. I've seen it in Josue. I'm seeing it in William. I saw it yesterday in our branch president's son. I hear about the changes all of our members have made over the years, some of them more drastic than others, but all still amazing. Never give up on people! They can change. I think it was President Monson who quoted someone who said, "A man told me, 'Don't you know that leopards can't change their spots?' And the man replied, 'You should know that I don't work with leopards. I work with men. And men change every day.'" It's so true! We are all changing every day, trying to be better and to reach our potential. Help your brothers and sisters out in any way you can. And most importantly, don't give up on anyone. They can change. Don't judge them. You never know what they're capable of doing.

Love you!

Hermana Porter