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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

Patience & Perfection

Training has to be the most trying part of my mission. It's trying me in so many ways: in my patience, in my charity, in my ability to follow the Spirit, you name it. In some ways I love it, but I've found myself getting extremely overwhelmed this last week. My greenie is great in the fact that she is willing to work, obedient, and wants to help. But then you throw in me -- you know, Hermana Porter who wants to be in charge of everything and be the best and have it done her way -- and it's a recipe for disaster. I've found myself down on my knees dozens of times this week praying for patience, charity, and willingness to let go. It's hard! It's hard being patient and getting down to the level of a new missionary when all you want to do is just make them figure it out and do what you've always done. But I'm learning every day that it doesn't work like that.

They were right when they said the mission is training for real life. This has to be my biggest obstacle in the mission, having patience that is. My greenie has so many personality traits that conflict with mine, but it's funny because they're all traits that I have in myself that I can't stand. So now I'm having to get over all of them, both in myself and in her. I feel like I've developed so many new traits and habits and learn so many lessons on the mission, but the one it keeps coming back to is having charity and patience. I've read tons of articles, talks, scriptures, stuff in Preach My Gospel, etc. about patience, humility, charity (Christlike Attributes, Ch. 6), and yet it all comes down to me. It's my choice whether or not I want to develop them.

And that where I'm failing! I can't figure out how to do it! I know it starts with me, but I'm also learning that I can't do it without the Savior and His Atonement. We were in a role play yesterday at Zone Conference where we were getting "interviewed" by our "Stake Presidents" at the end of our missions. As I was being interviewed, I was asked questions that I had never even thought of being asked at the end:

1. How have you changed?

2. What is your relationship with Heavenly Father like?

3. How have you used the Atonement?

As I answered those questions, it hit me: I'm trying to better. I'm terrible at it, I feel like, but that is what the Atonement is for. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know we are not perfect, and they know we will never be perfect in this life. But we succeed when we try. When we try to change and put forth an effort to be better, then the Lord can take over and do the rest. We have to keep trying OUR hardest, but in the end it all comes down to the Lord. He is the only one who can truly change us 100%. I still have so much changing and improving to go both on the mission and in life, but I'm getting there.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk "Forget Me Not" has been my focus this last week. The first "Forget Me Not" point is "Forget Not To Be Patient With Yourself." He said, "I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way: God is fully aware that youand I are not perfect.

Let me add: God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.

And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. Thisdrives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because theyseem to be less than what someone else does.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

It’s wonderful that you have strengths.

And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses.

God wants to help us to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths,¹‍ but He knows that this is a long-term goal. He wants us tobecome perfect,²‍ and if we stay on the path of discipleship, one day we will. It’s OK that you’re not quite there yet. Keep working on it,but stop punishing yourself.

Dear sisters, many of you are endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others. Please remember also to becompassionate and patient with yourself.

In the meantime, be thankful for all the small successes in your home, your family relationships, your education and livelihood, yourChurch participation and personal improvement. Like the forget-me-nots, these successes may seem tiny to you and they may gounnoticed by others, but God notices them and they are not small to Him. If you consider success to be only the most perfect rose ordazzling orchid, you may miss some of life’s sweetest experiences."

That is what I've been trying to learn this week and what I will be continuing to learn throughout the rest of the mission and life. God knows we are not perfect nor will we ever be in this life. But He promises to make us perfect someday as we put forth our best effort every day from now on. Let the Atonement carry you. He is there.

Hermana Porter

P.S. We also had Craig A. Cardon come to tour the mission last week. It was great! If you want to see pictures, here is the mission blog:

http://gklmbrough.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html

Ooooowensboro

It's been kind of a rough week for everyone it sounds like! I know it was here. This whole training business is intense. My trainer always said that training makes you more aware of all your weaknesses because you're trying to teach your greenie to be the best. But you realize you need to step up on a few things. I realized patience is a virtue I will be trying to develop my entire life. Patience not only with myself but with others' imperfections or habits. 

I'm also having to learn that I can't do it all on my own. This last week was spent searching for people, but nobody would answer their doors. Then the appointments we did have either got cancelled or they weren't there. There was more than one night this week that I came home feeling like nothing got accomplished. Not for lack of trying though! We have been knocking, talking to people, setting appointments, teaching lessons.... but nothing's biting the bait! I've come home almost every night this week frustrated with myself, wondering why this didn't go well or why that didn't go through. I'm trying to give my greenie hope and opportunities to teach and learn, but for some reason the adversary has been working hard on the people here. That just means we have to fight harder, right?

Thank you for your prayers though. I'm going to need lots of them in the coming months as we try to turn this area around. Our goal is to get the area's first baptism. We were planning Erasmo's for Sept. 6, but he's been out of town this last week and we won't be able to teach him until Sunday, and he hasn't been accomplishing his goals.... Won't go into detail, but the good news is he still wants to get baptized! It'll just be pushed back a bit. Maybe to my birthday weekend! Pray for Erasmo! 

Aside from all the negative stuff that's been getting us down, we did have some tender mercies and neat experiences happen this week. Let's list them! 

1. Erasmo called US after Church and asked us how church was and apologized that he was out of town, but he said he'd be there next week for sure. Awh! 

2. Karen, a less-active lady who's confined to a nursing home, quit smoking all on her own last week!!! She's been trying for a while, but she finally kicked it! She threw out all her cigarettes and ash trays and stopped! She said she broke down and had one after 5 days, but that it tasted disgusting and now she doesn't have the urge anymore. WOO! That's the power of the Book of Mormon!!! We have been reading it all the way through with her, and she just finished it last week! She says it's changed her life. I LOVE KAREN!

3. The Capeners are seriously the BEST. Sister Capener is just the best example of everything! Kindness, patience, selflessness, service, wonderfulness. I am SO glad they moved here. She helps me out a lot and encourages me when I'm down. And she feeds us ALL the TIME. And her husband is a chiropractor, so he gives us free adjustments whenever! Her kids are wonderful too! Her oldest daughter and I are practically twins. She LOVES horses and plans for how to buy one someday. And she wants to be a vet or a pro horse rider. :) So cute! 

Oh. We did have one experience this week that made me angry. There's this guy, let's call him Poohbear (his name is pronounced Oo-bear, but the elders think it's Poohbear), that we saw a lot of potential in. Well, we called to schedule something with him and he goes, "I have a question for you. What is this 'message' you go around preaching?" I told him, "It's a message about Jesus Christ." Then he proceeded to ask me questions about how we baptize, etc. He was quoting Bible references and saying this and that, and when I agreed with what he was saying, he would go, "Oh.... Well, I have another question for you." Then he went and asked me, "So, after your mission, you said you go back to school right?" I told him yes, and he replied, "Do you wear pants?" I said, "....yes. Why?" And he proceeded to say how wearing pants is against the Bible, that it says that women shouldn't look like men and vice versa. I almost said to him, "Excuse me, I saw your wife wearing pants the other day" but I didn't. I just let him talk and when he finished I said, "Look, do you want us to come by or no?" And he said, "...I'll call you when I have time." GRRR!!! Come to find out, he attends this one Pentecostal Church here that a lot of hispanics attend, and they all say/do the same things. They try throwing Bible references out, and when we agree with what they're saying, they get kind of taken back and try something else. It's ridiculous!! 

Pray for us here in Owensboro por favor! I'll do the same for you all! I hope everyone's weeks get better. Remember to find hope in the Atonement and to let Him change you! Without His help, we can do nothing. We can't become the people we want to become without Him because He is ultimately who we want to become like. Stay strong! LOVE YOU!!!

Hermana Porter

Humidity, Training & GA's

I don't have a whole lot to say this week unfortunately. :( A lot did happen though!

First off, we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, Hermanas Arancibia & Binks. Hermana Binks came with me this transfer. She's great! I learned a lot from her! We contacted a ton of people and met a great woman named Angelica. Come to find out, she has 9 kids!! 7 of which are of baptism age! She invited us over the next day, and we met all her kids. We're going back this coming week to teach them all. How neat is that!! I am SO stoked to be teaching them! Miracles happen on exchanges! Plus Hermana Binks gave me tons of advice on training. She hasn't trained before, but hey, she's a Training LEADER now. haha. I think she knows what she's talking about.

She just gave me advice on helping my greenie become confident. I've noticed that's what she lacks. She has the desire to work, is obedient and does what she needs to, but I sense she doesn't have very much self-confidence. That's something I feel like I've picked up on the mission, and I hope I can do something for her. I need a lot more patience and charity though. Sometimes I think I'm the worst trainer in the world, then other times I let myself think, "Ok, you're doing just fine." 

On Thursday we had a training meeting in Jasper, Indiana. The Assistants and President Brough came and trained us on training. I needed it a lot. I wish they'd had one before I started training!! They just talked a lot about their experiences with training and the miracles that are going to happen on the mission. Basically a nice pump-up sesh. :) 

AND! Guess where we're going tomorrow!! NEW ALBANY, INDIANA (my first zone!) to listen to CRAIG A. CARDON!!! I am SO excited! It's going to be an all day mission conference, and I get to see Hermana Carnahan! Woot woot! :) I just love that girl! She's the best! It's going to be a great day. A member is driving us there. We have to leave at 5:30 am our time to get there (different time zone--BOO). Fun fun! 

This week has been the hottest and most humid week of the summer. It's been craaaazy hot. Not crazy hot, but the humidity makes it worse. My glasses fog up every time I get out of the car. (BTW. Contact lenses???) 

Everything is going well here in Owensboro. We need to get moving on a lot of stuff. This coming week is the final M&MTC class. Pray it goes well! We're going to work on setting a million bap dates this week. I see a lot of potential in a lot of people we're teaching, so I pray everything goes well with everyone and that I don't screw up. Pray for us here in Owensboro Spanish! :) 

I hope everyone is doing well! LOVE YOU!

Hermana Porter

Flying By the Seat of My Pants

This training stuff is intense business! It's a very humbling experience as well. I'm flying by the seat of my pants because I wasn't given any sort of instructions on this whole thing. (Is this what parenthood is like???) So, my "baby" is Hermana Gamett. She is from Mackey, Idaho, and she's 19. She was in the Mexico MTC like I was. :) She's doing pretty well so far! As for me being the trainer, I'm managing haha. It's a big load to take over an area, especially when you're the only one who knows Spanish. Her Spanish is pretty good, but like mine at the beginning, it'll take some work. We're doing well together. I'm just glad she's not disobedient or lazy! She's doing well for a greenie. :) 

This last week has been up and down, left and right, and who knows where. I feel like Heavenly Father is trying to teach me the lesson that I can't do everything all on my own. We went two or three days not being able to find virtually anybody. We've had a few lessons to teach thank goodness, but it's been rough going. Everyone kept dropping appointments, not being there, etc. and I've really felt like I've been failing, which stinks when your in front of your greenie trying to give her hope and inspiration! But I'm having to learn the lesson that it's all Heavenly Father, not me. I can't forget Him in this work because it's His, not mine. Pray for me! 

At transfers meeting last week I got to see all 11 of the hermanas who went home. ALL the hermanas were there. It was a bittersweet reunion! Hermana Lawrence (my trainer), Hermana Gamett and I got our posterity picture together! And I got to tell Hermana Carnahan happy birthday! She told me about what's going on in Hikes, and I almost started crying with joy. She said Jose, our convert (he got baptized a couple days after I left), is on fire about the Gospel and is doing really great!! They brought him to a lesson with Dario, our other investigator, and guess what?! JOSE INVITED HIM TO BE BAPTIZED! Dario's getting baptized in a WEEK!!! I almost cried hearing that. Dario and Jose have special places in my heart! I'm so happy that I can see the fruits of the work I put in during my short time in Hikes. Ah. Makes my heart happy. :) Very very happy!! I feel like Alma and the Sons of Mosiah, being able to see the fruits of their labors. What joy!

That is my life as of right now! Just trying to train my "baby" up in the right ways and to have fun. Please pray for me! We need all the help we can get here. Erasmo is working toward his baptism in September, and I'm praying for miracles to happen in his life these next few weeks. Thank you all for your support and love!!! 

Hermana Porter

And the Results Are In!

I'M TRAINING!!!! WAHOOOO!!!! :D President Brough called me Saturday morning to ask me to train! I am so excited! That means my "baby" is flying into Kentucky from Mexico right now! I will have a little greenie tomorrow! :) It's so exciting! Scary...but exciting! :D :D Wish me luck! 

Now for the bad news..... my camera broke. :( I am so upset about it. I don't know what to do. It fell off a table at district meeting last week, and now it won't work. I took it to Best Buy to get it checked out, but they said since it doesn't have any drop insurance, that it would cost about $35 to ship it out and then another $120+ in labor fees to get it fixed. UGH. I don't know what to do about it. I'm camera-less....which is NOT good for a photographer! Hopefully some good Samaritan will randomly stop me on the street and give me a camera. That would be cool. But in the meantime....no more pictures :(

This last week was pretty good. Aside from getting no sleep all week, things have been ok. I just love all the families in my branch here, especially the Capeners. They are a new, young family that just moved in a month ago, and they are AWESOME. Brother Capener speaks Spanish and he's a chiropractor, and he offered to adjust me for acid reflux. It was so nice! I love adjustments! Then Sister Capener is this wonderful, outgoing, loving, sweet, great lady who is SO willing to feed us all the time and go to lessons with us even though she can't speak Spanish. I just love her to death!! She's an answer to our prayers for sure. :) I want a family like hers. They are all so sweet, never talk bad about anything or anyone, and are so welcoming and warm. Just love them!!

I don't really have much to report for this week. I don't have much time today since it's Hermana Luke's last day. It's hard being with a missionary going home since she has to get everything ready to go. She's far from trunky, but we still talk about how weird it is/how it feels to be going home. Make the most of every minute wherever you are!!

I will have more details next week!! LOVE YOU!

Hermana Porter

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