Hello! Wow, It sounds like it was the perfect weekend! Each of you were in my thoughts all day on Friday. I thought about how Tim and Carlee were feeling, how my parents were feeling as you witnessed your sweet daughter kneel across the alter and join herself to that wonderful boy. What a blessing. I'm so excited to see pictures! I hope they get at least a few days to enjoy each other before they have to go back to work.
Well, I'm sitting here at the mission office, there is only one computer to email on so my sweet companion is waiting patiently as I write to my family. Everything is going well! A set of sisters in my district had their apartment broken into. In fact the men were in there when they opened the door. It was a scary experience and so they have been staying with us the last couple of days. Poor things. They ha vent gone back to get their stuff yet. Elder Walker (the missionary in charge of apts) is finding them another complex to stay in and all should be well in no time. Until then we are loving their company and enjoying eachothers personalities. Ha its been fun. We had the opportunity to go on exchanges with them. Hermana Maxwell and I were scheduled to go to the polga (flea market) and preach about the gospel. She woke up that morning and DID NOT want to go. So she took it upon herself to volunteer Hermana Maylett to be my companion for the day. With the zone leaders permission we headed down to the gulf bank polga and had a wonderful time. Lots of rejection yes, but it was a party and I laughed until I cried with the Hispanics as they made fun of my Spanish. Haha. I love these people! They truly are amazing. Each and every one of them. We taught 36 other lessons and invited 88 people to learn. Busy busy day but we were walking on cloud nine as we left. It was wonderful! That day we received a phone call from a women named Hna Martinez. She had just barely made the long, dangerous trip across the border and was praying that she could somehow get in contact with the missionaries. As she was sitting at the table in her cousins home a corner of a picture got her eye. It was buried under a stack of papers going to the trash but she grabbed it and recognized it as a picture from the chapel she attended in Mexico. She turned it over and right on the back in bold letters read LAS MISIONERAS with our number written below. She called and we went right over. It was a sweet, tender experience as she related the story to us and her testimony of the individual love our heavenly father has for each of his children. We invited her to the general relief society broadcast and were thrilled to see her when she showed up with the only items she brought with her- the clothes on her back. The sisters from our ward surrounded her after the meeting had ended and welcomed her with open arms. It brought tears to my eyes and was so thankful for the inspired message that was shared from our beloved prophet on charity just minutes before. I'm so excited to hear more from the lords servants this weekend as they share the words that have been received through Divine revelation for the benefit of the whole world. I love each of you and hope to hear from you soon!
Love, Hermana Porter
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
PICTURES
Serving in Katy, TX with Hermana Hastings
I think Linz will have to tell us what this is when she gets home...
District Meeting
Welcome to TX and the HUMIDITY! Poor Lindsey's hair!
This DARLING girl {Liliana}
Lindsey has a great video of this cutie, but I cannot get it to load :(
Lindsey and Hermana Hastings sure loved Katy, but Lindsey has now been moved to the ghetto of Houston. Her new companion, Hermana Maxwell is also from St. George and a PVHS graduate. We can't wait to see pictures again!
Lindsey: Letter 19
My sweet mother. I wish so much that I had time to read this email and respond back in the time given but I will print this off at the mission office later today and hopefully get a chance to sit down and write you. I did try and skim through it and you're last paragraph about your experience in the temple caught my eye. As I read it tears of gratitude and love for my heavenly father and his awareness of each of his children flowed freely. I too had that same experience in my last visit to the house of the lord. That week in particular had been a rough one and I was fighting with feelings of weather or not I was worthy to be out here, worthy to be his servant at this time. I had prayed and prayed to my father in heaven with all my energy during the week, pleading for the peace and comfort that I had been lacking. The assurance that I was worthy of his spirit. Of his guidance and love. As I sat in the chapel waiting for the session to start I too felt that overwhelming sense of peace and comfort. I felt enveloped in the warm assurance that I was indeed worthy to be here. A feeling of love came over me beyond what the human tongue can express. How thankful I am for the power of prayer. For the power of Love. That was the power that brought about Jesus Christ' perfect atonement. That is why prayers are answered. It is why we are forgiven. It is why we are given commandments. It is why we make sacred covenants with the lord. He loves us beyond anything we are able to comprehend and he wants us to succeed. to find the greatest peace and happiness that only can be obtained through our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Love conquers all. Thank you my sweet mother for you pure testimony and your faith. You're going straight to the celestial kingdom and I pray and hope that I can live in a way that may permit my presence with you there. Please continue praying for me. I love you with all of my heart.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Lindsey: Letter 18
My sweet mother, rest assured that I do indeed feel your love and your sweet prayers. Thank you for your thoughts of love and concern. Sometimes I wonder if its the faithful prayers of my family that keep me going. I cant thank you enough.
Well here I am in my new area! This whole transfer is one big tender mercy. There are too many specific and certain blessing to explain it in full but just know that your prayers are being answered and I've never been happier. I've probably seen about two white people in the week that I've been here and I don't know that they were speaking English.. I am indeed in the ghetto. Our apartment is surround by stray cats and when I say surrounded I don't exaggerate. Every morning we get up to go run we are welcomed by about 30 cats in the hallway feeding on the food that our sweet Christlike neighbor provides for them freely...... Ha. Its interesting. Good thing I'm not allergic or this transfer would be an interesting one. There are stray chickens, dogs, and cats EVERYWHERE. it is not uncommon to see them run over and laying on the side of the road. That is sad and I wish people would be more careful! I explained this on the recorder that I sent to Lance but my first day here, my companion and I went to go do service en la casa de la Hna Nornia. Wow. I think that's when I came to realize what a blessing it was to be here among such humble, submissive, people. La Hna Noria has ten children. They live in a home that should not be occupied. I'm afraid its going to come down on us every time I walk in. Its a one bedroom shack. No floor, The kitchen, parents bedroom, "laundry room" and family room are combined into one. They live on corn tortillas which she showed us how to make. There were a couple cockroaches that made their way into the dough when our backs were turned, that was interesting, I hope no one got sick.... It was a fun time and I'm excited to make then on my own! minus the roaches... hopefully. We ended up doing laundry for her. It was an incredible experience. They just barely sold their Van so now they are making two trips everywhere they go. Every subject we would bring up she would always close it with her sweet, sincere testimony of the love that her father in heaven has for her and her family. It was certainly a humbling experience and I couldn't be more thrilled for this opportunity to serve his children here in Littleyork. It is a bit easier to share the gospel here when people are so in need of hope and comfort.
My companions name is Tabitha Maxwell. She is from St. George and yes, graduated from Pine View High School. Smallest world that we live in! We didnt know each other that well but I'm certain the lord put us together for very specific reasons. Niether of us know spanish very well and so our lessons arent always very clear. We pray that the spirit can make up for what we lack, and he does. What a mess we would be making of the church if it were up to us to carry out this work on our own. Oh dear, I dont know that it would still be standing! I've said some really silly things, and am certain there have been a few phrases of false doctrine come out of my mouth. Yikes. !Pero, estoy aprendiendo! Poco a poco. It will come:) Hermana Maxwell was in the marching band and played the trumpet. She is very obedient and I love her dearly for it. We were sitting, having comp study one day and I was watching the way she held her pencil when she wrote. I suddenly had this flash back of my first grade teach Mrs. Kromroye always yelling at the little girl for the way she held her pencil. She would always threaten her, telling her that she would hook her hand up to a machine that would make her write like a normal person if she didn't fix it on her own. She would always tell her that she was going to get cancer if she continued using all five of her fingers to hold the pencil when writing. I remember as a kid being so hurt by her mean words to this poor little girl! I said Hermana, who did you have as a first grade teacher? She said in a grumbly voice, Mrs KrUmroye! Haha I laughed so hard! Sure enough, we had the same first grade teacher. She switched elementary schools after that. Oh sweet girl. I love her dearly and hope that she can be patient with me as I try and figure out how to communicate the things that are so necessary in this work.
Well I love you all and am so excited to hear all about Carlee's wedding, I will try and get some words scribbled down for this boy that I know nothing about. What a lucky guy he is. Tim, do you understand how lucky you are?! Wow. How the lord loves each of his children. I love you all and hope that everything is going well. Continue praying for me that I will be able to understand what people are saying out here! Its beautiful but still gibberish to me. Love you Love you Bye!
Well here I am in my new area! This whole transfer is one big tender mercy. There are too many specific and certain blessing to explain it in full but just know that your prayers are being answered and I've never been happier. I've probably seen about two white people in the week that I've been here and I don't know that they were speaking English.. I am indeed in the ghetto. Our apartment is surround by stray cats and when I say surrounded I don't exaggerate. Every morning we get up to go run we are welcomed by about 30 cats in the hallway feeding on the food that our sweet Christlike neighbor provides for them freely...... Ha. Its interesting. Good thing I'm not allergic or this transfer would be an interesting one. There are stray chickens, dogs, and cats EVERYWHERE. it is not uncommon to see them run over and laying on the side of the road. That is sad and I wish people would be more careful! I explained this on the recorder that I sent to Lance but my first day here, my companion and I went to go do service en la casa de la Hna Nornia. Wow. I think that's when I came to realize what a blessing it was to be here among such humble, submissive, people. La Hna Noria has ten children. They live in a home that should not be occupied. I'm afraid its going to come down on us every time I walk in. Its a one bedroom shack. No floor, The kitchen, parents bedroom, "laundry room" and family room are combined into one. They live on corn tortillas which she showed us how to make. There were a couple cockroaches that made their way into the dough when our backs were turned, that was interesting, I hope no one got sick.... It was a fun time and I'm excited to make then on my own! minus the roaches... hopefully. We ended up doing laundry for her. It was an incredible experience. They just barely sold their Van so now they are making two trips everywhere they go. Every subject we would bring up she would always close it with her sweet, sincere testimony of the love that her father in heaven has for her and her family. It was certainly a humbling experience and I couldn't be more thrilled for this opportunity to serve his children here in Littleyork. It is a bit easier to share the gospel here when people are so in need of hope and comfort.
My companions name is Tabitha Maxwell. She is from St. George and yes, graduated from Pine View High School. Smallest world that we live in! We didnt know each other that well but I'm certain the lord put us together for very specific reasons. Niether of us know spanish very well and so our lessons arent always very clear. We pray that the spirit can make up for what we lack, and he does. What a mess we would be making of the church if it were up to us to carry out this work on our own. Oh dear, I dont know that it would still be standing! I've said some really silly things, and am certain there have been a few phrases of false doctrine come out of my mouth. Yikes. !Pero, estoy aprendiendo! Poco a poco. It will come:) Hermana Maxwell was in the marching band and played the trumpet. She is very obedient and I love her dearly for it. We were sitting, having comp study one day and I was watching the way she held her pencil when she wrote. I suddenly had this flash back of my first grade teach Mrs. Kromroye always yelling at the little girl for the way she held her pencil. She would always threaten her, telling her that she would hook her hand up to a machine that would make her write like a normal person if she didn't fix it on her own. She would always tell her that she was going to get cancer if she continued using all five of her fingers to hold the pencil when writing. I remember as a kid being so hurt by her mean words to this poor little girl! I said Hermana, who did you have as a first grade teacher? She said in a grumbly voice, Mrs KrUmroye! Haha I laughed so hard! Sure enough, we had the same first grade teacher. She switched elementary schools after that. Oh sweet girl. I love her dearly and hope that she can be patient with me as I try and figure out how to communicate the things that are so necessary in this work.
Well I love you all and am so excited to hear all about Carlee's wedding, I will try and get some words scribbled down for this boy that I know nothing about. What a lucky guy he is. Tim, do you understand how lucky you are?! Wow. How the lord loves each of his children. I love you all and hope that everything is going well. Continue praying for me that I will be able to understand what people are saying out here! Its beautiful but still gibberish to me. Love you Love you Bye!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Lindsey: Letter 17
I'm so sorry I couldn't email yesterday! Don't we love holidays!.... ? ha. Well my goodness, in just a half hour I will be boarding the transfer bus headed to an area that will be quite different from here..... We'll just leave it at that for now;) I wrote home yesterday explaining a little more about what I've heard of the ward and city but I'll be able to experience it all first hand in just a few short hours. This should be interesting.... I won't lie, I've been incredibly spoiled here. I feel like the ward members have done 50% of the work. Katy is the most beautiful little city and there is no question I will be visiting frequently after my mission. I'm excited to take on whatever lessons the lord has waiting for me! Hopefully one of them is Spanish:) That may help a bit in the work..... My new address is on the envelope that you should be receiving in a few days. Well my goodness, what can I tell you. I have learned incredible things in my first three months out in the mission. I think the main one that penetrates my soul each time we go out to tract is how involved the lord is in the work, in his work. How he loves each and every one of his children more than you or I can comprehend. Just the other day we were looking for an old investigator that had been taught a few years back. We were trying to find the street and felt as though we were driving around in circles. We decided to pull over and study the map a bit more effectively. When we felt like we knew where we were and where we were headed my companion started pulling out. Just at the moment I turned my head and there to my left was a house with the numbers 917 on it. I gasped and she slammed on the breaks and pulled back in. Instead of Jose, the man we were originally looking for, Mike answered the door, a white, fully American 35 year old. He clearly didn't speak Spanish so we were a bit confused at first. We started talking to him and found out that he was some type of scriptural historian. He'd been trying to fill in missing pieces of the bible for some time and turned to many other sources of scripture that he felt had helped a bit in the process. He told us how he had read a little bit of the book of Mormon in 1995 but didn't give it too much thought since then. I asked him how his relationship with his heavenly father was. He held up his hand and formed a sign to indicate that they were tight. He said he'd been praying for a long time to figure out the truth and the original way of things. I immediately pulled an English book of Mormon out of my bag and told him that he would find all the answers he was looking for in that book. I told him that the lord was answering his prayer and that all the mysteries he was looking for would be unfolded if he would read and pray about the book of Mormon. He was excited and we left feeling incredible. We got in the car and drove around the corner, there, to the right of us was the street and house #917 that we had originally been looking for. It hit me right then that I had just been apart of yet another miracle. I was overwhelmed and couldn't contain the tears. It was a tender mercy to witness such an incredible act of love from our heavenly father in answering one of his sons prayers. Hopefully leading to deeper desires to join the true fold of god leading to eternal life and eternal families. We went to knock on the door of Jose and he had moved. The people that had moved in had zero interest in any religion.
I'm so thankful to be apart of this work. I'm excited to discover my new area and embrace every change, challenge, and lesson that the lord would have me learn. I'm excited to bring the gospel to those that are being prepared. To those that are so desperately in need of the atonement of Jesus Christ. To be freed from bondage and guilt. Please continue praying for me as I do you. Your prayers are heard and indeed answered. I love each of you with all of my heart and I hope that we can each remain steadfast and immovable in this incredible gospel of Jesus Christ. Our one sure way to eternal happiness.
I'm so thankful to be apart of this work. I'm excited to discover my new area and embrace every change, challenge, and lesson that the lord would have me learn. I'm excited to bring the gospel to those that are being prepared. To those that are so desperately in need of the atonement of Jesus Christ. To be freed from bondage and guilt. Please continue praying for me as I do you. Your prayers are heard and indeed answered. I love each of you with all of my heart and I hope that we can each remain steadfast and immovable in this incredible gospel of Jesus Christ. Our one sure way to eternal happiness.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Lance: Letter 7
Aug. 29, 2010
Dear Familia!
Thank you so much for the prayers, I can't believe you have time to pray for us when you are so busy with the wedding, kids, Ryan in school, and church stuff, you are angels. Hey that would be really good if you could get all the kids that are on missions or going on missions addresses, so I can write them - tu sabes; but only if you have time.
Thanks for forwarding some of my letters to my friends. A couple of nights ago, I dreamed that I had finished my mission and then I came home. It was so great to see all of you and my friends but I missed the mission terribly and knew that I had to get back out into the field of labor. When I got here I felt so good and felt like I never wanted to leave the mission. In other words, I love the mission and want to do this for as long as I can!
My bike's a joke though, it keeps breaking! But thats ok, I still love the mission, yes I do! Well, I love you all and we are trying hard to get people to accept the message but many won't. We have tons of success, even though they don't get baptized, ha!
Can't wait to hear from Linz. Tell Ryan he's a stud, and just live life and don't get down. If he stays happy, nice and is full of the spirit, everyone will want to be his friend.
Love you all, and I'll hear from you soon.
Elder Lance Porter
Dear Familia!
Thank you so much for the prayers, I can't believe you have time to pray for us when you are so busy with the wedding, kids, Ryan in school, and church stuff, you are angels. Hey that would be really good if you could get all the kids that are on missions or going on missions addresses, so I can write them - tu sabes; but only if you have time.
Thanks for forwarding some of my letters to my friends. A couple of nights ago, I dreamed that I had finished my mission and then I came home. It was so great to see all of you and my friends but I missed the mission terribly and knew that I had to get back out into the field of labor. When I got here I felt so good and felt like I never wanted to leave the mission. In other words, I love the mission and want to do this for as long as I can!
My bike's a joke though, it keeps breaking! But thats ok, I still love the mission, yes I do! Well, I love you all and we are trying hard to get people to accept the message but many won't. We have tons of success, even though they don't get baptized, ha!
Can't wait to hear from Linz. Tell Ryan he's a stud, and just live life and don't get down. If he stays happy, nice and is full of the spirit, everyone will want to be his friend.
Love you all, and I'll hear from you soon.
Elder Lance Porter
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