The Work is Progressing!

This is hard work. But anything is possible with Heavenly Father.(Luke) I'm so jealous that it beginning to look like fall up there! It is still in the 90's down here and looks like mid July! haha Apparently there is not too much of a fall here anyways. So that's a bummer because I love the fall! :) Its gonna be weird not being home for the holidays. BUT what a neat experience to be here on a mission right? :) This past week was absolutely amazing! The work is progressing so much. Me and Sister Tuck have found tons of new investigators and have been teaching a lot of lessons! We met a lady named Melissa on Thursday. We told her that we were missionaries and I asked her if we could share a message with her. She willingly said "sure!" I was shocked and became very excited! No slamming the door in our face or "I'm not interested" but instead a sweet desired "sure!"  We began to share the restoration with her, and when I cited the first vision she began to cry. She had felt the spirit during that powerful experience that Joseph Smith had. She said "God will answer my prayer huh?" YES let us not forget that we are daughters of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us. We are destined to achieve great things and he wants to help us by answering our prayers. 

 

Ricardo came to church again!! :) it was fast and testimony meeting and right as the first counselor was going to get up and end the meeting, Ricardo stood up and made his way up to the front. My heart was beating fast and I prayed that everything would go okay. He shared the most deep and powerful testimony I had ever heard.  As soon as he began to testify of Christ the room became silent and the spirit overtook us. I began to cry I was so happy! He looked over at us and thanked us for bringing the gospel into our lives. then he proclaimed that he was ready to become a member of the church and part of this family! I almost fell off my seat! He will be baptized on October 26!! :) It feels nice to see a happy ending to this story! 

So I will be giving a training tomorrow in our district meeting on "How can I benefit MOST from General Conference?" And I thought I would share with ya'll what I will be sharing. :) The first thing that came to my mind was 

 

1. Pick Questions: Specific Questions=Specific Answers! Why is this so important? "Picking out and seeking for questions that are specific for the needs of us and others will help us search more fully and abundantly for those specific answers." 

 

2. Recognize The Spirit: The Holy Ghost works in perfect harmony with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He reveals and teaches us the "truth of all things" (Moroni 10) 

-All honest seekers of the truth can have this confirmation by the spirit. 2 Nephi 32:3 says "Angles speak by the power of the holy ghost, wherefore they speak the words of Christ" If we invite the spirit while we are listening, it will testify of truth! 

 

3. Excitement: Mosiah 18: 11 "And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy and exclaimed THESE ARE THE DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS!" :) These ARE the desire of our hearts! lets us rejoice and be "excited" for our beloved prophet and other leaders of the church speak to us. 

 

4. Pray for Inspiration: D&C 9: 7-9 Why should he tell us these things if we haven't asked of him first. "STUDY IN YOUR MIND"--then ask him--[your bosom shall burn] and you will feel that it is right. +shows our faith and yearning to know. 

 

5. Awesome Note Taking: On Page 18 of Preach My Gospel is says "As you [listen to conference] pay careful attention to the ideas that come to your mind and the feelings that come to your heart" --Write these ideas and feelings down!! They will come to great advantage to you in the future! (Plus we arent going to remember EVERYTHING) 

 

6. Render Yourself: In the fourth Missionary by: Lawerence E. Corbridge, he explains what he calls "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" --"The fourth missionary gives his will to the Lord. He surrenders all of his desires, dreams, ambitions and his wishes to the Lord. In his heart and in his head, he lets go of what he wants to do. He wants to do the Lords will" ----Let us forget ourselves and open our hearts to the council of our leaders. AND thing "What does my Father In heaven want me to learn????" 

 

7. Evaluate and Apply: !! Let us Restudy our notes and take what we have learned and apply it to our work so that we can be effective servants of the Lord.

I know with all my heart that Thomas S. Monson is Gods True and loving prophet!

I dont think I need anything at the moment!! Still wondering what I should do about my pain in my uppper right back. I put Icey hot on it a lot ..... And take some meds to stop the pain. I LOVE MY FAMILY!! :) 

-Sister Porter