First Baptism-----So Happy Happy Happy!

 

Family,

 

First of all I just want to start off by saying that I love ya'll so much. I am so thankful to have such a supportive family back home who are thinking about me. Second thing, I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!!!!:) :) :) :) oh my goodness it was such a wonderful day. I cant even begin to tell you how happy I am! It is one of the neatest experiences to see someone you had been teaching become a member of the church! The service went so awesome! I like....bawled that morning before we went! Everything went so well. Heidi Starr and Cory Carrol gave a talk. went really well. She was comfirmed yesterday and ah.....just so cool to see someone we had been teaching become a part of the true church:) and to think we only met her three weeks ago!! I guess if you know its true---- its true! :)

 

I got Sister Asay's package. It had candy in it! haha and a cute little picture that Paige drew of a book of mormon and two little sister missionaries  :) and I got yours! I love the shoes! :) I feel awesome running in the morning ;) I want to see that video of Kodi sooo bad! its probabaly too funny. How is everything else going? How do you like working at the new school? How is dad going? Kylee? So weird that she is going to be a Senior!! It is all boing by so fast! The babies are getting so big too! :) Stephine told me that avie was like come dus come dus! and then spanked him coming up the stairs! hahaha thats just too funny :)

 

We have District meeting every week! It's pretty fun to get with all the other missionaries :) there is actually a girl who just got here who is training that I went to High School with! She is serving in our old ward!  she was like "why does everyone know who you are already down in the ward I am at?" hahaha:)

 

Our apartment finally got sprayed and we finally got beds!! ah.... I have never slept so good in my life! I hope ya'll are doing good! MISS YOU LOTS! Love hearing from everyone. The gospel is such a blessing. I cant imagine my life without it. I hope to have the chance to bring many unto christ.

 

THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!

-Sister Porter
PS. dont mind how ugly my feet are but look at how funny this tan line is!

PSS. FUNNY STORY! so ....Kimberly took me and Sister Earl to Cheesecake Factory! (psh.....our investigator took us there!) and right as we were about to leave our waiter comes up to us and was like "the guy at the bar was wondering if he could buy you a smoothie!" hahahahah WHAT? apparently he was a return missionary so he knew who we were! :)

PSSS. Kimberly put me andSsister Earl picture in a picture frame and wrote "MY missionaries" that makes me so happy :)

Love Bishop Pepper

Holy moly you guys have been up to a lot of fun stuff lately!! So busy but so fun. You all saw Elder Holland in the temple???!!! I love Elder Holland!!! :) :)  That its so awesome! such a cool experience that you'll remember forever :) I heard ya'll went four wheeling on the 4th!! SO JEALOUS! from what dad told me it sounded like you guys had a good time. HAHAHA I told my roommate about that the other day actually. I said "when I get my package with my shoes I bet you a million dollars their will be candy in it!" haha thank you mommy :)

 

Is bay showing a little bump? :) I get letters from Dustin and Steph every week!! :) I love her.  She keeps me up to date on their lives over in Springville. She told me they are rocking bikes! That's so awesome! I'm happy to hear everyone is doing good though. I've seen so many people that have said "OH say hello to your parents for me!" I forget all who they are.  Lets see we had dinner at the Donavan's! hahaha .....don't worry we had regular food this time,,,,,,no snails.  Like EVERYONE knows Seth and Dustin. Joe Penock is actually the ward mission leader so that's funny.

 

I LOVE BISHOP PEPPER! :) he is such an awesome man! He has helped me and Sister Earl out so much how couldn't I do his dishes? haha  It was the least I could do for him and his sweet wife. Yes the bug people still haven't come and sprayed our house yet :( we have been sleeping on those darn air mattresses for two weeks! YUCK. But we should be getting our new beds today and the bug people should be coming today as well.

 

The work has been good. We have a baptism this week! its on Saturday (July 13th) and I've never been more excited!!!! :) and Bishop "approves" of her so that's good:) She totally a GOLDEN investigator. She comes to all the activities NEVER misses church and she already bought a quad online!! :) It makes me feel good to think that I was able to help her draw closer to her Savior and help her gain a testimony of the church. She is already in Alma of the Book of Mormon! The craziest thing is that she was a referral from Adrian Titera. It goes to show that missionary work is most affective when the ward members help out. Its such a blessing and rewarding experience to join in the work!

 

We met our new mission president last week! President Ames and his wife are SO AWESOME!! I'm excited for what counsel they have to offer:) He spoke to us about some stuff that was just so powerful!! He was in a meeting a couple weeks before with a couple of the general authorities and one of them proclaimed "The missionary work at THIS TIME and age is just as important and Joseph Smith's vision and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon!!! When he told me that I got chills! That's so crazy!! But its true with how many missionaries are now going out this could changes everything!! This work will grow so big! :) I'm so excited to help bring the Lords children into this church!

 

I love ya'll!! :) Have a great week! xoxoxoxoxox -Sister Porter.

 

The Porter House

The Holts

BED BUGS........WHAT?

Hola! Somos las missionarias de la iglesia de jesu christo de los santos de los ultimos dias!! :)

 

Hello we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints! :)

 

We meet A LOT of Spanish people! I wish my Spanish was better than it is so I can kind of communicate. You would think that all those years of those painful classes from high school would have kicked in by now! Anyway, how are ya'll? Anything new???? :) IM SO JEALOUS THAT THE ASHTONS ARE THERE AND IM NOT!! :( But I bet you all are having so much fun:) Its so amazing the wonderful work we can do by taking names to the temple!! It brings me great joy to know my sweet family is doing such great work for our loved ones! :) that story made me cry! haha my companion always watches me cry when I do emails! How long are the cousins staying? How's Kylee? TELL her I finally got her letter!! It made me cry! I just miss her so much! But tell her I have a letter that I'm writing her right now:) Did ya'll get my package?

 

This past week has just been so wonderful!! Me and Sister Earl have truly witnessed the blessing of fasting and sincere prayer! The day we fasted we saw so many wonderful and amazing things happen! We were really stressed about a lot of things but its amazing what the Lord will help you with when you show him that you care and that your willing to give up something to receive something even greater! :)

 

1st story: okay.....Cory and Leslie probably already broke the horrible news to ya'll but ...... Me and sister Earl had BED BUGSSSSs!!!!! :( :( Transfers were last week so new missionaries were coming in and the Spanish sisters were getting an extra missionary who was waiting for her visa so they needed an extra mattress! And sister Earl had been sleeping on two so we told them that they could have it.  So when we were taking it off the bed we noticed bed bugs!!! I almost threw up it was so gross!!!!! So we had to throw away like everything! are beds, bed boards, couch, chairs and bags.  People are coming today to spray our house but we had to sleep on air mattress all week! haha it was like a little sleepover;) SO thankful for Cory and Leslie because they provided us with the air mattresses!

 

2nd Story: We went to Venus on Saturday!!!!!!!!  This was sooo crazy!! I was freaking out it was so weird to see the house!! So basically the people who live in grandma and grandpas house are coo coo kacho! They put up a fence around the house and put a speed limit sign on the street!! ...what? Way weird. But the house just looks so sad :( No one takes care of it. We knocked and tried to get this guy to come to church. haha didn't really work....But I saw Destine as well!! so WEIRD@!!! she's so old! AND Damen (her older brother) Lives in Arlington now and we met with him to catch up and WE ARE TEACHING HIM!!!!!! holy moly! There really is a reason I came back!!

 

3rd STORY!!! so there is this girl whose name is Kimberly!! and she is sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute! :) Adrian Titera called us up one day and was like hey! I know this girl who wants to be taught! So we met with her and she knows like everything about the church I swear she's already a member at the end of our first lesson she said "So when can I be baptized?" haha:) Next Saturday!! (July 13th) I'm so excited! WE finally have a baptism and its going to be so amazing :) The gospel is going to bring so much happiness into her life :)

 

I love you all!! and miss you like crazy! thank you for all the prayers they have been so much help:) Have an amazing forth of JULY!! :) Are ya'll doing anything fun?

 

THE GOSPEL IS TRUE! love you:)

xoxoxo -Sister Porter

 

ps. Can you send me more pictures? :) or email? I just want to see everyone and all the fun things ya'lll are doing!:)

pss. I still need the last four digits of my social so I can reactivate my card .... :)

 

 

 

HELLO! HOLA! HOWDY! how are ya'll? :) Im sooo super jealous that you guys get to see the ashtons!! I hope they are doing good! I got a letter from kodi and it made me happy:) Did ya'll get my package? Tell kylee I'm SOSOO proud of her :) she really should be a missionary. it is such a great experience and such a blessing. It feels so good to teach people the gospel! :) OH i would love print outs of the plan of salvation :) we draw out little things for our investigators :) haha.

 

COOL STORY # 1: You will not believe who I saw!!!!! SARAH FOLTEN!! :):):) I kept having this feeling that I needed to go see her.  But all I knew was that she lived somewhere behind TOM THUMB! But finally I just listened to my heart and I turned to Sister Earl and I said "we NEED to go find my friend today."  She laughed and said SURE!! :) We drove over behind the store and she said do you know where to go?  haha um...NO? she said well pick a street! I pointed to one which we drove down and I pointed to a house that looked kind of familiar! We knocked on the door and it was her father! He was like "what can I do for ya'll? We explained that we were missionaries and that we had an important message to share about the restored gospel. I said that they didnt have time and as he was about to shut the door I said "Do you remember me?" He looked at my name tag and screamed "SAMANTHA PORTER!!!???" GIRL YOU GET IN THIS HOUSE!! He grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug.  Sarah ran from around the corner and was like NO WAY!! and hugged me as well. I began to cry in happiness. I knew the lord guided me to their home.  There was no way I remembered how to get there. We talked for a while! they told me to tell you hello:) they were so kind and sarah said that she was sooo sad when i moved because I was here only good friend! We are taking her to lunch this week and hopefully be able to share with her this amazing message of the church!! :)

 

COOL STORY # 2: So yesterday me and sister Earl spoke in church! It was on being a Follower of Christ:) It actually went really well! AND we had five investigators at church!!!! HAHA Soshe was so cute :) while we were listening to sister earl speak she leaned over to me and was like "she has a straightway shot to the celestial kingdom!" :) hahaha She WANTS TO GET MARRIED IN THE TEMPLE SO BAD :) i love it! she wants her family to be sealed forever! and she is getting baptized on June 6th!! wooo hooo:)

 

I have officially been out for a transfer!! :) This week is the start of a new transfer (transfer is six weeks) and people will sometimes get transferred to new areas but because I am still in training ill be here for a bit longer.  I get to drive this transfer though! haha woo!

 

I have to go now but I love you all!! xoxoxo

-Sister Porter

Ps. That broadcast was so amazing!! The members of the ward really can make this missionary work grow!! :)

 

Father's Day

DEAR FATHER!

Oh how I love you! HAPPY FATHERS DAY! I just wanted to tell you thank you for everything you have ever done for me! you are the best daddy a girl could have asked for.  I know I would not be out here serving the lord if it wasnt for the great example! You are always putting the lord first in your life and I truly treasure and admire that about you.  You are such a great person.  You have an amazing and unshakable testimony that you share to others around you.  You are a selfless man who looks out for those you care for. And that a lot of people! You are strong in the church and are such an amazing bishop! I am proud to call you my father! Thank you thank you thank you for all that you have done for me! I love you very much and couldnt describe in words how thankful I am for your amazing love and care for me and our family. The way you love mom gives me hope that one day my husband can have that love for me.  You are such a great supporter for our family and have always put us before anything. I hope you know how much I look up to you. I love you. and miss you. Cant wait for you to pull me into your arms in 17 months!

-Love your little rag muffin.

On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 6:10 AM, Matt Porter <matnay@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Sister Porter,

LONG DAYS

FAMILY!

 

Missing all of you lots! I'm so glad to hear that everything is going good! sounds like you guys are pretty busy.  Oh haha and Will (Elder Ballard) emailed me! he was like "is this my cousin?" haha pretty funny. But I emailed him back to update him about texas!

 

So it is getting DANG hot here!! today its actually down pouring! We had to run to the laudry room and get our clothes that ended up being soaking wet anyways from running back haha. But you probably remember the thunder and rain storms here! I love them:)

But ya it was 110 degrees the other day!!! And that was the worst day becuase we didnt have any appointments so we tracked outside for eight hours!! phew! THAT was  a looong day.

 

This week has actually been really long :/ me and sister earl have been just so frustrated with investigators canceling appointments or stuff like that. I pray everyday that I will have patience and the love for my investigators the way the Lord loves me.  So remember how I told you guys about those two african girls and how they were going to be baptized well... they dropped their date :( BUT one of them re set her date for June 29th! So I need you all to pray really hard for NEKIA ILES and that she will have the desire to be baptized and that she will stay committed. Also we had an amazing lesson on thrusday and we invited this mexican girl named Yahira Diaz to be baptized on July sixth! she said yes so we will be working really hard to prepare her for that day and make sure she stays committed!

 

Last monday me and sister Earl went and played tennis with cory carrol and his wife! that was super fun! Exept I really....am not good at it. But we play volleyball too with all the other missionaries and I just LOVE that!

 

Well i have to go Ill talk to you soon! xoxox

-Sister Porter

 

Dinner at the Buers

 

 

June 10, 2013

FAMILY!!

Another week has gone by and a million of amazing things have happened! First and fore most though AYRIKA GOT HER MISSION CALL!!! AHHHHH :) I am soooo very proud of her.  It breaks my heart though that I was not able to be there for her when she opened it :( She's gonna be an amazing missionary! Next is KODI and ....KYLEE......?:) haha Kylee would be such an great missionary its crazy!

 

I have heard from all my roommates now so that's super nice! Its so good to hear that Ivan is doing good:) Are you sad to be leaving that job? or does it feel nice? Its weird to think you wont be working there anymore.  Those were pizza nights! :) haha

 

Stephanie has been writing me letters! She is just too cute I love her! I miss you all tons! I pray for you all every night and hoping your not missing me too much ;)

 

So this past week was so good!!! We extended a baptism date to three people and they all accepted so that's awesome!! We teach this one girl named SoShe and ...she is soooo cute!! she is twenty, is married and has a little boy named Bryan! When we told her about how families can be together and can be bound together through the temple she was like AWWw!! :) she totally wants that! AND she has been reading the Book of Mormon and when we visited her on Thursdays the first thing she said was "this book is great!....But Laman and Lemuel and A holes!" hahaha...Me and sister Earl couldn't stop laughing. 

 

I found a crock pot in our apartment!!! ...WHAT! :) So I made Cafe Rio chicken for sister Earl! she told me that she wanted to be my companion forever! haha So I ACTUALLY drink water now! its kind of weird I drink like ten cups a day!! I cant even tell I go to the bathroom anymore....compared to when I used to.....

 

So we have been going over and reading the Book of Mormon with this kid named Demond (he's black) and he is just TOO funny!! he says the funniest things We literally cant stop laughing sometimes. Apparently his Facebook status said this the other day "Went to a pool party, met some cool kids, this is tots the lifestyle for me....IM GONNA BE MORMON!" hahaha :) So ....i guess he's already converted? :)

 

So we have to get rides from members to our p day activities (IDK why?) but ya and so Logan took us last Monday. While he was driving us though he pulls out his phone and Seth was calling him!!!!!!! Oh my goodness it killed me not to just snatch the phone from him and talk to Seth!! so crazy!

 

Cory and Leslie invited us over for dinner last night! I just love their family :) And we taught their kids about prophets and how its important that we always follow them!

 

I'm so thankful that I was raised in the Gospel. I seriously don't know what I would do with out it.  It breaks my heart to see so many people not accept our message because I know how blessed they could be from it.  Treasure this amazing gospel EVERYDAY! It brings me such joy and happiness:) The saviors grace is sufficient. I'm so thankful to be out here in Texas.  I have learned so many new things its crazy. I know this church is true and that the fullness of the gospel has been restored!!

 

LOVE you all so much! xoxoxox -Sister Porter

ps. mother I loved your lesson! it was really good :) me and sister Earl were actually going to study baptism that day during companion study and so when i read that during personal study I was so thankful :) you are such a blessing in my life. 

 

Those roses are oranges we pealed!