Peach Festival

 July 21, 2014

Family

Me and Sister Heap were just listening to a talk by Jeffery R. Holland in the car ride here to the library. He was talking to the missionaries in Germany in the year 2002. His words were powerful and exciting! One of my favorite stories that he shared was of one taking place in a gospel essentials class during church. The instructor was teaching them about Christ earthly ministry and atonement. He asked one of the girls who was recently baptized about....a year ago, to stand up from her seat. He then asked her "Who do we know that lived on this earth who is was absolutely perfect?" There was a long pause as she stopped to think. The class looked around waiting for her to reply. Then, with tears in her eyes and a soft voice she says "The missionaries who brought me into the Church." 
The response from this young convert really touched my heart. She recognized these missionaries as true servants and representatives of the Lord. As missionaries we are asked to be consecrated. The will of the Father becomes the will of the missionary. If we are wasting and wearing our lives in the quest of bringing his children unto him we will be seen as a true disciple. 

haha there really is no such things as pioneer day here in texas. But here in Weatherford there is this thing called the Peach Festival. It was nuts! tons of people were there selling random things and of course ....peaches! SO....me and Sister Heap got our truky calls!! and in a couple of weeks we will be getting out truky packages with all of our plane information and stuff. :( I cant believe that time has already come. 
I was able to go on my first exchange as a Sister Trainer Leader this past week! :) It was such an amazing experience! Its exciting to see the miracles that can happen when you have faith! I was able to spend 24 hours in Azle with Sister Powell. Right from the get go we were able to sit down to lay out our goals and expectations for the exchange. It made such a difference to work with those in mind. True purpose. Sister Powell is doing AMAZING. She has such a sweet spirit and a desire to make a change in Sister Larsen's life. 

THANK YOU FOR THE TICKLE ME PICK PACKAGE it really was too cute :) I loved it soo much. And yes you got the right shirt :) thank you. 
I guess ill end with a neat experience! :) While Sister Heap and Sister Larsen were making their way back to Weatherford, they saw a young man, about 19, holding a suitcase and map making his way down the road. Sister Heap got a feeling that she should pull over. They talked with him for a bit and found out that he was going to walk all the way back to Fort Worth!! With immediate shock they called the senior couple, the Algers, in the Azle ward to come get him. They picked him up and invited him to have dinner with them that night before they would give him a ride home. AND it just so happened that they had signed up to have us over for dinner that night as well. We were able to share the restoration with him. He listened with awe as we invited him to learn more. YES YES! please I would love to learn more! :) And it just so happened that he lives in my old area so I was able to give him all the information for the missionaries and the Church. The Lords tender mercies are NOT random! This was no coincidence. The Lord provided a way for the safety and the salvation of this young man! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE! :) :)

 

Love sister Porter 

Sorry sister heap is really fast at emailing and I feel bad making her wait so the emails have been kind of short :/ I will send you pictures next week! love ya

Exact Obedience

July 14, 2014

Howdy

Has there been any good movies that have come out lately? Every time you send me new pictures of those babies they just look bigger and bigger! I seriously cant believe that The roach girl got baptized! I didn't realize she was already that old!

I feel like we are going to have a lot of fun conversations about the mission when we get home :) Yee im excited!

Reading my scriptures everyday has been such a blessing! Literally has changed my life. Me and sister Heap were having a conversation in our beds last night, She asked me what I was most thankful for that I have learned on my mission. It was a hard one....I have truly learned so much......but I told her that it was the gospel. I didn't realize how much of the gospel I really didn't understand before my mission. I have felt so much closer to my savior as I have felt and experience his life as I study the scriptures.

SO I LOVE weather ford sooooo much! :) It is amazing. A lot different than down town fort worth that's for sure....and The work is a bit slower BUT the people are amazing. I love our bishop (bishop bix) It really impressed me when he pulled me and sister Heap aside and said "the only thing I expect from my missionaries is Exact Obedience" I love his dedication and excitement about missionary work! Our ward mission leader and his wife picked me up from transfers. they are just the sweetest :) Something cool that we are doing with a couple of the ward members is making cards each month for a group of less actives in the ward and just writing them little notes telling them how we miss them and care about them. Its been really neat.

We have a couple of potential people that we are working with. Part member families are just perfect. The fruit really is so low! Me and sister Heap get a long really well! We both came out together so its fun to see how far we have come. One night we were talking and we found out that we both have the exact birthday!! :) haha December 26 1993! We like....couldn't sleep for the next hour we were so excited haha. The leadership has been good we go on our first exchange with our sisters this week. Ill be going to the other area though because I don't know our area well enough yet. We go out with the Cleburn, Azle, Chapel Creek and fort worth sisters. I'm excited....Ill let you know how they go. Last night President Ames held a fireside for all of our recent converts, less actives, and investigators. Oh it was soooo good. There is true power when you testify in the name of Jesus Christ.

Sorry that this email is so short im feeling really tired today cant really think straight. But I sure do love my family. Grateful for all that you have done for me.

Love samesa

 

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!

Family ---July 7, 2014

I cant believe they saw that man die!! that is crazy! :( Did you and dad do anything on the fourth?? haha. its was kind of a sacred day for me this year. Thinking about how significant this day was in order for the Restoration to happen! something to think about. what color did you paint your room? Has it been pretty hot lately? Its getting bad over here! hitting hundreds now! Hello summer :)

I think you and dad cry when you read my letters because you are getting old ;) The spirit touches us it special ways. It is really weird to think I only have four months. It doesn't feel real. I think I'm at that point in my mission where it feels like I hardly have any time left but at the same time it feels forever away!

This last week me and Sister Nielsen weren't able to get a lot of work done because I had so many meetings!! MLC's is the one that all the leaders attend. Oh I loved it! it was for sure my favorite meeting my whole mission :) It was inspiring to see all of us have deep discussions together. This mission is growing and the work is accelerating with speed! :) Its wonderful. It also was really to fun to see all the missionaries that I have served around all my mission be together in a meeting :) The mission is more fun the longer you have been out because your more experienced and you know more missionaries! Sister Earl is going home next transfer! and sister Edwards! :( I cant believe it. Time doesn't exist on the mission.

SO Thursday night we were getting ready for bed when some sisters called us and informed us that they had no where to sleep that night! They drove all the way up for a training meeting that morning and were going to stay in town because the other sister had MLC's the next day. They were going to stay the night with a senior couple in our ward but found out they wouldn't be coming home that night due to some busy work down in killeen. haha SO the AP's had to drive all the way over to our apartment to give them air mattresses to sleep on for the night. It was like a little sleep over :) pretty crazy night.

I got an invitation to stephys baby shower. Where is she having it? oh I'm so excited for her :)

Sorry this email is so short Sister Nielsen finished really fast and I don't want to keep her waiting! here is my new address. 2115 Holly Oaks Ln. Apt # 266 Weatherford Tx, 76087

Im so excited! :) ill let you know how it goes!!

I love you with all my heart! hope you have a great week.

-Sister porter 

Tranferred to Weatherford!

So your probably wondering why I didn't email you on Monday. I totally forgot to email you last week to let you know. We changed our P-day for today  so that we could go to the temple with the senior couple in our ward.  oh, how I love the temple I always learn something new when I go. Its amazing. The gospel is true!

So I have some exciting news!! President Ames called me on Monday and told me I was getting transferred to Weatherford! I don’t have the address because he called me a week early. But the exciting part is that he asked me to be a Sister Trainer Leader!! Ahh im so excited and honored! So me and my new companion, Sister Heap, will help a couple of sister companionships with training and supervising the work. We go on exchanges with them and help president with other kinds of work. Yahoo! And he invited me to the Missionary leadership council on Friday. This is an intense meeting. Im pretty excited. Sad to be leaving my trainee and River Trails but ready to work my very hardest. I told president that I couldn’t promise him that I would be perfect but that I would do my very best! He laughed and told me that Heavenly Father knew I would make a great leader. So ill be transferred next Wednesday.

 Mommy :) SO, my back side is totally fine I promise. Those meds helped it feel sooo much better! IT still oozes but doesn’t hurt to sit on it anymore. I keep it as clean as I can. I shower and clean it good every day and i bought disinfectant wipes to use.  My back has just been hurting me lately because I think I pulled a muscle of something. haha silly me. AND I think I might be allergic to bananas….. maybe? Ive been making myself these smoothie drink in the morning and they made me SO sick. I think it might have been the bananas? I have no idea. Ill have to start eating yogurt every day, see if that helps me.

I’m really excited for Uncle Wyatt. This will be SO great for him. Heavenly father shows us he loves us in the strangest ways sometimes doesn’t he? His tender mercies are not random.  Sad for Sadie. I cant even imagine. I feel like a lot of the girls going out on missions are coming home early. It’s a lot harder than you think. Im so grateful that I have been able to be strong enough to endure!  I didn’t even know Dustin was getting surgery until dad told me it happened last week! Awwww haha poor dusty. What's their new address? I would like to send him a get better card. Hows the summer been? Are y'all doing anything fun for the fourth this week? A member was going to have us over for dinner on the fourth but then they canceled …..so I guess we are spending it alone haha. That’s okay though. Plus the ward social on Saturday is a pool part so we cant go.

 

Nothing too exciting happened this last week. Just a lot of teaching! :) Ill tell you a funny story. So me and sister Nielsen ran out of toilet paper yesterday and today was our p-day so we had to wait until today to get more. So I had to go to the bathroom in between a teaching appointment so we stopped at a gas station. so while I was in the stall I yelled out to sister Nielsen "You better use the bathroom now because it actually has toilet paper!" and we just started laughing because it totally sounded like something someone in the area would say. haha I couldn't believe I said something like that.

I sure do love my family!! I hope that yall have a wonderful week :)

 

love sister porter

pic 1: temple with the watts

pic 2: Little kids we are teaching :) said they wanted to be missionaries

pic 3: We clean this ladies house every week and she LOVE pillow pets (if you dont know what that is ask kylee) So one week we walked in to share a message with her and she had two of them sitting on her lap and told us she wanted to get some for us! it was so sweet of her. I love her with all my heart 

 

 

Pickle Helped Us Out

Family -----06/22/2014

Oh your letter just made me cry! Its amazing to hear that you followed the prompting of the Lord and invited this dear sister to partake of the blessing of coming to church!! You planted a VERY important seeed :) In time her eyes will be opened :) Gives me some missionary work to do when I get home ;) hehe.

Sounds like from dads email that things are going well! Keeping busy. The summer is going by so fast. It actually was very beautiful day today. It started off with rain but now its all sun shiny :) I don't have a lot of time on the computer today we are running a little behind on schedule.

Nothing too exciting happened this week. Thursday night we were out and about trying to contact some people when a little black boy named pickle started following us around. He would knock peoples doors for us. I don't know what he did differently to knock the doors but people were answering! haha he was like a little angel sent from heavenly father!

This morning I was sitting at my desk reading my scriptures when it begin to pour rain. I knelt down to thank my father in heaven for the beautiful weather. I love the little things he blesses us with its amazing :) I also asked him if he would relive me from the pain I have been having in my back lately. Then, while still in kneeling position, I felt someone whisper "Its going to be okay, I know how you feel." It was very real the peace that overcame me. It was as if I had truly experienced for a split second the re assurance that Christ had during his suffering, knowing that his Father in Heaven was going to be there for him. Tears rolled down my face as I tried to comprehend what he went through. I think I "experienced" the reality of the atonement for a second this morning! How glorious to know that we too can live again because of what he did for us. We can be resurrected and clean from sin so that we can enjoy eternal life with our Father in Heaven.

Love my family. So grateful for yall. Missin you.

Love sister Porter

ps. To answer dads question. Ill probably be transferred in two weeks!

pss. Thank you for the package! I loved the skirts tell grandma thank you :) 

Happy Father's Day!

06/16/2014

Happy Fathers Day!!! :) did you get my card? I was thinking about you all day yesterday. Grateful for you. We went to the Hills for dinner last night and after we shared out message we went around and told everyone things that we are thankful for about our dads. I told them about how that one time when I had made that mistake and had to go talk to the Wilson parents, before we went you had us kneel down and say a prayer. I started bawling and told them how thankful I was that you were so faithful in the gospel. You are such a HUGE example to me! I love you. missin my daddy.

I didn't know that Dustin had surgery! Did he tare it? Aww so sad from him. I haven't got much update on them. Stephy hasn't written me for a while. her sickness doing better? she due in August? or September? oooo so excited for her :)

Looks like you and kylee have a blast at work together :) I love seeing my family being so close. its awesome.

This week was kind of uneventful as well. haha. we had interviews with president. I just love that man. He is amazing. I hope you have the chance to meet him one day! A kid in our ward invited us over to see him open his mission call. I got all nervous for him. haha reminded me of how I felt! he got called to Ogden Utah!! The family just laughed. Hes gonna do great!

Saturday night we went to see one of our less active members. She broke down crying and told us that her and the boys had nothing to eat and that they would have to move into a shelter. Oh my goodness :( i just was crying and crying I cant believe what the people we work with are dealing with. It is sooo heart breaking. we called the RS president to have her help out. But that night me and Sister Nielsen didn't have a dinner appointment so we drove to wal-mart and got some pancakes, eggs and milk. brought it over and made them dinner. They boys were SOO happy and she couldn't stop thanking us. it feels so good to do things like that for other people. Its so hard because I wish there was more that we could do! But we promised her that if she continued to be obedient to the Lord that he would provide away.

 This week me and sister Neilsen had an amazing growing experience with one another. Sister Nielsen has a beautiful heart. She knows that she is a daughter of God and she is ready to do this work. My eyes were opened and my heart was filled! She cried and told me how things are sometimes it is hard but how she knew everything would be okay. She has GREAT faith! And I know that I had put up a wall. I wasn't willing to see the inner of my sweet companion. And now that I have, I will never be able to look at anyone the same! We never know until we are willing to open up and LOVE them. I'm so grateful for that experience. I love her with all my heart.

Shana wasn't able to be baptized this weekend. We sat down and talked with our bishop for a while and thought it would be better to wait a little while longer. All though I know this is best for Shana it was hard to tell her that her baptism would be postponed. Everything will work out for the best though :)

I hope y'all have a wonderful week. keep strong in the gospel. Never forget our loving father who is always by our sides. i love my family!

-Sister porter

Pic 1: crazy elders in my district

Pic 2: this is normal to see on the side of the road...

Pic 3: This is our recent convert. These are thumb gloves that you wear so you don't text while driving haha....it was pretty funny.

The Kimballs

Family----06/09/2014

I went to the doctors twice. First time was when they called you for the card information. The second time was because it was infected again and that’s when she told me I needed to get it removed. So she prescribed me some Bactrim (I think I spelled that wrong) It was really cheap though so ...I don’t know. Copay was about 35 dollars. I can send you all the papers they gave me if you’d like? they shouldn’t be charging you.....

AND thank you for the pills. I started crying when you sent them to me. I just know that you’re so worried about me and that you’re watching over me. Heavenly father has blessed me so much to have such a loving mother. I love you. They have been making it feel weird though.....oozing a lot more and shoots pain down there randomly. Just tickles me that you texted sister Rasband :) That’s awesome missionary work! When others know that you love and care for them they are more willing to open to an invitation to the gospel :)

Looks like the graduation was a blast :) I can’t believe summer is here. Just waiting for the heat to arrive. It might be a cooler summer though because of the bad winter we had. Cross our fingers! 

Wowow Gray is getting married!!!! what! that is crazy!! How long has he been a member? Do they have plans of where they are gonna live? does her work? Is she working? doing school? I feel like I need even a couple years when I get home before I get married. haha

Im so sad that your so lonely :( Don’t worry I will be home sooner than you know and we will do everything together! :) 

Nothing too exciting happened this week! We helped our recent convert move into a new apartment last Tuesday. She has over 200 hundred shoes!!!!! isn’t that crazy?? I couldn’t believe my eyes! I found a pair that I liked that she wanted to give me :) hehe. I love her. She is such a faithful members. She is working on her family history so she can take her mom and dads name to the temple! oh how glorious this work is. I love it with all my heart.

Shana didn't end up getting baptized this Saturday :( We were all ready and excited Saturday morning when we get a text from her proclaiming that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. We dropped everything we were doing and drove to her house. We talked with her for a little bit and then went to our knees in mighty prayer to the Lord. The spirit was so strong it was unbelievable. After we finished she looked at us and told us she knew now that this was what god wanted for her. We rescheduled her baptism for next week. Keep her in your prayers. Some women in the ward gave us some money to buy her a dress for her baptism because she doesn't own one :( I'm excited to see her face when we give it to her :) 

I got a letter from one of my investigators in Waco who got baptized! :) She told me she was so thankful for me introducing her to the gospel. Made me beyond happy. :) so grateful that I can do the lords work. 

Ill end my letter with a cool story. Yesterday for third hour of church we combined with the priesthood for a presentation about the pathways program. We sit down and some service missionaries start talking to us about it. when I look up to see who it was I was so confused. THEY LOOKED SO FAMILIAR! Then they introduced themselves as Sister and Elder KIMBALL!!! :) :) :) haha. After the program was done I went up to sister Kimball and asked if she recognized me (I was covering my name tag so she couldn't read who I was) She looked at me for a second. I took my hand off my tag and she gasped while putting her hand on her mouth! Samantha! oh my goodness her and brother Kimball were so excited to see me in Texas! haha brother Kimball hugged me twice he was so happy. After we finished catching up Brother Kimball told me to tell dad that he loves him a lot and is so thankful for all the hard work he does. They send you both lots of love. Isn’t that soo neat. I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. Feels so good to see everyone :) I really hope they call me to Mansfield for my last area. I really feel I could do some good work. Brother and Sister Kimball told me to come down and baptize the Grena’s haha.

Miss and love you.

-Sister Porter 

 The Kimballs