Missions Wear You Out!!!

November 10, 2014

SO I just want to start this email off with this statement:

         MISSIONS WEAR YOU OUT!!!! 

:) :) I went on exchange with a wonderful sister this weekend that is serving in white settlement.  We were driving to one of our appointments when I turned to her and just said "Golly, I am soo tired!!" We laughed for a second and then she said something that really hit me. "Well Sister Porter," she says "If you tired, that means you really worked hard this last year and a half!" I began to cry with just complete Joy and feeling of accomplishment! I DID IT! :) YE-HAW! I am beyond grateful for this experience and opportunity to serve the Lord.  It has truly changed my life, FOREVER!

Just a couple of things from this week and then I will leave you with my testimony.  We had a neat experience with this girl named Mackenzie that we met a couple of weeks ago just passing her on the street. We stopped her and taught her about the Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. This past week when we went back we sat down with her for our lesson but before we offer the prayer, her mom comes and sits down.....then her uncle.....then her brother.....AND then her brothers friend! We had the whole crew!! And it was one of the most amazing lessons :) When we ended with a prayer afterwards we felt bad because we had only brought in one Book of Mormon. We told them that we had plenty more in the car that we could go grab and asked them who would like one. Immediately, every single person there shot up their hand with excitement! It was sooooo cool. I got chills up my back just thinking about that experience again.  Gods prepared children are out there, we just have to find them!!! The Gospel is true!

Yesterday at church everyone was saying goodbye and ...I think I bore my testimony in like every meeting. haha. Everyone is putting bets on how soon I will get married!

I almost start crying every time I think about the fact that I will be seeing my sweet family in two days! This time is bitter sweet. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ true and full church here upon the earth. I know with out a doubt that Joseph Smith did in fact restore God's power, so that we could have the fullness of Christ gospel in these Last DAYS! The spirit has witnessed so strongly to me that I am a child of God that no earthly power could take that away from me. Gods plan is perfect. We are his great and Eternal purposes and through our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ we can receive Salvation and Eternal life! HOW GLORIOUS! Sing hosanna to his name! And my membership in the Church is not a title.....it is a testimony of these things! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love Sister Samantha Porter!!

Ps. Wednesday will be fun. Me and all the other missionaries that I am going home with will be doing some family history and a service project! then that night we are doing a big dinner in the mission home and then having a little fireside! Then next day.....FAMILY TIME!! oh my goodness i am freaking out!! LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!! I'm scared for the cold hahaha. its like 75 today :) I'm not sure what time we will have to be there...Im guessing pretty early...yay.....

Here are some pictures. Sorry I didn't send any last week!

I Have Served For 18 Months

November 3, 2014

Well....my name is Sister Porter, I'm a missionary in the Fort Worth Texas Mission....and I have served for 18 months! Its that crazy or what!! I would have to agree with what you said how, it seems like it went by so fast but yet its all in slow motion at the same time. I told kylee in her email that I cry about twice a day. One because I am truly sad to be leaving my mission and two because I am overwhelmed with JOY to be seeing y'all again!! :) :) 

Really excited to see the ward too! sounds like a lot of good changes have happened! and Spanish fork! and the babies! and my brothers and there awesome wives! and my loving parents! and my best friend in the whole world! (Kylee...if you didn't already know that) and her boyfriend....and ....EVERYTHING! 

This past week was full of blessings from the Lord. Every time we would come to the Lord in prayer asking for his guidance he would direct us to someone to teach! EVERYTIME! it was amazing! I would just smile the whole time we would teach because I knew God had once again blessed us! We just found LOTS of new investigators so hopefully we will get them to start living the gospel and coming to church soon! Excited for this ward to see all these amazing things happen :) 

So...y'all probably got a video message from the Blackburns last night....hahah it was an awkward video BUT fun that they wanted to do that for us :) hahaha oh man.......good times. Their son just got off of his mission a couple of months ago and so she always talks about how she wished members would do that for her so she wanted to do it for us :) We went on two exchanges this week. One with the sisters in Azle and one with the Spanish sisters in Fort worth. it was fun. I just love going out with these sisters to see how they work and how it has helped them grow. 

Well I sure do love y'all so much. Sorry I didn't say much about what happened this past week. I was trying to think what to write and .....there wasn't much excitement ...Halloween night we had to come in for the night and do our planning. We only got one tricker treater....and it was our neighbor. haha. so that was the highlight of that night :) OH! do yall know a Tammy Brantly??? she and her family lived in Arlington and know all the same people that we do! They were really good friends with the Synichitus (I totally spelled that name wrong) and apparently Pam Lacienta (spelled that one wrong too!) husband baptized her and everything! haha she thought it was so cool that I was from here!

LOTS OF LOVE! 

Sister Porter 

Called to Serve In Spanish

October 27. 2014

 think this is how I will start this letter......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I cant believe it!! I really dont think it has hit me yet that I will be coming home in two weeks.......Im really excited that I will have the whole day to be with yall too :) When will I be released? Im pretty excited to meet trever, he sounds like a great guy. Are they getting pretty serious? like...wedding bells and all? I got an email from grandma. Sounds like they are really enjoying Arizona. THANK YOU for the package by the way :) that was so sweet! I think Ill be fine with out those contacts until I get home. Question: How much money should I cash out to have for my flight for like an emergency? Last time I had 200 dollars in cash but....i dont feel like I need to pull out that much? what do you think? And I think I am sending home a package with some stuff so I dont have to pack it with me so look out for that. ALSO Whats the weather going to be like that day I come home?

WELCOME TO MINI MEXICO! :)

October 27, 2014

Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadero y yo se que esta evangelio va a bendicir suvida mucho!!! :) This is my testimony in spanish! Went on another exchange with the Spanish sisters this past week and it was amazing! Picture this....7 o clock at night, me and Sister Limon riding bikes in down town fort worth. FYI I haven't ridden a bike my whole mission. And if you have ever wondered if riding a bike in a skirt is hard...the answer is yes! But golly what an adventure. I love being pro-active. I actually understand Spanish well enough that I could help teach back! I felt pretty awesome ;) The Spanish culture is so different and the language is so peculiar! Like the word umbrella in Spanish is "water stopper" and there are only four words in Spanish that start with the letter k! Crazy.

Started off the next morning singing Called to Serve in Spanish. Super neat :) Then off to work we went! So before I tell you what happened next, you have to understand this statement....."Mexicans PRAISE THEIR FOOD!" If a Spanish women gives you a plate of food....you better lick that plate clean! or she will be offended. its like she shows her love by offering her cooking, and we show it back by eating ALL of it. So...after a lesson  with one of their investigators, she offered us some Tamales. Of course we said yes, but little did we know that 10 minutes later she would bring out a party plate FULL of them. 14 tamales. FOURTEEN!!!! Sister Limon later said if she could have gotten a picture of my reaction she would have won a million dollars! I ate every single bit of those and drake two cokes that she insisted I drink. More More!! :P I was so sick! I guess we all show our love in different ways!

Saturday we had the opportunity to join with the Dallas leadership to hear from Elder Foster of the 70. He talked about good leadership and the difference between vision and goals. It was really good :) The first thing that Elder Foster said when he got up to speak to us was "Listen to old men... because they will always tell you the truth!" haha it was funny.

That night our ward had the Trunker Treat party. Lots of fun :) I love seeing the little kids in their costumes. It was funny because one of the members gave us candy to pass out and within the candy were glow in the dark tattoos for the kids. So the members would come around and jokingly be like "Oh look at the missionaries passing out tattoos!" haha

Yesterday during Relief Society, Sister Zalar (our R.S president) sat by me and during the lesson I happen to catch her starring at me. I kinda laughed and leaned over to ask her what she was looking at. She then smiles really big and with tears in her eyes she whispers "I hope TJ (her son) marries someone like you one day."   I began to cry!! she is so sweet :) I love her.

I found out that Sister Nielsen (the sister I trained) got transferred to the YSA ward in Arlington!! And she is companions with my MTC companion! haha crazy! and she wrote me a little note and told me that she had dinner with my first convert! how fun is that? :)

Well I sure do love y'all!! missing ya like crazy!! What a glorious thought to think we will be seeing each other once again! I love this work. Grateful for the love I have for my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. They live and love each and everyone of us! Its a even more glorious thought to think that we will all be seeing them some day!! Hurrah for Israel! 

Love sister Porter

Pic one: Fort worth and Dallas sisters together :) 

Pic two: Mozzarella sticks at ten o clock at night 

YUM! 

Coming Home in Three Weeks!

Howdy Hey!! :) 

SO....First. I apologize for being so awful at emailing! 

Second. I'm going home in three weeks....WHAT? 

Third. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY WITH ALL MY LITTLE HEART.

Fourth. If you have never had a chocolate cherry malt...you should definitely try one.  

This past week was....soooo amazing :) 

We set a baptism date last Tuesday night with an investigator named Detra.  Let me give you a little back round on how we found her. First we tracked into this guy who said we could come back and teach him more. So when we showed up the next week for our return appointment he wasn't there...But Detra's boyfriend was!! So we set another return appointment with HIM. So the next time we show up we sit down and start teaching him and Detra is kind of just in the living room "not listening." Her boyfriend starts to bible bash with us a bit so she comes in to see whats going on. She sits down and starts to listen. She glances down at the Book of Mormon and starts scanning the verses.  She then begins to cry proclaiming that no words had ever brought her so much peace! :) Sister Tuck and I testified to her that the spirit spoke and told her that these things were true!! the next Sunday she came to church and our last lesson we set a date:) SHE IS AMAZING!!! she says and asks the most inspiring things! i love her. She has a lot of things going on in her life right now but it is the most amazing thing to imagine her in her white clothes entering the temple. I know and have seen how the gospel can change peoples lives and I know with all my heart that its going to change hers :) 

Wednesday we drove up to the mission office in Euless to meet all the other missionaries I will be going home with to go to the temple. Usually the last day before you fly home, President Ames will take all of us to the temple BUT the Dallas temple will be closed that day. So he let us all go a little early. It was sooo fun :) To be with all those missionaries that I have served around my whole mission. ah. I just cant believe it. I had never done sealings before and I didn't know how much I would enjoy that. I could just hears bells ringing when the temple worker would say "For time and ALL eternity"  For tender for me. 

After the temple trip we had one of the sister missionaries that was serving down in Waco stay the night with us so we had to blow up an air mattress for her. It was super fun...SLEEP OVER! :) 

Thursday Elder Cardon from the seventy came and spoke to our mission. It was GLORIOUS! :) Right when he started speaking I knew he was a servant of the Lord! He spoke beautiful truth. it was a pretty long day though we started from eight in the morning and the meeting didnt end until four! 

Elder Foster gave a talk at BYU-Idaho this year that I read the other day. He talked about how amazing it is that our heavenly father gives us choice. I love this part 

"When Christ returned to the Father after putting the animals upon the earth, the Father said that it was good.  He didn't ask "So, Where did you put the tigers?" God had given the Savior the responsibility. He wasn't going to micro-manage him because he trusted him. He designed this earth experience around His trusting us because he wanted us to grown and return as exalted beings to be with him and to be like him."  

Ah I get chills every time I read that. I don't think we truly understand the Trust and Love that our Father in Heaven has in us. Just thinking about the fact that he trust us enough to make decisions that are good enough for us to be exalted! pretty cool stuff :)

Im so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. He literally provided the way for me to return to our Father. And something I really love is the fact that he wants us to call him Father! :) hehe isnt that great??? 

The gospel is True 

The book is Blue

....I love ...YALL :) 

ps. I totally ran over a squirrel.....it was so sad!! I totally didnt mean to though....I tried to dodge it but....it ran right in front of me! 

pss. I might need more contacts right when i get home

psss. Dad you are so smart signing me up for one class so I can work for you!! thhhhaaaannnnkkkk youuu :)

Love Sister Porter 

Bittersweet

October 13, 2014

My sweet family. This week has been...bitter sweet for me.

First we had zone conference and watched MEET THE MORMONS!! IT WAS SOOO GOOD! :) you have to go see it! I just cried and cried and cried. it was so good and then after President had all the missionaries that are leaving give their departing testimonies....ah again I cried and cried and cried ....it was so sad. But the spirit was sooo strong it was the most amazing thing. 

We had a baptism this weekend! Thomas Roden. He had his baptism on his 14th birthday it was really cool :) 

My Schedule-----Kinda

Mother, 

I do apologize for my horrible emails....Its been really hard for me to email home right now with the end being so close. Really have been just trying to focus on the work and give it my all! My tail bone hasn't acted up since you mailed me that medicine and I took it! :) So that has been SUCH a blessing. It truly hasn't hurt at all. So ...I don't know if we will have to do anything about it? We will just have to take a look at it when I get home and see what we need to do....

Sounds like Kylee is just really enjoying the college life! :) She is crazy busy...haha I hope to keep myself super busy when I get home though. I wont lie that will be hard going from being busy every second of every day to .....a class here.....a class there....oh work for a couple of hours...and then relax? I don't even think I know how to relax anymore! Everything will be a big adjustment. Just ...so different. 

I will really enjoy doing volleyball when i get home :) I MISS IT! Thank you for thinking of me and doing that. 

This past week was so full of meetings!! Ill give you a little run down of what happened. 

Monday: went to the stake presidents house and played some games with some of the missionaries. Fun to do different stuff like that on p days. It gets boring sometimes doing the same things over and over again....laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the apartment, emailing. yadayadaya....:) haha. Then Monday night we went to the church and planned for our Zone Council with the Zone leaders. 

Tuesday: After studies in the morning we went to our ward mission leaders house (the sanders) and helped his wife do some gardening. It was SOOO hot that day. I was sweating like a pig!! We had to go home and jump in the shower to cool off. Then we had an appointment to teach this couple we found last week about the restoration. I just....LOVE teaching :) it was amazing. They accepted the invitation to learn more so hopefully we will be able to see them this week. 

Then our dinner appointment canceled so we just made some pasta...(cheap and simple :) That night we went to the R.S activity to get to know the women of the ward a little better. Its was super fun We did a "speed friendshipping" activity.  Its was a cute idea. Like speed dating so we could ask all the ladies questions for three minutes and then we would switch when they rang the bell. :) hehe loved it

Wednesday: Today we had interviews with president. From seven in the morning until five o clock! So everyone gets 15 minutes with president to talk with him and ask any questions that we have. its amazing :) I love president Ames. while everyone else is getting their interviews we study and are involved in a training from our Zone leaders. 

Thursday: PLANNING! haha this takes ALL morning. But its so important. If we didn't plan out our week it would be like going out into battle without preparing weapons and strategies. We met this lady who was walking her dog and we called out to her and asked if we could share with her a Book of Mormon. She kept walking and said that she was trying to go for a walk....SOOOO we walked with her and taught her the first lesson! :) it felt a little funny but it was awesome! She accepted the Book of Mormon and said she wanted to learn more! ye-haw! 

Then that night we brought one of our investigators to a baby shower of a lady in our ward it was perfect for her to get to know some people. 

Friday we had Zone Council! oh my goodness ...I think that was by far my favorite Zone council I've had. I gave a training on working together like honey bees. It was fun! Everyone in the mission knows me as the artsy fartsy sister who gives out candy at her training. hhaha. That's the R.S in me I guess! I decorate the board all cute and stuff like that. I committed the Zone to give out a book of Mormon everyday until October 16 because that when we are having an Elder from the 70 come talk with us! :) Super excited for that. 

After the meeting, me and Sister Tuck swapped companions with the Cleburne sisters. So I stayed her in Hudson oaks with a sister Named sister Alldrege. We actually went to jr. high together and played against eachother in volleyball (she played for Salem) So that was pretty neat :) 

That night we taught a couple named michael and Rachel at the church. They are so prepared! We talked about the plan of salvation and everytime we would ask them the question they would ......know exactly what to say....I don't even know how to explain how amazing it was. For example when we asked Michael what he believed happened before our life here on earth he replied "well...we were spirit children with our father in heaven" .....We both looked at each other, smiled and said "well...ya!! how did you know that?" hahaha. The spirit was definitely the teacher in that lesson. :) 

Saturday: We taught Kathy (she just got baptized) her first new member lesson. She is just too cute! She loves the gospel with all of her heart. She is trying so hard to do missionary work with her family! She is getting surgery today so we hope everything goes okay :( Later we drove up to Azle to attend the sisters baptism for someone both me and sister Tuck were able to help teach when we went on exchanges with them. Then after the man that got baptized and his girlfriend got married! 

Sunday: I love Sundays. So peaceful for me to go and just sit for three hours and just be nourished by the good word of God! :) It was funny Brother Moulten (Elders quorum president) gave a talk yesterday and when he finished he ended with his testimony talking about how much he loved his wife and children. And right when he said he loved his children and talked about how innocent and good they were, his children crawled under the seat to started laughing.  haha you gotta love kids. 

I'm soooo grateful for this time I have had to serve the Lord. Its amazing the things we can do when we understand the love we have for the Savior. I love my family. I can not WAIT to be with my sweet family again. Missin yall so much. 

I love you mommy. Hopefully this email will get you through the week ;) ill try and be better with my emails!  

Baptism

September 3, 2014

Howdy hey! :)

We had a baptism this last week! :) it was amazing. We had 54 people there and more than half were her family! I'm sure soon most of them will find their way to the truth! 

"If you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done.........Imagine what we could achieve if we only tried." I love this soooo much. We went to a members house the other night for dinner in their...BIG home. They had lots of nice things and very yummy food. We were in awe at the things that they had and I asked what they did for work. After they both told and explained to us their occupations one of the members told us something that I will never forget. "You know what though, before all of this happened, school, work, nice job, nice house......I had to make a decision. You see, most people decide what kind of work they would like to do for the rest of their life and then go to school. Then after they have received their degree they take it and say to themselves, Now what can I do with my life with this particular education. What kind of house can I buy? What kind of vacations can I take? .....For me on the other hand I had to look at it the other way around.

Before I went off to school to receive an education I had to set goals and dreams for myself. I said Okay, this is the kind of life I want for my future, .....what is it that I have to do now, to have that? That's when I was able to figure out what kind of job I needed to support a family and a nice house and all that fun stuff. And now that I have worked hard I am happy. "Success comes before work......only in the dictionary."

When he explained this to me everything just clicked!! Now, don't think that I'm trying to say that riches and money will bring us happiness, wickedness was never happiness. BUT what I am trying to say is that we really can shoot for the stars! I mean....WHY NOT!? :) if we set expectations for our life NOW who says we cant work for that? "choose ye this day whom ye will serve" We must choose today the kind of person we want to be, the things we want to accomplish, and where we want to go. Then we must work. We can do all things through him that loved us. Nothing is impossible through the atonement of our Savior. Alma 37:7 reads "And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." We ARE Gods work and glory. He truly does have great and eternal purposes for us. Line upon line, precept upon precept. We must do all things that lie in our power!
Last quote by Ezra Taft Benson "If we give our all, we will get his all from the greatest of all!" I will give my all to the Lord. Then I shall know true happiness :)

Sorry I didn't get to tell you more about my week....the office lady is kicking us out..haha.

LOVE YOU! 

-Sister Porter 

AND i will send you pictures of everything next week!