I Got My Trucky Package

Family

yooo I am just toooo excited about baby penny! she is just so beautiful! Its amazing to think she was just barely with our father in heaven getting ready to come down and be a part of our amazing family :) The veil is so thin! 

 

I basically started bawling when I read about will coming home. Its amazing to see how much he has changed. Its so surreal that it will happen to me so soon. To see my sweet family once more. Love yall soo much and am so grateful though for what I have learned and experienced out here in the field.  I got my tunky package a couple of weeks ago and it has my plane tickets and all. Kind of freaked me out a bit. But I get to write a letter to my president about what I have learned from my mission and what I plan to do with my future. I'm excited to write it and they will make a copy so that I can put it in my binder and take home with me. 

 

The work is amazing right now. So many things have been happening! Its amazing how people will really open their hearts and listen when you have charity for them. And when your not scared of the truth! The scriptures talk a lot about how we can pray to be filled with this love and I think its beautiful that The savior truly belived that we could love as he did! and we can through his example. 

 

' 

We got transfer calls this morning and found out that sister heap is leaving :( but she is staying a sister tainer leader so I will still see her at meetings and all so that will be good! She is going to highland station with one of my old companions! AND GET HIS! sister tuck is going to be my companion again!! haha When they told me that I couldn't believe it! I'm sooo excited! I served in Waco with her for three months! pretty stocked about this one :) Good things are happening. 

 

Last night we went to the bishops fireside and shared with the youth this new thing that are mission is doing. Its called 21 tips for better grades! Some guy in Colleyville created it and our mission is the only one trying out. its a free service that we provide to people to just sit down with them and go over this chart and make goals with them on how they can improve there studying techniques and stuff like that.  So we did it with the Youth last nighRix he is such an amazing person! He has the missionary fire and is ready to work hard! And he always tells us how grateful he is to have sisters in the ward! 

t and it was pretty fun :) I love our ward so much. I have gotten a long with everyone so fast and so well! And ah I love bishop

 

Let us stay true to our faith. The Lord has promised to fight our battle so we need not be afraid! If we are doing all that we can to cherish our covenants and keep our selves single to God then.....what are we to be scared of? "fear not little children for I have overcome the world!" We know that god will win the fight so let us choose this day in whom we will serve! I'm grateful that I have a testimony of this. I know which side i am on, and now its my blessing and my responsibility to bring others unto him. God wants us to be a powerful people. And all of it falls under the atonement, the power of the priesthood, power of the house of the Lord, the power of his holy scriptures and the power of the Holy Ghost. Now look at these things. Everyone can access the power of the atonement. Which enables all of his children to be free from sin and from death.  But if you look at the other ones we, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only have these things! These are what are unique and true about our religion, Priesthood, temples, book of Mormon and gift of the Holy Ghost. And it is sad to think that no one has these powers! Such precious truths that are gone. If people really knew what they were missing!! We have to share it! We have to help our brothers and sister become a powerful people so that we can stand against our enemy in these last days. 

 

I have such a deep desire and love for missionary work. Its the most important work we can be doing. Im grateful for eternal families. I know Christ lives and he will come again! 

 

LOVE YALL WITH ALL MY HEART! i feel your prayers in this work everyday. thank you for your example and your strength, your words of encouragment and support! 

 

Love sister porter 

 

ps. Just some funny things I was thinking about the other day. Remember when mom leaned over and asked me to bless the bachelor in my prayer? ahahaha. good times. Love my crazy family :) 

 

WeNneed Not Be Afraid----Decisions will come to those seeking earnestly

ooo I am just toooo excited about baby penny! she is just so beautiful! Its amazing to think she was just barely with our father in heaven getting ready to come down and be a part of our amazing family :) The veil is so thin! 

 

I basically started bawling when I read about will coming home. Its amazing to see how much he has changed. Its so surreal that it will happen to me so soon. To see my sweet family once more. Love yall soo much and am so grateful though for what I have learned and experienced out here in the field.  I got my trunky package a couple of weeks ago and it has my plane tickets and all. Kind of freaked me out a bit. But I get to write a letter to my president about what I have learned from my mission and what I plan to do with my future. I'm excited to write it and they will make a copy so that I can put it in my binder and take home with me. 

 

The work is amazing right now. So many things have been happening! Its amazing how people will really open their hearts and listen when you have charity for them. And when your not scared of the truth! The scriptures talk a lot about how we can pray to be filled with this love and I think its beautiful that The savior truly believed that we could love as he did! and we can through his example. 

 

So Saturday night we drove down to a little place called Cresses to have dinner with the Winfrees in our ward. Now ......all I have to say about this neighborhood was that it blew my mind! The hoses were HUGE and everyone owns a plane like its no big deal! They just drive the planes down the roads and fly off! haha we walked in and Sister Winfree was like we will start dinner just as soon as brother Winfree gets back. So we are sitting there chatting with her for a bit when we hear this loud engine going off and she says "Oh! he's home!! " so we walk into the garage and he pulls in with his plane!! It was nuts and yet it was so normal to them! :) Too funny! OH ALSO YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS BUT.......I fell in love with the salad they gave me!! I LOVED THE SALAD! that's right ...I said it I LOVED iT! So I officially like salad now.....that's all I have to say. 

 

We got transfer calls this morning and found out that sister heap is leaving :( but she is staying a sister trainer leader so I will still see her at meetings and all so that will be good! She is going to highland station with one of my old companions! AND GET HIS! sister tuck is going to be my companion again!! haha When they told me that I couldn't believe it! Im sooo excited! I served in Waco with her for three months! pretty stocked about this one :) Good things are happening. 

 

Last night we went to the Bishops fireside and shared with the youth this new thing that are mission is doing. Its called 21 tips for better grades! Some guy in Colleyville created it and our mission is the only one trying out. its a free service that we provide to people to just sit down with them and go over this chart and make goals with them on how they can improve there studying techniques and stuff like that.  So we did it with the Youth last night and it was pretty fun :) I love our ward so much. I have gotten a long with everyone so fast and so well! And ah I love bishop Rix he is such an amazing person! He has the missionary fire and is ready to work hard! And he always tells us how grateful he is to have sisters in the ward! 

 

Let us stay true to our faith. The Lord has promised to fight our battle so we need not be afraid! If we are doing all that we can to cherish our covenants and keep our selves single to God then.....what are we to be scared of? "fear not little children for I have overcome the world!" We know that god will win the fight so let us choose this day in whom we will serve! I'm grateful that I have a testimony of this. I know which side i am on, and now its my blessing and my responsibility to bring others unto him. God wants us to be a powerful people. And all of it falls under the atonement, the power of the priesthood, power of the house of the Lord, the power of his holy scriptures and the power of the Holy Ghost. Now look at these things. Everyone can access the power of the atonement. Which enables all of his children to be free from sin and from death.  But if you look at the other ones we, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only have these things! These are what are unique and true about our religion, Priesthood, temples, book of Mormon and gift of the Holy Ghost. And it is sad to think that no one has these powers! Such precious truths that are gone. If people really knew what they were missing!! We have to share it! We have to help our brothers and sister become a powerful people so that we can stand against our enemy in these last days. 

 

I have such a deep desire and love for missionary work. Its the most important work we can be doing. I'm grateful for eternal families. I know Christ lives and he will come again! 

 

LOVE YALL WITH ALL MY HEART! I feel your prayers in this work everyday. thank you for your example and your strength, your words of encouragement and support! 

 

Love sister porter 

 

ps. Just some funny things I was thinking about the other day. Remember when mom leaned over and asked me to bless the bachelor in my prayer? ahahaha. good times. Love my crazy family :) 

ooo I am just toooo excited about baby penny! She is just so beautiful! Its amazing to think she was just barely with our father in heaven getting ready to come down and be a part of our amazing family :) The veil is so thin! 

 

I basically started bawling when I read about William coming home. Its amazing to see how much he has changed. Its so surreal that it will happen to me so soon. To see my sweet family once more. Love yall soo much and am so grateful though for what I have learned and experiened out here in the field.  I got my drunky package a couple of weeks ago and it has my plane tickets and all. Kind of freaked me out a bit. But I get to write a letter to my president about what I have learned from my mission and what I plan to do with my future. I'm excited to write it and they will make a copy so that I can put it in my binder and take home with me. 

 

The work is amazing right now. So many things have been happening! Its amazing how people will really open their hearts and listen when you have charity for them. And when your not scared of the truth! The scriptures talk a lot about how we can pray to be filled with this love and I think its beautiful that The savior truly believed that we could love as he did! and we can through his example. 

 

So Saturday  night we drove down to a little place called cresen to have dinner with the winfrees in our ward. Now ......all I have to say about this neighboor hood was that it blew my mind! The hoses were HUGE and everyone owns a plane like its no big deal! They just drive the planes down the roads and fly off! haha we walked in and sister winfree was like we will start dinner just as soon as brother winfree gets back. So we are sitting there chatting with her for a bit when we hear this loud engine going off and she says "Oh! hes home!! " so we walk into the garage and he pulls in with his plane!! It was nuts and yet it was so normal to them! :) Too funny! OH ALSO YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS BUT.......I fell in love with the salad they gav me!! I LOVED THE SALAD! thats right ...I said it I LOVED iT! So i officially like salad now.....thats all I have to say. 

 

We got transfer calls this morning and found out that sister heap is leaving :( but she is staying a sister tainer leader so I will still see her at meetings and all so that will be good! She is going to highland station with one of my old companions! AND GET HIS! sister tuck is going to be my companion again!! haha When they told me that I couldnt believe it! Im sooo excited! I served in Waco with her for three months! pretty stocked about this one :) Good things are happening. 

 

Last night we went to the bishops fireside and shared with the youth this new thing that are mission is doing. Its called 21 tips for better grades! Some guy in colleyville created it and our mission is the only one trying out. its a free service that we provide to people to just sit down with them and go over this chart and make goals with them on how they can improve there studying techniques and stuff like that.  So we did it with the Youth last night and it was pretty fun :) I love our ward so much. I have gotten a long with everyone so fast and so well! And ah I love bishop Rix he is such an amazing person! He has the missionary fire and is ready to work hard! And he always tells us how grateful he is to have sisters in the ward! 

 

Let us stay true to our faith. The Lord has promised to fight our battle so we need not be afraid! If we are doing all that we can to cherish our covanents and keep our selves single to God then.....what are we to be scared of? "fear not little children for I have overcome the world!" We know that god will win the fight so let us choose this day in whom we will serve! Im grateful that I have a testimoney of this. I know which side i am on, and now its my blessing and my responsiblity to bring others unto him. God wants us to be a powerful people. And all of it falls under the atonement, the power of the priesthood, power of the house of the Lord, the power of his holy scriptures and the power of the Holy Ghost. Now look at these things. Everyone can access the power of the atonement. Which enables all of his children to be free from sin and from death.  But if you look at the other ones we, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only have these things! These are what are unique and true about our religion, Priesthood, temples, book of mormon and gift of the Holy Ghost. And it is sad to think that no one has these powers! Such precious truths that are gone. If people really knew what they were missing!! We have to share it! We have to help our brothers and sister become a powerful people so that we can stand against our enemy in these last days. 

 

I have such a deep desire and love for missionary work. Its the most important work we can be doing. Im grateful for eternal families. I know Christ lives and he will come again! 

 

LOVE YALL WITH ALL MY HEART! i feel your prayers in this work everyday. thank you for your example and your strength, your words of encouragment and support! 

 

Love sister porter 

 

ps. Just some funny things I was thinking about the other day. Remember when mom leaned over and asked me to bless the bachelor in my prayer? ahahaha. good times. Love my crazy family :) 

BYU vs BYU Idaho? Do Be or Not To Be. That is the question

Okay.... thank you for calling the schools and getting that information for me. The last thing is if I do end up going back up to Idaho I need to let them know that I'm a return missionary so that they will switch my track to winter spring so that I can do straight school for that year. But ah...what do you think I should do?? I just really cant decide. I know heavenly father wants me to go to BYU Provo ...I know that for sure. But I just don't know when. I know its the smartest thing to get my associates finished at BYU-Idaho so that whole year doesn't go to waste. I guess here are my reasons for both

BYU-Idaho                                                               BYU-Provo

Already familiar with the school                         be closer to family

love how small it is                                   easier job lined up with dad or pizza

Love the online program that we use                 Lots of friends are in utah

can play volleyball                                       Feel like I need to be there...

Have friends up there                                Can go to sport games

Smart to finish up there

haha I guess I just need some advice.

OKAY enough about school. This week was awesome I loved it :)  we went on exchanges with our sisters in Fort Worth. I went to Fort Worth and Sister Heap stayed here. The sister that I was with does photography so it was fun to talk to her about it for a little bit. I miss it so much! can't wait to pick up that camera again and snap some pictures!

We had zone training this past week as well and I lead the missionaries in a role play where we practiced testifying of each other and better transitions within teaching. it was fun.

We are helping a lady in our ward teach the temple prep class to a recent convert. Its amazing to watch him learn and prepare himself to enter the temple! he is soooo excited! He is 70 years old and lives on a beautiful lake. haha while I was teaching him and helped him connect the dots between the work we do in the temple and the work being done in the spirit world and was like "I CANT THINK ABOUT ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THIS! most important work in the world!" haha it was too funny. But so neat to see him get so excited about this work. If only everyone saw it like he did! :)

Last night we were driving home from a mission president fireside in Hurst with one of our members and the sky was just bursting into light with all the lightning. Right when we got home a thunder storm began. Oh I love it! :) made me think of when we were little.

I have a little paper star glued on the back of my name tag that says "Great and Noble one."  I just love that phrase. We truly are great and noble ones. We as members of the church have an important work to do. Many are called and few are chosen. why are they chosen? In D&C 121 it says we are chosen because of our righteous desires.  36 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. And it says we must have love unfeigned. Wdoes that mean? well....feigned means fake so to have love unfeigned it to have true or real love. Do we have real love for those we serve? do we have real love for our Savior?

oh ps I cant believe steph had the baby!!  She is so precious!! oh I just wanna hold her! so cute that they are calling her penny :) tell her congrats!!

 

Pictures wouldn't be saved properly----Sorry

Just Do IT!

Family

 

Lindsay Heap is my companion! :) She did mention that she had lots of family is Arizona...that's too funny. Do you remember who it was?
 

Sounds like Kylee has experienced some crazy stuff while Ive been out on my mission.....four wheeler accident, dads surgery, Watched a man die at the derby, and now this......poor girl. haha she has seen a lot. It truly is amazing that we have the gospel. what would we do with out it? Life would be purposeless. 
 

Found out that one of my roommates came home early from her mission due to medical issues. Makes me so sad :( Im am soooo lucky to have been so blessed with good health. I know .....with out a doubt that the Lord is with me. He will always keep us strong.
 

This week was just FULL of meetings!! Me, sister heap, and the Zone leaders had to plan out our Zone conference for Thursday ...which ended up being pretty good I might say ;) and then Friday we had to drive up to colleyville for the leadership meeting with President Ames SO for zone conference I gave a training on Finding faith to FIND. My theme was the Niki logo, JUST DO IT! :) I talked about how God promises us power if we have faith in Christ. And faith is in action word ....so we have to do something about it! The definition of insanity is Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Sometimes we have to step outside of our comfort zone and be willing to act upon our faith. STEP away from our "thrones" that we sit upon.
 

After my training me, sister Heap, and sister Alldrege did a special musical number. It was really cool though. We brought a table a chairs to the front and did the "cup song" (If you don't know what that is ask kylee) with a unique version of there is a green hill far away. It was sooo pretty and so different everyone loved it! President Ames stood up and said give them a round of applause! everyone was cheering haha it was awesome.  Sister Ames I think recorded it and put it on our facebook page. You should check it out. I don't have the link...but just try searching fort worth Texas...I bet you'll find it. I think you would enjoy the page she puts a lot of pictures and writes about what we are doing as a mission.
 

Then at the end of the other meeting I went to President Ames told everyone that was leaving in two weeks to stand up. After they all were standing he began to cry and told us to clap for all the hard work that they have given to the mission. We began to clap so loud it was amazing we all were just crying and crying. Its amazing the work that we render. The sacrifice we offer as missionaries. We truly are doing the greatest work of all!! there was so much power in that. AH its just so amazing I cant explain the feelings of it. I love being a missionary.
 

Me and Sister Heap bore our testimonies yesterday....we both felt inspired to talk about eternal families. I talked about an experience I had a couple weeks ago in a meeting where I could have sworn I saw y'all sitting there in front of me. I began to cry and reach out for y'all. A mission is bitter sweet. You dont realize how much you love something until its gone. And then I talked about how it will be like that when we loose a loved one. BUT as I know right now that I will see you again so soon, we will all reunite once more in heaven dressed in white ready and called to the work. Do you feel the reality of Eternal families? ......It is SO real. I know that i will be with my family again. The spirit has pressed that into my soul and has witnessed to me. LOVE YOU>
 

love Sister Porter
 

ps. okay....so I'm freaking out a little about whats going to happen when I get home. So for some reason I keep feeling like I need to go to BYU provo......I have prayed about it a lot. Don't think I have gotten an answer yet.....But I don't know what to do....But ...is it too late to apply for the BYU? I think I might have waited too long to act! What do I do? I just....wish I could talk to you about it on the phone. Tell you all the reasons why I want to go to Idaho and all the reasons why I want to go to Provo. My biggest concern is that I need to figure it out soon because I need to start registering and putting money down on an apartment!  Oh it really just makes me sick thinking about it. I feel like I waited too long to start talking about it. WHAT DO I DO?

Faith is a Principle of Power

Family,

 

I want to start this letter with something I found the other night in my journal. This is so amazing touched my heart. As you know I just finished training Sister Nielsen. And before I left her she wrote this in my journal.  

 

Three months ago 

A gardener I know 

Chose a servant and gave her a seed

she felt unprepared

But the gardener knows all things indeed

 

Samantha, he said

Please go to the bed

And bury this deep in the ground

With patience and love 

With guidance above

Please help the seed grow all around

 

Its special, he said

Its got a hard head

But your patience is what it will take

 and sammy I know 

That this seed a great servant will make

 

With small seed in hand 

The garden spot planned

The servant worked all day and night

But the seed didn't nudge

The shell wouldn't budge

And the servant just couldn't find light

 

"What do I do?" 

The servant withdrew

She hung her head low and cried

Her tears met the dirt

The seed gave a spurt

Its shell with her tears had died

 

"Sister" it said 

Stop hanging your head

And look how much you have done

my roots are real strong 

My stem is so long

I cant wait to see what I become. 

 

      She then put a picture of a rose in the crack of my journal and wrote on the back of it 

"This is what I plan to become. Gonna be great all thanks to you!" 

 

When I read and saw this I just began to bawl. I love the gospel. I have seen it take affect in so many peoples lives. I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to train sister Nielsen. She is such a beautiful and strong missionary. 

 

This week was awesome!! :) We set a baptism date for august 30th with one of our recent converts sisters Kathy. She said her baptism date was inspired because her birthday is on August 31st! She now goes around to all the ward and tells them that she is getting the best gift on her birthday! THE HOLY GHOST! :) how special. God really prepared her to receive the gospel with an open heart. 

 

We fed a baby goat!! hahahaha. We were eating dinner with a lady in her ward and she seemed really stressed out so we asked what we could do for her so she would be able to relax a little. She thought for a second and then with a big smile told us that we could feed the baby goats!! It was crazy! But know I can say that I have feed a baby goat. The one I fed was nine years old!! I gave it a bottle of juice and then a bottle of milk! It was too funny! loved it :) Sister Heap got goat milk all over her shirt. And we didn't have time to go home and change before out next appointment so....she just had goat milk on her all night. it was pretty funny 

 

We went on exchange with the cleburn sisters this weekend! Sister Heap went there and I brought back to our area sister Vaha'i! so....Sister vahai has been on the mission three weeks ....and she is from Tonga! so she is learning English!! Its was nuts! I didn't realize how hard it would be to explain to someone how to teach the gospel ...in English! BUT what really inspired me was her dedication. Even though it has been really hard for her she really trusted in the Lord and wanted to work hard. And man....her testimony is SO real and strong. She had everyone crying by the end of one of our lessons. LOVE HER :) 

 

I love the gospel with all my heart. This life is nothing compared to what are heavenly father has in store for us. The time to prepare is now. I am giving a training on faith to find in our Zone conference this week and will be talking a lot about how faith is an action word. I found something in PMG that I really liked it said "Faith is a principal of power. God uses his power in response to faith"  We truly can do all things with Faith in Jesus Christ. Then us act! What are some ways we can strengthen our faith? My heart felt warm when I saw the picture of you and mom at the temple. 

 

LOVE YA LOTS! :) 

 

 

 

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

Box of Sunshine!

Family 

Kylee looks so beautiful!! I am so so proud of her. Cant believe that she is done. makes me a little sad. No more little baby kylee. Sounds like yall are keeping pretty busy! Missing being with all the family on those special days. But goodness did we also have a busy week!

First I want to start off by saying thank you for my box of sunshine :) it arrived at my apartment at the perfect timing! I remember we were planning and something had really upset me. and right after I finished saying a prayer asking Heavenly father to help me to be happy the doorbell rang! And the wonderful mail lady who was smiling at me gave me my box of sunshine! I looked at her with tears in my eyes and told her she has answered my prayers! Amazing how that happens. Heavenly Father is sooo good to me.

Wednesday night was crazy. First we went and taught our recent convert. We always teach him in his work shop because his wife doesn’t really like us being inside. When we finished up the lesson he was messing with his nail gun and accidently shot himself in the thumb!!!!!! Let me say that again.....HE SHOT HIMSELF IN THE THUMB! ...and all he said was ow. I was kind of freaking out. There was blood everywhere and he was determined to get the nail out right there and then. He grabbed the hammer and asked if i wanted to do it!!!! umm......if you really want me to?? he began to laugh and pulled it out himself! oh....it was sooo gross. But he is okay now. It was just too crazy haha. Then I got pulled over driving home.....but it was only because my lights weren’t on......thank goodness.

Thursday night while we were planning for the next day, sister Nielsen was on the phone talking with our ward mission leader when she began to scream while pointing behind my head. I immediately look and there on the wall right behind my head was the biggest croak roach I have every seen in my life!! it scared me so bad that i jumped out of my chair which then scared the roach to crawl into my drawer!!!! ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! So .....We stayed up for about an hour trying to get it out so we could kill it. Finally it came out and I was able to hit it with one of my shoes. Oh it was so gross. haha we have been having a lot of random adventures.

Its funny some of the places we have taught the gospel. I hadn’t thought about how weird it was until just now. This week we taught one of our recent converts about eternal families in Barns and Nobles and taught our investigator the law of chastity in jack in the box. haha its great! And our area is very poor so most of the apartments and home we go into don’t have furniture. So we sit on the floor most of the time. (Which doesn’t really help my tail bone problem) makes me so sad to see this. No one has cars either so we have to make tons of calls to try and get members to take them.

I was very excited while reading your letter. It warms my heart to hear the success of the mission. We have wonderful missionaries in this mission who are ready to go to work :)

I have loved hearing about how the members are getting more involved in the work! We have actually been seeing a lot of that here in River trails! Me and sister Sylar about a month ago were singed up to go have dinner with some less actives in our ward. We were pondering on what we should share with them. I won’t lie; we were a little timid to share the Work of Salvation lesson with them but then decided that the Lord would have us do so. It wasn’t super successful at first, but as we continued to follow up with them and help them in this work they set up a time to have their neighbor over for dinner to listen to a message. Oh I was so excited! :) Built my faith in never giving up on members. If they don’t have someone at first doesn’t mean they don’t have what it takes to be a missionary! Anyone and everyone who has Faith in Jesus Christ and his gospel can share it with others. And we are here to guide them that way.

We were able to take our recent converts Liz and Blake Holland (siblings) to the temple. What a sacred and special experience for them. I have seen the gospel enrich their lives and bring their family closer. The temple president congratulated them on being worthy to do such a powerful work. Now not only have they blessed their lives because of this decision they have made but they can give their families in heaven the opportunity to have the fullness of joy! I was thinking about when our stake President had attended one of our zone conferences and he had drew out a chart of how many people’s lives we would be blessing. In my mind i thought about the temple work that our recent converts will be doing and added all of the people who have accepted their work in the spirit world to the chart! :) mind blowing! Love it with all my heart.

Shana Taylor was interviewed yesterday for her interview this Saturday and is all ready to go! :) I hope one day you can meet her. She is fifteen years old and has such a deep desire to follow Christ! It’s neat to see someone so young want to do so much good! :)

Thank you again for all the love and support. Im soooo grateful for a loving family and a merciful father in heaven. I am truly blessed. Hurrah for Isreal!

Lots of love. Sister porter :)