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! :)