Wednesday, September 10, 2014

New Companion

Brother & Sister Porter, 
Attached is Elder Porter and his new companion, Elder Thurston.  They have been assigned to the Elkhart 3rd Spanish Branch.  You can send mail directly to him or to the Mission Office.  They will be at this location for at least 12 weeks.

We are excited to have Elder Porter join us in the best mission in the world!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Arrived and safe in Indiana!

Dear Brother & Sister Porter,
Your son, Elder Drew Clifford Porter, arrived safely in Indiana.  It was a pleasure to meet and welcome him to the mission.  He has a solid testimony of the gospel and is excited to be doing the Lord’s work.  Sister Cleveland and I look forward to serving with your son during this special time in his life.

Sister Cleveland and I will love, care for, and watch over Elder Porter as if he were our own son.  Thank you for the love and support you have given, and will give him on his mission.

Last Day in the CCM!

So my p-day will now be Mondays, but we are allowed to write right now because I am leaving at 3:00 in the morning tomorrow, and will miss my p-day that will usually be tomorrow. But I am so excited to get out into the mission field and to help people better their lives and come unto the restored Gospel.

Some things I forgot from last weeks email:

#1   I had to give a talk in church. It was about the atonement. It was exactly 4 minutes. But something cool is two Hermanas said that when I gave my talk that it sounded like I was Mexican because my Spanish was so good. That was a comfort. And I know the gift of tongues is real!

Something scary I learned, after the first twelve weeks that I have with my trainer, I could be a trainer! AAAAAHHHHH I don’t know if I will be ready, but I know the Lord helps and makes men stronger and more able when he gives them a work to do.

#2  I had to buy girl deodorant. I ran out of mine and in the tienda there was boy deodorant, but it didn’t have any antiperspirant, so I bought some lady speed stick. It makes me smell all floral and nice ;)

Some thing I learned this week that was humbling. It was on Friday and we had this presentation thingy all day. One of the things they said was that "miracles are the natural result of correct principles applied in the right ways" so that means everything in life is a miracle. The fact that I can speak the language somewhat is a miracle. The fact that I have a testimony of the Church is a miracle, the fact that 18 year old boys can spread the Lords kingdom throughout the world is a miracle. Pretty much anything in the world is a miracle! Very humbling, because I have definitely not been grateful enough for the miracles in my life.

Another thing I have learned is that love is so important when teaching people. There have only been two teachers in my life that I have wanted to stay in contact with: Mrs. Cross my AP English teacher and Hermano Cruz, my afternoon teacher in the CCM. And the reason is, is because I know that they really loved and cared about what happened in my life. They have changed my life because they loved us enough to make their lessons something special. And I will never forget that lesson. Love everyone and you will change lives.

Another thing I learned is that it is important to help the missionaries in your area. And the way to help them is to allow them to teach lessons in your homes, go with them as a member to help fellowship and befriend the investigators, because if they have a friend they will be more likely to stay strong in the gospel. So help the missionaries any way you can. Befriend non-members in your ward so that they can have a good lead in to the truth of the restored Gospel. Allow the missionaries to use you in any way that will help the work, and it will change lives, families, and generations to come.

Love you all!
Elder Porter

Additional emails to me:
I had asked about his companion, because he hadn’t shared too much.  Here is his reply:
I love my companion! He is awesome! I have learned so much from him, he is such a diligent studier and he knows the scriptures really well! 
I asked how his emotions are right now:

I’m just excited to leave! But sad that I’m not going to the same place as Elder Burgon because he’s awesome.

My district as we all prepare to depart the CCM!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Been a good and a bad week. We had our best lessons this week and some of our worst lessons (besides when we were just starting)
The good lessons were because we listened to the spirit. Our investigator Jose was having a hard time because he didn’t know how the gospel could bless his life and we had used every word we knew in Spanish to try and convince him, which was the wrong way. But then when I was reading Preach My Gospel, I remembered something that one of my seminary teachers told us about how if we get closer to God by ourselves and our family members get closer to God, then we all get closer together and have stronger relationships. That was the clincher for him and he had the light that you hope to see in every investigators eyes. 

We also got new investigators and one of them is named Ryan. He’s a member but hasn’t been active in 3 years. We were trying to get to know him and the Spirit led us to say the right questions and get right to his main problem. We got there and even got him to say that he knew the church was true! So now it’s just getting him to come to church again!

The Holy Ghost can do a lot, but he can't help you with things you don’t know, and that’s why our last lesson yesterday was not so good. It was on the plan of salvation and that lesson requires a different vocab than all the other lessons. So it didn’t go so well because we could say the things Jose needed to hear because we didn’t have the previous knowledge that the Spirit could draw from. 
There is so much stuff I have learned already and it is so awesome! The Lord really does bring you down so he can build you up! But it sucks being at the bottom sometimes! I pray every day that the Lord will mold me to be the best missionary and the missionary he wants me to be!

It is so interesting to me that before my mission, sadly, I would be lucky to get a chapter or two in of the Book of Mormon, and that I would fall asleep reading it, but now I don’t have enough time to read it! The Book of Mormon is such a wonderful book and I love it! There are so many cool things that are taught but not taught in it that you have to figure out by being receptive to the Spirit! That is now my goal, to find the things that only the Spirit can teach me. 

Got my haircut this week. AWFUL. I have never felt the wind so strongly on me cabeza. I hate it, but hair grows.

A cool experience with prayer, the washing machines weren’t working and we needed to wash our laundry, so we said a prayer that the machines would work. And then they didn’t work when we tried them again, but then the repair-man came 2 minutes later! Not the answer we were expecting but it was an answer! Prayer is awesome!

One other cool experience this week was: I had to act like an investigator who was getting baptized on Sunday, but he went to a party and accidentally drank a lot. The missionaries had to figure out why I didn’t want to be baptized anymore. They started off asking normal questions and then they got to the ones inspired by the Spirit. It was so cool because I literally felt guilty and remorse for making the mistake. I think I felt that way because I said a prayer before asking God to allow me to be able to step into the shoes of this investigator and help the missionaries learn the lesson they needed to learn. It was awesome!

So sad that the Mexico City temple is closed for reconstruction, but we went to the visitors center and it was awesome! Christ is awesome and I am so grateful for him and la Expiación (atonement) that allows me to be clean again, because I have made my fair share of mistakes. But the feeling of being clean is amazing! 

Love you all!

Elder Porter

(NOTE: to see all of Drew's pictures, please visit the "Mission Photo's" page - link is located to your right!)


At the Mexico Visitors Center

Mexico Temple

Me and Elder Madsen

I love graffiti! and the city is full of it!