This week has actually
been really good for me! I have learned a lot about having faith in God and if
I do, he will help me a ton!
One thing that I am
wishing I did in school before coming out here is...pay attention in English
class. I never thought learning about direct and indirect objects would ever be
useful in my life. But when you are learning another language, it kind of
helps.
And I thought it would
be hard to learn an Asian language because the way you say a word changes the
meaning, well Spanish is the same too. Take the word for ingles, if you put the
emphasis on the "e" it means English but if you put it on the
"i" it means groins. Not a fun word to mess up!
Another thing I
realized, why Latinos usually have really messy and crappy houses. It’s because
they are in America! And no matter how crappy it seems to us, it is usually a
lot better than what they had in their home countries, which is also sad to
think about.
A sad fact, subway in
Indiana doesn’t do points, so I brought my subway card for nothing :(
The beginning of this
week was hard for me. I was just frustrated in myself for not learning as fast
as I would like. It is actually the first and only time I have cried on my
mission. I don’t want to do it again because crying is awful. But I think it
was on Wednesday I was eating lunch and I sat down and said a prayer on the
food and then I just said that I needed help. Then after lunch I laid down on
the couch and it turned into a really good conversation with God. I got the
feeling that everything would be ok, and the rest of the week has been
awesome!
On Wednesday we had an
awesome lesson with Mary, and we brought a member named Elba who is from Puerto
Rico. She is a super solid member but has some cool experiences, but that
wouldn’t be the best to share to a new investigator. So we were super worried
about having her come, but we did anyways. We went into the lesson and started
teaching the first half of the Plan of Salvation. Elba was so in tune with the
spirit that it was like having another missionary there! Mary prayed and knows
the Book of Mormon is true and says she will be baptized. But then she wanted
to go to her Jehovah’s Witness church on Sunday. I don’t know why because I was
like "you just said the Book of Mormon is true, so your church obviously
isn’t right" but go figure. She will come around.
Friday was zone
meeting, and I realized that I need to stop being afraid to speak in Spanish
because that doesn’t allow God to help me, because I am not exercising my faith
and allowing him to work through me. So it was exchanges after that meeting. I
was with my District leader Elder Wolverton (who incidentally I met his dad in
4th grade because he came to my class and signed a book that I have) and I just
opened my mouth and trusted in God. I understood more that day than I have ever
before. It was awesome! It made me realize that I need the spirit always to do
this work, so I have been trying to do every little thing to have the spirit
and not do any little thing that would drive it away, because I am wholly
reliant on Him.
While on exchanges
there was a cool experience with this guy who kind of wanted to Bible bash with
us, but he was just confused about what we believe and didn’t say anything
really that contradicted what we believe. But at the end we asked if we could
leave him with a prayer and he said he wanted to say it. He is this little
short man with a red beard and scraggly hair. He reaches up and puts his hands
on our shoulders, and begins to pray. I thought he was going to ask God to like
kill us or something, but it was really cool because he asked God to bless us
and help us in our studies and in our daily work. It was actually a really
powerful prayer and I could feel the spirit really strong!
Another thing we went to
contact this guy who Elder Wolverton had contacted previously, and we go and
knock and a young guy answers and says that the guy we are looking for isn’t
there. We start walking back to our bikes and he comes back out of the house
and says that he is actually a member and was baptized in Honduras and then
could find the church here. So we gave him the address and stuff, but sadly he
wasn’t there on Sunday. But it was still a cool experience.
On Saturday there was
an emergency preparedness fair and a blood drive. I was going to donate blood.
I sat in the chair and they stick me with the needle and stuff. It felt normal
for a second because I always feel a little weird at first. But them my vision
started going silvery, and my hearing was like I was on an airplane, and I was
freezing/burning at the same time! I said a quick prayer and then called for
help. They tilted me back, had me cough, which was weird, and put a fan on me
and I felt a lot better. After I was done I went back with the other missionaries
there and they all said that when they had me cough they thought I was going
straight to the celestial kingdom. They said I looked way bad in the chair, and
I was super pale when I went to the bathroom after. But I’m still alive. :)
Super good week and I
hope this next week is awesome too!
Love you all!
Love
Elder Porter
 |
| His mom bought us matching ties! |
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| Outside Notre Dame Stadium |
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