Voy a tener una pinata a cada fiesta que tengo por el resto de mi vida!!!!!

This week was pretty good, not as good as last week, but we had some pretty cool miracles this week. 

So on Tuesday we didn’t have anything till that night, so we were going around stopping by people and knocking doors and no one answered. It was super depressing. Then we are going to a different house a little ways away so we hop in the car and drive over. We park in front of this house and there is a man that comes out of the shed looking kind of ornery, so Elder Wolverton asked him if it was ok that we parked here. Then he asked us if we were LDS and we said yes. He goes I have been waiting for you guys, come in I need your help. So turns out he was in the church till he was 15 and then he did some stuff that he shouldn’t have done and went inactive. His father used to be a bishop an all that. So then he ended up in prison for 18 years for drug abuse. He got out and got married in California. Then he moved to Indiana to get away from all bad influences. He then found out a couple years ago that his liver was failing from alcohol abuse. He was on the transplant list but he always passed the transplant by when it was his so someone else could have the liver. But now his liver is in the last stages of failure. He has been clean from alcohol for about 5 years, but he still has smoking problems. He also has a super big hernia in his stomach that he showed us that was super gross!!! But he told us that last week he prayed to God that he would send the missionaries to him again so he could get back on the correct path. He said that he was so excited when we pulled up in front of his house! So we gave him another Book of Mormon and read some scriptures with him. Super cool guy. Oh btw his name is Charles. 

We also had another lesson with Martha Bueno (yes her last name is good) at a Taco Bell. She is still super solid! But sadly she got a job that she had to work this Sunday so she couldn’t go to church. But her husband is coming back from Mexico so that’s exciting!

We went on exchanges this Friday and I went with my district leader Elder Groseclose. Super awesome day! We had non stop lessons from 2:00 on. We taught nine lessons that day which was super cool!!

On Saturday we had a party with the branch for Easter and I decided that I’m going to have like 6 piñatas at every party I have from now on! It was so much fun! We had 4 piñatas and it was just a blast! Hispanics really know how to make parties great! A member told me that American parties are boring and in Spanish they are more called a "convivio" which means like a get together. When she first came to the US and someone said we are going to have a party she was super excited, but then super disappointed when it was just everyone sitting down ha ha. 

Yesterday we had another lesson with Celso. He is still having job problems and got a temporary job in Ohio roofing some huge house so he wasn’t able to come to church. But when we were teaching him he told us a little bit of how he came to the US. So he was coming from Mexico to Houston Texas in a van with a whole bunch of people and they were in the middle of nowhere when the police pulled them over. The driver told them all to run and only him and two other people got away. Now they were stuck in the middle of the desert without any supplies. So Celso prayed to God to help him through this and that if he did he would be his servant for the rest of his life. Now he knows that meeting the missionaries was the first step in the fulfillment of his promise. Super awesome! I just hope, no I pray, that he can find a job that he doesn’t have to work on Sundays. I would ask all of you to pray for him that he can find a job that will allow him to come to church. Also something else cool is that he hasn’t drunk coffee for 6 days now!

SO if you guys would just please pray for him that would be FABULOUS!!

Love you all!

Elder Porter

No quiero estar en casa por mas que tres horas!!

This week was good again. Had pretty good success too. 

On Monday we went really weird and decided to teach lessons on P-day. We taught straight from 4:30 to the end of the day. But it was super cool cuz they were super good lessons. We taught Celso again, he is so close to baptism. We kinda have a sad blessing in disguise, his job went weird and so he doesn’t have one anymore, but now he is able to come to church every week! We walked with him to church yesterday again, tried to teach him a little bit of English ha ha. But then we also had a lesson with Martha Bueno. Super good. She has a really good fellow-shipper in one of the English wards that helps her along a lot.

So on Thursday my comp was sick. Most AWFUL day ever!! First and last time I want to stay in all day! I went a little crazy! Luckily I barely caught whatever sickness he had so that was good. Thank goodness for essential oils to keep you healthy.

On Friday we went to a wedding of 2 of our new investigators (no not a wedding for baptism, it was planned before we met them). It was just a super informal thingy in their dining room. Really makes me appreciate the "castles" that we get to be married in, and that we can be married for time and all eternity!

Sunday we had 6 investigators at church again: Celso, Martha, and the Molina Family. Super cool when in gospel principles Martha leans over to me and says, "Me siento bien contenta aqui." Which means I feel really happy or good here. Super awesome!!!! 

Other than that it was a really good week again :) Love having success and solid investigators!

Love

Elder Porter

Esta semana fue la mejor que he tenido!

This week has been completely awesome!! Just for starters we had 6 investigators at church yesterday! 

So funny and traumatizing story. There was this door we knocked on and the man (Jose) let us right in. He was super happy to see us.  We walked in and there wasn’t very much furniture. Just a lawn chair and a tiny T.V., with some magazine cutouts of celebrities like Katie Perry and Marylyn Monroe. Right when I saw these I thought, "this guy is a porn addict," don’t’ know why I thought that but I did.  He then told us he admired Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then he told us to ask him any question about Mormons and he could give us the best answer. He started talking about the Mormon bible and then Elder Wolverton asked him to give us the real name of it. He couldn’t remember!!! Then he said he tricked us. Then he went off about just a bunch of random stuff. Then I happened to glance to the left into the "dining room" but there wasn’t like a table or anything for dining. But right on the wall was a big picture of a naked lady. MIND BLOWN!! So the whole time we are talking to this guy I’m not glancing over to the left. Then he proceeds to tell us that he was Catholic until he was 13 then he got baptized 7th day Adventist, but that he knew one day one of his descendants would be baptized for him into our church and he would be saved. So we were like, "ummmmm" then we started talking about the commandments and keeping them and stuff. Then Elder Wolverton asked about not committing adultery. Then he pointed right at the poster and said what about that!? Jose said ,"Oh that’s my cousin." And then Elder Wolverton (who could see into the bathroom, I couldn’t) said "and the one in the bathroom is your cousin too?" the man then went off about how the Sistine chapel has naked people all over the walls and the pope looks at them every day. I was like, "You aren’t even Catholic anymore!!!!" Then I brought up Adam and Eve and how when they ate the fruit they saw that they were naked and had to cover themselves up. His response, "We have a Judeo-Christian tradition of women having to be clothed." Needless to say it went downhill and we pretty much just told him he didn’t understand anything and walked right out. Told other missionaries and they had run into him too. WACKOOO! 

Went on exchanges with elder Wright this week. Had some fun watching 5+ fire trucks fight a fire in an apartment! Super cool but no one got hurt :) Talked to some people and ate tamales :) 

So on Saturday we had a lesson with this lady named Estela and she wasn’t there when we went, so we called her and she said she was at her friend’s house who was having some sudden health problems. We asked if she needed a blessing and turns out the friend was a less active member named Rosa. So we went over and she said she had been praying for help but never thought of us, and then we called Estela. So that was cool. She said that she wants to come back to the church and this might be a sign that she needs to, Estela said, "Um ya it is" so that was cool!

Yesterday after church we had a super good lesson with a referral named Patricia and David. Brought a member and had a super cool restoration lesson :)

Overall a super good week! :)

Love

Elder Porter

Exchange with Elder Wright this week

I'm telling ya, bunnies are the way!

Tuvimos un investigador a la iglesia este Domingo :)

So this week has been good. We have a super solid investigator named Celso. We stopped by him a couple times last week, and we said if he doesn’t answer this time we are dropping him. Then he answered the door, but where we usually met was flooded with water and it was super cold so he was like we can’t meet. But then he asked us if we could just sit in our car and talk about the stuff the other Elders had left him. He had read the entire Plan of Salvation pamphlet! He knows he needs to come to church and be baptized, but his work doesn’t let him have Sundays off, nor does he have a set schedule, so we couldn’t set a meeting for him. But then he called us the next day to come over and teach him. During the lesson his phone kept making some funny noises, but it wasn’t really a distraction so I wasn’t worried. But at the end of the lesson he told us that he had his wife in Honduras on the phone the whole time listening in! Then we taught him again the next day and he said he was coming to church if he could get a ride; but he didn’t have any church clothes and needed a ride to the store to go buy some. We couldn’t find him a ride, but there were some slacks in the back of our car that someone had left that fit him, and I gave him a white shirt. He came to church and during Sunday school he answered almost all of the questions perfectly, and a girl looked over at me and said "WOW" he is so awesome!

We also tracted into this couple, (English speaking) and we were able to teach them a little bit. They were so ready to listen to us. Their names are Demitris and Linda. Linda is actually Hispanic, but he is super black. They were super excited to have us over. They said that it was a sign from God that we knocked on their door. I love this area already! 

Other than that we just stopped by a lot of formers this week. 

Yesterday we had a conference called, "Why I Believe," and it was super cool to hear new converts bear their testimonies. 

Love

Elder Porter

Mom’s corner:

I asked him about his new companion and his new area – this is all I got.  Another companion from Utah – but not Utah County this time.  Not very reassuring on his area being safe; but he is in the Lord’s hands, and I’m confident that he is safe J

Elder Wolverton is from St George. Indy is a lot bigger than Salt Lake. Ummm safe.........sure :) I haven’t seen anything sketchy in any of my areas, but they are supposedly dangerous haha. The apartment isn’t bad; I liked the one in Seymour better though.

Angie, Sis Howard, Elder Limb, Me, Sis Hathcock

(I asked about his three fingers and he said, "It's West Ma:)"  Three fingers make a "W"

I think we would be more successful if we all had baby bunnies in our pockets :)

Estoy en la cuidad de Indianapolis.

So got transferred to the city of Indianapolis. I am now in the White River 2 Branch. I am now with Elder Wolverton. He was my first district leader when I was up in South Bend. He has got 3 more months left in his mission. I am excited to learn from his experience. 

It was really sad to leave people down in Seymour. I hate goodbyes with a passion! I love making new friends and meeting new people, but I hate saying goodbye to them. Carlos and Elizabeth were the hardest to say goodbye to. 

A blessing that we have received for this transfer is that we have a full time car! So I went from walking everywhere to having a car! Whoot whoot!

We have been going by a lot of former investigators. Geez there are a ton! There are 3 binders just full of their teaching records. But a really cool experience that we had was we went to stop by a former and a lady answered the door. She said "Mormons?!" and I was like, "Oh boy here we go," but she came out and she proceeded to tell us that she used to meet with the missionaries but she couldn’t stop smoking. But that now she wanted to meet with us again, and to have her boyfriend from Costa Rica listen in too because they are on a search for religion. So that is super cool Her name is Alexandria btw.

There is also this kid named Kevin. He is nine and his mom is a less active member, and her sister is super active. We are teaching Kevin and he is super excited to be baptized this month. We taught the plan of salvation and he just understood it perfectly. We also had a good talk with his mom (Maria) and she is a super nice lady, and just needs a little push to come back to church.

Yesterday we stopped and talked to this super cool black guy named Dwain. He was in prison for drugs and stuff. But then he turned his life around and has three kids now and is trying to work with people in the inner city to better their lives and not fall into the trap that he did. I got a pic with him. He also has super cool dreds/braids that I wish I could have!

Other than that, and that we got like 6 inches of snow yesterday, everything is going good.

Love

Elder Porter

Saying Goodbye to Carlos & Elizabeth

This is the Super Cool black guy!

Note to self:  Dish soap does not work in the dishwasher - bahaha