Sending Letters to the MTC

Matt will be leaving the MTC on Monday, December 6 at 4:00 am!  Matt suggests that you either wait to mail him letters until he gets his Canadian address, or send them through "Dear Elder", or another similar website that will deliver the letters daily.  I have used "MTCDeliver.com" successfully.  Thanks to everyone sending him letters!

The letter he sent today is posted below.

November 30, 2010

Hello everybody! The MTC is just great. We learn SO much every single day. It is like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant. There is wayyy too much to take it. The spirit is sooo strong every single minute that you are focusing. I love it. I can honestly feel myself being taught by the spirit, and I can feel myself every day becoming more and more prepared for the real mission field.

Most of the time we have here is either class time, or personal/companion study time. The classes are great, and I feel like I am learning an unbelievable amount through my study time. I am pretty much reading straight through the BOM, and it is so different and great reading it with the unmeasureable amount of influence from the Holy Ghost. You get so much more out of it if you have your purpose in mind.

Thanksgiving was fantastic. Elder Holland came and spoke to all the missionaries, and it was amazing! We were pretty close. Me and Elder Nash get reserved seating for all the meetings and devotionals because he is an international missionary. Its great. He said something that I thought was really cool...He said if you are always striving to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way, then there are litterally no limits to what can happen. Anything is possible. Just think about it! It is so true. We are devoting every personal and earthly thing we have here to the Lord, so why in the world would he not work miricles all the time for us? I know without a doubt that if you show the Lord that you are striving to serve him with everything you have, then there are NO limits. None at all. I am so glad that I figured this out so soon and understand it so well. I think it will make my mission be so much better.

On an unhappy note, we had Elder Tippetts from out district go home late last week. He just left. We could tell he was definately struggling with the idea of being a missionary, but it was still sad to see him leave. We almost had another Elder in our district go home with him, but me and my companion talked to him and commited him to stay, and he is doing a lot better now. He'll be fine if he always focuses on his purpose as a missionary.

Elder Nash and I are pretty much unstopable. I prayed so so much to have a good companion while I was here, and Elder Nash is an answer to all my prayers. He wants to work so hard, and so do I. We are both leaders for our whole district, and we teach amazingly well together. We have both figured out how to teach with the spirit so so early in our missions, and we can both bring it in whenever we feel like we need to. It is so great. Even teaching other missionaries is such a great experience.

OH! I almost forgot. Yesterday I had one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was probably the strongest I have felt the spirit, ever.....So here at the MTC you have something called the TRC. Which stands for Teaching Resource Center. We do it once a week, every Monday. They have volunters that come and pretend to be real investigators. They tell us that most are active LDS members just giving of their time, but occasionally they get less-active or non-members that come there to be taught. We all thought that it probably never happens that way, because it would just be too much hastle to go through. So yesterday we had a TRC, and we thought we were going to be teaching this lady again named Kate Barlow. The first time we met with her we just discussed prayer and how God loves her as an individual. We commited her to pray for God's love and fore peace. So we went to the TRC, knocked on the door, expecting Kate to answer, and guess what? Kate didn't answer. It was a NON-MEMBER kid from my high school that graduated a year earlier than me. WOAH. Yeah. Wasn't expecting that. He didn't act like he recognized me, so we went in and were kinda confused at first, and then I just started the into to the first lesson which is on the restoration and Joseph Smith and the basics of our religion. I was freaking out because I knew that this wasn't practise anymore, this was a REAL missionary lesson! I was praying so ridiculously hard that it would go well. I knew we needed to spirit with us or we were done for. We went on to teach about how God the Father loves us all as individuals, and how we can feel his love if we ask to feel it. We continued to tell the story of the First Vision, and the spirit was stronger than I have ever felt in my whole life. As I described when God visited Joseph Smith, it was unbelievable. I wasn't saying words from me, I was literally saying words that were being put into my mouth. The kid we were teaching started crying because the spirit was so strong, and he took is SO well!!!! It was the greatest experience EVER to actually teach someone that I knew. It was absolutely amazing. He told us that after our lesson and the experience we had that he could not deny the truth of what we taught and testified of. He told us that he had a meeting with the missionaries, but they had to cancel, so they sent him to the MTC to be taught by missionaries in training. It was such a miricle that I had that opportunity to teach a REAL lesson being a missionary less than two weeks. I can't even describe the amazingness of what happened. The spirit was so ridiculously strong, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. He was crying all through the closing prayer as well. It was soo cool. I am a real missionary! Haha, and after the lesson we were walking back and I told Elder Nash all about everything, and he was freaking out with me, it was great. So that was absolutely amazing.

I love you all, and miss you so much. I will have more than 30 minutes of computer time once I am in Canada. This is my last P-Day from the MTC, so make sure when anybody replies to my letters this week, they wait to send it until they have my Canadian apartment address.

Love you all!

Elder Porter

Tuesday, November 23, 201

Hello everybody! Things here at the MTC are going great. It is Tuesday, which is my P-Day every week. I can only write emails and letters on P-Day, so this is pretty exciting time. My companions name is Elder Nash, and he is from IRELAND! He lives on the Dingle Peninsula (mom please fix my spelling). He has a pretty thick accent and everything, so it is wayyy awesome. He is a really good worker, which is exactly what I wanted. I made sure to pray really hard for a companion who wanted to work and do a good job, and not mess around at all or waste any time. A lot of missionaries here just don't get it yet, and waste way too much time. It is really discouraging sometimes to see that not everybody cares. We are both leaders for our district, and we really do set a good example for everyone. My companion was called as District Leader the second day here, so that’s good. We do work and make a really good team. We both have learned to teach by the spirit in the first week! So we do really well during the practice investigators and stuff. I love teaching, and I feel like I am going to be great once I get into the system in Canada and everything. Exciting times!

Our schedule is unbelievably packed. We have class almost all day, and then personal and companion study times. You don't even have time to think of home or feel bad for yourself, which is really nice. I have been praying real hard to be able to realize the responsibility of my calling, so I can have an unstoppable desire to focus. And guess what...it worked! I have been able to focus great. My homesickness and missing people doesn't matter, because the Lord has simply blessed me to not think of them during the day. It is all working out wonderfully. It is so great to hear from my close friends and get letters from family. Make sure to keep sending them! It really makes your whole day when you receive a letter or a package. You asked if the schedule is tiring...and yes. It is absolutely exhausting. You don't have ANY extra time at all; your whole day from the time you get up to the time you go to bed is packed. Which is good I suppose. Mother, you asked if I hung up all my suits, and the answer is yes, haha. They are all hung up. And if I may say so myself, I am a super attractive missionary! Haha my Euro Suit is freakin good looking and I love it to death. I'll try to send pictures once I get everything figured out. Our Saturdays are just like any normal day. The schedule is exactly the same I believe. And yes, we get to go to the temple on P-Days. This is my first P-Day, and we have them every Tuesday. So I can respond to everything on Tuesday. And luckily we do get enough time to respond to most things. I even had some time to write some real quality decent sized letters, so that helped relieve some stress for sure. You asked about the food, and it is sometimes super good and sometimes super bad! It is all you can eat, and I have gained 6 pounds already. So that is interesting, haha!! On Thanksgiving we just have a bunch of extra firesides and service and stuff I believe. I'm not really sure.

So the first week here has been pretty good. The first few days were extremely lonely and long. Things are getting WAY better though. The days all blend together, and the days are going way faster. I'm already wanting to get out there in Canada though...I feel like I have learned tons already! Elder Nash and I are both going to the same mission in Canada...so that is nice. Maybe we will even be companions again someday! Well, time is running out, so I'm going to get going. Tell everybody that I love them, and make sure they keep sending letters! Haha, they really are soooo exciting to get.

Love you all! Thanks for all your support

Elder Porter

Farewell Talk!

For those of you who requested to see my talk, here it is!

Good morning brothers and sisters! I would like to first thank you all for coming out today. It really does mean so much to me to have so many of my closest friends and family members here to support me. I’m not able to thank you enough. I also need to thank my many leaders that I have had throughout my youth in this ward. You have had a bigger influence on me than shows. You have all been such great examples to me, and helped shape me into the young man that I am today.

As I began my early preparation for this talk, I went through subject after subject, trying to decide what I should attempt to teach you about today. As I was trying to decide what to focus on, I quite quickly came to the realization, that I frankly don’t know much of anything. I don’t know enough about any specific gospel principle or life lesson to teach any of you very much on my own. I simply don’t know much. The only way me or you will get any substance out of any talk I, or anybody else can give, is if we both have the spirit with us. So it only made sense to me that that is what I should speak on this afternoon.And for this reason I pray that we can both learn by the quiet promptings and specific whisperings and instructions that Heavenly Father has for each and every one of us, if we are willing to search and listen for them.

Just after we are baptized into the church, in our confirmation prayer, we are told to “Receive the Holy Ghost.” This is such an amazing gift that we are able to receive. By that statement we are told that it is our responsibility and privliage to always have His Spirit to be with us…And every week, as we partake of the sacrament we renew our baptisimal covenants through the sacramental prayer, in which the words are said..”That they may always have his spirit to be with them…”

I had a good friend give a farewell talk just a few weeks ago, and as he brought up that exact point in his talk, it really hit me. And since then, I have gained an even stronger testimony that if you honestly and sincerely strive to always remember the Savior, you will be blessed with the gifts and comforting power and feelings of the Holy Ghost.

As I have made a true change in my life to always try to remember Jesus Christ, my testimony has been strengthened. Through constantly feeling the Sprit, I have come to know, and I testify that God lives and loves each and every one of us. He loves all of his children, and is anxious to support us in our practical and spiritual challenges.

I have recently felt the power that God will bestow upon you if you are worthy, and seek for it. And as I am leaving on my mission in the next few days, I have been wanting and will need all the help I could possibly receive.

In D&C 42:15-16, it says…”Teach the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my spirit. And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken…”

What an amazing promise…”Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power. As a soon-to-be missionary, this statement means so much to me.

I know that God truly wants to help us, and that if we continually strive to sanctify, and keep ourselves worthy, that he will endow us with power, and he will, through the spirit, send us personal revelation and help guide us as we sincerely and humbly search for Him. I know this because I have lived it, and it does work, and we truly are able to become clean by the amazing gift and power of the atonement which any single one of us are able to activate if we so desire.

One of the only things Heavenly Father asks of us before we will abundantly feel the spirit, is that we live our lives worthily to accept this gift. We need to earn his trust by living worthy.

Parents, would you let your unresponsible, young, or immature child use or borrow one of your most prized or precious possessions? I would assume that the answer is certainly no. We as Heavenly Father’s children must strive, and have a desire to understand the magnitude of such a wonderful and powerful gift as the Holy Spirit, and God, in his love, is willing to let us use the limitless power of, if we prove ourselves worthy. We should strive to be spiritually mature by doing the little things that Christ and Heavenly Father ask of us. Daily scripture and gospel study, morning and evening prayer, a goal to perform small and simple acts of service every day, paying our tithing, and striving to always remember Christ our Savior by partaking of the sacrament every week. By doing these simple things, not only will you strengthen your own character, come closer to God, and obtain more knowledge, but you will have an increase in spiritual strength, and you will be proving to God that you understand, and that you are wanting, and worthy of the boundless power of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

I believe that sincerely striving for the gifts of the spirit is just as important as being worthy of them. You can be worthy for the Holy Ghost, but unless you are striving for, and want the Holy Spirit, you won’t be able to feel, or use it very often at all.

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma showed us the need for a spiritual witness when he bore his testimony to the wicket people of Zarahemla. As a young man, Alma was converted after being chastised by an angel of God. He had beheld and experienced physical evidence of God and heaven, but listen to how he describes his knowledge of God in his testimony…

…”Behold, I say unto you, they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God, Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And I know I do know of myself that they are true, for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit, and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me…”

So even though Alma had seen physical evidence with his own eyes, it still took the convincing power of the Holy Ghost to give him the burning testimony that me, and so many other people are striving to obtain.

In Moroni 10:5 it says…”And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”…

In Alma’s testimony, notice that he did not give one ounce of credit to his heavenly visitor for the reasons he chose to build up and come unto God’s church. He stated that he believed in God because he had a desire to know these things for himself, and he acted upon that desire. He did ask of God weather these things were true or not. And to obtain and build up a testimony similar to Alma’s, you must do the same thing. You need to sincerely ask.

In Matthew 7;7-8 it reads…”Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For everyone that asketh recieveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened…”

I testify that if you follow the words of Matthew, and the example of Alma, that you will receive a true, burning testimony of the love and power of God. If you sincerely act on your desire, you will find what you are looking for.

So once we are worthy, once we have a desire, and once we act on our desire to obtain a testimony, and receive the full power and gifts of the Holy Ghost, we will be eledgible for more meaningful and frequent personal revelation.

In a recent General Conference, Julie Beck gave a talk concerning personal revelation. In her talk, she testified that (quote) “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life.” (unquote)

Revelation is communication from God to His children. And in my life thus far, has been debatably the most valuable spiritual gift given to me personally.

If you continually receive guidance from the Spirit by keeping yourself worthy and striving to do better, you will radiate the Light of Christ. The Light of Christ is exactly what the words imply…enlightenment, knowledge, and an uplifting, ennobling, persevering influence that will eventually grow within you and come because of your true intent to follow and be like Jesus Christ. Through living your life like this, you will be endowed with power as I spoke about earlier. You will achieve a constant spiritual state of mind where you will almost constantly be receiving personal revelation. I know that if we live like this, that we will always be acting in God’s name. We will be doing his will. And that is exactly what my goal in life is.

-Testimony

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen