March 28, 2011

What an absolutely fantastic week! The past 7 days have been filled with miracle after miracle. I am slowly learning how the heavens work in accordance with your righteous desires, diligent prayer and fasting, and motivated action to fulfill your goals that are in-line with our Fathers will.

Our area nearly reached standard of excellence this week! 2 weeks ago at Specialized Training (similar to Zone Conference), our Mission President told us how it is, and boldly proclaimed that the London Zone is only operating at 1/3 of its capacity, and that we all had to "elevate our standard". Wow. Talk about a slap in the face. I can promise you that I've not been slacking off one bit. Not even a little bit. But there IS more that I have been impressed I should be doing. President Brower also left us with a commitment to re-commit ourselves this week. To re-read our mission call letters, and recommit with heavenly Father to do all we should be doing. What a wonderful experience. Due to our increased motivation and effort, mixed with diligent prayer and fasting, we were able to see our area pick up quite a bit. We got 3 new investigators this week, with plans to receive another 3 this coming week. We doubled our investigator lessons taught, and committed 1 person to baptism during the end of April. Simply great things are happening. It’s such a testimony builder to see the Lord waiting at your command to hand you blessings if you are willing to do the required work to receive them.

We were able to get a hold of my very first investigator who was to be baptized, but disappeared the day before her baptism. We've talked with her, and she is willing to work her way towards baptism. No specific date yet, but we are working towards it. We were able to have a miracle contact with a lady this past week-

We were walking through a neighborhood on Wednesday, and I saw a lady on the other side of the street waiting at a bus stop. I looked to cross the street, and I saw her bus coming. I only had about 15 seconds to talk to her before her bus came! So I sprinted across the street, ran up to her, word barfed something to the extent of..."Hi! My friend and I are missionaries! We helping people know Christ, and we show people how to be happy and find peace! Can we come back?"....Talk about a super random and awkward contact! But nonetheless!!...she said yes. She pointed to the building she lived in and said she lived on the top floor. And that was that. We went back the next day, taught an inspired Restoration mixed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and committed her to be baptized. AWESOME. Cool experience.

I'm out of time, but all these things really make you see how involved Father is in the work of building up His kingdom. It’s absolutely humbling to even be here. I love my mission and I'm sad I've only got 19.5 months left.

Lesson of the week...

Don't let a day go by without striving to “ELEVATE YOUR STANDARD"

Love,

E. PORTER

March 21, 2011

Hey there. This week was a bit of a challenging one. We weren't able to teach any investigators due to 6 re-scheduled or bombed appointments. Frustrating. These people are going to be in big trouble for not being accountable. It’s so sad to see people literally fail at why they are here on earth, and see it happen right in front of your eyes. We've been told that we sadly teach more people to condemnation than we do to salvation. Sad thought, but a lot of the time it is true.

But other than the slow-ish week, there ARE many good and promising things coming up in the near future. Our Mission President has challenged each companionship in the mission to achieve 5 new investigators this week. He's given us a promise that as we prepare ourselves, it will be possible for every companionship in the whole mission. It’s been pretty cool to pray for this promise all week, and now get to the beginning of the week it’s supposed to happen, and see how everything has been lined up for this achievement to be possible. I know it'll happen. We've got 2 promising families. Which is probably the most exciting news of my whole mission thus far. We also miraculously got in contact with my first investigator who was to be baptized. She wants to see us again, so it looks like a miraculous recovery in process!

Despite things being tough physically, mentally, and emotionally lately, I am starting to see how the Lord may be preparing me for the things that are to come. I gave a blessing last night, and in the blessing I was directed to say "Be mindful and remember that your Father in heaven will place you in certain situations, and put you through specific things so that you may be molded, chiseled, and refined into the person you are to become." Isn't this so true for all of us as Father's children? Completely understanding that sentence will give you a perspective on life that will make you invincible! It’s important as members, or as missionaries that we DO always remember that God has a purpose and a plan for us. We are his full time work. He has no other distractions, hobbies, or jobs that get in the way. Our very creator is 100% involved in leading and guiding each one of us by the hand to where we are supposed to be. It’s great to feel the spirit bear witness that this is true. Knowing this is the ONLY thing we could ever hope to learn, achieve, or obtain to give us legitimate, true, lasting peace and happiness. I'm very grateful for this opportunity I have to serve my Master with all my time and energy. I'm grateful for his prophet to show us the way. I'm grateful for evidence of this truth, the Book of Mormon. I'm grateful for the guidance and direction is provides us with. I know that our Father's love is a very REAL thing. Connecting to the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only real way to find eternal progression. I know these things to be true, and I am grateful to be blessed with the strong conviction and testimony that I do have. I know this week we will be lead to achieve our goals. Strive to go past your best.

The greatest missionary I ever knew always said...

"NO BAD DAYS, NO REGRETS, AND NOTHING LEFT IN THE END"

How true it is.

I LOVE you all so much. Keep working to go past your best. ELEVATE YOUR STANDARD!

With much love and sincerity,

Elder Porter

March 7, 2011

Well, another week gone by already! Today I was looking at the calendar I have by my desk, and I realized that I have been away on my mission for ALMOST 4 MONTHS. I just stood there and was confused for probably a whole minute, because there was no way I could have been gone that long. WEIRD. I do feel like I am close to completely in missionary mode now. Just taking it one day at a time and trying to do all I can do focus on building up the kingdom. The winters and slow and tough here, but things are still going on. We're only teaching a few investigator lessons a week, but I'm sure it'll speed up as the weather gets warmer.

I got my new companion this past Tuesday! His name is Elder Williams! He was last serving in Tillsonburg. He has been out for 15 month...so a LOT longer than my trainer. He is our district leader for the west/south side of London. There are 4 companionships in our district, so it’s a big one. There is London 2nd (us), London 3rd (sisters), London Chinese, and the YSA Branch (Zone Leaders). He is a really good guy. Really, really goofy. Sometimes a bit too goofy, but he is fun to be around, and he is a real good guy with a good heart. We're getting along just fine after almost the end of week 1 together.

This past week he and I did tons and tons of finding. We had 30 hours of finding, many of which were in the rain, freezing rain, and snow. The first part of the week was VERY productive. We were lead by the spirit, and got a LOT of potential investigators. We've been hanging out at a busy-ish intersection and picking people off. We'll hopefully be able to get 3 new investigators this coming week. It will be nice to slowly fill our teaching pool so we can begin to do what we are called to do, which is to teach! We met a really nice couple with a few kids that seem promising with the little contact we have had with them thus far, but I'll fill you in on what actually happens this coming week.

Funny story for the week. Elder Williams and I are contacting people back home. It was about 8:15, so we didn't have a ton of time left. We saw these two 20ish looking year old guys looking kind of sketchy together having a smoke. Its funny how all your fear leaves concerning talking to sketchy people. In a normal situation, I probably would have crossed the street to get away from them. But I contact them and we start talking about who God actually is. They were both potty mouths and were smoking something funny smelling, but they invited us to come up to their room to have a chat. We didn't feel bad about it, so we agreed. So went up and sat in his apartment and started having a decent conversation about why we are on earth, why bad things happen to innocent people, and who God is. About 10 minutes in, the guy pulls a beer out of his pant pocket and starts drinking it. We tried to keep him on track but about 10 minutes after that he was acting high as a kite and pretty drunk. It went from really normal to really weird, really fast. We started trying to convince us we should come party with him tonight. It was actually really funny, but I felt like we were starting to waste time so we tried to leave. He pretty much forced us to let him add us on Facebook. Then he let us leave, ha. Weird experience. Really weird.

Anyways. I am really grateful to be able to be a misisonary. I feel blessed and honored to be able to do what I'm doing. Feeling the spirit so frequently is quite a marvelous gift and blessing. I cannot wait for the upcoming time I have to serve the Lord with all I have.