Week 2 of training-complete. Training is a very interesting assignment. When you first find out you are training, you think to yourself "Hey! I must be doing something right, eh?" A day or two later you realize how little you know and how little of an impact or success you can have on your own. You need divine help that only comes through humility. You are stretched to your limit day after day spiritually and mentally. You don't think you can do any more or go any further. But you do anyways. You might not have any visible success (number-wise), but you can come home and feel a spiritual confirmation that you did you best. You kept your covenants and you served as a sacred servant of the Lord should.
Something that has been in my mind the past few weeks is the need for spiritual power. You can be ridiculously eloquent, well taught and practiced, and the most confident missionary in the mission, but without spiritual power, you won't convert anybody. At best you may convince a few people. Spiritual power is the force behind anybody's conversion or any missionary's success. Miracles happen with that power. It is something that everybody needs to do everything they possibly can to get. Whether you are a missionary or not.
I have seen some remarkable things happen inside me the past months. After serving with Elder Hancock (who is amazing), and after having the assignment of training a missionary I have witnessed my nature begin to change. You develop a desire to talk to people not because it is your duty, but because you love them and know how important what you share is. You think back to what it must have been like in the Councils of Heaven, when we were all gathered together as spirit brothers and sisters. The great Plan of Happiness was presented to us and we all shouted and leaped for joy. All of our brothers and sisters were rejoicing right next to us. We were instructed more about the plan, and we all understood that some would fail. Some would fall short, be deceived, and not receive the happiness and peace that would have come from returning to our Father in Heaven's presence. Everybody understood this. But did the people we are searching for as missionaries ever think it would be them that would be lost..? As your understanding of the gospel increases your desire to share it expands as well. I am starting to feel it rather than just know it in my head. It is an amazing experience to be a part of. Having a brand new, untainted, faith-filled new missionary trusting me to train him right makes you put things in a proper perspective.
Elder Wendt is just great. He has strong faith and has a desire to work all day. We're working on improving teaching and finding skills mostly, as any new missionary would work on. Most people in our teaching pool have recently been baptized, so we're working on finding quite a bit lately. Going straight back to the basics instead of getting ahead of myself has been a good thing for me and my skills and development as well. We are doing a pilot-program to help the new missionaries learn the "Fundamentals" of missionary work. Focusing on different aspects of missionary understanding, work, teaching skills, etc. It’s a great review for me as well.
This past transfer our district boundaries were switched around, so my MTC companion (Elder Nash) is in my district now. We got to go on exchanges for the first time together this past week. It was one of the greatest days of my mission, to see how we have both learned and grown through our own trials and assignments. It was so great to work with him. We had a full day of finding and taught a few lessons out of it and found a really great Hindu lady who came to church this past week. She is very Hindu and quite rooted, but she is very receptive to the spirit, and she wants to keep coming and continue to learn. You never know what the spirit can do to people’s hearts and natures over time.
I am happy to be here training at this time. It’s really tough, but I'm growing and learning lots. Everything will work together for the better in the end.
-E. PORTER
Here is pic of Brampton Zone Conference
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