Monday, March 12, 2012

March 12, 2012

What a great week! Elder Hancock and I are seeing the Lords mercy. We are so busy with administrative stuff and running around the zone for exchanges that we don't have a ton of time in our own area. Our zone covers a huge geographical area; it takes around 2 hours to travel from one end to the other. It consists of mostly small cities (100,000 or less) with a 2 larger cities, Windsor (which is only separated from Detroit by a river) and London (where I'm serving). E. Hancock and I travel around the zone every week and work with the District Leaders for a day in their area. We get to see a lot, but we're pulled away from our own area as well. It’s been incredible to see the Lord pour out success in the time we have to work here. We literally find for 1/5 of the time that other missionaries are able to, but we are seeing lots of success. We literally don't have time to teach everyone, it’s incredible. The Lord has seen our diligence, obedience, and hard work prior to being here and now he is blessing us. I have never felt more fulfilled in my life. The past 3 weeks have literally been the most spiritually satisfying time of my entire life. I have never been happier, felt better about who I am and who I am becoming, or had more faith in Christ and in our Father's plan for us. There are 3 things I want to highlight today from the past week.

We are still working with two Chinese girls that we found our first few days together. (Fan and Peipei from mainland China.) Their faith has gone from absolutely nothing to begging us for things they can do in their life to feel more of the sprit. Their faith has grown, and their desire to be better people and do more for others has increased as they have learned to have kneeling prayers on a regular basis, study and learn from the Book of Mormon, and come to church in preparation for their baptism. They are set for next Sunday, but it may need to be pushed back a week due to some family concerns that have come up over the past few days. Hopefully the spirit will encourage them to move forward with making these big, positive changes in their lives! I am blessed to feel the love that Christ has for them on a daily basis. As we study, pray, and fast for our investigators, we are blessed to feel the overpowering care and love that Father has for them-what a tremendous blessing!

Last year when I was here, right after a session of general conference my zone leader pulled me aside and asked me to come teach a lesson to a non-member who had strolled into conference. I remember the lesson vaguely, and didn't think much of it after that. Once I got into London, I realized that the man who I had taught was baptized, has received the Melchizidec Priesthood, and is actively working towards serving a mission this summer! He comes teaching with us all the time and is one of the most incredibly righteous and motivated converts I've ever seen. He's been struggling with some past habits lately and some very difficult decisions he's needed to make. We sat down with him earlier this week and he requested a blessing. I was able to lay my hands on his head, and give him powerful counsel and promised from God himself. I have never given a blessing with such ease as I was able to on this occasion. I knew the words I spoke were not my own. There was power and the spirit was very strong. He was able to act on the counsel he received in the blessing and the promises that were made have come to pass. The Priesthood is real!!

One more cool experience from this past week-we were having a discussion from a man from Brazil, he's a strong Christian but has had some problems with the Book of Mormon. He hadn't given it adequate attention before judging what was in it as false. We felt prompted to read the book with him. There was a particular chapter that came to mind as we opened the book. As we read, I offered a silent prayer that the spirit would be able to come powerfully to testify that this is God's word. As my personal prayer closed, the spirit immediately, quickly, and powerfully entered the room. I had never felt it come that quickly or powerfully before. As we read the chapter the room was on fire. It was a sacred personal experience that reminds me when we ask for righteous things in faith that Father will grand us what we seek. Many blessings are made conditional on us asking for them.

I love my mission. I love the gospel. It is real. Don't slow down or break your covenants, and the Lord's promised blessings will come eventually.

Until next week,


Elder Porter

March 5, 2012

This work is amazing. Missionary efforts in London are doing very very well as we are watching many people prepare for baptism during this month of March. This past Friday my companion and I were at Zone Leader Council in Brampton. It was such a spiritually intense experience as we were able to discuss with the leadership of the mission the direction in which things need to be carried out. Being surrounded by the best of the best brings such a fantastic opportunity to learn and grow on a whole new level. The missionaries in this mission are of a remarkable caliber. I am amazed just by who they are.

With the assignment that I have right now, my companion and I do not have as much time to work in our own area as we normal would. We are busy doing reports and driving across the province some days. You would think that the work and good things in our area would slow down by us now working on them as much, but I've found that as we work as hard as we know how that the Lord allows us a chance to meet the standard of what we are expected to do. We are finding new investigators, teaching so much we don't have time to find very often, and helping multiple people prepare for baptism this month as well as next month. We have perfect unity, perfect focus, perfect balance between having fun and working, and perfectly divided teaching and finding. I have never worked this hard at anything in my entire life, and I feel happier right now than I ever have before. I have more fulfillment and enjoyment out of what I am doing now than I have ever felt. It is a tremendous blessing. I know the gospel is true and that this is the Lord's work.

As time has gone by quickly and as I have felt happier and more fulfilled than ever before, I have been taught a valuable lesson. Through the past couple months I've been praying and putting lots of effort into strengthening my love, passion, urgency, and desire for my mission. I have learned that as I focus on PEOPLE, than the love Christ and Heavenly Father have for them is allowed to flow through me. If I focus on how many lessons I will teach, and how many hours I will go tracting, and how many people we will try to get to church, you find temporary satisfaction in hitting your goals. You can feel good about yourself if you tracted for 20 hours in a week or found 3 new investigators. As I fast, pray, study, ponder, and work hard to lift these PEOPLE to have spiritual experiences and develop faith in Jesus Christ, everything falls into place. The focus isn't on these "activities" of hitting goals, but rather on the ultimate measure of success-"achievement" of fostering and growing one's faith in Christ. I have focused on real people more than I ever have before, and as I do so I open myself for revelation to help them progress towards baptism. Again, I am able to feel the love that God has for them flow through me. It has changed the way I view my mission, the gospel, and my own testimony.

Since I came into the area 2 weeks ago, we've have more success than I've ever had. The secret is love, unity, and pure desire to follow God. We have 2 baptisms lined up for this month that we found my second day here, and 1 more lined up for April. They are all students at the University here from China, so teaching is different from anything I've done in the past. London is a white and ripe place. Our faith is high, and we're seeing success and results.

YSA work is still different. Going to activities and lingering after church to build relationships with the members is honestly what brings most success, so it’s been a bit of a change in focus. We have strong unity with the branch and because of that, their fellowshipping is fantastic! It’s such a blessing to see the diversity of the Lords work as a young missionary.

The church is true!

Love,

Elder Porter