January 10, 2011

Hello hello hello.

Jeeze. This week has been super up and down. Being a missionary is unreal. The highs are pretty high, and the lows are pretty low. There came a time this past week where I was about at my breaking point. My companionship was having some problems, we were working long past our expected hours and having no success, it was very cold and wet and we were tired and hungry and discouraged. I'm still new so I am stuck not being fully adjusted, and things were just tough. I had a thought that we should go seek advice from a man in our ward who is a straight up stud. He has been a councilor to the Mission President for the past 2 Presidents. He is so solid. We went and visited him and he instantly knew something was wrong with us, so he simply offered to give us blessings. I know the power of the priesthood is so real. The blessing turned around the whole entire week. I know I am working my hardest and that is simply all that the Lord expects. As a missionary, I am simply here to act as a voice of warning and invitation. It is frankly none of my business weather the people I talk to accept my message or not. I know my personal progress is moving along as it should, but I wish it could move faster. I wish I could learn faster, catch on quicker, and be more effective. Arg.

So this week is the last week of my first transfer in the mission field. CRAZY. Time goes by so fast when you are focused. In one week from now, I will be exactly 1/12 of the way done with my mission. That is crazy. It makes me wish I had longer here. The time really is so, so short. It makes you want to do better and be more motivated while you can. I can feel the prayers; they honestly, honestly help so, so much.

I am very blessed here to have a SUPER obedient mission. Elder Ballard was here a few months ago and told us this is one of the most obedient missions in the world. There are almost zero problems because of obedience issued. The worst thing I have heard in the past 5 weeks is a missionary getting on facebook for a few minutes. Haha, so we are for the most part all where we should be. We are receiving blessings for it, and miracles happen across Western Ontario every single day.

I love you all so much, thank you for everything.

With much love,

Elder Porter