Sister Porter and Sister Black

This week was a humbling experience because of the trust given to me to be companions with Sister Black. She is probably one of the sweetest missionaries in the entire Philippines and I'm so grateful to learn from her. She is already giving feedback on how to help our investigators to help them progress.

It is really hot in Bauang right now and the days and schedule take adjusting to because it really is hard work! Missionary work is more draining and challenging mentally then physically. Tagalog is definitely is also hard too -- it is really hard to not be able to express your feelings. Sister Black really understands the beauty of the gospel and has a sweet testimony of Christ and she wants to share it. She actually speaks really well -- probably better than I did when I first came in -- and we are studying together -- but she's has to resort to English on a few lessons. But when she spoke -- I believe she spoke by the Spirit and even inspired a man who wasn't interested in our religion to read the Book of Mormon. She listened so patiently to the man's testimony of Christ and then bore her own sweet testimony of Christ to him. We are here to guide people to find the truth especially when everything is so new to them.

We are both very similar. I can see why we are companions already. The past few days we've been just trying to stay take one step at a time, even when everything doesn't go the way we wish it to. We try to sing and talk and follow our schedule to stay calm and positive.

We have a few people we hope will progress. Brother Von Guillermo was touched by the Restoration and is praying for the truth and reading the Book of Mormon. He is 19 years old. He's a very sincere seeker of the truth and the only reason he didn't go to church was because the member he was supposed to get a ride with didn't go because of a funeral. We are working with a recent convert who sells vegetables in our area and is introducing us to all of her friends in that area. One of them seems really interested -- she asked us what our message was for her and then we bore our testimony that this would help her family. They are a couple that haven't been able to have a baby that that's what she wants. We are going back to her. Cristine Aurelio is a referral from a member and she's 20+. She's a very busy college student and doesn't have a lot of time to work with us but she is reading and we feel she felt the Spirit telling her to listen to our message.

We are going to try other finding tools this week -- coordinating the Book of Mormon Project, praying with people and starting lessons kaagad, and asking for referrals. President Tangalin told us their goal is to find future Melchizedek Priesthood holders to move the work forward here because there are not enough here. We want to help. I'm reminded of what happened in Naguilian and that's what we tried to do.

Our studies are good! We start early so we have a good 12 weeks and lesson plans. We do language study and apply it in our work. We do our studies together and are even starting to read the Book of Mormon together as a companionship. We hope that if we hold out God will bless us!!

Sister Porter

Still Working Hard...

We had a lot of interesting experiences this week. We definitely had to handle some rejection this week. But we are not giving up and we are going to focus on finding those who have not heard the gospel and to have a vision of reaching those who are still unreached. We are going to try something that people do in Bacolod mission called Power Hour -- 1 hour of pure finding. We will see if it is effective. I'm also trying to see if a Book of Mormon project is possible again.

I was really inspired by Zone Conference and time and time again it is confirmed to me that my mission president was called of God to preside over this mission. We are really trying to live by his counsel and be more obedient. We are trying to live every rule but sometimes we fall short.  I am going to take Elder Robbins talk to heart -- to proceed from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm. I really want to get more investigators to come to church and to help them change their lives. My desire, truly, is to bring people to Christ. Sister Tobias and I are seeking the Spirit -- the feelings that my mission president describes of feeling at peace and happy, Sister Tobias and I feel. Not perfect -- sometimes I get stressed or want to get something done that doesn't get done, sometimes I forget things, or sometimes I feel like I have a lot of shortcomings -- but I will keep trying my best. I never miss a morning of reading the Book of Mormon and am going to trust in the promise that the Book of Mormon will help us in our physical and spiritual capacities.

Alex and Angel Estofalia were baptized this week. It was such a sweet baptism. Their less-active family came to church and the ward was supportive. The YSA and primary and Sister Tobias and I gave special musical numbers. I think the Estofalia family felt special on Saturday. That baptism was purely given to us be God, not from us. Those two little girls have such a sweet spirit and take their covenant so seriously and showed they were willing to follow and trust their Savior Jesus Christ.

I'm praying to Heavenly Father to help me and we have plans to work as hard as we can and find those we can teach. We are going to visit members with my new companion and ask for referrals.

I'm humbled to be called as a trainer. I feel inadequate, but I promise that I will do my very best and we will be obedient. We will follow the standard of excellence and find the souls that need to be taught. We found someone yesterday, a YSA-age young man, who is ready to hear. He was humbled by hearing about the first vision and offered a sweet prayer at the end to answer him when he prayed on his own later that night. We are excited to follow up with him.

Sister Tobias is a fantastic companion.  I have learned so much here from the members and especially from my companion. Nothing distracts her from her calling and she works so hard to use time wisely and do as much as she can EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Sister Porter

Another Week In Bauang

This week went by fast -- it was a good week. I had some struggles the previous week, but I know that Satan really tries to attack missionaries because he knows the weight of our calling. I realize I have many weaknesses -- I'm not a perfect teacher for example, but I am learning to just keep going and trust that Heavenly Father will bless us if we do our best to follow Him. THANK YOU FOR ALL PRAYERS AND FOR GOING TO THE TEMPLE FOR ME AND MY INVESTIGATORS.

We felt a sense of urgency this week. I can see all the people that have not heard the Restoration and we feel a tremendous sense to teach everyone we can. Every time an appointment fell through this week, we used it as an opportunity to talk to people on the street and teach on the spot. We taught the Restoration on the spot to all of them and asked them all to be baptized. Many of them were prepared. One mother, Sister Arlene, listened to us so intently when we shared the Restoration. She was supposed to go to the market with her kids but she decided instead to listen to us. She was surprised by our message and accepted our invitation. We met some young single adults yesterday when an appointment fell through and asked to teach them a lesson. When we asked them why they let us teach them, one 19-year old young man (Von) asked why there were so many religions and what was right. We were so excited we taught him the whole Restoration right away.

The Young Single adults are so active in the ward. They are running the ward and missionary work here in Bauang 2nd branch. They are so faithful -- even when they have board exams the next day, or tons of work, or school, they take the time to come work with us, even if they only have time for a couple appointments. It's actually really funny because we've gotten a couple referrals for the classmates of some of the returned missionaries in the ward. It made me laugh because they can see in those classmates potential people to date and become their eternal companions. We met one of them yesterday and she was very receptive when we shared the Book of Mormon -- she felt the Spirit testify that she needed to meet with the missionaries.

Angel and Alex are going to be baptized this week. It has been such a blessing to teach them because they are such sweet and humble daughters of our Heavenly Father. They brought such a sweet spirit into the lesson. They are a part member family. Sister Tobias and I love them so much.

We have some investigators that are very strong in their faith. Sister Marylou is a strong Baptist but has been listening to us. We just read the Book of Mormon with her with faith that if she reads it she will feel the Spirit. She feels it when she reads but when she doesn't she forgets what she learned and goes back to her original beliefs. But she prays to know when she is with us so we have faith that if she reads she will know in her heart.  All of her kids are members.

Sister Shiela is such a sweet and humble mother. She still has a lot to learn but she wants to come to church and we are hoping and praying for her! She has been very receptive to what we have taught her especially because her son died when he was 11 from malpractice, and she feels that he is telling her to listen to us.

The Calica and Bacolcol families are still struggling, but we have been trying to pray to ask what we should do and on Friday we received an impression to go to the Bacolcol family and teach them to pray. We did and we only taught Sister Angie ( the mother) about receiving answers to prayer. Then we prayed and Sister Angie gave a sweet prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help her husband. Then we paused for a few minutes after the prayer and we know that we all felt the Spirit. We are excited to follow up with Sister tomorrow. The Calica family is struggling with money and they haven't built up the faith yet that God can help them. But Sister Marylou asked us last night that we can pray with her to overcome temptation so she will read the Book of Mormon and go to church, because she told us that she wants to know God's plan for her.

Those are the highlights of the week. We also have days where things don't go the way we plan, we have struggles about our imperfections and weaknesses, but I'm so grateful for the chance I've been given to learn how to love. I've been realizing my mission is teaching me how to think of others and their needs before mine. To truly love them. Sister Tobias has a strength there and that is something I've learned from her. I'm praying now for charity. Sister Tobias loves who we teach and sees more in them than they do of themselves. That has taught me that's a gift I want too. Sometimes when I'm frustrated when someone is acting a certain way, I realize that actually those people need love and are looking for the gospel.

Sister Tobias has been an incredible companion. She is so hardworking, and so wants to improve her teaching and every aspect of our work and to help each family we teach individually. She is such an effective worker and never wastes a minute of her time. She is a great companion.

Sister Porter

Listening to General Conference

I learned so much in General Conference; I truly do believe that President Nelson is the prophet called for our day. We are truly being called to live like Jesus Christ and the way he lived, despite the increasingly wicked world in which we live; I was so inspired by his talk and by the new program of ministering. We are being called to love as Jesus loved, respond and live by the Spirit the way He did. What an incredible time that we live in. I feel like many of the talks felt personalized to my concerns and challenges.

But at the same time, this week has been faced with quite a few challenges. This week we tried to meet new people and have teaching appointments immediately. We tried to show them immediately that we are different -- that our message is the message of the Restoration and of eternal importance. We extended baptismal dates the same day. And we found people. But at the same time things went wrong.

Sister Sheila, for example, -- we are 100% confident that she is prepared by God. She lost her 11 year old son to a medical malpractice and she embraced the plan of salvation immediately. She already felt that this was the church she is looking for, is already embracing the other doctrines we are sharing about latter-day prophets, and even dreamed about the missionaries teaching her the Restoration-- she saw her son playing with animals and saw the Savior tending his flocks like the front cover of the Restoration pamphlet. She felt like her son was telling her to listen to our message so that they could be an eternal family. Her husband wants to listen too. They were planning to go to church but then her mother-in-law told her she was needed in Santo Tomas for a long time to look after her. She had to pack and leave Sunday morning. She isn't sure yet how long it will be until they will be able to come back.

Sister Marylou is the mother of two returned missionaries who referred us to her. She has been working in Greece as a caretaker for a long time, so she wasn't there when her children were converted to the gospel. As we taught her, we saw that she has such a deep love for the Savior and a very excellent understanding of the doctrines in the Bible. When we shared 1 Nephi 13 with her she understood that there had indeed been plain and precious truths that had been lost from the Bible until there was no church that had the authority or fullness of the gospel on the earth. We promised her that if she read The Book of Mormon and pondered it and asked God if it was true that she would know that for herself and she accepted a baptismal date if she knew it by that time. But then.... it seems like she is going to go back to Greece to work....

But I'm clinging to these words by Elder Nelson:

In like manner, what will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”

Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!”

Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.

To be sure, there may be times when you feel as though the heavens are closed. But I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. 

Every blessing the Lord has for you—even miracles—will follow. That is what personal revelation will do for you.

Sister Porter

Happy Easter!

I very very grateful for this week and everything I have been learning. I'm feeling more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I've been immersing myself in the Book of Mormon and feeling such a spirit come into my life. I love the Book of Mormon and has become the most precious thing in my life. I've been more able to answer the questions of my investigators. I have been able to be more motivated to share the Book of Mormon with everyone I meet. It has become the subject of every TC and every lesson.

                    

I loved follow-up training. I saw a lot of things that I definitely need to improve on, and I know that maybe I'm not the perfect missionary and I fall short, but I know that I'm working as hard as I possibly can to improve. But I decided to teach with a way more tremendous sense of urgency -- to text all of our investigators every day to read their Book of Mormon assignments, and to teach everyone based on the Book of Mormon. To be more exactly obedient, to talk and find always. Sometimes I am still confused on how to make decisions right even though I'm trying to make the best decisions I can, but I know and feel in my heart I'm still striving to do my best. But I also strive to not be hard on myself, recognize the Savior knows how I feel, and will enable me to improve line upon line, precept upon precept. I love sharing the restored gospel with all my heart, and have a wish that I could do this for the rest of my life -- night and day.

The Bacolcol family is progressing -- especially Nanay because she is reading and understanding the Book of Mormon and she testified to us this week that even though she hasn't finished it yet she knows it is true and the Spirit has testified it to her.  She really wants to be baptized. Brother Alfredo is still struggling a little -- it's hard to leave old habits and traditions behind, and he has a hard time understanding why the life of his son was taken at such an early age. He reads the Book of Mormon but he's having trouble concentrating and understanding what he reads. We are looking in the scriptures for how to resolve his concerns. We know that their son is cheering them on from the other side of the veil.

We had an interesting experience with the Calica family. We taught them out of the scriptures in 1 Nephi 2: 11-12 about why people complain against prophets and commandments and what the Lord asks us to do. It struck their hearts that they were doing the exact same thing about keeping their commitments. We were overjoyed and excited that they would change and repent. But when Sunday came around we waited and waited but they didn't come. So we marched across the street from the church before sacrament meeting where they live and asked them with completely devastated tone why they didn't go. They were cooking peanuts and said they felt too lazy to keep the commandments. I was completely devastated and we just stood there so sad. But we told them it was not too late and they could come now to church, but that we loved them so much and we wouldn't force them. We told them we loved them again and then left. They didn't come. Now I understand how the Savior feels when we don't keep the commandments. He is soooooo sad --- He says in 3 Nephi 9:13 -- will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

Jesus Christ came, suffered, and died for us that we might change and repent and prepare to become like our Heavenly Father as eternal families. He is devastated when we choose not to follow Him -- why don't we just come unto Him that he will heal him. Choosing to be lazy and procrastinate truly is the thief of eternal life. BUT-- he will always love us just the same. He suffered for us just the same. And in this life He will always give us the chance to repent and change. But this life truly is the time to prepare to meet God. And the Second Coming is malapit na. We have to share the gospel with EVERYONE because we don't have much more time to prepare. There is truly URGENCY in the work of the Lord. We cannot do it with lightness.

We got a chance to meet the Delegado family this week again.  They had read the whole pamphlet and took notes and said if we were truly the truth that they would be baptized kahit tomorrow. But they had a ton of questions and were more sure that they were right. They believed that Jesus Christ could show himself to man but not Heavenly Father. They still believe in apostles hanggang ngayon because they are Pentecostal -- they trace their authority all the way back. We tried to share scriptures but we had a hard time dominating the conversation. The only thing I could say was that they must read the Book of Mormon with an honest heart and they would know. He is searching for the truth. But I think next time we are going to be bold and assert our authority as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and testify more boldly. I have no doubt in my heart that the Delegado family will someday receive the fullness of the everlasting gospel because it is the truth. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of the most High God. I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we have living prophets and apostles today with the proper authority of God. And I know that the Lord is in charge of this work even though I'm not a perfect servant -- I am still young and don't have a perfect knowledge of things. But I believe in this work. I can see that I'm growing in spiritual strength and maturity on my mission and I love being a missionary.

Angel and Alex Estofalia are the children of a part member family and are going to be baptized on April 21. I love the sweet humble spirit of the kids and the support of their uncle, their aunt, and their father. I feel such a sweet special spirit unlike any other when I teach children. I love them with all my heart and can see Heavenly Father has a grand a marvelous plan for them.

I am absolutely convinced that President Bangal was meant to be my mission president.  I think that if it weren't for him I would never have been able to experience my mission. I had to go through some of the most painful trials at the beginning of my mission -- more pain than I had ever experienced. Pain that went through every fiber of my being. True anguish. I know Satan is real and he knows who we are and who we are meant to be. I am meant to be a missionary. I believe that. I know Satan tried to stop me but I am overcoming that. I haven't felt that pain again. I know the enabling power of the Atonement did it. Sometimes progression takes time and we are all on different places on the straight and narrow path. But I will never stop trying and try to share the gospel. I will never stop believing that we can experience so much success. I will keep repenting and give EVERYTHING every single day.

Sister Porter