Well I feel like we are back in the middle of February again. It has been FREEZING here in Salt Lake... like really really cold. It started last week and has been snowy and rainy almost every day. We are all trying out best to be positive but I can see it definitely weighing on the sister's in the mission. So we are praying and hoping that it warms up soon soon soon!
BUT despite the cold we are of course seeing wonderful miracles here and still having a great time! My birthday was last Wednesday and it was so wonderful! We left our apartment and made our way through the CRAZY wind and snow to our district meeting. I can't say that I was in the best of moods, but as I was preparing for our meeting I turned around and Sister S. Kim (my first and favorite companion) comes running in with a huge cake and singing happy birthday! hah and she stayed for the District meeting which was so wonderful. So I hate to say that a funny Asian with a cake is what made me happy.. but it's the truth! This District meeting was so incredible. We focused on bearing powerful testimony of the Savior to all of the people whom we meet. I had assigned each of the sister's different sections in PMG to study and they were each able to share their thoughts and ideas. The Spirit was so amazingly strong and all of us were extremely edified. I am so grateful that the Lord loves us enough to give us the greatest gift, the gift of the Holy Ghost. The spirit speaks to us truth which is so specific and necessary for our needs. Miracle right? Yes!
We met a wonderful couple from England on Friday morning. They were here visiting a long lost cousin of his whom they had recently been in contact with through his daughter who decided to use the churches family search website. Ok get ready, you have to follow along. Okay so the man's name is Allen and his aunt joined the church in 1896 when she was 23 yrs old. She left her family and home in English to travel by ship and then train to SLC to be with the saint's. Allen of course wasn't born yet but he remembers when he was a child hearing stories about his aunt whom his family never heard from again. Allen grew up always curious about the Mormon faith and finally got in contact with the Aunt's granddaughter Marie who is now in SLC. Allen started learning a little bit about his aunt's journey from Marie who has all of her journal's and letters. Allen and his wife decided that they had to make a trip here to see and envision what it must have been like for her. So as we took this couple around the square we focused on the reason why his aunt left and the faith that she must have had. He was so touched as we helped him imagine what it could have been like for her and how she must have felt when she heard that there was a living prophet on the earth again! Allen and his wife were very touched and grateful to learn. They will be listening to missionaries soon in England. It was so neat for Sister Kim and I to see the result of a women who lived so long ago. I could just see her cheering as her granddaughter and nephew finally made contact with each other so that he lost family members could have the truth of the Gospel! So incredible! The Lord knows us and his hand is in all things. Oh and also when the aunt left England she had to travel 3 months by ship and at one point she passed out and a missionary caught her, she ended up marrying that man! hah.. pretty cute.
So I am doing well! I am getting anxious for our transfer conference which is early on Monday morning. We have a lot of new sister's coming from the MTC and several coming back from different parts of the country so the odds of me going outbound are very high! I would love to stay here for the busy season of summer but of course I will go wherever the Lord wants me to go. So we will see!
I have been studying prayer this week and have been trying to make more use of my prayer's. Our mission president has taught us that we should exhaust ourselves during our prayers and I think of Enos who "raised his voice high that it reached the heavens", and "prayed and labored with all diligence". I don't think that the majority of mine our our prayers are as earnest as this. Even as a missionary I get distracted and forget how meaningful our prayers should be. I also love Nephi's thoughts that we should "pray always and not faint..that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee". We have wonderful insight from the scriptures of what our prayer's should be like. In True to the Faith we are taught to wait and ponder after our prayer and allow Heavenly Father to answer them! So.. I have been working on this :) Yesterday we met a women who was so interested in prayer. She asked us "when you pray, do you really feel that you are talking to someone? How do you know that he is listening". Sister Kim and I shared with us our own experiences that we do not just hope someone is listening but that we know he is.
I know that are prayer's our heard and are answered. We are so blessed to have this guidance in our life. As we pray we get the spirit, as we get the spirit our lives are directed, as we are directed we then see miracles and wonder's which otherwise wouldn't be available.
The church is true! - Love Sister Porter
Alma 26: 22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.
BUT despite the cold we are of course seeing wonderful miracles here and still having a great time! My birthday was last Wednesday and it was so wonderful! We left our apartment and made our way through the CRAZY wind and snow to our district meeting. I can't say that I was in the best of moods, but as I was preparing for our meeting I turned around and Sister S. Kim (my first and favorite companion) comes running in with a huge cake and singing happy birthday! hah and she stayed for the District meeting which was so wonderful. So I hate to say that a funny Asian with a cake is what made me happy.. but it's the truth! This District meeting was so incredible. We focused on bearing powerful testimony of the Savior to all of the people whom we meet. I had assigned each of the sister's different sections in PMG to study and they were each able to share their thoughts and ideas. The Spirit was so amazingly strong and all of us were extremely edified. I am so grateful that the Lord loves us enough to give us the greatest gift, the gift of the Holy Ghost. The spirit speaks to us truth which is so specific and necessary for our needs. Miracle right? Yes!
We met a wonderful couple from England on Friday morning. They were here visiting a long lost cousin of his whom they had recently been in contact with through his daughter who decided to use the churches family search website. Ok get ready, you have to follow along. Okay so the man's name is Allen and his aunt joined the church in 1896 when she was 23 yrs old. She left her family and home in English to travel by ship and then train to SLC to be with the saint's. Allen of course wasn't born yet but he remembers when he was a child hearing stories about his aunt whom his family never heard from again. Allen grew up always curious about the Mormon faith and finally got in contact with the Aunt's granddaughter Marie who is now in SLC. Allen started learning a little bit about his aunt's journey from Marie who has all of her journal's and letters. Allen and his wife decided that they had to make a trip here to see and envision what it must have been like for her. So as we took this couple around the square we focused on the reason why his aunt left and the faith that she must have had. He was so touched as we helped him imagine what it could have been like for her and how she must have felt when she heard that there was a living prophet on the earth again! Allen and his wife were very touched and grateful to learn. They will be listening to missionaries soon in England. It was so neat for Sister Kim and I to see the result of a women who lived so long ago. I could just see her cheering as her granddaughter and nephew finally made contact with each other so that he lost family members could have the truth of the Gospel! So incredible! The Lord knows us and his hand is in all things. Oh and also when the aunt left England she had to travel 3 months by ship and at one point she passed out and a missionary caught her, she ended up marrying that man! hah.. pretty cute.
So I am doing well! I am getting anxious for our transfer conference which is early on Monday morning. We have a lot of new sister's coming from the MTC and several coming back from different parts of the country so the odds of me going outbound are very high! I would love to stay here for the busy season of summer but of course I will go wherever the Lord wants me to go. So we will see!
I have been studying prayer this week and have been trying to make more use of my prayer's. Our mission president has taught us that we should exhaust ourselves during our prayers and I think of Enos who "raised his voice high that it reached the heavens", and "prayed and labored with all diligence". I don't think that the majority of mine our our prayers are as earnest as this. Even as a missionary I get distracted and forget how meaningful our prayers should be. I also love Nephi's thoughts that we should "pray always and not faint..that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee". We have wonderful insight from the scriptures of what our prayer's should be like. In True to the Faith we are taught to wait and ponder after our prayer and allow Heavenly Father to answer them! So.. I have been working on this :) Yesterday we met a women who was so interested in prayer. She asked us "when you pray, do you really feel that you are talking to someone? How do you know that he is listening". Sister Kim and I shared with us our own experiences that we do not just hope someone is listening but that we know he is.
I know that are prayer's our heard and are answered. We are so blessed to have this guidance in our life. As we pray we get the spirit, as we get the spirit our lives are directed, as we are directed we then see miracles and wonder's which otherwise wouldn't be available.
The church is true! - Love Sister Porter
Alma 26: 22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.
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