Kumusta Po Pamilya!!!

Emailing is the most stressful thing in the world. There is literally a time counting down the minutes and seconds you have left to write.

LIFE IS SO GOOD! The MTC is  the greatest place on earth. Seriously, so amazing. I just keep getting completely overwhelmed by how lucky I am to be here with so many others ready to serve the Lord.

HOW ARE YOU?! I hope Cause week ended up okay and you survived Bren. Speaking of surviving, how was the half marathon Mom? Thanks for the Dear Elder. Letters are honestly the best thing and so far my district thinks my family doesnt love me... hint hint. Joke lang, joke lang. But I want to hear about everything going on at home. Hope you are all doing well. Im constantly praying for you!

Im pretty sure everyone of my journal entries start with... today was SUCH a good day or today was my favorite. Every minute of every day is busy, but EVERY thing we're doing is wonderful and serves a purpose. I have never been so busy, but SO SO SO happy in my life. We eat, sleep, study, eat, study, teach, study, study, study, repeat. SO GOOD! Today is Pday, hooray! We got to go to the temple with our Zone and it was wonderful. It was pretty funny though during the session because all the missionaries heads kept bobbing after so many early mornings.

My district is seriously incredible! I feel so blessed to be with all of them. For the first time we have more sisters than elders (two are 18). The work is so one fire and the MTC is SO packed. Its awesome.

Now about my kasamas. Oh boy are they incredible. We work so hard and so well together, but we are also constantly laughing. Its the best. Both of them are from Utah and 19. Sister Loo is from St. George and Hawaiian. All the Saomoans (turns out there are TONS of them in our Zone because so many are called to the Philipines) are constantly asking if she is Saomoan. She is such a take charge person, has an incredible testimony and loves everyone. Sister Chamberlain is quick and the senior companion so we are always telling her to stop letting us interrupt her and take charge because Sister Loo and I like to take over. She is the best. Im pretty sure we are always saying, "Wheres Sister Chamberlain?" because she is always getting lost. We joke that she needs a leash.

Tagalog. SO GOOD AND SO HARD. It is seriously such a beautiful language and I wouldnt want to be learning anything else. We have already taught 3 lessons in Tagalog. Thats insane!! Of course we had tons of notes the first time but we´re getting better. In our second lesson investigator told us she didn´t know how to pray and we didn´t know how to explain in Tagalog so we just kind of sat there starring at each other and then I just went for it. Mostly it was all handguesters and random words I knew here and there but she said she kind of understood. It was pretty funny. Well in the next lesson we came better prepared and I actually taught her how to pray and then she said she would say the closing prayer! It was the most incredible feeling. I could barely understnd but when I picked out that she was praying for us I about started bawling. The felt the spirit so strongly and felt such a love for her and she isn´t even a real investigator. I can only imagine how amazing it will feel when actual investigators in the Philippines pray for the first time and take steps in coming unto Christ.

I have SO SO much more I want to tell you but my timer is starting to blink red at me. I love you all so much and miss you like crazy!!!

This work is rolling forth and it is inspiring to watch and be a small part of it. I feel so blessed by my Heavenly Father to be a part of this.

Alam ko po mapagmahal po ang ating Ama sa Langit!

Much Love,

Sister Brooke Porter

P.S. We shared the Book of Enos with our investigator and challenged her to read it. Verse 1 reminded me of you Dad. Love you, miss you, grateful for you.

P.S.S. Tell Sara Porter Denton that I missed seeing Sister Amah Jones but I asked the sisters who have been here longer than me if they knew her and they were her roommates. They said she is amazing and that her and her kasama were practically fluent in Tagalog when they left. Can´t wait to meet her in the field.