Kumusta po kayo? Life is magaling (great)! Such an incredible week. Easter in the MTC is probably the best thing in the world. We had a combined sacrament meeting with all the missionaries. There was 3,000 of us! That means that the sacrament was passed to over 3,000 people at once!! It was the most incredible experience. There were so many elders passing and the sacrament tables were HUGE. During the sacrament they projected pictures of Christ and His resurrection. It was one of the most sacred meetings I have ever attended. It was incredible to think of the sacrifice Christ made for each of us and that I have the opportunity to share the joy of His resurrection and gospel with the people in the Philippines. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! There truly is nothing better. I'm not saying it isn't hard. Its actually the hardest thing I have ever done, but just in the last 3 weeks I have learned more about myself and how to forget myself then I think I ever could have. It is the most humbling experience. I am so grateful for the opportunity I've had to come to know my Savoir and Redeemer while wearing His name over my heart for 18 months. The speaker for the Sacrament was a member of the presiding bishopbric, Bishop Causse, and his wife. It was astig (awesome)! They both talked a lot about love and how anything is possible through Christ. It was amazing and definitely an answer to prayer. I loved when he said, "Where you are weak He will make you strong. If you give your heart to Him, He will make you a disciple of Jesus Christ." Then we got extra lucky and had Sheri Dew as the speaker for the devotional that night. AMAZING! I have just been trying to strength my relationship with my Savior and truly come to know Him in order to fullfill my purpose as a missionary, which is to "bring others unto Christ". So, I loved when she said "The Savior has come to resuce us... The Savior isn't our last chance, He is our only chance... He has done something for us that we could not do for ourselves." That is so beautiful and I am just starting to catch a glimpse of all He has done for us and the magnitude of the Atonement.
Our Easter had a crazy start.... We were all trying to hurry and get ready along with everyone else on our floor so we were blowdrying and straigtening our hair in our room instead of the bathroom (so picture two blowdryers and two straigtheners going at the same time in the same tiny room). I was bent over drying my hair when all of the sudden everything went black. For a split second I thought "Did I just pass out?" Then I realized I could hear everyone talking and they couldn't see either. So suddenly we realized we had blown the fuse (I think that is correct terminology?) because we had been using so much electricty. We all start laughing and stumble to the door and into the light. As we walk into the hall Sister Loo laughs and yells, "I can't believe we just did that!" Then we look over and all the other rooms at the end of the hall are dark and all the sisters are giving us not-so-cheerful looks. OOPS. Needless to say, getting the rest of the way ready with all the girls, whose morning we had just ruined, in the hallways and bathrooms since no one could see in their rooms was super awkward. But we called and had someone come fix it and the sisters seem to like us again.
Oh I also said the prayer in our Zone meeting on Sunday sa (in) Tagalog!!! It was the greatest. I've said the prayer in district meetings a million times but I have never spoken in Tagalog to that many people. I love this language. It is coming VERY slowly but surely. Also, Sister Loo and I were standing near a lady and she asked me a question, which I answered. Sister Loo didn't hear what she said and was about to whisper to me "What did she say?" but then she realized we can speak Tagalog (well more like Taglish but still). So she asked me in Tagalog and I responded without whispering because the lady couldn't understand us. It was the coolest haha I have always wanted to do that. I am learning a foreign language? ANO??? What? That is so crazy. I love it!
Mom, you wanted a run-down on a day in the life of Sister Porter so here it goes (everyday we do pretty much the samething just at different times)...
6:15ish Get up, get ready, etc.
7:00 Meet with district, pray, sing, daily planning with mga kasama (companions)
7:45 BREAKFAST
8:20 CLASS- Brother Nicholes
- Teach pretend progressing investigator
- Grammar Instruction
- Missionary Fundamental Discussion
11:20 Personal Study
12:20 LUNCH
1:00 Additional Study
1:30 TALL (basically Rosetta Stone for missionaries)
2:30 GYM
4:00 Language Study
5:00 DINNER
5:40 CLASS- Sister Ward
- Companionship Study
- Grammar Insturction
- Progressing Investigator
8:40 Additional Study
9:30 Return to room, write in journal, get ready for bed
That is a REALLY rough outline haha there is like service hours and devotionals and all kinds of things mixed in there everyday but hopefully that gives you a little bit of an idea.
Well I am now going over my email time so I've got to scoot but I love you all. MAHAL PO KAYO!! SOBRANG MAHAL! Thank you so much for the Easter packages and letters. Seriously I have the best family and friends anyone could ask for. I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. Everyone in my district got sick of the packages and asked me to tell you to stop... please don't :)
Alam ko po na buhay si Jesucristo. Alam ko po na namin na Tagapaglitas si Jesuscristo. Nagpapasalamat po ako para sa Kanya.
Love always,
Sister Porter
Elder Lapan in my zone. He is from Samoa and is hilarious!
Some of the greatest Elders around.
My mga kasma on Easter.
All the new sisters we got in our zone.
Another bad picture of my zone.
So fun seeing Libby (friend from BYU). She is headed to Russia.
