Change

Hello Family!!!

Oh my goodness I love and miss you all so much. I have so much to tell you about that I don't even know where to begin, but here it goes...

First, we had a baptism this week. It was SO special and it will be a day I will always treasure. It was perfect, but what was perfect about it was that it wasn't perfect. Kirsten was late to the baptism (that was stressful) and the program was pretty disorganized but the moment she entered the water I was so overwhelmed with how perfect this gospel is. I was totally overcome by the fact that the very ordinance being performed was the one our Savior, Jesus Christ was baptized through, the very same one! I am so excited for Kirsten and the change and progress that has come over her as she comes unto Christ as well as her less-active step-sister Mika who has changed and progressed along side her (she now comes to church every Sunday and is now enrolled in seminary!!). One thing that ended up being pretty funny...the elder preforming the baptism I guess got a little overeager or something and Kirsten didn't fully plug her nose so she came up coughing and gasping haha but she was still all smiles and it was a great day!!

Second, transfers... dun dun dun... I am staying in Deparo and my new companion will be Sister Walker!! The crazy thing is Sister Walker was trained by Alexis Bird :) so fun! I am so excited! I have already had the chance to work with her before because she was a sister training leader and we had exchanges. She is amazing and I know I have a lot to learn from her. Also this will be her last transfer before she goes home! While I am so excited for the changes my heart totally breaks at the thought of leaving Sister Yagemai. That sister is seriously SO special and I love her SO much. I can't express to her, my Heavenly Father or anyone else how much she and the time I got to spend with her means to me. She is now opening a new area and follow-up training a sister from my batch from Pakistan who doesn't know English or Tagalog yet. So she has some challenges ahead of her but she most definitely up to the task!! She asked me to say hi to the fam also :)

I'm just so grateful for a Heavenly Father who has such a perfect and beautiful plan for ALL of us. I'm so grateful for the 18 months He has given me to be a missionary. I am quickly starting to see why so many RMs tell me to enjoy the time you have because it flies! I know this church is true with all of my heart. I love the Philippines. I love these people. I love Tagalog and I love being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also so grateful for all my friends and family who are faithfully serving, recently got home or served in the past. You are all such great examples to me!

I love you all so much!!

Love always,

Sister Porter

P.S. Mom you asked about the language. It really is going great. Of course, its a slow process but its finally speeding up :) Sister Yagemai and I made this whole deal thing and part of it was me speaking Tagalog at all times outside of our apartment. So I was talking to her about something I don't even remember what and said brokenhearted because I had no idea how to say it in Tagalog and she made me try and translate it the best I could so I could keep my end of the deal. So I sat there and thought for a minute and then blurted out, "Sirang pusa" TRANSLATION: Sira means broken, ng added onto a word links it to the next word, pusa means cat unlike puso which I meant to use that means heart. So I instead said I had a broken cat. She got quite the laugh out of it and so have all the other missionaries and members she has told haha all a part of the learning process :)

 Before her baptism :)

 

 After

 The best day :)