Hello, hello!
P.S. My pictures wouldn't load. I'll try again but the one I did get is us with the Philippines MTC President :)
Kumusta po kayo? I hope you are all
doing sobrang mabuti, magaling! As always, I love and miss you all.
Thanks for the letters they always keep me smiling. I have the very best
friends and family and your support means the world to me. Oh boy, was
this a crazy week or what? So many things to tell you about and SO
little time.
First of all,
CONFERENCE! Was that not amazing? It was really interesting watching it
in the MTC because we are constantly having incredible devotionals so it
didn't feel real out of the ordinary except we were sitting in the
bleachers for hours on end this time, but it was wonderful! (Run-on
sentence anyone?) I absolutely loved the focus on Christ, which is
always the case but I think I just noticed it more than ever. We were
constantly being told to come unto Him. I loved it because that is
exactly what our purpose is as missionaries, to "bring others unto
Christ". I also love that in order to do that we must constantly be
striving to bring ourselves unto Christ. We are told that "if you don't
feel it the investigators won't feel it". One of my very favorite words
in Tagalog is happy becuase it is "masaya", which is pronounced
just like Messiah. Is that not the coolest thing and so true? Coming
unto Christ or the Messiah really is the only way to receive true and
lasting happiness. I also absolutely loved the story about the BYU
student walking across campus early in the morning of an absolutely
freezing day and singing "Oh, what a beautiful morning..." Is that not
the greatest? First, of all I've totally been him only I wasn't signing I
was complaining and wishing I was back in my bed haha. Second, becuase
Oklahoma, of course, always makes me think of you fam and watching it
over and over again growing up. Third, isn't his attitude awesome! It
was raining and getting ready to snow yesterday and we were walking to
class complaining and then all the sudden one of us said a few lines
from the song. It was pretty funny. But it really is so easy to get
discouraged on a mission and just life in general so that picture of
positivity is so great to remind me that life really is so good! (Thanks
mom for the motto Mom!) Also, bummer you couldn't find me in the Carol
Mikita news piece. I saw myself in the choir like 4 times :) I'm next to
my polynesian companion who is in a torqoise shirt so she stands out if
you watch it again. You can also see me really well during the credits.
Wasn't her story awesome! I've seen some of the premissionaries she
interviewed here at the MTC now.
I also had such
a sweet experience this week with listening to the promptings of the
Holy Ghost. It was something that I had been told to do multiple times
but had ignored it because it seemed way to random and I was nervous.
But I finally acted on it when I received the same prompting AGAIN.
Third times the charm I guess. It was so incredible. It still felt so
random and I was worried the sister would think I was so weird but I was
filled with so much peace and assurance. There is nothing better than
that feeling. Well the next day the sister slipped me a note saying
thank you and that I had been an answer to her prayers. I was SO
grateful that I chose to finally listen to that prompting. I've been
working on doing all I can to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and
heed the promptings I'm given. We've been told mutliple times here that
if its something good don't spend time wondering if you came up with it
or if it is the Spirit trying to tell you something, just do it! I love
that. But we have also been told that you won't always have that direct
guidance and He will just trust you enough to make good decisions and go
about doing good on your own. I love that too!!
Early this week
an Elder from our Zone had his name called over the loud speaker to go
to the front office. He didn't hear it so when our companionship ran
into him we told him about it. Later that day we were outside studying
and we ran into him. He said thanks for letting him know and then we
asked if he had gotten the package, because he had thought it was
something from his grandma. He got teary and said it had ended up being
about something else. Apparently this has been all over the news, but he
said that the doctor who had taken out his wisdom teeth wasn't
praticing sanitary medicine and he had just had to be tested for
HIV/AIDS. I can't not even imagine going through that. He had to
wait TWO days to get the results, which fortunetly were good, he didn't
have it! One of the sisters in his district said that after he found out
he just said, "I can have a wife and kids now!" He is such a solid
missinonary and is going to do incredible things. It definitely gave us
all a fresh perspective though.
TWO districts
from our Zone left to the Philippines yesterday, which is so exciting
but also sad for us. However, we are getting TWO new districts tomorrow.
Here is the crazy thing though... one had 7 sisters and the other 6.
That means our district will going from the large majority being elders
to the the sisters over doubling the elders. Isn't that the craziest!!
This work is on fire and it is so fun and inspiring to be a part of it.
Although I am happy I won't be in the MTC when it starts to get crazy
busy. The lunchroom is already total caos.
Yesterday the
president of the Philippines and newly called area 70 came to observe
our language class. It was such a great experience. He was the nicest,
tiniest man. He came to observe because the Philippines MTC will now
have to teach Tagalog, because all missionaries serving in the Quezon
City, Quezon City North, San Paublo and Manilla missions will now go
straight there. That means they will get to learn the language from
native speakers and their branch presidencies will only speak Tagalog.
It is going to be amazing!! 2 months later and that would have been me,
but I love the Prove MTC so I'm okay with it :)
On a completely
other note...vacuums have a death wish for me. Monday morning we wake
up early for service which is cleaning one of the buildings here. Well
we were assigned to vacuuming. I was just working hard when my vacuum
started sputtering and then turned off all together. I went to unplug it
and try and different one, but when I tried to pull it out sparks shot
EVERYWHERE and I swear there were little flames and a popping noise. It
was terrifying! Haha my hand had black burn marks all over but don't
worry it washed right off. Well I finally pulled the demon thing out of
the wall and all was well. Then that night we had to clean our room so I
of course of vacuuming against my better judgement. All of the sudden
I'm getting like pulled into the vaccuum. I look down and my skirt is
getting sucked into the vacuum through a crack in the back of it!! WHAT
IN THE WORLD! I got it out but it ripped a little hole. The little
bugger still had a piece of my skirt inside it. And that is why I will
never vacuum again. [Also, I have no idea how to spell vacuum and
neither does my companions so sorry if that is wrong.]
During some
study time I was reading Alma 17:2-3 and it made me think of you sibs,
and everyone else. I have just always loved the sons of Mosiah and Alma.
They are all so devoted to the gospel and each other. I loved that they
had been seperated but rejoiced seeing each other agian and finding
that they had all remained faithful and solid in the gospel. Thanks for
your incredible examples. You inspire me everyday!! MAHAL PO KAYO!! Alam
ko po na totoo ang Simbahan ni Jesuscristo. I am so grateful for it!!
Keep the pananampalataya!
Love always,
Sister Brooke Porter
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