Pagsunod

Hey family!!

Do I say this every week? Well I'm going to say it again...time is flying! I can't believe that this transfer is already almost over! 

This week was such a good one with lessons taught and LOTS of lessons learned. This week I was taught a lesson I will never forget about obedience.  We had a dinner appointment with a member of the bishopric and his family to share a message about missionary work and hopefully put the Book of Mormon in the member's hands to share with their friends as we've been asked to do by mission leaders. We were so excited for it and during our companionship study we did practice teaching so everything would go smoothly. When we walked into their home that night they were busy preparing the food and very excited to see us. We noticed that their mother (of a family that consists of all boys) was not in the room. We sat down hoping that she would come out of the next room knowing that it was against mission rules to be there without the presence of a women. We asked the father where his wife was and he said she on her way home from work we waited a couple minutes and she had still not shown up. We asked again how long she would be and he said probably a half-an-hour so we asked if we could start the lesson then eat when she got home-- forgetting for a minute that there was no women. We started the hymn and I heard one of the sons ask when their mom would be home and the father responded probably an hour-- I panicked! Now we were trapped with no women and I did not want to offend a member of the bishopric by leaving. All I could think about during the song was that we were not being exactly obedient, a promise I had made to myself when I started my mission that I would always be. All I could think about as I prayed for what to share with them and to invite the Spirit was the lines from the white handbook that said there were no exceptions to the exact rule we were disobeying. As the opening prayer ended I knew I was  the first one to start the lesson. I looked at them and knew I couldn't teach. I apologized and told them that we were so excited to share with them but would have to come back later as soon as their mother returned. It was super awkward haha they asked a lot of questions but finally said they understood. As we left their house I started praying as hard as I could that they would understand and that we would find someone to teach in the meantime. Long story short we were led to an amazing women who had been taught by missionaries once in the past but moved and didn't know how to find us again. It was a wonderful lesson and after her husband came and talked with us and said they were excited for us to come back again.  We then returned to the bishopric family's home and had a great dinner and were able to tell them the story of finding this women and her family. 

On the way home that night I just kept thinking about how grateful I was that I hadn't rationalized teaching the lesson without a women present like I wanted to do. I would have missed out on the opportunity to find this women and to see the Lord's hand in this work. I kept thinking of a quote from Elder Bednar that says, "As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon." Then speaking of Brigham Young he said, "[He] was an agent who exercised his agency and acted in accordance with correct principles, and he became a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord." I am not in the least saying I was a mighty instrument in the Lord's hands and I know there are still so many areas that I fall short but I do know that the Lord blesses us each time we choose to be obedient to His commandments and I am so grateful for the opportunities He gives me to be an instrument in His hands in at least a small way. I often hear missionaries say in certain situations of disobedience, "We have no choice." There is ALWAYS a choice and I am so grateful for that. We can ALWAYS choose to obey. Agency is one of our greatest gifts in this life and one of my very favorite things to teach (something I got from Sister Walker). We can always use our agency, and gift we've been given to obey and become more like our Savior so that we can someday return to live with our Father in Heaven.

I love you all so so much! Thank you for your examples to me of obedience. Namimis kayo!! Ingat kayo palagi!! 

Love always,

Sister Porter

Filipino Fun Fact: They have a very hard time with 'p' and 'f' here and always switch the pronunciation. Its actually pretty funny. For example Sister Baile will always say, "Nasaan yung Flanner ko?" {Where is my planner?} Also everyone here pronounces my name as Sister Foster or sometimes Posters or sometimes even Forter haha its a good time!

I got to see Sister Criste and Sister Plame again at Temple Tour. I have missed those two so much!

Temple TOur with sister Baile and Sister Ayub.  Sister Ayub got here the same day as me.  She is from Pakistan and came here speaking VERY little English and received no language training in the MTC.  She is amazing. :)

This is our investigator Ninoy. He is so amazing. He is so prepared to receive the gospel and is so excited to learn everything he possibly can about it. He will be getting baptized soon :)