Hello Po From the Philippines!!!

Hello po pamilya ko!!

I don't even know where to start! Nothing I say will do justice to everything, but I guess I'll start at the beginning I guess...

So, I made it safely to the Philippines after planes, trains and automobiles and guess what? It's HOT!!!!! That was definitely the first thing I noticed when I got off the plane. The next was that it is so beautiful here-- the people, the language and the country. And third, I'm pretty sure I'm the only white person left in the world! But that's okay because it just makes people want to listen to us. I am constantly stared at and everyone comments. I waved at a little boy who was staring and it totally freaked him out haha and he ran back to his mom. People always say, "Hello Mom." as I pass or at least that's what I thought they were saying. But then my companion informed me that they are actually trying to say, "Hello Ma'am." Yesterday two younger boys ran up to us and just grabbed onto my arm and started walking with us. They kept poking my arm and were fascinated that it would turn white, then pink and go back to it's normal color. It was pretty funny. I just embrace the fact that I'll be a white giant for the next 18 months. I pretty much look hideous everyday because it is so hot but the people are constantly telling me I'm so beautiful because I'm white and tall. It's awesome, maybe I'll just stay here forever haha.

So we went to the mission home first and met President and Sister Sperry. They are amazing! I am so excited to serve under them. We had our first delicious meal in the Philippines, with rice of course! (EVERY meal includes rice) Then we met our companions and headed to our areas. It was so weird/hard saying goodbye to our little trio from the MTC, they will be fabulous missionaries. My trainer is Sister Yagemia. SHE IS INCREDIBLE! I feel SO SO blessed. She has been on the mission for 8 months and is from Micronesia (not sure if that's how you spell it) on the little island of Yap, so she speaks Yapese and luckily pretty good English too :) She is honestly the most self-less person I have ever met. She is constantly serving others and putting their needs before her own. She is the most humble and hardworking missionary. She is such a blessing. We get to share the apartment with Sister Noriega who is training Sister Criste. They are both from the Philippines and so awesome! Seriously I am so blessed. We are already all the best of friends and they are so easy to love. Our apartment is apparently pretty coveted between the sisters. It is called the Rainbow House. I love it! We have a HUGE window in our room and I get a beautiful view to wake up to every morning. 

We are serving in the Deparo area, which used to be one area but they have now split it between our two companionships, so I guess we are sort of opening the area? On our first day we just walked the area with Bishop Ojega and now we have been going out with members to get to know the area and the less-active members. All of the less-active individuals Sister Yagemai had been working with are in the other Sister's area now so we are starting from scratch which is hard but it is awesome getting to know the people and I know we will have people to teach fast. Last night we went to meet less-actives with a member who has been working with the missionaries since the 80's, Sister Fe. She is so awesome! I can't believe some of the homes we teach in. It absolutely amazes me how humble their living conditions are but how happy they are! It is unreal. We were teaching one less-active family in a small one-room house with almost no posessions. They just had a mat rolled up in the corner that they unroll to sleep on at night. We had the lesson just sitting on the dirty floor of their home but it was so incredible. I understood very little of what was said but the spirit of that home and those people was easy to understand. I had a hard time not crying when we opened our lesson by singing "Count Your Many Blessings". We then shared a spiritual message and some scriptures on blessings from the Lord. The mother we were teaching is an elderly woman and she just amazed me. She kept testifying that she knew this is true and that the Lord has and will bless them. It was definitely a special experience. Then later that night we taught another woman and her 2 daughters and she just kept telling us she was so blessed because the missionaries had visited her that night and she knew that our message was true. That was so touching for me because I had gotten pretty discouraged during the day, and even though I couldn't really speak her language I had the opportunity to bless her through the Spirit. I had shared Moroni 7:33 with her Mom :) that has become my motto here. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I have never been so humbled but that verse keeps me going! This work really is amazing and I'm so lucky to be a part of it.

I really can't speak Tagalog haha I am constantly just smiling and nodding without any idea of what is going on but its great. It is easy to get discouraged but I just keep telling myself to be patient. It will come! It helps to see other Americans speaking it fluently :) They have this joke here that if they speak in English they will get nosebleeds because the language is difficult for them to speak. Well during our first meeting with Bishop he was talking to me and all the sudden he just yelled out, "Ah your nose, its bleeding". Everyone just went into panic mode giving me tissues and hankies. It was pretty funny. Well he will not let it go now haha everytime he introduces me to a member he tells them that my nosebleeds because Tagalog is difficult for me. He also tells them that my name is Sister Porter and I look so tired because I've been transPORTing everywhere haha the Filipinos have a very funny and simple sense of humor, its great! So when I spoke to the ward on Sunday I told them they would have to help me learn Tagalog so that I can stop getting nosebleeds and looked right at Bishop, they thought that was pretty funny.

My birthday was PERFECT!!! I woke up to the sisters singing happy birthday to me with candles stuck in a little twinkie-like thing. Then Sister Yagemai gave me a present that she had sneakily bought. It was the cutest jelly shoes (now we have matching ones) and perfume and a note. Seriously I was so humbled and touched. They were all so sweet. Then when we went downstairs they had  a big sign on the wall and even more candles and cake treats and they jumped out singing again. These sisters are SO wonderful. Then we got to go on temple tours, which just means we get to take investigators and less-actives to the temple to talk about what we do there and just to see it and take pictures. I got to see Sister Loo!!! It was such a boost. I missed her so much and we just spoke in English with each other as fast as we could. It was so nice haha. So a bunch of us missionaries and those we were taking with us to the temple crammmed into a jeepney. There was 25 of us! It was awesome. We brought the tiniest little 81-year-old sister named Jazmin. She is amazing and so sweet. She wants to learn English and I want to learn Tagalog so we were helping each other. She was laughing pretty hard at the way I pronounced some words, in fact the whole jeepney full of Filipinos were laughing at me haha. Then that night Sister Noriega made me Spagetti, which is so delicious here. It's super sweet and sobrang masarap (very delicous). It was such a wonderful day. I felt so blessed. I also opened  the presents you sent before I left the MTC. Thank you SO SO MUCH!!! I loved it, especially the card. You are the best and I feel so lucky to have all your support. The sisters in my apartment have loved eating the candy and oreos you sent too :)

There is SO SO SO much more I want to tell you but I am out of time. I am alive and well and loving it. Keep sending prayers my way :) I can use them all. This work is so hard, so humbling and so worth it. I feel so lucky to be serving the Lord in this beautiful country. I miss you all more than ever. You are always in my prayers.

Love always,

Sister Porter

P.S. They said to tell you that EVERYTHING (letters and packages) that you send should be sent to this address: 

Quezon City North Mission

P.O. Box 1243 

Quezon City Central Post Office

Nia Road, Diliman

1100 Quezon City

Philippines

P.P.S. If you are reading this Alexis Bird, everyone says hello :) They all love you so much here. I gave President an extra handshake and Sister Sperry an extra hug. I also gave Sister Walker a big hug for you at temple tours. Thanks you for all you have done for me. Thank you for the last letter with advice and encouragement. It was exactly what I needed :) You are awesome!

MTC Map

On the way!

My first rain in the Philippines! It is unreal. These are the sisters with a member ahead of us. My umbrella was flipping all over the place. I ended up using it more to just keep my bag dry. I use my umbrella everyday though to keep the sun off.

My birthday sign :)

The gift from |Sister Yagemai.

Crammed in the Jeepney on the way to temple tours.

Elders in the back.

Sister Jazmin and I :)

Love and miss Sister Loo so much!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Dinner :)

Sister Yagemai and I on my first Sunday.

 The bishop's son, JM

The church. There is a big, nice basketball court at all of them. I always think of you Cardon and Dad. They all love and play basketball everywhere here.

Sister Fe and Sister Yagemai

Our room

The view out my window every morning :) how lucky am I ??

 All us Sisters! Sister Noriega, Me, Sister Criste (she is in my batch) and Sister Yagemai.

Most of my zone playing Filipino games this morning for P-day

Last Shout Out From the MTC!!

Kumusta pamilya ko!!

Marami salamat ko po kayo para sa sulat! (Thanks so much for the letters!) Mahal ko ang lahat! (I love you all!) So this is it... I'M HEADED TO THE PHILIPPINES!!!!!!!! Is this real life?

This letter is going to be a little short and sweet...

I don't have a whole lot to say about this week as it was week 5 of the exact same schedule, but the difference was we are doing everything for the last time. Still so wierd. But my whole district is feeling pretty ready to get to work in the Philippines. It will be so wierd going from seeing/being with them almost 24/7 to not seeing them until we are home. My companions and I are the only ones not going to Naga this week out of 26 missionaries headed to the Philippines. That means it is just the 3 of us sisters headed to Hong Kong and then to Manilla. It is going to be an adventure for sure!

Tagalog is coming SLOWLY, but its coming. I really feel so blessed to be learning this language. It is so beautiful and the people who speak it seem all the more beautiful. I CAN'T wait to serve them. I already told you this Mom and Dad, but it definitely is easy to get discouraged learning this language. In our Relief Society devotional on Sunday, Sister Mary Edmunds spoke. She is AMAZING, unmarried and has served 4 missions. She was one of the very first sisters to serve in the Philippines which made it all the more meaningful. When she was serving in the Philippines her mission home was all the way in Hong Kong!!  Anyways, she said the following, "This is worth EVERY sacrifice you have made and every one you will make. Give yourself to the Lord. All you can do is the BEST you can do!" She then quoted Elder Maxwell who said, "God, who knows our capacity perfectly, sent us here to SUCCEED!" I just keep reminding and rereminding and rerereminding myself of that everyday! Seriously, sometimes I just sit there at look at the missionaries in my district and my companions and think wow they are missionaries! And then I look down at my nametag and remember so am I!! How lucky are we!? I am dreading the day I have to take that nametag off, but try not to think about it too much seeing as I haven't even left the MTC yet :)

Every week we are supposed to prepare a talk for Sacrament Meeting and then President will answer who is speaking after the opeing song/prayer. Well this week I got called up! AHHHHH. I was so scared. I love speaking but sa Tagalog is a totally different story. It ended up going well though. I was surprised how much I could say. It was my first time testifying about what I know to be true in church, in the language I'm going to be speaking for the next 18 months, which was super special (and the week before I got to pray sa Tagalog for the first time in Sacrament meeting too). I was lucky too because the topic was learning to recognize the Spirit. I already whet over that in my email last week, but the MTC is probably the greatest place to learn how you do just that.

Well I'm basically just going to overload you with pictures and call it good :)

I just want to leave you with my testimony the best I know how sa Tagalog...

Alam ko po na totoo Ang Simbahan ni Jesus ng mga Banal sa mga Huling Araw. Nagpapasalamat po ako para sa ito. Nagpapasalamat po ako para sa pagkakataon nagiging misynero na magbabahagi po ako ng ebanhelyo sa mga tao sa Philippines!  Alam ko po na nagbubuhay si Jesuscristo at mahal niya tayo. Nagpapasalamat po ako niya at mahal ko siya! Alam ko po na mahal ng Diyos tayo at ng plano ang Diyos para sa akin.

Translation: I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I am so grateful for it. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and share the gospel with the people in the Philippines! I know Christ lives and loves us. I am so grateful for Him and love Hime! I know God loves us and has a plan for us!

MAHAL KO KAYO!!!!!!! So long from the U.S. Next week you will hear from me from the Philippines!!!!

Love always,

Sister Porter

P.S. The last day I can get mail is this Saturday morning and then I head across the world Monday afternoon!

 Elder Lapana ALWAYS waunders off so we made him sign a contract to stay with us for our last Sunday Temple walk.

 MY DISTRICT!!!! Love them all!!!

My mga kasama. They refuse to be normal!

We have a LOT of fun! I am so lucky all 3 of us are going to the same mission, so we don't have to say goodbye for the next 18 months. LOVE THEM!

Me with my brown people. That is the face Elder Lapana makes EVERYTIME I talk to him. He pretends he can't understand me but we ALL know he speaks excellent English.

This is Elder Stepherson. He is from Boise! We tried to channel our inner hicks. Wasn't too hard to find :)

All of us sisters share a room. They are all the very greatest!

Jared and Janeses- This is an elder in our district and our Zone Leader. He reminds me SOOOOOO much of Big D. It is crazy. They look quite a bit alike and act so much alike. It is the greatest. He is an awesome elder. He is only 18 and sent in his papers right after the announcement.

And this is Elder Stepherson during additional study time. Haha he is also 18 and struggling with the early mornings, but he works so hard and is currently our district leader.

  Travel Plans!!!

Happy Late Easter!

Kumusta pamilya!!

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.

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.