Transfers?

We had a five week transfer because of the new mission president, I guess, that is the only thing I can think to explain it.  Anyway, the transfer is over and we got our "Transfer Doctrine" last night.  Elder Heaps is leaving off to Borger, a city in the Panhandle and I will be staying here serving with Elder Pack!  Elder Pack was one of the missionaries I was in the MTC with the first time I was in.  I got to go on exchanges with him last week and he is way cool.  I am definitely blessed!  I learned a lot and loved every second of this last transfer.  Elder Heaps will be a friend for forever.  I'm pumped out of my mind for these next 6 weeks though!! 

This past week was pretty sweet.  We had 4 more new investigators and set 3 baptismal dates!  No one came to church, but it was still a really great week.  We did a lot of walking around again, looking for new people to teach, but there was almost no one out!!  It rained so much for a couple days, so obviously there was no one then, and on the days when it wasn't raining it was real hot and humid.  I still haven't complained about the heat, by the way, I vowed I wouldn't.  It's a lot nicer than the cold.  A lot of the people we did talk to, though, were pretty cool.  There were a lot more rude people than usual out, too.  I need to work on my patience because I got pretty fed up with a few of them and made some smart alec comments!  "Hey, man, how's it going? "  "I don't have time, leave."  "Can I at least give you a picture of Jesus?"  "NO!"  "Oh...you don't have time for God? That's too bad.  Well...I hope he has time for you!  God bless you, sir. Have an amazing day."  Not too bad, but I got my desired point across, haha.  I need to be better.  One drunk guy who rejected us pretty bad at first actually responded really well to my sarcasm.  He yelled at me at first, then he realized that he needed to listen.  He explained why he was getting drunk, a real sad story.  We were able to teach and testify and then pray with him.  We left him with a word of wisdom pamphlet and our number, so it was good. 

Out here, since it's in the middle of the Bible Belt everyone has a real strong belief in something and is generally pretty active in what they believe.   Most people recognize that our message is from God and so they hear us out for 5 minutes or even for the first lesson, but they usually just DON'T GET why the restoration of the gospel is a big deal.  We get the comment "yeah, that's exactly how I believe" all the time.  This requires us to be pretty bold.  A lot of missionaries are scared to be bold, but elder heaps and I got it down this last transfer.  I read 1 Nephi 14:10 all the time which specifically states that there is only ONE true church and that all the rest are false, the scripture even says that they are the church of the devil.  There is obviously a fine line between boldness and overbearance, but this method works.  We have seen miracles as far as the understanding comes.  The sprit trumps all, and I strive to follow that more than anything else, obviously that's what's gonna work.  That is just a fun scripture we use haha.

Since I hit 1 year I have been thinking of home, probably too much, but a few things really stuck in my memory.  Specifically a few friends back at home who really need some prayers.  So I want to ask y'all if you would keep Chad Wright and Daniel Evans in your prayers.  I haven't had much contact with them, but I know they aren't in a really good place right now.  So pray for them?  Thank you so much.  I love y'all so much!  Enjoy the family reunion, whenever that is...

Love ya!!

Elder Porter