First off in this email I feel the need to explain to y'all some mission lingo. I don't know if you have ever heard it before so I will teach you as if you only have 4 years of age (sorry I sounded like an idiot when I said that, I just read Winston's letter and he always makes me lose a few IQ points).
When a missionary first starts his mission he is "born" in an area and his trainer is his "dad". At the end of the mission and you think about home you are "trunky", hopefully y'all already knew that. If a missionary is disobedient he is "apostate" and if something is against the rules it is "un-legit". Lastly, and perhaps the most important one for this email, when a missionary finishes his mission he "dies" and his last companions "killed him". So...now I believe you are ready for the rest of this email.
I'm gonna die in Hobbs! We got our transfer calls and the Lord has called me to finish it out in Hobbs, that isn't the exciting news, though. Both Elder Whitesides and Bradshaw are leaving me, which isn't the exciting part either, and I'm getting....Elder HEAPS!! Do y'all remember Elder Heaps? I served with him in Odessa exactly one year ago. I love the kid so much. He's easily one of my favorite companions ever. It almost never happens that you get to serve with one of your old companions again OR that you serve in one of your old areas again and I'm doing BOTH!! Yay. I will still be in a trio. Our other companion's name is Elder Farley. Now, y'all know that my title on my mission has basically been "babysitter" (sorry, that's another lingo I forgot to mention. "Babysitter" means that you have an apostate companion or you have a companion that is struggling a lot with his mission and you need to help him out) most of my companion since I left Hobbs last year have had troubles with their mission and President and God assigned me to serve with them to help out a lot. I used to be so bugged by it, I always would dream of having a hard working, experienced, and obedient companion, but that just hasn't happened. This transfer it hit me though that it is SUCH a huge sign of trust from both President Heap and also from God. They are trusting another person's mission, which means the salvation of many souls, to me for 6 weeks. Babysitting changed from a chore to an honor. Well. Elder Farley has been having a rough go on his mission. I don't know any details, but I do know that my assignment for these next 6 weeks is to "save this boy". As soon as the AP told me that it all just clicked to an even deeper level. I remember that when I was set apart as a missionary the first time President Hughes said that the mission president would trust me after a short time to take on sensitive or fragile assignments. I have seen that. He also talked a lot about how he feels one of the purposes on his mission was to bless the life of one of his companions. I think if I look back on it I feel that way too. I think the whole timing thing with me not being able to come out, then getting a call anyway, then going home, then coming back after just one transfer, was so I could serve with who I have served with, not as much as so I could teach certain people in my areas. I feel like God has used me as a tool mostly for my companions. That's not to say that I am the perfect companion at all, I'm sure a few of them have had problems for sure, but I know that I have some God given gifts that has helped me connect with my companions and help them make the changes they need to in their lives and in their missionary work. Sorry this paragraph is a little crazy...I got most of that revelation as I was writing it, haha. Anyway. I am pumped out of my mind for the next 6 weeks of my life and the last 6 weeks of my mission.
We also went to the Temple this week. It was gnarly. We went with Josh Gandy, the recent convert from Lovington I told y'all about a few weeks ago. I met a guy there at the temple who is a professor at Texas Tech. He knows Dad cause he used to work at BYU, but I forgot his name, sorry! Anyway, we had a nice little chat and he taught me how to be a student again. Pretty much he just told me to keep doing all my missionary stuff minus proselyting. It was sweet. I like the Temple, and I love Josh, and I like talking to random guys.
You know, that is about it. I was gonna write y'all about Enos 1 and his "wrestle" that he has with God and then compare it to some of the things our investigators have been doing recently, but I ran out of time and ganas. Sorry!! SO anyway. Just know that the church is true and our investigators are progressing.
I love y'all a bazillion. Have a really good and happy week!
Love,
Elder Porter
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