nalgas

Wowzers, another week gone. Y'all will only get 2 more emails from me as a missionary....ahhhh. That is straight nuts. I don't even know how to react to that!

 

For the past few weeks we have been doing service at an old folks home, but not just any old folks home, we have been working at one that is specifically for old people who have alztymers. Yeah, I know I spelled that wrong, but spell check wont even correct it so I'm giving up on it. Anyway. It is really sad to see all these old ladies and men just be insane, but it is also really funny sometimes.  We go once a week and all we do is play bingo and sing hymns. It's a blast! They love us!  There is this one lady named Miss Ruby who just loves us to death. She is the very best at bingo.  She calls us the boys from her church and says that she knew us when we were just little bitty boys.  I'm happy I allowed her to make that false memory because it brings her joy. She always asks us about how our families are doing and she is just a good lover. One thing I think is awesome is that when we sing hymns a lot of the people know the words!  That is cool because 1, I didn't realize how many of our hymns aren't even specific to our hymn book and 2, it's sweet that even though they cant remember anything else they can remember their faith and the words of songs that has helped them in their life.  I think that is a cool piece of evidence that you cant get through life with out some kind of faith in Jesus Christ to get you through it. Even though these people cant remember much else, they always remember to pray and to thank the Lord in all they do and I really think they are blessed for it. I never want to have Alztihmers (another guess), but I hope I can have faith like that for forever like them!

 

Jose Francisco got baptized!  Yipee!  This guy is so legit. He read the whole BOM in 3 weeks and is almost done with it a second time. He also has read the Gospel Principles book and is working though the Priesthood manual. He just eats up the truth. The only reason it has taken him so long to get baptized is because he just feels so unworthy. The whole time I've been here we've been trying to help he realize that because he is unworthy he NEEDS to be baptized. It finally clicked! It was way sweet because President Reber and he have made a really good connection so President Reber did the baptism and the confirmation. You just gotta smile when the investigator picks a member to baptize them cause you know the fellow ship goal was met. Yay! At the baptism almost everything went wrong...hahah. Everybody showed up late, the people forgot to prepare their talks, and programs didn't show up till after the service, but it was still really good. No complaints at all. Jose will make a really good addition to the Hobbs Spanish Family.

 

Yesterday night we ate dinner with the Diaz family. They are so cool and they feed us like twice a week.  When we got there Hermana Diaz was obviously really upset about something, she had real red and watery eyes like she had been crying and was pretty quiet during dinner. Elder Heaps and I recognized it and really tried hard to be funny and make the whole family laugh to lighten the mood. They fed us Ceviche and elder Farley hated it, hahahaha, so he spent the whole time trying to figure out how to avoid eating it. At the end of the lesson I felt promped to share a scripture on prayer and to talk about that for al little while. Man, it was a good lesson. The spirit worked on them all and took over the teaching. They have been having some hard times and really needed a reminder of prayer. Sister Diaz bawled and bore her testimony to us about the power of prayer and how she was grateful for the reminder. It was so sweet. That lesson made me realize 2 things. The first is that prayer is awesome and the spirit is real, and the second is that I really really like being a missionary with the called and responsibility to teach and bless lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every once in a while it will randomly hit me that I am going home in a few weeks and for the most part I am so pumped, but in lessons like that it makes me really sad to have to leave this amazing work and go to a different work.  Obviously it's not the end of missionary work for me, but it's the end of full time, 100% dedicated service.  I love my mission. Is has changed me so much.  I'm sure y'all'll hear more about this in the next few weeks, but just know that I know the Church is true and that Jesus is the Christ! 

 

Love y'all so much. Don't forget to pray. Don't forget to read the scriptures. There is a lot of peace that can be found in the Word of God. And don't forget to smile!

Love,

Elder Porter

This is in response to my letter telling him that Roxann Jarvis, my wonderful long time friend, died.

Ah dang, mom.  That is really hard. I am real sorry to hear that. I loved Rox a lot. Don't forget that God has a plan, though.  She has something important she needs to do over there in spirit paradise, some other souls to uplift and help out.  Also don't forget that Christ knows how it is.  President Hughes counseled me that there will be times where I will be prompted to pray and pour out my soul to God to find solace, solace that can only come through Him. I know that that is a true principle. As you pray to God and seek peace and solace He will give it to you!  Don't forget that, ok Mom?  I love you a whole lot! 

I am happy to talk on the 24, whatever works best for y'all.

Love you so much!