Weekly: Cold Showers and a little Faith

Hello Everyone!

So back story for the title, back home I'm known for taking really long hot showers. Haha well on Monday and Tuesday it was super hot! So when we got home those nights I had take an ice cold shower to cool down, never in my life did I think I would be grateful for cold showers but now I know differently! However since then it has been raining and gotten a little colder again. 

I have learned a lot this week, and has been very humbling. I've been here in Bitan for almost 5 months now. While I've loved every moment of it there have been hard moments because none of our friends are really progressing and it's been discouraging at times. However, I've been reminded more than once this week that right now I may not be seeing any results/differences but I also don't  know what differences there will be down the road from my time here. I think this is something we can apply to any part of our life! We may not understand why we do something or not do something right now, but because we've been promised that one day we will be blessed we do/don't those things. It's all because of our faith, there are two scriptures I absolutely love that I just thought of that goes along with this. The first one is Ether 12:6 that says it's not until after the trial of our faith that we receive a witness, the second one is 2 Nephi 27:23 that states God is a God of miracles and according to our faith her performs miracles. I know that this is true. In the moment it can be hard and we don't completely understand why but I know that if we have faith and trust Him then He will perform miracles that we will never knew could happen. 

I'm very grateful today has been raining like crazy, because I don't think I would have learned this valuable lesson other wise. 

On Wednesday we had the amazing opportunity to have mission conference! Elder David F. Evans he is in the Asia Area Presidency. It was so enlightening, we talked about what it meant to be a disciple of Christ. And how it is giving and sacrificing everything for the Savior. It was one of the moments when I relearned the valuable lesson of faith, there will be times in our lives that the Lord will ask us to make a sacrifice to help build his kingdom. I dearly hope that when he asks me that my faith is strong enough to make the sacrifice. 

This life has great times and hard times, I'm coming to love both of those times. I'm so grateful for the amazing people that I have in my life that teach, and encourage me every step of the way. I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ, called to serve the people in Taiwan. And I LOVE IT! I would never trade this experience for anything!  

I love you all!

Sister Porter 

包姐妹

Pictures 3-11-2019

                               1. Umbrellas came out because of the rain

                                2. The Guo family

 

                                3. Kiko!!!

                                            4. Reporting in the dark... again

 

                                5&6. Our district (minus the zone leaders) pdaying in Wulai

 

 

 

 

Rain, rain and more rain

到家早安!

 

It had been another beautiful week here in Bitan! There has been a lot of rain, its rained everyday this week. Lucky for us Taiwanese don't like the rain so visiting Less Active members and knocking had been affective this week!

We met with Guo Family this week. We planned to invite them to baptism but they still have some concerns that make them not ready. I am beyond grateful for their fellowshippers the Huang family, they bore amazing testimonies that definitively helped them feel the spirit. 

Something I have found absolutely amazing here in Taiwan is how much our members love our friends. The Huang Family told the Guo Family that they love them and are here for their whole experience of coming to know Christ. You can really feel the love they have for them and its amazing!

A miracle I saw this week was our friend Elisa (she was supposed to be baptized back in February but went MIA two days before her baptism) texted us! Which got us so excited! And then to make it better she showed up to church on Sunday without us inviting her! We are meeting with her later this week! 

 

Something I've learned this week is the importance and blessings of humility. I know that when we humble ourselves the lord with bless us and teach us in ways we would never know otherwise. 

 

I absolutely love this gospel and the opportunity to share it with the amazing people in Taiwan!

 

I love you all!

Love, Sister Porter 

Pictures 3-4-2019

 

                                                                   

                                                                        1. Claire!!!

                                                       2&3. Sleeping in the living room

 

 

 

                                                                        4. Guo family!

 

 

                                                                          5. Volleyball

 

                           6. Getting ready to report to the stls on the side of the road in the dark!

 

6 Months

Hello Family and Friends!

 

This last week has been pretty good week, also a little rough. I had a little bit of cold earlier in the week, which really wasn't that bad. However, my companion has been sick for the past 3 days which means we haven't gone outside.

 

Just some highlights from this week

 

- We met with the 郭家庭 (Guo family) this week, and we read from the Book of Mormon with them. We read 1 Nephi 17 and 18 when Nephi is building the boat. They liked how when he relied on God he was able to do something that seemed impossible at first. They've also started saying family prayers together every night! I'm so excited to see them keep progressing!

 

- we also have a new friend this week! Her name is Claire, she actually met the Elders who than referred her to us. She is golden! She set a baptismal date for April 6th, and is accepting everything we teach! She came with us to the new member fireside on Sunday, where someone spoke about the word of wisdom at one point. She asked me if we don't drink coffee and tea (we hadn't taught that yet). I told her yes and she looked me and said "ok, I can give all those things up". Like what!?!? I'm so excited for her!

 

- We also played sand Volleyball as a district this week, it was so much fun! It wasn't overly competitive but we had a pretty good time! 

 

- Sister Distajo and I decided to mix some stuff up this week so we moved beds out to the living room for a night because why not.

 

- all day Sunday we were inside because Sister Distajo is sick. She slept all day, which left me to myself. I had a lot personal study and language study which was good! I got a lot of stuff done, but I was also a little bored after 5 hours or so. I can just say how much I appreciate missionary work and being able to go out talk to people! And am looking forward to her feeling better!

 

I absolutely love this gospel, and having this opportunity to share it with people! I only have a year left on my mission and I'm so excited to be serving the people here in Taiwan! 

我愛你們!

Love, Sister Porter 

包姐妹