Hey Everyone,
So almost halfway through the CCM which feels great! I can’t wait
to get out into the mission field! Since last week there have been a couple of
changes in my experience in the CCM, first is that since I’m starting to get Spanish,
planning lessons has become a lot easier because me and my companion don’t have
to write as much down. we have gotten to the point when we will go into a
lesson with just a few questions, words, and scriptures written down and we can
get through the lesson without too much hassle, we are even getting pretty good
at deviating from the plan for a while to answer questions. The shorter time
needed to plan lessons is nice because we now have two investigators to teach
and we now realize that the teachers were going easy on us for the first one. It
is so crazy to teach in Spanish and even though I cannot conjugate my verbs
very well, I can get my point across.
It is truly amazing how quickly I have gone from not knowing any Spanish,
to being able to teach a lesson in Spanish; I mean I’ve only been here for about
three weeks and I’m already a lot more fluent in Spanish than I ever was with French.
It really is a testimony to the power of God and how he blesses his servants. Without
the help of my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ I would not have been able to
function and learn in the mission like I have. The gospel is truly amazing and
through Christ all things really are possible.
The second change is that I no longer have to babysit my district
as much as before. They all come on time for the most part and there are only a
couple times a week where I get super frustrated with them messing around or
pestering me to get mail. At the beginning of the CCM stay some of the
companionship's weren’t getting a long but gradually they have gotten a lot
better.
Today was a great day because I got to go to the Mexico City Temple
for the second time. It is crazy because you have the option to go through in Spanish
or English; but I’ve chosen Spanish both times and it was amazing the second
time because I could understand a lot of what was being said, it was a very
spiritual experience.
We also gave a priesthood blessing this week because one of the
Elders was feeling super sick. He didn’t
think he would be able to focus in the CCM or really do anything at all because
of it. So the nine other Elders in our district all gathered in his room two
nights ago and gave him a blessing. In the blessing the Elder speaking the
blessing promised him that as long as he was focused on serving the Lord and
not on the distractions he has back home and if he really tried his hardest to
do everything the Lord asks of him. And the next day he woke up and he felt a
lot better. He was able to get over the sickness he had for a couple days
overnight. This is another example of how the gospel blesses lives, I am so
glad I am a part of this church and I’m so excited to be able to devote myself
to the Lord and try to give back to Him, because he has given me everything.
There is no doubt in my mind that this church is true, I know it because I have
seen its blessings throughout my life and especially during my life right now.
I know it because I live it, I love it, I study it, and because the Holy Spirit
has testified of its truthfulness to me.
Love
Elder Porter
