1/8/2024

I can officially say I go home next year!

But I won’t, except when I need a good joke!

 

Monday

Transfers and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Eberle. He is actually one of the missionaries that passed me off at lesson pass-offs. With it also being our P-Day we got to chill most of the day. We played Settlers of Catan and lets just say my people should not have survived. They were suffering. 

Tuesday

Back to the Mission Office! Elder Eberle is my District Leader so he had a ZLC meeting to go to so I got to spend more time at the Mission office. That night we met a really awesome guy who asked us if he could have a Book of Mormon! Super cool however he is moving soon so we are hoping that he will stay somewhere within our area.

Wednesday

District Council! So we went back to the Mission Office for a third time in a row. One of the Sisters in my district is the sister of one of my friends from home so that was really cool to find out. She told me that her brother is serving soon so that was really exciting.

Thursday

Interviews! Well guess where we went! We went back to the Mission Office. That's 4 days straight! We had lunch with the Balisis so we could introduce Elder Eberle. We did some contacts and were able to reconnect with some people so that was really cool.

Friday

We did our weekly planning today because Thursday was already packed. We were able to evaluate everything and see who we should keep teaching and who we should “spend less time with”. Brother Rith got us dinner. We went to Reds Grill and it is one of the best burgers I’ve had! #notsponsered. We did some finding in an area that I haven’t been in since October. We met someone who said they have a lot of member friends and have been to some mission farewells and homecomings. We offered them a Resto Pamphlet with our number. We will see if it goes anywhere. Once we got home we got a referral. My experience of about 13 referrals in this area is that no one is interested and claims they didn’t put it in. Well when we called this guy he picked up and the first thing he said was “Wow that was fast”. It sounded like he was having a rough time so we shared a scripture with him and said a prayer with him. We will be trying to meet up with him but for now I just know that we actually got a legit referral!

Saturday

We were knocking on an apartment the day before and a lady said we could come back. When we came back her husband answered. He recognized us and mentioned that he went to church in Ghana and Sugarland. This was really cool so we gave him the details for church. He said that we can stop by anytime to talk more because he was busy cooking so we will be going back. We then had breakfast for dinner at the Hibberts and dessert at the Quasts. Texas has AMAZING members! 

Sunday

Well this is the first Sunday of the new year and you know what that means! NEW CHURCH TIMES! Pecan Grove is now at 9:00 AM with Jones Creek at 1:30 PM. We were at the church almost all day. Better yet, PG ward council was at 7:15 in the morning. We only had 45 minutes between waking up and needing to be at the church. But the trade off is great because I can now go to Jones Creek 2nd hour which I have wanted to do forever. Another thing is that because it is the first Sunday of the month, it is fast Sunday. With that I got to go up and give my testimony. The more you do it the more it comes naturally and the better you will be able to let the Spirit speak through you.

New Testament Doctrine of Christ is at John Chapter 20. Christ has been Crucified and is resurrected from the dead.

Come Follow Me for 2024 in the Book of Mormon is also officially starting in 1 Nephi. I love the Book of Mormon and I am so excited to be starting again. I will also be reading a Spanish BOM even if I don’t understand it.

A nice thought from my Bedside blessings book last night.

“If I have learned anything during my journey on Planet Earth, it is that people is essential–caring people, helpful people, interesting people, friendly people, thoughtful people. These folks take the grind out of life. About the time we are tempted to think we can handle things all alone–boom! We run into some obstacle and need assistance. We discover all over again that we are not nearly as self-sufficient as we thought.”

Proverbs 27:9 “So doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.” 

 We all need people in our lives. We can’t do everything on our own. Of course we have Jesus Christ always there for us along with the Holy Ghost but we also have each other. Jesus uses us to help others. We might feel prompted to call someone and that is the Holy Ghost helping someone through us. Always go out doing good to everyone.

I bid you all farewell till next week!

-Elder Portlock