New BLOG!!!!

Hello all! 

While I am on my mission I will have a missionary blog. The link to my new blog is www.sisterporter.blogspot.com 

My mom will be posting all of my letters and some pictures while I am gone so you can stay updated with how I am doing! 

I leave for the MTC on wednesday morning and I am so excited! I feel like I am pretty much ready to go, I just have a few last minute things to do. I am so lucky I get to fly up to Utah with MJ Roberts, one of my good friends who enters the MTC the same day as me. Some of my good friends that are in Provo will be picking me up and taking me to the MTC. 

I would love letters while I am gone so be sure to keep me updated with what's happening in all of your lives!

much love- Carly Jo 

Mission farewell coming up!

I leave for my mission exactly a week from today! I will be flying up to Provo Wednesday morning the 16th. My farewell talk will be this Sunday morning at 8AM at the church building located at Adobe and Val Vista. We also will be having people over on Sunday night to come say goodbye.

I feel like I am ready for my mission! I still need to get (make) a few more skirts and do a few last minute things, but other than that I am ready. It is really neat to feel the Lord preparing me for my mission in small ways. It took me some time to get into the mind set of being a full-time missionary for the next 18 months, which obviously includes no dating of any kind... I have been in such a dating/ marriage mode for the last few years that it worried me that I wouldn't be able to get past that. As I have prayed for the Lord to help me with this, my desire to serve has grown even more! I KNOW that the Lord will take care of me and that he is preparing someone wonderful for me to marry. My focus has completely changed and the Lord has helped me to feel and understand the things I should be focused on now at this time. Is that amazing or what?

I have learned so much about the Temple Square Mission and how unique it is. It is going to be so great! I keep having these feelings that I will be able to touch specific people there that have come from different parts of the world in a way that no one else could. I get the chance to represent the church and introduce the Gospel to them, so neat. I cannot wait! I have also been so impressed with all of the incredible love and support that I have received from friends and family. I hope that my letters while on my mission will bless the lives of those friends and family and help us all to come closer to the Lord and our Savior.

I love the Gospel and this church! I can't wait to share it!

NEW MUSIC VIDEO!!

I know that everyone is probably sick of my music videos but I just can't help it! I LOVE making them! So I convinced all of my close girl friends to make one with me before I leave for my mission!  As you can see on the video, the girls of course LOVE making music videos also. ENJOY

Lachelle Kellis (soon to be Merrill), Clarrisa Ragar, Kasey Klein, Erin Clouse, Emily Freeman (soon to be Heal) and then Carly Jo and Krystal Peterson (the only 2 that are single).... 

Some of my favorite summer reads!

I have read a couple of great books these last few months that I would like to recommend! They come in quit a variety but all are equal in greatness. 

The Tipping Point is a an incredible book about what makes things spread. From the rise of teenage smoking to the transformation of unknown books into best sellers, and many other mysterious changes that happen in everyday life. He relates all of these changes to epidemics because ideas, products, messages, and behaviors sometimes spread like viruses. He explains why this is the case and how it can be applied in everything in life. He has simple clear explanations to concepts like the "stickiness factor" and many other factors. It is a truly remarkable book and changes the way you view successful companies, artists, books, movies, and many other things.  

The Kite Runner was one of the most descriptive vivid books that I have ever read. It opened my eyes to some of the most horrible things that have happened in the Middle East and the culture that still exists there today. It is an intense story of love and friendship and how easily jealousy and greed can get in the way of happiness. Pretty much, everyone should read it. 

This is the cutest book! It only took me about a day and a half to read because I could not put it down! It is an adorable story about a funny writer who is doing a story about a community on a small Island and their experiences during the war. She corresponds with them by letter and falls in love with the people there. You get to know all the characters so well and really feel like you are there with them. Of course there is also a ridiculous to die for love story involved as well. I recommend this to every woman! Read it! 

Alright this is my most recent read and I am planning on reading the second volume as soon as possible. The Brothers is the first volume of a 6 volume series. It is  a descriptive read about what our lives would have been like in the Pre-mortal life. The main characters Elizabeth, Luke, Sam, and Ammon are fighting to stay on God's side during the great and terrible war that took place. At times they falter from their loyalty to Christ and struggle to stay on the right path. It is really cool to try on comprehend what our lives could have been like during that intense time when so many of God's children were rebelling against the plan that Christ planned for us. A remarkable book! 

New Music Video!

While my family was in Lake Powell we made a Music video!!!! CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT! 

Mission call videos!!!

CLICK HERE  to watch the videos! The first video is from my brother Denver's video blog! He is so funny and he will be posting a new video almost every day! His blog is www.blogimonies.blogspot.com   the second video has the full clip of me opening my mission call. YAY! ENJOY! 

with love- Carly Jo

My Mission Call!

About two hours ago I woke up and jumped out of bed. I ran to the hall and yelled "mom! mom!" she came out and asked what was wrong... my reply, "Mom I'm so happy!"

Okay let's rewind to approximately 24 hours ago. I was in the Mesa temple doing baptisms and trying to get myself ready to open my call which I hoped would be in the mail once I got home. I love going to temple and it was the perfect thing for me to do yesterday morning. I love seeing all the workers in the temple in white, serving the Lord selflessly, I thought to myself "I want to be just like them".

I got out of the temple, drove home, and followed the mail man around my neighborhood for about 15 minutes. Finally retreated home and rushed to the mail box about 5 minutes later. I opened the mail box and there it was! MY MISSION CALL! My family was waiting at the door and we had a fun freaking out moment while I danced aro

und with my mission call.

I let family and friends know that I would be opening my call around 6:30PM. The next 6 hours I just did NOT know what to do with myself. I was full of so many emotions and feelings, of course in my heart I wanted to go to some crazy foreign land and learn a crazy language, since that seems to be my kind of thing. But I knew that I was willing to go anywhere that the Lord wanted me! A friend was sure that I was going

foreign because the postage was 1.59 so it must be! So I kept myself busy running errands and

visiting friends. Right around 5 my sister, my mom, and I began getting together all the treats and cleaning the house. I could barely

think, really. I was just keeping myself a little too busy. I told them that I felt really sick and I don't think I hardly had eaten anything all day long. I felt a little nauseous and ya.. it was funny.

Ipromise it was at exactly 6:30 when piles of friends and family flooded through the door. My dad was busy getting a map together so everyone could make their guesses. I was busy running around greeting everyone and thanking them for coming. I am so blessed to have such good friends and family who support me completely and love me! Seriously I couldn't have asked for better. So what seemed like an eternity had only been about ten minutes and I wanted to RIP open my call... and I really almost did. Finally everyone had their guesses made and I shouted it was time. Anxiously I climbed the stairs so everyone could have a view of me opening my call. I let everyone know right away that no matter where I went, that I knew it would be exactly where the Lord wanted me to be. Nervously I opened the package and pulled out my call. I covered it up and began reading down. Of course, without even trying my eyes read ahead a line and I saw where I was going. I kept my composure and continued reading... "you are assigned to labor in the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission". haha I am not going to lie, I was completely shocked! I kept reading.. "You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009"! So soon! I was so excited! I couldn't even hear myself thinking over the noise of family and friends beneath me yelling and screaming! It was a hilarious scene!

Everyone was so surprised... but not really. I think all of us had in the back of our mind's knew that I had a high chance of going there. Well... I don't know exactly who goes there.. but I do know that I had a very overwhelming powerful confirmation when I read my call that this is exactly where I need to be! It is the best feeling in the world!

I am so excited to serve on Temple Square. I have known several girls that have served there and I have only heard great and wonderful things. It will be so incredible to meet so many people from all over the world every day. I'm excited to share my knowledge and testimony of the Gospel with people who have come to learn more about our church. YAY! I will also get to be on Temple Square all the time, one of my most favorite places in the world! Who could ask for anything better? Also, it is great because I will get the best of both worlds. For 6 months of my mission the sisters in Temple Square are sent to another location to do normal missionary work. You can go somewhere stateside or international. So that is also very exciting! I really feel like this mission is PERFECT for me! Just as I told my mom this morning, I am so happy! So happy! So happy!

Music and The Spoken Word

I am sitting right now in a cute little hotel room in Orem, Utah listening to the rain outside my window. I just woke up from a must needed Sunday afternoon nap and will soon be going to eat at our Aunt Juna's house in Provo. My family is in the room next door and I can hear them laughing and talking. But I am here reminiscing on a wonderful experience that I cannot stop thinking about, so I must share it! 

All seven of my family members went together this morning to listen to the Tabernacle choir sing at the Conference Center on Temple Square. If you have not yet had that opportunity to hear this choir sing live, it is something that you MUST do.... and I would recommend to very soon. Today was the 80th anniversary of the Music and the Spoken word, which is the longest broadcasted Radio and television production in the world, truly remarkable. My family was surprised to sit down and moments later arise as we watched our beloved Prophet and his wife walk in. They were accompanied by Henry B. Eyering and his wife as well. The hush and spirit that swept over the room filled my eyes with tears. We sat down and moments later were listening to the magnificent choir sing the song "The Morning Breaks", which is one of my favorites. 

When the Holy Ghost bears witness to you of the light and truthfulness of the Gospel, it is so undeniable! I was thinking about how many times in my life that I have been blessed to feel the spirit bear witness to me of simple but wonderful truths in the Gospel and it is impossible to count them. I know that good MUSIC is a channel directly to the spirit. When our minds and hearts our open to accepting new thoughts and ideas, literally nothing can stop that spirit from touching our hearts. As I continued listening to the music from the choir, I was thinking of ways in which I can keep this feeling with me always. Don't we always want that spirit to be with us? I knew that these ideas that were filling my mind were directly from the spirit. How wonderful! One of the major things that I thought of was how sensitive the spirit is to our surroundings. When I put myself in a place where the spirit cannot dwell, the spirit will no doubt leave me. I am pretty sure that while living in this world full of wicked and evil things that can harm us, we never ever want the spirit to leave us. We need the spirit always and it is not worth the sacrifice of a "fun night" to not have him dwell in us. 

These were just some of my thoughts that I have been having all day today. Once again, I love the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that it is true with all my heart and I know that we must live by its teachings! Okay, enough from me. Those of you that know me well, know that I like to talk like this and share what I believe, often. Well... PERFECT that's probably why I am so excited to serve a mission! Woo! Okay, maybe I will go and join that laughter next door? 

p.s. possibly could receive my mission call in 5 days. 

UPDATE- Papers are in!

Hey everyone! As of last night my mission papers are officially in! The calls are made every Friday and then they mail out the packet's on Tuesdays. So if things go as planned I could possibly have my call next Thursday or Friday? WOW! I am still trying to let it hit me that I really am serving a mission, this has all happened so fast. I know wherever they call me is exactly where the Lord need's me to be! 

So in the meantime I have been hanging out at home with my family. We are all home at the moment and spend our days playing games, watching movies, and going out to eat. You know... typical Porter stuff. I am taking an online class with MCC that helps me stay productive. I must say though that it is a pretty easy class, which is a nice break. We are heading up to Utah EARLY tomorrow morning for the weekend! I haven't been to Utah in over two years so this is pretty exciting for me. I cannot wait to hangout with the girls I went to China with this last time. We all still keep in touch and I LOVE them to death. My Sister Catie is at Young Ambassadors camp this week so we are going to watch their final performance on Friday night. If you are in Utah and want to come to a good show! This show is so impressive. They learn these songs and dances in 3 days and then perform, pretty dang amazing. We have also been busy with wedding plans for Drew and Haley. They are so freakin cute. Their wedding date is August 20th for all of you who will be in AZ. I am sad that I will not be in Boston with them for their first year together of marriage. I know Haley is going to LOVE Boston though and hopefully I will be going back right after my mission! Tara is getting ready to go to Germany for study abroad this Fall semester! I am so excited for her, she is going to love it and learn so much while she is gone. hmmm maybe I will be called to Germany? 

Alright so I have been taking my time going through Preach My Gospel once again and really going through every scripture and studying it. I love it so much! I cannot wait to teach from it! If any of you return missionaries have study suggestions feel free to share them with me! I am always looking for new ways to study. woo! K, I will of course let everyone know once I get the call! Can't wait!! 

Let it Rock!

The week before Tara and I left Boston for the summer we made this music video with some of our best friends! Creed and Jaes go to MIT so we filmed it in their dorm and also in the tunnels underneath MIT. It was so fun! We love Anna and these boys! Creed just left for his mission and Jaes and Tyler are leaving in the next few weeks. They will be wonderful missionaries... ENJOY

A Change in Plans ......

Alright so I have very BIG news! After a few months of studying it out in my mind and in every way possible, I have decided to go on a mission! I made the final decision yesterday afternoon and I could not be more happy about it! I have been going back and forth with myself for the last few months, trying to decide whether or not a mission was for me. Now I know though, that this is what the Lord would have me do, it is such a great feeling!  I have loved being in Boston and going to school there, so it was hard for me to make the decision to put of school for another 2 academic years. BUT, I know that serving a mission will be worth every bit of sacrifice that it will take to serve for 18 months. Not only will I be benefiting from it and growing in so many ways, but I will be serving the Lord's children and teaching the Gospel! So exciting! If you are finding out for the first time but reading this, don't feel too bad! I really haven't been able to let everyone know yet because I just decided yesterday. 

I got my papers yesterday and I already have my appointments made. I'm hoping hoping hoping to have my papers turned in by thursday, it totally depends on if I can get in with the Stake President for the final interview. So if I get them in this week then I should have my call the weekend of the 24th, yay! Where on earth might they send me? Of course, I will LOVE to go anywhere that the Lord wants me to go. 

A coincidence? I think not.

Saying goodbye to the volunteers in Dehli was not an easy thing for me. You would think that I would be good at saying goodbye by now, after having to do it so often after trips like this…. But no. It is always the same heartbreak feeling that I get. Pushing the feeling away never works. It’s coming to know people in a special way where you literally see them as Christ sees them. I am so grateful that I was blessed to have been able to spend this short time with them. It is amazing that complete strangers can get together and come to really love each other so quickly. I know that it has to do with the service that we are doing. When you are serving, you forget about yourself and you begin to be so interested in the well-being and lives of all those around you. Think of what the world would be like if we could all keep that mindset! I hope that I can! Service changes people, it changes hearts. Thank you to all of those in my group who changed me! You were angels to me and I will always remember the lessons that I learned from many of you. We shared so many experiences together and now I know that it is our obligation to share it with those we love back home, to help them understand the principles that we learned. Each one of you played a very special role here in our group in India, I'm sure it was not a coincidence that we all came together :) Love you guys! 

More pictures from Dehli Trip!