Final E-Mail

Good afternoon to you all!!

I hope everyone is doing great! I am doing great!! The work right now is so awesome!! Our area is really exploding with new people. We have so many people right now who we need to go and visit and teach that we literally don't have enough time this week to go see them all, and try to see our recent converts as well!!

We have so many people progressing right now that i don't know who to even write about.. I think the one that i would mention is the Odr family. Well i guess we wouldn't necessarily call them a family quite yet cause they are not actually married. Sister Es and Brother Akw have been cohabiting for years, they have 3 kids, and they are the sweetest ever! They found the missionaries a few months ago and they have been coming to church now every week for that whole time. They have such a firm testimony of the things that they have learned. They just don't have any money. Here in Ghana, you have to have quite a bit of money to get married cause the family of the woman demands quite a bit of money as a dowry or bride price. and So Akw has been working now since they found the church and found out the importance of them getting married so they can be baptized!! The reason i put them in here isn't cause they have got all the money and are now going for the wedding, but for them, they are one of the greatest examples of faith and prayer that i have seen here in Ghana. I can tell how discouraging it is for them to see so many people coming into the church after them and being baptized before them, people going to the temple to be sealed while they are still waiting.. its sad to me too. But they have been to church each week, continually praying and serving. Even Sister Es comes out and shows us to her friends around her house, they have such a great desire to share the Gospel that has already changed their lives so much and will continue to change their lives in the future when they have the opportunity to get married and sealed in the Lord's House!! I am so thankful for their example of faith and testimony!!

Well as stated in the subject part, today is my last email home as a missionary... I can't believe those words are coming out of my fingers. I am definitely anxious/nervous/excited/sad/happy. I have about a million different thoughts and feelings coming to me right now. I think the feeling that is most powerful in me right now is that I am just thankful for that opportunity that i have had to serve a mission.  I will miss the people of Ghana so much, I have come to love them so much as well!! To close my mission emails, I would like to share one of my favorite scriptures as of late. its Helaman 5 : 12, a very popular one:

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the ^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

I have been able to feel that power that comes from building our foundation upon Christ. I have felt the power of the Atonement in my life, and I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true Church, and we are led by living prophets and apostles who receive revelation from God. I love you all and I will see you soon!! My homecoming will be on August 20 @ 1:00 pm at the Bear River City Chapel. 

I love you all!!!!

Elder Porritt

Pressing on and Enjoying the Work

Well July is also over.. and I have 2 more weeks... I don't know how that happened so fast. Well this week was a blur like all the other weeks are, I don't even remember half of what happened this week, it all seems like the same week!!

On Tuesday, we had Zone Conference, which was my last one. It was a great conference, we learned a lot about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel. It would seem like the Restoration story and all of that would get old to a missionary who teaches it a few times every day and who has heard and recited the story thousands of times now, but every time I learn about Joseph Smith, every time I go back and read his story, every time I teach about it, the Spirit fills me and I just have such a great love and appreciation for the Prophet Joseph Smith! It never gets old hearing about Joseph Smith! Also with it being my Zone Conference, I bore my testimony, man that was so hard.. I am going to miss being in the Ghana Kumasi Mission. There are so many people who i have come to love so much here..

Also another hard moment this week was our Ward Mission Leader, Kwame Boakye, left on mission on Thursday. He is going to the Congo, Kinshasa Mission. We have really come to be close with him as we have worked so closely with him, and I know he will be a sweet missionary!!

Well Pat was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday, that was great for her and for the Young Women in the Ward to get another Sister to join them. Brother Thm was not able to be baptized though, we are still trying to work on a few things with him before he will be ready.

Well that is about it for this week, we are just pressing on and enjoying the work!

I love you all!!

Elder Porritt

Elder Boakye and us

Patience's Baptism

I Love What I Am Doing

First off, Happy Pioneer Day!

I didn't even realize it was the 24th of July until just when I was typing the date, so that is pretty sweet! Good luck to the Porritt's in the BRC Volleyball Tourney today, hope you take home the trophy again this year!!

Well this week had some good parts and some disappointing parts. But that is about how missionary work goes it seems.  We had such a great week of teaching and finding new people, but yesterday, we only had a few of our investigators come to church, that was the big disappointment..

Updates from last week, we didn't even get to see Brother Kwb this week cause it is impossible for us to get ahold of him due to the fact that he doesn't have a phone.. Also another setback, Brother Th Ams, who was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, wasn't able to due to some miscommunication that happened as we were lining up an interview for him. So we are hoping for this Saturday for him along with Sister Pat who is a young girl who stays with one sweet member here in our ward.

The great highlight that happened this week was contacting Brother Kel Amh. This guy is an evangelist which means he goes out to the car stations around the area and preaches. He doesn't really belong to any specific church, he has kinda been roaming, although he is currently attending one called Christ the King Church ha.. We met with him and got to know quickly how well he knows the Bible, and how much he wants to be at the right church, cause even he expressed his frustration about all the churches around here and how they do their things. Well when we came back there on Saturday, we explained very well about the foundation and organization of the Church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and he was just going along with all the scriptures and just nodding his head as we went, and as we explained about how the great apostasy brought such a change into the Christian world, he agreed with us perfectly on all that we said. And then as we told him the story of Joseph Smith, the young boy who went and prayed and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, Kelvin was about jumping out of his seat!! He was feeling the Spirit so strongly. As we concluded by telling him how Joseph Smith received the Priesthood Authority from John the Baptist, and then Peter, James, and John, Kel was nodding his head and told us that this was what he has been looking for, something with the same setup that the Bible teaches of. Well Kel unfortunately has a TON of duties in his current church, so Sunday he was not able to come to see for himself, but he promised us that this coming Sunday he would come, he also accepted a baptismal date for August 12. So I am definitely praying that works out cause that would be an amazing way to finish my work here in Nkoransa.

We also have 4 other people who we found this week and put many of them on date to be baptized in August. We are currently having a lot of success in our area, and THANKFULLY we are finding quite a few people who speak English. We have really been struggling with everyone we find speaking Twi, and on Wednesday, our Ward Mission Leader, Kwame Boakye, leaves for the MTC so we are losing our main translator... But the Lord will provide a way for us to teach them, or else he will provide English speaking people, that is the faith that we have.

The work is so sweet, I love what I am doing, and I am seriously sad that it is coming to an end so quickly, tomorrow is my final Zone Conference as a missionary. This transfer has been a lot of 'lasts' but I am enjoying it as much as I can, and we have a ton of people who are perishing in unbelief around us so we are working to save people!!

I hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Porritt

The Gift of Tongues

Hello everyone,

Another week is gone, and its been a quick one. This morning we had a 3 District tournament at the mission home and the good old Nkoransa District took home the trophy... too bad there wasn't an actual trophy, but we still won. The new elder in our apartment, Elder Ebissan, he is from Ivory Coast, that guy can PLAY!! We had a good morning for sure ha!

One great thing was our new guy Kwab. We contacted Kwab in a small village in our area called Pakyi, about 2 weeks ago. When we contacted him, he seemed like another guy who just called us over and wanted to make me speak Twi and laugh (unfortunately a ton of people do that, its terrible haha) but we gave him one pamphlet and took his number. We tried to go there this last week but his phone was switched off the whole week. Well Saturday night, we got a call from a random number, turns out it was him, using his friend's phone. He called and told us that he was coming to church tomorrow, and that he didn't have transportation money so he was going to have to walk. When he said that, I thought, 'ha how could he walk from that place to church' Just to help you see the picture, its over 3 miles of steep hills from his place to the chapel and the road has I think 5 or 6 big hills to climb and descend, its a pain for us to even go there in a car, let alone someone walk... Well to my great surprise, the guy came!! He showed up about 30 minutes into Sacrament meeting (9:30), he said he started walking around 7:30. Well if that doesn't show dedication, I don't know what does. So we have a lot of people right now who are pretty great, we are hoping for Brother Thm to be baptized this Saturday, and Sister Pat next Saturday! The work is sweet here in Nkoransa!! 

Jerry was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday, and yesterday after church, we went to his house and met his wife, Grc, who has expressed concern about the church earlier when he started investigating the church. She has many of the same doubts and ideas that most Ghanaians have, that the church worships the devil and that the Book of Mormon is a chanting book where we use it for rituals and get money from it hahah... (gotta love ghana..) But we went there and she said that she has seen a big change in Jerry's life since he met us, which is really true, cause he has went from a daily weed smoker and someone who is easy to fight with, to someone with more patience and someone who is clean from alcohol and drugs, all within a little over a month. For me, I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has all power to change lives, to help people overcome addictions, and to become completely different people. I am also sure that Grc will be a member within a few months as she begins to meet with the missionaries and see what the church is all about!

The greatest part of the week was Jerry's testimony that he bore after he was baptized on Saturday. I am thankful for the gift of interpretation of tongues that I was able to understand what he said in Twi (even though I still can't speak Twi that well). His testimony was one of the most powerful that I have heard born since I have been a missionary. He also bore testimony of how he came to know the church was true and the change that it has brought into his life. Anyone who could understand what he was saying probably would have been brought to tears, I definitely was. I am so thankful for the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I know that He is there for us to help us, strengthen us, change us, and forgive us, only on condition that we come to Him for that help. I love this work, and I am sad to see it go like this, only a few weeks left, but we are making the very most of it!!

I love you all and hope you have another great week!!

Elder Porritt

pictures are of Jerry's baptism!

Teaching Relief Society

Hello everyone!

Well to be honest, it has been a really rough week, a lot of rain, a lot of rejection, another week in the life of a missionary! We have been keeping on teaching Jry, he is progressing well and should be baptized this coming Saturday. Also brother Thm, he is also progressing very well too, and should be baptized two weeks Saturday. We are having quite a few really great investigators due to the great work that the members here in the Nkoransa Ward are doing to try and bring their friends and family to the Church. So we are super thankful for them making the work a little bit easier for us. Another funny thing that happened this week was that the Relief Society President called us and asked if one of us could teach Relief Society on Sunday, we were taken a little off guard, but Elder Adegboyega taught relief society yesterday, so that was sweet!!

It has been a week with not many highlights, but it has been good to keep reading and studying in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has become such a huge part of my testimony, through constant study and prayer, i have truly come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, it is another Testimony of Jesus Christ, and I have been able to come closer to God and Jesus Christ because of the things that I have learned within the pages of the Book of Mormon.

This week as i studied, there was one verse that hit me the hardest, and its a popular one, its Mosiah 3:19. "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

As I read this, I thought about how I can 'becometh as a child' and how i can try to develop those attributes. It really helped me as I thought inside and measured myself. The most important part is that the only way we can do all of these things is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that Jesus Christ came to this Earth to sacrifice His life for us, and I know that we will receive strength from Him if only we ask for it!!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Porritt

Yaw's baptism

Regina's baptism

First Day of My Last Transfer

It is July... Well I don't have words to say how fast my head is spinning. It seems like yesterday i was coming to the MTC. And today is the first day of my last transfer. 6 more weeks with my Son, Elder Adegboyega, and my awesome people in Nkoransa. And its going to be a great 6 weeks. The work is going extremely great here right now!

This week, I went on exchanges with Elder White (my district leader) on Wednesday, and Elder Ansah (one of my Zone Leaders) on Thursday, and those days were so great! We were able to see so many people and teach some amazing lessons.

On Wednesday, we went to see Jry again and 5 minutes into the lesson we were teaching him about the plan of salvation, his friend Drk walks over and sits down and joined us, we had an amazing lesson with those two about the wonderful plan that God has made for us and the peace and comfort it can bring. During the lesson, out of nowhere, Jry told us that he was actually a huge smoking addict, where he could hardly go a day without smoking, and not just cigarettes, he was into weed and the whole 9 yards. He told us how badly it has affected him in the past, and then he told us that last week after he met with us, he hasn't smoked a single time since then. His wife even asked him why he hasn't been going with his friends to smoke anymore, and he told her that is was because he found the true church and he needs to stop smoking so he can get baptized!! Well that was probably a pretty big hit for his wife, because she is against the church big time, or at least she is for now, we will see here soon after she sees the change that goes on with Jry. But the lesson with Jry and Drk was just great, Drk also committed to be baptized and to come to church. We are having miracle after miracle with Jry!!

Another miracle was with Sister Regina this week! She entered into the waters of baptism on Saturday and was confirmed on Sunday!! It was such a great week for the Karikari Family. Brother Richmond Karikari is Regina's husband and he joined the church in 2010 and has struggled for 6 1/2 good years trying to get his wife to come to the church and finally she has been baptized, now they are about to start working themselves towards the temple!! I am so happy for them!!

Well those are the highlights of the week, the work is sweet and I am enjoying my 'last days' as a missionary! This work is so great!! I am sorry i can't send pictures again this week, we are at the same cafe as last week and the computers wont load pictures.

As a bit of an uplifting message for the week, i would recommend that you all read Alma 7 sometime this week and just ponder the actual reason why Jesus Christ went through unimaginable pain for you and for me. Whenever I read that chapter, I am able to feel the Spirit very strongly and remember why Jesus Christ loves me so much and knows me individually!

I love you all!!

Elder Porritt

Wow! Way Awesome Week for us here.

Wow this week was a way awesome week for us here!! We had two big highlights for this week! Unfortunately though, today is a huge Muslim Holiday and so the internet cafe we usually go to is not open, and the one we are at today, we can't send pictures. But on with the miracles!!

On Wednesday, I had an awesome day on an exchange with Elder Edet who is in my apartment too, he is from Nigeria. We were in his area (Kokoben) and before we reached their area, one guy called us over from the roadside. A lot of times when people call us over, its not serious, a lot of people like to mess with us and laugh cause we can't speak Twi and they can't speak English. Well we felt like we should go and talk to the guy. We introduced ourselves and so did he, his name is Jry. As we started teaching Jry, we found out that 17 years ago, he was in Accra and attended the Church for 3 months but was never baptized. He even was helping to build one of the chapels in Accra before he moved here to Kumasi. Since he moved, he hasn't seen missionaries much and has not been to the church. He has been trying to come and wants to bring his wife, but his wife and his friends have persecuted him a lot as he has been trying to get them to come. Well we went on to teach him about the Restoration of the Gospel, and about the First Vision. As we recited Joseph Smith's First Vision and talked about how Joseph Smith received the Priesthood, Jry's eyes were full of tears and the Spirit was so strong. That was an amazing moment in my mission that I will never forget. As we helped him to understand that he needs to pray to know if our message is true, he said ''Elders, I have prayed to know if this church is good, and each time i pray to know, I have a dream where I see your church with this figure or cross thing on top" Elder Edet pulled out a picture of the Temple and pointed to Angel Moroni, and Jerry said that was what he has seen in his dreams. The Spirit has already told this man that the Church is true and he is ready to come, he has just been waiting for the missionaries to come and teach him. Unfortunately for us, Jry doesn't stay in our Ward boundary, but he works in it, so we will get to teach him and see him progress, but we won't see him at Church on Sundays. He did attend church yesterday though, the other elders in our apartment, Elder Edet and Elder White, he goes to their branch. We will surely go for his baptism though when the time comes!! We are so excited for Jry!!

The other amazing thing (an absolute miracle) that happened this week was that Yw from Daban was baptized!!! Oh man I never thought this day would come!! I am just one of probably 20-30 missionaries who have came through to teach that guy!! He has been the most stubborn investigator on earth, and he has struggled so hard to get over some serious addictions!! And finally, on Saturday, Yw was baptized. I am lucky that my area is really close to Daban still so I was able to go back there for the baptism, the Spirit was strong and I was so happy to see that!! Unfortunately i can't send pictures, ill send them next week! 

The rest of the week has also been great, but Jry and Yw have been the highlight of the week. Other great news, Regina should be baptized this coming Saturday!! So we are having a great time here in Nkoransa! Time is flying faster than ever right now!

To wrap things up, just a bit of advice for all of you out there, i heard the best quote ever the other day in a car going to the mission home, the guy on the radio said this: "If you're going to drink, drink plenty so you can't find your car!!"

I love you all, Have a great week!!

Elder Porritt