First Christmas Away From Home

Well Merry Christmas everyone!! I will have to say that it was sure different being away from home for Christmas and I sure do miss everyone, but it was a Christmas I don't think I will ever forget.  Unfortunately this week, with all the Christmas celebrating, we didn't teach much because a lot of people travelled and we weren't able to see many people so the teaching was super slow..  I will say it was a good week still though!

Christmas Eve, we went with Moby to his brothers house, which is the only huge nice house i have seen in Ghana so far, and then his brother took us to a really nice hotel which is the only places you can get really nice American food here and we had Chicken and Beef Pizza on Christmas Eve which was sure awesome!!

Christmas morning, we had a zone activity and watched Elf which was awesome just because Elf is hilarious!! Then the zone went to the Station here in Techiman which is where you go if you need to catch a bus anywhere in Ghana. When we went to the Station, we all just started singing Christmas songs and you wouldn't believe how fast we had a crowd of people watching us!! People here usually just stare at us when we walk by because 1- we are white and 2 we are wearing shirt and tie with name tags so everyone thinks we are fbi or something haha. But if you take the first two things and then add us singing, wow... haha we had soo many people watching us and videoing us on their phones and it was just a great time. We even were able to find a pastor who was preaching into his microphone and we asked to use it and he let us and so we started singing and then the pastor got his huge collection box and put it out in front of us and started telling people to throw their money in it haha it was pretty interesting to say the least!  But then being able to talk to the family was so amazing!! It made me so darn happy!! But it also made me miss the comforts and everything about being home.. But there is nothing quite like being a missionary! It just is amazing and I make memories every single day!!

Another amazing thing with Christmas is the members basically beg you to come eat with them!! So on Saturday and today we had fufu which was obviously amazing just because fufu is so amazing!! and even tomorrow we are going again to a members for more!! WOOO! haha the members here are so awesome with meals!

That's about it for this week!! I am thankful for all of your love and support in my life and i want you all to know that I love you all so much!! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and i hope you all have a Happy New Year!!

Love 

Elder Porritt

A Grand Ol White Snowy Christmas Morning here in Ghana hahaha

 Merry Christmas!!!  Love Elder Madsen, Elder Snow, Elder Botha, and Elder Porritt

It was pretty good on the spaghetti to be honest.  (Fettuccine Alfredo in Ghana)

Some of the members after Church yesterday! The two kids are thee coolest ever.

Porritt Family Colorful Christmas

I wanted to share a couple of pictures of Elder Porritt's family in our Ghanaian "Duds".  We love the colorful clothing that Hunter sent to us this year.

Our Big Christmas Surprise

This is a post from Elder Porritt's Mom:

Elder Porritt had told us that he wasn't going to be able to Skype.  Which had some truth to it, he wasn't sure if it was going to be possible.  But when he found out that it was possible, he wanted to surprise his Mom and Dad, so he kept it a secret from us and only told his brothers so they could set it up.

So.. on Christmas morning while we were waiting for just (what we thought was a phone call), Logan asked us to come downstairs to see something he had for just a minute.  I actually was a little mad because I didn't want to go downstairs because I was waiting for the phone call and didn't want that phone to ring while I was down there.  So we all walked downstairs.  As I turned the corner and saw this cute, happy, beaming, son of mine, I couldn't hold back the emotions.  He had the biggest smile on his face I think I have ever seen.  Wow, was I ever surprised.

The reception for Skype wasn't the greatest downstairs so we went upstairs to talk on just the laptop.  I think Casey would have liked to set up the Skyping a little bit better, but it was fine and it was a surprise to him too.

We had a wonderful visit with Elder Porritt, and he got to visit with Grandma & Grandpa Oyler and Grandma Porritt, along with a cousin, Elder Carson Porritt, serving a mission in Madrid Spain.  That was pretty awesome in itself.

It was wonderful to see him and see how happy he really is.  It was also hard to actually see him and have to say goodbye.  We closed our conversation with a family prayer offered by Elder Porritt.  I will never forget that.

This Picture Says It All

Our Christmas Family Picture

Merry Christmas

Hola Family!!!

I am so excited for Christmas I can't even contain myself!!!!!! and this week was super great!!!

Well you all remember D, the high school kid who had Malaria and had to go back to Sunyani, well we have been praying for him so much and this week he came back to Techiman and told us that he still wants to be baptized but he and J are both going home for the Christmas holiday so when they return from holidays, we will be able to finish their teaching and baptize them which is awesome!!! I am so thankful for all of your prayers on their behalf as well!! you have no idea how much I appreciate it.

This week we also met two other really powerful guys. The first one, K, is a really good friend of a member who was in Accra for 2 years and has now moved up to a small village about 25-30 minutes from Techiman. The village is called Afrancho and it's in our area so we definitely get to go down there haha. But the member from Accra, G, has been a member for 2 years and is getting the Melchezidik Priesthood in a few weeks and is going through the temple soon soo he is a super powerful guy and has such a strong testimony.  So our first lesson with K was great and he came to church yesterday and he had prayed about the church and the restoration and he knew for sure that it was true and that he really wanted to be baptized so that is for sure great news for us since we haven't been having much luck here with teaching as of late.

The other guy, A, just showed up at out door on Friday night and wanted to hear about our church but it was too late and we were supposed to be getting ready for bed so we talked to him on Saturday and wow it was such an awesome lesson and he was really excited when he showed up to church on Sunday and he even had the same experience as K. He had prayed about everything we had taught him and he said that he knew for sure this was the right thing for him at this time and he wanted to know more. Both of them are set to be baptized in January along with D and J, so January could be a pretty sweet month for us!! I am really hoping!!

I hope all is going well back home and I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. I love Christmas because we celebrate the birth of the most important Human to ever walk this earth.  Jesus Christ's birth is something that I am soooo happy about. He is our Savior and we truly should rejoice over Him coming to the earth!!

I love you all,

Elder Porritt

Me and Mobby

 We got a mouse this week hahahah elder snow smashed him

12/14/15

Hello Fam!!

It sounds like there is a lot of snow coming down back home and man you are lucky. what i would do for some snow here haha.  Its just hot and dusty and dry here which is super fun hehe...

But really it was a super slow week here.. We are still struggling to find new people, we don't have many people who are serious about learning the Gospel, and we just walk around and get called 'o brounie' which is oh white man... but once in a while we find a cool child who won't just yell at us the whole time we walk by them, those are rare though.

D still hasn't returned but their school is out for holiday anyway so we are really hoping and praying that he returns when they come back after Christmas!! I really am so thankful for everyones prayers on his behalf though!! It means so much!!

I know that the Gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is true. Heavenly Father hears and answers your prayers. I promise you that!! It may not be when you want or how you want but He will answer!!

I hope all is going well for all of you though!!

I love you all,

Elder Porritt

We found this tree in our chapel in a closet. you know we put it in our room and decorated it!!! wooooo

not my favorite drink but hey at least i tried a fresh African coconut

you know.. fresh coconuts aren't that good.. they are super bitter

Thee zone of Techiman!! 

 Our new friend who didn't live long after this was taken.. he was the biggest one we've seen so far.

DRYYYYYY!

Hello everyone!!!

I hope all is going well back home! I have heard that BYU and Utah are meeting in Las Vegas for the bowl game so that should be a partay!!! Elder Snow's family said that people back home are calling it "The Holy War in Sin City" So that was basically the best thing i ever heard hahahaha!!

This week is transfers already again. It was a short transfer due to something happening with the Ghana MTC and I will be transfered to Tamale up north which is really close to Burkina Faso. The weather there is about 115 in the middle of the day so I may not be alive next week with that heat..... hahahaha just kidding I'm staying in Techiman and I am staying with Elder Snow for the next transfer which means I will be spending Christmas here in Techiman!! (I wasnt kidding about Tamale's weather though. its toasty up there and there is actually a decent chance i'll serve there someday.)

Anyway holy cow Hummatine is setting in very strongly and it is hot here. and man it is DRYYYYYY. I think the dryness is worse than the heat. Its really crazy that this place can be the most humid place ever during the rain season and then be soooo dry during the hot season. It really is some weird weather here in GH but I will live haha!!

With D and J..... man its just not going well. D got Malaria and had to go back to his home town in Sunyani and we haven't heard from him and can't contact him because he doesn't have a phone... so we have seen J a few times but haven't taught them and they weren't able to be baptized Sunday.. We don't know right now how the whole situation is going but I'm really glad I am staying here in Techiman so hopefully at some point he will come back and we will be able to keep them going and progressing. But we did have one lesson a few weeks ago that i forgot to tell you all about with D and J when they were not really sure if they believed what we were saying and they weren't sure if they were going the right way with us and we talked about how they can know for themselves and then we had them pray to close the lesson and to specifically ask God right there with us if what we were saying was true, if the Book of Mormon was true, and if they really should be baptized, and boom Shockalaka the Spirit was soooo strong.  I swear I could have taken a knife and cut a big slice of it off it was so thick in the room. man that was powerful.  After the prayer was said by D, he and J both kept their heads down for like a whole minute and nobody said anything and wow that was sooo spiritual. I knew for sure that everything was true and I know that Elder Snow was feeling the exact same as me. and then after the minute, they both looked up at us at the same time and they both said that they know its true.  wow that was easily the most powerful lesson i have had with anyone so far. and that's why i am really really concerned for them because i know that they have got a sure answer and I know that they want to join the church but man it just seems like everything right now is just hitting them right in the face trying to keep them from coming and being baptized.. so right now we are really praying for them a lot.

That is all that has happened with teaching.. the teaching is really slow right now because the people here don't like to be outside in this weather and they don't like to answer their doors when we knock cause they are sleeping a lot of the time.. So it's a struggle to say the least to find new people, but we are really focusing on finding new people this week and we really feel good about it.

 I hope all of you are doing great and know that you are in my prayers!! I love you all so much and I'm thankful for your encouragement and support!! Have a great week!!

Love, Elder Porritt

ps. only 18 more days til you know what

You can decide if this is a tan line or a dirt line from playing futbol last week:)

 heheh our futbol.  Everywhere and everything in Ghana has sayings like this on everything!!!

This is the sun at about 3 in the afternoon... now you see the smog and dust and smoke.. the effect it has here is huge and its seriously no bueno

Our buds In and Is rockin' their new CTR rings. (That Mom sent to them).

Thanksgiving!

Hello there everyone!!

I hope all is going well for everyone back home.  Ghana is sweet and Ghana is hot. Real hot. Right now, hummatine is hitting with full force and it is hot, dry and dusty. it hasn't been below 100 degrees in a few weeks and it just gets hotter every day so that is great.

Thanksgiving was sweet. We obviously couldn't have all the things on the menu i put together last week but we sure did enjoy!! We had some instant potatoes that Elder Snows mom sent, some rice, and a lot of candy and drinks haha! it was really nice! We had the Zone Leaders, Elder Botha and Elder Madsen over to celebrate with us and you will see the pictures!! it was sweet!!

Also another great thing that happened this week besides Thanksgiving day. The first one was Elder Snow reaching into the baptismal font to grab a lid that fell in and there was water in it still from a baptism that the sisters had last week, and our phone fell out of his shirt pocket into the water and luckily we have a nokia phone (seriously indestructible) and so we left it out to dry out the inside of the screen the next two days hahahah it was sweet!!

Anyway with the teaching this week. It started out rough. Elder Snow was sick again Tuesday and Wednesday so we didn't go out but D and J have been coming to the apartment/chapel for us to teach them still.

Every one of our appointments fell through on Friday and Saturday so that was crappy... But D and J are so ready for baptism and they were supposed to be baptized yesterday, but they couldn't come for their baptism interview on Saturday night because they couldn't get out of the school. and they also couldn't make it to Sacrament yesterday for the same reason.. But so we were really disappointed about that.. but on the positive note, today we spent the whole day with them and they are super super excited for their baptism Sunday!!! and needless to say Elder Snow and I are excited about it too!!

Today with D and J, we went to their high school's state tournament Qualifier game and WOW i have never been to anything more crazy in my life.... First of all, Their team's keeper went out to try and stop a ball outside of the goal box and he slid to get it and the other kid's knee git the keepers head and knocked him out cold. The keeper got a red card for the illegal slide but he was literally laying limp in on the ground and a bunch of people went out to look at him and they just started giving him CPR and i was like holy crap i might witness a kid die in a soccer match... but so Elder Snow ran out on the field and he said the kid's heart was still beating but they didn't even know to check that they just started giving him CPR cause he wasn't responding... but so Elder Snow told them to all back away and of course everyone listened cause he is white and people here see white man and think doctor or pastor so they listened and the kid woke up and he was super in shock and they had a car on the field and they took him to the hospital.. But man its probably a good thing elder Snow went out and had them stop with the chest compressions because he was fine he was just knocked out soooo that was super interesting i guess! but Their team won in a shootout so that was good!! Then the four of us went and played some futbol of our own at a park and wow i got sunburned big time. Plus i got a haircut today so my head is really red.... but man today was just such a great day!!

I love all of you so much and i want you to know that i know that the Church is true. If it wasn't, then i sure wouldn't be here right now. I know that Heavenly Father loves us all so much and He wants us to follow Him and His commandments. He will bless us so much if we live how we know we should!! I love you all! have a great week!!

Elder Porritt

Our feast baby!!!

The crew. Botha-front left. Madsen-back left Snow-back right & Me

  Our coconut tree in front of our apartment has been dropping some branches hahaha and they are not small..

Alligators!!

Hello there everyone!!

I hope everyone is having a great week!! Here in Ghana things have sure been better than the last few weeks.  For one, the teaching is getting a lot better.  We are seeing more people and we have been able to talk to and teach more people this week which sure has been great!

You all remember D and J, the two high school kids, well the last 2-3 weeks they have basically dropped off the face of the earth. they just stopped meeting with us completely. well this week we figured out it was because they went home for like 2 weeks because they had a short vacation from school but they are back and they are so so ready to learn more about the Gospel!!  So this week we have been teaching them a lot and that has been awesome!! We even went on Saturday morning and played basketball with them and a few of their friends at the high school which was soooo fun!   But man they have hops. The kids we were playing with couldn't make a normal shot to save their life but man they could hammer down.  They were dunking like it was nothing.  Although i don't think the rim was quite at 10 ft but they were throwing it down easy haha.  But we absolutely smoked them haha.  But seriously D and J are the best ever.  They are really serious about wanting to be baptized  and they show up to be taught all the time which is so so so awesome! We are hoping that they will be ready to be baptized by next week because there is a possibility that we wont be here for the next Sunday because that week is transfers.  But we wont be baptizing them unless they are really prepared because we don't want them to get baptized and then go less active two weeks later because that is something that happens a lot here in Ghana.. We have lots of less actives and that is one thing we are trying to work on too is to get them back to church.  But man. The work is going a lot better here this week that is for sure! 

But another sweet thing that happened Saturday when we were at the high school was absolutely crazy.  We were walking back to the entrance of the high school and D and J told us to follow them over to a big cement block thing and we couldn't tell what it was but we got up to the edge of it and you never would have guessed but a dang alligator jumped up and almost killed us hahahahaha.  I have now seen two alligators and i will say that i would not mess with one because they are so scary hahaha. Those things will snap whenever they want and you wont even see them coming for you.  Ha it is a good thing they have them caged up basically in a huge cement fort. But man it was sweet!!!

Well folks, I hope that all of you are doing awesome.  I want to encourage everybody that sees this to just keep pushing forward.  Enduring to the End is something that we are commanded to do. and to follow that commandment we need to:

1- keep the commandments.

2-repent of our sins always
3-partake of the Sacrament worthily each week

4-repeat

As a representative of Jesus Christ, I promise you in the Name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that Living the Gospel Principles WILL bless your life. Our Heavenly Father tells us: "I am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise"

Live the commandments, live worthily, and you will be blessed. That is a promise. The blessings may not come how or when you think or want, but they will come.

I love you all so much and hope that you have an amazing week!!

Love 

Elder Porritt

We found a shop that has American candy!!! hallelujah!!

 Ghana doesn't know what Thanksgiving is but You already know that Thanksgiving will be a party with an American companion. We will be following a strict schedule this Thursday, but man we might need to fast Tuesday and Wednesday to be able to live through all of Thursdays activities:)

 This small boy wasn't exactly fun to see... we will just say that the insectiside spray was busted out in record time.

11/16/2015

Hello there everyone!!!

Well this week was really slow.  Elder Snow was pretty sick from Wednesday-Saturday so we didnt even go out most of the week.. even if we would have went out, it would have been hard for us to compete with the crusade that went down this week...

I have never ever seen anything so ridiculous in my life as what I saw with that crusade.  There was well over 10,000 people that gathered in the park and on the streets and just everywhere around that place and holy cow it was stupid.  we went down there on Thursday night to see the scene and I got a pretty good video of it all going down but the video is too big to send home.  The people just yelling hallelujah and jumping up and down. wowzer it was a site to see. I sent a picture of the sign they have had around town for a few months.  It is pretty comical haha!

We only taught one lesson this week.. So that was pretty crappy, we just were in the apartment all week because of the sickness.. but we are really ready and excited for this week. We are excited to see who we can find and bring closer to our Heavenly Father!!

The one thing that was awesome that happened this week was this.  Ghana is cool because when original baseball, football, basketball jerseys are made for Americans, a lot of times there are factory mistakes on jerseys and they cant sell those jerseys online or in American stores so they send them to these African countries like Ghana and they send them for free and the people here can get them for free and sell them for however much they want. so get this.  Nolan Ryan, Cooperstown Jersey. Houston Astros, #34, 25 cedis which is the equivalent of about 6 US dollars.  If you find a nolan ryan cooperstown jersey in america for under 100 dollars you let me know hahaha I got this thing for 6 bucks and it is sweet!! I know he played most of his time with the Rangers but he did play with the Astros for a while and this jersey is awesome!!! I am so excited about it.  Elder Snow also found a Chauncey Billups and Tracy McGrady jersey both are New York Knicks jerseys haha so that was a pretty cool part of this week!!

Well that is all that happened this week, I know its not much but it was hard because we didn't really get out of the apartment much.  I hope all is going well for all of you back home.  I love you all so much!! I know the Book of Mormon is true and I would encourage you all back home to read every single day from it.  It will help you no matter where you are in life.  I know that is true. 

Love, 

Elder Porritt

Here is the description of the Crusade... very interesting. these signs are literally everywhere.

view from behind.. during the night this place was packed with at least 12 thousand people... maybe more... it was unreal.

Us and Mobby just acting cool

1st Transfer on the Mission

Well I am being transfered.  haha just kidding!  But yesterday was the last day of my first transfer and I will be staying in Techiman with my good pal Elder Snow.  man that kid is awesome and we get along so well!! I am really enjoying my time with him but Wow it was a rough week here in Ghana.

As far as teaching about the Gospel, we aren't doing too well.. It just seems like every person we talk to is not serious.  They accept the commitments to be baptized and to come to church, to read the Book of Mormon, etc. but they won't do any of them.  We are struggling with the people here because they are really stubborn and they don't want to change their ways.

We did meet one guy who we think might be a bright spot here.  His name is Dennis.  (Basically there are like 10 names in Ghana for men.  It seems like everyone we talk to is named Dennis, Phillip, Kofi, Daniel, etc. just a lot of basic names haha)  But so Dennis.  He is a professional footballer.  He plays for a Class 2 Ghana team which is like AAA compared to MLB but for soccer. But he actually is looking to go to Europe to go try out for Barcelona, Chelsea, Madrid, one of the big boys over there so this guy is sweet!! and he is super super nice!!   We taught him this week and he likes the message and wants to learn more but the problem is that at any time, his coach in Kumasi can call him and tell him that they their vacation is over and that they need to report back to Kumasi for training so we are just praying that he gets to stay over the holidays like he is hoping as well.  But he seemed really interested so I guess we will see about him throughout this next week.

Now this week there were some interesting things.  Elder Snow became a surgeon.  I don't know if you have seen the side of my big toe lately but some will remember it, it came from pitching when my toe would slide but I have that huge callace/wart on it and it has been hurting me recently so Elder Snow performed an operation and I will say that it was the most painful thing that I have ever experienced in my life and I really don't even know if it is going to be better for sure.. I will send pictures but man it was not pretty.

One thing that stands out here are the insects/ spiders.  They are huge.  We saw a spider the other day that was like 4-5 inches diameter.  They just keep getting bigger as we keep seeing them and I do not like that at all..  The bees, the mosquitos just every single thing is bigger and looks scarier haha i don't like that kind of stuff at all!!

One thing I want to share with you this week come from 'Jesus the Christ' by James E. Talmage.  If you haven't read this book I would encourage you to read it. it is amazing.  This is what i read.

What other man has lived with power to withstand death, over whom death could not prevail except through his own submission? Yet Jesus Christ could not be slain until His “hour had come,” and that, the hour in which He voluntarily surrendered His life, and permitted His own decease through an act of will. Born of a mortal mother He inherited the capacity to die; begotten by an immortal Sire He possessed as a heritage the power to withstand death indefinitely. He literally gave up His life; to this effect is His own affirmation: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”^q And further: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.”^r Only such a One could conquer death; in none but Jesus the Christ was realized this requisite condition of a Redeemer of the world.

I want all of you to really think about what that says and what it means to you that Jesus Christ, the perfect, humble Savior of the world, gave his perfect life for YOU!!! Think about that and think about what you need to do to show your love for Him.  He is our example.  He is who we need to pattern our life after.  We need to try and be like Him! I love Him. I know that he gave his life for me and my sins. He is perfect. I want to be like Him and I want you to be like Him too.

I love you all so much and I send my greeting from the one and only Ghana.

Elder Porritt

My Toe Before Surgery

Our District

Mobby is the Man, except he leads us through this crap...

Our Breakfast the other day haha, it's an indomie sandwich:) actually really good, Elder Snow showed it to me.

Happy Halloween from GH!

Happy Halloween from GH!!

I hear it has been really cold back home which stinks!! But it has been really really cold here too.. I think the low this week was 90 with about 80% humidity haha.. It is toasty around these parts now.  And you all know how much i sweat.. Every day when we get back to the apartment its about as if i jumped into a swimming pool haha!!

Anyway wow it was a really hard week.. I actually got sick Thursday and couldn't even get up out of bed because i was so sore..  I pretty much slept the entire day.. Other than that just this week I don't know why but people dont want to see us for some reason.. every time we try and go see people they are either not home or they are too busy or they have some excuse and don't want to talk and man.. It is hard.. It is hard to have patience because I know we have the truth and i want them to be able to have the truth as well but they are too busy for some reason.. Plus another great thing is called Market Day.  If its market day, 90% of the whole city goes to the market because people sell their stuff for cheaper on market day. So guess what day market day is? Wednesday. And Thursday. and Friday.  Soooo that is about the crappiest thing ever because those three days it seems like a ghost town around here..

Halloween was surely the bright spot for the week! and you will get the description of what we did in my pictures!! WHOOOO!!  But it just so happened that on the morning of halloween elder Snow found a spider that was about 3 inches wide with its legs out.. sounds small but you go grab a ruler and see if you want that spider on the wall a foot from your face then decide what you would have done if you would have seen it hahaha!!

We have been studying the Twi book of Mormon because why not!! We actually speak a little Twi because the people here like to see if we can speak and they wont speak English with us so that is for sure a trial for me because right now i know about 20 words in the Twi language..

So you remember D and J? well they are progressing but they haven't came to church so its struggling a tiny bit.. They love everything we teach them and they accept everything and they really really want to be baptized but we cant actually baptize them until they have been to church three times and they have only came once so we really need them to come or else we wont be able to baptize them! Other than them, we have nobody progressing which is so dang hard.. Elder Snow says that Techiman is probably the hardest zone in the entire mission and if i can get through it here and have a good attitude then when I leave Techiman, the numbers and the teaching and everything will get better! But I really love Techiman even though it is tough for teaching.. I just want people to have the truth..

I know this Gospel is the truth.  I know that it was restored through Joseph Smith.  I know that Jesus Christ gave his perfect life for us.  He suffered every single pain that has ever been felt and he died for us.  I hope you all can think about what that really means.  Think about what he actually did for YOU! He loves you! and I love you all too!! I hope all is going well for you all!! Have such an awesome week!!

Love Elder Porritt

 Halloween costume #1 -Futbolers.  My team was Asante Kotoko Which is a Ghana professional team. Their mascot is the Porcupine!!

 Costume #2 - We dressed up as missionaries!! hahaha solid picture here for sure!!

 Pictures of my favorite boys in this whole country!!!!

These two are the biggest studs ever!!  They are the coolest kids on the Block!!

FUFU YUM!!

Learning Twi

Hello Family!!

It has been a definite up and down week.  From Tuesday to Friday we have had something very interesting right by our appartment.  There was a Crusade.  Thousands and Thousands of people every one of those nights gathered in a park about a half mile from our appartment and there were preachers there and just a lot of screaming and yelling and hallelujah's... It was no bueno.  And a few of our investigators were going so that is definitely not good either.  But thankfully it got done Friday.  Unfortunately there is another one coming up the second week of November so that is going to stink..

Tuesday the AP's (assistants to the President) came to our zone and gave us a little motivational talk.  Apparently before and during the time I have been here there has been a lot of disappointment here in Techiman because the people here arent really serious about the gospel.  But their talk was amazing and they talked about a mormon message from President Hinkley's talk Titled 'You never know' So you all might want to go watch that and think about what it is talking about.  Apply what it is saying and teaching to your lives and it will make your lives better and bring more joy to your lives and eliminate some of the disappointment that will always come.  It has such a great message!

On Wednesday me and Elder Snow travelled to Kumasi to the mission home for a mid training counsel.  We took the trotro's.  Tros are like a really big van where they just cram as many people in as they can and it is not fun.  There is no leg room and it stinks and it is just a pain hahaha but it is the cheapest and fastest way around Ghana!

But if you want to know what a Ghanaian sounds like when they talk go look up Elder Edward Dube's talk.  He is from the Quorom of the 70. That is the closest to a Ghanaian I have heard.  The people here talk faster and are still harder to understand but I will tell you what, this is not a English speaking mission haha people here dont want to speak English.  They want to speak Twi.  So my Twi is coming small by small.  It has been a struggle because Twi is nothing at all like English and it is really hard to learn..

On Thursday I went on a companion exchange with one of our zone leaderss, Elder Zulu who is from South Africa!! He is so awesome!! and I had a great day teaching with him!! other than that day, this week was really really slow with teaching.. it seems like nobody we talk to is serious right now.. D and J are still progressing fine and I think they will be baptized sometime in November so I am excited for that!!

I hope everything is going good back home!! I pray for you all every day! I love you all so much!

Elder Porritt

Elder Zulu and I on our Exchange

 

 As you can see, our frying pan isn't doing so well.

 

 Pounding Fufu!!

More about Ghana

Hello from Ghana!!!

It was a quick week here. It feels like I just talked to everyone yesterday but sure enough its been a whole week.. Weird.

Anyway a little more about Ghana.

I am serving in the Dwumoh Branch and here in Techiman I think there are 5 or 6 branches but it is a huge city so me and Elder Snow have A LOT of area to cover.  The weather is basically the same every day here.  We wake up and its cloudy and smoggy, by the time we leave the appartment, its like 90 with 90-100 percent humidity so that is nice for me since i do so well in the heat... and by the time we get back to the appartment for the night the lightning and thunder is rolling in.  There hasn't been a night this whole week where we havent seen lightning so that is fun!! It makes for fun lightning watching.

There is hardly any laws for drivers here.  People drive wherever they want.  on the sidewalk, on the other side of the road if nobody else is coming, they do what they got to do.  it also seems like there is an infinite amount of taxi drivers here.  The traffic is unreal just because of how many taxis and trucks are on the road.  A lot of people also have bikes and mo-peds so they can get around all the cars.  So the taxis and the bikes riding wherever they want, you better watch out.  I have already been close to being hit by taxis twice but I am getting better at when to cross the street hahaha. 

A lot of people here have ping pong tables outside and the kids are outside all the time playing on them so Saturday I finally played ping pong again and I whooped this kid who was like 12 years old.  I was going easy on him before we started keeping score and then he said okay game to 21 so i was like okay you are on!! I beat him 21-9.  Gotta love a good game of ping pong.

Another interesting thing about Ghana is the amount of churches here.  On our road alone there is our church, and 5 others. Our road is only 1/4 mile long... If you walk down a normal street here you will most likely come across at least 5 or 6 churches.  sometimes up to 10 or so.  It seems like everyone we see is a pastor.

And OH BOY a good story about a pastor.  So Elder Snow and I were walking to a members house to have dinner and a guy in a nice truck pulled up to us and stopped us and his first words were, and I quote "You are the people who think Joseph Smith is the Savior right?"  Oh man when he said that I about fell on the ground and I didnt know how to respond because the question took me by such a surprise!!  But Elder Snow said No Jesus Christ is the Savior.  Elder Snow knows his bible very well and I believe he could bible bash with the best of them.  He was throwin out scriptures like a mad man with that pastor but eventually we just walked away.  It was quite the experience.

So the people who I am so excited about.  Our 3 new investigators.  D, J, and D.  The three of them are going to high school here in techiman.  They play basketball and they just happened to show up at Sacrament last week.  We have met with them twice but right now J has Malaria so we are hoping he gets better quickly but they are so awesome!!  They are seriously so prepared for the Gospel!!  They have accepted every challenge we have given them and they are keeping their commitments with us with reading and praying.  I really feel that they will be baptized . They are so prepared and they are accepting everything.  They love the lessons with us and want to meet all the time.  Their baptismal date is November 8th I believe and I really believe that all three of them will be ready by that time and they will be baptized!!  I love to see people who are eager to learn about the Gospel.

A highlight of this week:  2 people told me that they like the name Porritt so much that they are going to name their next son Porritt. When I heard that i laughed but Elder Snow said later that they are 100% Serious.  So hey I guess some kid in 5 years might be named Porritt!!

Well That is about it for me for the week. It was a good week and I hope all is going well for everybody back home!! I love this Gospel so much and I want you all to know that it is the Truth.  Joseph Smith restored it back onto the Earth and Thomas S. Monson is at the head right now.  He receives revelation from our Heavenly Father and We need to listen to our prophet's voice. he knows what we need!  I love you all.

Have an amazing Week!!

Elder Porritt

Elder Snow, Elder A from Ghana, me, Elder A from Ghana

A nice Ghanaian sunset with a bike-bus haha

Ping Pong

 Our Chapel

Meet Elder Opolot from Uganda

I wanted to share this conversion story of this Young Elder in the Ghana MTC.  It's stories like this that help me understand the humble circumstances these young people grow up in.  It helps strengthen my testimony that our Heavenly Father loves every single person on earth, no matter who or where you are.  This Young Man inspires me to try to be a more loving person.

FROM THE GHANA MTC:
Emmanuel Opolot was born May 25, 1990 in Amuria, Uganda.  Before he was born his father died and when he was 13 his mother died.  The man she had married felt a connection to the children they had brought into this world together, but not to Emmanuel.  So he kicked Emmanuel out on the street to fend for himself.

At the time they were living in the costal village of Jinja.  For four long years, Emmanuel was homeless and foraged for food and shelter.  He would run errands for people and carry passengers from boats to the shore on his back to earn money.  By the age of 17, he had saved enough money to go to Primary school and to rent a small apartment. Of course at that age he was head and shoulders taller than all the students, but he wanted education.  At the age of 18 he finished primary school but did not have enough money to attend high school, so once again he went back to work carrying people on his shoulders.  Soon he was able to go to high school and during his 3rd year saw the missionaries, called out to them, and was taught the lessons.  He loved the message that he heard.  He said that no longer was he lonely or sad and now he had a family - his ward members.  He finished high school and a friend gave him the opportunity to learn a trade in electrical engineering where he earned a certificate.

Elder Emmanuel Opolot from Uganda, Called to Serve in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission

He was so grateful for this turn of events in his life that he wanted to pay the Lord back and so decided to serve a mission.  (He is 24 years old). Now his dream is to fulfill a honorable mission, return home and get married and raise a family.

Crazy weather in Ghana

Hello there everyone!!

One thing that has stuck out this week is the weather in Ghana.  Let me just tell you that if you think a thunderstorm in Utah is big, you need to just forget that.  Just forget it right now.  Utah thunderstorms or just normal rainstorms in general have absolutely nothing on Ghana ones.  Monday-Friday this past week I saw the 5 biggest thunderstorms of my life.  The lightning goes every 3-10 seconds for hours and hours.  It is unbelievable.  We saw the lightning strike a telephone pole a few miles away and the thunder was deafening.  And to top it all of with weather.... We were out about 5 miles away from our appartment on Friday and there was no possible way we could have made it back so we took cover but the rain just comes in sheets.  It'll drop 3 inches in 10 minutes easy.  The drain system is pretty good here luckily or else flooding would be massive.  But when we took cover from the rain, me and Elder Snow both saw it at the same time and we about died.  A funnel cloud.  I have never seen one in person so that was about the scariest thing of my life. But it was huge!!  So me and Elder Snow were panicking because to be honest a tornado would rip this whole city to shreds because nothing is built good.  Everything here is built like you would think in Africa, a tornado would destroy everything.  Thankfully when it was starting to get really really scary it started to go back up into the sky and disappeared.. So that was fun I guess haha!! Unfortunately the picture i took of the funnel was blurry...

Today has been a good P day because we went to Monkey Village which is about an hour and a half away from here in Techiman but it is just a big forest full of monkeys.  We went on the tour and i probably saw 200 monkeys.  It was the coolest thing ever!! They sold bananas and peanuts and the monkeys would come up and eat right out of your hand so I definitely was up for that!! It was a fun time.

The food here is getting better.  Fufu is theeeee best!!! I really love fufu and one of the members here makes it for us and we have been there twice already.  It is powerful food.  The soup they serve it with is basically a runny tummy creator.  But it tastes good so that is good haha!!  I dont like Wakkye though... (rice and beans)  that is pronounced wah-chay by the way.  It is another big thing here in Ghana.The food is doing okay for me.

This week I learned how important the New Testament is in missionary work and it makes total sense because what is the first four books about?? Its about the Ministry of the only perfect man to ever walk this earth.  Christ is the perfect example and he is who we need to pattern our lives after in all aspects of our life.  Also the example of the disciples is an amazing one.  They didnt know Christ but he came up to them and said "come follow me. I will make you fishers of men" and the new testament said that they 'straightway left their nets and followed him' .
We need to leave out nets and follow Christ.  Worry a little less about the worldly things that dont really matter in the grand scheme and come follow Him.  Be an example.  Do service. Love one another.  And go look at John 14:15.  That scripture is one of the best ways to pattern your life.  If you truly love Christ then it will be your priority to do as He says. 

The work has been slow this week.  Everyone here loves God and has some faith in Christ but they seem like they dont want to change the church that they go to.  They have one or two lessons with us and then we never hear from them again and wont answer their phones and that is super discouraging to me because I know that we have the truth and that we can help them gain salvation but they dont want it right now.. President Cosgrave told us that we are laying the foundation of the Gospel though which means that since the GKM (Ghana Kumasi Mission) is only 3 years old, its not a susprise that the newly opened area isnt accepting the gospel right now.  He says that most of our missions right now will be getting the word out of the gospel and leaving good impressions on the people here.  In about 10 years or maybe less, this mission will be baptizing more people than any other mission in the world.  I really believe that too.  There are 27 million people in this country.  When the fire of the gospel hits here, oh boy its gonna burn fast.  So that is how the missionary work went this week.. Hopefully this week we find the people who need the Gospel right now!!

I love you all so much and you are all in my prayers!!

Elder Porritt

Feeding the Monkeys

 

Laundry Day!!!  Need a pair of black socks?