Letter to Mom

Mom,

Thank you for the help with the letters, I really appreciate it, and I really cant wait to talk to you in just 2 short weeks!!!:)  Right now I am feeling really good and all is going well for us.  A lot of people name their children like adjective words such as Gifty, Precious, and lots of other good stuff.  And with the water sachetes, its not as good as having water bottles, but the problem is buying a water bottle is like 3+ cedis compared to the water sachetes which are like 20 pesewas a piece so its just a lot cheaper and people don't really buy water bottles much.

That is a beautiful sight to see that there is a new way to cut that massive lawn.. and my goodness the grass is sooooo green... i miss grass so much.. When i get home, after i roll around on the carpet, im going to roll around in the grass!!

Thank you so much for the message and the support mom, I really do appreciate it so much! I love you so much and i love being here in Ghana serving my Heavenly Father.

I love you so much Mom,

Elder Porritt

I had sent this picture to Elder Porritt of his Dad and his new ride!  Elder Porritt's parents are getting old!

Spaghetti Feast!

Well this week was surely another week here in Ghana, but it wasn't anything special.  To be honest, it wasn't the best week. We have been struggling quite a bit with the people who we are teaching and especially getting people to come to Church and actually keep all the commitments we give to them. It is really not easy to go to people, help them feel the Spirit and understand the Gospel and then have them promise you that they will be at church on Sunday and then they don't come. For me i have just gotten used to the lies that they throw at us, but literally everyone we teach will promise us, not just say yeah i'll come, they say oh yeah for sure i promise ill be there, and then when they don't come its just somehow discouraging.

Anyway, we dont really have anyone who we are teaching right now who is progressing, we don't have really anyone who we are focusing on just because the fact that a lot of the people just aren't too serious about keeping commitments about the Gospel..  But we are trying our best to get the work going as much as we can and to get some new people to teach who are truly ready and prepared to receive the Gospel.

Today however was a pretty fun day. We had a Zone Activity today and the zone got together at the Chapel in UST in Kumasi and we played football (soccer) and we ate fufu!  so there aren't many combinations here in Ghana better than that one for a P-day. We had quite a good time and we are really hoping to get back into Agona and keep working hard to help the people the best we can.

I hope all is going well for you all. I miss you all and care about you so much and i hope things are going great! I hope you have a great week

Love Elder Porritt

 me and my guy JB

We had a spaghetti feast last night at an apartment in Kumasi as we slept over for the activity this morning 

7 months on the Mish

Well hello there everyone! 

Crazy enough but i hit my 7 months yesterday, it still seems like i left yesterday, but sure enough I have been here for quite a good amount of time. This week was somehow rough for us though. 

We weren't able to teach much due to being in Kumasi Monday and Tuesday for a Zone Council with my new zone in UST (a big area in kumasi) and we got back from that Tuesday night and Wednesday I woke up, ate breakfast, started studying and then 15 minutes into my study i went back to bed cause i thought i was going to die haha, i had the worst headache and stomach ache ive had so far here in Ghana and i slept the rest of the day til we went to Momzoza's haha! But through the rest of the week, we have been trying our best to find new people and teach our members and try to strengthen them, but man it was just a rough week for all of that. 

Although the week was a really tough one, it started off with the most spiritual experience that i have ever had in my entire life.  Monday we went to kumasi because we had Zone Council Tuesday morning at UST and so we had to spend the night and so we stayed at an apartment Monday night with 12 other missionaries and we were all kinda just having a really good discussion about the Gospel and the Spirit was really really strong, and then someone looked at the time, and it was like 1 in the morning so all the other elders went out of the room except for me and Elder Hill and Elder Petersen who i have mentioned in the past, and man..... We had the most amazing, spiritual conversation that i have ever been a part of and the way i felt the spirit was something I have literally never felt. I don't really know how to explain what was said or what i felt, but i can tell you that I DO KNOW that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He is our Savior and I know for sure that He truly came to this earth and suffered the penalty of our sins, He took our pains and sufferings and temptations upon Himself. I also know that when He was in the act of Atonement, He didn't necessarily want to keep going, that is evident from the quote in Luke 22: 'Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me' He didn't want to keep going because it was the most painful thing that any person on this earth has felt, He was literally taking on every single pain that you and i have ever felt. But i am so thankful, and I KNOW that my Savior loves me, He said 'nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.'  Jesus Christ loves us so much that He was willing to give up His perfect, sinless life, so that we, as great sinners, could have the chance to live with His and our Father in Heaven once again. The love that that act must have taken is impossible to comprehend. But it happened. Christ's love for you and me and everyone here is PERFECT.  I do love my Savior and I am soo thankful for His perfect life and sacrifice that He made that I can repent of and be cleansed of the sin i commit.  Once again, I tell you that I KNOW that He lives and loves us. I have felt that love and I know that it is there for you if you are willing to strive to have it with you.  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!

Love Elder Hunter Porritt

 here is a Ghanain cow... lots of meat on this.... not..... huge horns though so thats cool!

 me, Prince, and Nana Adjewa :) 

 me and Gifty, the cutest girl basically ever!! (im sweating a lot... haha)

Lovin my new Momzoza!

Hello there family and friends!

This week has been a good one but hasn't really had anything remarkable or too interesting about it. For us we really have struggled this week to find new people to teach and even to teach at all. People here don't like to speak English so for me and Elder Motloung, not knowing Twi, it is really difficult for us, especially because we don't have members who have time to go out with us, everyone always says that they are too busy. So yeah we had a rough week as far as teaching goes.

But truly as far as receiving food from members or Momzoza, we were 7/7 hahaha. We get a phone call at about 5:30-7:00 every single night and Momzoza just says 'Elders! Come!' and then she hangs up and if we don't come or if we take long to come, she will give us fire hahaha! Momzoza is the greatest lady ever!! She has literally fed me every single night since I've been here in Agona except for one. I know for sure that she is being blessed by our Heavenly Father and I know that one day she will open up to the missionaries and she will join the Church.  I have only been here for 2 weeks and Momzoza is basically like my mom. Well haha maybe my grandma because she is about 60 years. She is an amazing soul though!!

Basically that is about it for this week. It has been a rough one for sure with teaching.. But we are really striving to do awesome this coming week! Thank you all for all of your love and support! I love all of you so much!!

There is one quote i heard this week while me and my companion were listening to the talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland last October's General Conference. He counselled us "In any moment of temptation, may we behold our mother as well as our Savior and spare them both the sorrow of our sinning."  I don't know why that hit me the way that it did but it really helped me understand and remember the Atoning Sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us, and the fact that he suffered for our sins, our mistakes.. And we for sure need to think about that before we indulge in sin. And for sure to behold our mother and spare her the sorrow is an amazing point of advice as well, because we mean everything to our parents. I loved that quote and i know that it was given to us by revelation.

I also know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true Church on the face of this earth! I also know that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet and I know that he translated the Book of Mormon with the gift and power of our Heavenly Father! I love the Book of Mormon. It brings comfort and peace and encouragement every single day in my life and I would STRONGLY encourage all of you who read this to truly test out the Book of Mormon. Read it and see if you don't feel the Spirit. If you read it with the right intent, there is no way that you wont feel the Spirit. That book is truly our road map back to our Heavenly Father and to the Celestial Kingdom. Even when you might have a rough day or a rough week, turn to the pages of the Book of Mormon and get down on your knees. Because there is ONE person who literally KNOWS what you have gone through. He has seriously felt the pains you have felt. He has felt the disappointment and discouragement that you have felt. He has suffered for you and He loves you and I KNOW  He will help you if you go to Him and ask for His help. That is most definitely the one thing that has brought me so much comfort and peace in my life and on my mission is the fact that I know that my Savior, Jesus Christ has truly felt my pains and bore my griefs. He loves me and He helps me when i go to Him for help and healing. I love this Gospel and I love all of you so very much! I hope that you all can have the Spirit in your lives and that you can remember your Savior in your day to day lives.

I love you,

Elder Hunter Kenneth Porritt

Just the most awesome little Children i ever met. These kids are awesome but they won't ever let us leave, they just cling on to us hahaha its pretty awesome.

 yep today for lunch. Pretty amazing. Although it was WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD to see white people... hahah i know that is weird to say but when you spend 6.5 months in a place where you almost never see white people other than misisonaries, seeing actual white people here in Ghana is just weird.

mmmmmmmmm 

Agona!!

Well hello there everyone!

This week was so awesome!!  On Monday and Tuesday I spent most of the day saying goodbye to people, which was way hard, cause there are some people back in Techiman who I have come to love so much. Sister Yeboah has basically came to be my 2nd mom and she was so sad to see me go but her two boys, Israel and Inkunim were way sad too, Inkunim was bawling when I walked away so that was pretty tough.. Also Brother Desmond, who is preparing for a mission, that guy is so sweet and I will miss going to his shop almost daily to talk to him about being a missionary or about the Book of Mormon. He will be such a great missionary here in a few months. Also two of my favorites, Bro. Andoh and his wife Gifty who we baptized last week, man I miss those two so much already. I really hope and pray that those two end up in the Temple in a year or so because man that would make me so happy. Anyway On Wednesday we rode down to Kumasi and all the missionaries met at the huge Metro Mass bus station and transfers took place, and we had to fit 5 big bags that belonged to me, and Elder Hill who is from St. George (he is now in an area close to mine) in the trunk of a little taxi... Don’t ask me how it happened, but just know that Ghanaian taxi drivers must have a secret magician side of them cause they never fail to fit everything in their cars.

A little more about my Companion, Elder Motloung, he is from Johannesburg, South Africa, he is 25 years old, turns 26 in August, and he has been in this area for 4 transfers already (6 months) so we will only be companions for 1 or 2 transfers I think. He came on mission one transfer (6 weeks) after me so it’s kinda wierd being the senior companion, but it’s not that big of a deal. haha. We are getting along very well and we live in a 2 man apartment. It is really really small but it is so much nicer and cleaner than my previous apartment, it even has nice windows so we don’t have to sleep under mosquito nets because the mosquitoes are not able to get in. But yeah we are having a good time there with the two of us and we have seen a little bit of success here the few days I have been here.

Now a little bit about my new area, Agona.  Agona is a District and there is I think like 4 or 5 branches and 1 ward in the District, and Agona is one of the 5 branches. There are like 65-70 members here in the Branch, and about 20-25 are active....... yeah that isn’t the best thing ever... There are two missionaries in the Branch, Elder Motloung and me.  Although our Branch President is Elder Halladay who is one of the Senior Couples here in the mission. So it’s nice to have someone who knows what is actually going on here in leadership but from what I have heard from a lot of missionaries is that this branch and this whole district is really really struggling so I guess we have a lot of work to do and I know we need to do some serious re-activation. Agona is literally a village. Spending 6 months in Techiman and then coming here is like holy crap this place is tiny and there is like no normal big buildings besides a few banks and our chapel (our chapel is in the bottom story of a bank hahaha) There is not a normal store here, just the little tiny shops, there is like 2 banks, a few church buildings, and then just PLENTY of houses. But there is a lot of trees and bush here so when it’s dark, I am actually pretty scared but so far what I have seen, this place is awesome.

One awesome thing about this place is the people are AWESOME. There are some members who ask us to come over to eat lunch or dinner almost every day. We have one lady, Mc, who is about 65 and so far since I have been here I have eaten dinner at her house every single day. She will just call us at about 5-6 and say Elders come over!  and then she will hang up and if we aren’t there within 30 minutes she will call again and say hey where are you? Hah all the missionaries here have always called her Momzoza, I don’t know where that came from, but she says that she is all of the Elders' mom. The craziest part is that she isn’t even a member. So yeah I am going to try throughout the time I am here to help her feel the Spirit and hopefully her heart will be softened.

Anyway, the sure highlight of the week came on Saturday and Sunday with the fact that we were able to watch General Conference. Although it was kinda inconvenient due to the time difference (6 hours) we watched all 5 sessions!! it was the most amazing thing ever pretty much! Sunday night I was soooo tired cause Priesthood session didn’t start til midnight here and got over at 2 am, then we got back to the apartment and got to bed at like 3, and had to be up at 6:30 as usual haha so I didn’t get much sleep but it was surely worth it. But there
was some pretty funny things that were said, as well as some pretty amazingly spiritual things that were said and I picked a few I wanted to share that hit me.

some funny stuff:::
-A new member of the Seventy whose name was Brian Russell hahaha
-a mission president mentioned whose name was Lief Erickson... hahaha
-And for sure the best comment of the weekend was when President
Uchtdorf read the part of the poem in his language and then said "for those of you who don’t understand the Celestial Language...." ohhhhh man when he said that I about fell out of my chair laughing hahahah that was amazing!!!!

Anyway some of the awesome things:::
-I loved when President Uchtdorf said that 'if charity is the pure love of Christ, then pride is the defining characteristic of Satan' we really need to be careful about having pride in our hearts after hearing that one. And it really shows us how important it is to have charity in our hearts because there are so many people out there who are waiting and longing for someone to show them love.
-Obviously Elder Holland blew the roof off like usual. I don’t even have words to describe how amazing that talk was. But if you didn’t listen to it, then you need to like right now cause that man is so powerful and he will make you want to change your life and live and keep the commandments and love everyone in the world and never give up on anything. That man is amazing.
-My very favorite was being able to hear from our dear Prophet. Even though he only gave 2 talks which were both 5 minutes a piece, they were both soooo powerful and it just shows that he truly is called of God and that he IS a prophet on the Earth today. I love listening to that man and I know that the primary song is so true. 'Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, don’t go astray,
Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, He knows the way.' if we follow President Monson and the First Presidency and the Quorom of the 12 and all the other General Authorities, we CANNOT go astray. I testify that they truly are called of God and that their message will help us only if we do what they recommend.

I love this Gospel and I am so thankful to be a part of it. I love being a missionary and I know that I owe my Savior Jesus Christ everything I have ever been given. All of us owe Him the most devoted service we could offer. That is why I love being a missionary and I love testifying of Jesus Christ and the fact that He lives and loves us all so much.

I love you all
Elder Porritt

  Last lunch with the Elders in Techiman heheh

This kid was kinda cool. (I wonder why)?

Best thing of my life, playing catch with Elder Wardle!!!

 Me and Elder Wardle

Me and Elder Motloung!

Just chilling at midnight waiting for Priesthood session to start...

 Front row seats to the greatest show on this earth! 

 That moment when he stands up and everyone on earth holds their breath because they know at any moment this guy could say the most profound thing known to man (and he usually does)