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.
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
-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)
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