Brother Zion

Hello everyone!!
This week was a real sweet one that is for sure. Mainly just a lot of teaching and testifying of the Gospel and the Savior Jesus Christ, cause that is what we do!

But for real this week was a good one. Unfortunately Sister Emelia wasn’t able to make it to church yesterday but we had one guy that we are really really excited about, his name is Br. Ibrahim, for him, his family is all Muslim, and about 40 years ago, he was going to church at Christian churches, trying to find our which one was right, but he ended with the Pentecost Church, and because of the way they interpret the gift of tongues, and how they 'speak tongues' at church, it drove him from Christianity, and I don’t blame him, if that was the church I
went to, I might not believe either...  But so when that happened, he went to join his family in Islam, now for about 40 years or so, he has been Muslim and not really knowing what was true, but we were taken to him by a member who is his friend, and just getting to know the guy, he really knows the Bible very very well, the only problem he had with Christianity was the gift of tongues and the doctrine behind 'the trinity' which are both falsely interpreted here in Ghana very badly. Well we explained those minor things to him and he told us that he would come to church on Sunday, so we were really hoping.

So Sunday comes, and we called him, but no answer, so we were a little sad when we didn’t see him at all during Sacrament meeting, but when Priesthood meeting came, he walked in and he seemed way happy to be
there. After Church there was a baptism for the other companionship in our Branch and we sang Hymn 44 as the opening song, and Ibrahim's Christian name is Zion. (some Muslims will also have a Christian and a Muslim name.) So when we were singing that, this guy was about to jump out of his seat, he was so excited and had a huge smile on his face, and after the baptism, he told Elder Bbosa and I that he didn’t want to wait for September 25 (that is his baptismal date) but that he wants to be baptized sooner, we told him no problem, then Sunday night came around and we got a txt message that was in all caps that said "ELDER PORRITT, I NEED TO BUY A BOOK OF MORMON FROM YOU NOW, THIS IS BRO ZION"  Oh man when I saw that, we were in the apartment having dinner and me and my companion were laughing so hard, but at the same time we were rejoicing cause this guy truly has been prepared and he is ready. Even today we will be going to see him, so next week I’ll give more updates on him. He was our main event this week, nothing too exciting other than that happened.

This week we have MLC again in Kumasi so we will be travelling tomorrow so that will be a good time for sure! I love going to Kumasi for meetings cause I get to see all my good friends here on Mission.

I love you all and hope that this week is a sweet one for you! If I could suggest you do anything, read Ether chapter 2 and verse 14-15 and see what happens if we don’t pray... now of course, the Lord probably won’t come down and chastise us for 3 hours, but it’s just as bad if we don’t pray than it was for the Brother of Jared.

I love you all,
Elder Hunter Kenneth Porritt

All are pictures that we took at (or on) our chapel on Sunday, haha

Testifying through the Spirit

Well hello everyone!! This week has been another one here in the great
land of Ghana, especially Nkawkaw. To be honest this week had like
hardly anything that is worth even talking about.

To let you all know a little more about Nkawkaw, the weather here isn't
like the last two places that i have been. Nkawkaw is up in the
mountains kinda, and the weather is really really cool compared to
Kumasi area and Techiman. It is cloudy about all day every day and it
feels SO SO good to not be in the dying heat every day. But it makes
it super hot when the clouds go away and the sun is actually out, like
today, man its hot today, but it rains a lot here too which is really
nice. Also I think the #1 best thing about this place is that there is
NO DUMSOR!!! That means that we always have power!!! except for when
you run out of credit, then its a whole different story... But I
really am loving this place!!

The first thing that was cool this week was on Saturday, we had a
branch service project and we basically tore apart a small health
clinic, and cleaned it up, redid the ceiling, repainted it all and had
a way fun time doing all of it!! We really had fun, and its good to do
service!!

The second thing that i will talk small about is an awesome lady we
found this week, Sister Emelia. We were contacting on Wednesday and we
felt like we should go into this house, (just like all awesome people
that you find) and we knocked on the first door in the house and a guy
comes out and he didn't look too happy to see two missionaries, but the
lady then came out (that was Sister Emelia) and she invited us in and
we had an amazing lesson about the Restoration and it was no doubt one
of the most spiritual lessons that i have had on my mission to this
point. I could see it in her face that she was really feeling the
spirit and she was really touched by our message. I know that it was
the first time that she had heard anything about the Restoration, and
she was really really moved by the message. When i really felt the
spirit was when we were talking about the Church that Christ has on
the earth while he was here, and how is was built on the foundation of
the Apostles, the Prophets, and Christ himself (Ephesians 2:20) we
told her that the Church was lost due to wickedness and apostasy, and
she asked us where it went and where is it now? man... I felt the
Spirit sooo strongly as I testified to her that Jesus Christ's Church
had been restored through a living prophet and also that the
Priesthood had also been restored with the church. When those words
came out of my mouth, i didn't feel like i was saying them, i felt even
like i was listening to someone else speak. And I saw on her face a
look of excitement and joy, she asked us what our Church's name was
again and we told her, then we told the story of the first vision, and
the restoration of the Church and the Priesthood, and she said that
she would be coming to church with us and she wanted to be baptized.
So it also turned out that the guy who we first talked to at the door
when we knocked, his name is Steven, and the whole time during the
lesson, he was watching TV on the side, and up to the point when we
started talking about Christ's ministry on Earth, he still hadn't  said
a single word to us, and hadn't even really acknowledged us being there.
But when we started talking about that, he too felt the spirit very
strongly and by the end of the lesson, before we even asked him to be
baptized as well, he said that he wanted to, and he got off the couch
and shook our hands and said 'thank you so much for coming.' Well i
just felt the Holy Ghost confirm to both of them so powerfully that
the Church is true and that Joseph Smith truly saw our Heavenly Father
and His Son Jesus Christ.

I know that the things that i am testifying of are very very true. I
always tell investigators and members that I wouldn't have left
America, I wouldn't have left my family, my friends, my schooling, all
of that, i wouldn't have left it to come and teach things that I didn't
KNOW for a surety that they were true by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And also ill tell you that i do know that this is true.  I love
serving my Heavenly Father.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!
Love Elder Hunter Kenneth Porritt

Pictures from the Service Project

Elvis' Sunday Farewell

Here are a couple of pictures of Elder Antwi (Elvis), at his farewell in the Agona Branch.  Elvis and Elder Porritt are like brothers, well they are brothers!

Elvis' brother, Sister Halladay, Elvis, Elder Halladay

Elvis with his brother and Sister

Elder Bednar Conference

Well this week was SWEET!!!  We had really two main things that stuck out, the first was our Mission Leadership Council (MLC) that was on Thursday which is where the Zone Leaders, the Assistants, and the Sister Training Leaders all come together and have a big meeting with each other and see how each one can individually improve their Zones and its just a great meeting. The other one was the best meeting of my life.

Saturday we met at our apartment and our Zone drove down to Kumasi (about 2-2.5 hours) and we ate lunch with the whole mission, then at about 1:30, In pulls a nice big caravan full of the Spirit. Led by David A Bednar, then we had Terence M Vinson and Vern P Stanfill and all of their wives, so we had 3 general authorities in a meeting with about 170 missionaries. We were UP CLOSE. And i will tell you that i learned more in that meeting than in any meeting in my life. Unfortunately i have only a few (literally 5) minutes here to share with you, 

just think about these small things that i will share.

first from Sister Bednar, the thing i really learned from her is that the decisions that you make in your life dont just affect you, they affect your posterity for generations, and those posterity also affect hundreds, thousands, and millions of people if the influence is for good.

And from Elder Bednar, I learned a few things, first of all, if you study the scriptures without a question in mind, what is your purpose? You really dont have one and therefore you are wasting precious time. You need to go into studying, and also prayer, with a question in mind that you are searching for an answer, he said that is the key to revelation. 

He also helped us to realize the power and definition of agency. We literally can not force anyone to gain a testimony, we cant make them come to church, we cant make anyone do anything, but what he helped me to know is that we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, if we are living worthy of the Holy Ghost in our lives, we can bring the Spirit UNTO the hearts of people around us, by setting a good example for them, by being their friend, by sharing the Gospel with them, and then after that, it is up to that person to let the Spirit INTO their hearts, we cannot just jam it in there, although we would like to haha:) But all of Heavenly Father's children have been given the great gift of agency and we have to respect that. 

The big thing i learned from him is when someone asked him the million dollar question( what do you know now you wish you would have known then?) and his reply was powerful. He said that he wanted us to know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ doesnt just cleanse us from sin. It certainly does do that, but it also gives us the divine strength to do good, and to live the Gospel. He said that it is not enough to be cleansed from sin, we have to 'go about doing good' and the Atonement gives us that strength only if we pray with faith to attain that power from our Savior. If we pray with faith, and then act on that prayer, that is when we will receive divine help and divine power from our Savior Jesus Christ. 

I know that the things that i learned from Elder Bednar were so great for me in my life and I know that the Church is true. I have had such strong impressions on my heart and mind that i cannot deny the fact that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and They restored Their Gospel through him. I testify to you that Heavenly Father speaks and reveals truth to His Chosen servants and they are among us today and they lead and guide the Church. We are led by a Living prophet and he is our light to look to in these last days.

I love you all and im thankful for you all in my life. Have a great week!!
 

Love Elder Porritt

Waiting for the Caravan of "THE SPIRIT" to Arrive!

Stake Conference with Elder Bednar

 At the Bednar Conference with Elder Hill

Ghana Kumasi Missionaries with Elder and Sister Bednar

Elder Snow's Homecoming

Logan and I with Cammy Snow, Elder Snow and Elder Hill's Family.

We have made such great friends throughout this Kumasi Mission Experience.

 3 Great Missionary Mom's with Elder Snow.

Seek Learning by Faith

Hello everyone,

Things are going good for me this week. Things here in Nkawkaw are going good!! Just some more small information, my companion, Elder Bbosa is from Uganda and he is a way sweet guy, the two of us are getting along very well and I really love being with him! He is just about done with his mission, i believe he will be going home in October so i will probably be his last companion. Our area is tiny when you compare it to the other areas here in Nkawkaw, but gigantic comparing it to Agona... But the area is really doing good and we are enjoying teaching. Our area is really bushy too, the other day we were walking to a members through all the trees and grass and bush and the thought came to me 'this is just like a 'neature walk' ' haha this place is sweet though.

One awesome thing about this place is the branch, Nkawkaw 2nd Branch is amazing and yesterday we had about 60-70 people at sacrament which is by far the most for me in any branch on my mission. It was amazing. it was also the first time i have had at church where the missionaries didn't have to help with either the sacrament, or teaching lessons, all of it was done well by all the members. There are even quite a few returned missionaries in this branch and a few 2nd generation families which is amazing as well.

This week is going to be an amazing one for us as missionaries. For Elder Bbosa and I, we will have Mission Leadership Council this Thursday so we will go down Wednesday and stay the night, then come home Thursday evening, then Saturday morning we will be going down again to Kumasi for our meeting with Elder David A Bednar, which is going to be absolutely amazing!! I am so excited for that!! in preparation for the meeting, we are all supposed to read a few talks that Elder Bednar has given in the past and one of them, i would strongly encourage all of you to go and listen to or read. It is called "Seek Learning by Faith" it was on Feb 3, 2006 to CES instructors. if you can find it, read it, it is amazing.

Anyway that is about what happened this week for us, there wasn't a whole lot, but it was just a good week getting to know the area and the members. I love you all and hope things are going good for you!!

Elder Porritt

The 3 Amigos - Telling Elder Snow Goodbye

 Our Apartment Bathroom

 Apartment Kitchen

 Apartment Study Room

 Elder Bbosa and I

Elder Bbosa and I

 Our Chapel

New Calling for Elder Porritt

Good afternoon everyone! This week was another great one here in the good old Ghana Kumasi mission. We had some great progress with some of our investigators this week, but we also got some big news on Friday as well. 

First of all, this week we have been seeing really big progress with a few people, the first being Brother Frank. He sells credit here and he is a way sweet guy, we started teaching him about 2 weeks ago, last week he came to church and then this week we just had some way awesome lessons with him and things are going really well, he is so excited about the Church, he has been reading the Book of Mormon and even got a Liahona from Elder Halladay, our branch president, and has been reading a lot.  He is ready to become a member seriously, even went and bought a few white shirts and ties to wear. This is one of the most serious investigators that i have had on my mission so far. He will surely be baptized in a few weeks. 

Also another big progress is Sister Linda and Sister Deborah, who are like cousins or something, people here just call each other sisters but they aren't like blood sisters.  But we are teaching them and also another sister Patience with them, and they are all progressing very well, they have been coming to church, they are amazing! They also along with Frank will be baptized in the next few weeks.  Now we are having a lot of progress here in Agona, even I believe that this area will have 7+ baptisms in August, but due to the news that we received Friday, I won't be here to enjoy those baptisms, but i will still look forward to them.

The news that we received was crazy! Friday morning, another missionary called me and told me that he had heard that I had been called as a Zone Leader, but I told him that i had no idea about any of that. When that happened though, it made me wonder if he actually knew or what the crap that was.. But throughout the day Friday I got about 5 or 6 phone calls from other missionaries who were asking me if it was true that I had been called as a Zone Leader. And then Friday night, I got a call from President Cosgrave confirming that rumor that was going around. I will be going to the Konongo Zone, to be a Zone Leader. My new area is called Nkawkaw (pronounced N-cocoa) and my companion will be Elder Bbosa who is from Uganda i believe. I am really excited about this opportunity to serve, and I know that this will be a great time of my mission. I am currently in Kumasi, I have already had to say goodbye to all my peeps in Agona which was really hard... But tomorrow we will be going to the mission home for the training for Zone Leaders and also for District Leaders because Elder Adjei will be the new District Leader in Agona. 

I hope all is well for all of you back home and out on mission. I love you all. I know that we are led by a true and living prophet on the earth today and if we follow his counsel, we cannot go astray. 

Love Elder Porritt

 yeah duct tape fixes anything

Deborah... She is making me look tall...

Deborah and Linda and some of the kids in their family

 Stone (left) and Frank (right)

Momzoza:) my other mom!!

My guy Elvis