Elder Porritt in Ghana: A Testimony to Remember

Wow, its 2017, if nobody told you by now, its the new year. And i still cant believe where the time has flown to. It is insane that 2016 has come and gone just like that.

This week was another really slow one here in Nkawkaw. People really really like to party and enjoy food on the whole week from Christmas to New Years, so this week, most of our investigators have been travelling to different places, and going up and down to town and wont give us their time to come and teach, so that was a little discouraging. As well as none of our investigators coming to church either, that didn't help the cause.

We didn't have any crazy things that happened this week, but we did offer quite a bit of service, including a lot of fetching water, there is a picture of how that happens here, basically we take a bucket to a little tiny stream, and bring the water up a big hill back to the people's house and they use it for drinking water, cooking water, bathing water, and whatever else they need water for, and then every day or every other day, they go and fill up a bunch of buckets so that they have water to live, and its honestly a pretty hard task walking the distances that these people walk carrying buckets either in your hand or on your head so that you can live, i have a LOT of respect for people for the things that i have seen here.

Well since there isn't much for this week, I just want to take today's letter and let you know or remember the most amazing thing that happened to me in this last year of 2016. It happened on April 12, and it was while i was serving in Agona. We had come down to Kumasi for a Zone Council and we were spending the night in another apartment for elders in our Zone, and that night, Elder Hill and I were up talking for a LONG time about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, how it applied to us in mission, how the Atonement could literally erase our sins from us, though not from our memory. That was something that we both had said that we had struggled with was things that we had repented of and felt almost as if it was still there, just cause we could still remember it, but one scripture has always been in my head, that is D&C 58:42 "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." and it kinda came into my mind that maybe the Lord forgets the sin but lets me remember to learn and so I don't go back, so that I remember how i feel. Also that night, we talked about a talk that was given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in a BYU devotional, "Remember Lot's Wife" and he talks about remembering the past and dwelling on it, and he talked exactly to us that night, when in his talk, he said that we need to remember enough so that we don't go back, but when we think about those sins, he said we should try and forget it. Well those things were really bringing the spirit into that room that night. It got to a point where we were feeling the spirit so strongly, that we were both feeling the exact same thing, that we needed to get down on our knees and pray and ask Heavenly Father to forgive us of our sins, but not only that, but to give us the power and strength to put those regretful thoughts out of our heads, so i knelt down and prayed more fervently than i ever have in my life, asking my Father to forgive me, to comfort me, and to heal me. Today, I testify that I KNOW Jesus Christ is the master Healer, He is REAL and that night, I felt something, more real than anything that i have ever felt, I felt an arm around my shoulder, as if He were really present, kneeling next to me, with His arm around me, holding on to me. I wept that night like i never have, and I felt more love from the Savior than I ever have. I know that the Lord will forgive us if only we go to Him in fervent prayer, with a true desire and work to change our lives. I know Jesus Christ lives, and He loves us more than we know how to even love. I love you all and hope that you will remember my experience when you have times where you cant forget and move on from sin, or when you are struggling to forgive someone, or even yourself. I promise you that He will hold you tight by your side, and he will never forget you. Let us always remember the greatest thing the Savior ever did, found in Isaiah 49 and 1 Nephi 21.

14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.

15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

I love you all, i hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Porritt

Fetching Water