Elder Porritt in Ghana: Happy Birthday Elder Porritt!!

Well this week was a SWEET one!! Time is flying by so fast i cant believe it, it seems like just yesterday i was emailing you all telling you how the last week went.Time is going by so fast, that I can't even remember whether things happened this week or last week, it is really just a blur right now.

I guess I haven't really told much about the area or anything since i have come, I am currently in the City of Kumasi, which is quite a large city, there is close to 100 missionaries in Kumasi, but I am serving in the Daban (don't even try and pronounce that, cause you will probably fail) Branch, and it is in the Dichemso Zone, so a completely different look for me, this is the first time I have been in an area inside Kumasi, and really it's quite different to me, but it is really awesome at the same time. Elder Hill and I are in an apartment with the Office Elders (the Elders who do a bunch of office work and all that kind of stuff) and those three are Elder Anderson (Ghana), Elder Ayim (Ghana) and Elder Motloung (South Africa, my former companion in Agona) and we are really enjoying each day with those three, the apartment is always funny yet serious, which is an awesome combination.

Our area is really great and has a lot of very wealthy people, but still a lot of people who are struggling day to day. I really love the area though, we have a lot of very well educated people and that is the best to work with, just sometimes the problem is these people who have a lot of money are quite prideful and most of the time its nearly impossible for us to even enter into their compound let alone get a seat to have a discussion.

Well I guess some of the highlights this week was on Tuesday, we drove to Obuasi and went on exchanges with Elders there, I went with Elder Lesh (washington) and Elder Gbettie (ghana), and we had a really great day teaching, although most of the people we saw weren't speaking English, so Elder Gbettie did a lot of translating. I really had a lot of fun on that exchange and I learned a lot from those two that I was with, they are awesome Elders!

Wednesday morning, we drove back to Kumasi and went to the mission home. We walked into President Cosgrave's office and we were greeted by a nice warm round 1 of Happy Birthday! haha that was really nice! Then we met the Cosgrave's daughter and her husband, they were here visiting and going out to see some of the sweetest things you would ever see in the whole world, what everyone thinks of when they hear 'Africa' that is the wildlife, they really got to enjoy a lot of that awesome stuff that is here in Ghana. Well they were very nice to us, and they even delivered my new driver's license so now I am street legal in Ghana!! Pretty excited to drive again, but still got a few weeks on the right side til I can drive. We had a short meeting with President on Wednesday morning, then also I got a sweet phone call from Elder and Sister Wardle, a senior couple here, and they sang happy birthday to me and they left a plate of cookies in the office for Elder Hill and I, then we went out to get some lunch. Well since it was the 20th anniversary of the day I was born, we decided that we would try to enjoy, so we went to KFC and enjoyed there. I remember back home, KFC wasn't really somewhere I would choose to go, but here it is one of the best places you can go for a somewhat decent priced meal. So we ate lunch there, then in the Afternoon, we had a Worldwide Missionary Broadcast that we were fortunate enough to watch, though some technical problems only made it possible that we were able to watch the last half of the broadcast. Anyway, it was really a great learning experience, we were taught by some of the very best, including 3 from the Quorum of the 12, Elder Oaks, Elder Bednar, and Elder Anderson. It was so great to hear counsel from them and other general authorities and officers of the Church on missionary work. After the broadcast, we went home, but on the way home, we decided that we would go for enjoyment #2 for the B-day, and we got pizza from Piri-Piri's which in my opinion is the best pizza places in Kumasi, but its still nothing like pizza back home. All of the Elders in the apartment contributed and we got pizza and had a nice dinner!! #20 was definitely one to remember, my last birthday on mission was nothing short of amazing thanks to some really amazing people in my life!!

The remainder of the week has been a crazy one, we took a ton of time working on changing some report sheets on excel that we use here in the office, and we also got to conduct a small transfer that had to take place in the middle of the week.. But through all the busy stuff, I was glad that we did get a little time to go and teach. On Saturday, we went and saw a guy, Oscar who we had met before and gave a copy of the Book of Mormon, well we went back and had a very great lesson on the reason why the Book of Mormon is on the Earth today, and even we were able to share the First Vision and the Restoration of the Church onto the earth, and when I was relating the story of the First Vision, man I just felt such a calm but very powerful force in my mind and heart testifying to me and through me that it really happened.

I am so very thankful that I came to Ghana to testify to these amazing people that a young boy named Joseph decided that he should pray and ask God a simple question. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call faith. Faith that God would answer his prayer is what led Joseph to pray and ask, he knew that James was telling the truth that if anyone lacked wisdom and asked, he would be given the wisdom. I know I share my thoughts about the Prophet Joseph Smith often but I do so with great respect for him and the sacrifice he made for you and for me. After all that can be said, I love the great testimony of Him given in the 135th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. 3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood;

I love this work, I know it is divine. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!

Love Elder Porritt

KFC