We Basically Toured the Whole Upper Half of Ghana

Well this has been another one of the craziest weeks ever. We have been on the move this week and we have basically toured the whole upper half of Ghana... haha.

Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday we had our last 3 Zone Conferences with the Asouyeboa and Obuasi Zones, then Techiman and Sunyani, and finally Tamale, and those went really well! For the Conferences we have been instructing on how important it is for us while we teach our investigators to really listen to them, and be able to ask questions that are inspired by the Spirit so that we are able to help them to find the answers to their own questions for themselves instead of us just telling them all the answers we think are good and just leaving. But the Conferences really went pretty well! We were able to have every missionary also have time to practice it during the conference and then evaluate how it all went. Hopefully all the missionaries take it and apply what they learned, that is the biggest fear that I have at this point is that what we teach and learn with all the missionaries, i just fear that it wont be applied and it will be forgotten. But that is what we hope for is that all the missionaries will go back and apply it and be able to be more effective as they teach.

Well back to the tour hah, we started Thursday night, we came to Techiman (2 hour drive) and spent the night there in preparation for the conference on Friday, then Friday right after the conference in Techiman ended, we left for Tamale which is about a 3.5-4 hour drive. Saturday was our conference in Tamale, and directly after that Conference we packed the 4 Elders from Bolgatanga into the back of the Corolla and headed up to Bolga which is another 2 hours from Tamale. Bolgatanga is in the Upper East region of Ghana and it is far away from home (Kumasi). It is also hot like no other place i have been to here in Ghana. It is not like the rest of the places i have been, its not quite as humid , but the dry heat is sooooo much there, its hard to bear. And add the fact that this weekend there was no water in the Bolga apartment, they ran out on Thursday and weren't able to receive any, so we had no water to take a normal shower or to drink or cook, so we got to go and buy water sachets which is a little bag of water that is like a half a liter, and you use 3 or 4 to shower... that is 2 liters of water for a shower, now that is using your resources effectively hahah! Man it was a hot weekend but Bolgatanga is probably the sweetest place i have been aside from Wa last month. We got to attend Church in Bolgatanga and there was probably 100 or so people there, which is absolutely amazing considering the fact that the branch in Bolga was only organized under a year ago.  The people there are so smart, every single person speaks good English, even the children speak fluent English!! It was so great to be there and see the progress of the Church there.

Anyway, we spent Sunday up there and this morning we went around with the Elders there getting some stuff done, and then we made the journey back down to Tamale this afternoon, and now we are currently in Tamale still. The rest of this week will be full of exchanges and we will make it back home probably Thursday or so! It has been such a great week!!

My thought for this week though, is from John 15:

which says: 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Many of you back home in Utah or in the US at all, you may not have had many times where people who were not of our faith really persecute you for your belief, but here, so many people are persecuted and hated for being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For us missionaries we have daily occurrences of people persecuting us, mocking us, you name it. My thought is that we should be glad to stand for what is the truth. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true Church and I know that I will be blessed for standing up for that amazing truth. I know that people will ridicule us, they will fight against us, but we will come out of this fight on top.

I love you all and i hope you have a great week!!

Love Elder Porritt

Pictures From Zone Conferences E.Porritt & Hill

We are using "Doxy" to remind the missionaries to take their medication, Doxycycline.

"Doxy" Cycling

 Yep!

I Seriously Love Being Here!

Well another week for the books here in Daban.  Another crazy one, running around all over the place and conferences as usual! The work here is so fun, yet so stressful and tiring! But that is such an awesome experience and I have seriously loved being here. To top it off, today we had a huge multi zone sports activity playing football (soccer), football (American football), and basketball and we were running around playing for around 4 hours and man, we are so dead tired haha. Plus we got roasted cause the sun finally came out today, its been cloudy here for months but today it was so nice to see some real sun!!

This week we had 2 Zone Conferences, the first one was 2 of the Kumasi Zones on Tuesday, and then the other was one zone outside Kumasi and one zone inside on Thursday. The two conferences went really well, it's always great to get to see a whole bunch of missionaries and have them all gather together for a big meeting like that!

On Thursday afternoon after the 2nd Conference, we packed up and drove out to good old Nkawkaw, which is my previous area and we went on exchange with Elder Nuamah who is my last companion and Elder Nelson! I went with Elder Nelson and we had a great day together, we got to see a few of my great friends there in Nkawkaw, we saw Stella and Ibrahim!! Those were the two who I really wanted to see the most, and we also had a great day proselyting together! Elder Nelson is from Idaho and he is an awesome missionary, plus he has now served in two of the areas I have also served in, he served in my first area in Techiman as well as now in Nkawkaw! We had a great day together!

On Saturday we had a Branch Activity where we were supposed to watch Meet the Mormons, but man... It was a MESS!! First of all, there was only two people setting up. That was Elder Hill and myself. We had to make 4 trips back and forth from our Chapel to town (30 min - hour roundtrip depending on traffic) to get speakers and cords and a guy to fix it all up to make it work. When we got everything to the chapel and set up it was already like 7 and so they only got to watch like 30 minutes of the video before people wanted to start leaving cause it was getting late.. It was a pretty big disappointment but that is what happens when nobody helps out with stuff ha! moral of the story is that two people cant make a Church activity run by themselves...

Well The most awesome part of this week was the progress of our brother Yw! He again was on time to Church yesterday, and by on time i mean he sat down after the opening prayer! This guy is awesome and he is smart, almost too smart! During the Investigator's Class of Sunday School and Elders Quorum Classes, he was asking a whole lot of great questions and giving great contributions as if he has been a member for years! He knows the basics of the Gospel pretty well and he really knows about the Restoration and everything that has been happening with that. Last night, we went to visit him and he told us that for him it was always hard to believe something that he couldn't see, and then he pretty much told us that he believed because of the sacrifice that we as missionaries make to come and serve the Lord.  He said that he couldn't believe that some random person would leave his family, friends, school, country, money, job, just to come and preach the Gospel to people in Africa. He said that he couldn't believe that someone could really honestly tell you that he enjoyed doing that unless he was truly called of God to come and do it.

I know I have been called by my Heavenly Father to come to Ghana at this time, I know that there is nowhere on this earth that needs me more than Ghana needs me right now. I truly enjoy this work, I love going out each day with the focus to help people and serve them and love them!!  I love being a missionary, and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true Church upon the face of the Earth, and I know that Joseph Smith truly saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son!

I love you all so much!

Elder Porritt

Classic picture with the street King of Ghana. Mobby.

Sweet gate.. too bad it was some nasty tiny dogs, not a tiger..

Classic Ghana

We got whooped by little children 4 on 4 the other day...

Multi Zone Activity

AHH, Life is Good in Ghana!

Hello Everyone!

This week was another great one and another quick one. I am sure by now you are probably sick of hearing me start my letters like that, but that is how every single week is right now, every week just goes by faster and faster and every week still is great! We are seriously enjoying the work here in Daban!!

Well as for highlights for the week, we went on a few exchanges and to some different meetings throughout the week, the exchange we did was with our Zone Leaders, and I got to go with Elder Ellet, who came out here at the same time as me, he is the one right next to me in the car picture.. oh yeah about the car picture... just leave it at the fact that we took a few missionaries back to their apartment after a District Council that we visited on Tuesday, we had 8 in our little Corolla... you cant even see one of them who was behind my seat. That was interesting haha, but the exchanges went really well and I was way happy to get to work with Elder Ellet. He is such an awesome missionary!!

Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council and well, to be honest, that was easily the most Spiritual Leadership Council meeting that I have been in since I have been on the Council for like 9 months. Elder Hill and I presented a nice instruction on how to become more effective teachers, and the Spirit was really strong as we taught and instructed, it was such a great meeting!

Oh man we also were so happy on Sunday! One guy who we have been working with now for a while came to church. I'm sorry that i don't give much follow up info to you on a lot of the people that i tell you about, but its because a lot of times, we have really amazing lessons with some people who really seem like they have intent to act on the things that we teach, but a lot of times those people don't end up progressing very well. But the guy who we have been working with, his name is Yw. He has been meeting with missionaries since the dawn of time it seems like. This guy knows the stories of the Book of Mormon better than most members of the Church know them. Well he really has had problems with the Word of Wisdom and other things for such a long time and even still has problems we think, but we have been trying to visit him and get him to come back to church, he accepted a baptismal date, but we have a lot of work to do with him before he can get baptized, that is for sure. He is such an awesome guy though, he showed up right on time Sunday which is pretty impressive. Hopefully with him we really will see some progress in the near future.

Well this week we will have another crazy one, two zone conferences, exchanges, trainings. AHH Life is Good in Ghana!!  I just want to let you all know, that I KNOW that God, Our Father, loves you! He is there. He knows you personally and loves you. I love you too!

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Porritt

8 in a Corolla? yep...

Sweet view from Kumasi Mission Central!

Coach Wardle!

Working Out with Coach Wardle

 In Ghana, you might have to make the Barbells!

Ghana's Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!! That is, if you are in or from Ghana. March 6 is Ghana's Independence Day and today she turns a grand old 60 Years Old. So happy birthday to Ghana!!

Well this week was another quick one, it seems like they are going by faster and faster every week, I just feel like time needs to slow down a little bit.. It is going so fast that I honestly cant remember what happened on a few of the days, it seems like they are just blending together.. Anyway, last week I told you small about how this week would probably go with the whole transfer week thing, well it went exactly like I said. Tuesday, we took 7 missionaries to the airport to catch their flights to Accra and go home, then a few hours later that day, we picked up 7 new missionaries who were just coming from the MTC in Accra. Pretty funny trade going on there.. The new missionaries are always so awesome to be around, they are so strong and ready to get into the work coming from the MTC!! We had the privilege to do a bunch of training with President Cosgrave on Tuesday and Wednesday for all sorts of things. It was a very stressful, but very fun two days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday we got to teach one guy who we have been meeting a few times lately, his name is Bky, and he works in the giant market here in Kumasi, he sells football jerseys and that is actually how we met him 2 weeks ago when we were trying to buy a jersey. That day, he asked us about the Church we were from and we told him just a little bit because we were in a hurry that day, but we came back a few times and we had been talking with him about the Book of Mormon a lot. He has been reading a lot from it and always has a lot of questions when we go and visit him, but he has been struggling getting passed a few things. The problem is that so many people here see the very nice chapels that the Church builds and they think that it may be a nice place to go to church, but they don't even understand or pay attention to why they would be going to Church. Well Bky is very interested in coming to the Church, he says, because the buildings are nice, and the people are nice, but he has some really confused doctrines in his head, and we are just trying to help him fix that. The biggest problem is prayer because so many people just simply don't pray about the message that we are out sharing. That makes our work really hard haha.. If only everyone would just kneel down and ask God if what we were sharing with them was true, then we would be baptizing hundreds of people out here..  Anyway Bky is such a great guy, we are just trying to help him realize the importance of praying to know if the message is true so that he can leave his Church and come to the only true church that exists haha.

Another awesome part of the week was going on exchanges again, where this week we actually went to Agona, my previous area, and I got to meet and talk with a lot of my converts and good friends there!! That was such an amazing experience. During that time on Saturday, I was with Elder Ridell (Sweden) and Elder Addo (Ghana) and we had such a wonderful day! The joy that this missionary work brings is so amazing. There is nothing quite like it. I can truly testify that our joy will be filled as we also go forth and try and live our lives like Christ lived. He is our perfect Example.

I hope you all have a sweet week!

Love Elder Porritt

sorry my camera hasn't been finding his way out lately... i'll try and take more pictures, but this is the new missionaries that came this week in the background of a classic picture looking at the sun... haha