Saying Goodbye to Alexander

Hello everyone!!!

This transfer is already halfway over, and it feels like I just got here a few days ago, so days are FLYING by.

Not a whole lot happened this week. We had two funny experiences with some crazy people. I don't know why, there's just a lot of people here that maybe need to go to the loony bin or something haha. Yesterday we taught one of our investigators with a baptismal date, and while we waited for her to come out of the house we listening to her father tell us about some of his prophecies. He told us that no man knows when Jesus Christ will come to the earth, but that he had a rough estimation of when it was. And he also prophesied that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and will continue to be here for the next 5.5 billion. I think he seemed to think he was a prophet or something. And then today there were two crazy ladies one had a knife and one had a garden hoe and they were like going at each other with them. haha crazy people. Oh and the guy that runs this internet shop he is crazy too. haha

The best part of this week was on Friday. We lost track of Kevin again because he gets called into work randomly and his phone is broken, but we found him again Friday night. We taught a short lesson with him, and when we sat down we asked him about how work is going, and if he had any luck trying to get Sundays off from now on. Immediately he told us he has been thinking about quitting his job this coming Friday and get a new job so that he can come to church every Sunday. We didn't even suggest it, he just told us he was going to do it. So if he follows through with it he will be baptized on February 10th. Kevin is such a cool guy. It has been a blessing to see the Spirit work on him and help him find the path he needs to follow to get baptized. I don't have any doubt he's going to be baptized on the 10th. Soon he will be a strong Melchizedek Priesthood holder.

We also said goodbye to one our best investigators this week, his name is Alexander. He and his family are moving to Holland. We finished teaching him all the lessons this week before he left yesterday morning. He was so excited and ready to get baptized. We found the number for the Elders in the city he will be moving to in Holland and gave it to him, and he's going to find them when he gets over there. I have no doubt that he will get baptized either, and eventually his whole family. I will attach a picture of him.

Everyone have a good week!

Elder Porritt

Alexander

Biking, Biking, Biking!!

Another busy week this week has been. This was probably the fastest week of my mission so far, even though it has been so tiring. We did so much biking this week its nauseating, so I have felt kind of like a zombie. Our contacting area is like a mile and a half away, and its down in a valley, so when we bike back, its all uphill, we do that about twice a day. So I guess when you are busy serving others time kind of flies by, even when you feel tired.

We had a lot of success this week, we did a lot of contacting, because we had a thousand people who weren't home for lessons so we found some really cool people. Our most promising investigator, his name is Kevin, he's like 23, going to college and working a part time job. This week his co-worker that has been taking his Sunday morning shift so he could come to church, told him he isn't going to take if for him anymore, so Kevin wasn't able to come to church. He is supposed to get baptized on the 3rd of February. But this man has faith that God will provide a way for him to come to church, and we know He will too. Kevin is so excited to get baptized, and he's so prepared. The man remembers everything we tell him and always follows through on his commitments.

My spiritual experience this week was during the church broadcast announcing the new First Presidency. I hope you all had to opportunity to watch it, because it was simply amazing. When Elder Christofferson stood up there and announced the new First Presidency, and while they all spoke, the Spirit confirmed very strongly to me that President Nelson is the prophet, and has been called by God. The 12 were truly inspired of God when they ordained and set him apart as the President of the Church. There is no doubt in my mind that President Nelson and his counselors have been called by God to lead this church, and that Jesus Christ Himself stands at the head of this, His church and directs its every move. This is the true church.

Elder Porritt

Sorry I haven't had time to pull out my camera this week, so I don't have any pictures 

Headed to Aruba & Speaking Papiamento

Hello everyone! This week has been super hectic with the transfer and everything. Monday night Elder Correia and I left Parika.. So Monday through Wednesday I got to be companions with Elder White, he was the old Teaching Assistant, soon to be the new AP. Pretty much I went with him to say goodbye to his investigators and helped him pack up his things and clean his apartment and such haha. We went to eat at this burger place in Georgetown, and boy do I miss nice juicy beef in between two patties haha. That's the first burger I've had here on my mission so far.

Thursday we flew to Trinidad, then to Curacao. I had a 7 hour layover, so I went and taught a few lessons with the elders there, and then I flew to Aruba by myself and got picked up at the airport by my new companion, Elder Richards, and the Aruba senior couple, Elder and Sister Lindley, they are awesome.

My new area is pretty sweet. It's actually kind of weird, it is a desert on this island. It feels like being in Texas or something, there are cactus' EVERYWHERE. It's really hot and dry and it doesn't rain that often. So I guess it's a little bit like home, during the spring and fall I guess haha. There are 8 missionaries on Aruba, 4 sisters and 4 elders. The 4 sisters and the other 2 elders are all in the Orangestad branch in the city. My companion and I have basically the southern half of the island, or the San Nicolas branch. So our area is huge. We typically get about 30-40 people at church every Sunday, so our branch is still pretty small. We have some really great investigators who have dates to be baptized so the work is going really well here. I'm excited to start working here.

So far we have taught about 40% of our lessons in English, 30% in Spanish, and 30% in Papiamento. I have been able to contribute to our Spanish lessons a little bit, but as of now, I just sit and listen to my companion teach in Papiamento haha. My companion is from San Clemente, California. He has been out for 5 transfers, all of which were in the islands, so he is fluent now in Spanish and Papiamento. These coming weeks I will be learning both languages, so this transfer could be somewhat interesting. But I have already seen the Gift of Tongues at work. There is no way I could teach without the help of the Spirit.

Well, everyone have a good week!!!

Elder Porritt 

Elder Richards and I outside our apartment. This apartment is TINY, and its the smallest apartment in the mission haha. 

Transfer Calls are Here...I'm going to San Nicolas Aruba!!

Well ladies and gentlemen the big news this week is that I am being transferred! Elder Correia is being transferred to Georgetown to be the new Teaching Assistant, and I am being transferred to San Nicolàs Aruba. My new companion is Elder Richards. I haven't met him yet, so I don't know really anything about him. I am leaving Parika today, but my flight isn't until Thursday. So this week I will probably be with some Georgetown Elders for a few days. And then on Thursday I will fly to Trinidad, and then from there to Curacao and I will be delayed there and will go do some proselyting with some Elders there, and then I will fly to Aruba to my new area. It's also possible I could get delayed in Trinidad too So this week I will be serving in three or possibly four different areas in three or possibly four different countries haha. The people in Aruba speak Spanish, but mostly Papiamento from what President Egbert told me. This month is going to be somewhat difficult trying to learn two new languages haha. But it will be fine. 

This week was pretty good for the last week of the transfer. We were really busy so we weren't able to proselyte for as long as usual this week. We taught a bunch of good lessons this week, and we put one more investigator on date. We had a really cool experience this week at church. One of our investigators stood up during testimony meeting and bore a strong testimony of the Gospel. We have been teaching her for a while, and she has a granddaughter, Momallie, who has been to some of those lessons here and there. So after she bore her testimony she told us that Momallie had told her she wants to get baptized. We never really considered her an investigator, because she was never at too many of the lessons. But a few days ago we taught them both about the 10 Commandments. After the lesson Momallie and her grandma were talking and she realized how out of sinc her life was with the 10 Commandments, and she felt a strong desire to change, and she decided she wanted to get baptized. It was amazing to see the impact of such a seemingly insignificant lesson about the 10 Commandments had on someone. Even though they are part of the Law of Moses, they were inspired, and are still 100% applicable to us today. So never underestimate the power of the old law haha. After church we went back over to their house and put her on date for March 3rd. It was a great experience.

Not a whole lot else happened this week though. We did have some fun last P-day. After we got all of our stuff done we went over to one of the members and played some cricket. Cricket is the biggest sport here in Guyana. It's actually pretty fun. We let some of them bat first, and they couldn't hit it very far. And when we got up to bat they were all standing like 70 feet away. So we hit it like 250 feet over their heads hahaha it was funny.

Congratulations Morgan and Taylor for the new baby. I'm glad everything went smoothly and there were no problems. I am so excited to be an uncle again, I can't wait to come home and see her. 

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Porritt

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope you were all able to have a great New Year and hopefully make some goals for the coming year to draw closer and become more like Jesus Christ.

Our New Year was pretty decent for the most part. New years eve night we didn't get a whole lot of sleep because people were blowing stuff up the whole night haha. I woke up at midnight to the sound of WWIII outside our apartment. People here really like fireworks and blowing things up haha, I guess thats kind of the same back at home. Here New Years is actually more celebrated than Christmas, we were supposed to email yesterday, but there was NOTHING open yesterday. We got fed a lot though haha.

Pretty much this whole week consisted of us trying to track down less actives and investigators that weren't home because they were somewhere else for the holidays, so we didn't have a whole lot of success this week. We had some really great lessons with our members this week though. We are trying to get our member missionary work going, because there is not any. Unfortunately most of our recent converts have gone less active because there are no members coming to see them, and they don't have any friends in the church, so they don't come. Like President Hinkley said, every new member needs a friend a responsibility and nourishment of the good word of God.

We did a lot of contacting this week to find some more investigators. We met some really funny people though. We talked to this muslim guy on his motorcycle that was like a super muslim. He told us that he knows everything there is to know about Jesus Christ and that he is closer to Jesus Christ than we are because he has a beard and dresses like Jesus haha, it was really funny.

No transfer calls last week, but they will be coming some time this week

Elder Porritt

Petri

Starbroek Market