Greetings from Trinidad! This week we did a fun service project for a man we are teaching named Steven. We offered to help him pull off his zinc roof, which needs to be replaced. It is a 2 story house, so we didn't climb up on the roof, but they all started pulling wood and zinc off the roof and handing it down to us to toss in a pile. It was pretty fun. We will be going back next week too. Unfortunately didn't get any pictures.
Nobody came to church on Sunday sadly. We saw Ivan on Friday. Since he is pretty much the backup pastor for his church, his pastor came by this week and asked him to speak at church, so he wasn't able to come this Sunday. His baptismal date is probably going be the second week of May.
This week we went by to have the English lesson with Carlos. He lives at the same house as the Reyes family, a member family, and Gustavo. At the end of the lesson, we had a short Gospel lesson with all of them as well. Carlos is in a similar situation as most of the Venezuelans, and he is such a humble person. We taught him about prophets and the priesthood and he asked us a bunch of really great questions, and next time we come back, wants to know what will happen to people who died, never having a chance to accept Jesus Christ in their lifetime. We are looking forward to sharing more about the Restoration with him and hopefully his wife, who is coming from Venezuela. Brother Reyes, a recently married returned missionary, works at the same place as Carlos, and recently Carlos has been asking him a lot of questions about the church and the gospel. Brother Reyes has pretty much prepared Carlos to talk to us. I love member referrals. He is pretty confident about these two.
The rest of the week was kinda tough. We are still trying to find more people who are elect and teach more people who are progressing.
Elder Porritt
Monday, April 29, 2019
Monday, April 22, 2019
Wendy's Baptism:)
Happy Easter everyone!!! Now I am back in Valsayn again, with my same companion, Elder Riter. Things haven't really changed here much, we are still teaching some of the same people as when I was here. There's a man Elder Riter and I started teaching named Roger. Roger is supposed to be baptized this coming Saturday, but he didn't come to church yesterday sadly. For us, Easter was about an average day as ever. Elder Riter and I went to see Samantha and her family, who I haven't seen for 2 transfers. We also went back and talked to Roger. We're going to set his date back for the 11th of May to continue to prepare him for baptism.
Back in Arima, Wendy Huggins was baptized on Saturday. Unfortunately, Elder Riter and I weren't able to make it because of MLC, but it went really well. At the baptism her 8-year-old grandson Ishmael asked the Elders, "When do I get to be baptized." He and his mother, Elder Raymond and I started teaching about 3 weeks ago. They accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 11th of May also. In a couple of weeks, when one of Wendys' other daughters get back from vacation in Tobago, we are going to start teaching her family in Port of Spain. Elder Raymond and I have already taught her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She was really excited to get the book and has already read a bunch of it so far. We are really excited!!!
MLC on Saturday was really great. Since there are 6 different countries in the mission, only two of which border each other. We have MLC over Zoom with all the leaders from the different places. We always have a lot of meetings over the internet in this mission. We are really grateful for modern technology, without which, would make a mission like this IMPOSSIBLE. President Baird talked a lot about setting goals for companionships, districts, and zones. Something I've learned on my mission is that when we set goals, we always perform better in whatever we are trying to accomplish, whatever it may be. Though making, keeping, and tracking goals is difficult, it works!
There is a recent convert from Port of Spain named Gustavo. He got baptized right before I came to Valsayn for the first time, and I did his interview. He is from Venezuela, and he had another friend from Venezuela that came to Trinidad, who is now living with him and another member family from Port of Spain. His name is Carlos. We just started teaching him this last week. He has gone through a lot of trails and is searching for something more in his, and his family's' life. I think he has a lot of potentials. We are also doing English lessons for all the Venezuelans that live there.
An experience I had this week happened actually while Elder Riter was doing the baptismal interview for Wendy Huggins. While they were talking I saw her son scrapping paint off the wall preparing to paint over it. This is the one son that we haven't been able to talk to yet. He is the youngest and wasn't alive when his parents and older siblings had gone to the church many years ago. I went over to him and offered to help him, and we just started up a conversation. It was just so easy to be able to take a simple regular old conversation and turn it into a gospel conversation. I know for sure back at home, I NEVER would have been able to do that smoothly. I am grateful for my mission and having been able to learn how, really, to talk to people about the gospel. He has really been searching for God for his whole life, never really felt fulfilled, he had tried going to so many different churches, including the Muslim church, and wasn't sure if he should believe in Jesus Christ or not. Pretty much it just ended up turning into a Gospel Dispensations through Great Apostasy lesson just with the conversation. I really love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Got to do some service for Sister Joseph, one of the long time members in Arima before I left. She had some gigantic vines growing over a fence, that were destroying it, so we removed them. See the pictures at the end.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
Back in Arima, Wendy Huggins was baptized on Saturday. Unfortunately, Elder Riter and I weren't able to make it because of MLC, but it went really well. At the baptism her 8-year-old grandson Ishmael asked the Elders, "When do I get to be baptized." He and his mother, Elder Raymond and I started teaching about 3 weeks ago. They accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 11th of May also. In a couple of weeks, when one of Wendys' other daughters get back from vacation in Tobago, we are going to start teaching her family in Port of Spain. Elder Raymond and I have already taught her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She was really excited to get the book and has already read a bunch of it so far. We are really excited!!!
MLC on Saturday was really great. Since there are 6 different countries in the mission, only two of which border each other. We have MLC over Zoom with all the leaders from the different places. We always have a lot of meetings over the internet in this mission. We are really grateful for modern technology, without which, would make a mission like this IMPOSSIBLE. President Baird talked a lot about setting goals for companionships, districts, and zones. Something I've learned on my mission is that when we set goals, we always perform better in whatever we are trying to accomplish, whatever it may be. Though making, keeping, and tracking goals is difficult, it works!
There is a recent convert from Port of Spain named Gustavo. He got baptized right before I came to Valsayn for the first time, and I did his interview. He is from Venezuela, and he had another friend from Venezuela that came to Trinidad, who is now living with him and another member family from Port of Spain. His name is Carlos. We just started teaching him this last week. He has gone through a lot of trails and is searching for something more in his, and his family's' life. I think he has a lot of potentials. We are also doing English lessons for all the Venezuelans that live there.
An experience I had this week happened actually while Elder Riter was doing the baptismal interview for Wendy Huggins. While they were talking I saw her son scrapping paint off the wall preparing to paint over it. This is the one son that we haven't been able to talk to yet. He is the youngest and wasn't alive when his parents and older siblings had gone to the church many years ago. I went over to him and offered to help him, and we just started up a conversation. It was just so easy to be able to take a simple regular old conversation and turn it into a gospel conversation. I know for sure back at home, I NEVER would have been able to do that smoothly. I am grateful for my mission and having been able to learn how, really, to talk to people about the gospel. He has really been searching for God for his whole life, never really felt fulfilled, he had tried going to so many different churches, including the Muslim church, and wasn't sure if he should believe in Jesus Christ or not. Pretty much it just ended up turning into a Gospel Dispensations through Great Apostasy lesson just with the conversation. I really love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Got to do some service for Sister Joseph, one of the long time members in Arima before I left. She had some gigantic vines growing over a fence, that were destroying it, so we removed them. See the pictures at the end.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
Wendy's Baptism
Doing Service for Sister Joseph
Monday, April 15, 2019
Scaret Ibis - Trinidad's National Bird!
The end of the transfer has come. I will be staying here in Trinidad for yet another transfer. I will be going back to Valsayn where I was last transfer to be companions with Elder Riter again, we will be the Zone Leaders. Leaving Arima is going to be a little difficult, there are some really exciting things going on there next transfer, but the work is also hastening well here in Valsayn.
Last week we had the privilege of boating out to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary just south of Port of Spain. The Scarlet Ibis, which is Trinidads' national bird, live all over in the swamp here. At the very end of the tour we stopped the boat by this small island to where there were hundreds of these birds flocking. For some reason they all flock to this one island and land here for the night to stay all together. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately we didn't see any alligators or giant snakes, though there are a lot of them here in Trinidad.
Things are going really well with Wendy and her family. We haven't been able to see Rick much these days, he's really busy. We're going to have to move his date farther into the future, but Wendy should be getting baptised this next weekend. She and her grandson Ishmael came to church this Sunday at the Sangre Grande ward. Not only that, also on Saturday we went by her house and met and taught her two daughters, Sheena and Cindy, who are both pretty interested, as well as her youngest son we haven't met yet. Now we have pretty much began teaching all of her immediate family members including her sister and uncle. This week we also started teaching Wendys' daughter in law Cillia, her son Ishmael, and a friend from Venezuela. I'm really excited for this big, elect family. Elder Riter and I will be teaching Sheena and her family, who normally live in Port of Spain.
Stephan has made a lot of progress this week. He came to church yesterday and really felt the Spirit. He is feeling better and better about what he is learning. Yesterday after church we taught him about the first half of the Plan of Salvation and he was so happy about the things that he learned, things that he had never thought of before and never knew. He had always wondered where he came from before coming to earth. What we taught him really blew him away. He was just glowing. He prayed about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and got an answer. He felt joy and light as he prayed and felt the God was watching over him. He committed to be baptised, but needs to get his surgery first, hopefully towards the end of this month. I know that God is watching over us!!!
It's going to be another exciting six weeks in Valsayn with Elder Riter. Also, Elder Stott, who I served with in the MTC, is being transferred here from Guyana, so I'm finally going to see him after 15 months without seeing him. I'm excited!
Elder Porritt
Last week we had the privilege of boating out to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary just south of Port of Spain. The Scarlet Ibis, which is Trinidads' national bird, live all over in the swamp here. At the very end of the tour we stopped the boat by this small island to where there were hundreds of these birds flocking. For some reason they all flock to this one island and land here for the night to stay all together. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately we didn't see any alligators or giant snakes, though there are a lot of them here in Trinidad.
Things are going really well with Wendy and her family. We haven't been able to see Rick much these days, he's really busy. We're going to have to move his date farther into the future, but Wendy should be getting baptised this next weekend. She and her grandson Ishmael came to church this Sunday at the Sangre Grande ward. Not only that, also on Saturday we went by her house and met and taught her two daughters, Sheena and Cindy, who are both pretty interested, as well as her youngest son we haven't met yet. Now we have pretty much began teaching all of her immediate family members including her sister and uncle. This week we also started teaching Wendys' daughter in law Cillia, her son Ishmael, and a friend from Venezuela. I'm really excited for this big, elect family. Elder Riter and I will be teaching Sheena and her family, who normally live in Port of Spain.
Stephan has made a lot of progress this week. He came to church yesterday and really felt the Spirit. He is feeling better and better about what he is learning. Yesterday after church we taught him about the first half of the Plan of Salvation and he was so happy about the things that he learned, things that he had never thought of before and never knew. He had always wondered where he came from before coming to earth. What we taught him really blew him away. He was just glowing. He prayed about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and got an answer. He felt joy and light as he prayed and felt the God was watching over him. He committed to be baptised, but needs to get his surgery first, hopefully towards the end of this month. I know that God is watching over us!!!
It's going to be another exciting six weeks in Valsayn with Elder Riter. Also, Elder Stott, who I served with in the MTC, is being transferred here from Guyana, so I'm finally going to see him after 15 months without seeing him. I'm excited!
Elder Porritt
The Caroni Bird Sanctuary
The Scarlet Ibis
Monday, April 8, 2019
General Conference was a Blast!!
Good day everyone! As they say in Trinidad. General Conference this week was, as always, a blast. I am increasingly beginning to feel an urgency from the brethren, ESPECIALLY President Nelson. His talk from the Sunday morning session was my favorite talk. It really hits home for each and every one of us in reality, because none of us are perfect. We felt so inspired coming out of that conference to go do some contacting. We were all but running up and down the streets talking to people, because TIME IS RUNNING OUT... Elder Hollands talk was also really really great. It really puts the importance of the sacrament in perspective. I also loved Elder Stevensons talk who gave a shout out to Bryce and some others. haha. I hope everyone was able to watch all the sessions, and then rewatch them again.
This week we met a couple of cool new people. There is an investigator we are teaching named Kimmie, we ran into her about a week ago. She had talked to the missionaries in the past, but didn't progress because they were too "passionate," which was kinda weird. However, she has been going through some trials and had been reading her copy of the Book of Mormon she already had. She has been praying to know of its truthfulness. We talked about it and shared the scripture with her from John 10 and 3 Nephi 15, and helped her understand that the people in the Americas were "the other sheep." She started to tear up, and we asked her what was wrong. She said when she had very first received the Book of Mormon, that same day this app she had that sends her a random bible scripture, gave her that SAME scripture from John 10. Completely randomly. She didn't understand its correlation with the Book of Mormon at the time however. When we taught her that the Savior was talking about the people from the Book of Mormon she realized what it meant, and felt the Spirit very strongly. I was glad that the Spirit prompted us to share that specific scripture with her to help her realize. What a wonderful gift the Spirit is for each of us.
We met a really cool man this week named Stephans. He likewise is going through some painful trials in life. He had come to church two weeks ago in the Curepe branch which is right east of Arima. One of the high councilors gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and gave him our number. This week we taught him about the Restoration and he came to both of the sessions of conference on Sunday. It was great!
No baptisms this week, as we were hoping, but Wendy and hopefully Ricky, watched General Conference from home. We recently have started teaching her about the commandments, and she referred us to two of her daughters and their families. One of them lives in Port of Spain, and the other one lives in Sangre Grande, who we are hoping to start teaching this week. We moved their baptismal dates to the 20th of April. Should be exciting!!!
The end of the transfer is coming up soon. I think its possible I will be going back up to the islands for the rest, but we'll see
Have a great week everyone!!!!
Elder Porritt
This week we met a couple of cool new people. There is an investigator we are teaching named Kimmie, we ran into her about a week ago. She had talked to the missionaries in the past, but didn't progress because they were too "passionate," which was kinda weird. However, she has been going through some trials and had been reading her copy of the Book of Mormon she already had. She has been praying to know of its truthfulness. We talked about it and shared the scripture with her from John 10 and 3 Nephi 15, and helped her understand that the people in the Americas were "the other sheep." She started to tear up, and we asked her what was wrong. She said when she had very first received the Book of Mormon, that same day this app she had that sends her a random bible scripture, gave her that SAME scripture from John 10. Completely randomly. She didn't understand its correlation with the Book of Mormon at the time however. When we taught her that the Savior was talking about the people from the Book of Mormon she realized what it meant, and felt the Spirit very strongly. I was glad that the Spirit prompted us to share that specific scripture with her to help her realize. What a wonderful gift the Spirit is for each of us.
We met a really cool man this week named Stephans. He likewise is going through some painful trials in life. He had come to church two weeks ago in the Curepe branch which is right east of Arima. One of the high councilors gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and gave him our number. This week we taught him about the Restoration and he came to both of the sessions of conference on Sunday. It was great!
No baptisms this week, as we were hoping, but Wendy and hopefully Ricky, watched General Conference from home. We recently have started teaching her about the commandments, and she referred us to two of her daughters and their families. One of them lives in Port of Spain, and the other one lives in Sangre Grande, who we are hoping to start teaching this week. We moved their baptismal dates to the 20th of April. Should be exciting!!!
The end of the transfer is coming up soon. I think its possible I will be going back up to the islands for the rest, but we'll see
Have a great week everyone!!!!
Elder Porritt
Oh and also we went to see Moracas Beach last Monday. here are some pictures from it. It's one of the popular tourist places.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Ups & Downs as a Missionary!
Well what a bipolar week this has been. Monday through Thursday we were just cruising and having so much success. Since we only have 8 missionaries in the zone and 4 in the district we just do teaching visits with the zone leaders, which we did on Wednesday. I was able to work with Elder Norton once more, it has been 17 months since we were companions in the CCM(MTC). We had a really good time. No doubt we had some tender mercies from the Lord despite how the rest of the week went. Theres a man named Robert who we haven't seen for a long time now. He is actually from Nigeria here working while his family is back home. We felt like we should pass by his house when one of our lessons fell through and miraculously he was there. He works very long hours and doesn't get many days off, but that day was one of his days off, but he had just barely returned from doing something else. We were able to have a Spirit filled lesson with him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.
Starting Friday we kind of hit a brick wall. All of our lessons fell through, especially some of the new people we met last week, who were so interested. Many of them heard false rumours or rejected to Book of Mormon, or ignored us, stuff like that. It was a rough couple of days. But still more good things are coming in the near future, so we are keeping our heads up. Between us and the branch mission leader we planned a branch fireside about missionary work, which was this Saturday. Not as many people show up as we hoped, but it was a very inspiring fireside. We shared missionary experiences, heard talks from a newly returned missionary, the stake president, and a General Conference talk from President Oaks. The branch is hoping to start having firesides like this every month or two months from now on to get the members excited about things like missionary work.
Wendy didn't come to church, so her date is going to have to be moved from this week to another time. This week we taught her and Ricky about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ricky accepted the invitation to be baptised on the 20th of April. We are very excited for that. Possibly both of them will be baptised on the same day. They introduced us to another Venezuelan family they are good friends with. The funny thing is that Wendy doesn't speak spanish so I don't know how she knows all these Venezuelan people, but, heck, they are all interested in learning about the Gospel. The problem is that they live FOREVER away from Sangre Grande which is already a half hour drive from the apartment.
We are also going to have to move Afeeshas' baptismal date to later, but things seem to be going well with her. We are hoping that maybe her husband will start sitting with us for the discussions soon, so he can learn also. They both should be coming to conference though.
Boy am I excited for conference. Theres just something about being a missionary and having general conference thats really exciting. I hope everyone is able to watch all the sessions and really think about what is taught and how we can apply it in directly into our lives.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
Starting Friday we kind of hit a brick wall. All of our lessons fell through, especially some of the new people we met last week, who were so interested. Many of them heard false rumours or rejected to Book of Mormon, or ignored us, stuff like that. It was a rough couple of days. But still more good things are coming in the near future, so we are keeping our heads up. Between us and the branch mission leader we planned a branch fireside about missionary work, which was this Saturday. Not as many people show up as we hoped, but it was a very inspiring fireside. We shared missionary experiences, heard talks from a newly returned missionary, the stake president, and a General Conference talk from President Oaks. The branch is hoping to start having firesides like this every month or two months from now on to get the members excited about things like missionary work.
Wendy didn't come to church, so her date is going to have to be moved from this week to another time. This week we taught her and Ricky about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ricky accepted the invitation to be baptised on the 20th of April. We are very excited for that. Possibly both of them will be baptised on the same day. They introduced us to another Venezuelan family they are good friends with. The funny thing is that Wendy doesn't speak spanish so I don't know how she knows all these Venezuelan people, but, heck, they are all interested in learning about the Gospel. The problem is that they live FOREVER away from Sangre Grande which is already a half hour drive from the apartment.
We are also going to have to move Afeeshas' baptismal date to later, but things seem to be going well with her. We are hoping that maybe her husband will start sitting with us for the discussions soon, so he can learn also. They both should be coming to conference though.
Boy am I excited for conference. Theres just something about being a missionary and having general conference thats really exciting. I hope everyone is able to watch all the sessions and really think about what is taught and how we can apply it in directly into our lives.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
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