Today is week one, and I will be staying here in Trinidad again. I will be staying here in Valsayn for another one. Elder Riter is going back down to Guyana for his last transfer. My new companion will be Elder Stott. I am really excited about this transfer. Elder Stott and I have been talking about being companions since the MTC. Oddly, of the four of us from the MTC group, the two of us are the first to be companions with one another.
Yesterday we drove out to POS to teach Carlos and Gustavo, and now Carlos wife, Barbara. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about baptism and the Holy Ghost. We weren't really sure what to expect with Barbara since we hadn't met her yet. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her briefly and shared some scriptures from it, and she was really into the lesson, and SUPER attentive. She just seemed amazed. Unfortunately, we thought we had some Spanish copies of the Book of Mormon in the back of the car, but we didn't. However, at the end of the lesson, we were talking with Carlos and he said "Please, when you come back, bring her a Book of Mormon, I want her to read it too" He really loves the Book of Mormon, and what we've taught him so far. We are SO excited about these two. They just need to officially get married, and then we can do it. The two of them are pretty elect.
Otherwise, this week was pretty much basic. We had a great teaching visit with the Elders from Arima. I spent a couple of hours with Elder Raymond again, and we got to do two hours of contacting in the rain. But I'm really grateful though because it hasn't rained hard here for like 3 months now.
We had our recent convert, Samantha, and her whole family come to church this week because her brother got ordained to be the ward executive secretary. That included one of her sisters that isn't a member, which we started teaching recently, named Yorianny.
There are a bunch of missionaries coming through the island headed to different countries. So this week we are going to be running a lot of people to and from the airport. Should be fun..
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
Monday, May 27, 2019
Monday, May 20, 2019
Our "Zistrict" Volleyball Activity!
Well this week was a pretty good one. This morning we had our Zone activity, or rather, our Zistrict activity, since there are only 8 of us, we are like a small zone or a big district. After 5 transfers we finally decided to play volleyball. We found a portable net, that we tied down with strings and stakes, which didn't work too well, because anytime the ball went into the net hard enough, or someone ran into a string, the net fell down. But we had a whole lot of fun.
This week we started focusing more on Carlos. He told us on Tuesday that his wife and son and going to arrive in Trinidad this coming Thursday. Also he had a couple of pretty good friends that went missing, so we went by several times this week to share the Plan of Salvation, temples, and exaltation with him, and Gustavo. We had a GREAT lesson with him about the spirit world, the same day he found out his friends went missing. He had A LOT of questions about Adam and Eve and other aspects of the Plan of Salvation. After a good long discussion, he told us how much he loves learning these new things. This week we are going to invite him to be baptized, and hopefully his wife and son will make it here safely, and we will be able to start teaching them.
We had a spiritual experience that was a bit of a strange one, but a real heaven sent miracle. We taught some referrals that we received from two elders in Guyana, who are named Nalita and Gopaul. They are two very humble Guyanese people, who have been going through some tough trials. Nalita is Gopauls mother, and his sister is being taught by those two missionaries in Guyana This Saturday we went to see them and Nalita wasn't there, but we taught Gopaul. He is 23 and has been suffering from some difficult sickness. He told a strange dream that he had, where he was walking though a beautiful heavenly place with someone next to him. He said he had the image of a man and was very very bright, and said he knew that it was God. He was holding his hand and walking with him, and then he was holding him in his arms saying that everything will be ok. Then at the very end of the lesson before we said the closing prayer, he stopped us and said "I need to tell you something" He explained that 2 days before we called and met him and his mom, he was sitting on the bed one day. As he sad there, he said he had a vision, where God told him that he was going to send two guys, two angels as he later described, that would give him something that would give him hope. Gopaul thinks that we might be those two guys. Well, we are sure that that is true, and we did give him something that will give him hope, The Book of Mormon. I cannot even fathom really how much God loves each of us and is mindful of every single one of us, whether we are on the path, off the path, or cannot even see the path from where we are. God really is there. I know that this is His great work, which is a work of hope for repentance in a world that is moving away from hope.
This week we went down to have a teaching visit with the elders from Couva. Elder Stott and I proselyted together for the first time, since the MTC, it was great. We contacted some funny people, one of which asked us if we eat meat, and told us that we need to go back home and research veganism. haha. We did find some pretty interested hindu people though.
Next week the transfer will be over. Elder Riter will probably be going back to Guyana, since he has been in this area for 5 transfers now. We had some several individuals that were going to be baptized this week, but those are being moved a little bit farther into the future.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
This week we started focusing more on Carlos. He told us on Tuesday that his wife and son and going to arrive in Trinidad this coming Thursday. Also he had a couple of pretty good friends that went missing, so we went by several times this week to share the Plan of Salvation, temples, and exaltation with him, and Gustavo. We had a GREAT lesson with him about the spirit world, the same day he found out his friends went missing. He had A LOT of questions about Adam and Eve and other aspects of the Plan of Salvation. After a good long discussion, he told us how much he loves learning these new things. This week we are going to invite him to be baptized, and hopefully his wife and son will make it here safely, and we will be able to start teaching them.
We had a spiritual experience that was a bit of a strange one, but a real heaven sent miracle. We taught some referrals that we received from two elders in Guyana, who are named Nalita and Gopaul. They are two very humble Guyanese people, who have been going through some tough trials. Nalita is Gopauls mother, and his sister is being taught by those two missionaries in Guyana This Saturday we went to see them and Nalita wasn't there, but we taught Gopaul. He is 23 and has been suffering from some difficult sickness. He told a strange dream that he had, where he was walking though a beautiful heavenly place with someone next to him. He said he had the image of a man and was very very bright, and said he knew that it was God. He was holding his hand and walking with him, and then he was holding him in his arms saying that everything will be ok. Then at the very end of the lesson before we said the closing prayer, he stopped us and said "I need to tell you something" He explained that 2 days before we called and met him and his mom, he was sitting on the bed one day. As he sad there, he said he had a vision, where God told him that he was going to send two guys, two angels as he later described, that would give him something that would give him hope. Gopaul thinks that we might be those two guys. Well, we are sure that that is true, and we did give him something that will give him hope, The Book of Mormon. I cannot even fathom really how much God loves each of us and is mindful of every single one of us, whether we are on the path, off the path, or cannot even see the path from where we are. God really is there. I know that this is His great work, which is a work of hope for repentance in a world that is moving away from hope.
This week we went down to have a teaching visit with the elders from Couva. Elder Stott and I proselyted together for the first time, since the MTC, it was great. We contacted some funny people, one of which asked us if we eat meat, and told us that we need to go back home and research veganism. haha. We did find some pretty interested hindu people though.
Next week the transfer will be over. Elder Riter will probably be going back to Guyana, since he has been in this area for 5 transfers now. We had some several individuals that were going to be baptized this week, but those are being moved a little bit farther into the future.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
Monday, May 13, 2019
Great Lessons with Carlos & Roger
This week went by in a flash, just like it does pretty much every week. Something that President Egbert once told me is that when you want it to go by fast it goes slow, but when you don't want it to go by fast, it goes by fast.
This week we had Zone Conference, with President and Sister Baird, who were only in Trinidad for about 2 days, because of a very sick elder in Suriname that they needed to go see. After what happened he recovered enough to take a commercial flight home to a hospital in the States, so he is doing well now. At Zone Conference, we talked about working with the leaders of the ward and stake, especially with the ward council. Recent converts are SO important to the church, and all of us have the responsibility to help and strengthen these individuals as they take their new journey in the Church, which is unfamiliar to them, for quite a while actually. Kind of like what Elder Soares talked about in Conference last year with the two rivers that flow together to make the Amazon River. My interview with President was really really good. It's strange to think that there will only be two more for me before the end of the mission.
I already told some of you this, but we had a great lesson with Carlos on Saturday. Finally, we answered all his questions about prophets and apostasy, and we shared the Restoration with him. He had been raised learning that nobody has seen God, so when we shared the First Vision with him he was just blown away. He was just captivated. When we shared more about the Book of Mormon and how it can help him know, he said: "How can I know if this is true?" Now he realizes the magnitude of the Book of Mormon he is determined to read and study it to know for himself. It was a spiritual experience.
We made some really good progress with Roger as well. There are some real roadblocks being thrown at him, and this week we went by to talk about the Atonement. We shared Tad R. Calisters' talk, another conference story, and the story of Enos, among others. We had talked a bit about repentance and the Atonement in Zone Conference and some ways that we can teach it better, which helped us out. I particularly felt the Spirit strongly as we testified to him of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to him. We could see his countenance change from what it normally is that day.
The rest of the week was a little bit tough though. We had to spend a lot of time doing non-proselyting missionary work and had to clear out an entire apartment and stuff it all into OUR apartment. Since there used to be about 70 missionaries in Trinidad, and there is only 8 now, there is A LOT of extra stuff that we have to store in the spare room in our apartment, and now we can barely walk into and around our apartment, so this week we are going to have to organize all that stuff.
Today we had a district activity and went to the Zoo in Port of Spain. There were some really cool monkeys that reached through the fence and grabbed our ties. Some of the elders fed the giraffes. Next week we will be having the Zone volleyball activity.
Happy Mothers Day everyone!!!
Elder Porritt
This week we had Zone Conference, with President and Sister Baird, who were only in Trinidad for about 2 days, because of a very sick elder in Suriname that they needed to go see. After what happened he recovered enough to take a commercial flight home to a hospital in the States, so he is doing well now. At Zone Conference, we talked about working with the leaders of the ward and stake, especially with the ward council. Recent converts are SO important to the church, and all of us have the responsibility to help and strengthen these individuals as they take their new journey in the Church, which is unfamiliar to them, for quite a while actually. Kind of like what Elder Soares talked about in Conference last year with the two rivers that flow together to make the Amazon River. My interview with President was really really good. It's strange to think that there will only be two more for me before the end of the mission.
I already told some of you this, but we had a great lesson with Carlos on Saturday. Finally, we answered all his questions about prophets and apostasy, and we shared the Restoration with him. He had been raised learning that nobody has seen God, so when we shared the First Vision with him he was just blown away. He was just captivated. When we shared more about the Book of Mormon and how it can help him know, he said: "How can I know if this is true?" Now he realizes the magnitude of the Book of Mormon he is determined to read and study it to know for himself. It was a spiritual experience.
We made some really good progress with Roger as well. There are some real roadblocks being thrown at him, and this week we went by to talk about the Atonement. We shared Tad R. Calisters' talk, another conference story, and the story of Enos, among others. We had talked a bit about repentance and the Atonement in Zone Conference and some ways that we can teach it better, which helped us out. I particularly felt the Spirit strongly as we testified to him of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to him. We could see his countenance change from what it normally is that day.
The rest of the week was a little bit tough though. We had to spend a lot of time doing non-proselyting missionary work and had to clear out an entire apartment and stuff it all into OUR apartment. Since there used to be about 70 missionaries in Trinidad, and there is only 8 now, there is A LOT of extra stuff that we have to store in the spare room in our apartment, and now we can barely walk into and around our apartment, so this week we are going to have to organize all that stuff.
Today we had a district activity and went to the Zoo in Port of Spain. There were some really cool monkeys that reached through the fence and grabbed our ties. Some of the elders fed the giraffes. Next week we will be having the Zone volleyball activity.
Happy Mothers Day everyone!!!
Elder Porritt
The Zoo!
Elder Porritt Keeping up on the Piano
Monday, May 6, 2019
Delicious Lamb Gyros!
Things this week have been a little bit slow here in Valsayn. We did have an investigator that came to church this Sunday though. His name is Tony. Tony is a man in his 60s that we found scrolling through some old progress records. He used to come to church a while back, but has since stopped meeting with the missionaries. He is working on getting married and really enjoyed coming to church.
On Wednesday we drove down to San Fernando to do teaching visits, which in our mission is pretty much like an exchange, but not for a whole day. I spent a couple of hours with Elder Christensen, who is a fairly new missionary. We taught a woman named Ester who was baptized just on Saturday, and we were able to teach a Spanish investigator which was pretty much being taught by one of the members in the ward that speaks the language. Afterwards, we had some DELICIOUS gyros (which are a very popular thing here in Trinidad) They are made mostly by Middle East people and we don't pronounce it the same. These people make really good lamb gyros, which are my favorite believe it or not.
We had another great experience this week teaching Carlos. This week we talked more about the Restoration. One of the first questions that he asked us is "If there is just one truth, why are there so many different churches?" Then he told us that he feels like he needs to be part of a church, but he just doesn't know which one. Sounds EXACTLY like the same questions that Joseph Smith asked himself. These are the things that make missionary work so fun. His fellowshipper, who is a returned missionary, has done a tremendous job preparing this man since they work at the same factory and talk to each other all the time. I really love humble people.
There's a young woman from the Port of Spain area that we have been teaching named Tasquillia. We have been teaching her grandmother for a LONG time, but recently stopped and started teaching her. She actually lives in the part of Port of Spain that we aren't allowed to go, so we teach her at her grandmothers' clothing shop. She accepted the invitation to be baptized at the end of this month. She came to church and really really loved it.
The Gospel is true!!! Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
On Wednesday we drove down to San Fernando to do teaching visits, which in our mission is pretty much like an exchange, but not for a whole day. I spent a couple of hours with Elder Christensen, who is a fairly new missionary. We taught a woman named Ester who was baptized just on Saturday, and we were able to teach a Spanish investigator which was pretty much being taught by one of the members in the ward that speaks the language. Afterwards, we had some DELICIOUS gyros (which are a very popular thing here in Trinidad) They are made mostly by Middle East people and we don't pronounce it the same. These people make really good lamb gyros, which are my favorite believe it or not.
We had another great experience this week teaching Carlos. This week we talked more about the Restoration. One of the first questions that he asked us is "If there is just one truth, why are there so many different churches?" Then he told us that he feels like he needs to be part of a church, but he just doesn't know which one. Sounds EXACTLY like the same questions that Joseph Smith asked himself. These are the things that make missionary work so fun. His fellowshipper, who is a returned missionary, has done a tremendous job preparing this man since they work at the same factory and talk to each other all the time. I really love humble people.
There's a young woman from the Port of Spain area that we have been teaching named Tasquillia. We have been teaching her grandmother for a LONG time, but recently stopped and started teaching her. She actually lives in the part of Port of Spain that we aren't allowed to go, so we teach her at her grandmothers' clothing shop. She accepted the invitation to be baptized at the end of this month. She came to church and really really loved it.
The Gospel is true!!! Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
Here are a couple of interesting pictures we took this week:
Before and after apartment water filter
Who needs to go to the store for chicken, when you can just pick these ones up?
Cactus growing in someones roof gutter
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