February 23, 2105

Hey Everyone,

Things are going good. It was -52 here the other day, in farenheight that is -61. None of you know what that even means. It means that when I decided to take a whizz outside it was a really really bad idea. I’ll leave it at that... have you ever been able to spit into the air and catch it coming down as a chunk of ice? yeah. its freakin cold guys.

On a positive note today is only -12 so I don’t have to wear my parka, just a light jacket which is super nice. I’ve been teaching a lot of people addiction recovery lately and I’m loving it. It’s been quite the intense week. Lots of crazy things happened. 

Our mission president came up this last week and I had an interview with him. I wore my moccasins to the interview and he didn’t even know what to say. I could tell he wanted to ask me about them and why I was wearing them but I just let him wonder haha.

Well I’m not sick anymore. I was sick for a while and walking around in the cold doesn’t help. I thought I was getting pneumonia. That would have been aweful!

I think we’re going to play pool today with some friends. It’s literally the only thing to do here besides sit at the subway and watch people fight each other all day, which is fun too I guess.

We had lots of dinners this last week. I had to talk to lots of people to make sure they would feed my companion because no one wants him to eat their food haha, but I think things are getting better. At least no one is trying to fight him anymore. 

Well I’m loving it here, having a good time and teaching lots. Love you all!

Elder Porter

February 16, 2015

Hey Everyone,

Things are going good. I’m loving this place still and working hard. We were out walking in -50 farenheight the other day and I was sick, so that just made me sicker. We were walking by our investigators place and I was just like Elder Sorenson, I cant breathe this air anymore. I’m sick and I think I’m going to get pneumonia, so we went in and just made a bunch of food and a bunch of our other friends were there and we had a lesson out of the addiction recovery book that we’ve been working with. One of my bros here used to drink every day and couldn’t quit for even 12 hours. Now he’s been sober for 5 weeks and is doing awesome. The assistants were with me this last week for the day and we were visiting him and I went upstairs and he just told them that I can’t leave yet because I’m the one that helped him change his life and he doesn’t want to go back to that life again, but isn’t strong enough to do it on his own. It meant a lot to me. 

Thats what I’ve been teaching a lot lately, is the churches addiction recovery program. I took the training for it so I can teach it pretty well. I love teaching it. Sometimes it’s sad because you just make people feel really bad for the things they have done, and right as they feel like crap you give them the hope that the gospel brings. So I feel like I bring them even lower before I lift them back up. It’s a different kind of teaching, but I love it. I love helping people change, and I want to continue helping these people, I hope I can come back here after the mission. 

Sorry I haven’t written in a bit guys. I’ve been going through a bit of a rough spot. I carry a lot of other peoples burdens in the area I am in right now. Living on the reservation and dealing with the 3rd world craziness that goes on is a whole new experience. I’ve seen a lot of things here that shouldn’t be seen sometimes. It’s a crazy life but I guess thats why I’m the one here to do it. Some times I just get worn out. Seeing a lot of sad things or the results of peoples bad decisions. The violence or the crime, substance abuse or abuse in general. This will definitely help out with my future career as a police officer. I love these people so much. I really click with the aboriginal people and I know this is where I’m supposed to be. 

I’ve got 6 months left and I’ll be back on September 4th. Time sure is flying by. I cant believe it. I love you all.

Elder Porter

Feb 2, 2015

Hey Everyone,

This week was really good. I am so happy I get to stay. I was pretty irritable this week because I was stressed about leaving and everyone else was stressed and getting antsy. I was getting like 20 phone calls every 3 hours asking if I got my call yet and that didn’t help. But on the bright side I probably get 3 more months here, because i will be training Elder Sorenson to be a new zone leader. So that will be exciting. He’s a good enough kid.

The northern lights this week were amazing, so beautiful, I loved them. We got some pictures but the pics don’t do them justice. so fun fact. If the northern lights are good enough, you can whistle loud and they will start dancing like crazy and swoop around you. They are so much fun to see. kinda weird though.

We had lots of people at church yesterday. Everyone was making bets on who was going to cry hahaha. All three missionaries got up and bore their testimony, then I got up and was like, "well I’m not leaving" everyone just cheered hahaha. It was a good fast sunday.

Well thanks for all the prayers everyone. This last transfer has mentally been one of the toughest for me. This place gives me some of my highest highs and lowest lows. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love you all. heres some sweet pictures, Love, Elder Porter

January 26, 2015

Hey Everyone.

This week was super good. We found 3 new investigators to teach. We had some good lessons with people and helped some people move. While we were helping move we were moving this pigeon to the new house and as I turned the corner the door to the cage flew open and I saw the bird fly out onto the cables over the house. It stayed there for a whole day then died because the temperature dipped down again haha. 

It was warm this week. Now its cooling off again. Everyone here is sick. All 3 of the other missionaries are sick except me. 40% of the high school here is out because of illness, and we had to take our friend wally to the hospital this morning because his appendix burst. Things are going crazy this week!

Well I’ve become quite the expert at preparing moose meat. We were sitting around the table with a bunch of our friends and they started messin with me telling me that they were going to show me how to prepare moose the native way and I just started preparing it all fast. Everyone was like what the? holy you know how to make moose haha.

But it was a good week. Staying positive. We find out transfer calls here in a few days. Pray that I stay in Flin Flon. I love this place so much!

Love you all,

Elder Porter

January 12 2015

Hey Everyone!

This week was crazy... so after getting back from Winnipeg, we were out of our area for 8 days, the assistants came up and expected us to have stuff to do with both of them. So I took one of them around and we went and painted with Wally. haha Wally was just being a straight up jerk to the assistants. He made me proud. So me and one of the assistants went to a lesson and some of the kids were being kids and were a bit rowdy and he was getting all ticked and when we went out to the car he freaked out on me saying how I need to control them better so I was just like seriously?? then we went to Nans house (we call her nan cause she is like our grandma here) and she always calls us by our first names. She’s old and set in her ways but she’s the best and she treats us with so much love. and the assistant started getting all cheesed off at me for letting her call us by our first names. I freaked out on him and told him that she has her own agency and that if he told me what to do one more time I was going to lose it. We didn’t talk much after that. I am just sick of kids my own age trying to tell me what to do. It is retarded. People think that they come on a mission and that automatically makes them a great leader who can demand respect and tell people what to do. It’s like, if you want respect you gotta earn it. 

Other than that this week was great! We taught some great lessons and had some great things happen. It was really cold, I got some frostbite because I forgot my scarf when we were walking across the lake but its all good. I sure hope I get to stay here for a lot longer. I love this place so much. I am going to pass out the ctr rings today. I love those! thanks! 

Our branch president is finally back now. We had a meeting with him about what to do to fix the branch. None of the branch members want this place to grow. They refuse to pick people up and because of it we went from having 65 people at sacrament a week to 23. Then to top it all off some of the members made a big deal to president that we would pick people up and they just try and get us in trouble. It’s definitely some cowboy versus indian stuff going on right now and I’m sure as heck not on the cowboy side. So I gain some enemies but whatever. There will always be opposition I guess. 

Well I hope you all are doing well. I love you all!

Elder Porter

p.s. don’t send this to the people in Winnipeg. I don’t want them hearing about the racism up here. It will just make some upse

Jan 5, 2015

Hey Everyone,

So this week has been a good one. I drove for 12 hours straight on Thursday. I kept rolling down the windows to keep my self awake. It made Elder Goodwin mad every time I did it, but whatever haha. We went to Winnipeg, got to visit some great friends with the short amount of time that we had, then on Friday we had a 6 hour meeting setting the new baptism goal for 2015. I say meeting, but I should really say bloodbath. It turned into such an argument just because of 3 people. In the end we had about 25 people on our side for the new goal, and President Thomas just made the executive decision and chose our goal. sheesh we made some enemies that day haha. 

Then we drove to Daughin and went to church the next day. I went on an exchange and had to go and teach a lady I had never met the law of chastity. It is so awkward teaching a couple the law of chastity, especially when you just walk in and haven’t ever met them. It turned out really well though.

We drove to Neepawa and stayed the night with an old companion of mine. We didn’t sleep much. Then we drove to Brandon and goofed around all day cause it’s p day and we have to give a big training tomorrow. So we’ve been pretty busy lately.

On New Years, we went and played dice games and cards with some investigators and had a good time. After that, we stayed the night with the other Flin Flon elders and we had to find something to put some weight in the back of our truck because on the highways it just slides around all day. So we filled up garbage bags with water and tied a bunch of old ties together and lowered them out the 3rd story window and let them freeze overnight in the back of the truck. It worked great! We put a couple hundred pounds of ice in the back of our truck haha.

Well I’m still loving it here. Its really cold -55 farenheight the other day. You guys don’t even know what that means back home is Arizona!!. But you know it’s cold when you walk outside and get a brain freeze cause of the air! But I’m loving it! Cold won’t stop me from doing the Lords work. Love you all!

Elder Porter

Dec. 29, 2014

Northern lights

Just some icicles, haha

Hey Everyone, 

Sorry my emails haven't been the best lately. I’ve gotten super busy here in Flin Flon and kinda lazy with emailing. It’s not you, its me... haha

I loved seeing you all at christmas. Sorry I don't have too much time to email but things are going great. My brother Wally Dumas gave a talk this Sunday! He was the 1st first nation male convert to ever give a talk in sacrament in Flin Flon! Satan was working really hard on him on Saturday night and he asked us to help get him out of a party late Saturday night, so we went to the rescue and helped him overcome the adversary. It’s been really cold, the norther lights have been decent lately. I realized I haven’t ever sent you guys pics of them.

I love Flin Flon. I’m working hard and having crazy experiences, and I’m loving every minute of it. My mission is going by fast. I’ve had a completely different experience than I thought I would have, but I wouldn’t trade any minute of it. I love being a missionary and everything that comes with it. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a good New Year’s celebration. I have to travel down to Winnipeg on the 1st and go all over my zone till the 5th, giving meetings and such. I love you all

Elder Porter