August 18, 2014

Hey Everyone!

Well this week was a good one. We had one of our investigators at church this week, David, the albino from nigeria. He loved it. He said that it was the best day of his life.

Well transfer calls came and I will be staying here in Brandon with an elder named Elder Ferrilino. He’s a good guy and we're going to have lots of fun together. I’m super excited to stay. There are some really good things coming up here in Brandon. I’m so excited. 

We had some funny things happen this week. We were walking on the street, back to our apartment and I was on the phone with my former companion Elder Olguin, and we were about to make a 3 way call to our best friend in Winnipeg, and this lady walked past us with her dogs, and right as they walked by, this bird hopped in front of the dog and the dog grabbed it, and killed it! The lady was screaming, and I just couldn’t stop laughing. It was honestly the funniest thing I saw this week. 

We built a $125,000 playground this week with the city. It was so fun and we got to meet a ton of new people. We did lots of service this week. We continued to help re-roof the house. It was fun.

Oh we sang a musical number in church yesterday. The ward liked it so much that we have to do another one next week, orders from bishop! I was never much of a singer, but I guess I’ll do it. It was pretty fun.

So on Thursday, I get to take the sisters car to Winnipeg for transfers and leave them walking all day hahaha. It’s going to be so much fun to tell them hahaa.

Other than than, not too much has happened. We're working hard, I’m loving serving the Lord, and I know the church is true. I’m almost at a year. It’s flying by. I love you all!

Elder Porter

Aug. 11, 2014

Hey Everyone, 

This was a great week for us. We found a family from Nigeria that we are teaching, but the crazy thing is, when the mother called out her 20 year old son, this super tall white guy walked out! He was an albino! It was crazy! He was whiter than me, had the build and jaw line of an african though. It was super weird, but really cool. He has a lot of depression because in Nigeria, they tried to kill him all the time for sacrifice because they thought that albinos should be sacrificed. So he has some issues, but he’s a good kid. Then there is a 10 year old girl and a 7 year old boy. Great family!

So me and my companion got in a bit of a scuffle with a drunk guy this week.. it ended with the drunk grabbing my companion by the throat, and me having to take control of the situation. To be honest, my companion totally deserved it because he was rebuking him for drinking. It made my comp cry and i just tried not to laugh the whole way home hahaha. It was honestly one of the funniest things I have seen so far.

We did some more roofing this week. That was super fun.

So I made a mistake using the hair clippers... I found some clippers in the apartment, and usually when I fade my hair, I’ll do a 3 on the top and a 1 on the sides, so I put a 3 guard on and started cutting, well long story short, the 3 ended up being a .3 and I am totally bald. It suits me though. I like it. Everyone is calling me Mr. Clean, haha I got sunburned right before I cut it, its a bit longer now, and blends a bit more. 

We had to bless a house this week. Some scary stuff has been happening in our friend Brad's house because one of their medicine man had been doing ceremonies in the house, so we had to go bless it. It was interesting.

It’s been quite the week. We find out if one of us gets transferred here this week. I really kind of hope so, cause this kid has really been testing my patience, but if not I can bear through it. 

Love you all,

Elder Porter

August 4, 2014

Hey Everyone,

I’m just feeling really grateful for my parents, having both of them as parents has definitely helped me become who I am today. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be a hard worker or dedicated to anything. I sure appreciate that and love you guys! 

Well this week was good. We taught some good lessons. Our investigators are doing well. We gave a couple blessings. We helped a less active lady re roof her house. that was fun. Elder Camarena and I had to carry a bunch of shingles up the ladder. They were close to 100 pounds a piece. Good thing we’ve been going to the gym every morning eh? 

Well, 5 missionaries have gone home early this month. one of them being one of my best friends out here. One of the sisters in Brandon is going home for medical too. It’s such a bummer watching all the ones you love so much go home. But I guess we all got to keep moving forward. 

Really though its been a pretty normal week. Lots of drunk people, talking to tons of people on the streets. It’s funny cause I can walk downtown at any time of the day and have at least 3 people walk up to me and say whats up just cause I’ve talked I’ll stand in the serving line and everyone knows me haha. It’s pretty funny.

I got into a pretty good argument with my companion this week. He gets so upset over the stupidest things and will get all depressed if we get home a bit late, or take an extra 5 minutes for lunch and he just dwells on the littlest things and gets super upset. I told him he has to chill cause no one is perfect and he just went off telling me how I’m too relaxed and how I’m disobedient. So we started yelling at each other and I told him to name something I’m disobedient on haha. He couldn’t think of anything so I told him he needs to calm down and rethink why he is out here, and just do his work and have fun doing it. So he just sat in the corner for like 2 hours and then in the morning he apologized and said I was right. It was super funny. I wasn’t mad, I just like having fun while doing the work I’m supposed to do. If you’re not having fun as a missionary, you’re doing something totally wrong. He’s getting better.

But I love it here in Brandon. I have a feeling I’m staying here and getting a new companion next transfer. oh hello, I’ve been out 11 months today. That’s pretty cool, almost halfway over the hill.

Well I love you all. good luck in school everyone!   Elder Porter

On the bridge

				DSCN1261.AVI Lindsey Porter shared from Dropbox
				View on www.dropbox.com	Preview by Yahoo

This video is so funny, I hope you can open it, after a long day of service, a little bit of fun, and it is SO Logan, if you know him;)

July 28, 2014

Hey Everyone,

We had a real good week. Our p-day is cut short though cause we helped a family get a bunch of their stuff loaded up cause there moving to Utah, so we helped them out all morning. So that was super fun. We've been doing these super crazy circuit workouts and They’ve been super intense.

We taught a really good lesson to a lady this week. It went super well and she is going to do really well in the gospel. She needs it in her life for sure. She’s been through a lot but the gospel can definitely help her.

One thing that has really been bugging me is just getting our appointments launched... we will set something up with our investigators, they will be super excited, we will call and remind them, and we will show up and they won’t be there. It’s definitely frustrating, but whatever..

I had this super drunk lady come up to me on the bus and grab both of my hands and ask me to pray for her. I was so tired at that time so i was just like sure. It didn’t even surprise me. Im just so used to having random stuff happen, that it doesn’t even make me laugh any more haha. It’s just like, ehh, seen that one.

We got to watch Johnny Lingo yesterday. That was super fun.

Oh I have a girl that’s crushing on me haha. She’s 4 years old. Her name is Genesis. She’s a really funny little hispanic girl with a super deep voice. Her mom and brother just got baptized. We go over there quite a bit with the spanish Elders. It’s funny, during sacrament the only way she will sit still and be quiet is if I draw pictures with her. its fun. I’m used to a bunch of little kids all around me, so it is really familiar, hahaha. Brandon is a really good place. I love it here.

Anyways, things are going well. I love being a missionary. I love the gospel. The church is true, and I want to give a birthday shout out to my mom. July 31st. Happy birthday old lady! Love you!

Elder Porter

July 21, 2014

Wow. You guys left to go camping before 7:00 p.m.? Holy cow! That’ a new record I think! hahahahaha, hopefully you guys all have fun! I’m jealous!

So this week was the best week of my entire mission! We found 6 new investigators! It was like a new record! That is unheard of. It was beautiful. We even set a baptismal date for one of the people to work with. It was so exciting! We had some amazing lessons and these people are really going to progress, hopefully to baptism.

We played soccer with some of our friends this week. They are some guys from Nigeria and a guy we met on the bus who randomly bought us Subway cause he works there came. It was so much fun, I’ll send the picture. Also we're meeting with that guy on Tuesday. He's a hardcore party-er, but such a good guy. 

We've been doing hardcore circuit workouts 3 times a week, basically crossfit stuff and I’m dropping weight like a mad man. Also i just eat rice and fish and vegetables now so I’m pretty healthy. It feels good.

We went to the lake on Saturday. Williams lake, by Boisevain, about a half hour from the border. It was nice, we went for the ward bbq. We stopped by this giant turtle so ill send you some pics.

We’ve been working our tails off ever since I got to brandon and its so nice to finally see some results after 2 months. 

I know this church is true. I love being a missionary, and being able to help people cope with things in their lives. The gospel can heal addictions and spiritual wounds. I love you all!

Elder Porter

July 14, 2014

Hey Everyone!

So this week was super great! We had quite a few lessons and had 2 members present. It was fun! We've been talking to a lot of people on the bus and just busting it on the streets. We watched a movie with the sisters and their investigator, and a member called the Saratov approach. It was about some missionaries who got kidnapped and held for ransom in Russia and their struggles and hope and how they kept their faith strong. It was such a good movie. I loved it.

We met some really nice less active members this week and got to have some really good conversations. It rained super hard the other day and hailed like crazy. We got caught out in it and hid under a bus shelter with some other people. If it keeps raining like this the whole town is going to be flooded!

We helped a less active that we've been working with (Brad), do some work on his yard. His grass was 2 ft tall and we were originally just going to help him cut the grass but I started cutting down tree branches and before we knew it we had spent nearly 3 hours taming his backyard. It was so funny, he was just giggling like halfway through because you could actually see his yard and it looked completely different. It looked like a whole different yard! It probably would have taken 8 or 9 truckloads to take it to the dump but he just went out late that night and put it all in the canal hahaha. 

We did a lot of service this week. We mowed another lady’s lawn and shoveled a ton of weeds and got destroyed by mosquitoes. The mosquitoes are so bad here that they have been doing some fogging to kill them all and have released thousands of big dragonflies to eat them all. It’s pretty neat to look up into the sky and see hundreds of dragonflies above your head. I love canada!

I also shaved my hair too short and look like a criminal, just so everyone knows...

Well things have been great and I love being a missionary. I love you all!

Elder Porter

my mugshot, hahaha

Just some more flooding!!!

Beautiful sunset!!

Look Mom!! I made bran muffins!! We are trying
to eat healthier to lose some of our insulation
from winter!!!