10-20-2014

Hey Everyone,

Well we made it back from the meeting in Winnipeg. It was miserable haha. Both nights we slept on the floor with no blankets or pillows so it felt like we all got hit by a bus haha. But it was okay. We had a good meeting. Then I drove the 6 and a half hours from Winnipeg to the Ponton Junction. No cops are ever on that road so I went 160 km for 5 hours straight. It was nice. We got back a lot faster haha.

We have been working with our friend Wally who has been less active, and this coming Sunday, he will be getting the priesthood! It’s been really great to see his change of heart. He called the missionary who baptized him (Jake Hendy), who is a legend up here, cause he baptized the whole town 14 years ago) and Jake called me and just freaked out cause he couldn’t believe Wally was getting the priesthood. It turns out Jake remembers me from Selkirk and he remembers feeling that I needed to be in Flin Flon and it stunk that I was in Selkirk. So he couldn’t believe I am actually up here.

Things with Elder Olguins comp are not the best. He is racist and super abrasive and everyone up here literally hates him. All of Elder Olguins investigators have come up to me telling me to switch companions, and I was just like, sorry I cant... its sad to see.

So like an hour ago Elder Olguin and I went off roading and found this crazy off road trail. We came up on this weird pipeline with these big wooden doors in the middle of no where and we went exploring. It was so cool! We found an old abandoned crashed car and some other crazy stuff. It was a fun p-day!!

Things are going well. I love it here and never want to leave. Love you all!!!

Elder Porter

Oct  13, 2014

Hi Everyone, It looks like the Grand Canyon hike went well. I'm pretty jealous, it sure looked like fun. haha lookin good with the braces Syd. I bet they hurt. So this week was absolutely amazing. Things up here are really crazy. It is literally a whole different culture up here. It's sad to see a lot of it. a lot of these kids up here just run around all day and do bad things. like we work with some people who's 8 year old daughter smokes and drinks. its so sad, but I'm glad I'm able to be a part of helping others change their lives. We had some great things happen to us this week. so we've been spending a lot of time this week with a less active member named Wally Dumas. Everyone up here is a Dumas ( we have this joke whenever we talk to him, we tell him to stop being such a Dumas) but anyways, we've gone fishing with him a lot this week and every time we go fishing with him we teach him a lesson. So we we're teaching him about the priesthood because we want him to baptize his cousin Noella (ill get to her later). He was just like, heck no bro. things are really strict and I don't want to have anything to do with it. So we talked a while and he started asking about what he needs to do to get the priesthood, so we went over word of wisdom, chastity, commandments, all that jazz, and he was just like, that's it? He started to talk to us about how he really wants to do better. So we spent the whole week with him, not all day but we saw him everyday, and he told us, that it was getting easier to say no to all the bad things his family and friends wanted him to do. He came to church Sunday and even gave up moose hunting to be there. Then he set up an appointment with the branch president right after church and they talked about some things he needed to do and he is really on track! It is so great. We're going fishing with him again today. I'm excited. So his cousin Noella Caribou has been investigating for a while and told me she really wants to get baptized, but just has to quit smoking. She says its hard cause she's been doing it since she was 10. but she's starting this program to help her get off and I made it a competition between her and Wally to see who can quit the longest. She has quite the story. A month or so ago, she jumped off a 5 story roof and shattered her leg and compressed her back, she was drunk and tried to commit suicide. But we've been working with her and she is doing so well. She even came to church this past week. So I'm going to get so fat up here. I've literally eaten bannock (fry bread) and fried fish 12 times this week. It's crazy. whatever. It's all good. I just remembered another crazy story from last week. so we were stopping by Wally's sisters place (everyone up here is related. its crazy) anyways, we walk up to the door and there is bloody handprint smeared on the door. So we're like what the? It turns out the night before some of her cousins broke in and attacked her boyfriend Jeremiah, and just about killed him. It was brutal, so this week we went over and helped him move some furniture, and he was pretty messed up. The inside of the apartment was a battle scene. The guys got caught and they are in jail for like 12 years or something. but he was talking to us for a bit. He still doesn't know why the heck they attacked him. I never thought on my mission I would be following around a native guy through the bush, up and down rocks and cliffs to find a monster fishing spot and catch some monster fish. I never thought I would be doing all the amazing stuff we do here either. I love this place so much. It's beautiful here and the people are the best. It's a totally different world up here. We get to have bonfires with investigators and do all sorts of stuff that the missionaries in the city don't get to. It's great. Well this week were going to Winnipeg on Thursday. The car ride is going to stink, but we will make it fun. love you all Elder Porter

Oct 6, 2014

Hey Everyone,

Flin  Flon is the greatest place in the world. I love it here so freakin much!! It’s away from everyone and all the mission drama. No sisters up here haha we have a blast and we work hard. We even got to go to a Flin Flon bombers game with some investigators and kids. It was so much fun. In Flin Flon all the kids here just run around wild and they all know us so when we walk down the street we end up walking with a bunch of kids surrounding us. It’s really cool, and since everyone is related we just end up teaching everyones family. It’s great.

So the bus ride up here was so ridiculous. Our bus left at 8 pm and we got there at about 745, and had to get our bags checked. So they ended up being too heavy so we had to go down and ship them by freight. so that happened. We sent the Elders who dropped Elder Glissmeyer and I off to send our bags off. So we went through security and were sitting on the bus. We felt like we should just go and check to see if our bags were good to go, so we went with a security guard and the other elders had our bags on a rack to send to Vancouver B.C. so they almost got shipped a few provinces over. so that stunk. We barely got them on the bus, and we delayed the bus like 20 minutes. Anyways, the bus driver played mail man all night dropping mail and packages off in every podunk town along the way, so what was supposed to be a 12 hour bus ride turned into a 15 and a half hour bus ride. It was fun though. Very beautiful when the sun came up.

So it is already snowing up here. its -4 and snow is on the ground. We're going fishing today so that should be super fun. 

I loved conference. I loved all the talks that just talked about straight simple doctrine, especially the ones about Jesus Christ. We had 4 investigators at sacrament and it was great. What a good experience. 

So I’m in another walking area. It’s all good, I love being out in the community. ugh I’m going to get so fat eating all this bannock (fry bread). Anyways I love you all!

Elder Porter

Sept 29, 2014

Hey Everyone,

It sure sounds like mom and the girls all had a bunch of fun going to Utah to the women’s broadcast! I have that long of a bus ride up to Flin Flon. I found out it is about 13 hours with a couple stops. its going to be nuts. I cant believe it is actually happening!!! I don’t get to be companions with Elder Olguin, but we will be staying in the same apartment, so it’s almsot as good!! I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures up there. Did you look it up on google earth?? It is a beautiful place. It is a rougher place, but it will be great.

A lot happened this week, but it was really just the same old stuff. There was a ton of crime going on this week downtown and somehow I always end up involved in it. I don’t feel like writing out the stories, but I stayed safe, you all know I can handle my own haha.

I leave on Thursday to Flin Flon though. I think I will be traveling over night and get there closer to 4 am or something stupid like that haha. I got to bear my testimony this week, and a lot of people invited us to dinner. We haven’t had this many dinner appointments, ever! It’s crazy. I’m gonna miss this place, but it is the perfect time to go.

Thanks for everything! I sure love you all!

Elder Porter

9-22-2014

Hey Everyone, 

So this week was great! We went into Winnipeg for a training and Elder Olguin stayed with me. We made our comps go together and we went and visited Rosemary! She is the best. It was really nice to go and see her together, just like old times. Elder Olguin and I have been requesting to serve together again and President Thomas said he is going to pray about it and we have both been praying and fasting. I think its going to happen.

So I had to teach sharing time this week as well. haha I did it on the Holy Ghost, we played the telephone game and simon says, it was out of control but turned out good in the end. It was super cute, all the latino kids love me. During singing time I had one kid on my shoulders and another little girl sitting on my right knee. it was super funny cause she was just like "your my bro, will you sit by me at the potluck?" it was a fun day!

I had to call the cops a couple times this week. It was definitely an interesting one.

We sang at church this week. The Bishops wife thinks we're super stars and makes us sing in sacrament like twice a month. It’s kinda ridiculous.

We taught some less actives this week and one of the guys we are working with is finally getting married! It will be so good. 

We are working hard, time is going by really fast. I’m loving it. Love you all

Elder Porter

Leaves are already changing

By a dumpster

what to do on p-day.......

9-15-2014

Hey Everyone, 

This week was good. We had some good lessons and service opportunities. I was called on to be a body guard at the soup kitchen and guard the door cause there were so many people just stealing the trays and plates, so I had to stand at the door and rough some people up. haha

So we got a referral from an investigator that we found a while back. They asked us to go and visit their brother. So we got the address and went to the place. So we past by this tent of really drunk guys who just yelled at us, and it was apartment number three, so the only other door I saw was the one up on the fire escape. So I climbed it, it was super sketchy and a couple of the steps broke, but I needed to knock on the door, haha so I knocked on the door and this chick comes out and dry heaved right in my face. It was sick!! I thought she was going to throw up on me. Long story short, they wondered why the heck I climbed the fire escape. So we went through the front and taught them a bit about prayer, but the husband hated mormons and didn’t want us to be there so we just prayed with them and left. fun stuff haha.

We played croquet this week for mutual. It was super fun.

We get to go into Winnipeg tonight for a special training meeting and Elder Olguin is coming down from Flin Flon and we're going to stay together tonight. So pretty much we're not going to sleep at all really. I’m really excited about it.

Anyways, things are going good. I didnt take any pics this week so sorry. haha not too many exciting things. 

Love you all

Elder Porter