In the summer time

Hey, all!

By the way, if anyone got the song reference in the subject line, kudos to you.  I heard it the other day in a taxi and it made me extra happy.

So, transfers happened this last week.  All the elders in my district left me alone in Petrovsky.  Luckily they were replaced!  My new companion is Elder Harvey.  I was really excited to find out I would be serving with him.  He's one of those likable guys that you like having around but you're pretty sure that you will never get the chance to serve with.  But I do!  We hit it off right away.  He's from Glendale, AZ and he's just a few months away from finishing his mission.  He's a great guy.  

The other elder's apartment is now filled with Elder Russo who is training Elder Samuelson.  It's weird to think that both Russo and Samuelson have been out for almost a year less than me.  Oh, by the way, I am District Leader again.  It'll be good, we've got a good district.  For some reason, though, a lot of members and people all thought that I was supposed to have left already, so all of yesterday I got people coming up to me saying "Elder Porter?!  You're already so old here, why aren't you gone too?"  Or something of the sort. Whatever, I love Petrovsky.

Harvey and I decided to do a lot of calls yesterday, with some interesting results.  Most people just told us that they're at the sea for the summer and to stop calling them.  One called me by name and said she wants me to come help her son.  But she was so vague and so old that for the life of me I couldn't figure out what she was talking about.  You know that point where you understand each word that a person says, but you still have no idea where they're coming from?  Welcome to talking to babushki.  Oh, and one lady tried really hard to flirt with Elder Harvey -it was hilarious.

Overall it's been a pretty quiet week.  We did have one funny meeting with a member this week.  The story of why Mama C- now probably hates me.  She invited us over for a lesson and fed us a full course meal that we weren't expecting.  We had just eaten, so we were cramming more than we could actually fit.  Then she says, "I've got a special recipe here- chicken in oatmeal!"  Now, any of you that know my eating preferences, specifically with breakfast, will know what is inevitably coming.  I decided to be a good little missionary and eat up the oatmeal.  But I was straining on every bite, as it voluntarily wanted to spew back out of my mouth.  I tried hiding my strain, but Mama C saw it and told me I didn't have to eat if I don't like it.  I told her I'm fine and kept eating.  Further grimacing and we had the same exchange a few more times.  No, I'll finish it, I'll finish it..  Finally she snatches up my plate and throws its contents into the trash can, and stomps out of the room.  Now every time she sees me she just shakes her head in slight disappointment.  Lady, I wasn't hungry!  Oh well.  The only man who never disappointed anyone was never born, right?  Live and learn.

Well, until next week!

With love,

Elder Brandon Porter

Walking around the hot, green landscape . . .

From 7/9/12:

Family,

Well, it's mid-summer!  That's pretty cool.  I've been thinking the last week, walking around the hot, green landscape, about how bitter cold and grey it was here just a few short months ago.  Ukrainians definitely live it up while they can in these hot months.  Going to cooler vacation spots and dressing according to the weather is what they're all about.  Thankfully, though, it has been so much better thus far this summer heat-wise than last summer (which I was here for... weird).

This week has been pretty good.  I had one.. interesting lesson with a man named R.  We have tried setting up with this man who was a former investigator and he finally shows up on Wednesday.  He's an older man with a Beethoven-style grey fro going.  And he told us that he doesn't speak Russian very well, even though he has lived in Donetsk his whole life.  So this led to one of the strangest lessons I've ever been in, just in that he spoke Ukrainian the entire time as we spoke Russian.  At first it was a cool challenge, realizing that I could understand him just fine even though I don't speak Ukrainian.  But it grew annoying, since we really just wanted to share the gospel message with him, but we had an awkward language barrier that he was putting up.  By the way, it's totally ridiculous that anyone could live in Donetsk and not speak Russian.  No one speaks Ukrainian unless they want to be extra official.  Whatever, I just hope that he got something out of the meeting.

Saturday was an interesting day too.  This week we were somehow roped into doing the rest of the yard work for the church grounds all by ourselves again.  It just got kind of pawned off on us.  Oh well, weed whacking is fun I guess.  That afternoon there was a baptism for a twelve year old girl who's been meeting with the sisters. That was cool to see that finally happen.  I spent most of that time talking with an old man named P who was content sitting back and complaining about how the church hymns just sound like a bunch of noise to him.

In light of more personal achievements, we had a District Meeting with our Zone Leaders and some prospective missionaries, and our District Leader Elder Coakwell asked me to perform a musical number.  So I prepared my own rendition of "If You Could Hie To Kolob" on the guitar.  It always feels so good to share music with others.  That was kind of my "me" moment of the week.

Transfer calls went out this week.  I'm the only elder staying in the Petrovsky district.  Rooney, Coakwell and Hardy are all heading out.  It's too bad- I've enjoyed our time together a lot.  But all good things must give way to something else, right?  And I'm sure the next group will be a good one too.

Anyways, I love you all.  Continue having a fantastic summer!  Girls, enjoy Girls Camp.  Dad and Joseph, whatever you do, do it freely and manly.  

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

The Gospel is straight from God. Everything else is subject to fallibility

From 7/2/12:

Dear Family,

While you are all in Arizona I am here in Ukraine.  Let's just pause and ponder that for a moment...  Alright, pondering done!

Well, it's been a pretty quiet week.  Not a whole lot I can say about it.  It was a four day weekend here for some random Ukrainian reason, so missionary work has been slow.  Pretty much everyone and their dog was out on the sea vacationing.  We spend a lot of time walking around trying to find people.  

One thing that did happen this week was that we missionaries cleaned up the entire grounds of the church.  If you look at the previous paragraph, you will know why no one else nor their dogs would volunteer to help us.  That's okay, though.  I got plenty of self ponder time.  My main job was pulling weeds.  After about the 200th weed, I had developed a list of ways that weeds relate to the Atonement and overcoming sin.  Did you know that the root of practically every weed is exactly the same purple, ugly stick that just roots straight into the ground and just sucks the nutrients out of the soil?  You can well imagine the conversations I had going down in my head.  Yes, conversations.  We were doing service for a long time.

On Saturday we had to do a mini split to make sure that our lessons and the other missionaries' lessons were all covered.  When I got back to the church from a lesson with an awesome man named B, I found my companion and his split-comp talking with a less active woman named T.  I waited as they finished and later asked why it looked so intense when I walked up.  She had unloaded all of her issues she had against the church.  Her main thing was that the people in the branch are not nearly as fun as the ones in the church she goes to now.  And the people are more judgmental, she said.  There were other things, but that's what it came down to.  I was actually kind of sad that I wasn't on that lesson.  The whole reliance on the social side of the church is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I hear all the time that someone is a member just because the people are so kind to them, or on the other hand that they no longer come because people were mean.  They're all just missing the point- if this is God's true Church on the Earth, does it matter what people do around you?  Truth is truth.  If I was the only person on the Earth that knew about the fulness of the Gospel and had the Book of Mormon, I would die with a firm knowledge that it is true even though no one else knows.  There are countless examples of people that do just that in the scriptures.  Abish.  Abinadi.  Even Elijah (I just read about him this morning) when he was up against 450 priests of Baal, and he was LITERALLY the last man in the House of Israel that continued to follow the true and living God.  1 Kings 18.  It's a good chapter.  I just really want to get everyone to understand that one thing- the Gospel is straight from God.  Everything else is subject to fallibility.  

Anyways, that's my thoughts in a nutshell on this week.  Me and my companion are having a great time here in Petrovsky.  Kicking butt and taking names.  Well, at least taking names.  Enjoy your Summer!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

Carbon monoxide and rainstorms

Dear Family,

What's up?  Glad to hear it.

So, this week has been pretty interesting to say the least.  On Wednesday our carbon monoxide detector went off in our apartment.  We're not really sure what the deal was.  We cleaned it off and did everything we could think of to minimize the threat, but the dang thing just kept going off.  It totally freaked out Elder Rooney.  Long story short, we've been living over at the other elders' apartment for about the last week.  That's been fun, but I am very excited to get back to my apartment and not be cramped up in their tiny apartment.  

In other excitement from this week, I witnessed probably the craziest rainstorm I have ever seen in my life on Friday.  Elder Rooney and I went out to find a less active lady and on the way back we noticed that the sky was a deep shade of green.  Humidity mixed with increasing winds and rain started up.  We found a trolley bus and got on just in time to avoid the craziness of the storm.  Rain whipping around like nobody's business, lightning like crazy and trees being blown apart.  The trolley bus stopped because a tree had crashed down on its power line further up the line.  We just waited it out for 40 minutes then walked through the wreckage.  It was awesome!  I got some fun pictures of that.  Luckily, I think that most people were safe. 

 

This is our district, soaked after a crazy rainstorm.

We have continued meeting with R and he has really good questions.  He thinks so deeply about the doctrine and really tries to internalize it.  I was really proud of one answer I gave to him.  I'll try to relate it to you.  He asked how God can be a just and fair judge if he loves us.  He drew up a diagram of a courtroom with God the Father as the judge, Jesus as the advocate and Satan as the prosecutor (not completely accurate, granted, but not important for his question).  His point was that God shares sympathies with Jesus and us, so how can he be completely fair?  Can't he just repeal the very laws that he set?  I answered with relating it to the story of Daniel and the lion's den.  Just to recap, Daniel gets all buddy buddy with the king and even makes it up to being his right hand man.  Then corrupt men convince the king to make a law that makes it illegal to pray to any man or god but the king.  These same corrupt men catch Daniel in the act of praying and take him to the king demanding justice.  Now King Darius is in a bind.  He loves Daniel and wants only the best for him, but the he had violated the law.  True, he could repeal the law then and there, but that would not change the fact that Daniel had gone against the law.  The only just thing would be to punish him according to the law- no more, no less.  Relating this to God, God will not punish us beyond what He has to because He loves us.  But He will dish out punishment as is required of the laws set in place.  R was pretty blown away and said, "Wow, good answer.."  That's probably one of the best compliments I've gotten my whole mission.  I hope that soon R can be satisfied with his current knowledge and accept to be baptized.

Life has been pretty good.  I've been sleeping on a couch for a week, but that's okay.  My pre-mission life prepared me for just such events.  Oh, and Rooney and Hardy in my district are going to Armenia this week, so I'm going to be temporary companions with Elder Coakwell.  Yeah!  I'm actually pretty excited, he's a good guy.  And we will get to run two areas at the same time.  Multitask, go!  

One last comment- Rooney and I have gotten really good at scheduling multiple lessons for the same time.  A couple days this week we have had four or so people planned to meet with us at the church building at 7 PM.  By the time 7 PM rolls around, enough people have cancelled or just not shown up that we get just one lesson in.  So far it hasn't come back to bite us, so that's good, right?

Thank you for listening/reading.  Enjoy your American Summer, everyone. 

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

Below:  I found the Beatles!

 Me and G - I love that guy!

Me with my district from Lugansk

Be careful what you wish for- you just might get it!

Hey all!

Well, this has been a pretty great week missionary-wise.  I'll start with the sad news and work my way up, so as to leave you all with good warm feelings at the end of the message.

Elder Hales is getting transferred this week.  This took us all by surprise.  He and I were absolutely sure that we were going to get to serve another one together, especially since we've been together in a threesome, which is totally different than working in a twosome.  I'm still holding out for a transfer with him in the future.  Elder Rooney will be staying with me, which is kind of funny since he was supposed to have left a month and a half ago.  Oh, craziness.  You probably don't appreciate how largely these changes impact my life.  Doesn't matter.  When I get home I won't care about that either.  Anyways.

As you know, we now hold English Conversation Nights here.  I had a pleasant surprise this last week when someone brought a guitar with them.  His name is T, and he looks like Justin Timberlake.  We talked for a bit about music, then he said, "Alright, you want to try it out. Let's go."  So we went to the next room and jammed for a bit.  People were in and out listening and singing along with us.  Moments like that so awesome.  I love jamming.  Little tender mercy for me!

We had a great lesson the other day, too.  It was with a man named R; 24 years old with a wife and small child.  He had a lot of deep questions for us about the nature of God, and he agreed to let us start our discussion off with telling him about where our message comes from, aka the Restoration.  It was the most powerful I have ever seen the Restoration story impact anyone since I've gotten to Ukraine.  He was utterly blown away by it and further surprised that we wanted to give him our book for free.  His final question was that he saw a brochure of ours that asked "Can my family live together forever?" and he asked what the answer is to that question.  We told him yes, of course.  He got really excited and told us that he's going to bring his wife the next time he comes.  All in all, great lesson.

The last little miracle of the week was during contacting.  Just before we went out contacting, Elder Coakwell (on split) grabbed a bunch of brochures to hand out.  During my prayer to leave the apartment, I asked for us to be able to find someone who will read that brochure, read through the Book of Mormon, and get baptized.  When Elder Coakwell got down to his last 5, he handed it to a man that stopped in his tracks and read the brochure in its entirety.  He then looked up and said, "When was Jesus on the American continent?"  So we gave a first lesson right there on the street and he gratefully took a Book of Mormon, excited to learn more.  We have yet to find out if the rest of my prayer will be answered, but I feel like it will.  Be careful what you wish for- you just might get it!

That's my week in a nutshell.  I hope you enjoyed your week concurrent to mine.  I love you all and I will talk to you again next week.  Same time, same place.

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

"Made me feel like I'm actually making a difference!"

Family,

First off, Happy Mothers Day!  Woot!  I hope you're all treating Mom very well for me this week.  Not that you shouldn't be nice the rest of the year... but right now especially!

I'm going to be talking to you all this next Thursday, so this email will be slightly shorter than usual.  I just wanted to relate a little bit of an experience from yesterday.

We had a District Conference this last Sunday.  There's a new Eastern European President, and he's touring around a bit to get to know the missions he's over, and this Conference was all of the branches under the Donetsk District coming together.  This was such an amazing experience.  If you didn't already know, all of the branches that I've served in fall under this district, so I got to see literally every member of the church that I've ever been around in the Ukraine.  It's so nice to go and talk to people I met while in the Office and find that they have some sort of good memories from my serving with them, which shows me that I succeeded in balancing my time between Office work and missionary work well.  It was awesome to see Lugansk there too. Just in the four months since I left, there's some visible growth in the members.  Z, one of the youth, seems like she's grown up a bit in maturity, and the new branch president is doing well.  

The person I was most excited to see was H, the Nigerian member in Lugansk.  He found me and gave me a big hug.  He told me that when I left he had gotten all prepared to just be forgotten by me since I was no longer serving around him, but that when I sent him that English hymnbook he felt like he had a real friendship with me.  I talked with him a bit and found out that his plan is to start up a medical practice over in Germany when he graduates, which will be just after I leave next year.  He's studying German now.  In Ukraine. Go figure.  I definitely am going to be life friends with Gabriel.  And I got really excited to find out he'll be in Germany.  We discussed plans of visiting him when he's settled there.  I'm excited!

So yeah, good weekend there.  I got very pumped up seeing everyone.  Made me feel like I'm actually making a difference!  Yay!  

Well, that's my big thing this week.  We'll talk more this Thursday.  Can't wait!

Love,

Elder Brandon Scott Porter, the first

A week of miracles!

Hey all,

So this has been a week of miracles.  Specifically Thursday.  Honestly, I can't think of anything else at the moment that was more memorable than Thursday.  There was just a string of events that dominoed one right into the next.  We started our day with being yelled at for singing hymns on the streets.  That part wasn't so miraculous.  But after a day on the streets, we had a lesson in the evening with S and J.  They enjoy speaking English with us, and we weren't exactly sure what their spiritual progression was like.  We had an amazingly spiritual lesson about the Plan of Salvation that they just ate up like "Yeah!  This makes so much sense.. THAT'S what happened!"  Kind of that deal.  Pretty awesome.  We're going to invite them to be baptized this next week.  After the lesson S invited to drive us home.  We were going to say no because we had another half hour to walk the streets and find people, but we decided that we should give S the opportunity to do service for us.  We were grateful, he's an awesome guy.  But it only took about two minutes to get home, so we decided to make some rounds near our home before heading in.  The first people we stop turns out to be a young family that was extremely interested in the Book of Mormon and wants to meet sometime to discuss.  They were way cool to talk to.  Then continuing on, the next guy was a Christian wanting to discuss the doctrine sometime- and he lives in our building!  We were on a roll.  I mean, in case you didn't know, we spend obscene amounts of time trying to find people with absolutely no avail most days.  This was miraculous all in itself.  But then we ran across Paul.

Did I tell you about R already?  He had met with missionaries before, so we decided to call him up.  He was amazing!  He's got a crazy story, involving getting framed for fraud and getting sent to jail for eight years.  Crazy stuff.  We found him on the street as soon as we left the last contact.  He was a little drunk and just kept repeating "I always see you guys at these times.. Always.."  Pretty much, he's seen missionaries at every extremely tough time in his life apparently.  Tonight he was in a mess where he owes 50,000 dollars to a very powerful man here, and he was freaking out.  We could do nothing but comfort him, but that was more than enough.  He was so thankful when we said a prayer with him and walked him home, he said it felt like everything was going to be okay now.  So awesome.

That was pretty cool.  Besides that..  Did I tell you that I'm District Leader here?  It's pretty interesting/humbling to be in charge of missionaries' spiritual and physical well-being.  I've been trying to incorporate the whole idea of Socratic teaching into our meetings.  The best teacher is yourself, right?  And as part of that DL duty, I get to interview this girl, K, for baptism tonight.  I'm so pumped for that!  From what I can tell, she is super ready, so I don't envision any problems coming from that.  

English groups got started up again, by the way.  They are great!  We just sit for an hour and a half with kids that want better English and chat.  It's great!  And more often than not, the conversation inevitably turns to why we're here as missionaries.  They actually WANT to know!  If you can't tell, I'm super pumped about that.  Every Friday at 7!  Also along with that, we have enough youth here in Petrovsky to have a successful youth night!  Like Mutual. I think I underestimated the power of a strong youth foundation at church before.  It really adds life to the branch.  Compared to Lugansk where pretty much all of the youth left this last year for school or marriage or whatnot.  It's nice here, in short.

So, I'm loving Petrovsky.  It's a great place and, like everywhere else, it has great people in it.  Life's good. Not to mention having two awesome Elders as simultaneous companions.  Life is gooooood.  Anyways, I love you all!

Til next week

Elder Brandon Porter

Petrovsky is awesome!

Hey all,

First, I have to say that Petrovsky is probably the best functioning branch in the mission.  Oh wow, it actually took me by surprise.  I thought that Center Donetsk was doing well, but this one's amazing.  There is a ton of active youth here and all of the members seem to pull their weight in their callings.  Amazing.

So, my transfer with Elder Keith Perry ended this week.  Dang.  He was probably the closest I've come to having a companion that I could relate to on practically every level.  We had a good time.  But the good times are not over.  I was sent to Elder Hales over in Petrovsky, as I already said last week.  He's a great example in how he decided to come back out on the mission after having been given the option of ending his mission honorably due to medical problems.  Plus we can discuss movies and music like none other, and common ground is priceless on the mission.  He and I were already pretty good friends due to dealing with his medical issues while I was in the Office.  But it gets even better- we are in a threesome with his previous companion, Elder Rooney.  One of the funniest kids I know.  Threesomes are lots of fun.  The load is lessened for everyone and it's a lot easier to keep the mood light and it's even easier to talk to people.  Having a three person blitz while walking down the road is a lot more likely to get a real conversation than just two people going at it.  It's great.  Rooney is waiting for his companion  to get back from America after medical leave (which is unconfirmed as to whether he'll even come back, so Rooney may be with us all transfer.. we'll see).

One of the craziest things to me is that suddenly I am about the oldest missionary in my district, in terms of time on the mission.  I went from youngest to oldest.  Elder Hales is in his fourth transfer, and the other elders here are Coakwell, who is training, and Withers, who is the trainee.  I'm in my seventh, which makes my time on the mission almost more than all of their combined.  So weird.  Along with all this, I have been assigned to be District Leader here.  I don't know, I guess that's probably a lot weirder to me than I can convey here.  For those of you that don't know, that means that I am in charge of the missionaries in our district, so I lead our meetings, interview the investigators for baptism, and I talk with the branch council about what help we can provide them.  I'm determined to be a good leader here.  I think I'm off to a good start, so that's good.

Being here has shown me that my Russian is way better than I had thought.  We had a couple experiences already the last couple of days that were just kind of crazy.  One was yesterday.  We passed a group of drunken older men who motioned for us to come over.  One of them started talking to Elder Rooney about the church, trying to mock him in his words, and the other four took me aside and started barraging me with questions.  One was totally hammered, waving his cigarette in my face and yelling (in English) "My name is.. my name!"  It was.. interesting.  Each of them were totally ridiculing us in every way they could think of without getting violent.  To be totally honest, I was ticked.  They were sitting there blowing cigarette smoke in our faces and calling us foul names and just bagging on the Church and our calling.  But my mind went back to the quiet dignity of Christ when people ridiculed Him.  He didn't deserve any of that, but he was calm and collected as he responded.  I mimicked this method as best as I could, not getting outright mad or anything.  Finally the one with the moustached face softened and he started apologizing, telling me how they were all just drunk and they're not really like this and how he'd love to talk some other time sober.  I wasn't able to get his number since another drunkard then booted me away, but that was a pretty cool change there.  All through the experience they kept asking me where I was from.  I kept telling them "America" and they were like, "No really, what city?  Donetsk?  Kharkov?.."  They couldn't grasp that I wasn't Russian.  I guess that's a gift that I've been given here.  Lots of people assume that I'm Russian.  Hey, I'll take that over being called a stupid American any day.

The other experience this week came just a few minutes afterwards, actually.  We were soon after stopped by a man with a greased back rat of hair carrying a bunch of bags.  He tells us that he talked with President Campero the other day and that we have to help him.  He won't tell us what he needs help with, but he is very insistent so we take him to the church building to meet.  Immediately he pulls out his bags and has us look at each of his books to tell him if there are any mistakes.  They're all dictionaries from English to Russian, and they are terrible translations.  Super sketchy guy, he continues to tell us that his sister is a member of the mafia and he got caught in a meth house and the mafia stole his passport and the police won't do anything.  Somehow he figures that we can send one email to them and all will be well.. Um, no.  Long story short, he doesn't want the Gospel, he wants political freedom.  But I was amazed at how I was able to hold my own in that meeting.  I was like "hmm.. maybe I do know Russian!"  Good times.

Well, I'm out of time now, but I'd just like to say I love you all!  I'm doing great out here, don't you worry. 

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

It's a good thing the Spirit does the teaching

Family!

Hey, how's it going?  Thank you for all of the love in email and letter form that I've been getting.  I love reading all that's going on in your lives.

The biggest things that have happened this week, in order:

1.  Our investigators, L and H (roommates) both committed to baptism this week!  It was an amazing lesson that led to it.  L has had a complete turn around that I am just in awe over.  He is so ready for baptism.  And H is getting there, he has time.  Great guys.  By the way, L is a musician and a photographer!  I have been in my element talking with him.

2.  Elder Smith is getting transferred.  On Thursday he'll be gone and I'll have a new comp in the office.  This transfer has been the fastest of my life, it's insane.  I'm really kind of sad that it's ending.  We've been getting along really well.  Oh well, we have the rest of the mission and college to be around each other.

3.  I made chili.  With chicken nuggets.  No, I could not find ground beef on short notice.  Sadly, there are physical repercussions to eating a pot of chili..

4.  Elder Antamanov also received a transfer call, I forgot to say.  It's too bad he's leaving me again.  But I have a feeling that he and I will serve in the same district again before the mission is over.  I love that guy a lot, he's awesome.

With it getting warmer,we are having some more success in finding people.  Yesterday morning we got 3 numbers!  That's three more than we've gotten all winter!  So that's pretty cool.  And, Dad, you're right, it is often harder to convince people that they've found the truth than to find them to begin with.  Thing is, I feel like I don't ever convince people.  It's either they've been prepared or they aren't, no matter how hard I try. It's a good thing the Spirit does the teaching.

That's about it for this week.. This was a really fast week.  For this week, I'm really excited for Wednesday.  That's when the new greenies come in- and I will get to introduce them first to Donetsk and show them around a bit!  That's a weird round-about moment in the mission.  It reminds me that I actually have been here a while.  Basically, I'm just excited to see some new kids and send them off.

I really can't think of anything else for this week, wow.. Well, then that'll be all for this week.  I love y'all and I can't wait to have more news to tell you soon!  

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

In response to questions about his current branch and how it is that someone is cooking for the office elders:

Answers to your questions:

My current branch is pretty good.  It's probably the most functional branch in the mission.  They actually can run pretty well without missionary intervention, which is a very good break.  Much stronger in terms of members than in Lugansk.  And they have a real church building!  So basically, my only role here is to be a missionary.  Yes!

Sister M cooks for those of us in the office, namely APs and office elders.  She really needs the money, so we're glad to oblige by paying her to cook.  Because it's her main income, she cooks and cleans for us every day, cooking mostly just on Mon, Wed and Fri.  She cooks enough on those days so we have leftovers until she cooks again.  According to that plan, we don't ever have time to cook besides breakfast, but sometimes the APs overeat and we have to cook for ourselves.  It's a good mix.

The cold is finally subsiding!

Family,

Well, the cold is finally subsiding.  That is a very good thing.  It's staying consistently at right around 0 degrees Celsius, and it probably won't get much colder the rest of the season.  We survived!  I feel like a war veteran talking about it.  It wasn't that bad.  But it was pretty dang cold. 

Along with the change in weather has come a flooding of Ukraine.  With water, in case you didn't catch.  With all of that snow built up, and the drainage systems in the city aren't that great, all the roads are pretty swamped right now.  Oh, Ukraine.  You can't make up your mind, can you?

Besides all of that, not a whole lot has happened this week.  For most of it my companion was sick.  So while he was sleeping I would set up lessons or read or watch church movies.  None of those are terribly exciting, but I kept from being bored.  We did manage one great lesson with L, though.  I don't remember if I told you about him.  He's a Nigerian, here for electrical engineering education.  Up to now he hasn't been all that serious about all this, kind of beating around the bush.  But this last Wednesday we went over there and he had completely changed.  He was more at peace with himself and the world, and he had been reading from the Book of Mormon.  And he had questions about his reading!  He asked about spiritual gifts and how he can receive them.  The discussion drifted from that to the power of the Priesthood to the baptismal commitment.  He said he had to think about it, but then went on to share his convictions of how what we tell him is true and how great the message makes him feel.  Great guy.  And a musician too!  We talk a lot about that.

On the complete other side, we had one investigator straight up tell us this week that his life goal was to earn a million dollars then commit suicide and leave the money to his family.  That lesson did not go how we planned.  Luckily, with a Ukrainian paycheck, he's not likely to earn a million dollars any time soon.

I had a surreal missionary moment today.  I found out that the leadership in Lugansk (my last area) was changed yesterday, and I called up the senior couple over there and discussed the changes and how certain people and their needs will be accounted for and how each person will fulfill their callings.  Then I realized- I'm not even assigned to Lugansk anymore.  I never really thought that I would care that much about an area that I'm not even serving in.   I guess it surprises me how much I actually care.  Interesting.

Really not a whole lot has happened besides that.  I'm still in Ukraine.  Surprise!  Well, I think that'll be about good for this week.  Not much to add.

I love you all!  Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter


One more thought from one of the letters addressed to family members:
I'm glad you appreciated my thoughts on the Armenia trip.  It was a great experience.  I thought it was great how effective and useful I was actually able to be.  A lot of times out here in Ukraine, we all feel like we're spinning our wheels, digging a hole with a spoon, or choose your favorite metaphor for feeling useless and repetitive.  I've had a lot of talks with Elder Smith about that recently actually.  Being here, we have to be ready to do great things, and at the same time be ready to have absolutely no results.  It's interesting.  I love my mission, but I won't lie, it is pretty difficult.

That's the beauty of the Gospel. It'll go forth boldly, nobly, and independent.

Elder Porter's letter - 2/20/12

Family!

So, as you already know, half of this week I was in Armenia.  That was an amazing experience for me.  I already told you about the first day with that lesson with T.  That was probably the highlight of the trip, missionary-wise.  I loved how I could come, knowing Russian, and just converse with practically anyone I wanted in Russian.  The missionaries I was with, Elders Fry and Watterson, thought I was pretty cool for being able to hold complete conversations with all these people and seem completely at ease.  And they were way cool too, we became pretty tight friends in those three days.  But yeah, walking around, if we stopped and talked to anyone, I would just jump in in Russian and see where it could take us.  Many of them were just thrilled to be able to converse in Russian, since many of them were raised speaking mostly Russian (they, too, were under the Soviet Union).  I also got to go ice skating...in Armenia!  How many people can say that?  In a suit, no less!  Speaking Russian!  Yeah, so the trip really boosted my confidence in my language abilities, actually.  Seeing as I could converse with the people and not even take a thought as to what words I should use, I'd say that was pretty good.  Great refresher before getting back to the grind.

I was very surprised to get back to my mission and see the reaction of other missionaries to my stories about Armenia.  Most seemed to pity me in some weird way or be like, "Man, I really hope that I don't get sent there on MY visa trip!"  Apparently Bulgaria (the place they usually send missionaries to renew their Visas) turns into a party for many elders, since it is a very European city and all. They get there and just get cut loose and told to go have fun, telling them just to be sure to be on the plane home to Donetsk.  And it doesn't help that that mission is one of the most lax in all of Eastern Europe.  So many missionaries use that as a time to just party like crazy since they're "not missionaries" while they're there.  But they always get back super depressed that the trip is over. I don't know, I don't want to rag on their fun time, but I felt like I had the best of both worlds.  I got to help out in the work in another country, make new friends, eat new food, and just have fun with other missionaries in a totally appropriate way. I absolutely loved the experience, I don't care what others think about it.  

Since I've gotten back not a whole lot has happened.  We had some amazing lessons with people.  We set up a lesson with a Nigerian named L, and the lesson turned into a little party with a bunch of black guys in the hostel (i.e. a crappy dorm) where we discussed our religion freely with all of them.  I love Nigerians.  

Oh, we had one really interesting lesson.  With another black man, of course.  This guy, Q, was on our past teaching records, so we called and got an appointment to meet this week.  We got there and found out that he was with his girlfriend, who was very white (not to be racist; it's part of the point I'm making).  She spoke absolutely no English.  He spoke a good amount of Russian.  So our lesson was in Russian. But the weird thing was that the girl said that she was from Donetsk all her life.. but she spoke Russian with such a weird accent and made all sorts of mistakes.  We actually are pretty sure that she was German or something.  So there's three of us, all speaking our second language with each other, each pretending like we are totally confident in what we are saying.  I don't know about you, but I thought that was a huge ironic moment.  Speaking of Russian, I thought you'd like to know that I still get mistaken for a Russian/Ukrainian a lot.  When I focus hard, I can be pretty convincing with my speech.  It's a fun way to break the ice a bit.

Well, what else has happened..  I don't know, lots of office stuff.  I'll think more about what to include next week.  

I love y'all!  Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

Here's a few thoughts Brandon shared with Dan in a separate letter:

Oh, yes.  Helping people on to the right path is our job... but most people are very resentful of it.  Really the best thing that we can do is to love everyone around us unconditionally, even those guys that cuss you out or don't give you the time of day.  It's really hard always, but being kind to someone else is the best way to soften their heart towards you.  And I'm pretty sure that that principle applies to more than just Ukrainians.

Thank you for your advice and encouragement.  Sometimes I don't feel like I could ever possibly do enough.. which is true.  But that's the beauty of the Gospel.  It'll go forth boldly, nobly, and independent.  I don't have to move it on my own, nor does anyone else.  I just have the opportunity to be a part of this Ukrainian mission part of it right now.  Thank you for your thoughts!

"They all think I'm native Russian and everything. Yes! Checking that off my bucket list."

Last Saturday we received a quick email from Brandon which said this:

Hey Family,

So, I have to send this email out early on account of the fact that my Armenia trip was pushed up to Monday, my P-Day.  I'll be leaving at 7:20 AM on Monday and returning at 10:40 PM on Wednesday.  It was actually kind of funny- since sending people on Visa trips is my personal office responsibility, I decided the other day to check in on the progress in getting my travel plans.  I asked the senior couple that was supposed to know and they were just like, ".. Are you sure you're going to Armenia?.."  That was a bit of a panic moment.  But it's all worked out now, at the last minute. Hence why we are going on Monday morning instead of Tuesday afternoon.  I'm excited!  I get to see.. somewhere else!  Yes! 
 
Sorry this is extra short today.  I've been a little bit scrambled trying to fit this into my schedule, since it's not P-Day and all.  Just know that I love you all and I'll tell you all about Armenia next week!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter


We were glad to hear from him before his Visa renewal trip, but we had so many questions about the trip . . .  how would he be traveling  - alone? with other missionaries?, where they he stay while in a different country, what would he do there, etc.  It was a real treat to get another letter from him today, answering a few of our questions.  

This is the letter we received today:

Hello from Armenia!

So, I sacrificed my P-Day in order to travel to Armenia, but once I got here I found out that their P-Day was on Tuesday, so I get to email anyways!  It's great how life works out that way.  I can have my cake AND eat it too!  Yes!

There's two of us elders who traveled from the Ukraine along with someone from the office who is in charge of making sure that we make it back smoothly.  It's a good time!  When we got into Armenia they dropped us off at missionary apartments, so I've been hanging out with some Armenian missionaries this week.  It's way cool, they're teaching me the Armenian alphabet and I'm blowing their minds with Russian grammar.  Incidentally, practically everyone in Armenia speaks Russian, so I am not lost whatsoever.  And I thought I had it bad with the mix of Russian and Ukrainian over in Donetsk- these poor missionaries are sent here having been taught Armenian, but then they come to find out that you have to have a basic knowledge of Russian in order to get by here at all.  Almost all their products and stores are only in Russian, it's weird.  I really like this place.

Last night when I got to my Armenian companionship we were able to go to a lesson with a less active member here.  His name was T.  He's this really smart guy that feels offended towards the church and the "infidelity" of its members as a whole.  And he spoke very good Russian.  He was beyond thrilled to have the chance to converse with me in Russian.  He actually assumed that I was Ukrainian by my face and accent, and it took some convincing to show him that I'm actually American.  His mom still doesn't believe it.  But I spent about half of the lesson just sitting back and enjoying the cookies and their heated conversation.  I couldn't understand the words, but their body language said enough to show that the missionaries and T were at great odds and they were really frustrated.  They asked me to testify.  But what started out as a simple testimony bearing turned into an insightful discussion with him over the implications of building our Zion first for ourselves (citing Mosiah 2:20-ish where everyone faces their tents toward the temple), and then strengthening one another.  I felt kind of bad that I had taken over the lesson and taught in Russian while the other missionaries had no idea what I was saying and all, but they were just grateful that something good had come out of the meeting.  Apparently he had been arguing that he wanted to find a way to deny Christ so he could become a Jew... Yeah, that's not happening as long as we have any testimony to bear.  But T really appreciated the conversation he and I had, and he complimented me emphatically for how smart he said I was and stuff.  Whatever, as long as his testimony is still intact, I'll take whatever of my attributes he attributes the good feelings to.  I sure hope he turns out okay.  Great guy.

It's funny, being here my Russian comes so easily.  I don't even have to think about it, it just flows out.  That really surprised me.  If you haven't caught, that's a pretty hard point to get to with Russian.  Here I've just been talking up a storm with these people, it's great.  They all think I'm native Russian and everything.  Yes!  Checking that off my bucket list.  The only time in the last 24 hours that I've been dissatisfied with my language is when the Kiev missionary is around.  He kind of assumes that I'm not up to par with it and translates everything to English for me, making me feel pretty stupid.  But, that's totally okay, because I'm enjoying life here!  I've gotten to talk to people, hang out with other missionaries that all think I'm really cool for being a Russian missionary, and I have gotten to go sightseeing a bit.  Good times.  This definitely is a vacation, it's amazing.

In being here, I've realized just how ghetto my mission really is.  The Kiev missionary that I flew here with has really no idea what Eastern Ukraine is really like.  No idea.  He's essentially in a completely different world from me.  I live in the Soviet Union.. posthumously.  That's the best way I can put that.  Armenia is close, except that everyone is really nice and the buildings don't look like they were pasted together with whatever was lying around, and they have American food and stores.  Other than that, it's exactly the same as Donetsk.

Well, I've got another 24 hours to spend here in Armenia, so I'm going to live it up missionary style out here some more.  Just know that I'm safe and in good hands.  I'm getting a much needed break.  I didn't know that I needed it so bad, but it feels SO good.  Doing missionary work where people actually want to have you around, and.. no, that's pretty much the main thing.  I'm loving this experience here.

I love you all!  Sorry for the confusion over the Visa trip.  It's got to be weird getting an email saying suddenly "and now I'm.. heading to Armenia!  Bye!"  That's all worked out now though. 

Well, until next week!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

"We had a couple of small miracles"

Family,

This has been kind of a crazy week.  I'm still not quite sure what to think of it.  I'll just start with the harder news first.  This week we had a lesson with a less active man named M.  He's this awesome English translator that is way funny and weighs like 350 pounds.  On Thursday we had a lesson set up with him at his home.  When we got to his apartment it was very strange, because he wasn't answering the domaphone (like a doorbell that lets people into the apartment), so we had to call his neighbor and have them let us in.  When we got up to his door, M was at the door, with droopy eyes and snoring heavily.  He immediately staggered into the apartment and collapsed on the couch, snoring even more loudly.  Looking around, we realized that something was way wrong:  There was a pile of used cigarettes, a large pot of black tea, and then 5 bottles of heart medication spread throughout the apartment.  We realized pretty soon that he had overdosed on heart medication, probably after having raised his heart rate from the tea and junk.  It was so sad. There was vomit all over the floor, and this grown man was just laying there, unable to form a coherent sentence through his snores.  We called an ambulance for him and waited.

Luckily, we had a member with us who was able to speak freely with the nurses that showed up.  It was way sketchy how they treated M. That's a different story in itself.  Basically, in the end they told us that the stuff they had injected into him was going to make him better and there was no need to take him to the hospital, so they left.  We left that night, weirded out enough as it was.  Then the next afternoon we found out that he had died in the night.  I had absolutely no idea what to think about that.  I still don't really.  We were the last people that M saw before passing on.  That scene is burned into my memory forever.  So that was pretty definitely the low point of the week.  Don't worry, I'm fine now.  It was just one of those moments.

Oddly enough, the rest of the week has been fantastic.  Just after we found out that news, we had a couple small miracles.  First, someone stopped us and asked us if he could come to church with us, then someone called us from a brochure that we had handed out (which never happens), and we also had some fantastically spiritual lessons that we had with investigators. 

Two of these lessons especially stand out; S and Z.  S is a Ukrainian that is fluent in English, Spanish and probably a bunch more languages.  We immediately hit it off, conversing a little bit in Spanish (even though mine is heavily tainted with Russian), and had some good discussion on books and stuff.  In the past she apparently hasn't been extremely interested in our message, mostly just wanting English practice from us.  But this time, after the pleasantries, we delved deep into a spiritual discussion about how the Apostasy happened and the importance of a living prophet today.  She couldn't deny it and we could tell that she knew it was true, but she is still at the point where she is scared that it really could be true, so she is going to need some time to let it sink in.  But she is very ready for this, and she will be an awesome member, I can see it.

The other one was Z.  He's Nigerian, which instantly makes him awesome.  We watched Tad R. Callister's talk from last conference about the Book of Mormon (GREAT talk!) and he drank it all in.  His questions were very well considered and betrayed a definite spiritual depth there.  A good amount of the discussion was about how the Bible says that no one may add or take away from these words (Rev. 22-ish), which is always interesting to talk about.  He totally blew us out of the water when we asked him what he thought about all of this, and he said, "Hold on, I need to first study this book and pray to God to find if it's true.  And if it's true, then of course I'll have no choice but to follow the Lord's path for me"...  You may have to be a missionary to appreciate just how unusual and jawdroppingly amazing that answer is.  So, he's cool.  Sidenote, his language, Igbo, sounds way cool!  General Conference is translated into it on LDS.org.  I'd suggest looking it up if you have time.

Well, that's the bulk of my news from this week.  And yes, in case you're all wondering, it has been pretty cold.  I've only seen one dead body in the street, but that was closer to Christmas, so it doesn't count.  But, yeah, wind chill will getcha.  Don't worry, we stay plenty warm.  I'm wearing a scarf for the first time in my life, so that's sweet. 

Anyways, I love you all!  I'm doing well, health-wise, office-wise and.. whatever-else-wise I could say here.  Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

We asked Brandon lots of questions about the cold - which has been so extreme that many people have died on the streets in Ukraine. Dan asked Brandon if the mission president has given them new guidelines for staying warm/not being outside too much. This is what Brandon replied:
Don't worry about me, I'm fine with warmth. Being in the Office, I've heard a lot about the whole thing with the weather killing a bunch of people.  It is pretty dang cold.  But I'm able to dress warm, protect against the wind and such.  President Campero hasn't come right out and said what weather we can't go out in, but he did come out this last week and say that we are allowed to come inside when we get cold.  Kind of vague and seems like it's common sense, but plenty of missionaries don't really have common sense anymore.  They're all like, "We're supposed to be outside contacting in any weather, any time we don't have a lesson!" Don't worry, I have common sense.  And we just bought a space heater for our apartment, so we're nice and toasty.

"It's already shaping up to be a great transfer"

Family,

You will never guess where I was just assigned to.  Go ahead, guess ...  Nope!  I'm assigned to the Mission Office.  Did you know that was even possible as a missionary?  I sure didn't.  Weird.  It means that I now have a desk and am in charge of a bunch of random odds and ends in the Office so that President doesn't go insane and so that Salt Lake doesn't tear my head off for filing bad records or whatever.  I never ever expected that I'd be sent here.  So weird!

But, that being said, it's already shaping up to be a great transfer.  We only have to be in the office for three days in the week, T-Th, and beyond that we are in charge of a small area concentrated right in the center of Donetsk.  It's great!  We already have a few progressing investigators, which is hard to keep up as an office Elder, but we have it!  Elder Smith says that it's a two front battle, being assigned to the Office and an area. Because President wants us to do good missionary work in our area. . . but he also wants to throw random projects at us that eat into our time.  We call this his "Tetris mode".  It's where he throws half baked, oddly shaped projects out and expects them to be done, and we are left to do the impossible.  I am so up for this!  It's already pretty fun.

My companion is amazing.  Elder J. Smith and I hit it off right away.  We have similar attitudes, as well as taste in movies (which is very important when you're street contacting in cold weather and no one is around. Gives us something to talk about and keeps us sane.)  So that's going great.  Not to mention that my new district includes some of my best friends in the mission already- Antamanov (my trainer) and Arrington!  It's nice to come and already know some people. 

The branch is great.  They actually have a building!!  I was blown away by that.  Which made me realize that I will probably go into cardiac arrest when I get home and things are so.... not Ukrainian.  That'll be so weird.  Like having showers that you don't hold up and things like that.  The little things are amazing.  But I love it here, so it's all good.

Exciting news here in the mission!  A new translation has been made for the Book of Mormon in Russian!  The old one that we've been handing out is fantastic and still the word of God, but there are words and phrases that are slightly less understandable to Russian speakers.  But it's finally out, and missionaries are going to be issued triple combinations this month!  Woot!

By the way, so I hadn't been using the Yak Trax things all winter (attachment for shoes which help you walk on the ice without falling).  I don't fall easily and I have a good sense of balance.  Elder Groothuysen in Lugansk falls a lot, so I gave them to him.  The day after I handed those off was the iciest (is that how you spell it?) I've ever seen in my life.  Everything looked like a sea of glass.  And reading Revelations, I got really scared for a bit as to whether the Celestial Kingdom will be like that.  Come to really think of it, a sea of glass doesn't sound all that fun.  I sure hope God has a different idea for that than I do.

Anyways, I will now be in the office for at least 3 months.  That's the long and short of it.  I'm excited for a change in pace!  It'll be great.  I get to work really closely with President Campero and the APs, so that's cool.  Til next week, you know where I am!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

Moving on!

Family!

So, what's up?  Everything going well?  That's good.  Well, this week suddenly it got WAY cold, way fast!  For most of the Winter it's been hovering right around freezing, but this last week it shot down to -13 degrees  all of a sudden!  I stopped looking at the thermometers after that, for fear that it would get lower.  It's pretty hard to get out the door, motivation-wise, when you lose feeling in your face and knuckles after a few minutes outdoors!  But those gloves you sent me have been wonderful, so I've been pretty good there.  And the coat I have keeps heat so well that I'm actually able to walk around in just a short sleeve white shirt and that coat!  I could be naked under that coat, if that didn't violate certain modesty codes.  Anyways, the point is that it's the rest of my body that freezes, not what falls under the coat.  Fun fun!

Funny moment this week.  I walked into the Branch President's office for a meeting, and he had a new board hanging on the wall, listing all the youth quorums/groups.  I stared at one called "Lavr" for a while, and then felt kind of stupid realizing that it was just "Laurels".  Immediately after this revelation, the first councellor walks in, looks at the board and says "What the heck is a Lavr??".  Even after explaining to him that it was YW from 16 to 18, he kept making fun of the word for a bit.  Laaaaavrrrr.  It's good to know that people are the same no matter where you go. 

So, transfers are this Thursday.  We found out that both Elder Solin and I are moving out.  That's called whitewashing -  when both members of the companionship move out.  It was way unexpected, especially since Solin is native and has been able to fill in as branch secretary much better than any other non-native missionary ever could.  Plus, it's just weird to have both leaving, since that means that the next companionship will have absolutely no idea what to do and where to go.  So this has added a billion times more work for us this week, since we have to prepare everything so that the new companionship can smoothly transition into Lugansk life.  It's a good thing I'm so good at writing up every little detail of what they need to know living here, seeing as I've been here for six months.  No, see, that's a lie.  I'm not very good at that.  I'd rather tell them in person, but that's impossible.  Anyways - Work!

Because we're whitewashing, we've set up a billion lessons with members and investigators before we head out.  I discovered that it's actually really hard to say goodbye to these people.  I've come to know some of them really well, and others I just plain love from serving them.  That's not fair.  Especially not fair since most of them won't really remember me after a few weeks.  Oh, well.  Life moves on.

Back to the whole cold thing, today we had the first real snowfall of the season.  I mean, REAL snowfall, none of that little dusting of an inch or so.  We have probably five inches and counting right now, and it doesn't look like the clouds are going to let up any time soon.  But who knows.  And when it's really cold, I found out that snow turns into something more like sand that snakes around in the wind along the streets.  It looks so creepy!  I decided that it's the dead souls of Ukraine wandering the streets.  They probably couldn't sleep.  It's so COLD. 

 

At the same time, I'm very grateful that I'm not in the coldest areas of Eastern Europe.  It gets way colder for way longer in other places.  Like St. Petersburg.  My companion won't let me forget that.  Every time I say it's cold he gives me a big "Psh!" and tells me how this is Summer for him or something like that.  Yet Antamanov, the Siberian, was always the first to complain about how cold it was getting.  I've decided that it doesn't actually matter where you're from in things like getting adjusted to the weather.  It's all about your perspective and your attitude.  Anyways.  Little thought there.

Well, it's Ukraine.  It's January.  Transfers are in three days.  Excitement.  But more importantly, it's Dad's birthday on Saturday!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!  Or as they say it here,  С Днём Рождения!!  Have a good one.

Anyways, I have to go.  Love you all, and I'll talk to you next week after I've settled into my new area!  Til then!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

Reactivating someone as well as uniting families!

Hey,

So, I'm in Ukraine.  I woke up and thought that was kind of weird today.  I don't know why, since I've now been here for 6 straight months.  But today it was weird.  I just thought I would share that with you.

So let's see.  My week. . . What happened this week?  It's a bit of the blur at the moment.  Oh!  It's coming back to me, good!  This week, for the first time in months, we were able to meet with some new investigators (that's people that are willing to meet multiple times, not just once).  That's exciting!  We've got a family where the parents are investigating and the son is a less active member.  That's like a gold mine of missionary work right there!  Reactivating someone (a male priesthood holder, at that) as well as uniting families!  I'm excited for them. 

We also met with a guy named N..  I'm not sure if we're going to meet with him ever again, though.  He was way nice and even gave us apples and stuff as a gift.  But he has some strange religious views that he refuses to give up.  Like the fact that he asks God what to do in literally every situation and says that he hears voices telling him what to do (i.e. "Should I have toast or waffles today?" "Thou shalt have toast, Nikolai")  God doesn't want to direct every decision we make, and I'm not convinced that his voices come from a good place.  He also prays in tongues.  This was my first experience with someone praying in tongues.  I think everyone should see it sometime in their life.  It's ridiculous.  Elder Solin said that he would say the opening prayer and Nikolai said "Okay.  You pray your way and I'll pray mine".  Solin started praying, and we heard strange moaning and other unpleasant sounds coming from that man.  I had to try really hard not to laugh. 

The thing about his ideas is that I can point out the scriptures that he is reading that justifies these things.  Stuff about how God hears the groans of our hearts, and there's one (in one of the Peters somewhere?) where one verse says that when a man prays in tongues, he is not speaking to man but speaking to God.  But he's not reading the rest of the chapter.  The rest of the chapter explains that, while it's true that God understands what you're saying no matter what, it's just stupid to pray in a tongue that no one around you understands.  When praying in a group, it is suggested that you pray so that at least one other can understand.  I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that Peter (or maybe Paul) was very clear in that chapter.  That, among other weird things, led us to believe that he is not totally right in the head.  Still a good guy, though.

By the way, thank you for the peanut butter, again!  I've been having peanut butter on bananas most mornings for breakfast.  Reminds me of home.  Love you!

My testimony of the fact that God "gives you in that very moment what to say" grew yesterday.  I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting.  I knew the story that I wanted to share (Nephi and Lehi's experience in the prison; Helaman 5), but I was a little worried about how to convey the message.  Honestly, I know that my Russian needs plenty of improvement, and I struggle for some obscure vocab.  I went up with an outline of what I was going to say and some key words.  But once I opened my mouth and started speaking, everything just flowed.  Maybe there was a few slips on my part (for some reason I have a hard time with the word for "darkness" and "prison") but it went well.  Afterwards a bunch of members came up to me and told me that they felt the Spirit very strongly.  That's all that matters anyways, right? 

Also, the Hatches (senior couple) let us use their computer last P-Day to try out some familysearch exploration.  It was pretty cool!  I think I was shown before what my genealogy looks like, but I didn't know how extensive the work already done was.  Porters already trace back all the way to the year 1000 AD?!  And they're from Normandy way back there, called de Porte..  Oh, and on Mom's side, I didn't realize how close our bloodline was to Switzerland.  Very cool stuff. 

Well, that's about it for this week.  Transfer calls are this weekend and transfers will be the following week.  I'll let you know what happens there.  It's a pretty sure thing that I'm leaving, since I've already been here for 6 months, which is unusual as it is.  I love Lugansk, but I'm way excited to get to a new area!

Love you all!  Talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

"I'm offering her increased knowledge of her Savior and His plan of happiness and exaltation for her... and she gives me a stuffed mouse. Am I the only one that thinks that's weird?"

Dear Family,

Happy New Year!  Or Christmas.. Or whatever holiday it is now.  Ukrainians have it all messed up.  They celebrate New Years on Jan 1, Christmas on Jan 7 and then OLD New Years on Jan 13th.  It's really interesting that the Communist regime would think it important to change even that.  Weird. 

So, because of all this, this week has also been a party week for the Ukrainians.  Lots of strange schedules of investigators and lots of drunkards everywhere.  They're funny.  But funny at a distance.  I'm getting pretty good at telling who's sober from a good distance away, so that I don't have those little encounters with those who are not in their right frame of mind.  But it's all good and fun, being missionary-y out here and all.  Good stuff.

By the way, you asked me to tell you what I use my Christmas money for.  I have bought myself one little gift so far- Settlers of Catan.  It's actually all in Russian and has a space theme, but it's still the same game.  It's an awesome P-Day activity!  So there you go.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

I still quote things all the time out here.  Songs, movies, books (like above), whatever.  The problem with that is that I've had only Russian companions.  They never really know what I'm referencing.  Oh, well.  I can enjoy the references all on my own.

Oh, funny story- so, I was tracting a building the other day.  Usually people are pretty mean at the door.  In my experience.  We take turns as a companionship in leading the conversation at the door.  So it was my turn at one door, and this middle aged woman answers the door.  I give her my little schpiel about how the Gospel can only bless her and her family and how we want to help her strengthen her faith.  She's just smiling all the way through (I only talked for about 15 seconds, btw).  Then she tells me something along the lines of "Oh, you're from America?  Your face is so clean!"  And some other things that essentially told me that I was cute in some Russian way.  She was not the least bit interested in my message and refused to take any flyers or anything, but she wouldn't let me leave until she had given ME a gift!  She ran and got me a little stuffed toy mouse to put on the refrigerator.  I thought that that was a really strange exchange.  I'm offering her increased knowledge of her Savior and His plan of happiness and exaltation for her...  and she gives me a stuffed mouse. Am I the only one that thinks that's weird?

There hasn't been a whole lot of exciting stuff this week.  Not a whole lot of people could meet.  But President Campero announced to us this week that we are now required to get up and out the door by 7 AM in order to talk to people on the street.  It's a pretty big change in our schedule.  It's good, though.  We've met some great working men that we wouldn't otherwise have met through this early morning finding time.  And hopefully I can make this into a lifelong habit to be up and out the door for a walk or whatever by 7.  I'm not holding my breath on it, but hope springs eternal!

Well, that's all for today.  I love you all!  Thank you for your letters, prayers and support.  You're awesome.  Til next week!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

"It's good to be able to celebrate holidays with friends"

Hey!

So, this week hasn't been very productive at all missionary wise.  Who knew that Ukrainians could party so hard?  They really care about their New Years.  And by that we mean that they mostly get really drunk and run around town.  This is why the General Authorities told us missionaries that we had to be home by 4 pm on New Years Eve.  So we had a sleep over with the other elders here in Lugansk and played Risk and Settlers of Catan (first time in my life!).  Don't worry, it was totally sanctioned and everything.  We had some fun.  It's good to be able to celebrate holidays with friends.

Besides that, we haven't been able to meet with hardly anyone this week.  We have G and A, mother and daughter, that are amazing!  They may be on baptismal date soon; we find out on Saturday when we visit them.

Life continues as usual... or at least, how it has been for the last six months!  I've almost been in Lugansk for 6 months.  That's a long time in missionary years.  I'm getting old!  Hopefully I can leave a good impact on some people here before I head out.  Not sure when that'll be, but still.

Well, we are going to go meet up with other missionaries and make cookies!  I am so sorry that that cuts into your letter.  I love you all!  I'll eat those cookies in your honor and think about home the whole time, how about that? 

Alright, love you and I'll talk to you again in one week!

Love,

Elder Brandon Porter

P.S.  I promise that next week's letter will be longer.  This one is an anomoly.  Don't worry about making the letters shorter!  I LOVE reading them.  Just so you know.