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
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
"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.
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.
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