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!