Elder Porter Ellis

  Aloha 皆さん、 The parents haven't been pleased with me and my emails so.  Imma keep this one short though. The highlight of the past few weeks was the mission president and his wife visiting the island and the branch for a weekend. We also spent p-day with them (which included a suprise apartment inspection). Was pretty cool (until the apartment inspection), the mission president's wife walked in and saw two of my suitcases on the ground open and half packed and asked "who's packing?" I was just like: "uh me"🧍‍♂️ "Why?" "🧍‍♂️" Yeah she did not like that one.🥀 Anyways here's a scripture I came across recently while studying the BoM. 3rd Nephi  18:32 Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of br...

  Aloha 皆さん、 Brahhhhh this week was stressful. One of the various responsibilities I received as first counselor is to conduct sacrament meetings. Which is something I never thought I'd have to do, much less in Japanese. It would have been fine but I also had the “opportunity” to give a talk. I usually don't mind giving talks but since I'm on the branch presidency I get the lovely “opportunity” to be the last speaker. And in Miyako there's only 2 speakers. And the sacrament portion only takes 15 minutes. Which leaves 45 minutes for talks and closing hymns. So I got to fill up the remaining time. But regardless, everytime I get the opportunity to give a talk it gives me some actual time where I have to sit down and reflect on the topic I'm talking about.  As I reflected, one of the things I thought about was trusting In God's timing and the love of Jesus Christ. In a lot of points in my life and my time as a missionary my lack of trust in God's timing and ove...

  Aloha 皆さん、 So we just had transfers this past Thursday. I moved away from Kumamoto all the way to Miyako Island! As much of a pain being Zone Leader was, I really did love both of my ZL areas so so much. Honestly I could've finished off my mission in Kumamoto and stayed for 5 transfers and I would've been so happy. It was especially hard to say goodbye to all the college students and my 愛する companion.  I'm super stoked about Miyakojima though! It's a part of the Okinawa zone but realistically we are just on our own out here. The nearest pair of young missionaries are about 100 miles away on another island and both of the islands are closer to Taiwan than to Okinawa. Other than the beach there's not much here and my companion is Japanese so I won't be speaking much English at all. I also became the first counselor and clerk for the branch😅, my companion is the second counsler and the senior missionary Oba 長老 is the branch president. It's pretty interesting...

  Aloha 皆さん、 Wassuppp my fault I have been pretty bad with emails (its been almost a month). I made sure to write one this time because if I didn't I definitely would get an earful from some people. Anyways a lot of stuff has happened and somehow my 100 days left mark passed without me even realizing it. It's crazy but there's not that much longer. (Now 90 days*) My biggest enemy and a lesson I've had to learn my entire life is nostalgia, and anticipation. I swear all my life I've always thought “when I finally (blank) life is gonna be so sick” or “bro I wish I could go back to (blank), I miss those times.” In middle school I wanted to go to high school so bad, in high school I could wait to go to college. In college I just wanted to get a job or go back to high school. On my mission though, I've looked towards ending my mission, wanting to go back to college, past areas, high-school. I couldn't wait till I became DL, Trainer, ZL. Then I wanted to go back to...

  Aloha 皆さん、 Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how important it is to just keep trying each day, even when things don’t go perfectly. Living here in Japan and serving as a missionary has taught me that real growth comes from doing the small, simple things consistently. Some days, I feel like I’m making so many mistakes—messing up my Japanese, or feeling like I’m not making a big impact. But I’ve learned that God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He just wants us to keep going. There have been plenty of moments when I wanted instant results, but I’ve started to see that real change comes bit by bit, through patience (which is hard because I lack it), and steady effort. I’m learning that enduring and continuing to do my best, especially after I make mistakes is so vital to becoming more like Jesus Christ. Each small step, every prayer, every genuine attempt to reach out, it all matters—even if it’s not immediately obvious. These challenges have helped me so much honestly. Little...

  Aloha 皆さん、 Life update: We just had transfers and yup, im still in Kumamoto. I'm also still a ZL (for the 6th transfer). I feel like I'm an old sage. Just kinda existing, biding and waiting for my time to die.  I'm actually super glad though that I didn't transfer because the past transfer has been a blast. The college group that we have been playing sports with (soccer and volleyball) has been awesome. We've started teaching a couple of them and they really are progressing.  This transfer is a 7 week transfer which normally probably feel very long but genuinely love the area, my comp, and the friends we have so it'll probably fly by.  No real crazy stories or anything. Just know I miss you all so very much, I love you guys🫶 Scripture thought: Alma 26:30 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving s...