Mission Call

Brandon was called to the Donetsk, Ukraine mission, speaking Russian! He reports to the MTC on May 18th.

 We are so excited for him! As he read the call letter, I felt an immediate witness that this was the right place for Brandon to serve. There will be challenges in his mission, but I have every confidence that he will able to meet the challenges and have a profound effect on those he teaches in the Ukraine.

Brandon opened his mission call in his dorm room in Provo. His friends Taylor, Sam, and Jeffrey gathered with him (and they were using Brandon's camcorder to film the opening for us). Thanks to Skype, our family and Lauren watched him open the letter on my computer. Typical for Brandon, he didn't rip into the envelope, but instead carefully and methodically slit the top and then pulled out each paper slowly.  The first paper he pulled out was "application for US passport", so we knew that he was going foreign (which elicited cheers from the viewing audience). It took a few more papers and lots of suspense before he got to the letter which read, "Elder Brandon Scott Porter, you are called to serve in the Donestsk Ukraine mission.  You will speak Russian."  It was priceless to see his reaction.  I think he showed the most excitement that I have ever seen from Brandon!

 We gathered around the kitchen table to watch him open the letter.  Last night Aubrey said "I wish he could get another call tomorrow and we could do it all again.  It was so much fun!"

 Brandon's roommate (who is very into world geography) pulled out a map of the Ukraine to show all of us.

 

 Brandon shared the good news with his grandparents, who were on speaker phone on Dan's phone.

Brandon has had a collection of Books of Mormon for a number of years.  Aubrey ran up to his room and found the Russian Book of Mormon.  Which looks completely incomprehensible to us, as it is (of course) written using the Russian alphabet.

We were able to talk to him for an hour while he and his friends looked through all of the information about the Ukraine.  Brandon's roommate immediately  began playing the Ukranian national anthem and he figured out how to post "Elder Brandon Porter" in Russian on his facebook profile page.

Since last night, we have been researching the Ukraine. Brandon will serve in the eastern half of the Ukraine, bordering Russia. The red dots below show the ten cities where the missionaries are currently serving.

We found the mission website, which has much interesting information.  If you are interested, you can access it through this link: Donetsk Ukraine Mission Info.  I especially found the links for "country info," "weather," and "mission info" helpful.

We are so proud of our son and know that he will be a remarkable servant for the Lord.