 Porsanger completed his theological education in Copenhagen 1761, and the same year he was appointed a missionary to Varanger.In 1764 he returned to Trondheim to give further assistance to prof. Leem while also serving as hospital priest.In 1769 he was called by the College of Mission to Copenhagen to give a response to a suggestion from the Hungarian Jesuit scientist-priest Sajnovics that the Hungarian alphabet should be used when writing in Sami.