Kingston, Ocho, Montego Bay

I thought I had better catch this blog up starting with Thursday.

Sister Noble invited Brian and myself to her graduation from the Sandals resort.  She has been doing the church's PEF program in hospitality and is a very good student.  She received her first training at the Bahia but was not hired at the end of the 6 week program which is very common here.  She should have received a certificate from them but they never gave it to her.  After completing her schooling, she applied to Sandals for another six weeks of training.  This time she not only received her certificate, but they had a graduation program for all of those who were training.  It was a very nice event.  One thing I really picked up on was that it was okay to thank God and quote scripture and say an opening prayer without any kind of threat from some organization threatened by that kind of open expression.  It was really nice.  Jamaica is a Christian country and I hope it stays that way.  Sister Noble called us today to tell us that she had been hired on by Sandals.

Friday morning we inspected the sister's apartment and then met the Pearson's at the branch so that Elder Pearson and Brian could finish up the temple recommends.  Sister Pearson and myself came back to our apartment and had a really nice visit.  When our husbands got back, the Pearson's followed us into Brown's Town so that they could do another interview.  We now have six new people with temple recommends.  We  are excited about their desire to go to the temple.  After we were finished in Brown's Town, the Pearsons  drove to Negril and we went back to Ocho in time for our Friday night branch activity.  We watched Ephaim's rescue.  There were not very many there.  We are hoping it will pick up.

Saturday I worked on family history for awhile while Brian ran a few errands.  When he got back we drove to Bamboo to take some mail to a sister that we had never met.  We had a nice visit. She is a young adult and she is looking to get a job.  She joined the church in Rio Nueve which is a lot closer to Ocho than Bamboo.  When her grandmother died, she moved back to Bamboo and it has been hard for her to afford the taxi fare. We were hoping to get the truck washed on the way back but Wayne must have been doing tile work because he did not pick up his phone.

Sunday after we finished at the branch, we took Sister Thompson and Cindy to Saint Ann's Hospital to visit Sister Llewellan.  Marsha and Sister Alexander were also there for a visit.  We sang some songs and had a nice visit.  As we were about to leave, a man came over and asked us to say a prayer for a lady that was in a bed just down the row from Sister Llewellan.  I said a prayer because Brian had stepped out for a minute and then when he came back in he gave her a blessing.  We sang a few songs and then Sister Thompson, Marsha, and Sister Alexander quoted a scripture from Psalms.  They knew it much better than I did.  It was a sweet experience.  I always feel good when we are visiting the sick.  By the time we got home, it was after 6:00.  It was a long day but a good day.  

It has been unseasonable hot on the Island.  I asked Blossom if it was hotter than usual because our apartment feels more like July of last year.  She told me that it was hotter.  We do not get a cross breeze in this apartment so we have to depend on the air conditioner in the bedroom to keep the place cool.  It is not keeping up with the heat.  We needed to make a trip into Kingston on Monday to pick up a check for the Pearsons since we were going to be seeing them in Montego Bay today.  Sister Pearson told me on Saturday that there could be a possibility that we may need to pick up two of the elders in Linstead and take them to the doctors office in Kingston.  She called us Sunday night to confirm that they still needed to go.  We were happy to help out and Brian was especially happy to make a trip down in the air conditioned truck.  The truck is the one way he has of coping with the heat.  He feels the heat a lot more than I do.  We had a nice visit with Elder Iverson and Elder Humphrey. We knew Elder Humphrey before when we were working both Port Antonio and Ocho when we first got here.  It was fun to visit with him.  He is headed  home in July.  After dropping them off at the doctor's office we went to the mission office to pick up the check.  We visited with Elder and Sister Hall and then headed back to the doctor's office to pick up the elders. From there we went to Pricemart to pick up a few items.  We treated the elders to pizza and then headed back to Linstead to drop them off and do an apartment check.  When we got back to Ocho, we dropped the groceries off and then went to Progressive to pick up the Ocho Elders so that we could carry them back home with their groceries.  It is always nice to get back to Ocho.  The traffic in Kingston is not very fun.  There are certain intersections where window washers are stationed and if you are at the light for too long, you can always count on getting the window washed even if you tell them no.  Of course they expect to be paid.  I really don't have a problem with that because I know they need the money.

Today we went to zone meeting in Montego Bay.  We took Elder Cox and Elder Gardner with us.  The sisters followed in their truck.  It was a great meeting.  Sister Tuttle and Sister Panado shared some thoughts to start out with.  They did a great job.  President Brown was there this time along with the Pearsons.  It is always nice to have them there and listen to their comments.  When the meeting was over, we went to Mega Mart with the sisters so that we could pick up some toasters for the Port Antonio Elders and also the Ocho Elders.  The four elders drove the sister's truck to Discovery Bay and then they switched vehicles because the sisters had an appointment in Discovery Bay.  We took the four elders back to Ocho and had dinner at Little Tokyo.  It is kind of like a Panda Express.  The elders and sisters are a plus to our mission.  We just love them.  

Well, that is our week.  It is a joy to serve the Lord here.  I am so grateful for my testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel.  

Sister Noble's graduation at Sandals

Sister Noble standing outside Sandal's conference center holding her certificate.

From left to right, Cindy, Marsha, Sister Thompson and Sister Alexander visiting with  Sister Llewellan.

 

Wata Land

I have been helping the branch members with their family history and I find myself on the computer every extra second I get trying to find names.  My next project is to load them into family tree.  That will take some doing.  We have a very limited amount of computers among the members in this branch which makes it hard for the members to do their family history.  We are suppose to have a Roots Tech day on the Island so I am hoping that we can get a few computers down at the branch to help the members.

Saturday we had a fun day with the youth in the branch. We took them to Wata Land.  We had five girls and
five boys show up. We fed them hot dogs and chips about an hour before the park closed and then they went back into the park to do some more playing.  This was a first for all of them which made it all the more fun.  At Chirstmas time, Shane's boys pooled their money so that they could fund an activity for the youth in our branch.  It was fun for us to watch them having so much fun.  A big thanks to our grandsons!

Sunday we had 72 people out to church. Twenty two of those visitors were from the states.  We had to bring chairs down from all the classrooms so that we could accommodate them.  Just as the meeting was getting started, the power went out.  There went the air conditioning, the fans, the microphone, and our keyboard.  We opened the windows and doors to get some cross ventilation and it did get a bit stuffy but there was still a good spirit felt there.  I guess life would get a little dull if we didn't have some glitches every now and then. The air finally came on by the end of Relief Society.  Debbie Vance's daughter gave me a big hug for my sister Chris as they are in the same ward in Arizona.  I felt so stupid as I started tearing up thinking about my sister. One of the groups attending was a family of 16.  You could easily spot the parents of the bunch as they were gray haired. They were there for a family reunion.  It was so wonderful to have them attend the branch and contribute to the lessons.  I love it when we get visitors because it shows our branch members how important Sunday is to members of the church all over the world.

Wednesday we made a trip to Port Antonio for district meeting.  We are not back in the routine of making that trip every other week with the exception of zone meeting in Montego Bay.  We got back just in time to head to the branch for seminary.  It has been a lot harder to have seminary on Wednesdays but that is the only day Mark can come so I try to be there for him.

This is Mark - my one and only seminary student!

Stacie and Cindy.  They are sisters.

The youth going on a tractor ride around the park.

The tailgate dinner.

Last minute sliding.

Mark

Shaquille

Ocho

I loved conference!  One thing I have noticed being in the mission field is how much the young elders and sisters look forward to conference.  It seems to have more meaning for them now and it gives them a spiritual boost.  We had a pretty good attendance on Sunday but there were still a lot that didn't show up. I thought we would have more because it was Easter Sunday.  There were stores open Sunday that usually are not open.  It seems like Good Friday is more sacred to them than Easter.  Everything was closed on Friday.  Another interesting tradition for Jamaican's at Easter is that they always purchase bun and cheese.  The buns are kind of a spice fruit bun and they like to put canned cheese with it.  The store shelves were loaded with buns and cheese.  I understand that the bun is kind of a take off of the British hot cross buns.

  We had a great lunch between sessions.  Sister Alexander fixed fried chicken, Sister Henry made potato salad, Rohan and Tracy brought salad, and Sister Jackson made rice and peas.  I made brownies and banana cake and also cheesy potatoes.  The members seemed to really enjoy themselves.  It was pretty noisy during the afternoon session with all the children that were there.  I look forward to rehearing the sessions at our apartment.

The Halls came to Ocho on Monday so we went visiting.  We stopped at Sister Nelson's in Port Maria and also Sister Bennet's in Highgate.  Sister Bennet's sister was there also.  We had a great visit with all of these sisters.  I have so much love for them.  We talked about family history at Sister Bennett's.  I was so hoping to find a lot of information on her line but it has dead ended for me so I will need to talk to her further to see what I can find.  We drove back to Ocho and stopped at the Chinese restaurant for lunch.  It was really fun to be with the Halls.  They are a great couple.  They were in Ocho and Port Antonio for four months before us so we know the same people.  After they left we went to Fontana to get a prescription for one of our members but they didn't have what we needed so we had to go to two more pharmacies before we finally got the prescription filled.  We decided that we would make a trip into Brown's Town to drop off Sister's Alexander's pans and utinsils from the Sunday dinner so we headed out but the traffic was bumper to bumper.  By the time we hit St. Ann's Bay, the traffic was no better so we decided to stop at the hospital and visit Sister Llewellyn but she had already gone home so we just turned around and went home.  Monday was also a holiday.  They call it kite flying day and a lot of people fly kites.  Most of the school children are out on Easter break.

Tuesday we made our trip into Brown's Town.  We stopped at Sister Scarlet's house and had a nice visit with Cheryl.  We then drove back to Ocho so that we could help the elders with their groceries.  We stopped in to see Sister Llewellyn at her home.  It is nice to see her out of the hospital.

Wednesday we woke up at 5:00 as we needed to pick up the two Elder Lewis' and take them to Spanish Town for transfers.  The meeting was to start at 10:00 a.m.  I always enjoy being at the transfer meeting because we get to hear from President Brown and Sister Brown and also we get to hear the testimonies of the departing missionaries.  Our sweet Sister Thompson was one of the sisters going home.  I will really miss her.  She was replaced in Ocho by Sister Panado.  Luckily, we got to keep our two elders.  We did not have to go back to Port Antonio with new elders because they didn't have enough incoming elders to replace them so that was a blessing for us.  The sisters followed us back to Ocho.  After we got home, I fixed lunch and then we went to the branch so Brian could work on a few items of branch business.  I spent the rest of the evening working on family history.

Thursday I spent most of the morning working on family history while Brian and the elders worked on the quarterly report.  When Brian got home, we made a trip out to Jasmine's home to pick up a few items for Marge.  We drove home to pick up the cookies I had made for class and Brian's institute materials and then headed for the branch so Brian could teach his institute class.  After class, Brian took me home and he and Rohan went out to see brother Lester - but he wasn't home.

So here it is Friday!  Brian and Rohan made a trip out to brother Lester's this morning. On their way back, they got a flat tire.  After getting the tire fixed they came back to the apartment and I fixed Rohan and Brian a fruit smoothie.  They then left to fix the sister's brakes.

Elder Henderson in the Spanish Town Ward foyer.  The sisters are in the back ground saying their goodbyes.

Loading up trucks and cars after the transfer meeting.

Elder Lewis, Elder Hunt, Elder Lewis, and Elder Muirhead in front of their apartment in Port Antonio.  Elder Muirhead will take over as branch president in Port Antonio.  They are also going to be in our district  so we will be making trips to Port Antonio again.

Brian, Imogene, myself, and Sister Bennett on Sister Bennett's porch.