Baptism in Ocho Rios

The plans for this morning were to begin the baptism at 8:00 a.m.  We were there on time as Brain was asked to give the talk on baptism.  We were waiting for everyone to get there when the elders got a call from   President Lester asking that someone pick him up.  Since we were the only ones there with a car we took off hoping that we would remember how to get to his house.  Our first mistake was relying on the GPS.  We got so far and then the GPS said navigate off road.  There were three different dirt roads that we could take - so we got lost.  One young man tried to show us where to go but I was a little nervous because in the back of my mind I was thinking, "We have a truck - he could be leading us into a trap".  We started to back away and then he came down with his friend and asked us the number for the person.  It did not match the number that he had so we just thanked him and  went back the way we came and called the elders to tell them we were lost.  I guess I wouldn't have worried so much because he seemed really nice but our branch president's taxi cab driver was killed a couple of weeks ago and whoever did it took his car.

After the talks were given, we headed to the beach for the baptism.  We were really hoping to get there before the beach got busy but there were people already there.  Despite the onlookers, it really was nice to see the missionary and the convert standing in the ocean dressed in white.  The young convert seemed really happy.  Brian drove the branch president and the missionaries and the convert back to the branch while I drove with the sisters to our apartment so I could pick up some bread for the sacrament.

There have been times when I think, "is it doing any good to visit the less active?  Maybe we should just concentrate on the active branch and the new converts." Today one of the members who we stopped to see on the way back from zone meeting, who hasn't been coming for a long time, walked into sacrament meeting.  I was so surprised and happy to see her..  I guess you never know who will come so you just keep seeking them out.  Maybe that was the Lord's way of  telling me not to give up on the less active-all of his children are important to him.  When we were having our missionary correlation meeting on Tuesday night, a young man who was converted over a year ago and then just stopped coming, walked in and started talking to us.  He told us that he got busy with his job so he couldn't  come but lately every time he turns around, he sees the missionaries.  He saw that as a sign that he needed to come back.  We invited him to come this Sunday and he was there.  He even showed up for the baptism.  I hope he keeps coming.  It is hard to see them fall away when you know the gospel can bless their lives.  For some, it is distance and no money for taxi yet, there is a sister in Port Antonio that walks with her kids two hours to church and then turns around after church and walks another two hours home.

We visited with some of the members after church and then took President Lester and Rohan out to Highgate to visit a 28 year old who was  once the branch clerk and was very active in the branch.  His mother died a while back and I guess he became very depressed and ended up in the hospital.  We had a nice visit with him.  He is living with his grandmother and is still fighting the depression.  Highgate is an hour away so by the time we dropped off President Lester and Rohan, it was almost 5:30.  It was hot when we got back into the apartment so I fixed an apple juice, mango, and banana smoothie and then fixed pancakes and eggs for dinner.

Backing up a little -  we went to Port Antonio Friday afternoon after visiting with Humphries.  We figured that we could just get one of the hotels that we had previously gone too.  Not so!  They were both full so we figured we would have to drive all the way back to Ocho that night.  We went with the missionaries to see Shaneeza.  She offered to feed us dinner.  We had a nice visit with her.  Her sister and 3 nieces and one nephew are visiting her from Guyana.  She is so interesting to talk to.   There was an inn in front of her house and we asked her if it was expensive.  She thought we could get a room for about $40 or $50.  When they find out you are American, they raise the price but they did have a vacancy and we got the room for about $59.  That has been the cheapest so far.  The room was really nice but there was plastic on the mattress to keep it clean.The plastic  makes you sweat but we had air so it was okay.  We could hear the traffic on the road and the roosters at 4:00 in the morning so we really didn't get a very good nights sleep but I was grateful we didn't have to drive back to Ocho in the dark.  Shaneeza  asked us to come over for hot chocolate in the morning so we did and visited with her until  we left to pick up the elders. We ended up driving back to Shaneeza's so that the elders could give her sister the missionary discussions.  She asked us to stay for lunch and we had fish and a rice dish.  Even though Shaneeza is from Guyana, she is Indian (India) background.  She was from the BaHai faith before she joined the church. As a child, her mother taught her not to beg but to work hard.  She is one of 13 children.  She went to Jamaica to do service for 5 years and ended up staying.  She has been there for over 14 years and has a 7 year old daughter. She believes that you should share what you have and that you do not need a lot of material possessions to make you happy. She will be a real asset to the Port Antonio Branch.  After lunch we took the elders back into town.  We were going to visit a sister in the branch but ended up picking up the other two elders and taking them to a bike shop to get a tube  for Elder Lee's bike since his other tube was not fixable.  The four elders ended up visiting the sister and we headed back to Ocho as Brian had two talks to prepare.

Elder Hall and Elder Egan with Brother Dixon

Hotel room in Port Antonio