Hardy's in Jamaica: Port Antonio

Saturday morning we left early for Port Antonio. When we arrived at the elders apartment, they were not home so we talked to Mr. Lee who is renting us the apartment just below the elders. It should be cheaper than getting a motel room every time we go to Port Antonio. The elders had been out doing service since 5:30 in the morning so we waited for Elder Danvers and Elder Beldavis to shower and then we drove them to a couple of less active members homes. Some of the members live a long distance from Port Antonio and the elders are always happy to catch a ride in our air conditioned truck. Our first contact wasn't home but the second contact was and the visit was well worth the distance that we had to go. He loves the church and you could feel it. He was very active when he lived in Port Antonio but the distance makes it very hard for him to come to church. We gave him a message and then left. On the way back to the church, we sang hymns with the elder. It was very fun. It is amazing how fast you get attached to these great young men and sisters. We stopped at the apartment so the elders could pick up their bikes and then we drove to the church to pick up Elder Lee and Elder Humphreys. They took us to see three more members. One sister had suffered from a stroke. Another sister, Sister Small, has been a convert for two years and her faith in Christ was evident. We did see her at church. The brother that we visited was less active. We did not see him at church on Sunday. After dropping off Elder Lee and Elder Humphreys, we drove back home.

Sunday morning we again left for Port Antonio so that we could attend church with the branch. It was fast and testimony meeting. It is a totally different experience in these branches. I hear a lot of "let us pray" and other protestant terms showing up in their conversations. One thing I have noticed here, however, is that the Jamaicans are very charitable people. It is amazing how much I have grown to love them in such a short period of time. Our newest convert, Shaneeza, taught the gospel essentials class today and she did an excellent job. She invited us to stop at her home so that she and her sister could share dinner with us after we finished with the elders.

After church, we drove Sister Galloway and her three children back to her home so that we would know how to find her home. She was overjoyed to get a ride. Every Sunday she leaves her house at 8:00 and walks two hours to get to church. After church, she walks the two hours back home in the heat. As we were driving to her house, we could see a lot of smoke in that area. It has been really dry here and we see little fires burning all over this side of the island. Anyway, we were worried about her house but thankfully the fire was lower in the hills. We could only go part way up the road before we had to park the truck and walk the remainder of the trail. I never thought I would go hiking on Sunday so this was a first. We got to see the out house that some of the members from Ocho built for her. She lives in very humble circumstances but is thrilled to have the gospel in her life. She and her children walked us back to our truck. We said our goodbyes and drove back down the dirt road passing the fire truck on our way.

After we left Sister Galloway's home, we went to pick up Elder Lee and Elder Humphreys at the church. They wanted to visit with Brother Hill, who does not live very close to the church. He has been an active member of the church for 30 years. He is suffering from lung cancer and has not been able to come lately. His wife belongs to the Seventh Day Adventist church. It was fun to visit with him and his wife. His doctor told him that drinking cocoa 24/7 is the cause of his illness. He showed us his cocoa tree and his wife showed me how they open the cocoa pods that grow on the tree. They dry them out and then heat them in a pan them so they can get the skins off the cocoa. They mix the cocoa with some water and form a ball. When the ball dries out, they grate the cocoa into a cup to make cocoa tea or whatever else I guess they use it for. She offered to make me some but I told her it was fast Sunday and maybe I would try it another time. Upon leaving Brother Hill's home, we dropped the elders off at the church and then stopped for dinner at Shaneeza's. We did not stay too long as we wanted to head back to Ocho before it got too dark. We enjoyed the day.