YSA Conference and Highgate

This morning we drove to Shaw Park to visit with Mark's mother.  Mark's dad was hit by a car and killed about a year ago leaving his mom to raise the children.  Mark is the only member in his family and he is a wonderful kid.  From there we went to Sister Mouritsen and Sister Garrett's house to do the apartment inspection and to also pick them up for a trip to Highgate.  The sisters have only been to Highgate once and that was to see Sister Bennett.  Today we visited Sister Raymond, Sister Wilson, and Sister Gayle and Brother Doyle.   Hopefully the sisters will be able to find their homes again.  We also stopped in to see Sister Nielson in Port Maria on the way home.  We dropped the sisters off at their home and then paid a visit to Sister Lewellan.  It was almost 6:00 before we got home and we left the house around 9:30 this morning.

Yesterday we had to go to the branch as Brian had an appointment with a lady in the branch.  After the appointment we did some grocery shopping, fixed lunch, and then made a trip to St. Ann's bay to pick up a letter giving us permission to do a project at St. Ann's Infirmary.  We were very close to the hospital so we decided to make a visit to see Aunt.  She is waiting for another blood transfusion.  She can't get blood until someone gives blood but you cannot give blood if you have had Chikungunya.  I was thinking of giving blood but I am too old.  You cannot give blood if you are over 60.  Most of the members of our branch have had the Chikungunya so they are having a hard time finding donors.  The blood bank is really low right now due to the Chikungunya.  One of our sister missionaries said that she would donate blood because it has been over six weeks since she has had the Chik V but missionaries, including couples, are not allowed to donate blood.  We thought it was visiting hours so we just walked in but found out that we really weren't suppose to be there.  We made a quick visit and as we went to leave, a lady who was mopping the floor asked us to leave by the back door.  As we walked out, a man said, "Do you recognize me?  Brian said that he looked familiar and he told us that he was one of our security guards.  Once he said that, we knew it was him.  He is always stoned face and we will wave and smile but he usually does not respond.  I just figured that he didn't like Mormons.  He was very kind to us and told us that his 22 year old had had Chikungunya for a month and was now in the hospital.  He asked us to pray for his daughter. I really felt like it wasn't a coincidence that we were suppose to leave by that back door.  I guess we will see what his reaction is when we see him again.  Maybe the straight face is his professional look. On the way home, we stopped at Mark's house and then picked up Sister N and her step daughter and drove them out to Huddersfield so that Brian could get a receipt from her.  We then headed for home.   Another late night and late dinner.  I am surprised that my skirts still fit.

Sunday was a long day but Sacrament Meeting was excellent.  Tracy spoke and also the Vance's.  After the block, Brian had branch correlation so it was close to 4:00 before we were finished at the branch.  We picked up Ester and her two daughters so that we could make a visit to the hospital to see Aunt.  By the time we visited and got home, it was after 7:00.

Saturday was the YSA conference.  The sky was cloudy and it began to rain when we left the condo.  The conference was very close to our condo so we felt very fortunate.  It was pouring rain by the time we got to Turtle  Park Falls where the conference was being held.  It finally stopped raining around 11:00.  The conference was very good.  They had some fun activities and the closing speaker was Brother Martinez of the Seventy.  He also spoke at the October General Conference.  He did a great job with the YSA and I wish that he could have spoken longer.  The Vance's were in charge of the conference and they did a wonderful job.  After the conference, we dropped a couple of our YA off at the taxi station and then went to the store so we could pick up some bread for the sacrament.

As we were leaving Sister Raymond's, we looked up and saw this massive spider web that stretched between the trees.  If you look closely, you can see the spiders.  There were quite a few trees like this.

Sister Raymond and her brother Tata.

Sister Mouritsen and Sister Garrett overlooking Port Maria Bay.  Sister Nielson lives just below where the sisters are standing.

Brian and I with Port Maria Bay in the background.

Brownstown, St. Ann's, and Ocho

Monday, after we did our wash and freezer, we decided to go back to Browns Town to see a mother and daughter who live in our branch.  The daughter is trying to get approval for a PEF loan so that she can go to nursing school.  We had a great visit with them.  I showed them the video, "Only a Stonecutter".   I have seen it so many times but I still get a little teary eyed.  There was a good spirit in that home.  We had thought to go towards Montego Bay but it was getting late and we didn't want to come home in the dark so we headed back to Ocho.  We went to Sikura for dinner.  Sister N called me about her first day of on the job training.  She is working for a large resort in Runaway Bay called the Grand Bahia.  I checked out the prices to see what it would cost to stay there.  It is an all inclusive resort so it covers all your food.  In the summer when the prices are lower, it costs $149 per person per night.  Anyway, she is going to hospitality school and this is her on the job training.  She told me that they would not cover her taxi or pay her during her six weeks there.  She was hoping that they would at least cover her taxi as it will cost her $1,000 JD ($10.00) per day.  They do have a bus that runs from Ochi that is free for employees but the trainees can only ride the bus if there is room.  She has to come up with her own chef knife and frying pans plus buy a vest and bow tie to wear.  I think her husband only makes about $1000 JD ($10.00 US) a day so I don't know what she is going to do. Once she has a certificate of completion, she can work at any of the resorts if they will hire her.  Sometimes they would rather just hire trainees so that they don't have to pay them.  After we got home, another sister in our ward called to tell us that she was taking her mother to the hospital.  We went to the house so Brian could assist in getting her into the taxi.

Tuesday morning, we call to see how Sister L was doing in the hospital.   M told us that they had admitted her but since there were no extra beds (probably due to the (Chik V) they had just left her in a wheel chair in the waiting area of the emergency room.  When we got to the hospital to visit with her, she had  sheets covering her arms and a towel on her head.  She was barefoot and freezing.  She is 74 years old so I felt really bad for her.  We went back home and picked up a blanket and some socks and took them back to the hospital so that our sister could get warm.  We stayed and visited for awhile.  We then took her daughter back to her house to save her some taxi money.  We did a little grocery shopping and then headed back home.

Today was district meeting.  President Brown came to interview the missionaries. They talked about finding out about investigator's concerns.  President Brown gave some good insights.  The Whiteheads came to Ocho and we left the district meeting to accompany them out to one of their projects.I can't believe I forgot to take pictures.  We will be going out there again to take some hygiene kits so I will try to remember then.  We went to lunch with them and then headed down through Fern Gully to get to our destination.  We had a great time and the time flew by really fast.  The place that we visited is, I think, run by a Catholic organization.  They take care of mentally and physically ill people who have been given up at birth.  They are trying to become self sufficient so they grow a lot of their own food.  The Church's  humanitarian efforts had helped them with some big water barrels.  We told them that we would deliver some hygiene kits.  After Whiteheads dropped us off, we drove to St. Ann's Hospital to see Sister L. They were giving her blood and they finally put her in a bed at about 7:00 last night.  She seemed in much better spirits.  They are monitering her blood sugar also as she is diabetic.  She got the Chic V and it really did a number on her.  After our visit to the hospital, we came home for the evening.

Brownstown

Saturday we drove up to Lime Hall so that Wayne could wash the truck. Wayne was telling us that the people building the house close to his home wanted him to lay tile.  Normally for a house the size that they are building, the tile layer would get $100 for the job.  If you do not have a certificate, the builder will say you do not have a certificate so he would only pay Wayne $35.  I guess they do that quite often.  Wayne will work a full day and be lucky if they pay him $10.00.  It is pretty sad. We had decided to go to Brownstown to see Sister Alexander.  Wayne thought it would be faster to take the road from Lime Hall to Brownstown instead of going back to the main road and driving to Runaway Bay and up to Brownstown.  We had heard that the road was not that great but we decided to try it anyway.  The first part of the road was narrow with a lot of pot holes but when we hit the better road, it was a pleasant drive through the bush.  It is amazing to see all the small towns that are hidden up in the high country.  Most of them have their own little grocery store and a few churches.  We had a great visit with Sister Alexander.  She is our primary president and is very faithful.  She always manages to make it to church even though it is almost 1 hour away.    She told me that she was the first convert in Brownstown.  She works during the week so Saturday is the only day we can see her unless we want to drive home in the dark and we really don't like to do that.  We drove home going through Runaway Bay and decided to visit a few members before we headed home.  It was late when we finished so we thought that we would eat out before we went home but at the last minute we got a call from one of our sisters who is in the PEF program. She needed a white shirt for her first day of training at a resort.  She didn't have any money to buy a shirt nor did she have a way to pick one up.  When I got the call from this sister, we were in a local drug store to pick up some hand sanitizer before we went to eat and some chalk for the branch.  I asked one of the store clerks where I could pick up a white shirt like the school kids wear and she suggested Josephs.  It is in the same complex as our branch building so we hurried over there and bought the largest size they had because she is very big busted.  I really hope it fits her.  Clothes here are not too expensive.  We only paid $8.50 for the shirt.  We went back to the fast food place but their card reader was down and we didn't have enough cash so we just went home for the evening.

Today we left our condo at 9:00 to head down to the branch.  Brian likes to get there an hour early so that he can turn on the air before members start arriving.  We did not leave the branch until almost 3:30.  We decided to visit our old branch president and drop off his sons seminary certificate.  We took Shawn (our returned missionairy) with us.  We also made a trip up to Sister N's to drop off her shirt.  She is excited for her work experience.  She will be working in the kitchen and hopefully they will cover her taxi fare as it will be about an hour trip each way for her.  The Christmas season is busy here with all the vacationing visitors so  this is a great opportunity for her.  I hope they hire her on full time.  I hear it is a nice resort so I also hope they pay her a little.  If they hire her, she will not have to complete the hospitality schooling which would be a blessing for her since she would have to buy a lot of extra items for the school class.  With the work experience, she will get a certificate of graduation.  The only sad thing is that she has young children and the oldest daughter who is not that old herself will probably be the main caregiver since the dad drives a taxi and is never home.  Life is so tough here!!!!

A little patch of farmland that we saw on the way to Brownstown.  The white object  in the back by the bushes is a goat,

This is the house that is being built up by Wayne's home.  It has been fun to watch the progress.

FHE in Kingston

Sunday we got to hear  Shawn Jones give his homecoming talk.   We are so excited to have him back in our branch.  President Brown was asked to bless a baby for one of his friends in our branch so it was a real treat to have him in the branch also.  I am sure Shawn  was a bit nervous but his talk was really good.  We also got to hear from Sister Garrret.  We have an elder from Wyoming that is serving in our branch and he is also an Elder Jones.  President Brown did some teaching in Sunday School and Priesthood.  He is a powerful teacher and I am sure all were edified.  After church we dropped Tracy and Rohan off and then went back to the church.  We were there until 6:30 as Brian had some corrections to do on the MLS.  Some of our members were listed as non-members on their print off for the tithing donations.  He is suppose to start tithing settlement next week.

Monday morning we left for Kingston around 10:30.   I mixed up the dough for some breadsticks with the intentions of rolling out the bread sticks when I got to Kingston.  It is strange to knead dough when you have used a Bosch for over 30 years.  When we got to Kingston, Brian dropped me off at the Whiteheads so that I could roll out the rolls.  He went to the mission office with Elder Whitehead to drop our truck off for its  11,000 mile service check.  He and Elder Whitehead then went to an appliance place to check out prices for the humanitarian service project at St. Ann's Infirmary.  When they got back, we visited for awhile and then went to the mission office for dinner and FHE.  The Whiteheads were in charge and Sister Whitehead made lasagna.  I should have doubled my breadstick recipe as they disappeared rather quickly.  Sister Pearson made a fruit cobbler and she brought cream to pour on top.  It was very good.  Sister Hall made a tossed salad.  The Vances were still recovering from the Chick V virus so they didn't come.  The Whiteheads showed pictures from their first humanitarian mission to Jamaica and also pictures of their humanitarian mission to Guiana.  It was a fun evening  We skyped with the new missionary couple who are serving in the Cayman Island.  We spent the night with Sister Wege since the Vance's weren't there.

Tuesday we went back down to the Whiteheads for breakfast and Sister Whitehead and I visited while Brian and Elder Whitehead discussed the St. Ann's project.  We loaded the school materials in the truck so that we could take them to Ocho for the YSA activity on November 22 and then headed to Pricemart.  After shopping we went back to Ocho.  We made a trip out to Huddersfield in the late afternoon and then headed home for the evening.

Wednesday morning I made a banana cake for the baptism that we were going to have at our condo in the afternoon.  We then headed to district meeting.  We picked Kimoya up at the church and then took her to our condo for the baptism.   She wanted Brian to baptize her.  Only Kimoya, the elders and the sisters and Brian and I were in attendance.  It would have been nice to have a few more members but it is very hard for them to come at the time of the day.  Kimoya lives almost an hour from the branch building and she needed to be home at 4:30 to fix dinner for her grandfather.

Thursday was our institute and seminary day.  Brian went to the bank in the morning while I fixed some cookies for our classes.  The sisters asked me to come to the church at 2:30 so that I could show Kimoya a video from the church website on temples.  The wifi wasn't working so we went in the branch office and pulled it up on the computer.  My only student did not show up so I listened in on Brian's adult religion class and then taught Tracy and Rohan's two boys while Brian taught institute.  Thursdays are a long day and the week just seems to fly after Thursday.

Today we went out to St. Ann's Infirmary to get some information for Elder Whitehead.  We then went to the St. Ann's Parish administrative office to tell them about the humanitarian project and to get their permission to apply for the funding.  They were very nice to work with.  From there we drove to Lime Hall to visit with Humphrey and Wayne.  We stopped in to see how Richard M. was doing but he was not there.  We drove back home for lunch and then headed out to Huddersfield again to see Sister N.  We got a call just as we got there that one of the families in the ward needed some assistance so we quickly visited with Sister N. and  then drove back home to get the check book.  Brian got the signature he needed and then we dropped off the check and headed for the elder's apartment so that we could pick them up for an appointment that they had with Bobby.  It was fun to listen to their lesson.  We then dropped the elder's off at another appointment and headed home for dinner.

Ester with her two daughters.  Her oldest daughter was taking care of her grandma.

Sister Nielson and her family

Kimesha with Tracy's daughter Kiki.  Kimesha's mother is the sister in our ward who died of cancer.

Sister Mouritson, Kimoya, and Sister Garrett 

Brian with Kimoya.  She is 16 years old.

Coming back from the pool, I took this picture of one of the cruise ships parked in the Ocho bay.

Browns Town, Port Antonio and Highgate

I guess I will start with today.  Brian and I decided that we would go to Browns Town to visit with two of our members.  We forgot to set our GPS the last time we were up there so we were a little bit worried about  finding these two sisters but Brian did a good job of navigating and we made it there.  We had a nice visit.  We then drove to Discovery Bay to visit a sister that we have not seen in months.  I think she was surprised to see us but she seemed happy that we had taken the time to come to her home.  We had a good visit with her also.  On our way back to Ocho, we stopped at the St. Ann's Infirmary to get some measurements and pictures to send to Elder and Sister Whitehead.  They are the humanitarian couple and they are hoping to get the funding to fix up the kitchen at the Infirmary.  We then drove to Lime Hall to give a lesson to W on the Priesthood.  We then drove home for the evening.

Yesterday we had seminary and institute so most of my day was spent in studying.  I try to make a treat to share with the seminary and institute students.  There are not very many of them that can afford to come.  Brian had to make an emergency trip to the pharmacy for one of our members.  He has had the Chikungunya for a month now and has a hard time walking.  He is a taxi driver but has not been able to drive.  He is diabetic and it seems like the Chik V (nice name) targets the unhealthy parts of the body.  His blood sugar was really high and it was affecting his eye sight.  We have another sister who is in the same situation.  One of our missionaries has had  problems with his ankles and he still gets  pain in his ankles even though it has been a month since he had the virus.  Our CES missionaries, the Vances, both came down with the virus at the same time.  We feel like we are walking time bombs but so far we have been able to escape it.  We have been in a lot of infested areas.  We feel really blessed.

Wednesday we made a trip to Port Antonio for district meeting.  After the meeting we headed over to one of the little cook shops that our district leader, Elder Hall, liked to frequent when he was serving in Port Antonio.  We got two pieces of fried chicken, some brown stew chicken, and rice and peas and a little cabbage slaw.  It was really good and it only cost us $300 JD (less than $3.00) a piece.  Even Brian liked it and we will probably frequent that place again.  When you see the picture you will think that we were brave!
On the way home from Port Antonio, we stopped in Highgate to show the sister missionaries where one of our members lived.  We had Elder Jones and Elder Guthrie with us and the sisters followed.  Sister B shared her conversion story with them.  She is such a neat lady.  The is 75 and lives with her grandson.  She cannot afford to come to church because she has no income.  After we left Highgate, we dropped off the elders and then picked up Shawn Jones at his work so that he could make a trip with us to the J's.  We had a nice visit and that is when we found out about our member who has not been able to recover from the virus.  The J's were going to take him to the doctor because he is a relative and lives with them.  While we were at the J's, Elder Guthrie and Elder Jones came riding on their bikes so that Elder Jones could pick up his new (used) bike from brother J.  Shawn and Elder Guthrie were companions in Spanish Town and they were so excited to see each other.  It was fun to watch them.  After our visit we dropped Shawn off at home and headed back to our place.  It was a long day!

I think I will skip Monday and Tuesday and tell you about Saturday.

Saturday was our service day at St. Ann's Infirmary.  We had nine men and 5 women attend from the branch.  The residents really seemed to enjoy our visit.  The men gave haircuts, clipped nails, sang at the bedside of some of the men and had wheelchair races.  The women combed hair and braided it.  Sister Garrett and the Chik V so she kept her distance.  It was a very nice activity.  When it was finished, we went back to the branch and then dropped R & T off at their home and then headed back into town to pick up some hot dogs and chips for the YM's activity that was held at our condo.  The boys swam and played games and it was a nice activity.

On Sunday, I decided to make rolls.  We bought some new yeast to try because my last batch of rolls were so heavy.  The rolls turned out good and Brian was delighted.  It was our fast meeting so I rolled out the rolls when we got home from church and then we headed to the B's to visit them. Brother B is in the branch presidency with Brian.  It had rained very heavily on Sunday so he was not able to get a taxi into the branch. Taxis are scare on Sunday anyway so when it rains hard, it is really hard to get a taxi.  One of our members almost turned around twice because of the rain.

Sister B with Brian and Myself

Brian with Sister Mouretson, Sister Garrett, Elder Jones, Elder Hall, Elder Lewis and Elder Havili at the cook shop in Port Antonio

W taking one of the residents of St. Ann's for a ride!

Sister Mouretson braiding hair at St. Ann's

Elder Hall singing to a resident at St. Ann's

The cook shop in Port Antonio.