Christmas

I am not going to try and catch up on all the days that I have missed.  I will highlight some of our most recent activities.

On December 19, we drove to Kingston for our Christmas FHE.  We stopped at the office to take care of some mission business and then Elder and Sister Whitehead drove us to Boon Hollow Oasis at Stony Hill
where we had a wonderful dinner with President and Sister Brown and all the senior couples.  The environment was fantastic as was FHE.  The Vances set the tone for the FHE by sharing some past Christmas experiences and then the President and Sister Brown and several of the couples shared some thoughts.  I enjoyed the spirit that I could feel as those thoughts were expressed.  One of the benefits of serving a mission is the experience of meeting such choice individuals that you might not otherwise have the opportunity of meeting if you had stayed home.  We found out later that Sister Brown went  into labor that night and had her baby early the next morning. We spent the night with Sister Wege.  She shared with us her trip to the Dominican Republic.  The next morning we made a trip to Pricesmart to purchase some items for the branch Christmas party and a few food items for ourselves.

We skyped with the Port Antonio Elders for our district meeting on Christmas Eve.  We were informed at that meeting that we would no longer be meeting with Port Antonio and that Elder Jones would become the new district leader for Ocho.  We were sad about not being able to go to Port Antonio but I can see the wisdom of eliminating all the travel that is involved going back and forth.  Elder Jones will do a very good job.  He has only been out for two transfers but he is very capable.  After the meeting we delivered a few cookies and some Christmas cards to some of the employees of our condo complex.

Christmas morning I woke up and started a batch of rolls and made two pumpkin pies before Sister Mouritsen and Sister Garrett came over to skype with their families.  It was fun to meet the families of both sisters.  They were so excited to skype and it brought back memories of the excitement I felt when we got to talk to our own missionary children.  We also got to skype with some of our children and that was wonderful.  Rohan, Tracy, and their children came over for Christmas dinner along with Elder Jones and Elder Cox and the sister missionaries.  Rohan and Tracy made fried chicken, rice and peas, fried fish and a Christmas drink.  It was fun to watch them cook and they are very good.  Rohan does not measure so it was hard for me figure out all the right ingredients.  The Christmas drink had two cans or carrot juice, two bottles of Malta, 2 raw eggs but normally it would be 3, 4 TBS. of vanilla, one can of sweetened condensed milk, and one box of Nestles full cream milk.  I really enjoyed the drink and the meal.  I made a potato salad also. It was the first time Rohan and Tracy had tasted pumpkin pie.  Jamaican potato salad is very different from my recipe but they seemed to enjoy the salad also.  Jamaican potato salad has frozen mixed vegetable mixed in with the potatoes and eggs.  I do enjoy their salad also.  In fact, I like most of the Jamaican food I have tried.

Friday we drove up to Lime Hall to get our car washed.  The Halls came up to visit with the members in Ochi since that is where they served before going to the office.  They followed us up to Lime Hall to get their car washed also.  We left for Browns Town as soon as our car was washed so that we could pick up food for the Branch Christmas party the next evening.  After we got everything loaded into the truck, we dropped the food off at Sister Vacianna's and then dropped the chicken off at the Hall's condo so that we could use their refrigerator.  We then went with the Halls to a Chinese restaurant in town.  It was very good.

Saturday we did a lot of running around for the Christmas party.  We had to pick up a few odds and ends in paper products and food items.  We also had the Halls over for breakfast.  We stopped at the branch to drop off the papers goods and noticed that the power was still off in our building.  We asked the security what was going on and they said the whole complex was without power.  As it was, the power never came back on until around 9:00 in the evening.  I went home to make cheesy potatoes for the dinner.  I also frosted the cookies.  The Halls came over so the Brian could practice a song with her on the keyboard.  When we took the potatoes to the branch, we found out that the food wasn't going to be ready until 5:00.  We already at people at the branch - most of which was investigators.  The elders and sisters entertained while we went back and forth to get the food.  By the time we started, we still had a little daylight but by 6:00, it was dark.  We used flashlights so that we could dish up the food.  Sister Alexander, her daughter Anika, Rohan and Tracy, Sister Henry and Sister Vacianna prepared the food.  It was excellent.  We had fried chicken, Jerk chicken, Jerk pork, curry goat, rice and peas, potato salad, vegetables, cheesy  potatoes and Sorrel to drink.  We also had Christmas cake (non alcoholic) for desert. Everything was so good.  We did not have a program because their was no light.  When it was all over, the sisters and elders said they would come back to clean early Sunday morning.  We could not see to do anything as far as clean up was concerned.  Brian and I stopped to get gas and noticed as we were going back through town that a few of the places had lights on.  We needed to pick up some items at the branch and we were thrilled when we turned on the lights and they worked.  We ended up cleaning up the building so that we would not have to come back early in the morning.  By the time we washed pans and put things away, it was midnight before we got to bed.  I decided to see how much the cheesy potatoes cost to prepare.  It added up to $85 US dollars not counting the tax which is about 16%.  I had hoped to get some pictures of the party but with all the confusion of the power being off and all the running around, it did not happen.

Sunday the Halls spoke in church and did a great job.  Brian also gave a little Christmas message.  The Primary sang two songs before Sunday School started.  After the meeting, we served the goathead soup that they didn't bring over the night before.  I also passed out pumpkin cookies to everyone.  The Halls made a few visits to some of the branch members and then came back for dinner.  The sisters came over to drop a  paper off for the Halls and we invited them to have a bite to eat.  After the Halls left, we invited the sisters to make a trip with us out to St. Ann's hospital to visit Sister Llewellan and Sister Sandra Henry.   When we got back to our condo, we got to skype with Jill.  It was a nice day.

Today the Whiteheads came up.  We made a trip to  St. Ann's Infirmary and also to St. Mary's Infirmary.  When we got back to Ochi, we decided to eat lunch at the Chinese restaurant.  I will really be sad when the Whiteheads leave for their home in February.

Elder Lewis from Georgia, Elder Grosbeck, and Elder Lewis from Jamaica who is also the branch president for Port Antonio

After our last district meeting in Port Antonio, the whole district stopped to eat at our favorite cook shop.  The zone leaders and sister trainees were also there so that they could do splits.

Boon Hollow Oasis

River bed at Boon Hollow

President and Sister Brown walking down the path at Boon Hollow.

President and Sister Brown

Another picture of Boon Hollow

Our dinner spot at Boon Hollow

Christmas day dinner.  From left to right, Brian, Javoni, Sister Mouritson,  Jaleem, Sister Garrett, Rohan holding Kiki, Elder Jones, and Elder Cox

Rain and More Rain

December rain fall is making up for the dry summer.  When we went to Port Antonio on Friday, there was a mudslide on the road and some fallen trees.  The elder's roof is leaking.  The good thing is our apartment is much cooler.  We seldom have to turn on the fans in the living room.

Today was wonderful at church.  We had two members that we haven't seen in a long time show up.  Kimoya, who was baptized about 3 or 4 weeks ago, was able to come to church today for her confirmation.  Her non-member sister and her three children came also.  I could really feel the spirit for that confirmation.  For Sunday School we showed the video "Pioneers of Faith."  A lot of our members have not seen it so it was fun to see their reaction.  They really enjoyed it.  Rohan called me to be Young Women's president.  I nearly croaked.  I guess I can look at it as good study time.  I do enjoy the girls so that is a plus.  I was supposed to be sustained today but Brian had not been able to contact the outgoing YW's president so it didn't happen.  After church, Rohan, Brian and myself went to see Sister Llewellan so that Rohan and Brian could bless and pass the Sacrament to her.  I was able to find the "Pioneers of Faith" video on Youtube so that Marge could watch it.  After we dropped Rohan off, we drove back home to pick up some rice and  peas for a member of the branch.

Saturday we spent the day in Brown's Town.  The sisters had never been up there so we took them with us. We first drove out to Rio Bueno so that Brian could interview Kimoya.  We didn't know where she lived and  she didn't have the phone with her.  She wasn't excited about us coming up because her family is not excited about how far it is to church especially when there are so many churches in Rio Bueno that she could go to.
We were able to find her home by asking around.  It is amazing who you can find when you are on the Lord's errand.  I have seen it happen more than once.  From Kimoya's we drove to Discovery Bay to see Sister Jones.  This is the third time that we have visited with her.  I hope she comes back to church one of these days. After our visit we drove to Brown's Town and visited with Cheryl and Sister Alexander.  We did not make it back to get our car washed.  We tried to call Wayne and left a message but he was not able to get back to us before it got dark.

Friday we drove to Port Antonio so that we could take the elder's Christmas boxes to them.  When we were going through the town of Hope Bay, there was a guy on a bicycle that was pretty close to our car as we passed.  He must have lost his balance or his handlebar hit the back of the truck but when we looked back, he was on the ground.  It nearly gave us a heart attack.  We backed up and he came up to the window.  I asked him if he was okay and he said he was.  His bike was fine so we went on our way.  It did put a damper on the rest of the drive.  The towns are so hard to drive through because you have people walking on the roads and you have bicyclists driving in the road plus taxies that just stop to let their passengers get out or in and then you have taxies passing taxies on the other side of the road so they come into your lane and you can barely squeak by and that is what happened with this bicyclist that we passed.  A taxi was in our lane and we were trying to maneuver between the bicyclist and the taxi.  We were not going very fast but we were a little too close to him.  We drove on to Port Antonio and got a bite to eat at the cook shop and then headed to the elder's apartment so we could drop off the boxes and check their apartment.  We also had some book bags to drop off so we drove to the branch so the elders did not have to carry them on their bikes.  We were able to visit with Shaneeza for a few minutes.  It was so good to see her again.  Her baptism was the first one that we attended on this island.  It was dark by the time we got home.  With all the rain and overcast skies, it gets dark around 6:00 here.  We stopped at the branch for the missionary correlation meeting and didn't get home until after 8:00.

Thursday was seminary and institute so we did a little studying and then Brian dropped me off at the branch because he needed to pick up Rohan and take him to Brother Barbagees for a branch presidency meeting.  I needed to be at the branch at 4:00 and I didn't want to take a chance that they would not get back in time.  As it was, my only student didn't show.  We spent the afternoon at the branch so that Brian could teach his two classes.

Wednesday we went to Montego Bay for Zone Conference.  Elder Martinez and his wife were there.  He is a member of the 70 and both he and his wife gave great instructions.  They were very inspiring.  President Brown also did some training  and he was excellent as usual.  After the training meeting we had lunch and then had the Christmas program. I had to tell a Christmas story.  I told the story of the stolen Christmas trees that Brother Jesperson shared in gospel doctrine last year.  We had a good time.

Tuesday was spent visiting people.

Zone Conference Christmas party.

Elder and Sister Martinez

President Brown with one of the elders.

Primary children showing off the ring pops that Sister Garrett's mom sent.

Ocho

Today was P-day.  We are definitely in a routine with the wash and refrigerator freezer defrosting.  Brian picked up Rohan and they drove to Lime Hall to pick up Wayne.  Wayne needed to get his birth certificate so that he could get a tax number.  It is always nice to have Rohan along because he knows the ins and outs of Jamaica and he is also is very familiar with the PEF program since he and Tracy have taught the course.  I stayed home and studied for my seminary lesson.  Brian brought Rohan and Wayne back to our condo so that they could fill out the birth certificate application on line.  After Brian took Wayne back up to Lime Hall, I went with Brian to take Rohan home and then we stopped at the store to get a few items.

Sunday was interesting.  Our Elder's quorum president, Relief Society presidency, and Sunday School teacher were all absent.  Brian taught Sunday School and  Sister Mouritson taught Relief Society.  She did a great job.  After the meeting I tried to help Sister Barbagee with her ipad but that was like the blind leading the blind.  She had forgot her password and when she was setting up her ipad, her birthday got entered in wrong.  The e-mail on her phone was different than the one that was put on her ipad so there was no way of getting her new password.  We finally gave up.  When we finished at the church, we took Shawn with us to visit Sister Noble and her family and then we stopped at Brother Lester's to give Peter a school bag.  Shawn is the new branch mission leader.   From there we drove to Mansfield Heights to visit a sister that we have not met before and we also visited with the Elder's quorum president.  When we got home we skyped with Jill and Brian talked to Ben.  He informed us of the passing of Jeff Greensides.  We were really sorry to hear that news.    We watched the Christmas Devotional and then retired for the night.  I got a ton of mosquito bites on my legs while we were at Sister Nobles and I woke up in the night clawing at both of my legs.  The mosquitos are vicious here.

Saturday we went to Lime Hall to get our car washed.  Brian talked to a man who is just starting a restaurant and he  gave us his card.  We will probably go up there to eat some time.  We thought we would wait until  our company came but we thought it might be better to try it out first.  He gave us  four Soursops.  They are a really interesting fruit.  We had to ask Wayne what you do with them.  He told us that when they are really ripe, you just peel them  with a spoon and take out the seeds and blend the fruit in a blender or press it through a sieve.  I tried one of the Soursops.  It wasn't too bad.  I mixed it in a smoothie of banana, and orange, pineapple and mango juice.  Sunday night I juiced the other three as they ripened very quickly.  Wayne told us to mix it with water or milk and add some nutmeg.  I haven't tried it that way yet.  After leaving Wayne's, we met up with the sister missionaries and they showed us where one of the members lived.  From there we went to see one of our less active sisters.  She is very sick and her blood is very low so she was freezing - if that is possible here.  She reminded me of how Sister Rose looked before she died.  Brian gave her a blessing.   We drove home for lunch and then met the missionaries at the branch.  We were going to sit in on a lesson but the investigator never showed up.  We took the missionaries up to Shaw Park to visit with Sister Temple.  She hasn't been out for awhile but she said she would come and she was there on Sunday.  We left the missionaries in Shaw Park as they had another appointment and then we headed home.

Friday we spent the morning with the plumber.  Our tub would not drain.  The plumber had come over on Thursday but he couldn't fix the problem.  He thought it was the drain plug but found out on Friday that it was some roots that had gotten into the pipe.  After lunch, Brian went to the bank and I did some reading.  I am trying to read Jesus the Christ. I am really enjoying it.  I think I started  it a long time ago but never finished so I thought it would be a good Christmas read.  When Brian got home, we took some school bags to Sister Jackson and stopped to visit with Sister Llewellan before we picked up Tracy to do my hair.  It was nice to get the hair cut short again.  Tracy does a good job.

Thursday the Whiteheads came up to Ocho to pick up the humanitarian kits.  It was nice to get the kits out of our condo.  We went to lunch with them at Island Grill.  They made a trip out to Mustard Seed to drop of the kits but we didn't go with them as we had seminary and institute to teach.  Brian bought some drano to put down the tub drain and when that didn't work, our condo supervisor called a plumber.  She said he could come at 3:00 so Brian took me down to the branch so I wouldn't be late for seminary.  He came back home but ended up not being able to teach institute because the plumber was still at the condo.  Finally, at 7:00 p.m. he came down to the branch to pick me up.  I did get to meet Elder Cox.  He is new to Ocho.  He is from Emery County but use to live in Manti. His family moved to Castle Dale a few years ago.  He didn't have enough knowledge of his ancestors to know if we were related.

Wednesday was transfer day and because Brian was taking four elders back to Port Antonio, I stayed home.  I made some rolls and spent most of the day reading.  Brian got home around 7:00.

Soursop fruit.

Rain and more rain.

Friday I spent the day preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries here in Ocho.  We decided to buy a turkey.  It was a 3 lb. Butterball turkey and it cost us a little over $30.00 US.  I think the stores carry the turkeys for all the US visitors.  I was able to find  some pumpkin so I made a pumpkin pie and a banana cream pie.  I did not plan on doing any baking here so I left my pastry cloth home.  I have regretted that decision.  I remembered my sister Tricia rolling her pie crust between wax paper so I resorted to that method and it worked out great.  I also found that if I let my roll dough rise in the refrigerator, it was easier to roll out the dough for the rolls.  I feel like I have gone backward and not forward in my cooking skills.  Anyway, we had a good time with the missionaries.  I was always grateful that my boys were invited to eat out on their missions so this was pay back time for me.

Elder Jones, Sister Mouritson, Sister Garrett, and Elder Hall

Saturday we got up early and headed to Port Antonio so that we could meet up with President Brown's family and the senior missionary couples.  From Port Antonio we were going to go to Boston Bay, Long Bay, and then on to Reach Falls which is another hour from Port Antonio.  We woke up to rain in Ocho and by the time we reached Port Antonio, it was pouring rain.  We decided that we would go to Boston Bay and Long Bay and skip Reach Falls.  By the time we got to Long Bay, it had stopped raining so  President Brown and his family played in the ocean at Long Bay for awhile.  The ocean waves were bigger than normal due to the rain and wind.  When we got in the van, it started raining again but we decided to go to Reach Falls hoping that the rain would stop.  It never did.  We sat on a porch and ate lunch waiting for the rain to stop.  The rain continued to pour and we even had lightning and thunder.  We decided we would try Reach Falls another day so we headed back to Boston Bay for some jerk chicken and then on to Port Antonio to pick up the other vehicles.  Boston Bay is famous for their jerk chicken and they even have a jerk festival there.  The chicken was hotter than the jerk chicken in Ocho but it did have a good flavor.  My lips were on fire for awhile.  We had a great time visiting with the senior couples and the President's family so it was worth the three hour drive to and from Ocho.  It was nice to have left over Thanksgiving dinner to come home to.  Brian and I were so tired that we went to bed around 8:30.

Looking at the ocean at Long Bay

Looking in the other direction at Long Bay.  Notice how the wind is blowing the coconut palms.

Elder Hall and Sister Whitehead sitting on the porch at Reach Falls. The rain is pouring in the background.


Sunday we left the house at 8:15 so that Brian could meet with a member for tithing settlement.  The member never showed up but at least I got to study for a little while before church started.  Sacrament meeting and Sunday School were really good.  We had intended to show a video for  joint Priesthood and Relief Society but we could never get the TV working so the missionaries explained the new Christmas focus of putting Christ back into Christmas.  We wanted to show the video that the church put out but that didn't happen either.  Brian had tithing settlement after church so we were at the branch for awhile.  In the meantime, the rain continued to pour.  By the time we left the branch, the street was flooded. It was nice to be driving a truck.  I might mention that the rain seems to keep the members from coming to church.  Someone told me that Jamaicans do not like to get their heads wet so they avoid the rain because they think it will make them sick.  One nice thing about the rain is that it keeps people off the streets so it is easier to drive in the cities.

Today was P-day and it was also another rainy day.  We even lost power for awhile.  When it finally stopped raining, we decided to check out the new store that just opened.  Some of their prices were good but I think General Store under our branch has more variety as far as American items go.  We decided to take some school bags to some of our members and then stopped to visit with the Llewellans.  Sister Llewellan is out of the hospital and her daughter is here from England.  It was fun to finally meet her.  After our visit, we went home.  I decided to read " Jesus the Christ" so I spent the remainder of the afternoon reading before I had to fix dinner.