Hardy's in Jamaica: 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.