Week #6 - They See Me Rollin'... They Hatin'

What up Fam!

This week has been a little difficult because Elder Fowkes' bike has been broken since last Monday. He let a member borrow it (his name is Alwayne and he's 18) and apparently someone crashed into him and broke 4 spokes on the back rim and put it out of alignment. I wish I would've learned more about bikes and how to fix them before I came out.

On Tuesday, Elder Kuehn (sounds like Keen) came from Mo Bay. He is from Utah and is hilarious! He's been out for eight months. So we're no longer in a trio which is a great thing. Hopefully we can get back on track in our area.

On Fridays we have Friday night activity at the church for members and nonmembers

(mostly for investigators) and every week we do a different eating contest. Last week was cream crackers (basically saltines and Ritz mixed together) and this week we did a Ginger Beer drinking contest. It was crazy. I'm not a big fan of the ginger spice that runs down your throat but ginger is pretty popular in a lot of drinks out here. I took video of it so hopefully I can send it. Next week maybe?

Saturday something interesting happened. I think I said before how Jamaica is making me not like dogs because they look nasty out here and they are savage beasts. Well Elder Fowkes and I borrowed the other elders'

Probably not the attack dog, but appropriate nonetheless!

bikes and rode up to Alwayne's house to check on Elder Fowkes' bike. As we were riding, a dog darted out of a yard and was running with Fowkes and trying to bite his leg and stuff. Never seen a stray dog this aggressive, so I thought if I sped up and got closer to them, the dog would just run away. I was wrong, instead the dog saw me coming and tried to stop and turn on me. Worst mistake of his life. I couldn't stop or move out of the way so instead I barreled right over the dog. I flew off the front of my bike and the dog got smooshed underneath my bike for a second before it scurried away like a little punk. I got just a little scratched up (lucky me) and I heard Elder Fowkes say "that was so awesome." It was probably the craziest thing that has happened to me so far haha.

Garth (an investigator) came to church yesterday which was awesome! He is really cool and down to earth.

Is milk was as expensive as we had heard?  Yes it is and they sell a liter of milk for the same price they would for a gallon in the states.. so dumb but whatevs. I'm learning how to deal without it.  Quite the sacrifice, since cold cereal was a major food group to Cody while growing up!

My favorite fruit so far has been Jamaican Apples (not the same as star apples), then Julie Mangos and then the 10 or 11 other kinds of mangos after that.

Jamaican Apple

Julie Mango

I tried jackfruit on Saturday and it kinda tastes like banana and celery and rubber. Not great, not terrible.

Jackfruit

Thats crazy that Dad got released! Dad was released as second counselor in the bishopric last Sunday. I wasn't expecting Bishop Peterson, although I could've guessed Brother Oberg (shout out to Bro Oberg, Cody's Scoutmaster extraordinaire).

Do we really send paper mail to the mission office, and how do you get it?  We have zone conference tomorrow so I'll see the office elders/ZL's who will give me mail if they have it. I DID learn that if you wanted to send mail that you could pay the weight fee so I don't have to. You're supposed to send mail to the office so it doesn't get mixed up or lost.

That's all for this week - Love and miss you all!

Elder Graham