Week #63 - Casting Out Ganja

Hey Family!

So I got to Junction Tuesday morning and wow, Junction's hills are death. Our house sits on a hill that is almost 5 km straight down to the people we are teaching... and 5 km all the way back up. I finally realized how out of shape I was here. The red dirt is SLIPPERY WHEN WET too, so yes, all the rain is making the little bushy trails that we go through real slick. Lots of fishtailing going on. Also lots of waiting around for the rain to settle down after lessons and stuff.

However, this place is BEAUTIFUL. It reminds me a lot of Yallahs in some ways, but yeah, it is one of the prettiest places I have seen on the island.

So story time: On Friday, we had a lesson with this guy and he told us he wants to quit smoking ganja before he gets baptized (obviously). So we started asking him if he had any plants or any on him and he said no. But the NEXT day we came back and saw a little hemp plant right in his yard. I called over to him and said "YO what the heck is this??" Without hesitation he came right out, plucked the plant right up out of the dirt and said, "I hope God doesn't charge (punish) me for this one." And then he proceeded to cast the plant into the sky as hard as he could. It was magical. Elder Hansen and I were dying inside but we had to keep our composure until we got far enough away after the lesson, then we stopped and let out all our laughs.

Church was great. We had a family of five show up but they came at the end of Sacrament meeting!!!!!!!! They are working on getting married which is awesome. Collin and Carrie-Anne are way sweet.

So yeah that was my week - another good one in the books. By the way Mother's Day is coming up quick - I'm excited to chat!

Love you all!

Elder Graham 

We found a marl quarry (you don’t know what the heck marl is either?  It is an unconsolidated sedimentary rock or soil consisting of clay and lime, formerly used typically as fertilizer).

Week #62 - April Showers Ain't for Sissies

Hey Family!

This week went by quick as always. 

We got transfer calls Friday night this time. I am being transferred tomorrow to Junction to serve with Elder Hansen. Elder Kuehn is going to Spanish Town, Elder Riding to Linstead and Elder Simpson will stay in Sav. Yes, my area is getting white washed so someone can train here.

Sav Showers

The crazy stuff that happened was all on the weekend. On Saturday we took a trip out to a place called Belmont to deliver a special Book of Mormon with a note to the mother of a missionary serving from Sav. After we got back, we got a call from Tony (an investigator/boyfriend of a member) asking if we could come help him move a pile of stone and sand bout 100-150 feet over to the side of his house. We did as much as we could until rain started to fall and wet the sand. They fed us some awesome fry fish. While we were eating, the rainfall turned into a dang cyclone almost. It was coming down harder than I have ever seen and it would NOT let up. Finally we decided to just take the 10 minute walk home through the crazy storm. I kid you not, we were walking through rivers that flooded the streets while taking a bath in rainfall. We had to just call the day at that point. Everyone cancelled on us and the rain would not let up so we were kind of stuck in the house.

Sunday was full of signing journal writing, goodbyes, pictures and the works. Sister Lynn had her hair braided like a Jamaican for her departure home in a few days and they needed to "boil" her hair (apparently that helps straighten it back out from being in a bun??) but didn't have a big enough pot, so they just had us boil them some water and sat outside and proceeded to literally pour boiling water strategically throughout her hair. So that happened.

Anywho, I'll email next week from Junction. 

Love you!

Elder Graham

 

Sav Missionaries: Sisters Lynn, Wright and Smith
Elders Kuehn, Graham, Riding, and Simpson

Week #61 - Blown Away by the Spirit

Hey Family!

This week was a normal one…

On Wednesday I took a trip to Negril to interview a 9 year old girl for baptism. She is a GENIUS. Way smarter than I was when I was 9. So that was great. Negril still freaks me out because many of the tourists are really hostile for some reason. But when we got home from Negril, I looked in my backpack to find... the baptismal record that I was supposed to give the missionaries... Nice one Elder Graham. They needed a baptismal suit for her as well so we took another trip up on Friday to drop that stuff off.

On Sunday we only had Sacrament Meeting because the church's water tanks have mysteriously been empty for the past few days so the building doesn't have water. So they cancelled second and third hours of church. Cool (funny, just a few years ago Elder Graham would have been just fine with any parts of church being cancelled – hmmmm).

We have been showing a ton of people Elder Holland’s conference talk, “Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders Among You” and they are getting BLOWN AWAY by the spirit - it is freaking awesome!  Hope your week was exciting. That's about it for me. Sorry no pictures. I try to think of stuff to take pictures of but you have seen it all already haha.

Love,

Elder Graham

Week #60 - You Get Credit for Trying

Yo Family!

Well, I called it - the week flew by like lightning.

We went up to Mo Bay for zone meeting on Wednesday. After that we had to make a traditional stop at Tutti Fruiti and snag some froze yogurt. That place is insane - super high tech. Their cash registers are like iPads connected to a machine. Everything is white and chrome inside haha it's nuts. Definitely not like the usual Jamaican stores!

We were all over the place tracking down a referral we got from a guy in the states. Since there aren't many street signs or house numbers here, it was tough, but we found him! He is pretty cool!  Elder Kuehn and I also had consecutively weird encounters with different girls around neighborhoods for three or four days in a row. Super uncomfortable but whatever.

General conference was awesome as it always is. We had a guy bring his girlfriend (and himself) for the first time. They came to the priesthood session right in time for President Uchtdorf's talk on saving marriages and stuff haha PERFECT. But a random rain storm screwed up the internet so we missed President Monson's address for the Priesthood Session. Jerome said he appreciated what they said though. Literally EVERY general conference broadcast here gets messed up by random crazy rain storms. Elder Holland’s address that wrapped up conference was absolutely amazing. Big up to everyone who is trying their best to follow Christ. YOU GET CREDIT FOR TRYING!!!

Anyway, today should be relaxing, and this week should be relatively back to normal.

Love,

Elder Graham