Week #72 - It's My Birthday Gift to Me... I'm So Happy! ~Emperor's New Groove

Hey Family!

Reunion in Spanish Town with Elders Evans & Stever

So this week was cool. We had a lot of fun going to Spanish Town and seeing a ton of people!  Brother Cooper let me climb up his coconut tree to grab some for us which was super sketchy but so worth it!

So Collin is for sure confirmed getting baptized on Wednesday, June 29 and everything is great. Happy birthday to me, I guess!

On Saturday, Sister Ebanks gave us a pineapple-melon. It tastes similar to a regular melon but is just yellow on the inside so they call it pine-melon.

I love this work. It's really hard, but it is so worth it in the plethora of blessings that come to the lives of the people we interact with, not to mention our own tender mercies!

Love,

Elder Graham

It's a beautiful day in Junction!

Week #71 - No Bread

Yo Family!

This week was great. I felt a bit more like a missionary because we are slowly starting to figure out this crazy Junction business. 

We went to Santa Cruz for district meeting again on Wednesday, and I was able to get a TRN (Taxpayer Registration Number) this time so now I can get pulled over and ticketed if I ever drive so that's cool. I'm basically a citizen.

The baptism was postponed until this weekend and we are kind of leaning toward just baptizing Collin for now because not everyone in the family is quite ready with testimony and such so we will take it a little slower with the rest of them. More news will come as time goes on. 

Sunday is always a hoot. I don't think I have ever been able to conduct a Sacrament meeting without something going wrong haha. This week, no one brought bread and no one told me. So there I am, sitting, singing the Sacrament hymn, and the priest sitting at the table leans over to me and is trying to mouth words to me. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely SUCK at lip reading so I first think there is something wrong with one of the people who are about to pass the Sacrament. Finally, the kid comes closer and with a moist whisper yell, he says, "NO BREAD." Oh crud... So Elder Trinnaman and I get up and haul it to the house, grab some bread and haul it back. Lucky for us, the musical director is a returned missionary so she improvised by just singing like 4 or 5 hymns while we ran for it. But it all worked out in the end. 

Well there it is. Today we are actually in Spanish Town right now emailing haha, we are going to surprise Pres Brown at the Spanish Town Zone P-Day so that will be super fun.

Love you all... Keep praying for me because it is becoming more and more apparent how many prayers I actually need to function. I know that Junction would have burned to the ground a month ago had it not been for your faithful prayers. Seriously. So thank you and again, love you all! And I guess I'll pray for you too.

Elder Graham

Week #70 - The Meat of the Matter

Hey Family!

This week was full of traveling and a bunch of craziness. 

We went to Mandeville on Tuesday and while Elder Trinnaman went to a meeting, I went out and knocked doors with Elder Poe for a couple hours.

Wednesday morning was a trip to Santa Cruz to have district meeting. Afterward, I tried to go to the tax office to get a TRN (tax registration number) for some branch pres stuff but got totally rejected because I didn't have the original copy of my passport. 

We watched 17 Miracles at the church for a Friday Night Activity. There was an alright turn out but we can do better. We made popcorn and someone brought juice and it was super good.

On Saturday Elder Ridler picked us up and took us to a place called Flagaman to help a member fix her roof, but the only guy who knew how to do it didn't show up so we just helped her move a bunch of books from her house to her school nearby.

Sunday was great again. It's cool having the power to decide what the Sacrament topics are because we can kind of direct where the Spirit is going to hit hard haha so I themed this meeting toward the blessings of the Restoration of the Gospel and how the Book of Mormon helps bring us closer to the Savior. It worked great. Also, Brother Cooper, a new member, taught his first Elder's Quorum class. He was so nervous but he did a great job!!

That's about it for this week. Hope you are all doing well!

Love,

Elder Graham

Omar baked us a chicken.
He always makes us food and it's awesome!

Week #69 - Delighting in the Service

Hey Family!

This week was crazy as usual. 

Elder Hansen left on Wednesday, I picked up Elder Trinnaman and then we were off again. We spent some time helping a member get started on his mission papers which brought me back to the days. It was interesting to do it this time from the branch president perspective haha it is a little bit different (shout out to our awesome Bishop Rex who helped Cody submit his papers).

So the wife of a recent convert was baptized on Saturday. She lives in Junction on the weekends but works all week taking care of her grandparents, so other missionaries taught her, but she is a member of the Junction Branch which is awesome! Her name is Marsha.

Sunday was pretty cool. There is a 93-year-old woman who faithfully comes to church each Sunday still. This Sunday she came, but was feeling very sick, so she had to go and she was missing the Sacrament which put her in tears, she was so sad. I didn't really see what was going on but someone signaled for me to come out to the front of the building and Elder Trinnaman and I knelt down right outside the car that was about to take her home and blessed the Sacrament for her and  were able to get it to her before she left. I'll always remember the spirit that came when we shook her hand and she thanked us and told us she loved us for what we do. Sister Thomas is very special. Keep her in your prayers. 

Well, that’s been the week. It’s hard work, but it brings some of the greatest rewards. Missions are great.

Love you guys,

Elder Graham

Another view of a place called Delightful