Week #41 - Respeck Rasta Yout

Hey Family!

This whole week was pretty crazy. Every day except for Sunday I went on some trade off or another for a bunch of different reasons.

Tuesday I went on a trade off with Elder Koegler so I could interview someone for baptism.

We had an emergency zone conference on Wednesday, addressing the Lord's call to serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength. It was an awesome meeting. It got Elder Christensen and I way hyped to continue the work here in Spanish Town. Later in the evening, I went on a trade off with Elder Knight.

Elder Koegler and Elder Gardner got sick on Thursday, so I went on a little trade off with Elder Pulsipher so they could go see someone who was preparing to be baptized a couple days later. Sister Harrison fed us some curry chicken and fried bread fruit which is always amazing.

On Friday evening Elder Koegler was still sick, so I went back out with Elder Knight in the evening to see someone in their area who was also preparing to be baptized over the weekend.

Saturday I went on a trade off with Elder Gardner, but finally stayed in my own area this time. A woman named Opal was baptized Saturday morning!

The mother of a kid who is now serving a mission in the Dominican Republic was baptized on Sunday morning which was awesome! We had more investigators than usual show up at church on Sunday which was great. After church, we went home and made curry chicken with boiled dumpling and potatoes for our house lunch. Later in the evening, we got fed (by a member) baked chicken and rice and peas with some dang good chocolate cake.

Crazy week but it was great. Weeks like these build faith and character. Until next week…

Love you guys!

Elder Graham

Respeck Rasta Yout
Translation:  Respect Rasta Youth
Spanish Town Zone Turkey Bowl!
Front:  Elders Christensen, Gardner, Kolomalu
Back:  Elders Dean, Robbins, Senior, Koegler, Graham, Knight, Pulsipher

Week #29 - I'll Take Mine to Go With a Side of Humility

Hey family!

This week was alright.  Almost everything all week long just fell through... Not sure if this is just a big test of patience and faith or what but it has been pretty hard not to think that I'm not doing something right or whatever. Cody’s Dad gave him a bit of a pep talk here:  What does the verse say... Not until after the trial of our faith will we be blessed, or something to that effect. All you can do is keep at it, things will turn around. Now you know what a lot of Elders have felt like serving in our ward!  Ether 12:6 haha yep definitely been reading through that one. And Mosiah 2:41 has been inspirational for some of our investigators. Basically just says consider the happy state of those who keep the commandments. Book of Mormon is awesome.

We have just been having very little success with people, and when we do, something just comes up and halts their progression again... Missionary work is hard haha but I'm hanging in there. I'm just gonna keep working my butt off and hope that something good gets going soon. I hope this coming week we have a little more success but we'll see! I'm learning a lot though.

We are doing a LOT of street contacting which is always fun because of all the different kinds of people we get to talk to. It's always interesting and slightly awkward but missionaries thrive on awkward situations so it's no biggy.

I'm doing really good though. I still love it out here more and more every day and time is just ticking away. Pretty soon it'll be Christmas already haha.  Sorry it's so short but I gotta head out!

Love,

Elder Graham

The kids of one of our investigators. Meet Brooklyn and "Lebron James." Not sure what his real name is.  Everyone calls him Lebron James though so we will go with that.

Playing hoops with the boys
From left – Elders Lambert, Palmer, Jackson, Dean, 
Kemp, Senior, Havili, Graham and Biddulph.  
Makes me miss the days of the Dirty Birds!