Week #97 - Twinkle Toes Graham

Hey Family! 

Well another one gone and another one begins!  Let’s assume he’s talking weeks.  As in seven – the number of weeks before he comes home!!!!!

Tuesday night we went to the Lewis's to show a Holland talk and they were running around like they were about to leave somewhere and just before we asked what was going on, Brother Lewis was like, "Come on elders we're going to KFC - get your stuff, let's go!" Oh it was way funny he was like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time. Unfortunately it was getting too late to walk all the way to KFC and back, so they bought us Dominoes instead. They are the coolest.

On Wednesday night we met with the Roofs, a young newly married couple. They are way cool as well. Elder Morris got his first ackee and salt fish experience with them. We played some games and shared the "Will of God" Mormon Message. Another great family!

Saturday night was the Boulevard ward Christmas dinner. A lot of people performed stuff. I don't really need to explain what we did because I hear it already got leaked to every waking soul. BUT I will say that the song we sang... okay we learned it only minutes before performing it, alright so back off haha... and I don't have an explanation for the end… anyway… (watch the video by clicking on the "what we did" link… Elder Graham’s dance moves at the end are on point).

This week is Christmas. You know what that means: bingo. Skype (he means BINGO!!!!! SKYPE!!!!!!). We have our zone Christmas party on Friday the 23rd as well so the whole week will be full of celebration. 

Please pray for Tricia and Nathaniel as well. They are working for December 31 to be baptized. Yep, New Years Eve! Thank you!!

I guess I can leave you all with something President Pearson sent to all of us this week:

"This coming year will be exciting, with many moments of pure joy that will be countered by times of intense sorrow. Whether we are joyful or sorrowing, there is no need to ever be discouraged. We all must learn to appreciate the opposition we face, for that is the engine of our growth; the key element in the plan of salvation."

Love,

Elder Graham

A companionship that polishes together slays together.

My response: “Wow, polishing your shoes???? I don't even know you.”

Week #95 - Planting New Seeds

Hey Family!

This went by way fast because of the election thing and all that jazz... but what's new.

Boulevard Ward - Bro Lewis is in the back with sunglasses

We had a super cool experience on Saturday: We met with this less active guy named Bro Lewis and we got talking about faith and seeds and fruits and whatnot. As we were talking he was like "I feel like my tree of faith has stopped growing and it has gone bad... so how do I start over?" and then there was a pause for like 10 seconds, and he was like "Maybe I should just plant a new seed. I can do that right?" Oh it was soooo cool. He and his wife came to church yesterday for the first time in like 4 or 5 months and he got up and bore testimony about how "the missionaries helped him make a new spiritual discovery". What’s really crazy is he said that "When I was talking with the missionaries, Elder Graham looked at me and said, “You just need to have faith, Brother Lewis.”" The crazy part is that I do not remember ever saying that to him word for word, but it is funny how the Spirit says what needs to be said even if we don't put it exactly on point.

Cow Skin

We had dinner at Bro and Sis Parks' house and they are this adorable old couple that makes dang good food!

In other news, Elder Morris and I tried cow skin for the first time this week. It was alright… kinda gummy.

Have a great week and enjoy the cool breeze and snow and rain and stuff because we will be over here sweating like crazy!

Love,

Elder Graham

Selfie game still weak but getting better...

Elders trying their hand at cupping.

Can’t wait to hear how this came about…

Week #90 - A Good Awful

Hey Family!

So this week was full of reflection and listening to talks. Unfortunately, Elder Callister's fever did not go down until Saturday haha so we had quite a bit of time to chill out and read and stuff.  When we were chatting back and forth last week, Cody said, “Comp is awesome. Except he came down with a fever yesterday. I think it is at like 101 right now haha but he is a trooper.” Ugh – a fever his first whole week into the mission?? Poor Elder Callister…

We did have a finance training meeting on Wednesday that we had to go to Spanish Town for. That was exciting. Since the meeting was so late, we couldn't get all the way back to Junction in time, so we stopped in Mandeville and stayed the night at the Chandlers' house. They are a senior missionary couple. Boy did they TREAT us. It was like living with grandparents. I have never eaten so much in such a short amount of time. We got to their house around 9:45pm and they fed us chicken sandwiches and juice and chips and salsa... And we woke up to stacks upon stacks of pancakes and soursop and more juice.  By the end of it, they were coming around to see if we needed anything more, and Elder Callister and I were busy waving a white napkin flag of surrender. Holy cow, yeah that was so good but I felt awful afterward. It was a good awful though. 

Thursday night, I decided that I would try and help my fever-stricken companion by making some soup - so I made some red pea soup and it was pretty spicy but it tasted alright... until the next day.  Yeah, no bueno.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. We are going to Mandeville today for a Halloween party so that should be exciting. Elder Graham shared that he was creating a costume to go with some dollar bill pants he had – where he picked those up I’m not sure but PLEASE let there be pics of it next week!!

Enjoy your week!

Love,

Elder Graham

The infamous red pea soup

Week #83 - Challenge Accepted

Hey Family!

This week was cool. We have been challenged to invite pretty much everyone we meet to be baptized if God tells them the Book of Mormon is true and it has been a way cool experience!

Tuesday morning we chopped some grass for the Hudsons in the hot sun and they fed us chicken liver and fried dumpling and it was fantastic. And if you're wondering if we used machetes to chop? Yes we did.

Thursday we had a couple cool experiences with this BoM challenge:

First, we did a little finding trip up this big hill to a place called Tod Town and as we walked past this bar, a girl was asking for a bible verse and we kinda just brushed it off (usually it is the sole intent of those girls to just flirt with missionaries so we usually avoid those situations) but on our way back past the bar, she was still sitting there and she called out to us again and asked us what we believe about God. Her exact words (English translation of course) were: "Hey I have heard some people say that Mormons don't believe in God and I thought that was crazy so I thought I might go straight to the source. So what do you believe about God?" We gave her a Book of Mormon and gave her a challenge and she said that of course if God told her this was true she would have to do what He says. So that was awesome

Later in the day, we met this other lady who just seemed way cool. We challenged her and the same thing happened! Elder Trinnaman took Omar to go see her on Saturday and had a great lesson with her. She even fed them!! Good things are happening in Junction!

I went with the Chandlers on Saturday to go visit some of the seminary/institute aged people in the Junction area (they are S&I (seminary & institute, I presume?) missionaries) and had some really good talks with people who have not been to church in a while. I hope we can increase the amount of people going to Seminary and Institute this year. That would be amazing!

That's all I got for ya this week. Talk to ya soon!

Love,

Elder Graham

More Lovers Leap

Hola from the office where we email

Week #80 - Your Prayers Are Working

Hey Family!

We had a good week.

Red Pea Soup

We went to Santa Cruz on Wednesday and had a trade off with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Rowley. We saw one of his investigators and his girlfriend just happened to be there, so we taught them about the Restoration and she totally got it! It was one of the best Restoration lessons we have had. And here is the cool part. It just so happens that she lives in a place called New Forrest. Guess where that is. That's right - MY AREA. So hopefully we can get in contact with her again, her phone has been off for a few days but she seems way cool. Later in the evening, a member in Santa Cruz cooked us red pea soup for dinner and it was AWESOME. Also, this old crazy lady named Ms. Vi (Violet) that lives at the house where we had dinner was singing to us. It was a good time.

We got our transfer calls on Saturday and Elder Trinnaman and I will be staying in Junction, and Elder Simpson will be going to May Pen. Crazy right? You can never predict transfers.

Elder Ridler came again and we did splits with him and Pres Collins. Elder Simpson and I visited a few people. We started teaching this rasta dude and his girlfriend. His name is Raymond and he is pretty cool, but we will see how it goes. When the other guys were teaching the Samudas on Saturday, KerryAnn was asking Romario again if he really wanted to get baptized and he was like "I told you already but you never listened!!" So he went and found a napkin and wrote "yes" on it and gave it to his mom. Ohhhh boy that was priceless. So hopefully we can get the kids in the pool by this coming Saturday!!!

Also there is another girl who always comes to church and wants to be baptized in a few weeks when she turns 12. Her mother has been the reason why she hasn't in the past, but they visited her and Shayquan bore testimony and everyone was crying and so I think that will be the softener for her mom. 

There are a lot of good things happening here. Your prayers are working, just so you all know!!

Oh also, yesterday was President Collins' birthday. He turned 52.They invited us over tonight for dinner so I'm stoked!

But that is about it for this week. Talk to ya later!

Love,

Elder Graham

The doll house

(Cody’s very masculine apt building)