Week #93 - Ch-ch-changes

Hey Family!

This week was full of changes. 

Monday night a few members of the Junction Branch held one last little FHE (Family Home Evening) for me and it was awesome. I am going to miss those guys!

Kingston is SO much different than Junction. I had to catch a bus at 4:45 am Wednesday morning... It turned out that the bus wasn't actually supposed to come until 5:55am so we got up at 3am due to some miscommunications. It was all good tho. I received Elder Morris from Ohio (his family lives in Gilbert, AZ though) and we got into to our area and just did some exploring. 

On Thursday night we were walking around street contacting and we ran into this lady who told us she knew a member who lives nearby and offered to show us where he was. So we met Bro Lim and got to know him a bit, then we left and about 5 minutes later, the SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN. This guy came to us and said, "You looking for the Edwards?" We were like "No, but now we are. Who are they??" He explained that they are members of our church and missionaries always go there, so he just brought us to them. Turns out one of the members of the family is not a member of the church and just happens to be in the process of being taught by the missionaries which are now... us. So tender mercies have been all over the place for us, making things a bit easier because whitewashing is HARD! It is so cool though. We are beginning to pick up on main roads and neighborhoods and stuff.

Church was great. We had three investigators come and two of them will hopefully be baptized in December!

Love you guys. Have a great week!

Elder Graham

Red Hills

The Boulevard house that is actually in the Red Hills

Week #92 - This Place and These People

Hey Family!

Well I received a lot of news this week, besides Trump and stuff, so I will jump right into the details. 

On Wednesday after district meeting I got a phone call from the AP's telling me that Elder Dawson was coming to Junction to be the new branch president… which means that I will be transferred next week. They didn’t tell me where I was going until Saturday, so I will get to that later. I want to explain the rest of Wednesday because it was awesome:

So later that day Elder Callister and I were walking down the street to go to an appointment when this fragile old man beckoned us from the side of the street. He asked us to help him get up and get back to his house because he didn't really have the energy to do it on his own. So we got on both sides of him and started to walk with him (his arms were around our necks so we took most of his weight). After about 100 feet, his right leg gave out, so we sat him down for a second, and then Elder Callister was like "Don't worry, we're Boy Scouts." and we laughed and picked the guy up and carried him another 200 meters up a hill all the way his house. Now from the perspective of the woman inside his house, I imagine her walking out of her home to find this man being carried up the hill to her by two nicely dressed, dripping-wet sweaty white dudes. I have no idea what was going through her head, but I do know that she thanked us for our kindness... and now we are teaching her and her daughter. So you could say it was a miracle.

Okay back to transfer calls. They called on Saturday morning and told me that I will be going to Boulevard (in Kingston) and I will be training. Yeah, I am just as shocked and confused and surprised as you are. Shocked and surprised because typically when you’re training, you stay with that missionary for around three months.  Elders Graham and Callister have only been together for six weeks.

Sunday was great. I had a bit of a rough time getting through my talk. It will be my last in Junction for a while. I'm going to miss this place and these people. We took some pictures and signed some journals and the works. I am sad to leave Junction, but the work goes on!

We are having a big FHE at Sister Gayle's house tonight. I think it will be one last hoorah before I am outta here early Wednesday morning.

Lots of changes right before the end. Crazy huh? Three months will go by in about 46 minutes so it seems.

Love you guys!

Elder Graham

The Junction Branch... not everyone, but some of them

Sister Hudson's a baller

Elder Callister and I

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 #44 - Go West, Young Missionary

Hey Fam, 

Lots of exciting stuff this week.

We had to call the mission office this week and have President Brown call Cody to let him know his Grandpa Briggs passed away on Wednesday.  He shared the following experience, which was amazingly similar to one I had the same day – it's wonderful to know my dad is keeping his eye on Cody and all of his family… It's nice to know that Grandpa endured to the end and earned his reward. It motivates me to get my poop in a group and not..."fizzle out" for lack of a better term haha.  Cass shared a cool little experience she had about Gramps and I had a similar one the same day I got the call from President Brown. We were just chilling outside making some phone calls and I didn't really see it like a vision or anything crazy like that but I just imagined him across the street in a white suit giving me double thumbs up. It just stayed in my mind for a few minutes while I was making calls. Not sure if it was just my mind or what but I'm positive it was real. He's a baller. Translation:  "He’s awesome."  He really is… Grandpa’s Obituary

So yeah about transfers. I'm being transferred to Savanna-la-Mar which is on the opposite side of the island. I'm excited but of course, sad to leave Spanish Town. I'll leave on Wednesday. It's going to be a 4-5 hour drive so I'm not excited for that part, but anywho…

Savanna-la-mar (often abbreviated to Sav-la-mar or simply "Sav" by locals) is the capital of Westmoreland Parish, with a population of almost 23,000 (a tiny bit smaller than Spanish Town’s 147,000). A coastal town, it contains an 18th-century fort constructed for colonial defense against pirates in the Caribbean. Sadly, the most memorable events in the town's history is a series of three hurricanes which caused massive destruction. The first one to hit the newly established town was in 1748 which caused almost total destruction. Another hurricane hit in 1780, allegedly causing the sea to rise to such a degree that ships were found stranded amongst the trees. A third hurricane struck in 1912, causing a schooner to be washed in to town. Nowadays the town's economic activities center around sugar, retail and occasional benefits from the Negril tourism trade.

Today we went to a wedding. Ramon and Janelle, two people that have been talking with the missionaries for the last few weeks, got married today and are gonna get baptized on Saturday which will be SWEET. They are so cool. 

Congratulations Ramon and Janelle!

Tonight we are going to open our district Secret Santa gifts and have a nice last little P-Day before everyone takes off. It's gonna be awesome.

I'm keeping some stories off so I'll actually have something to talk about for Christmas - so sorry if I seem way boring!

Love you guys!

Elder Graham

Well hello, Elder Gardner...

DJ Graham throwing down a dope set in the club...