Week #77 - Careful Its Contagious

Hey Family!

This week was pretty strange.

The Santa Cruz missionaries all got this weird contagious flu/rash thing which started everything (Apparently this flu has been going around the entire mission over the last couple months).

The first half of the week was totally normal, everything was pretty much going as planned, but starting Wednesday at zone meeting, one of the zone leaders discovered that he had the rash so we pretty much cut zone meeting early and went home. Everyone shook each other’s' hands and whatever this thing was, spread to the whole zone I'm sure. 

So Elder Trinnaman and Elder Simpson caught this thing. I didn't though, which was a pleasant surprise. Friday, Saturday and Monday we spent inside being miserable. We forced ourselves to go Sunday to district conference in May Pen which was good. We needed to get out of the house, and we tried not to shake too many hands. Also we (the missionaries) were called up during the conference to an on-the-spot musical number (well it was on the spot for the Junction elders because we had no idea about it). Oh how Elder Graham loves performing those musical numbers - muahaha

On Monday Carlton Collins was kind enough to go out teaching with me in the morning. He is awesome, he turns 18 next year so mission soon come.

Jamaica is currently on a tropical storm warning right now so any second we could be told to go home or something... so we stocked up on food today. That would be Tropical Storm Earl, hopefully just getting Jamaica a bit soggy and moving on!

Love, 

Elder Graham

Never tell Elder Simpson that it is impossible
to eat five patties... because he will eat six.

Week #76 - Junction Represent

Hey Family!

Some of the usual branch meetings fell through this week so we had time to be full time missionaries all week and that was absolutely awesome. 

We met some cool new guys this week. One dude owns a little fruit stand on the side of the main road. We were just walking past him one day and I went over and bought a pineapple from him. When he was handing it to me, I made him hold my Book of Mormon because "my hands were full" (muahaha) and so yeah, then we just asked him if he had ever seen that book before and that was it. We have pretty much met with him every day this past week. We have been trying to get more creative with our street contacting so yeah, haha there it was.

Sunday after church there was a district seminary graduation in Mandeville, and it didn't occur to me until the day of, that we are supposed to go to that haha so we went and the Junction branch REPRESENTED with three Collins kids getting certificates and then two institute certificates were given to me because the people couldn't make it. Go Junction.

We are having a good ole time here. Keep praying for us, there are a few people that are in the process of learning to trust in God's promises and once they do they will hop right in the water so I'm stoked for the next couple weeks!

Love,

Elder Graham

Swiped from the Jamaica Moms FB page
The sisters in their district and Elders Graham and Trinnaman

Welcome to P-Day in Junction!

Week #75 - Ladies Underwear

Hey Family!

We were just riding and came to a sweet ocean view.

 I never realized how close we were to the ocean!

This week was sweet!!

We got Elder Simpson on Tuesday, so there are now three of us in Junction. He is great - I lived in Sav with him for a little while so we know each other already.

We were just doing our missionary thing this week. Teaching, street contacting, the works. There was a lot of funny things that happened this week too:

So yesterday I was helping a member order garments online and we were there and she was looking at pics of the different material choices, and then she turned around to me and was like "ELDER GRAHAM WHAT ARE YOU DOING LOOKING AT LADIES UNDERWEAR??" and then she just busted out laughing haha it was pretty funny but cool.

Also last night, Elder Trinnaman was getting his hair cut by Elder Simpson and asked me to just kind of take numbers from the sisters for him (he is the district leader so that is a little taste of what district leaders do) so I called them and tried my best Elder Trinnaman impersonation AND I TOTALLY HAD THEM for like five minutes. I finally just couldn't contain laughter so yeah, then they found out and we all started laughing and Elder Trinnaman and Simpson were laughing too and it was just great. Good times.

The remainder of the BTS cake for the birthday.

Accidentally started eating it before the sisters were like,
"Aren't you going to take a picture of that?"
So yeah, thank them for this.

The BTS worked out great.  This is Cody’s favorite “BTS” cake, or as my sister would say, “Better Than Anything You Had on Your Mission Cake.”  We sent him all the ingredients to make his own birthday cake except whipped cream (eww that would be gross), lovingly called it “Better Than Studying” cake to explain the less than pure “BTS” acronym, and were so glad to see the successful finished product!  There was nowhere to get whipped cream soooo I kinda just left it out and it was still SUPER good. I shared with the district too and everyone liked it a lot so that's a plus!

Anywho, the week was great. I'm excited for this upcoming transfer. We have a bit of an edge with three missionaries because we can easily go on splits with just one extra person so we're hoping to be as productive as possible! 

Well, until next week!

Love,

Elder Graham

When rain comes to Junction...

Just more of the view that I get every day

BTS CAKE

1 Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

1 Jar Caramel Topping

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 8 oz Tub Whipped Cream

2 Skor or Heath Bars

Make the chocolate cake according to directions.  

When you remove it from the oven, take the end 

of a wooden spoon and poke holes all over the cake, 

then let it cool.  Pour the can of sweetened 

condensed milk and the jar of caramel topping 

over the top of the cake, letting it fill the holes.  

Top with whipped cream and crushed Heath Bars, 

then refrigerate.  Even better the next day!

Week #74 - Sometimes You Gotta Drop the Mic and Walk

Yo!

This week was great.

We had a zone 4th of July party in Hopeton on Monday. It was awesome!! We cooked burgers and had melon and potato salad and all sorts of good stuff. It felt like we were in America. Right before everyone went home, someone decided that we should sing the Star Spangled Banner, which was a little awkward considering the fact that we were a group mixed of American, Jamaican, Canadian, Samoan and Welsh missionaries haha but I guess that's how the cookie crumbles. America. 

After that, we went to Santa Cruz for a trade off with the zone leaders, Santa Cruz is HOT. Almost as hot as Spanish Town. I went with Elder Stevens and we had a blast. 

Wednesday evening we had two appointments scheduled for the same time in opposite sides of the area. Lucky for us, seminary had just ended, so Elder Trinnaman took a kid from seminary and went to one appointment, and I took Omar (the seminary teacher) and headed to the other. Thank goodness for them. This lady down by the person we were going to see just ripped into us about how fake and political Christianity has become and all this jazz, and Omar and I let her do her thing for a while and then bore testimony that the truth has been restored, dropped our mics and then headed to the guy. No big deal. 

Grandpa's tie and Nike golf pants... life is good!

Saturday was fun - we went to Mandeville for a district auxiliary training meeting. When we got back, one of the senior missionaries came to Junction and took us around to some far reaching areas to see some people. He also brought that heavenly birthday package. Thank you soooooo much!! (Prayers were answered that Customs let the package through – it was full of requested American candy, “Smarty sweeties” and “Peanut Buttah Em un Ems”, new shoes, the makings for his favorite birthday cake and good stuff from our awesome Nike connection.  We also sent one of Cody’s grandpa’s ties from the old days – Grandpa is still with him in spirit doing what he loved most, sharing his testimony of Jesus Christ.)

Transfer calls came this week. The only thing happening here in Junction is Elder Trinnaman and I are receiving Elder Simpson from Sav, so now there are three of us. It's gonna be wild haha, they almost brought enough to split the areas again, but we are gonna have a great time.

Hope your week was awesome!

Love,

Elder Graham

Week #73 - The Cherry on Top

So happy for Collin (L) baptized by President Collins (R)

Alright, enough with the pleasantries, I'll get right to the point in saying COLLIN GOT BAPTIZED!!! It went great, and then he was confirmed on Sunday so that was the cherry on top to the birthday this week. By the way, thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes. They came true and I am so grateful for all your prayers. 

We got to have an official "meet President and Sister Pearson" devotional on Saturday in Mandeville which was great. They are super awesome so I'm excited for them. 

To be short in writing, this week was absolutely amazing. 

Love,

Elder Graham

Happy birthday to me - we found a burger place in town and got a burger and strawberry shake!

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