Week #103 - Th-th-th-th-that's All Folks

Hey Fam,

Well, this will probably be the last time I email from Jamaica. 

Boy it has been a wild ride and I have had a blast. I'm so thankful for the time I have been given to be a missionary and I am going to miss it. I have really tried to bust my tail over the course of my whole mission but especially for this last transfer and I know that the Lord is going to bless a lot of people. I have learned how to just roll with any situation or task or challenge that comes my way.

In the words of Ammon to his brethren after their missionary journey, “Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise His name forever.”

I am excited to see everyone again! I guess I will finish this all off with the only thing I have which is of any value: 

I know that Jesus is the Christ, that he suffered, died, was resurrected, and LIVES so that if we choose, we can receive eternal peace and happiness. Joseph Smith was called by God to restore the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. We can successfully overcome the storms of life through striving to apply the principles we learn from regular scripture study. 

I stand with the Savior when He says: 

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Love,

Elder Graham

Another family pic, missing Elder Callister
Elders Morris, Graham, Christensen, Bischoff and Epps

Hello / Goodbye Kingston...

Week #102 - Working Till the End

Hey Family!

Well Time is running up on me now. This week has been great but like everything else, it has been soooo fast!

Elder Morris and I made a plan this past week to see Tricia and Nathaniel daily and repeatedly committing them to come to church on Sunday. We got them a free ride with a member and everything. And TRICIA CAME TO CHURCH! 

That is it!

Love,

Elder Graham

Week #101 - Play Till You Lose... or Blister

Hey Family!

We found some awesome people this week who seem so ready for the gospel. Like perfect point in their lives, perfect timing, everything so we are stoked for that!

So on Saturday Elder Morris and I were heading past this basketball court where these guys were playing. They actually looked like they were pretty good so we watched them for a minute or two and then one of them asked us if we wanted to play... so we did. They were playing "play until you lose" and we won five games in a row with these two other guys there. It was so much fun but by the end my feet were killing me. When I got home I looked at the bottoms of my feet and... (see picture below)

Gotta go - love you!

Elder Graham

"Missionaries, you wanna get a quick ball game in?"
Five games later... 

Best laundry detergent out there

Week #100 - Making Friends... Not Kobe or Lebron

Hey Fam!

I'll keep this quick.

Today has been so weird. It is clear blue skies except for in the mountains a little ways away but it is soooo windy today so we are catching mist off the rain from the mountains and it feels sooooo nice!!

Tricia is getting fed up with her mother and it is kind of a good thing because I think soon she will want to get baptized. She just can't seem to get to church so that is the struggle. It is always either money or my parents are coming... again. No biggy tho, she will get it!

In other news. Elder Morris and I met these kids that play basketball each Friday and they always call us to go play with them. This is crazy because NO ONE in Jamaica plays basketball. They are not Kobe or Lebron but it is better than nothing!! So we have made a lot of friends that way which is a dream come true for us!

Love you guys and PS: See you on the 7th! Cue jumping and screaming for joy… Just got Elder Graham’s flight information – he comes home Tuesday, February 7 at 6:55pm.  He’ll talk about his mission experience on Sunday, February 12 at 9am at the Beacon Hill LDS Church in Beaverton – all are welcome!!!

Elder Graham

Week #99 - Miracles According to Our Faith

Hey Family!

This week was awesome! Happy New Year by the way!

Our mission does this thing where basically we challenge people to baptism in the first contact. We had set a goal to challenge 70 people this past week. We did good at the start of the week, staying on course, but toward the middle, we had a couple days where we did not meet our goal. This put us quite a bit behind (as usual). So Saturday night in our planning for Sunday, we prayed that we might reach our goal of 70 challenges for the week. In order to make that happen, we would have to challenge 24 people in one day. We were nervous, but confident in putting our trust in the Lord. So Sunday after church we were invited to dinner by a couple in our area, an area that we had not been to ever before. We had about an hour before dinner, so we locked our bicycles and began finding. In an hour, we had challenged 18 people, and after dinner we were so confident that we would challenge 6 more that it was no problem. To make it better, people started coming up to us as we were going throughout the different streets. I remember one guy in particular called us over and told us that he had recently visited the San Diego Temple Visitor Center and showed us a bunch of pictures he took on his phone. So the Lord was giving us miracles according to our faith just like it says in Moroni 7:37.

We are working hard out here and the Lord is blessing us a lot. 

Have a great new year!

Love,

Elder Graham

Missionaries have no fun whatsoever.

Week #98 - Prayer Works

Hey Family!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because you heard most of it all on Skype (which was awesome to see all of you by the way).

We had a zone party on Friday with and American Christmas dinner. Sunday we were fed twice, and Monday we were fed again. My tummy hurts. The members of the Boulevard Ward can COOK.

So today starts the first day of my last transfer. So crazy. But I mean, everything on a mission is so crazy so it really isn't much different. Missionary work will go on. I pray that I will be able to finish strong. I appreciate all the help that I receive from prayers of everybody back home - PRAYER WORKS so thanks a lot!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Graham

The Lewis Family learned that putting up Christmas lights is a strange skill that the Graham family has so they asked me to put them on the grill for them haha. This is their Christmas tree!

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.”