Week #4 - Keanu and Curry and Rastas, Oh My!

This week has been pretty crazy!

One thing I forgot to mention last week was a homeless guy named Reggie loves the missionaries and always gives them nicknames based on actors. Elder Fowkes is Paul Walker and apparently I am now Keanu Reaves? Can't say I know exactly what he looks like but I'll take what I can get out here (I DO know he's in the Matrix movies).

See the resemblance?  Hmmmm....

Every Sunday, Sister Meadow (from the branch) feeds us dinner and holy crud she puts SOOO much food on our plates, but I've been destroying them which is good. Last week was stew peas and yesterday was brown stew chicken. Everyone says they're really different from each other but it is all just rice, peas and chicken to me so it all tastes the same, but I like it all! I also tried Elder Banton's curry goat on Wednesday which was pretty good but it smelled horrid.

So I'll let you look up what this stuff is but I think the greatest inventions Jamaica has so far are Bulla and bag juice. Soooooooo dang good and really cheap. I also love Jamaican Kola, I don't know how to describe it but it's just Jamaican soda and its way good.

Bulla

Kola

Bag Juice

On Tuesday, we were biking back home when we saw a guy flagging us down. His first question was "Do you keep the Sabbath Day holy?" So yeah we got ambushed by a Seventh Day Adventist but it was fine, Elder Fowkes is really good at being bold and honest with people while also being respectful. Not quite sure how he knew where we were going to be, when we were going to be there or how long he waited for us but anyway, bless his heart.

Elder Fowkes, (left) Elder Stewart (middle,
he is our branch president) and I with our lobster feast

On Wednesday, this AWESOME guy we know, Alton (sea fisherman) gave us probably $50 worth of lobster for free and so we feasted that night!

On Friday night, I bought some jerked chicken that must have been way undercooked but I didn't see because it was dark.....I wasn't feeling good Friday night and Saturday so (being the genius that I am) I took some pills to try to get better asap and I might have taken too many at once sooooo yeah haha. I think I got a little dehydrated. So I was getting up from closing prayer of our comp study and my ears plugged and my vision got really dark and cloudy and so I stumbled to my bed and just layed there until my head stopped spinning. I tried to get up but I was still dizzy so Fowkes told me to just stay down...I felt bad for screwing up the day but he understood.. 3 hours later I was able to move around without passing out so we went out and finished the day's appointments like nothing ever happened and I've been great since then. Just a minor speed bump hahaha but no biggy.

Our church building (usually along with the goats
who do our landscapting for us)

Sunday was way cool! I gave a talk on the Priesthood, then some guy walked into church and after talking, we found out he's an elder's quorum president in New Jersey but he is visiting family down here. He took us to his aunts house where we taught her and she seemed pretty interested. He is WAY excited that he introduced her to us. After that, we went and taught another lesson to these two ladies, Marvia and "T West" (that's all we know her as). Turns out, from the last time we saw them to this, Marv read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon...she read it in a week?!?!?!?!? how crazy is that! We will see what comes of that, she didn't pray about it at all but she said she would this week.

Oh also, we played Jamaican Domino with some super old rastas (Apparently one of them is a reggae artist and just got back from tour in Belgium?? You do you, rasta mon). But we got their info and gave them some pamphlets so that is pretty cool haha.

So for Tamara's baptism on Saturday (March 14) Elder Fowkes will baptize her but I get to witness which means I'll be getting in the ocean as well!! Elder Fowkes is awesome. We get along great and have a ton in common. Like I said, he is really bold when teaching and I admire that about him. He's a dang good trainer and this companionship was definitely inspired.

The pictures that Anakay sent you were just pics of us talking after church. Explanation: I received a friend request on Facebook from Anakay, a lady in Cody’s branch. She posted a bunch of pictures of the elders after church – it was fun to see candids of them! 

 

Our branch has about 35 active members and maybe 60 total members so we work a lot with less active members throughout the week.

My bike is not great but not terrible either. It works. And no I am not sun burnt, and never did get sun burnt so that is good.

That's all for this week. Until next time. One love!

Love,

Elder Graham

p.s. 

"One Love" is Jamaica's motto/slogan, just so you don't think I'm turning too hardcore of a rasta, I just like to talk to them, that's all. I don't even accept the weed they offer so I'm staying obedient!

Our house

Bucket shower (when the water stops running)

Embracing the stereotype Step 1:  Wata

View of Yallahs Pond with the ocean behind it from a recent convert's house

The awesome view from a part of our area

Week #3 - Holla for Yallahs!

WAH GWAN FAMMMM!?

Jamaica is so freaking cool and the people are awesome!

When we first saw President Brown outside the airport we thought he was one of the missionaries! haha He is THE MAN. He told me in our interview that he sees something really special in me and told me to be ready for early leadership... I guess I’m still on the path hahaha. Honestly though, leadership is cool and all but I’m not all that excited for it. But YOLO...

We spent the first night at the AP's house in Kingston, then went to transfers in Spanish Town. I am in Yallahs east with my trainer, Elder Fowkes from Gilbert, AZ. He is so cool, and he knows his stuff. I’ve already learned a ton from teaching with him!

So on Thursday, I taught my first actual lesson to a girl named Tamara. She's 19 and has been meeting with the missionaries since January. She is our top investigator and really the only one that has progressed at all. Anyway, I extended a baptism date of March 14 and she said YES! It was sooo awesome and a huge confidence booster!

Yallahs is so cool. It is on the south side of Jamaica in the "bush" which just means the sticks. It is one of like three areas that can baptize in the OCEAN so that will be awesome!! It’s really humid here but in Yallahs, its super windy so we get the nice ocean breeze pretty often and that is so nice.

Every building in Jamaica is made out of cement and all buildings have gates/bars over doors and windows. Our house is no different. Since we don’t have AC (just fans) we just leave everything open and close the door gate with a padlock. Probably half of our electrical circuits are shorted out or not working and our water shuts off randomly sometimes, which means for some days we have to do... dum dada DUMMMM! BUCKET SHOWERS!! yayyyyyy. They’re really not bad though. There’s only one temperature that the water is anyway and it’s not too warm not too cold, even water from the kitchen sink (but don’t worry we have a filter on the kitchen sink so no one dies or anything crazy like that). I like cold showers here though, they are refreshing.

We live with another set of elders that cover the west and north side of Yallahs: Elder Stewart (our branch president as well) and Elder Banton (Jamaican, soooooo funny...also our branch clerk).

As you can see, things are great here in Yallahs. Though it’s a little 3rd worldy, (even though some people manage to get androids and BMW's) it’s a TON of fun and I’m excited to continue the work here, it is moving!!! I’ve seen some cool things, some weird things, some funny things and also disgusting things here so far and I love every minute of it!

One weird thing is that dogs and GOATS just roam the streets and coexist with people here haha it’s odd but I’m used to it now. Plus, goats make a great lawn care service for our church building... ;)

Also, apparently the work in Yallahs is the best in the entire mission so we have a rep to keep up.

Going off island might not happen because there’s only one set of elders out there and three sets of sisters, but that doesn’t bother me too much, I’m fine with Jamaica!!!

We’re about to go into Kingston (hour drive) to play ball with Elder Evans and his comp... and to pick up glasses for Elder Stewart, so until next week!

Love,

Elder Graham

Pictures to come NEXT week, I don’t have a usb adapter for my SD card so no pics... I gotta keep you wanting more SOMEHOW right??

A Note from President Brown

THE CHURCH OF

JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Jamaica Kingston Mission
4 Garelli Avenue
Kingston 10
Jamaica
Phone: 1-876-618-1625

27 Feb 2015

Dear Brother & Sister Graham:

We are happy to let you know your son, Cody Reed Graham, arrived safely in Kingston, Jamaica. He is in good spirits and arrived anxious to become involved in the great work being done here. When he arrived we met him at the airport and brought him to the mission home where he spent his first night. We helped him with banking and immigration matters and then provided training and orientation.

He was interviewed and met his trainer, Elder Fowkes. They then went to their area where they began the work he came here to do. Your son will be serving in the Yallahs Branch. As parents we can appreciate your concern for him and his welfare and felt you would like to know he is safe and doing fine.

We want to thank you for raising such a fine son and for your support for him while he is here. Your support for the next few weeks while he may experience some homesickness will be very important. The work is really beginning to blossom here in Jamaica and the people are warm and friendly. We are confident he will have a special experience. We can assure you we will do everything we can to help him grow and develop and are confident his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ will increase. Through his mission experiences he will draw closer to our Savior. We are so grateful to have him here.

We will appreciate your continued support. Please feel free to contact us if we can be of assistance.

Gratefully,


       Kevin G. Brown               Sister Nadine Brown
           President
Jamaica Kingston Mission

First night in Kingston!  Elders Palmer, Ostrowski, Graham, Evans, Stever, and two nice sisters!

The Newbs! Five sisters, Sister Brown & President Brown, Elders Ostrowski, Evans, Stever, Palmer & Graham

Yallahs is on the southeast part of Jamaica - it is a rural community with around 10,000 people.

Yallahs Beach

Their church building!

A view down the road

Looking down at Yallahs from the Blue Mountains

Hopefully we get an email from Elder Graham with his take on the new digs on his P-Day, which is Monday!!  The journey begins...