Week #41 - Respeck Rasta Yout

Hey Family!

This whole week was pretty crazy. Every day except for Sunday I went on some trade off or another for a bunch of different reasons.

Tuesday I went on a trade off with Elder Koegler so I could interview someone for baptism.

We had an emergency zone conference on Wednesday, addressing the Lord's call to serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength. It was an awesome meeting. It got Elder Christensen and I way hyped to continue the work here in Spanish Town. Later in the evening, I went on a trade off with Elder Knight.

Elder Koegler and Elder Gardner got sick on Thursday, so I went on a little trade off with Elder Pulsipher so they could go see someone who was preparing to be baptized a couple days later. Sister Harrison fed us some curry chicken and fried bread fruit which is always amazing.

On Friday evening Elder Koegler was still sick, so I went back out with Elder Knight in the evening to see someone in their area who was also preparing to be baptized over the weekend.

Saturday I went on a trade off with Elder Gardner, but finally stayed in my own area this time. A woman named Opal was baptized Saturday morning!

The mother of a kid who is now serving a mission in the Dominican Republic was baptized on Sunday morning which was awesome! We had more investigators than usual show up at church on Sunday which was great. After church, we went home and made curry chicken with boiled dumpling and potatoes for our house lunch. Later in the evening, we got fed (by a member) baked chicken and rice and peas with some dang good chocolate cake.

Crazy week but it was great. Weeks like these build faith and character. Until next week…

Love you guys!

Elder Graham

Respeck Rasta Yout
Translation:  Respect Rasta Youth
Spanish Town Zone Turkey Bowl!
Front:  Elders Christensen, Gardner, Kolomalu
Back:  Elders Dean, Robbins, Senior, Koegler, Graham, Knight, Pulsipher

Week #40 - Getting Famous in Willowdene

Hey Family!

I'll jump right into it this week.

Tuesday night we found a bunch of Christmas stuff in a storage room of our house, so we threw it up as best as a bunch of 19 year-old boys could.

I went on a trade off with Elder Knight on Wednesday. He is awesome. We had a good time doing all sorts of missionary work and eating berries that make your tongue go numb and other stuff.

Some people called out to us as we were riding by and called us over. We asked them how they knew we were missionaries, and they said they knew people who have talked to us before. So we're getting pretty famous in Willowdene, I guess. 

Sister Murdock has been getting pamphlets from us and taking them to the health clinic and handing them out to people. She knows now to make sure to get people's number, name, and address and then she just gives the info to us. She is a beast at finding referrals for us!

Sunday was the primary program. It was a little interesting, but still really good. After church, we went home and made our own family dinner: stew peas with pork.

That's it for this week!

Love,

Elder Graham 

We crossed over Highway 2000 to get to a member's house way out in bush

Week #39 - Sometimes You Just Need to Chill Eat

Hey Fam!

This week has been great.

Inside Chilitos - a great JaMexican spot!
Oh and Elder Koegler.

So last Monday we planned on going to Kingston for the Bob Marley museum, but we couldn't get the residency discount so it would have been way expensive. We went to Chilitos instead, which is the only Mexican restaurant in Jamaica. We also went to a place called Devon House and got some ice cream. 

I went to another trainer's meeting on Tuesday which was good. We talked a lot about obedience and discussed some little things that we as a mission can do to be more obedient. It'll be good for the work, so I'm excited to see how the work improves.

Transfers were on Wednesday. Elder Biddulph went to Downtown Kingston, and Elder Pulsipher is here in Spanish Town now – he’s way sick (translation: he’s a great guy) and from St George, Utah.  Not too many changes for myself or Elder Christensen.

Fry fish and boiled dumpling

On Thursday, Sister Murdock gave Elder Christensen and I some fried fish, so we took it home that night and boiled some dumplings, threw some jerk seasoning on the fish and had that for dinner. It was so good!

A member invited us over for a game night with some of his friends Friday night. We played domino, ate some good food, met some people, it was awesome. Some of the people were pretty interested in the gospel, and two of them are soon getting married AND baptized around Christmas time so that's exciting.

Saturday was the International Day of Service. The two Spanish Town wards went to go chop a whole bunch of thorn bushes and tall grass so a garden can be extended further. The place is called the Mustard Seed Jerusalem Center; it's in Spanish Town somewhere and it houses physically and mentally handicapped children. It was cool to hang out with them for a little bit before we got to work. My neck is so burnt right now, it hurts to turn my head because my collar rubs it raw. But it was great.  So glad we sent him with a good supply of sunscreen… 

Elders Gardner, Graham, Banton, Pulsipher and Christensen

Sunday, as we were walking out from church, I saw Elder Banton (one of the elders Cody lived with in Yallahs – he went home for a short time)!  He was set apart as a missionary yesterday so he is back in the mission field and is serving in the Boulevard Ward in Kingston. It was so good to see him!

So there was my week. Hope yours was good!

Love,

Elder Graham

Week #38 - No Tricks, Just Treats

Hey Family!

My week was awesome, but I will keep this pretty short. 

His response when asked if he went Trick or Treating:  Halloween isn't celebrated at all here. It was just a normal day besides the 2 pounds of caramel and gummy worms we bought. So I’m guessing a visit to the dentist is looming…

We had zone meeting on Wednesday. Elder Christensen and I had to teach a section of it which was pretty great. Wednesday night, Elder Havili got to come teaching with us which is always a good thing - I learned a lot from it.

Shout out to the twins for turning 21 on Thursday! I truly can't believe they made it this far. Just kidding.

The whole week, we focused on talking with EVERYONE, which has become so normal that it has pretty much become second nature to just stick your hand out to shake the hand of whoever is passing by... That's our sneaky attempt to get them to stop walking and chat so we don't have to chase them down and walk with them. It's great, don't worry.

Overall this week, Elder Christensen and I got a ton of work done this week and it is starting to show.

This one lady named Annie is trying to get rid of the bar that is inside her house because she knows it’s no bueno. She came to church yesterday and loved it! I'm excited for her. She is on date for baptism on December 20th so we will see how it goes! Of course she still has a lot to do between now and then but it can definitely happen.

Unfortunately that's all I got for ya this week.

LOVE YOU!

Elder Graham

I forgot to take any pictures this week so here's the crew at the email shop.
Elders Christensen, Graham, Biddulph & Gardner

Week #37 - Sunrise, Sunset, Swiftly Go the Days

Hey Family!

This week was great!

I went on a trade off with Elder Koegler on Wednesday. That was way fun. He is a funny guy. We took sunset pictures just for kicks and giggles.

Sister Harrison fed us stew chicken foot which was awesome as always. I think that might have been Elder Christensen's first chicken foot experience.

Saturday was good. We got to see a ton of people and meet some new people as well.

Yesterday was pretty interesting. We talked to this guy for an hour just about doctrinal things. He has read over the Book of Mormon three times and "knows it is true," yet he had a few opinions that didn't make much sense and didn't understand priesthood authority very well, so we invited him to pray about it more and continue reading. He was really cool though.

Not too many crazy things happened this week as opposed to last week but no biggy!

Love and miss you guys!

Elder Graham

Lots of awesome sunsets this week!

Week #36 - He Who Laughs... Lasts.

Hey Family!

Lots of funny little things happened this week.

I got to go to a big mission-wide district leader training meeting which was really good. I learned a ton and got to see a lot of people.

Happy Birthday Elder Knight!
Elders Graham, Gardiner, Knight, Christensen,
Biddulph & Koegler 

Elder Knight's birthday was Tuesday and we made a chocolate cake for him and bought white grape cider to celebrate like classy men.  

 

On Wednesday we were teaching someone, and this little girl just sat down by us with a joint in her hand. She opened it up and took all the marijuana out and threw it on the ground. It looked pretty liberating. It was hard not to laugh. Someone was NOT going to be happy.

Thursday Elder Christensen and I were walking down some street, and I watched a little school kid just drop his drawers and start peeing on another kid. The moms were just like "AHH! AY BWOY STOP DAT NAH!!" Super funny. Sorry for the Patois input but there wasn't a better way to describe their reaction.

We went to KFC for lunch on Friday (first time I have had KFC since I've been out) and on the drive toward the place, an oncoming van swerved into our lane and was coming at us from far away. Next thing we know, the van swerved off the road into a dirt bank and up a little hill. It had quite a bit of air time. When it landed, the bumper came off and it was crazy. We didn't really know how to react so we just did we do best: laughed....hard.

 

Sunday was a little frustrating. An investigator who promised us she would be at church didn't make it. So we are going to figure out what the deal is later this week.

Hope everyone at home is doing great! Congrats to Chelsea & Wyatt for getting engaged!!

Love and miss you guys!

Elder Graham

Last Week's P-Day at the only bowling alley in Jamaica
Elders Graham, Gardner, Knight, Biddulph & Koegler

Week #35 - People Throw Rocks at Things That Shine

Hey Family!

Tuesday was great. Happy 30th birthday Mama Graham! Wait, it's 30 or 31. I forget...ANYWHO (dodged that bullet) Hope you enjoyed the picture from Tarieq.  Mom got this picture from Tarieq, an awesome member in Spanish Town, while out to birthday dinner - made my night!  Cody's note says, "Happy Birthday Mama Graham and Elder Christensen's note says "Happy Birthday from your grandson" (missionary lingo, because Cody is his trainer, he's known as Christensen's dad.  Hence me, the grandma - not feeling old now WHATSOEVER). Notice how I didn't mention it in my email last week for dramatic effect and then BOOM. There it was. Alright back to missionary work.

On Wednesday I got to see a couple miracles so that is awesome. First off, an investigator named Anthony (who had previously told us that the Book of Mormon would not lead to "becoming a Mormon" for him) accepted to work toward being baptized on November 22! I also got to see the power of a priesthood blessing work immediately which I have never seen before.

Thursday was kind of interesting. After a lesson, we were getting ready to leave when we looked down the lane and saw a lady walking away while a different lady, who was clearly very angry and offended by the first woman, just started picking up rocks and throwing them at her. Later on when it got dark, someone kept trying to throw rocks at us! It was so dark and there were lots of places to hide so we couldn't figure out where they were coming from, but we would hear them skipping on the ground toward us and act like we were in the Matrix and dodge them. We're weird.

Friday was awesome. We met a guy at his house which doubled as a bag juice factory and he gave us some free bag juice which was so nice. They sell it for way cheap like $70 JD for a bag of 12 of them. That's close to 70 cents for like 2 liters of bag juice....YES.

Sunday, Elder Christensen and I both got to speak and they let us choose topics. Miraculously, I talked about how we access grace by faith, and he talked about how we exercise faith. Not planned. But they were perfectly tag-teamed talks. I'm no longer afraid to talk in front of large groups - it kinda just faded away after talking with so many strangers all the time I guess haha.

Love you and miss you all!

Elder Graham

Pulled a fast one on some other missionaries who always take bathroom pit stops at our house throughout the day

There are some creepy Dora paintings on the walls of schools around town