Montego Bay -10

 

One year burning of the shirt

This past week was Elder Jones' last full week in Jamaica. He leaves a couple weeks early to get back before the semester starts. He leaves this upcoming Saturday. Our week started off great, but ended a bit rough as we were quarantined because Elder Jones' caught a virus that has been spreading around the mission. Luckily, I was able to do a few exchanges with the other MoBay elders. They were happy to do that seeing that one of them would be in the air conditioned truck.

Last Sunday (8 days ago) we taught a 'branch mission fireside' with our legendary branch mission leader and some branch missionaries. It was held for an hour after church and most everybody stayed. I love the Montego Bay branch. It's so different than any other branch in Jamaica and the world. In the other wards I've been in it's not as lively. You almost have to pull their teeth to get someone to comment. But the MoBay branch is ALIVE. Everyone is almost fighting to share experiences and comments. I love it. The fireside went well, and we gave the members a copy of the Book of Mormon (or "The Book of the Normons" or the "Normon Bible" as Jamaicans call it). We committed them to set it somewhere in the house where they'd see it, pray about it over the week, fast about it in the upcoming fast Sunday, and to identify who they want to share the gospel with. At church yesterday we had 2 members in our area bring a friend to church. One is a lady in her 30s that came with ~3-4 'pickne' (kids). She enjoyed church. The other was a young man, probably in his early 20s who is dating one of the young women in the branch. We have appointments scheduled with them for this week.

Audrei is doing well. She's still just waiting for JPS to get the light up. It 'soon come' though. We're praying that she'll be baptized this Sunday!

Likkle more and nuff love

Elder Ritchie

Montego Bay - 9

(Hump Day package from home)

Yesterday was Emancipation Day in Jamaica, so our P-Day was moved to today. This past week was my 'hump week.' This past Friday I hit my year mark. As I thought back over the year I was so grateful for these 12 months of service and growing experiences. I love being in Jamaica. Love being a missionary. Definitely the most meaningful, worthwhile, and smart thing that a young person can choose to do.

Elder Jones and I taught zone meeting this past Wednesday. In prayer, study, and preparation for it, we both felt good on talking about vision/achieving goals. The prophet Enos is a great example of getting answers to his prayers. In his one chapter book, he received several promises/answers to his several questions/pleas.

Enos :12 - "And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith."

Pray with diligence + Labor with diligence + Desires + Faith

Those are some of the principles that we pulled out from Enos. Some principles that we're striving to always use diligently in our area, and hopefully now the Northcoast Zone.

That evening we went home teaching with a brother in the ward. He's in his 30s, and RM, and a solid member. It's been difficult for him to make it every week to chruch because he works at a golf course, but this past month he's made the effort to really get back into it all. We visited an older sister, who is one of the pioneers of the church in Montego Bay. She's recently had a stroke and isn't as 'there' as she used to be. She's been a 'shut-in' for several months now. The Spirit was so powerful as we assisted this man in his home teaching. She was so happy to see someone from the church. After the visit, she asked him to giver her Priesthood blessing. Really a great opportunity for all of us there to gain/strengthen our testimony on home teaching.

Likkle more,

Elder Ritchie

pics 1/2 - Year Mark package

pic 3 - District lunch on P-Day at Pier 1

pic 4 - .....

Montego Bay - 8

Another great week. Elder Jones and I had 10 investigators at church (7 on-time, 3 a bit late). Audrei was able to taxi in on time with all her kids. Colleen was able to make it on time with her daughter. Kajourney called in the morning and said he didn't have fare, we told him to trust that the Lord would provide, and we saw him walking in the chapel early, and he once again loved it. Deserine came again as well as Damien and Kenesha. A lot of people to 'watch over' at church, but they are all well-fellowshipped.

Elder Jones and I have been teaching in the 30-40 lessons for the past 3 weeks, and it's made us think why we haven't done this before in our missions. It's been cool to see this change. And we've both decided that it has resulted from diligent, specific prayers.

Don't have much time today at all. The internet shop is poor!

Likkle more,

Elder Ritchie

Montego Bay - 7

Another great week! We had 5 investigators at church (3 were late). One of the newer investigators that we're working with is a 19 yr old young man named Kajourney (kay-journey). He's solid. He loves church. Loves the Plan of Salvation. Loves the Book of Mormon. He participated in elders quorum. The members love him. He'll soon make a great member (then full-time missionary).

We had another funny experience with Earl earlier this week. We were having a lesson outside of a shop where we usually meet with him, when he was getting a lot of bad talk for talking to the 'white men.' Earl had enough of it, so he turned around and bore his testimony on what he's learned and knows to be true...

"Di white men tell me bout one prophet, DAVID SMITH, who sailed to America 2,000 years ago, and preach di gospel!"

uhhhh.....

The people continued to give him a hard time to listening to the white men....

"Alright, alright, ALRIGHT!! A dem granfadduh (points to me) and a dem granfadduh (points to Elder Jones), dem BEAT mi granmuddah! And I forgive dem! And I pray fi Jah fi dem!!"

Oh, Earl....

In any event, it's a blast teaching him.

More to come next week....

Montego Bay - 6

This week was easily the most productive week of my mission. Elder Jones and I taught 37 investigator lessons (19 member presents, 18 'others'). We have 6 investigators with a baptism date, and we had 7 investigators at church (2 were late). We've been diligent and effective with all of our time. This is also impressive considering we didn't even proselyte on Thursday (we woke up at 4am and drove to Kingston for Pres/Sis Pearson's first MLC; didn't get back until 9pm). We were very pleased with our efforts, and we know the Lord was as well. We made a conscious effort to make the most of every minute we had available. An average week is somewhere in the 14-20 range, and we had been getting 24-26 the whole transfer. We really wanted to break that 30 barrier, and through our diligence and effectiveness we were finally able to. We shouldn't ever drop under 30 again. Although it feels 'satisfying' to a missionary to teach a lot of lessons, it's much more satisfying to see our investigators come to church. We're working with some great people right now that I want to write a bit about....

Audrei. Audrei continues to benefit from her faith! Every week some new miracle occurs in here life, and it's continued. For weeks Audrei has had to leave here home at 6:30 and walk/walk/walk to the 'square' where she can get a taxi to make it to church at 10. Although it's difficult for Audrei (she's larger) and she hates walking (she's larger) she's done this week after week after week. Well luckily for her, her nephew got a car and would be able to take Audrei AND HER KIDS to church for a cheaper price AND at a better hour. Audrei was thrilled! Unfortunately, as we saw her on Saturday she said that she had a quarrel with that side of the family. "Well what happened?" "Ugghhh... well.... I called them satanic, so um yeah hahaha." We had been praying that she'd still be able to make it to church, and Sunday morning she called and said that she wasn't going to be able to make it. We were pretty bummed. As we sat in the sacrament hall before church started we saw Audrei and two of the kids walk in. Our jaws dropped. Turns out that a taxi just happened to drive right in front of her house. That never happens. She lives way out in the bush of Yorkland. Truly another miracle.

Deserene. We received a referral from the Laie, Hawaii Visitor's Center. Deserene for Paradise-Norwood, Montego Bay, Jamaica visited the Temple Grounds and wanted the missionaries to visit her. "How did you feel at the temple?" "You don't even need to ask! I felt like I was at the promised land!" Deserene is in a very different state than some of our other investigators, such as Audrei. Deserene drives a car. She has money (trip to Hawaii). She has her own salon. Because she drives, we're fortunate enough to have our lessons at the church, where she can again feel the Spirit. She's eating it all up right now. She loved church. Has great fellowship already. Feels at home. "I've been looking for the truth for a long time. I think I've found it. I'm DEFINITELY coming back."

Earl.  Remember Earl? Earl is our Rasta investigator. The one who prayed "in the name of Joseph Smith amen." (We've fixed that). Earl doesn't have much 'cheese' (he calls money 'cheese'), but he showed his faith in coming to church. We finished teaching the Plan of Salvation to him after church. We brought in Bro. Badley to the lesson. Great fellowshipper. Bro. Badley is a recent convert of the Sisters, and he too is a Rasta. Earl and Bro. Badley look and act like the same person. Dreadlocks and nasty facial hair. The lesson was great (and hilarious) they spoke to each other in their own Rasta language, full of patwa and deep Rasta groans. Earl really loved it and is set on coming back.

This past Sunday was branch conference and was the most spiritually powerful sacrament meeting I've had in Jamaica. We had a member of the Mission Presidency speak, his wife, and Pres. Buchanan (branch president). They all talked about Temples. Obviously great for Deserene, and everyone else really enjoyed it. Great Sabbath Day.

I did have one more thought from church yesterday:

Only in Jamaica do 3 of the 7 investigators at church have dreadlocks.

Likkle more,

Elder Ritchie

Pic 1 - Figured no one probably knows what breadfruit is. Breadfruit is delicious. It's huge and grows on a .... breadfruit tree. It's been roasted, then skinned, and I just fried some.

Pic 2 - We at at Pier 1 (nice Americanized tourist place) for lunch last P-Day (4th of July). MERICA. I wore my blue starred tie.

Pics 3/4 - The epitome of Jamaica. Donkey carts. Jamaicans riding into Kingston to sell jellys (coconunts). Look at their mouths for the spliff.



Pic 5 - This is sweetsop. Also a delicious Jamaica fruit. It's grown on a sweetsop tree.


Pic 6 - A little Usain Bolt pose. Mmmmhmmm.

Montego Bay - 5

GREAT WEEK!

"...But behold, I Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." - 1 Nephi 1:20

Audrei has amazing faith. I've shared several tender mercies she's seen recently, but this last week was amazing for her. I was on a trade off with Elder Zeck and we drove to Audrei's home for our nightly lesson. Audrei has been ready for baptism in so many ways. Consistent reading, prayer, church attendance, commandment-keeping; she only had one thing keeping here back - illegal electricity. Many Jamaicans living in poorer areas literally hang a wire coat hanger with a cord from the street's power lines to there house. Obviously you're not 'living the law of the land' if you obtain power this way, and this is what was holding Audrei (and Colleen as well) from baptism. Right now, our main focus has been to increase her faith, and we thought it would be best to watch the 'John Tanner Story' video with here. We especially wanted to watch the end of the ~20 min. video with her so she could see the blessing of his faith. Unfortunately the player died partway through the video, but conveniently right after the most spiritually powerful event - his miraculous healing. We didn't want to bring up the illegal light problem, we wanted her to make that connection by herself. That she can take a step of faith. We just simply asked her how she felt about his faith, and she put her face down and started bawling.

She shared with us her tender mercy. She pointed to a large blue tarp full of ginger roots. 3 years ago she bought 500 lbs. of ginger. She continued to grow more and more, but no one has been wanting to buy it. It's never been the market. She has a 'wol leap' of ginger, and it's not making any money. She had just learned that she needed $20,000 JD to obtain legal light, and she had taken a 'step into Laban's palace' sort-of-speak, as she was trying desperately to find some way to keep this commandment. Just then, she received a phone call from a friend who, out-of-the-blue, wanted to buy all of the ginger. All of it. The total price well exceeds the $20,000 JD needed. Because of her faith and diligence in trying to find a way to keep this commandment, Audrei has experience a tender mercy.

Elder Ritchie

Montego Bay ZL - 4

It's been an interesting past week, but I want to share a funny story from the week before. As I continue on my mission it's become increasingly apparent that I cannot escape tire punctures, even now that I'm in a truck. We stopped at the church to drop something off when we hear leaking air as we exited the truck. Sure enough our back right tire had a nail in it. This was especially frustrating because it was at ~4pm and we had several other great lessons planned soon. We got to work, took off the tire, and lowered the spare. As we were rolling the spare to the truck we saw a screw lodged into the tire. It seems that some past missionaries had the bright idea to hold on to the flat, useless spare rather than address the problem. This was frustrating as we were stuck at the church with a Mitsubishi L200 Sportero with only 3 available tires. Luckily the MoBay Sisters also drive a truck, so we were able to have them drive us and our 2 tires to a tire shop, address that situation, then drive us back to our truck where we were able to finally get going.

Something I've learned from my father and grandfathers is that if I look hard enough, I can always find some sort of life lesson in there. I remembered Junior year Cross Country. I ran Varsity most races that year, but as it came closer to State I dropped to the first 'backup.' I was bummed. The night and morning before State I drank nuff milk, stayed up late, drank more dairy, and ate candy and stuff. I wasn't in any shape to run that day. Sure enough as we loaded the bus Coach Foster told me that I'd be running. Needless to say it wasn't a great race. Just like the spare tire, I wasn't prepared at all.

In the Book of Mormon, Amulek cautions us "do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end... Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent..." "for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation. . .this life is the time for men to prepare. . .this life is the day for men to perform their labors" (Alma 34).

I also thought of the parable of the Ten Virgins, and the need of always being prepared.

We cannot afford to allow ourselves to become unworthy when called upon. We never know when we will be called upon. Grateful I learned this lesson with a flat spare tire rather than in a harder way.

As far as our investigators go, we're blessed to be working with some great people! Audrei continues to leave her home at 6:30 in order to be at church at 10. She had to wait 2 hrs for a taxi yesterday morning. Not to mention she walks a long ways in order to get near a taxi. She had a cool experience this week while reading her Book of Mormon. She was reading outside when she felt impressed to get up and walk away. As she got up and began to walk here massive breadfruit tree collapsed and landed right where she was. Glad she was reading! Right now the only thing stopping her from baptism is that she has illegal light. 'Thieving light' is roadblock for a lot of Jamaican investigators, but Audrei has the faith. 'Soon come!'

We've also been meeting a lot with Earl lately as well. Earl is a Rasta-man. Dreadlocks and some nasty facial hair. He reads everything. Pamphlets and Book of Mormon. Really great. As he ended our last lesson with a prayer, he just ended with "Amen."

"Earl, how do we end our prayers?"

"...Amen?"

"In the name of...."

"Joseph Smith!?"

Chuh. Hahahaha! We fixed that, ha!!

Likkle More and Nuff Love

Elder Ritchie

pic 1 - mmhmmm

pic 2 - Pic with President Brown at his departure devo last Monday (featuring by botched haircut)