Spanish Town - 6

This past week was great! Afat was baptized this past Saturday and confirmed the next day in Sacrament Meeting. Wow! What a great guy. He just LOVES this gospel. He's been prepared for a LONG time for baptism. He loves the church, the Book of Mormon, everything. He's already in Alma. We're hoping to have him called as Gospel Principles teacher soon.

We had another investigator attend church with his son. Chris Smith and his son came about 50 minutes late to church..... but they came! They seemed to like it. Luckily we had several members go out of their way to make sure they felt welcome.

Our area is really picking up. 2 baptisms this past transfer and a 'wol leap' of new investigators.

Elder Ritchie

Spanish Town - 5

Me in the Zinc Maze of Central Village

Elder Patrick and I will be having our second baptism of the transfer this upcoming weekend. Brother Andrew "Afat" Green will be baptized this Saturday morning and confirmed the next day in sacrament meeting. Afat was the first street contact that we had since I came to Spanish Town. Soon after I got here we locked our bicycles and were walking in Greendale. I felt like I should talk to this guy and now 5 1/2 weeks later he's being baptized. Afat is an amazing man. One of the most humble people I know. We've been seeing him most every night and he walks the 2+ miles to Friday Night Activity, baptisms, other church activities, and church every Sunday. Afat has been prepared for YEARS to live this gospel. Ever since he was a young boy he recognized the negative affect of multiple baby fathers and baby mothers. He hates the taste of alcoholic drinks. And he's never smoked ganja. He's really one of a kind. Really excited for him. We hope to have him called as the gospel principles teacher in a few weeks.

We started teaching another man this past week, Bro. Richards. Our first lesson with him started off rough. He was SET on the fact that the Sabbath is on Saturday. He wouldn't even hear us out. We finished the lesson focusing solely on prophets and The Book of Mormon. If he gains a testimony of The Book of Mormon, he will have a testimony of modern prophets. If he has that testimony, he can know that the Sabbath is on Sunday. We had another lesson with him yesterday and his entire demeanor changed. He is excited and eager to read this mysterious book. We had to get going to another appointment and he was getting antsy to ask all of his questions. Bro. Richards is a great guy. As long as he READS, PONDERS, and PRAYS about the BoM he WILL receive his answer.

Funny prayer quote of the week:

Some high rasta man asked if he could pray for us. Here's the best quote.....

        "....Remember the peoples overseas, in Mars, in Jupiters. Dey are your children. Bless dem, O Lord...."

Funny street contact for the week:

I approached some old timer yesterday, and couldn't understand my English.... only Patwa

  "How's your Sabbath been?"

  "Eh?"

  "How's your Sunday been?" (very slow)

  "Me nah unnahstan"

  "How's your day been?" (VERY slow and clear)

  "Eh?"

  "Ting (Marijuana) good?"

  "Ahhhh! Ya mon! Ting good! Da bread a life ya know?!"

Elder Ritchie

Spanish Town - 4

No big letter this week, but I did get this handwritten note as a picture from him!  

Spanish Town - 3

pic 1 - Adrian's baptism

 pic 2 - Our guard frog, Calvin.

pic 3 - First time I've seen the ocean since I've been here. We were wayyy up in the bush in the mountains for lesson we taxied to. From up there in Sligoville we could look over Kingston and see the ocean.

Don't have too much time to write right now, but this past week went well!

Adrian was baptized this past week. I kind of "walked into" this baptism because I just recently got here. Although I don't know him too well, I can tell he's a great kid and very sincere. Adrian is the son of a recently reactivated Sis. Finn. Adrian's older brother is serving a mission in Puerto Rico. Elder Patrick baptized him, and I had the opportunity of confirming him a member in sacrament meeting the following day. The Spirit was strong both Saturday and Sunday. Really a great weekend.

Afat will be baptized on the 23rd. Afat is super prepared to live the gospel. My 2nd day in Spanish Town we street contacted him. He walks the 2+ miles to church very often. This past week he walked to the church for the ward New Years party on Thursday, Friday Night Activity on Friday, Adrian's baptism on Saturday, and church on Sunday. He loves reading. He's reading through 1 Nephi, some of Alma, and most of Moroni. He is also reading "Our Heritage" and loves it. Very excited for him.

Elder Ritchie

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Spanish Town - 2

My first Christmas in the mission field was great. This past Wednesday (Dec. 23) the Kingston/Spanish Town zones had a Christmas party withe Pres. Brown + fambily in the Kingston church building. We had a great devotional with musical numbers and talks then a big Christmas dinner. BBQ chicken, rice and peas (beans), pasta and veg, and sorrel. After dinner Pres. Brown put on his Santa hat and became our Black Santa. He opened up the curtain to the stage and there were all the missionaries' Christmas packages in wrapping paper. He called us each up individually and handed us our home package. Really great to be with more missionaries and the Browns.

On Christmas Eve our district went caroling and handing out the 'A Savior is Born' Christmas pass-a-long cards to those at grand market. -- On Christmas Eve EVERYONE goes to grand market. -- Each missionary had a small stack of cards and went through them all fairly quick. Afterwards we all left and went to our evening appointments. Elder Patrick and I went to a lesson with Bryan but he wasn't home and wouldn't answer the phone. It was now ~7:20pm and we hadn't taken a dinner hour yet. We could've gone in at 8 for dinner, but we wanted to DO something on Christmas Eve. We made our way to our apartment, took off our bags, filled our pockets with ~400 'A Savior is Born' pass-a-long cards EACH, put on our Santa hats, and raced our bikes to grand market. We had to be back by 9pm, and in that little time Elder Patrick and I both emptied ~400 cards. Obviously we don't know how many people actually watched the video, but hopefully it uplifted somebody.

Christmas morning we woke up at 5am for a neighborhood Christmas breakfast party. It was a great way to get to know our neighbors better and earn their trust. We then made our way to Sis. Clarke's for a Christmas breakfast with her fambily and the other 4 elders in the ward. GREAT Christmas breakfast. Ackee and Saltfish, dumplin, yam, sweet potato, and chocolate tea. We then biked to the Moodie's to Skype our fambilies. WOW. 40 minutes flies by! It was great to talk to them though! The Moodie's fed us sandwiches, cake, and juice as well. We did a lot of walking and talking with people on the streets. Sharing a spiritual Christmas thought with them. Our district went caroling again as well. We had a great lesson with Adrian. (Because of some complications he'll be baptized this upcoming Saturday rather than last Saturday). In the evening we went back to Sis. Clarke's for Christmas dinner with her fambily and friends and missionaries again. BBQ chicken, rice and peas, pasta and veg, potatoes, and sorrel. Afterwards we did more walking and talking to people in the streets and at their homes. It was definitely a great Christmas weekend.


Elder Ritchie