Spanish Town - 15

pics 1+2 - Our walk to church

pic 3 - I finally got around to making the cookies Mom sent for Christmas. Ha! Thanks Mom!

Because it's still the Easter season, our P-Day was moved to today (Tuesday) when email shops and supermarkets would actually be open. We were excited to proselyte on this Monday after Easter Sunday, but we were inside all day as Elder Wilson was sick. Although we were stuck inside all day, I believe it was a very productive day (considering our circumstances) as I was able to study several topics I've been wanting to lately.

We had 2 investigators at church again. Bro. Anderson and Veron. It's a very similar situation to last week. Bro. Anderson is still praying about baptism, but hasn't accepted a date. He's thrilled for General Conference weekend coming up, and we're praying with him that he'll receive his answer by hearing the words of the prophets. Veron is doing well as well. She's been living all the commandments this past week and looks set for baptism on April 9th. She's loving the Book of Mormon and LOVES the Pearl of Great Price. Ha!

Church this past week was great. All 3 hours were good and I learned something unique and special in each of them. In Gospel Principles we read Isaiah 53:3-5, which I'm sure your all familiar with. I love that whole chapter. One of the elders in the ward pointed out something interesting. Nearly all the statements in those verses are past tense. Nearly.

  He is despised and rejected of men...

  We hid as were our faces from him...

  He hath borne our griefs...

  etc.

  etc.

The only one that is present tense is the first one, "He is despised and rejected of men..."

I thought about it. I don't think he's "despised and rejected of men." Even if people aren't hard-core Christians, no one 'despise[s]' and 'reject[s]' the Savior. But then I thought more. And I realize that he really is 'despised and rejected of men.' He is in the sense that so much of the world fails to keep the Sabbath Day holy. The Lord's day. His day.

I thought of a quote by an old Seventy.

"Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us." - Mark E. Petersen

I'm so grateful to have been raised in a home where Sabbath Day observance is stressed and practiced. I'm grateful to have learned this lesson this Easter Season. I'm grateful for the Savior and his atoning sacrifice. I'm grateful for a Prophet and Apostles and the opportunity we have to listen to them this upcoming week.

Elder Ritchie

Spanish Town - 14

This past week was a good one. We had several investigators at church. Bro. Anderson came for his 3rd consecutive week but still hasn't accepted a date. It's difficult for him to leave his close fellowship ties with his church, but luckily he's had good fellowship within the ward. There have been several members that have unexpectedly stopped by his home and talked him. We had a really good lesson with him last week on faith. As Jamaicans say, "him soon come."

Veron's baptism was planned for this upcoming Saturday, but we're moving it back to April 9th. We learned she has some things she needs to change in order for baptism, and she committed to begin to live them, but I felt that she needed a couple additional weeks. D&C 20:37 (qualifications for baptism) says "...witness before the church that they have truly repented..." Even though she committed to start living these commandments we felt it best to postpone it a bit so she can better "witness before the church" that she has and will change. Bro. Johnson (WML) was in the lesson, and after the lesson told me how much he appreciated that we moved it back. He said, "A lot of missionaries would have just not flinched and baptized her this weekend, but you made the right call. I really appreciate that. It shows you guys care about her salvation rather than your immediate numbers." It was hard postponing her baptism, but this was definitely the best decision.

I've been kept really busy these past couple weeks doing follow ups, collecting numbers, reporting numbers, trade-offs, conducting baptismal interviews, preparing district meetings, etc. It's kept me busy and kept me away from idleness. I've learned so much these past couple weeks as I've been training a new missionary and serving as district leader. I'm very grateful for these opportunities to serve and grow.

Elder Ritchie

Spanish Town- 13

 pic 1 - The famous Elder Wilson

pic 2 - 3 generation elder picture with my trainer (Elder Hall), myself, and Elder Wilson

This week I received Elder Wilson, fresh from the Provo MTC, and Austin, TX. Elder Wilson came to the mission field ready to work. He's confident in his approach and talks with EVERYONE. The elder is a contacting machine! Hard worker! He was the only new elder this transfer, so I'm pretty fortunate to be having this opportunity to train him. Our area is looking really good and it seems to just get better. Elder Wilson and I have been doing a lot of finding lately.

Yesterday we had 2 investigators at church. We had several more commit to attending, but for some reason or another didn't make it. The investigators were Veron and Bro. Anderson. Bro. Anderson still hasn't accepted a date, but he continues to pray about it. We're still meeting with him and he's attending church. We're praying that he'll recognized his answer when it comes! Veron's baptism date is March 26 and she's excited! We're having trouble meeting with her because it's difficult to get a male member to travel all the way to her house in the bush outskirts, but we had a good lesson with her yesterday after church.

Training is great. I feel like I was just being trained yesterday, but it's really fun to be the one that actually understands the Jamaican people now, rather than having no clue what they're saying. It's coming to him though :)

Likkle more,

Elder Ritchie

Spanish Town - 12

This week was AWESOME. Everything really tied together yesterday when we had several investigators come to church. Elder Patrick and I have been really blessed with the opportunity to be teaching some very elect and prepared people. It's been very fulfilling to see the change in their hearts.

Veron met the Sister Missionaries in Kingston about a month ago. The Sisters offered to carry her bags for her to the bus stop and then invited her to the attend the Boulevard Ward in Kingston. Veron was so impressed by the selfless service that she attended that week, and the proceeding 3 weeks as well. Veron actually lives in the bush outskirts of our area, so we're now teaching her and she is attending our ward. Veron is GREAT! She loves the Book of Mormon. She's already in Jacob. We had a great lesson with her yesterday after church addressing her questions on the Creation and Adam and Eve. Elder Patrick brought out the Pearl of Great Price and started introducing the Book of Moses. In my mind I was so worried about this because not many investigators like to hear about Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible, but as he explained it to her, and then as we compared it with Genesis, it all just 'clicked' for her. "It all makes sense now! For decades I've always been so confused with some parts of the Bible; I've always felt like some of it is just missing!" Veron is 100% pumped and ready for baptism on March 26.

Bro. Anderson (the super prepared one who 'went Jamaican') is also doing well. We were able to see him twice this past week. We brought Bro. Harrison (a convert of ~2.5 years in the bishopric) with us to teach a Book of Mormon lesson, and I learned a great lesson from Bro. Harrison. Often times we forget the main purpose of the Book of Mormon. Often times we just stress the "You can know what we've taught is true if...." or "You can know that Joseph Smith was a prophet if....." or "You can know this is the true church if.....", but we forget to mention the Book's purpose! As Moroni said, the Book of Mormon's purpose is for "the convincing of Jew and Gentile the JESUS is the CHRIST." Bro. Harrison's strong testimony of the Book of Mormon was exactly what Bro. Anderson needed to hear - even though he already has a strong faith in Christ. His testimony was 100% solely on the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer, and Savior. His testimony was that this Book has strengthened his testimony in Christ immensely. Definitely a great lesson for me to learn that afternoon.

Jason "Fire Banton" also came to church with his 2 young daughters. We contacted him earlier this past week. At first glance you wouldn't think this guy would want the gospel in his life. He has dreadlocks and some nasty facial hair. "Fire Banton" is his DJ names at parties. But we had some great lessons with him, and he came to church with his 2 young daughters yesterday and they all loved it! We're going to try to start teaching his baby-mother this week as well and hopefully get them married!

The Zone Leaders gave us our transfer calls this past Saturday. After serving together for 2 transfers, Elder Patrick will be leaving to Linstead. The Zone Leader then told me I was waiting on a call from the APs. Soon after, one our APs called and told me that the Lord wants me to train a new missionary. He said that before they pick zone leaders or anyone, they first pick the trainers. He told me that I'll have the largest impact on this new missionary's first 12 weeks, more than President Brown. I'll also be serving as the District Leader in Spanish Town. Very excited for these opportunities to serve. Excited for these great learning and growing experiences.

Elder Ritchie

Spanish Town - 11

This past week was great! We were able to meet with a lot more of our investigators more consistently this past week.

One of our 'top' investigators is actually moving to Miami, FL. His flight is today. He's been great, and loves having us over. We're sending his contact info to the Miami elders.

Another 'top' investigator is going in surgery this Wednesday. He had a heart attack fairly recently, and we're praying that all goes well this Wednesday!

This past Thursday we had to stay inside all day because it was election day and all the violence that's associated with the elections. Fun stuff.

Elder Ritchie

pics 1/2 - The PNP "orange" party rallying through our scheme. Ha! (green won)

Spanish Town - 10

I've had a lot of bicycle troubles recently. As I was patching and re-patching my front tube for (what seemed like) the millionth time, I figured that there surely must be some sort of lesson I can learn from this. Surely I could learn something from these collective hours and hours of bicycle repairs.

I got a puncture in the front tube of my stallion of a bicycle. What should have been a simple fix had cost hours of precious proselyting and personal time throughout the week. When I got the puncture, rather than take the time to patch it well, I rushed it and had to bear the consequences. The patch held until the next day when I woke up with a flat. Air had leaked through the side of the patch. I added another patch over the leak and went about the day. Several hours later I got a flat again and repeated the processes of covering air-leaking patches with more patches. I consistently got a flat every morning and occasionally throughout the day as the patches eventually gave in. I wasn't able to completely fix the issue until I ripped off all the old patches and addressed the original problem. By this time, my small hole and grown to a nice rip. This time I took my time. I roughed it well, I applied plenty of solution, and worked the large patch in. It took longer, but after this patch my tube was healed and 'as new.'

I related my frustrating and stressful experience with my tube to repentance. Throughout our life we will all get 'punctures.' None of us are perfect. If we try to simply cover our problems, hide them, and be in denial, we will never repair ourselves. We may justify ourselves in 'riding a little bit,' but we'll never be comfortable because we know that this can't hold. To address what may have been a simple problem and live 'guilt free' we must address the situation the right way. Even though it may take longer, it's always worth. Repentance should not and cannot be avoided. When we recognize our faults we must immediately address them with the Lord (and maybe Bishop) and fix the issue before it gets to big where it's much more difficult to fix.

Although it was frustrating to have these bicycle issues, I'm glad to have learned them. I've learned a valuable lesson on the Atonement, and it's only strengthened my testimony on the subject.

Elder Ritchie