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