Week 18

Hello Everybody!

Jamaica is really a sweet place to be in the Holiday Season! i must say that i do hate that it is super hot tho. it might be better if it got down to like 65 or something during the day. man that is cold! Calls Home this last week were quite good! it didnt really hit me that i had called home until i hung up haha.

Day 119 Monday
today was a SUPER different Pday than all of the others ive had so far. WE WENT AND DID SOMETHING!!! for the first time ever we went and did something instead of staying at the house the whole time haha. the Zone Leaders came out here and spent it with us so that was the inspiration. we went out to Folly Mansion to explore. we got done with that in like 30 minutes. so after that we went out to the beach in Long Bay. thank heavens that the ZLs can use their truck for stuff like that haha. biking there woulda been nuts. we tried to throw a Frisbee a bit while we were there but we stopped. it kept going into the Caribbean Sea. not the best thing for a missionary to be going into. especially since we are not allowed in the water haha. it went in like 3 times before we stopped. the waves luckily got it back to us every time haha. those waves were sent from heaven lol! then we played shoulder tag. that was a very hard game. but the beach defiantly had some Kodak moments to it. especially when we had to run from a really big wave haha. the towns are starting to get super busy for christmas. i have never seen Porty so bad. its like trying to drive on the sidewalks in New York.

Day 120 Tuesday
we had district meeting in ochi today. a bit different but it was good. elder dalley also had to do some baptismal interviews since he is the district leader. These people were super awesome! but they are major talkers. The first interview took like 2 hours. we thought that there was a major concern at first. elder dalley then told us that he was good and that the guy was just a major talker. we laughed super hard. then he had to interview his wife. the wife was way set. the first thing that she told elder dalley was that she was shy and didnt talk much. then she went on about her whole life story. she has had some major trials so its awesome that she is being baptized! but that one then took another 2 hours. that makes 4 hours total for baptismal interviews! it was crazy! we didnt get out of ochi until like 6pm! we had no teaching done for the entire day! but the guy being baptized did give us some advice on how to get the people of Jamaica into the church. lets just say that i took some serious notes haha. 

Day 121 Wednesday/Christmas!
so the first chrsitmas away from home was super weird but it was cool too. calls home helped out a bit with the weirdness lol. 40 minutes for a phone call is not that much. i felt like i didnt get to say anything! it just started and just ended right then! not fair haha. next time will be better tho. im thinking of doing 2 calls tho. just depends on how well that mom and dad know how to use skype haha ;). we will see what happens in may tho haha. we didnt have a lot of teaching cause we were told not to bother people for the day. we just had short little messages from the ensign. i do miss being home tho. there are so many things that i wish i didnt have to leave behind but at the same time im very glad that i did leave them. this mission has really changed my life for the better. it has showed me what i want my life to be and what i want to come into my life.

Day 122 Thursday/Boxing Day
happy boxing day everyone! haha we have had a strange obsession with today for a bit so ya. we texted it to all of the missionaries that we have in our phone. one elder texted us saying "we dont say that here". we just laughed about the whole thing. we even asked some Canadians in the mission what the meaning for the day was. we got different answers from each of them so we still have no clue haha. today for lessons we went and checked up on Brother James, who is in the branch presidency. he has not been to church for a couple weeks cause his feet are super swollen from having diabetes. its super sad. we also finally had another lesson with Shanakay. she was actually sick so that is tomorrow. we also taught brother estrine. he seems to have softened up from the last time we saw him. he is less active so hopefully he will be to church. Overall it was a good day. the biking just really made me have a sore butt haha. 

Day 123 Friday
well, it rained, and rained, and rained today. it was very on and off but it was still a ton of rain. and it came down super hard by the end of the day. luckily we found shelter since we got caught in it. we had an awesome lesson with a member about chapter 9 in preach my gospel. it was all about the importance of members in finding people to teach. she was all for it. we had a lesson with the campbells about the importance of having family home evening as well. they really want to do them. we are just gonna have to get them in the habit of having them for a few weeks before they will on their own haha

Day 124 Saturday
another day and yet another rain storm. we got caught in yet another rain storm and i am going to be soaked for a week because of it! we also got transfer calls today. Elder Strickland and Elder Ashby are staying the same in Porty 2. Elder Dalley is going to Linstead to be with someone from my MTC group (elder Martin). i am going to be staying in porty 1 and get elder davis. he is only 6 weeks older than me in mission age and is serving in Montego Bay right now. he is super cool. i have met him a few times during zone meetings and he is way spiritual! i get the feeling that Porty is gonna boom this transfer. it also kinda saddens me to think that this is probably my last transfer in Porty since ive been here for 4 1/2 months. 6 months is usually when people leave an area. but this place is m home and it will always have a place in my heart! i got 6 weeks to think of that tho haha

Day 125 Sunday/My 19th Birthday!
so i am now a 19 year old person. weird to be saying that right now haha. just wait till next year when i am going to be 20! i got a face full of flour to celebrate it. there should be a picture with my parents somewhere. it was super funny. elder strickland did use quite a lot tho. usually its about as much flour as the Catholics use water to baptize you haha. but he got a bowl full of it! Kashane also decided to hit me for it. idk. that kid is just crazy. i will get elder strickland back for the flour tho. maybe ill use sugar one day lol. members didnt do anyting for it. i doubt that people knew it was today haha. sister brown did call me to wish me a happy bday tho haha. 

well thats really all. oh wait, fun fact for the day. i might have a small concussion. elder strickland and i were rough housing around and i got smacked in the head with a broom pole. i napped and it helped a bit but not much. i still am having headaches. so if this email doesnt make sense then blame elder strickland haha!

another fun fact. Elder Austin Fitkeau, from Pleasant Grove, is now the Zone Leader in Montego Bay!

Ok now that is really all that i have for this week. Hope to hear from you all next week!

Love,
Elder Kurt Meacham