Week 30

Hey everyone!

this week was pretty eventful. we were cussed out when we went out to eat to name one thing. its not as funny writing it out so i will have my family record it when i call on mothers day and then post it somewhere. its pretty funny. you almost had to be there to believe it haha! i will try my best to explain it but most of the funny parts will be when i tell it in person. NEVER LET ME FORGET ABOUT IT GUYS!!!

Monday 3-17-14

Well first off happy st. patricks day! i did wear green today incase anyone was wanting to save up some pinches haha. not this time :) today we went over to Kingston for a bit. Elder Odendahl is finishing up his mission next week and he wanted to get some souvenirs before he left. i got a couple of jerseys, of course haha, while i was there. today was super long with everything tho. with email and normal mail, we did start shopping until like 4:30 or so. i had no time to really relax darn it! one day i will have that tho haha. the lessons that we had today were pretty good tho. we started off an Kayanns house. the lesson kinda jumped around but it went really well. it was an assignment from the branch council to go there today so we got right on it haha. we also went over to Nakeithas. there were a lot of distractions around there but the lesson was really good. we watched the new Mormon message "stop it". its way long but its so good! i so wish that i could just watch it everyday haha!

Tuesday 3-18-14

Today was just super fantastic! we had zone conference today here in Spanish Town so president Brown THREW DOWN on how we could be better. i felt so rebuked but also so loved, as always, haha. he talked about how we cannot teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3 in PMG) in just one lesson. we have to teach about faith, build their faith, and see them using faith before we can go onto repentance. and then we do the same thing with repentance and baptism. he said that it should get the retention up a lot if we teach like this. right now Jamaica has a 60% retention so that needs to improve a lot! after zone conference tho i was pretty tired. we went over to a cook shop that we always go to and just ate it up! we also talked to elder Henderson, my mtc comp, for a bit too. he came over for zone conference too. everything just kinda slowed down after that tho. We only had one lesson for he rest of the day. the good news is that we found a new less active member when we went over to the Cardoza's. we had no idea that the kid was even a member. we have seen him around all the time when we go over to Kayann's house. we'll have to try and get a lesson in with him sometime soon.

Wednesday 3-19-14

so Today was a really good day in my mind. we kinda got fed a lot today :) that made me super happy. we stopped off at Sister Baldeo's house and she asked us right as we were about to go if we wanted some dinner. there is no way we were gonna turn that down haha. it was just some rice and spaghetti type thing. super good tho. then later in the night the McCalla family fed us. well sorta. it was more that the kids went and got a lot of junk food and gave us a big bowl of it. it was way good tho! i was way surprised that they went through that much to get it for us tho. they are by far my favorite family of all time down here!  of course we shared a thought with them and then had to go. but earlier in the day we also sat and talked with sister Dacosta. she is way old so she has a lot of stories to tell. we sat there for like 40 minutes just asking her questions and listening. it was pretty nice haha. we also had a good lesson with Christinea. we were all working on patience for the week so we followed up on that for us all. we all did pretty good i would say. Christinea made a good point that the devil usually will start to test us in things that we begin to work on. that is the point we are weak at and he wants to keep us weak in that aspect of life. how true that is haha. the lesson kinda then took a turn onto faith. so this week we are all going to be working on our faith in things. im actually really excited for that one haha.

Thursday 3-20-14

yes this is what i was waiting for. the day that we got cussed out! it may sound scary but it was the best moment of the day by far. so we were sitting in pizza hut, basically about to leave, when this random rasta guy comes over and just sits next to me. so already super weird. a random person just sits in our booth. first thing he says to us is "whats wrong with the African?" cause elder norman was sleeping a little bit on the booth. he then goes on later trying to explain to us that Jesus Christ is our earthly mother and father. and also that everything in books is false. only the "elements", physical, mental, and spiritual i guess, are the only things that tell us true things. elder beck did most of the talking with this guy just to add. he made a lot of funny comments to him. such as saying that the conversation was not logical, and that the guy was not clever, which is very true haha. the guy then said that the bible was not true. of all things haha. when we told him he said that, he then denied it. when we asked him if the bible was true then he said "nope!". that guys was just way funny and "not clever" haha. again, it will be funnier when i explain it in person. be sure to record it in a month family :D. after that we talked to Nicole. she is way prepared but she just doesnt know it haha. she did tell us that she is only going to go with whatever Gary decides. so we will put a bit more of a focus on him now. she is also in training to be a prophetess at her church. i think that teaching her about prophets is gonna be kinda fun haha. we also went over to the Campbells today. it was mostly just so that we could go over the lessons  again with 2 of the children. they are really ready to be baptized. im so sad that it has to be next week. i want it to be this saturday haha. oh well tho. that is the day that they decided to do so im good with it haha.

Friday 3-21-14

today was a pretty good day. the first lesson we had was with someone new. his name is Okeara. we thought that he was in like his 20s or at least 18. we only really talked to his dad just a few hours before. we get there and find out that he is only 15. plus he is super shy. he really didnt say much during the lesson. its gonna be tough to go back there to be honest. not much room for progression right now. but we will see what happens. the next lesson we had was with the Davis family. this time Sister Simpson came with us. she lives pretty close to them and she was never aware of them. cant blame her for it. their records have never been moved from the Old Harbour branch. we'll work on that tho. the lesson was really good. we just went over the restoration. sister simpson was going to leave but she stayed for the whole thing instead. she is a way big help with that family. we went over to the campbells again today too. i just really love that family. every time i go there i learn so much and i get a great laugh from it! its gonna be a really sad day when i will have to leave this place one day!

Saturday 3-22-14

man today started out super good! our morning, which normally suck, was perfect! we saw all the people that we planned to see! first we went and saw a new less active person that we found on the branch directory. she said that she cant come to church on sunday but she would be there the next week. we didnt know her so the lesson was just plainly to get to know her. we then went over to another less actives house. we brought over Sherefah and Kadejah McCalla cause they are about the same age as Chris, the person we went to see. i was surprised at how good they are at missionary work for their age. they were really into the lesson and gave some great points! hopefully they decided to serve one day. after that our day was really slow. it rained super hard so we had to take shelter for like 40 minutes. no one likes to see anyone in the rain haha. but our last appointment was with the campbells again. as always, the lesson was super awesome! they are funny and everyone learns so much!

Sunday 3-23-14

we only had one lesson today but it was super awesome! it was with the campbells. we had no idea why brother campbell wanted another lesson. but because it was the campbells, we agreed to do it last night. we go over there and have plans to go over the interview questions with their 2 youngest kids, who are the ones planning to be baptized this saturday. we were about halfway done with the questions when the oldest kid starts to whisper something into her sisters ear. well the younger sister then blurts out that she is just nervous to say that she wants to be baptized! it was one of the greatest moments ever! she wants to get baptized with her siblings on saturday! so we asked her all of the questions. she knows them all and her testimony is super strong! we told her that there was no problem at all with her being baptized this saturday! so this week instead of having only one investigator baptized, the other child is 8 so not really an investigator, we are going to have 2! i love the gospel and i can so see that everyone else does too!

So thats my week. i really loved this week with all of my heart. it felt long but at the same time it feels way short too! i cant wait to see what happens in the future here!

Love,
Elder Kurt Meacham

Scripture Thought
Matthew 16:24-26