Week 52

Hey everyone!

 

this week has been very interesting. I did start to keep a journal again so things may be a bit longer now haha.

 

Monday 8-4-14

 

Pday was so odd today. it was relaxing, but in a stressful way. all the elders here in santa wanted to go out to eat, as we do each Monday. we had haerd of a place called "Island Taste" that a lot of other missionaries had stopped at before. well we looked for it for almost an hour, asking all the locals where we could find it, and we never found it. it kinda sucked but we did find a really good cook shop right by our house and by where we shop so it wasn't a total loss :) then after I wandered around the town with Elder Kuehn for a bit. we had to pick up some more stuff in town so we went and did that. elder dean and I then went up and taught sister Russell about faith. of course we had to walk there cause my bike is still stolen (don't worry, I got a new one that should be here by the end of the month for as cheap as I could). the lesson was pretty good tho. we shared about how Nephi had a lot of faith when he was trying to get all the brass plates. one thing we can learn from that story is that its those unexpected moments that truly test how firm our foundation is. nephi had that, and he acted the best way.

 

Tuesday 8-5-14

 

events events events. first off we started by walking up to Amoy. today was one of the hottest days ever. I was literally dripping in sweat by the time that we got up there. it was super hard to cause I couldn't just stop in a shop and get a Bubla because I am on a bet with Mickailia that I cant have any caffeine for the week. (BTW, I lost the bet. buying drinks got really boring haha.) I did find out that one of the worst things ever is seeing shade from a cloud turn into sunlight slowly. that is not fun when its freaking hot outside haha. after lunch it just started raining cats and dogs, as it has been for some reason the past little bit. it almost feels like Port Antonio for some reason haha. not quite but its getting close. but we all went out in the rain for some crazy reason. elder dean and I went up to a scheme and did some street contacting. we were only able to talk to one person tho. everyone just seems to be in their house in that scheme so we will be calling into the houses the next time that we are up there. then after that we went over to a lesson with Mickailia. the most awkward lesson ever. The Law of Chastity. now it wasn't odd because of the topic.... ok well sorta. lets just say that things were pretty blunt in the lesson. from everyone. like no censor to them. I was the most disturbed that I ever have been in my entire life. but she accepted it and committed to live it. so that's a good ting haha.

 

Wednesday 8-6-14

 

today was super long and we didn't really get any teaching done. the day started out with us going to Junction for district meeting. even president brown came. he had to do some interviews with us afterwards so that's what we did. we didn't get out of Junction until like 3 or 3:30. but we didn't go home after that. a member in our branch who lives near Junction invited us over for her "Independence Day" cook out. so we were there for the next 2-2 1/2 hours. the food was super good tho don't worry haha. we didn't end up leaving there until close to 6 tho. but we did get back in time for us to go to Barrington and teach him about reading his scriptures more. the lesson was a bit scattered but it seemed pretty good too.

 

Thursday 8-7-14

again it was another hot day. walking up to amoy drenched me in sweat once again. walking there and back is never my favorite thing to do but its so worth it. with her going on her mission soon we need to be sure to see her. today we just got a lot of her papers done again. she forgot to fill some things out I guess so it was more of a fill out and visit type of thing today. after lunch we went up and saw lisa, not too thrilled at the idea tho. well, she almost kicked us out before the lesson started. but we just sat on her veranda and she came out after a bit. it was more of a visit tho. she told us the same thing that she has been saying for a very long time. ill be at Friday night activities and at church on sunday. (she did come tho thank heavesn). we also saw Keith today. he is a bit new. it was a how to begin teaching lesson that also included parts of the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon. the lesson was really good. he is a fantastic guy, a guy that the church needs. he is a bus driver but also almost like a youth counselor. so cool! next time we see him we will be teaching him the Plan of Salvation, by his request. he even committed himself to read and pray about what we talk about. so sick!

 

Friday 8-8-14

 

So as normal, not a lot was done on Friday. we super planned. tried to go and see someone, and then ran out of time. the person we went to see blew out so we had to go to the store and buy some snacks for Friday night activity. we were also supposed to meet a member at the church so that they could use the computer for their calling but they never ended up coming. but we had a lesson with Mickailia about the word of wisdom. idk why but the lessons with her just don't seem to be as good as they were before. now given, she still understood and accepted it, but the spirit just hasn't been in the lessons like it has been before. but she did tell us that she knows that she needs to be baptized soon. we left her with a commitment to pray about a day. then she said that she was thinking about September 6th, just right before one of us leaves. so I think that once we get permission from her dad, things will go super well with that. then Friday night activities was super good again. we did jango, the tower game, and charades. Fridays are always my favorite time haha :D

 

Saturday 8-9-14

 

quite a few things happened today, both good and bad. first off we talked to brother samuels for a bit, a less active member. he is...... interesting. I guess that he used to be a big drug lord in Canada before he was baptized. like one of the top guys. he also lived with 8 different women, other than his wife, at the same time and had a kid with each of them. brother samuels scares me just a bit haha. he says things just so calm and with almost no emotion. lunch is the time that really ticked me off the most. the other elders came home and told us that Mickailia's father was home. so I jumped up and wanted to go cause I knew that we really needed to talk to him. well elder dean just sat on his bed and refused to go. after about a 20 minute stand off (really just me standing there) I gave up and just sat down. we then went up to her house after lunch to try to talk to him. well mickailia told us that she had been execting us sooner and that he had been asleep for the last 20 minutes. and this is almost an hour since we had been told that he was home. man did that piss me off!!! we had a golden chance to talk to him and it was blown!!! and to make things worse, we let her down! she wanted us there and we didn't even go! never again am I gonna let that happen. the spirit was prompting me to do something and I didn't give enough effort on my part! the blessing that was gonna come from that is now gone. we are gonna have to work extra hard just to get the work back up to where it was with him. ahhh!!!! but we ended up staying there for a while. We talked to her friend DonnaLee, who just got back from Oregon for the World Track Championships. she seems pretty cool. she lives out past Braes River which is hecka far out there. Mickailia will be staying there for a bit so teaching her is not really going to happen for a bit. dang it! but then Mickalia was starting to talk about baptism a bit and she asked me who I thought she would choose to baptize her. I jokingly said me cause I haven't really been in the white clothes to baptize yet. but then I said elder phippen. she said no so I guessed elder dean. well she told me that when the time comes, she wanted me to baptize her! my heart kinda dropped there haha. when I asked her why me, she said that it was because I am the one that has real conversations with her. I don't know how, but my style of missionary work payed off! so I really think that once we get permission from her dad, we are going to have no problem baptizing her. she is expressing the desire more and more so there are like no worries on that end. we just need to get her dad to give permission now. she didn't have too much faith in it but I told her that I would fly down to Jamaica if I had to. so I better start saving my money up haha. today wasn't really a big lesson day, but it was super productive. we also found a less active member who is not on record yet, and talked to a lot of people. things are really starting to look up for Santa Cruz

 

Sunday 8-10-14

 

well today sure was interesting. as always, church was really good even tho we had no investigators show up. but we had a lesson with lisa right after church and she opened up quite a bit. I think that the lessons with her now will be better. but we will have to see. then the rest of the day was us talking to sister stone and sister Dixon. there wasn't really much doctrine taught but we did gain a lot of trust with them. next time we see sister stone tho we will be talking about the word of wisdom I think. she sells rum, cigs, and tobacco at her stand in the market so we need to get that out of there somehow. she is way nice tho. sister stone is one of my favorite people in the branch.

 

so that's the week. things really ticked me off but it was a good week non the less. its amazing how one moment in time can change how you look at things. never again will I waste an opportunity that needs to be taken. things on my mission have been really great, but they are about to get even better. they will always get better I guess tho cause of the new things that I learn each day.

 

Love,
Elder Kurt Meacham

 

Scripture Thought

D&C 122:7-9