Week 53

Ya Everybody Wa Gwaan?

well the mark is here. i have been out for just a little bit over a year. its a super scary thought for me cause home seems so foreign now. i feel like i have lived in Jamaica for my entire life. Missions do some strange things to you, but everything they do is the best things ever!!!

Monday 8-11-14

well today was zone pday. we went over to Mandeville and played volleyball, american football, basketball, and frisbee with the entire zone (from maypen to here). it was super fun! i have never been so tired in my entire life tho! there were a few times that i thought i was gonna get a freaking bad charlie horse and be out for the day for everything. but thank heavens that didnt happen haha. we also got some pizza from dominoes so the whole thing was super fun! we didnt get out of the house until like 7 tho cause of showers and a haircut that elder dean had to get. but we taught a pretty good lesson with the russells. but i was so tired for the entire day! i so hope that another zone pday comes up soon!!

Tuesday 8-12-14

today was a very interesting day. we went up to amoys house first off. we are starting to teach her the 8 fundamentals of missionary work from the 12 week program. she is very close with her mission papers so we are going over those and doing some role plays with her. they end up being super good! amoy is gonna be a great missionary when the time comes! we then had a lesson with lisa. things are basically the same with her as before. every time we go there she denies us teaching her cause "she knows it already". but we finally found something that it seems she didnt really know or she just forgot about it. it was in the teachings of the presidents of the church book from Joseph Smith. but it was an alright lesson. i get very annoyed up there. its super hard.....

Wednesday 8-13-14

well im not sure if today was the mark or not. its day 365 so im gonna say that today was the year mark! i have now been on a mission for one year. scariest thing in the whole world!!! i now am over the hump and have everything going down hill. and down hill is much faster than up so it freaks me out even more! i really dont want my mission ending that fast! im having too good of a time here! aaaaaahhhhhhh! we had a pretty good day tho. the zone leaders came to district meeting and brought my new bike. so now we dont have to walk everywhere! im so happy about that haha! i had to have the thing shipped out from spanish town but it was worth it. only 10K for it. its probably the cheapest bike that i coulda gotten. but its in a great working order and thats what matters haha. we also found our new cook shop. its one of the best places ever! its not Jennys in spanish town good, but its still a pretty darn good place! we also saw Suzzette, today, the less active member that we found. we did a bit of the restoration today. it wasnt the best lesson but we might get 2 investigators from it. cant complain about that haha. we also did a bible study with the russells. as always, it was good. not my favorite thing to be doing but if it helps a member stay converted to the gospel, then im perfectly fine with it haha.

Thursday 8-14-14

i really dont know what happened today. it was the strangest day of all time. first thing we did was go up to Amoy, but she blew out. the family was busy at that moment so we had to go to a different person. we went over and found someone named tiffany. she lives near amoy. we sat and talked with her for a bit. she seems very strange. we think that she is staying in the house when people arent there without their permission. we had a small lesson with her tho. just the first 2 points of the restoration. we will see what happens tho. after lunch we went and saw lisa again. we spent like 2 hours there cause she just kept opening up and things started making sense to us. we found out her concern about why she doesnt show up to church and why she is the way that she is. its so sad haha. i feel bad for her cause she might have to go to a professional to get it solved. but one day she might change. she just has to make the effort by herself. she used to be a strong member, but after going to spanish town and linstead, wards that are functioning right, it really screwed her up. we didnt really have any other lessons for the day. it was just super hot. i think that it got up to like 110! elder dean and i after lisa really just went over to a side shop, bought a couple of ice cold drinks, and just sat there in the shade. i never wanna have a day as hot as that. i really feel like i was standing on the sun!

Friday 8-15-14

Fridays are days that we normally dont get too much done and it was the same this week. after our super planning, we went over to see brother samuels. he was a bit busy so we had to leave after a bit. but he is doing super well. the stress has really left him and you can really see it. he lost a lot of weight and he is almost out of debt 100%. things are starting to look up for him. he just needs to turn back to the Lord before it all comes crashing down on him again. then we went over to the church for friday night activities. it was kinda boring this week cause basically no one came. Mickailia was still gone, Tianna didnt come for some reason, and so the missionaries just sat around for an hour hoping that someone would come. after a bit the other elders had to of their people come so we sat and played dominoes, uno, and old maid for the rest of the time. kinda a boring friday for me but oh well. youll have days like that on your mission i guess.

Saturday 8-16-14

we had a pretty good day. we got to see amoy today and go over the role of the holy ghost in conversion. teaching the fundamentals is a pretty fun thing to do. hopefully i wont have to do that to a missionary tho haha. then we went over and saw tiffany again. still not really sure how solid she is. i dont think that she is taking it serious at all. we could only do one part of the restoration, prophets, and then had to go. we'll see what happens tho. who knows, maybe she'll turn out to be a really great investigator. we then went over to Sister Russell and did a little book of mormon study on 1 Nephi 7. i like the book of mormon a lot more than the bible, things are so much simpler. so today for the study was quite good. then we just went around trying to set up some appointments for later days. we dont have a lot of people to teach so finding is something we really have got to do. it was a slow day but i really feel like it was a very productive day for us.

Sunday 8-17-14

so today we walked sister stone to church. meaning that she came to church! so freaking sick! we'll be walking with her for the next little while to get her in the habit of coming and then see what happens from there. it should be a fun time. church was pretty good tho. we had about 25 people there by the end of church. strange how that is good now. im so used to seeing like 10 times that at church on a weekly basis. but its way nice too. you get to know everybody really easy. we tried to see a guy in a nice scheme as well, but he never answered his phone. so we walked back down to sister stone to have a lesson with her. well we never did have the lesson. she ended up feeding us. her family makes some really good food! i think that it might be our sunday meal appointment haha. we do need to see her every sunday tho. its the only time that she is not working at the market. things will be better for her at that time.

so thats the week. the week of my year mark wasnt the most exciting but at the same time i still love being out on a mission. you can never complain about it. it really is true that even if a missionary never goes to a baptismal service for someone, they always get one convert, and its themselves. everyone had better serve a mission. of the 15 million members around the world, not even 1 million have served a mission. i know there are a lot more than 1 million priesthood that can go. something has got to change. hopefully the world of saints will see that soon.

Love,

Elder Kurt Meacham

Scripture Thought
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/03/the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng