Cheese, Waffles and Pot Pies

06.20.11

This week the find of the week for groceries was 99 cent shredded cheese, 1 dollar waffles and 65 cent chicken pot pies. We came home with about 8 bags of cheese, a freezer full of waffles and chicken pot pies. Yesterday at church, Jack Henry gave a talk and it was really good. While he was waiting for his turn you could just see him over there sweating bullets, he was really nervous. But his talk was great. We did a lot of finding again this week and found some really good people. Ray and his family are a really humble group that really seem to be interested. They are from the Philippines. Then we found Jana, who actually called us at 12:10 last night to see who's number called her earlier in the day. It freaked me out man the phone was so loud I sat up and froze I didn't know what it was. Elder Montgomery did the same but then he answered the phone and he tried to make his voice like he wasn't sleeping haha. He answered and was like hello its the missionaries and she said"Oh, I just wanted to see whose number this was, bye." It was pretty funny. Also we had dinner at the Rhones yesterday and they cooked beef tenderloin, ham, corn on the cob and mash potatoes which I helped make. It was really good. Kerry-ann accepted a baptism date for July 9th. She is awesome. We took Frank teaching with us Saturday, he is the biggest 15 year old I have ever seen, he went with us at about 2 and didn't get home until 9 he was with us all day. It was about 7 o clock and we told him we were going to west bay and he was like I'm hungry and Elder Montgomery yelled out "We have to feed him!!!!!. It was funny. Elder Peterson went home last Thursday (he stayed the full 2 years) And the mission already isn't the same with out him. He was my zone leader pretty much for the whole first year of my mission. But he is back in the promise land, Lucky dog.

28 Lessons

06.13.11

This week we did a lot of finding. We have 12 new people which was awesome. One of the best ones was a guy named Thomas, he is awesome. We had some great lessons with him. He is a really cool guy who is just looking for some direction in his life and wants to know the truth. I'm excited to start working with him. We were finding in an area called Admirls landing and when we were walking from door to door. Two dogs started barking at us and they just followed us. They followed us for a good 30 yards. I took a video of it. Jim, a guy we found in that area, Jim, has 8 parrots all in the garage and making all kind of noise. Elder Montgomery taught district meeting on Wednesday and he did a good job. When we went back to Admirls landing we were at a house that we didn't knock the day before and we were on the porch. A big dog came around the house and was like 10 feet from us and was walking closer and we were like uhhh what do we do, we were cornered. He got really close to us and the lady answered the door and took the dog inside. Jack made us dinner this week and it was really good. He is from Jamaica and made us a some salt fish and acaii. That's the big news this week, we taught 28 lessons.

Funny Story-

Earlier this week, Tuesday morning actually, we were looking through are area book and we found a teaching record for Darsia. Well we called and she called back a little while later. She said we could go and see her so I was asking where she lived and she said Prospect! ok.... what part? on prospect drive! ok.... which house she said you know how to drive? i said yes we do! ok then 2nd house on the right, brownish house! so we went over there got on prospect drive and found the 2nd house on the left, called her and said ok we are outside she said no your not... she said you have to come all the way down prospect drive.... i said well you said 2nd house on the right..she said yes but i thought you knew how to drive.... i said we are driving right now..... then she said not how to drive...... HOLLY DRIVE lol it was hilarious, i don't know whats harder trying to understand someone with a hair lip trying to order Curly fries (Larry, the cable guy) or trying to understand a Jamaican :) but we found her so that's good! Wednesday I had to teach district meeting, you know me, wait till the last minute to prepare so I was doing that Tuesday night! but they all said that it was good and they said we could tell you really took time in preparing it not just a last minute thing!! hahaha but it was good! Yesterday after church ,we went to the Rhones for lunch it was really good. They had 2 different things of meat on the table. Randle kept poking at one of the plates trying to figure out what it was Sis Rhone starts busting up laughing she said your meat is on the other plate unless you like cow foot hahaha after that we were heading back to town and nature called so we stopped off at the Ritz Carlton to use the bathroom talk about a nice bathroom sheesh!!! we then were walking back to the car and there was a shopping cart by the side walk so randle jumped in it and i pushed him across the road it was like the Seinfeld where George is trying to get the frog game across the road it was hilarious!!! Sundays always bring excitement!

Where do all the chickens go?

06.06.11

This week there were a lot of altercations with dogs. There was a lot of barking and some running. We taught some good lessons this week. Early this week we had dinner at Charlotte Hornes again. It was a lot of fun. She always invites three of her friends. Chrsitopher, Spencher and Yemi. They are all in Doctor school. They are some of the funniest people on this island. We were talking about energy wrist bands, bear gryills and a buch of other stuff. I don't think I have laughed that hard in long time. The Ockeys came to visit for there last time, it was kinda sad. They took us grocery shopping and out to dinner 3 times. It was awesome. We went to the really good steak house 2 times and to an awesome sea food place. I had the grilled wahoo, raw tuna, and a cheesecake for dessert. The steakhouse was awesome I had a new york strip the first night and a Rib eye the second. The Ockeys are awesome. Some of the nicest people that you will ever meet. Its going to be different with out there visits. We kinda had a bummer Sunday only had 2 investigators at church. And Clive one of our investigators is moving back to Jamaica for a year. One of the highlights of this week was teaching with President Ashby. We went and saw Helenl and Peter with him and Tasha. He is a STUD. He did so good teaching, he taught the Book of Mormon to Tasha just as good if not better then I have heard most missionaries teach it. It was an awesome experience. Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and it was great, the members gave great testimonies. I bore mine as well. We do have baptisms coming up so i am looking forward to that. Our neighbor Livio got a a nice workout machine and its sitting in our backyard so I will finally be able to start working out again. I ordered a Miami Vice at dinner with the Ockeys (Virgin of course) it was really good. It has been raining a lot here. Elder Montgomery asked a really good question the other day there are a lot of stray chickens running around here and with hurricane season coming up he asked "What happens to all the chickens when the wind is blowing really hard, where do they go?" I didn't have an answer.

3 lbs Burger from Bruce

05.30.11

Tally up another week. This week we had literally no money between the both of us, we have been waiting for some reimbursements for gas and other things and those usually take a couple of days. We were riding on E for a couple days. Everything is so expensive here because 100% of everything is imported. Pretty much the only groceries that we buy are things that are on sale for 99 cents. Then we stock up on whatever that is. This week it was Cinnamon rolls and today we went and bought about 8 minute maid juices for 99 cents. The week before we had a really good find of 99 cents for 20 pieces of Bacon, so we bought about 4 of those. We carry around a red cup with all of our change in it, we call it the travel fund. The most we bought with it was 6.80 cents we counted it out in the linve for a solid 7 minutes, all nickles and dimes. I have been trying to get into the Doctor all week but its hasn't worked out yet I finally have an appointment for Tuesday. Had a great lessons with a new family that we found while knocking doors. Her name is Tasha and she has 2 kids steven and sierra. We went teaching with some members and saw them and they came to church yesterday. Martha's baptisim was pushed back because of her work schedule. We think there may be an underlying issue tho. One of the newer people that we are teaching named Roseanne is doing responding really well and enjoys what she is learning. It was about 8:30 and we were on our way to drop a member off that came teaching with us when we got a phone call from Bruce, he said that he had a cheese burger that he wanted us to come and pick up. It was on the way so we said sure we will stop by. When we get there Bruce walks out with a 3 lbs Cheeseburger. He said its all yours. This thing was huge. It fed us for about 3 days. It worked out perfectly because we were running low on funds. Bruce is awesome he always feeds us. It as an awesome surprise. This little old Spanish lady in our branch is moving back to Peru she is very funny, doesn't speak any english so Montgomery and I always just talk gibberish in Spanish and she gets a kick out of it. She is a sweet little old lady. Saturday we had just got done with a lesson and we get a phone call from sister small. She is quite the lady, close to bed ridden because of her illness but still is a firecracker. She is from Jamaica.

SO YOU'RE TELLIN ME THERE'S A CHANCE.....I READ YUH

05.23.11

Hey hey hey everybody. This week went by really fast. We got a lot of stuff done. We have 3 people with baptism dates coming up. Martha's is this Saturday and she is way excited for it. She is awesome man, On Sunday morning when we were calling everyone to remind them of church we had no one answer there phone so we were like crap man. Sacrament meeting started and none of our investigators were there yet. And Martha had to work until like 2 in the morning so we were like totally bummed. But then we see Martha walking past the window and then we see 4 other investigators coming in it was so awesome. Martha is a powerhouse. It was so awesome to see all of them there. We had a great Sacrament meeting to. The speakers were awesome. A couple from the Philippines talked about there experience being sealed in the temple it was awesome. Brother Del la cruz ecen brought the certificate and held it up and was like "here is the proof and evidence" It was awesome him and his wife did great. And Brother Hernandez and his son did awesome to. We had some pretty interesting lessons this week, and some crazy finding stories. We were finding in some of these apartments and this guy comes up to the door looks thru the window sees who it is and like rolls his eyes and throws his arms up and has a big sigh. He opens the door and before we can say a word he is like we are good Christians, we go to church and we are taking a nap!!! And if I were a betting man I would say that he is battin for the other team if you know what i mean. haha. I think it was on Friday evening we didn't want to go all the way home to eat so we bout a carton if ice cream and a Cherry pie from the store. We have had some awesome lessons with some recent converts. We went to a recent convert named selburn and we get out of the car and 2 big pt bulls walk up to us, and one of them keeps getting closer to me so i walk 360 degrees around the car and these things are just slowly following, so we get back in the car for about a minute then they lose interest then we walk around the corner to selburns door. We are standing at the door and one of the pitbulls comes around the corner and stops and just stares at us, it was like something out of a movie it just sat there and watched us then it turned around it was crazy. We have had a lot of funny stories happen to us and Montgomery makes them even funnier. Our branch mission leader Wyn taught us to make fench crepes. He served in switerland and france for his mission. He is awesome and he makes a mean crepe. He teaches the gospel principles class and his lessons are great everyone loves his class. He is a younger guy maybe about 23 and he and his wife are in school to become vets. They are way cool. It was a good week, the dumb an dumber quotes are still in full effect, and we have been working really hard here.

Friday Night Jam Session

This week we had an awesome week of lessons. We extended 2 baptisim dates. One to Martha and one to Yolanda. They are awesome. We are planning on extending another one to kerriann this week. Kerriann is awesome her and her boyfriend. We watched prophet of the restoration with them yesterday after church and it went really well. We have had some of the best lessons since I have been on my mission. We teach so well together its crazy. Elder Montgomery is a stud. He has been teaching me how to rope and stuff. I told him that when we get back i am going to live with him for a summer and he is going to turn me into a cowboy. We had a really good day of finding saturday only about 3 doors ot slammed in our facees. One was by a muslim lady the other by a jewish lady and the third was just by a really mean person. But we did find some really nice people who invited us back. Pretty much everyday this week we have gone to tcby happy hour and gotten some smoothies. They are a nice pick me up. On Friday we went and taught the camerons son who is getting ready for baptisim. We taught him and then ate dinner and I was talking to his dad who is big into music and stuff and he has a room full of drums and guitarrs and tons of music and memorbillia. It was awesome. We really have had alot of good lessons. The people and branch out here are awesome. Most of our lessons have been on the atonement and overcoming trials and stuff and they have been really good. I have gotten used to driving now i think its going to be weird driving on the left side. There are tons of Iguanas here running a muck all around. On friday we went to prime a brazilian steak house brother workman takes us there every other friday it was way good. they bring the steaks out on these big swords and cut a piece right off of it for you. Here are the pics of the jam session. We also bought some cap guns to protect ourselves out here.

Hello from Grand Cayman

So I have been on the grand Cayman island for about a week and man it is awesome here. It is such a nice place. The people here are awesome and they are from all over the world. Its crazy all the different type of people that are here. The branch here is awesome, way strong we had a great sacrament meeting yesterday. President Ashby and his family were the speakers and it was awesome. Elder Montgomery and I had some of the best lessons that I have had since being on my mission, they were powerful and good. Our teaching really matches well together. He is a stud. Love serving with him. Driving on the opposite side of the road is a trip man. It takes some getting used to. But its so cool out here all different kinds of food because everyone is from different countries. They even eat iguana out here i haven't tried it yet but am looking forward to it. It is a really cool place really reminds me a lot of parts of Southern California. We have some awesome investigators that we are working with, we had 7 come to church yesterday. I really fell like we are going to do good out here. Yesterday was mothers day so I was able to talk to the fam which was awesome. I almost forgot to wish my mother a happy mothers day tho, I remembered about halfway thru the conversation but I got it in there. Love my mom she is awesome. On Saturday night the Ockey's took us out to dinner to a steak house called copper falls, man it was the best steak I have ever had in my life it was so good. He has traveled the world and he says that copper falls is his favorite steak house. They are awesome. Havent really had a chance to take any good pictures yet but i will have alot to add next week.

Going to the Caymans Island

05.02.11

Well we got transfer calls I found out that I was getting transferred to the Grand Cayman Island to serve with Elder Montgomery. I am really excited to go there I have heard nothing but good things about it and I am really excited to serve with Elder Montgomery. It will just be him and I on the whole island. I start there tomorrow. I loved serving in Montego Bay the Branch here is awesome. The leadership is amazing and the members are great. It is a great area and I am grateful for everything that i was able to learn while I was here. We had great converts and some awesome less actives come back to church. I am really going to miss Elder Conder he was an awesome companion. He became a great friend to me. He is going to keep up the good work and do great. I am excited for the investigators he gets to continue to work with.

Easter and 2 Baptisms

04.18.11

Had a really great week this last week. We had 2 baptism's Zara Smith and Keson Young. It was awesome, the baptism service was on good Friday and after the baptisims we had a really good service and watched the testaments. First time I had ever seen it and it was awesome. These two are going to be awesome members of the church I'm excited for everything that they get to look forward to. On Easter Sunday the Easter Bunny found us here in Jamaica and we had Easter baskets when we woke up. I put Elder Conder's in one of our pots and he put mine in a big hat. So that was cool. We had a really good week for finding people and had some great lessons. We had 7 investigators come to church. The little boy in the picture is one our investigators cousins his name is daroo. He is super funny. Monday was called Easter Monday funday and the church put on a big funday which had lots of games and stuff and it was a lot of fun. On Saturday night w went and watched a basketball game that one of our investigators Chinny was playing in. It was cool to watch a real game and really made me want to play. We really have been doing well in finding new people to teach . And the investigators that we are working with are really making some good progress. I'm excited for them. We also talked to a guy that does stunts on his motorcycle the one im on in the pic and he lost his leg but still rides. He was a cool guy.