07.11.12

OOO da lolly OOO da lolly golly what a day! Well lets see, this week has been pretty busy with zone conferences and such. I love being a part of zone conference, the planning, the preparation and being able to teach in it. It is a really cool experience. Planning took us a while to get the direction from the Lord but when we got it the plans came together quickly. We were at The office planning it and it kinda sucks being cooped up in the office, so about half way through the planning we both just got sick of being there and nothing was really coming together so we went and got some mexican food. I think mexican food is a key to revelation because once we got that, we came back and wailed on the lesson. This conference we are focusing on how we can help our investigators keep their commitments. Lets just say it involves Navy SEALS and a chalk board. We have been having some pretty good success in our area, we are teaching some awesome referrals and some really cool college students. I realized the other day how much I enjoy teaching, its pretty awesome to think that teachers are always learning. I love teaching and love the work that we do. Being able to feel the spirit tons and then teach with the spirit and see how it changes people's lives is awesome.

07.02.12

Well I had an awesome birthday. Elder McCready took me to lunch and then at night when we were coming in, Elder Conder and Elder Nugent dumped 10lbs of flour all over me. It was a good day. We had an awesome day of teaching too. I love being back serving with Elder McCready, He is awesome and I have been loving life, I love my mission, the work of the Lord is really the best thing in the world. The feelings that it gives and to know that you're accomplishing great things is incredible. The week has been awesome, we dropped off the missionaris that were going home and Elder McCready and I have been hitting it hard. We are praying about what to teach at Zone Conference and how we can help the mission. I love Jamaica and I love this work. And I love my family. Love Elder Randle

06.18.12

5.19.12

05.05.12

Things have been good these past few weeks. We have had a pretty busy schedule. For about the last week and a half of April we had to teach zone conference to all the zones in the mission. So we had to go all around Jamaica to the different zones. Then for about 7 days we were flying to the different islands doing zone conference for the missionaries out there. It was so cool to be able to go back to Cayman and see everyone, I really love that place so much. The people there are amazing. It was hard to leave, it was almost like I had never left. I am excited to go back there with Elder Montgomery and Elder Mcready. Then we flew to Turks and Caicos island, the beaches there are incredible but the island itself reminds me of somewhere like Elko or Winamucca, Nevada. It's a very dry, desert looking island. But It was really cool to see the missionaries there. We had a lot of fun. Elder Nelson and I probably got about 4 hours of sleep total for the 2 days that we were there. We did zone conference there on Saturday then we went to church on Sunday which was cool. There is a translator that translates everything into French, which makes it hard to pay attention. Then after church we flew to Nassau, Bahamas where I kept my streak of only about 2 hours of sleep. Nassau seems like a cool island, it's very Americanized and they have a McDonald's. Zone conference there was good. Then we flew back to Jamaica and made it home at about 9:30.  It was a very long couple days of traveling but it was a lot of fun. Really cool experience.

04.14.12

This week was an awesome week, We took our Pday on Monday and there was a big activity at the church called Easter Monday Funday. All of Jamaica has the Monday after Easter off of work so we went to the church with the branch and played a lot of games and had a lot of fun. Tuesday, we had a meeting with President Hendricks making some plans for zone conferences that are coming up and getting everything squared away so that was really cool. Then we had a full day of teaching after that so that was really awesome. We have some awesome people that we area working with now both investigators and Recent converts. I am super excited to work with all of them and it has been awesome getting to know everybody. The Recent Converts here are incredible. Kingston is HUGE and it is CRAZY. There is always something going on which is awesome. On Wednesday we did a trade off with the Santa Cruz Elders AKA Elder Conder and Elder Brockbank, that was awesome they are great missionaries, anytime Elder Conder and I get together its a lot of fun, it brought back memories of the good old Mo bay days. After that we had ZLC Thursday which was awesome. It was a fun drive back. It seems like we are always busy and always have something to do which is a good thing and I love it. Friday we had to figure out all the flight info for us going to the different zone conferences off island going to Cayman, Turks and Caicos and Nassau. so it took a long time. And here we are Saturday, Awesome week. Lovin Kingston

04.09.12

                                          General Conference

                                          Some members from Ochi

                                          Country Breakfast

Interesting week this week.  President Hendricks was gone for a couple of days in the Dominican Republic so Elder Kraus and I had to play mission president for 7 new missionaries that landed on Friday.  President asked us to interview them and assign trainers to them while he was gone.  It was pretty cool but at the time it was stressful. But it's nice to know that you aren't the one assigning trainers, it's the Lord, so it was pretty cool. It's weird being around new missionaries, it made me wonder what I was like when I first came. Well, I love my new area, Kingston is awesome and the Constant spring branch is awesome. So many cool people here and there are a lot.  I'm really trying to learn everybody's name. Kingston is a really cool city.  I think that I'm really going to like it here. There are awesome members and investigators and recent converts to work with and I'm excited to help them and work with them.  After doing interviews and trainers, Saturday morning we did orientation for the new missionaries,  We then drove 4 of them to their new areas. We drove 2 to Spanish Town, one all the way to Port Antonio and the other all the way to Mo bay. Check out a map of Jamaica and you can see the distance. We were in the car for like 9 hours.  Guess whose turn it was to drive...yup. It was a lot of fun though.

04.02.12

Well, sorry it has been awhile on the blog but it's been a busy last couple of weeks. Conference was really awesome and I really got a lot of answers to questions that I had. We got transfer calls on Saturday and I will be moving to my last home which will be.............Kingston, the big city. I'm going there to be President Hendricks' new assistant and I will be serving with Elder Kraus. I'm pretty dang excited about it but also am a little nervous.  I just want to do a good job.  Elder Kraus is an awesome missionary so I'm excited to learn from him. So that's the big news, Hope everyone is doing well

03.19.12

I don't have too much time today.  We played football on the beach,  it was a blast. Spanish town came up to Ochi so there was about 10 of us. The week was good but we have to find some new people to teach this week. I wish I had more time, I love and miss everyone.

03.05.12

This week has been pretty cool, we are working for Marine and Shantell's baptism for this Saturday so we are trying to get everything all set up and sorted out. We have been teaching a lady named Danielle in a place called  Mango Valley, it's about 30 min out of Ochi but it's a really cool place. On Tuesday we had Nephi's piano lessons and were walking out from the church to go to the truck and a lady stopped me and asked if I wanted to do some modeling for her hotel, they needed somebody and she asked me to do it. The first thing I said was yes and she got on her phone and called some people and while she was doing that I thought that this was actually a pretty bad idea. So I told her that I couldn't but it was pretty funny. On Wednesday I went on a trade off with the new missionary, he came back to Ochi with me. It was good, it made me think of what I was like when I was a new missionary.  Crazy how long ago that was. So that was pretty much the week.  Today we are going to go to all the resorts and see how much it costs for the day pass (like sandals) so we can get all you can eat food. Its been a good week

02.27.12

This week was good. We drove to Spanish Town to pick up transfers. First time I have seen E. Conder in like 9 months, it was good to see him, its nice having him back on the island. We helped E. Montgomery and E. Conder take people to their areas in there zone because there were so many. First I want to compliment E. Montgomery on his driving, he knows how to use a wing man. I was following and he only made a move when I could follow. There area is crazy, it's like little Mexico and the roads are really small. So it's good following someone who knows how to drive. When we got to the first area I got out of the truck and walked up to him and told him. "You can be my wing man anytime" for top gun fans he quoted the next line...haha. It was fun but man it was a long drive and it took us 2 days to get back to ocho. We drove from Spanish town to Mandeville, then to Santa Cruz, then to Sav. We stayed the night in Sav then went to Negril then went to Mo Bay, then to Ochi then to Highgate. Look at a map of Jamaica and you can see. Yesterday was cool, we had 9 investigators at church so things are going good. I'm really excited for E. Montgomery's and E. Conder, 2 of my favorite companions get to serve together.

love you all   

02.20.12

                                                     The Caves

                                           Everybody has a little Captain in them...

                                           The 2nd biggest ship in the world, it's huge Jerry huge!

                                           Little tiny car, huge speakers
                 

This week we had a really good week. We got 3 referrals from some really good people today and they all seem to be really solid. One of them came to church yesterday and said that she was going to come back next Sunday so that's always good. We had transfer calls on Saturday and Elder Kartchner and I are staying so im happy about that. I'm glad I get to keep working with the people that we have now.  I have been taking piano lessons from Elder Kartchner, he is teaching 2 kids in our branch and I have been joining in. It's pretty cool. I'm excited for Wednesday to see all the missionaries then the week after that we have ZLC so I'm really stoked about that. We had some really good lessons this week. Having good lessons really just makes you feel good because you know that your in tune with the spirit and that is always a good thing. We are going to get a new missionary in our zone, he is going to be trained in highgate so that will be fun. We drove to Mo Bay for district meeting Wednesday and I got to see some people there, its always cool when people from your past areas remember you and are excited to see you. Well, that's all for this week, love you all. Oh, I also bought some really cool nerd glasses.

Charmaine's Baptism

                                           White River- where we had the baptism

                                           Us and Charmaine

                                          

                                           Elder Kartchner and I

                                           Sean and I with my nerd glasses

02.06.11

Alright, well I have been really slacking on the blog lately so I'm going to try and get it back on track. This last week was one of the best on my mission. The lessons that we had with everyone were really good and all the people that we are working with are making really good progress. Our focus this week was getting Charmaine all ready for her baptism on Saturday the 11th. She is doing really awesome and she made the decision and she is good to go for Saturday. So we are really excited about that. Then we had some really good lessons with Marine and her family. They have been doing awesome and they all -- 5-- of them have a baptismal date for the 25th. They all came to church yesterday and loved it again so that is really awesome. It's funny we have really been praying for priesthood and the Lord blesses us with 5 women... haha. But hey I'm not complaining, i'll take all the blessings I can get. It's really a cool thing to actually realize that as a missionary you have very, very little control of the success that you are blessed with. All that we have complete control over is our level of obedience. IF I was not blessed to have baptized a single soul on my mission but learned how to be and was obedient then I would consider my mission a great success.  The Lord has been good to me, sometimes things get pretty western here but that's when I'm grateful for one of the greatest blessings that I have received on this mission and that is the blessing of friendship. Ever since the start of my MTC days I have been blessed to forge great friendships that I know are going to stand the test of time. Elder S. Montgomery started this thing from the beginning with me and over the course of these last 18 months, he has become just as much a brother to me as my brothers at home. I love that guy and am grateful that Heavenly Father knew who I needed to go through this experience with. When we got here, we met Chase Peterson and he was my zone leader for about the first full year of my mission. His friendship has been incredible and he was someone to always look up to and someone you could always count on, for anything, even bailing me out of when I needed some money for groceries...haha. He too has become a true brother to me and I look forward to the reuniting of the trinity of Peterson, Monty and Randle. Then I was made companion with Elder Conder and to this day I am so grateful for the time that we had in montego bay. He is awesome and I still look up to him. He taught me a lot and came to me at the perfect time in my mission. I love him and he too is a brother to me. Elder Mccready and I became great friends and we had some amazing times together. I know he is going to be a good person in my life. I'm grateful for all my brothers.    

01.23.12

Well this week was really awesome. We had zone conference and it was really good. It was on prayer and grace. President Hendricks is a really good teacher. I love it when he teaches. Then after zone conference we went to a really nice Italian restaurant, it was pretty good. It had a good view and the atmosphere was really cool. We had some really good lessons this week. The fast that we had with Grace is already working and her work schedule got flipped all around pretty much overnight so now she can start coming to church more. So that is awesome. The family that we found last week came to church yesterday and they loved it so we are really excited about that. February should be a really good month so I'm really excited for it. Things are going really good. I love my family, they are awesome. I hope everyone is doing good. 

01.16.12

So this last week was really cool, we had the baptism for Nephi Bown in White River. It was really cool he is an awesome kid. The place that we did it was very pretty. UMMM we had transfers and Elder Forde is in Kingston now and its Elder Kartchner and I here in Ochi. Ochi is really nice right now the weather is awesome. And we have some really cool investigators that we are working with. One has a super strong testimony but since she just had her baby she has to stay in the house for about 4 weeks so that is a major bummer, but she will get baptized for sure. We found a cool family to and that has been awesome. The gym has been going really good. Last week Elder Montgomery came and went through the craft market. The craft market is crazy, its like Mexico, everyone is pulling you over trying to get you to buy their stuff. Monty and I got a really cool bag. Transfers were cool, we drove through the most pretty part of Jamaica that I have seen, rolling green hills and mountains everywhere. It was really cool. We were driving and there was tall grass on both sides of the road and then all the sudden a HUGE rat was on the hood of our truck haha. Only in Jamaica. Jamaica is an awesome country but man sometimes it feels like I'm serving in Gotham city. We had an English tourist at church today and he rad from the scrips, it was like having Morgan Freeman read from the Book of Mormom. haha. Other than that things have been good, here are some pics. 

The third pic is how I want Kade to do his hair. The little boy's name is Sky, he is legit.

                                         My Truck

                                         Baptism

                                         My City

                                         Some of the country

01.03.12

 Me Then monty in front of me then Nelson behind me then Romney then Ostberg then Taylor On the flip side from the front is Roberts then Dale then Kraus. And the one if the front is the missionary from south Africa.

View from my front porch

The long awaited New Year!!!!!!!! 2012 That's crazy, I cant believe it. I never thought that this year would come. What a ride 2011 was, full of a lot of crazy experiences. The Christmas party in Kingston was a lot of fun. It was cool to have all the missionaries together. We drove in Thursday night, and stayed at Elder Montgomery's house.  That was a lot of fun. We stopped to get some mattresses from another house and on the way over when I was driving we lost a mattress on a curve haha. {yes they were strapped down, but we had a strap malfunction} All the sudden I hear a big BOOM. At first I didn't know what it was so I kept driving. Then Elder Kartchner reaches his head out the window and says ya we lost a mattress. So now I'm about 50 yards from the corner so we pull over to go and get the mattress, it had been maybe 5 minutes by this time and we get there and the matress is nowhere to be found. So someone in Jamaica got a real nice Christmas present. The party was fun. it was good to see Elder Montgomery, man I could serve my whole mission with that guy. It was a lot of fun to see everyone else too, I finally saw Elder Nelson after about a year, it was good to catch up with him and his "family" or the people that he trained. We all get a long good. For Christmas eve we had taco night at the McKenzie's and it was a lot of fun. I love tacos and I miss Mexican food. Then on Christmas day we went to the Johnson's and had some really good food then we went back to the McKenzie's. Christmas was really fun, but I'm ready to have Christmas back home next year. Crazy to think that this is my last year. This last week has kinda sucked because we had to stay inside because of New Years and because of elections. Elections here are crazy, people are always getting shot and one guy got his head cut off and thrown in town square. So we stayed in on election day. And Jamaica is all a big party so New Years and Christmas are always crazy. So this last week has been slow. It will be nice to get back into the groove.

12.19.11

Alright so Christmas is this week....Psycho. We had a pretty good week. We are working with some awesome people, they all have baptism dates in January except for one. He will probably be next week. Well I thought I would use this week to catch up on some stories. The first is some news that I got form Spanish Town. Spanish Town is where I was trained and is probably my favorite place in Jamaica. Well the news I got was that Sis. Robninson, which was a lady that used to feed us, had a baby boy. The reason that's cool is because when I was there she could not get pregnant. Towards my last few weeks there, she asked me to giver her a blessing. I gave her a blessing and I went back in my journal to remember this and read about it. Anyway i gave her a blessing and then after 2 weeks I got transferred to Mo Bay them went to Cayman. Well the news that I got when I saw her the other week was that she got pregnant shortly after I left and now she has a healthy baby boy! Pretty crazy but awesome. That was really cool. The other thing was that I got to go to the Mo Bay Christmas party and see everybody there. I saw sister Harvey and her son that we taught and baptized and I also saw a lot of the people that we were teaching when I left got baptized. That branch is awesome. Terry Ann and her daughter Chevelle got baptized and that's really cool. I am excited for Christmas its going to be fun. Jamaica is awesome. 

12.12.11

Alright so I haven't gotten to give a big update for a while. So here it is- I went to my first zone leader council on Thursday and that was awesome. It is a really cool experience. Our zone is doing really well and they are awesome. We only had one issue but we dealt with it and things are good now. So Wednesday we went to mo bay for a tradeoff. we stayed the night there then got up at about 5:30 to drive all the way toKingston, it is about a 3.5 hour drive.  I drove it and we made it in about 2.5. then I had to drive all the way back to ochi that night. It was a long day of driving, good thing there is no speed limit in Jamaica. ZLC was cool, I got to see all the zone leaders. Elder Montgomery coached me thru, before we started he passed me a note that said "here we play hardball" it was pretty funny. We had 6 investigators come to church so that was awesome.  4 of them have baptisimal dates for January. Things are going really good here in ochi, next week ill tell some funny stories.