March 18, 2013

This week has been boss! Um, 8 hours of flying -  left at 5 and arrived at 8:30 at night!  The airport at Jamaica gave us trouble the second we stepped off, we got yelled at for taking pics right off the plane! Guess that’s not allowed.  Then we didn’t have all of our paper work so we had to wait forever while they tried to figure that out !  But the plane rides were good we talked to some Jamaicans on the way down ‘bout the gospel and all Jamaicans are super religious, totally believe in God, just don’t know where to find the truth. So we finally got out, one of my bags ripped so hope I didn’t lose anything, haha.  So we get outside and the first thing we notice is guess what? Gajah!  That’s what they call their weed, haha and everyone was super chill. It was sweet.  We crammed the 12 of us in a lil toyota and a van and the craziest thing is we drive on the left side of the road, but everyone drives like its grand theft auto!  So I guess my speeding tickets were kinda a prerequisite for this mission!!! Pot holes everywhere so swerving all over.  It was awesome, I look forward to driving!  Got to the mission presidents house where we had our first real meal in a while and our last hot shower for 2 years! Next day woke up at 7 and it was 86 Degrees! Holy freak, plus humidity, not missing the snow though! We got our companions and areas later that day and our bikes.

My first transfer is Spanish Town and my companion is Elder Hamilton. He’s boss! We went to KFC that day after as a zone. We put like 17 of us in this van, it was so mexican!!  Ha, glad they have some American food here.  After, we went out and met some members!! They all speak English, but it’s different, it’s called Patwah. It’s like slurred, mumbled English, so see mom, it’s good I can mumble, they understand better that way! Ha, but I understand some, it’s certainly helping my listening skills. But, no, the people are so cool and mostly not judgemental ! There are a handful that call me white boy or bleacher, but give me a month I’ll be black, it’s so hotttt!!! Learning so much. The schedules are tight and to be honest it is hard, they weren’t kidding! The first day my feet hurt and the second, my butt, from the bike and I blew a tire the first day cuz the roads suck. There are no garbage cans so you just drop your garbage on the road! Creating bad habits for when we come home, haha.  But, no, the apartments are cool, plenty of study room. The nights are chill. We hang on the roof tops, it’s perfect temp. by then. But the showers are freeeezing cold and gotta shower morning and night cuz we sweat all night long!  We had fried chicken the other day for lunch, bones and all.  They are soft enough though you just eat them ... and teaching is going well, we have like 11 investigators right now. So it’s fun, but hard to feel the spirit.  Speaker towers on like every corner and they play all day and all night ! haha, so staying up pretty good with the times.  We can’t go inside, the shacks are so small, so we teach like all the lessons outside sitting on our bikes or on crates or anything you can find. They build their houses outta anything they can find.  There are some more rich areas in Jamica, but they are a 3 generation country trying to act like a first.  Most have cell phones, but no couches, hah it’s crazy!!  

Church was.... different.  Really small, less than 75 people.  We had 2 baptisms after.  Um, like they have no music ability so all over the place, kids running around. I got a couple to sit by us and use my scripture stuff to color so they would be quiet, haha, so that was nice, made me feel like I still had my brothers.  And everyone is kind, feels like family somewhat, but different styles. People down here give it to ya straight and speak their minds no matta what you think! It can be good and it can be bad... they brown bottle their toddlers, just whip it out with no warning and you gotta be careful where you look, they are everywhere!!! Ha.  Um, pretty bad day though, we had the font ready and the plug came out so we had to wait to refill it and just like everything went wrong.  Satan works hard! Then after, we went to go to some appointments and our tires were flat on our bikes and people don’t keep commitments. But enough ‘bout that! Thankful for p-day, get a lil break.  Ohhh, a couple other things I learned.  I call the lil kids buddy if I don’t know their name.  I’m like, “hey buddy, what’s up?” and their mom gave me an awful glare. Buddy down here means penis soo check that off vocabulary and luckily I don’t fish cuz when they ask do you fish? or call you fish, that means gay so don’t say that cuz they will kill ya. So good, they’re against homos, don’t have to spend much time teaching that!  Gonna cut it there so I have time to enter some photos! Everything is spendy down here.  Internet is $250 an hour and gas is $125.80/ litre!  So don’t complain ‘bout your prices there!! Haha, $1 US dollar = 95 Jamaician so it’s interesting. Love you guys, talk to you next week!!!

(He wasn't able to send any pics because his file sizes were too big.)