Week 4 letter

Wha gwan!

Ok, to answer your questioms first, I'm in the Maypen branch, there is about 30-40 people tops that show up every sunday, I had to speak the first Sunday i was here! it was on obediance and it went really well. This week was better than last week because I've made friends in the ward out side of Elder Nelson. R, T, Z, T, they are pretty cool dudes. The priesthood authority in the branch is pretty weak, its not the strongest branch, but we're doing our best with what we have. When we sings hymns it takes me right back to home. Yes im on a bike, it's just been passed down from missionary, i think from elder Baird, and i dont have to pay for it if i take care of it, but i bought a new tube because tuesday my tire popped (ill explain later). I have one hour to read and write emails, and im strugglin to get my pictures loaded because the computers in the internet cafe are so slow. I got a letter from Dad today but ill be actually getting it wednesday because thats when ill be seeing the ZL's so its probably in there! :) The snail mail works, it just takes a little longer.

So! time for the day by day update:

Monday- It was P-day, i jammed with the rasta, and since it was holiday we didnt do much else, but we did get a new investegator which was sweet.

Tuesday- ohhhhh tuesday was rough. Elder Nelsons bike broke, so we went to the bike shop to get a new derailer after we emailed, then we got lunch, and it broke again, so we rode back to the shop, they fixed it, then we rode out to a lesson, and my tire popped. Rode to Youngs bike shop to get a tube and of course, they dont have a 26''. So walk our bikes to the church, lock them up, its pouring rain, and we walk up to Juno Cresent (about an hour) and teach H (recent convert) and P (baptism date for Aug 20th) and meet with mama G and her family who are also investigators. Her daughter N is interested but pretty skeptical and won't come to church but read a little from the Book of Mormon and watched the restoration DVD.

Wednesday- We walked to the church for district meeting (about an hour walk), after district meeting went to Juicy's (home of the famous beef patty!) and ate, shot some pool, and Elder and Gilson jumped on a Coaster (big toyota van full of people) back to Old Harbor for trade offs. We go on trade off's each week with them. We went finding for like 3 hours, i was dyyyyyyyyyyyin, sooo hot, i gotta buy some Dr. Scholls or somethin too cuz my shoes are not as comfy as they used to be haha had a lesson, yadayadayada and then bam, it was thursday.

Thursday- ohhhhhhhh thursday. met up with Nelson and Toutui in old harbor, got lunch, then coastered back to maypen, fixed my bike and taught a couple lessons to n and mama G. But! pretty cool thing happened, sittin on the coaster next to a lady who says she went to church in the bronx a couple times on vacation... what are the chances??? so I gave her a BoM, got her number, and hopefully we will be seeing her tomorow. Definetly an answer to my prayers. So then we are walking home, we worked through dinner, Elder Nelson is buyin some onions, and this guy walks up, speaking awesome english, (i still have a really hard time understanding patios by the way, its not the english they said i would be speaking!) and he asked who we were and stuff, gave him a BoM and he was super interested to meet up the next day. Another blessing, people are just coming up to us that day! So we are still walking home, and this El Camino with a bunch of scandelously dressed girls in the back pull up, music blazing (it was a party promotion car for a party in Kingston) and me and E. Nelson are just walking, keepin our head down, being good missionaries, and they start yellin at us to jump up in the car with them. So we laugh and smile and say "No WAY!" and keep walkin, next thing we know, we here from the loudspeaker on tope of the car "Girls! Get the white men!" and i turn around and before i can pull a Joseph and run away from Pharoh's wife (or however that story goes) i get double teamed by two jamaican girls, one grabs my backpack and the other takes the front and im gettin danced all over... so i am still walking, tryin to pull a lil spin move, slightely freaking out, but its no good. I look back and Nelson is gettin the same treatment from just one girl... it was the longest, most weird 6 seconds of my life hahaha They left and me and Elder Nelson are just laughing histerically. We arent sure what in the world just went down, so whats the first thing we do? "holy freak! We gotta call Toutui and Gilson!!" haha but the night is still young!! we are STILL walking home, and the clouds look like they are gonna open up pure hell on Jamaica (we thought because the girls were getting groovy on servants of the Lord) but we get inside and the Zone Leaders call and say to stay inside, a hurricane is passin by the island. It was pretty awesome, but we didnt get rained on at all until the next morning. Old Harbor got smoked with rain, flooding in the streets and everythin, lost power, it was nuts. So we just played some domino and watched the clouds for a bit.

Friday- we super planned in the morning, which is detailed planning for each of our investigators for three hours, called up B and he said he'd be at the church for a lesson, so did K, so we waited at the church for both of them and they flaked out which really sucked.

Friday night activity gets going and we are playing basketball with baby shaq (6'4'', 320 lbs) and another guy when Elders Toutui and Gilson show up because they are stayin the night because they are using our font for a baptism in the morning. And they take off running down the street to the taxi park. Turns out Toutui's bag got jacked, had his wallet and everything in it. so we are lookin around for the taxi man, he says he doesnt know where it went (the taxi man told toutui to put the bag in the trunk and took off before toutui remembered, shifty taximen do that all the time) so Nelson and him ride bikes home and me and Gilson were gonna get a cab home because it was almost curfew. Turns out, there wasnt a single taxi going to race track so we made the hour walk home. i was so wiped out. I was a crazy two days

Saturday- Helped with the baptism which took all morning, had lunch, then went up to mama G's and chopped some of her yard with machete's (so awesome!) she and n didnt wanna hear a lesson, so we made a couple calls and of course were turned down, went home and ate, then walked to zachs BUT i forgot a pair of socks he needed, so we turn around after already walking for twenty minuties, and sure enough, we ran into a lady named D who took a restoration pamphlet and we are meeting with her tonight. Blessings come at the weirdest times!

Sunday- Church, (fast sunday) came home and ate, went out finding and to z, then to T's for dinner, then met with travon and got to talking about why he should go on a mission. got blown off my G but were meeting with him tonight, and went and saw Brother C, a less active, and invited him to Culture night on friday at the church. For culture night me and Nelson are playing and singing some bob marley! oh, and if you wanna hear what son i hear about 7 times a day, because in jamaica, people just put huge subwoofers and speakers in the street, so there is litterally music going almost 24/7, its called Summertime by Cartel. Im already sick of it haha

This week was actually really hard... ive been pretty homesick. Saturday morning especially. I was tired and this whole week has been pretty hectic with the bikes breaking down and all the cancelations, so when i went to grab a pair of socks, i found mom's note that said "you are loved" and i broke down. I really miss you guys and think about you a lot. I love a busy full day, but a lot of times it didnt happen like i hoped. Jamaica is great though, besides the terrential downpours every once in a while that get all my stuff soaked ;) oh! i did my own laundry in the buckets! it turned out actually pretty nice, my shirts blew off the line though and landed in the dirt so they are a touch dirty. This week is going to be hectic too, im going on two trade offs, one in old harbor and one with Elder Mackey (zone leader) in Spanish town, so i wont hardly be in my own area. I feel your prayers and gain stregnth from them. Have a great week! Haley- dont hit anymore deer! Mac- .... ok, just make sure you have the single bass down before you go to crazy with my thrash metal music! Dad- any canuck news? im on an island when it comes to that! hehehe :) Love you all!!

Elder Romney