"it all turned out good!!!"

 View of santa cruz

Santa cruz traffic alot different from kingston

Kingston traffic hahaha big difference huh

just a random picture 

Well lets see here.... 

This week seemed good! We had zone conference Tuesday in Sav la mar it was really good i felt like it was the best one i have been to. i was taking notes like crazy lol! President Hendricks talked with me afterwards and he has been telling me since i found out i was coming here that we need to focus on Priesthood so we have been working hard at that. We have a couple people that we are working with that seem to have some promise so thats good! but we have been doing a lot of finding and its bloody hot here but its all good! Sunday i gave a talk in church!!! i was stressing over that thing for a couple days Elder Ostberg had to speak as well and we couldn't decide what to speak on so finally i remembered all those talks Brandy sent and the one where she related us to horses is what i went with but i rewrote it all and not to brag but dang that was a good talk gonna have to keep a hold of that one so i can use it again lol! I was worried cuz Jamaicans dont know to much about horses so i just went and explained it to them the best i could But it turned out good!!! we have to do it every 4th sunday here. So thanks Brandy for the ideas!  Last night we went to teach a lady that we had met earlier in the week. once we get there she was busy for a minute or two and she said this is my cousin teach her.. so we did and then she came back and joined us. we had a good lesson going and Kesha's Cousin had a ton of good questions and was confused on a lot of things so she asked us to explain something out of the bible for her so we opened up and i read the first verse and a car pulls up and everyone in on the lesson got all distracted so we waited well like 5 or so people pile out of this car and they are members of a different church.. the guy whispers to the lady DO you know who these guys are??? she said yes and he was all oh like he was shocked.. they came up on the porch and said oh well were just in time for your lesson... So i said well let me catch you up so i told them how we were talking about how God works through prophets and such and apostasy and about Jesus Christ and when he was on the earth. then he was all well im glad that you are teaching about Jesus And all that so keep going on your mission doing that. well he was just politely saying LEAVE lol so we testified that the things we taught are true and how they can know that to.. Then as we walked off we had Kesha and Monique follow us to the truck and talked to monique a little longer i just didnt want that Pastor telling her non sense about us. so she asked a bunch more questions just awesome questions. Then you hear that pastor just go off yelling and screaming he must of been praying or something i have no clue. But we were just getting ready to talk about The day of Pentecost and the gift of tongues well im just glad Monique didnt keep asking about that cuz they were defiantly people that talk in their tongues so that would of been an argument and a half but it all turned out good!!! But any how that was my week!!! 

Love ya Stetson  

PS we are going to negril today for p day to eat lunch at margaretta ville for elder taylors birthday. 

well my time is soon up so i better say bye before it runs out!!! I love you!! tell dad good luck

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE

A view in Ochie 

me and elder randle pretending to go down the slide

(randle has his own zone he is a zone leader for the north coast zone)

Well this week has been a good one for sure! With transfers on Wednesday the beginning of the week was a lot of running around telling people in Kingston bye. It was sad to leave i really came to love Kingston as bad as everyone says it is (the People that live there that is) its an awesome place! I have been super lucky so far to have really good areas to serve in Linstead, Cayman, Kingston (constant springs branch) and now here i am in Santa Cruz! When President Hendricks called me about Transfers he told me that Santa Cruz really needs some Priesthood they are struggling in that aspect so i started to pray like crazy after that phone call Last saturday night. Well Wednesday we got everyone to there areas its a long drive from Spanish Town to Negril thats like totally different sides of the map we didnt make it to Negril till thursday so we stayed the night in Sav la mar with Elder Romney and Elder Taylor. then thursday morning we got up and headed to Negril. It was really pretty there. LOTS of white people thats for sure!!! Then we headed back to Santa Cruz you talk about Country this place is all of that. its like going from Phoenix Arizona to Castleford over night its so different its quiet and spread out! Its a town in the mountains but its hotter than a popcorn fart here! There is tons of farms around and cows and horses something you dont see to much in Kingston. Anyhow we have been continuing to pray to know where we can go find some Potential Priesthood holders and well Sunday rolls around and we are at Church and a guy said that he was just driving by and thought he would stop in for church i was like NO WAY he loved church and on top of that he drives a car so thats even rarer i was like dang thats awesome!!! so thats why i titled this ask and ye shall receive! Church here is a lot smaller than in Kingston. About 20-30 members show up. but it was awesome the members here are super nice and thats awesome!! so im stoked to be able to serve here its almost like back home driving up in the mountains on dirt roads and in the country!! so thats cool! But everything is going good so far!! Anyhow love you all!!!! 

Stetson

oh ya i got my package finally thanks a bunch i just have to get some crackers today for my salami everything made it i think and yes they had opened it but they put it back in the wrappin paper. 

yup!!! well my time is up. tell dad congrats. love you all!!!

"getting transfered to santa cruz"

hey well im finally online!! we went to ochie today with the flakes they were supposed to tell ya last night but forgot but i dont have any time to email... im getting transfered to santa cruz this wednesday to be zone leader there.

 i will be serving with elder ostberg. he is the other one that i came out with so that should be fun.

 its across the island on the west side of the island i hear its bush like mountains and trees and such. 

anyhow i love ya hope your week was good.

 i have some good pics to send home but they will have to wait till next time!!!

love ya stetson

"things can get pretty western here"

Well another week has come and gone! Well i guess it hasn't quite been a week since i last emailed ya but anyhow this weekend has been good! Thursday we were in the house all day because of elections things can get pretty western here i hear during elections. so the whole mission stayed inside. We cleaned our house it took about 6 hours i think we scrubbed the walls and all it was spotless by the time we got done cleaning. After that it was just sitting around the rest of the day. But then on Friday we were out and about again the last few days have been good we have had some really good lessons with people and have had some good moments. Sunday we had 2 people at church Kerry-ann and Chrissy. Kerry-ann has a baptism date for the 21st and Chrissy is getting baptized next Saturday so thats awesome! New Years was fun we were at the church until 9 and then we had to get home. But i slept right into the new year haha Church switched from 12 to starting at 9 for this year. It was a little slow at church at the beginning but eventually more people rolled in so that was good! but anyhow there is a ton of people here at the office waiting to get on the computer its a holiday so everything is closed so im gonna wrap it up! But i love ya all so much! Transfers are next Wednesday so we will be finding out whats going on soon!!! anyhow love ya Love Stetson 

Here a few pics of what life is like here in Jamaica. It is amazing to walk the streets everyday and then take a look at what we did and where we went. We are truly privileged, blessed AND protected!!!

 S Flake

 

 

                                                  
                                                   


     

 

    

 

(Copied from Elder Randles Blog)

 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.

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.

haha nuttin nah gwon at tall

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanks to Sister Colleen Smith we have a picture from the 2011 Jamaica Kingston Mission Christmas party.  
Well this week has been pretty good! Its crazy how fast December went by. Seemed like just a couple days passed and then it was Christmas. We had our Christmas party on Friday which was a lot of fun. Its always good to see everyone. It was funny. Elder Randle and i were 2 of the few that got Soon come packages (meaning that our family sent ours late and they haven't arrived as yet) but it was funn.y atleast i wasn't  alone! Elder Randle and i are pretty good friends we just get along great! He reminds me a lot of Tory i remember coming back from Cayman and i kept calling him Tory when i would talk about him crazy. anyhow Ohco Rios Came and stayed the night Thursday night. so that was Elder Randle. Kartchner, and Forde. So that was fun. Christmas day was good. we got a big meal Thanks to Sister Mack and a few others. then gettin to talk to the Family was awesome. Then the rest of this week has been weird. Monday which is usually P-day was just a normal day we had to go out and teach and that was the day alot of people were celebrating Christmas and then Tuesday was Boxing day or another excuse for people not to go to work lol. But we have had some really good lessons with people so thats been awesome! as of right now we have 4 people with baptism dates so thats cool one is coming up on the 7th and the others are a ways off they will be the 21 of January. But everything is going good we have some good investigators so thats good! On Christmas eve we went to Devon house with the assistants we got some ice cream and then we were checkin out the shops well one was all chocolate stuff so we went in and were looking. Elder Hoffman couldnt resist and the same with Elder Brockbank. Well Elder Kraus and i were like no way. well we were sittin outside while the other 2 were eating and the owner came out and was all how come they are eating and you aren't? Elder Kraus was all well im broke. he said what do you want? so he said the covered cheesecake. then he asked me and then he came back with 2 and said Merry Christmas! we were shocked! We told him he had our business. so we are going to make it a tradition and go every once and a while! But anyhow thats about all that i can remember from the week! anyhow i love you all!!! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Love Stetson! 

One more thing for the blog... we went and saw a guy that we had met a couple days earlier and we get there and we have our lesson with him and we ask him if he has any questions and he says no. but i do have one for you... and that is if i can share some of my dinner with you... Well he gets up and goes and dishes us out some food. i tell Elder Brockbank it better not be chicken foot cuz that girl that just came out of the house looked like she had chicken foot... well sure enough CHICKEN FOOT and rice! Well i push it around and just eat the rice and Elder Brockbank is over there gagging like dry heaving about to lose it lol so then i ask the guy so how do i eat this? (even though i knew how) then he said just put the whole foot in your mouth and then eat all the meat off the bone.... MEAT? thats not meat... Thats like gristle. it was so nasty. i did my best and that was it! next time im gonna say im allergic to that crap lol!! 

Season's Greetin from JaMaiCa!

"Season's Greetin?" well you might be a red neck..... lol

 or the red neck just didnt get the whole painting in the picture lol

Well the week!... 

This week has been pretty good. We have had some pretty exciting things going on. Thursday we went and did a service project for a less-active lady with the assistants. We helped paint the house and chop her yard! We chopped some tree branches and all kinds of stuff! thats one thing they do here right before Christmas is they clean up the place usually paint there house and all kinds of stuff!  It was fun probably dont sound fun but i guess you just had to be there! I love doing service cuz i get to wear the ol Cowboy boots ha thats the best part they are like wearin slippers after a long hard day lol. We also had our branch Christmas party on friday night it was good for the short while i was there. 

About half way through i had to leave with the office elders and go and do a baptism interview for them! And what an interview it was lol. The man i interviewed was defiantly ready but his wife was kindof negative about the whole thing. She had never sat in on any of the lessons  so she thought she would sit in on the interview and see what it was all about! Every question i asked him she would want an explanation of it after he answered so i would have to explain it all From the word of wisdom to the sabbath day lol. when i asked the if he would keep the Sabbath day holy he was all well Saturday is a hard day to keep holy.... well your in Luck cuz the Sabbath is Sunday he was all i know i know.. well his wife Who is a Saturday worshipper was like WHAT you are going to need to tell me why that is lol So i did. Every question she would ask me it seemed like i didnt have to think of what to say it was just given to me! It was an awesome experience! even when she asked me some questions that i had no clue what to say then i just listened and bam there it was! Really awesome! Saturday this week was defiantly the highlight of the week! everyone we had planned on seeing was home and the lessons we had with them were awesome! Sunday Kerry-ann and Chrissy were our 2 investigators at church which was awesome! they have been practicing for Christmas Sunday so the 4 of us missionaries joined the choir then i gave up lol but heck i may just jump on board for the heck of it ha. But everything is going good cant believe that its Christmas week pretty crazy to think huh? Honestly it doesn't even seem like its possible for it to be! this hot weather has got me all confused! It just seems like it has been a long summer lol then when i get home it will be going right into fall time lol but any how thats about all that i can remember from the week!!!

I love you all

Stetson 

"the week was a little better than last"

Picture of the Kingston Zone 

 Then some random guy that wanted me to take his picture and email it to him so he could put it on facebook! 

i dont care who you are thats funny right there lol 
Well lets see here....

this week was an alright week... Dont really know where to start though.... Umm we had a zone meeting where we had all the missionaries in the Kingston Zone come into Kingston for a meeting. It turned out really good. Then Thursday we had ZLC (Zone Leader Conference) which is always awesome to go to! I have said it a bunch but it is my favorite part of being a Zone Leader. We did some service for an investigator this week we helped chop her yard. about 10 minutes after starting a guy comes out yelling at us telling us we cant chop it we have to pull the weeds or else they will grow back again. well yes that was true. then he was all. you missionaries, maybe you dont understand. so he tries to tell us that its like it teaches in the bible that the wicked weeds will grow taller than the righteous and you can pluck them up and then they are gone for good. i dunno he was crazy. but we ended up chopping the back yard. Used machetes which is the worst way to mow a yard lol i dont understand why they do it with machetes... anyhow im still wearing my flip flops around its getting kinda annoying....i can start wearing shoes this week...but hey dad was right when he said you wont need shoes you'll need sandals. so that was true lol. Sunday morning i called a bunch of our investigators and only like 2 answered and they said they wouldnt be able to make it to church so i was bummed out. it sucks when you work your tail off through the week and then you go to church and no one shows up. But we did have one show up and also a members daughter that we are teaching so that was good! but church was filled up so that was good. seems like every week its fuller and fuller. Probably cuz Christmas is coming up. but either way its a good sight lol!  We got to go to a baptism that the Assistants had. there was so many people that they had to move it into the next room so that was awesome. it was an awesome service! but ya the week was a little better than last...i got my package on friday and lets see what else? ya i got the kool aid....dang what did i do with that... hmmm i could of used that the other day lol...but then again i have no sugar lol...anyhow ya i think we will be able to skype i just have to ask them! church is the same here just sacrament meeting then we have a dinner appointment at like 3 or 4 at sister macks then thats all so far for that day but ya thats about all...i cant really think of anything else.... 

anyhow i love you all!!!

Love Stetson 

"this week has sucked just so you know... like big time worst week of my mission."

Well......... What happened this week? 

I don't know what to say! the highlight of this week was Sunday. Not because we had all our investigators at church... Nope we were far from that but the Awesome thing has been is seeing Steve our recent convert Bless and pass the Sacrament the last 2 weeks. Also seeing Sandra another recent convert go up and bear her testimony yesterday and then to see Blossum answering questions in Gospel Principles like she has been there a long time. Elder Poulsen and I had some good converts thats for sure they are solid as a rock and it so awesome to see that. Thats one thing nice about staying in an area A long time. you get to see your converts progress and learn its been awesome thats for sure!
Also this week i had my ingrown toenail cut out i was so nervous. We got there and sat for a while waiting on the doctor then they put a rubber band around my toe and some iodine. i was like what the crap is this the local vet shack?? Then the nurse was all thats all it takes the rubber band cuts off circulation to the
nerves so you cant feel anything...

 She touched my toe and i was like i can feel that lol well then the doctor came and gave me 3 shots in my toe hurt bad. But they got it all cut out. Afterwards i was getting all woozy about to pass out so we went down to the food court and got some food. Elder Brockbank had to wait in line while i sat down i was all dizzy and i was for sure i was going down. i guess just thinking of him cuttin me with a scalpel kinda freaked me out. but its all better now still have to wear my flip flops around until its fully healed. Shower with a bag on my foot is a pain as well. i think i just wont cut my toenails again. 

But this week has been full of less active work really we have some good investigators but they aren't really doing anything so thats frustrating but everything is only as good as i make it and im trying hard to make it good! 

But ya thats about all that i can recall 

Love ya Stetson