Week 62

Hey guys,

Monday was P-day and we drove around the island as much of the coast as we could. We found this cliff that we took pictures on so I'll send them. we then went to see my recent convert's birthday and gave him a tie. We also stopped by the Sinea's house for a little boy named Shavargo's birthday as well.

Tuesday morning we had interviews with President Pearson over Hangouts then had District Meeting with him. It was hard because Cayman had a hard time with their microphone so they had to call our phone then speak loud enough for everyone else to hear them! It was a very interesting set up we had! Afterwards we took lunch then studied for Zone Conference and what we were gonna share with everyone. We later went to see Island then took Sister Dennis back to the airport. We also had dinner at the Seawell's home.

Wednesday was Zone Conference and we talked about "Killing the Dead Time' that most missionaries have in their day from about 1 to 4. Afterwards we went and saw Paedencia and Monique. Zone Conferences take a lot of energy out of you especially when you have to watch over the computer and every one forgets about the Off-Island Zone... Oh well!

Thursday morning we went to Immigration but couldn't do anything because the lady that usually helps us wasn't there that morning. Went and got some signatures from our Branch President for a check to pay our rent. Went and did some insurance work for the car that was hit and then took lunch. A lot of running around that morning. We went and saw Island again but she was sick so we didn't spend too much time there. We then went to go see Noelda with Watson for the first time since he's been back in the Bahamas. That was a really good lesson on the Word of Wisdom. She told us that she was going to throw her coffee away that night! I am super excited for her!

Friday morning was Weekly Planning then we went out to the Whitney's for lunch but Sister Whitney forgot that they were feeding us that day. We helped Brother Whitney take down their Christmas tree and he then took us for a ride in his coaster bus! I'll attach a picture of the buses they drive here. We went to try and see the Michel family but they weren't home and also Monique. The Robasto's bought us pizza again for dinner which is perfectly okay with me! Also, Thursday Marked 15 months down for me on my mission!

Saturday morning w went to help Island do wash but she wouldn't let us do much but oh well. We then had House Inspections done by the Stewart's who were visiting for President Pearson. They then took us over to Paradise Island to Burger Shack for lunch. When we got back we took Elder Stewart to the church so he could do stuff with the Branch Presidency. I forgot what we did Saturday night...Sorry

Sunday morning we had to go to the church early to take down the screen from last Sunday. After church we went to the Ferdinand's for lunch. We then went to see the Sinea's but Mark was asleep and every one else was busy so we went to see get our phone back from the Stewart's. We also stopped by Omar and Ashley and talked about them getting married and their plans for it. Those guys are awesome. They are so excited to get married and sealed in the temple! All they have to do is actually get married now so Ashley can be baptized so they can go to the Temple! I'm also super excited for them!

This week I have seen the Holy Ghost testify through my boldness to people. Because I love them and I love this gospel enough to be bold with them, the Spirit has been able to work through that. I love when I can feel Him working through me to better the lives of those that I am teaching. I am Grateful for my Savior and for His Atonement for us.

Love you guys!

Elder Wilding

Thirty signs you might be a JKM returned missionary:

Thirty signs you might be a JKM returned missionary: 
1. You refuse to eat fried chicken, especially KFC. 
2. You're obsessed with milk. 
3. You're obsessed with Mexican food. 
4. You accidentally speak Patois every once and a while. 
5. You purposely speak Patois sometimes, just because you can.
6. Sometimes you speak like Jar-Jar Binks ("Me sah nah wanna gah home!")
7. You cringe whenever someone says the word "buddy."
8. You find the term "buddy-system" absolutely hilarious.
9. You sometimes smile when somebody says the word "fish."
10. You can't help but smile when you see a super old, beat-up Toyota Corolla.
11. You don't understand why people use turn-signals when they could just roll down their window and point.
12. It surprises you when people stop at stop signs.
13. You wonder why everyone isn't honking their horns every two seconds.
14. You wonder why people actually go the speed limit.
15. You wonder why everyone isn't passing you, even if someone is already passing you.
16. You think that Utahns are good drivers.
17. Whenever you tell someone where you served your mission, you then are forced to explain how you kind of learned a new language, but kind of didn't.
18. "Livin' in Jamaica" sometimes gets stuck in your head.
19. Sometimes, right before you turn on the stove, you wonder where the lighter is.
20. When you're on a bus or carpooling, you sometimes get tempted to scream out, "One stop, driver!"
21. You sometimes can't help but make a few America vs. Canada jokes.
22. You're mad at "Cool Runnings" because it destroyed everyone's perception of Jamaica.
23. You can properly identify the scent of ganja.
24. You call marijuana "ganja."
25. For some reason, you want to speak with every black person you see.
26. It sometimes surprises you that African Americans don't have Jamaican accents, nor do they know Patois.
27. You get excited when you make macaroni and cheese WITH milk and butter.
28. You sometimes have a strange craving for rice and kidney beans.
29. Whenever you tell people where you served your mission, they say: "Oh, wow! That's awesome!" And then they make a really bad impression of a Jamaican accent.
30. It sometimes surprises you when you walk down a street and everyone isn't staring at you.

Message from JKM mission President

"This morning was a historic one for the Church in the Caribbean. The Nassau Caribbean District was formed, so we now have one stake and two districts in the Jamaica Kingston Mission. This is a most unique district; there may not be another one like it. The Nassau Caribbean District encompasses 180,000 square miles of territory, three countries, and six languages. We had a speaker from Nassau, several from Cayman, plus a special message from the Dominican Republic delivered by Elder Alonso from our Area Presidency. Everybody on all four islands was able to hear all the other speakers."

Week 61

Hey guys!

So this last week was really fun and stressful at the same time! Imma tell you the reasons why!

Monday we didn't do too much for P-Day. Elder Markwalter had to do some school stuff so we spent some time doing that. That evening, Kevin Brown, the former JKM Mission President, came to Nassau to visit the Institute and Seminary kids so we drove him around to see some of the members.

Tuesday morning was District Meeting. We watched the Broadcast of President Nelson and had lunch. Afterwards we took Kevin Brown to see more members and some investigators. That night we took him to the Seawell's with us for dinner. On our way home we tried to see Island but she was asleep.

Wednesday We went and saw Omar and Ashley, Ashley is investigating the church and Omar is a member. They are not married, have a child, and they both are really want to be sealed in the temple! Kevin Brown did a really good job at teaching them the Family Proclamation to the World! We then went to see the Sinea's and had a good lesson on families and coming back to church! We also saw Samantha who is, also, Jamaican. It was cool to see them both just open up to each other just because they were both Jamaican!

Thursday morning was Mission Leader Conference. The Conference was held in Jamaica so we had to Skype in but the internet in Jamaica was really bad so all we could do was listen to it. The Conference took most of the day too. Around 5 we tried to have a lesson with island but that didn't work out and also we tried to see Noelda but that didn't work either.

Friday morning we went to have a lesson with a man named Alfred. He can't read very well and he is wanting to "turn his life over to the Lord." We had a short Restoration lesson with him then we had to run to the airport to pick up Sister Dennis. She is a missionary who is from Jamaica, serving in the JKM, and teaching church leaders to Teach in the Savior's Way. Before we got to the airport we had sometime to kill so we stopped by Sister Seawell's house. She was about to start cleaning her house so we did everything for her! We washed her dishes, vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen, stove, you name it! She was very happy that we did all of that for her! I had been looking for an opportunity to do more service for her because she does so much for missionaries! We then picked up Sister Dennis, checked her into her hotel, and took her to the church. Afterwards we went to the house to have Weekly Planning.

Saturday morning we had prep preparation for Zone Conference next week. Brother Watson was also returning from Haiti so we went to the airport to pick him up. We took him to the Michel family before dropping him home. He brought us Haitian money! This is where it starts to get stressful to the max! So we found out that there was gonna be a District formed here in the Caribbean. Bahamas, Turks, Cayman, and some smaller islands were all going to be a part of it. So they were gonna Skype all of those branches but NO ONE KNEW ABOUT IT HERE IN NASSAU!!! Elder Markwalter, Camillot and myself had to spend most of that day setting up computers to get ready for the Conference! We didn't leave the church building until 10 pm that night!

Sunday morning we had to head to the church early because we still weren't done setting up for the Conference! AND THEN we found out that Brother Kemp had to give a talk because he was being called as the Executive Secretary! So we scrambled to get the pulpit plugged back in and the sound working again which, when it came time for him to talk, didn't work so he had to call Cayman and talk over the phone so they could here him everywhere else! Oh man, I never knew that I could figure out computers so fast in my life! I feel bad for the next missionaries to go through all of that! After church we went to the Ferdinand's for lunch. We took some studies then went to see Samantha but she just kicked her husband out to meet with us instead of her then locked herself in her room! So we talked about prayer haha! On the way home we stopped by the Sinea's and talked with former Elder Sinea about his mission as he showed us pictures of his mission!

I tell you what, The Bahamas is more than just a place to vacation to. It is Home to me. I love it here and I am dreading the day that I have to leave. I love the work here and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be here doing His work!

I Love You Guys!

Elder Wilding

Week 60

Hey Guys!

Sorry there wasn't an email last week. I guess it didn't send. But oh well. I am also staying here for another transfer!

Monday was P-Day so we went and did some shopping and went to see Ketchina and a few people with Camillot.

Tuesday was the start of a weeks worth of rain. It rained every day after Tuesday and it flooded every where! The Little Yaris could hardly handle any of the roads that were barely flooded! We had District Meeting that morning then went to the Saint-Gill's for lunch. Afterwards we tried to go do Immigration stuff but it was too late to try and do any of that stuff because they would have closed by the time we got our stuff back. We went to see Island as well. We tried to have a lesson with them but everyone was tired so we just had them teach us Creole and watch them laugh at us as we tried to pronounce it correctly! It was good, they learned the definitions in the back of the Restoration Pamphlet. Then traffic started to get really bad due to everyone getting off from work and the flood waters so it took us like an hour and a half to get Camillot home then another hour for us to get home!

Wednesday morning we went to DHL to pick up Paper work for more missionaries. We tried to do them on Wednesday but we had an issue with them. They had the Branch President from Freeport's name on there and not our Branch President! So we made a bunch of phone calls to Jamaica to try and figure out how we were gonna fix it. We also called a lady from Immigration to help us out too. Wednesday was a Holiday so we couldn't do anything with with anything because all the businesses were closed... It also rained a ton on Wednesday so more flooding and more time spent sitting in traffic trying to get places... We drove down to Bay Street to drop off a pamphlet to a guy we talked to on Monday. Went to the Whitney's for lunch,tried to see Samantha but didn't make it in time due to rain. Tried to see Island but she wasn't home. then spent more time in flooded roads.

Thursday we finally picked up Immigration papers from DHL then had to chase our Branch President around to get signatures and all that fun stuff in the rain. I can't remember what all happened on Thursday besides a meal appointment with the Whitney's again. and MORE RAIN!!

Friday we went to Immigration with a thing of brownies and Mrs. Nemore loved it! She has been helping missionaries for years now! She helped out that day and we were there for about an hour instead of hours! We went to lunch afterwards then had weekly planning. We also watched President Monson's funeral that night at the church after the Robasto's dropped off food for us!

Saturday we spent most of the day contacting because we haven't had too much time to do that last week. We also helped a member clean a few rooms in the church because no one showed up to help him. We then went to get Haitian food with Camillot. We then tried to see Samantha again but she wasn't home. We spent most of the even contacting too but due to rain it wasn't very effective.

Sunday was church and I messed up on the piano for the first song! Every one was staring at me like, "Bro, get your act together man!" There were a ton of tourists there too! The Ferdinand's cancelled on us again this sunday but it's all good because we still had some wings left over from the Robasto's dinner they brought us. We then had to watch a guy cut a hole in our ceiling because there is a leak somewhere in the roof that is dripping into our room. So we had to be there for that then we went to see Brother Pierre and he signed my signing journal. Then we went to the Smith's to have them sign my journal as well. We went to the Sinea's after wards on our way home and had a few of them sign my journal.

That's all for this week folks! I hope you all had a drier week than we did because it literally rained all week!! Anyways, Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Wilding

Week 59 - Transfers calls

Austin is staying in Nassau!  He didn't get a letter sent this week.


Jennie

Week 58 - FOOD

All I can really say about this last week was FOOD!!

Most of the week was spent going around and collecting food from members who wanted to feed us for the holidays! People "House Hop" here. So for the Holidays, almost every one makes tons of food for people to come and eat or to take home. So people will just go from house to house collecting food to take home and everyone is okay with it! So that's what we did!! 

We started to teach Island again because she finally got married and now we are teaching her husband! They are both are really interested in the gospel and changing their lives! We are hoping that they will be baptized in the next few weeks because Island finally came to church!! We took some old hand me down clothes to them and they finally came!! It was amazing to see them there! They were fellow shipped amazingly!

Alright now time for the crazy story!

So on New Year's Eve at the Sinea's they were having a party. Not all of them are members of the church so there was Alcohol and smoking going on.Anyways, one of the guys in the yard is like my best friend! His name is Rambo and He is awesome! I haven't had the opportunity to share the gospel with him yet because every time we go over his has already had some beer and smoked a little and I want to share it with him when he is not under the influence of the drugs and alcohol. Anyways, so they were out side singing and dancing and all that stuff when a shooter came into the yard and fired off about 7 shots or so into the party. One of them hit Rambo in his right forearm and another one hit another guy in the inner thigh! This all happened around 12:30 am so we were home in bed. We show up to the Sinea's to help Mark Sinea, the former Jamaica Kingston Missionary, sand and prime his room so he could paint it. He get there and he tells us this whole story. The bullet went straight through with out hitting any bone or anything so he isn't too bad but he is still in a lot of pain!

I hope every one had a safer Holiday Season than the Sinea Yard did! Love you All!!

Elder Wilding