Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Much to learn, you still have

Family,

Well another week has gone by excellent. Thanks for the emails, I am glad that everything went over well with your lessons on Sunday, I am glad to see that my information was of at least some use. In response to your question mom...hmm...I really don't know what I need at this point. I do like beef jerky (which can't really be found here), and I do like Rubik's Cubes and related materials, I could go with a pair or two or new socks, I really did like that brand of sock that you sent for my birthday, they are great! Black preferably if you do send them. Hmm.....I can't really think of much. I am sort of at the point where I have survived this long with what I have got and it doesn't have to last to much longer, especially by the time December roles around. But anything is great!

This week has been good. A lot of good things have happened. On Sunday we went out teaching after church, like normal, but we sort of have an unofficial task that we do on Sundays where we take a bunch of the Young Single Adults with us out teaching so that they can interact with each other and maybe even lead to dating. An issue in the church here is that many of the Young Single Adults just stay single forever. They don't really date much because no one around them is living proper standards and around each other they just don't really interact. In order for the church to grow it needs a 2nd generation, it can't eternally be 1st generation members. So on Sunday's we drive the Mission bus and load it with a lot of the YSA and go out teaching. It is a lot of fun. It is sort of funny to show up at an investigators house with 8-10 people but we make sure to visit a lot of our younger investigators and they find it great to have so many friends show up.

We had our three day training extravaganza this week! It was great! I am glad that I am finally up to speed on all this new training. It was funny trying to teach the missionaries on this new training that I myself hadn't really heard, I was fairly clueless on what I was teaching them, but none the less it went over well. With Pres. Hendricks and Elder McGraths help (both of which know the training very well) it all worked out great. Wednesday was a brutal day. We had training from 9am-3pm and then zone leader council from 3pm-8pm. Just sat in meetings all day. But it was really good for me, I now have a much better understanding of how the mission is doing and what is going on. I am excited to continue to help the missionaries implement this training into their teaching. The 3 day training was great, sort of chaotic outside of the training. When the missionaries weren't sitting in meetings we were trying to herd them around so that they weren't in Pres. Hendricks hair. It was good.

Well we used to drive this great truck around until tuesday when E. McGrath got in a wreck (not anywhere near his fault) and so now our truck is in a bad situation of immobility and we are left without. The wreck was probably one of the craziest days yet. So E. McGrath went to go get a garden hose with E. Dale, one of the Office Elders, I stayed at the office working of Pres. computer, which had gone crazy and I was trying to fix it. Well E. Mcgrath was pulling out of the parking lot some driver was flying through traffic, not even in the correct lane trying to get to the hospital because someone had fallen on a piece of rebar and it had impaled them, went through their back and out their front. Well this guy slams into E. Mcgrath and destroys both vehicles. E. McGrath and E. Dale came out without a single scratch. Well then E. Cheesman and E. Sheafermeyer go to see what happened (the wreck was within walking distance) well this giant storm starts to take place and they go outside and then lightening strikes E. Sheafermeyer and then the power went out. Well we called 911, turns out they were closed for the day (????) So we had to go find the police to get them to come. In the end everyone was perfectly okay and it was a great day. The funnest part part about it was when Pres. Hendricks walked in the office and we told him all this fun stuff! Right as he walked in we told him about the wreck, the lightening strike, the computer, the hurricane in Turks. It was fun. Now we are without a truck, so we drive the bus everywhere! It is a lot of fun. I was a bit nervous about driving such a massive vehicle around all the time, but now I find it quite fun.

Anyways, I just remembered that you asked about senior couples mom. We currently have 8 senior couples with 2 more on their way, although the Cheesmans finish about the same time that one of the 2 arriving arrives. The senior couples are a huge help. They do a lot of the work that the missionaries can't really get around to doing. Pres. has been putting many of them in the Kingston area to try and get this place ready for a stake.

Our investigator, Akeilah, is amazing! She is now in Alma chapter 31. She reads so much! Every time we show up she has read another chapter or two, or three, or fourteen. She is very smart. We were at a lesson with her this week and she asked us why when she started to read the book of Mosiah it changed from 1st person to 3rd person! haha, that if the first time anyone has asked that to me on my mission. She is going to be a very strong convert, she already understands the gospel better than a vast amount of the members here in Kingston. Without a doubt one of the most impressive investigators I have heard of our seen.

The Hurricane hit the Turks this week, but it mostly missed the island of Provo, just skimed it, and so as such not much happened, everyone is okay and doing well. They said that they just got a lot of rain and a lot of wind, but not really any damage, so that is good to hear. E. McGrath and I are in charge of watching the weather. One of our daily tasks is to make sure that no one is going to be destoryed by a hurricane unawares. Sis. Herbert did say though that Ruben gave a talk on sunday and that it was great! That was wonderful to hear! The branch is doing well there, hopefully someday I will get to see it again.

Overall things are going great, I look forward to this upcoming week. We have a lot of splits with missionaries planned, go out and see what the missionaries are doing and help them use the new training and whatnot. It is weird to think one year ago I was living in the same house, coming to the office everyday and now I am still doing it. haha, but it is nice, Kingston is my favorite city in Jamaica, so much craziness always going on. Well I hope this next week is great for you all, good luck at school. I love you all!

Love
Elder B. Kent Talbert

No comments:

Post a Comment