Fish! Fresh Fish!

Family,

Well it was great to hear from you again. I did get the package that you sent, very good choices. The socks and the beef jerky (can't be found here) were especially nice, I have also enjoyed making complex sentences. In answer to your question mom we always have cold showers, our house has no way of getting hot water unless we personally heat the water on a stove and dump it ourselves haha but it is all good. Sounds like you had an interesting conference this week dad. Did they alter the dna of the mouse after it was born or before? If it was after then someone could start a new form of tattoo where the genes are modified and then the person gets glowy tattoos.

Interesting things to note from this week: Zone leader council, Zone Conference, and Branch Conference.

Zone Leader Council was splendid. It was in Kingston and Elder Coleman of the 70 came. They also flew Elder Sizemore and his companion in from the Bahamas for it. So that was awesome to see him again! He had also brought with him a new rubiks cube that someone had given him that he didn't want to even try solving (Sudoku cube) so he gave it to me and I have enjoyed the challenge. Elder Coleman gave some really good instruction and overall it was a very good meeting. I am glad I got to attend.

Zone Conference was on Friday and it was also very good. The very best part was the assistants had made a video of recent convert testimonies that they showed. In the video they had interviewed Ignatius Dale. It was awesome to hear his testimony and his conversion story. I am going to try and get a copy of the video from the assistants. The instruction at Zone conference was nice. They had a power point with a bunch of graphs on it that they were explaining and showing to all of us - Elder Stevens and I made all the graphs so it was fun to see everything that I had done being put to good use. Zone Conference was good, don't really have much more to say about that.

Branch conference was yesterday. It was really good, very full. We had nearly 40 people at church! Way more than the 15 from last week. So Pres. Graff was there and he was doing some reorganization of the branch presidency. I have been assigned (as a missionary you don't get called) to serve as 2nd councilor in the Branch Presidency. That will be interesting. Between Zone leader, 2nd Councilor and regular missionary I am plenty busy. I don't know how long I will be in Santa Cruz but in the few weeks I am part of the branch presidency pres. Graff wants every member to have a calling (many currently don't), and wants all the records and files updated and current and functioning properly. Our Branch president is an excellent man but is very busy so many things like record keeping haven't been happening so well. I am excited to work with the branch even more now.

That is nice that you got a letter from Sister Cheesman! The Cheesmans are possibly the thing I miss most about the office, they had gotten to the office shortly before I did so in the 7 months I was there we had to figure out how to do everything in the office and became good friends with both of them.

We have begun to have success finding people. Yesterday night we found a lot of good potential men. I don't know if I already mentioned this, but we more or less only teach men. The branch desperately needs priesthood holders so that is what we are looking for. Unless we find families we don't really have to opportunity to teach children or women. We have met a lot of very stubborn men but we are finally seeing success. I am hopeful for this upcoming week and look forward to what will be accomplished.

We didn't have any water one day and as such it is hard to cook. I thought about it and created a decent meal. I took two slices of bread, a package of ramen, and a plate. Put the bread on the plate, and sandwiched a block of ramen with the seasoning on it between the bread. Sort of like a dry ramen sandwich. There aren't really any members in Santa Cruz that feed the missionaries so we are mostly just left to ourselves in preparing our food. Santa Cruz also only has 2 fast food places so that narrows the choices even more haha. Pres. Graff was explaining to us how to make tuna noodle casserole and so maybe I will try that.

Quick thing I just remembered about zone conference. Sister Graff wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. President Graff did her part for her. She normally goes through health issues and nutritional stuff. It was moderately amusing to have Pres. Graff doing it instead, he didn't really have instructions from his wife, it was a lot of just what came to his head - like tuna noodle casserole, or microwaved potatoes. Haha

A lot of missions have gotten their new email address/system. And finally our mission is switching! Next week I am supposed to set up my new email on the new system. Hopefully it is better. Well that is about it for that. For finding new investigators we have been attempting to think of creative ways. Aside from the standard we have considered jumping in front of cars so that while one of us is lying on the ground injured from the crash the other one is teaching the driver who has no where else to go. Another idea we have thought of would be to run taxi with our car and teach everyone that needs ride, that way they have to way to run away! It is always amusing to see the sort of excuses we get from people as to why they can't listen to us. The most common is that they just got home and so they are tired (???) pretty lame excuse. I normally attempt in such situations explaining how it was perfect timing that we showed up right as they got home.

Well I had intended on sending some pictures today - but as I am sitting here trying to do it the computer won't use USB. So that is a problem. I guess I got a broken computer, slightly unfortunate. Oh well, I will just have to attach them next week. I don't think I would ever want to be dependable upon computer labs and internet cafes for my computer usage. To many issues with everything. Time is starting to run short. Things are going well. Santa Cruz looks like it has a bright future in store for it. I look forward to next weeks emails and hope that school/work is great this week. I love you all!

Elder Kent Talbert

I'm Going to Duel Him Left Handed

Family,

Well thankfully I am using a moderately better computer this week, but still nothing worth purchasing. Thanks for the address mother. Still haven't gotten the package yet, but then again it could be in Kingston, no one has come out here since transfer day so it could have arrived a week and a half ago and I wouldn't know, that is the one problem with being out in the middle of nowhere, mail gets sent to the mission and then they send it out with other missionaries whenever they will be passing through an area. Thankfully though tomorrow we are going to Kingston so hopefully it will be there.

The week was good. Tomorrow we are going to Kingston, as previously mentioned for zone leader council. It should be really good, they are having a special meeting with a member of the seventy so that will be interesting. My birthday was good. Very uneventful, just like any other day, but it was still good. It is sort of odd to think that a year ago I was doing missionary work.

Church yesterday was nice. We had a final count of 15 people at church. It is weird to be in a small branch on fast and testimony Sunday. Everyone gets the opportunity to go up and it is almost expected of you to go up in order to effectively use the time.

Part of our job as zone leaders is to go on exchanges with other companionships. We are supposed to go on a 24 hour exchange with every companionship every 4 weeks. So last Wednesday we choose to go on an exchange with the Mandeville elders. I was going to stay in my area of Santa Cruz with Elder Hammond and Elder Tonks was going to go with Elder Allen in Mandeville. Elder Hammond is possibly the weirdest man I have ever met. We had a really good time, a lot of the same hobbies back home. Well aside from doing a lot of missionary work we also started talking about what we were going to do after our missions (I had heard rumors of Elder Hammonds goals and so I had to bring it up). Elder Hammond intends to go home, be with his family for a week or so and then go out into the wild and live as a hunter/gatherer. Sort of like a wilderness survival man thing. He decided that he hates be reliant on other things or people and wants to be 100% self reliant. He wants to get his own food, his own clothing, his own shelter, etc. It was interesting discussing all his plans with him. The best part about it all is that he will do it. I will not be surprised in the slightest to someday hear on the news about some guy that lives out in the middle of nowhere in a tp that he made himself. We also have to go on exchanges with Negril so I will be excited for that.

Something my companion and I have been laughing about this past week as we have attempted to find investigators is how mad men seem to just gravitate to me. We have meet some of the craziest most mentally inept people in santa cruz this last week. It seemed everywhere we went crazy people would walk up to me and begin to have conversations with me. I normally try to hold a conversation with them and make sense of what they are saying to a slight degree. I had a good conversation the other day with a man named delroy all about the battery crisis which has struck the country. I had another amusing conversation with another man named Dwayne about doctors that come around and trick people into making food for other people.

Last preparation day washing all my laundry went alright. It was a pain in the neck. In Jamaica about 90% of people if not more wash their laundry by hand so I had seen it done many times and now it was a matter of replicating it. We have like a big sink outside and 3 wash buckets. Pretty much you just use soap and water and scrub…not to difficult. We have no plan to get a washing machine so it looks like my stay here in santa cruz will be full of washing laundry. My biggest problem with it is determining when something is really clean and when it is not.

The Work in Santa Cruz is rough. It is such a small place that everyone seems to have met the missionaries before and they have no desire to meet with them again. Another problem is that most the people we meet don't live anywhere near santa cruz. It just happens to be like the shopping center of nowhere. We have struggled a lot to find new effective investigators. But we are still trying. We more or less have no investigators but yesterday we met a really cool man. We were slightly lost just wandering around a neighborhood looking for someone to teach and we met a man who was just sitting around studying a physics text book haha. Well he doesn't have a job right now, he use to be a supervisor at a local boxite mine and since the boxite mine closed down he is just getting a better education until they reopen the mine later this year. In case you are unsure what boxite is it is used to make aluminum. Probably the biggest export of Jamaica. They don't have the means necessary to make aluminum but they can at least ship out the raw mineral to the states.

Hmmm- what else of interest happened this week. We have no hot water so showers are unfortunate. Our car has gotten really dirty this week because of all the dry dirt roads. People have been writing in the dirt on our car "wash me"  it has made me chuckle that no matter what culture you are in people have at least one thing in common and that is to draw in the dirt on peoples car. Traffic is always really bad in Santa Cruz, it doesn't make any sense. There is only one road. Somehow it is always backed up. Nobody seems to be able to effectively drive out here.

Something I have been thinking a lot about this week as we have been out walking was the idea of sacrifice. When we walk past other churches they always have their schedule of events posted. It seems like everyday they have some sort of service going on. people can just go to church at the time that it is most convenient for them, they don't have to put forth any effort to make it to church. They can just show up when it fits in their schedule, there is no sacrifice made, and it isn't even that big of a sacrifice to go to church for a few hours on Sunday morning.

Well that is about it for this week. Thanks for the emails, it sounds like things are going well back home. I am doing good. Hopefully school and work this week are nice. I am hoping that the work here in Santa Cruz will finally go somewhere. Well I love you all and look forward to next weeks emails!

Elder Kent Talbert

ps, haha your increased security email made me laugh dad

pps sorry, no pictures this week, next week!

He wanted me to change into that mindless hulk

Family,

I got transferred!! Also I am using the most worthless computer in the world so hopefully this email isn't too short, it just is slower than a snail dragging a mill stone down the road. First off to answer moms questions. I haven't sent the 5000 yet, I was just thinking of that today and intend to do it this week. I worked at Selerity Technologies in Salt Lake City (801-978-2295). I haven't received a package yet, but it is likely in Kingston right now. I just am far from Kingston! haha hopfully their isn't too many spelling errors, it is hard to edit when I miss type, it is just so slow!

Well exciting news, I was transferred! I am in a place called Santa Cruz! Haha It is like being taken from New York City to Malad, Idaho. This is the smallest little town around. Haha, just out in the country, lots of space between houses, large empty weed fields with livestock, etc. I am serving with Elder Tonks, a missionary from Washington. We are Zone Leaders for the Mandeville Zone. In our zone is Mandeville (obviously), Hopeton, Negril, Sav, Santa Cruz, Junction. Good zone. Elder tonks and I white washed the area (meaning 2 missionaries transferred here with no one from before, a new start) Santa Cruz is a very small struggling branch. 1 melchezidek priesthood holder who lives an hour away from the church, and then 0 other men, just a bunch of old ladies who are all good friends haha. The area is struggling so president graff decided to white wash and send the zone leaders there to fix the area. So far it has been quite rough and challenging.

That is great that they are building a temple in Payson! They are still hoping for a stake here in the next 5 years! Things that have happened since I last emailed- Well I finished everything up at the office and have now left. I loved working in the office with Elder and Sister Cheesman, but I will see them again. On Tuesday night before I left we had a big dinner at the Mission home with pres. & Sis. Graff, assistants, and office elders. We had some really good hamburgers and hot dogs and corn on the cob. Very good meal.

Kingston is still booming. Trench Town is ready for the gospel and things are going great there. It is a shame that I will miss so many great baptisms. Santa Cruz is a nice area. I am enjoying it so far. We don't have much going for us right now but we are hoping for a very good week. The Branch President is a very good man. He is from the States and is working here. His wife and kids are still in the states so who knows how much longer he will be here. If and when he leaves, a missionary will have to be the branch president. Elder Tonks and I are focusing on teaching only men. This branch desperately needs priesthood holders.

I am attaching two photos, hopefully this computer doesn't crash when I attempt it. The first is of my last day at the office with the Cheesmans. The second is of the office staff celebrating Elder Stevens birthday. His was just earlier this week. Sister Graff bought him a cake and brought it into the office.

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone, I don't have the computer capabilities to effectively respond to everyone so this will have to do! Unfortunately at our new house we don't have a washing machine. So today I have to go and hand wash all my clothing. I think it will take a lot of my time, but oh well, maybe it will be entertaining. Our house is fairly large. Very empty so everything echos. Well I am excited for my new area, The office has been great, I have made very good friends there with the assistants and elder stevens, I could serve with Elder stevens again haha. Santa Cruz is hot and dusty. It is sort of a common joke to see the fire truck everywhere putting out all the fires that keep starting because of how dry it is.

Life goes well, I am short on time and short on patience with this computer haha. Good luck at work this week dad, I am glad that you will miss laura when she leaves in a few months almost as much as when I went to the MTC, I am glad to know that I was missed more and that she will be missed only almost as much but not quite as much haha. Congrats Heather on the play and congrats Joseph on the license. Thanks for the emails, I love you all and look forward to next week. I think we will find a different internet cafe next week, this one is too slow!

Love

Elder Kent Talbert

Alpha Space

Family,

Well another week gone by. It has been a good one to. So I have forgotten to mention this for the last 3 weeks, every time I leave the computer I remember but it is too late. I made muddy buddies! Thanks for all the ingredients, they turned out good and we enjoyed eating all of them. Looks like tubing was fun and I am glad that you are getting the hang of work dad, sounds like it is going to be a really good job. The picture last week mom was a fairly low quality photo just all the way around.

This week was good. My keyboard just broke and is acting really weird. I can't use any punctuation so hopefully I either find a way to fix it soon or you will have to struggle to read this thing. I just restarted and everything fixed, I think it had something to do with sticky keys.

Well, on Sunday Ignatius was baptized! It went very well. He was tall and so we had a hard time finding clothes long enough for him and getting enough water in the font. Unlike back home, in our branch here we only have 3 baptism suits, small, medium and large, and only one of each size, so we had nothing that fit him, in the end he wore white pants and a white shirt. He is still doing great. We have another baptism lined up for tomorrow and another few in the upcoming weeks. Trench town is doing very well these days and we are slowly getting a large number of our members down there.

Transfers are this week. I know where I am being transferred to, but since it hasn't happened yet things are still subject to change so I will just let you know where I go next week after I am positively there. I will be finally leaving the office after 7 months. I am excited but I will miss the office, it has been a very good experience. On Friday the Chessmans took elder stevens and I out for lunch. It was really good, some fancy Chinese place. I enjoyed it.

Last night down in trench town we went to an investigator who was washing her laundry. Well trench town has been out of water for about 3 months now but there are pipes every half a mile or so that have water so everyone goes to these pipes and collects water in buckets. We showed up to her washing and offered to go get more water for her. Bro. Dawson showed us where the nearest water pipe was. We walked a ways and then the scheme ended and entered the land of desolation which was filled with a lot of trash and a lot of tall weeds. We walked through nasty gross garbage until we found a broken piece of pvc that was letting water out of it slowly. We waited our turn and eventually got water. I don't know why that pipe was there and who thought it was a good place to run drinking water. I certainly wasn't going to be drinking any of that garbage water. It was good. Bro. Dawson is sort of crazy and told us all about how aliens visited him and how doctors sometimes come and trick people into cooking food for others-sort of weird.

One of our investigators who was supposed to be at church last week didn't show up, which was frustrating. But we later found out why he didn't come, he had the best reason out of anyone I had ever met. When he had left his yard in the morning someone attacked him and poured acid down his left arm and so he had to go to the hospital and the police station. His arm is pretty cool looking now, he has some interesting burn marks all over his arm.

I am attaching two photos. One is of Ignatius baptism. He isn't standing very tall at all, sort of slouched over. I had a better photo that showed how tall he is, but the lighting was bad.

There is also a photo of Elder Stevens burning his pants. The best part of burning his pants was that afterwards our old landlord came and asked us if we had seen any lightning. From his windows all he could see was the light and he thought it was a storm coming.

Well I don't have much more to say. Life goes well, I am excited for transfers. I hope all goes well back home this week. I got a haircut, it is good. The computer is giving me trouble, so sorry if this is short. I love you all!

Elder B Kent Talbert

That Thing's Operational!

Family,

Well it sounds like an interesting week at home, hopefully everything goes well. I am glad to know that the insurance switch over went mostly smoothly. Thanks for the address Dad; I have been waiting to send a letter to them.

This week was good! I got a haircut, we have a baptism, I got interviewed by a general authority, and an earthquake rocked Kingston.

This morning we got up and went to the mission home and got hair cuts from sister Graff. It is always nice to get haircuts from someone who does something more then just buzz it. Most Jamaicans just have buzzed hair so most the hair places only know how to buzz hair.

On Wednesday Elder Vinas and Elder Anderson of the seventy and the Caribbean area presidency came to our mission for a few different reasons, one of them being they wanted to interview missionaries. So all the missionaries came into Kingston and we got to be interviewed by them. It was good. Elder Anderson interviewed me. And then I went off with Elder and Sister Bradley to help them with some car stuff and immigration stuff. It was a fairly long and boring day but it went well.

On Tuesday there was an earthquake that dominated Haiti, and could be felt throughout the Caribbean. It was felt in Jamaica although I personally didn't notice it. Elder and sister Cheesman said they felt it, and many random people we have talked to said they felt it also. Doesn't sound like Haiti is in the best situation currently. Elder Vinas and Elder Anderson were fairly concerned and were working on seeing what the church could do to help the situation.

Our teaching has been going great. We have been working more or less only on 8th street in Trench Town. We are having a good amount of success. Ignatius is getting baptized tomorrow. He is a star. Very intelligent and loves to read/learn. He is excited to be baptized and begin learning more and teaching with the missionaries. His mother, Mavis, who we just baptized, is also doing very good. We have been working with her grandson, Dillay also. He is coming along but has some peer pressure that he hasn't been responding to the best. The best part about teaching Ignatius was how he pointed out on his own how when we first met him he felt a different feeling and then the feeling went away when we did but returned when we returned. That is always what we hope for. When the spirit is strong in a lesson it is the perfect opportunity to testify, commit, pray and leave. That way they notice the difference when you leave and they have a desire for you to come back so that they can feel the spirit again.

Transfers are in like 11 days or something like that. So assuming I really do get transferred (which I think I will, and president thinks I will, and Elder Cheesman thinks I will) then next Saturday would be my last Saturday preparation day and it would return to Monday preparation day; which is a lot more convenient for you at home. I am sort of excited to leave the office and go out and teach all day again, but at the same time I have really enjoyed my time in the office.

It sounds like your new job has worn you out dad haha. I am sure that once you get the hang of everything it will be a lot of fun. That is how it was in the office here to. When I first got to the office it was a struggle to really find entertainment in what I did, it was so much different then just going out and teaching all day and I had little idea of what I was doing. But after I understood everything and then adapted it to how I liked to get things done it has become a lot of fun. I also know that working in salt lake is a lot better in the summer when you don't have to endure the snowy roads and everything else that comes with it. What exactly have you got to do all week? Do you work in like a big office place or is it a lot smaller? Who oversees what you do?On Sunday night some strange cold front passed by and made Jamaica very cold. The wind blew all night long and it rained plenty.

It was cold. All night everyone kept waking up trying to reposition themselves for greater warmth (which isn't easy when all you got is a sheet). Outside everyone was all bundled up. We had fun joking that everyone in Jamaica was freezing even though it was only like 70 degrees. It is odd how use to a certain temperature your body can get and when that temperature is removed rapidly it can seem really cold. I can already tell it will be a very cold experience in a year when I have to come home in February. I am attaching a picture of our cold morning.

Elder Tanner is all wrapped up in a sheet and some towels. And everyone else is wearing jackets. To make it worse the power went out (not that the house has a heater, but it made it so our food had to be cold also since we keep even cereal in the fridge to keep out bugs). The candle burning is our art project. It created out heat. We took a candle and put it in a bottle and have been letting the wax drip all over the bottle. It has started to look really good. Perhaps I will take a closer photo of it and attach it next week.

Well I think that is about it for the week. Things are going really well. I am enjoying myself. I hope that this coming week is great and that school/work goes well. I will watch for the package this week and hopefully dad's card will arrive if it hasn't already. Good luck at work dad. I love you all!

Elder B. Kent Talbert

This is the End for You, My Master

Family,

Thanks for that CD, it worked great! Haha On one of them it had put it all into one giant cda file that worked great In any CD player. The other CD I haven't looked at yet since it has the same stuff (or so the letter said) but I intend to see how the formatting worked on that one. I can't think of anything that I need mom. But thanks for asking. Anything is great, I like floss piks for my teeth. Sounds like things go well at home, I am glad that the Heart Biopsy went so well. I am excited for dad's new job and will be excited to read next weeks emails. Grandma and Grandpa Talbert made a good choice by switching to gMail. It will work well for them I am sure.

Things of interest that happened this week-ugh- well as district leader I have to do baptisms interviews. This week a man from Scotland came to Jamaica and wanted to be baptized, he was taught by the assistants and Pres. Graff and then I was asked to do his interview. During the interview he told me the most amazing conversion story in the world. I figured I would share that with you here. He was born in Jamaica and was part of the Anglican Church (Church of England). He grew up in the faith and eventually went to Scotland and got his phd in theology and went to the school of divinity and eventually became an Anglican minister who had his own congregation and everything went well. He said that while he was in school that the deeper and deeper he delved into Anglican doctrine the more he noticed that something was missing, there was a missing link. So he began to look into other churches and met the missionaries. He studied with them and read the book of mormon and the doctrine and covenants and the pearl of great price (this was over many years) finally he decided that it was true and that he needed to sever his ties to the church in which he led. He got a ridiculous amount of persecution and lost everything. He came to Jamaica, and is now getting baptized tomorrow. He has been living like a homeless guy because he has nothing. He gave up everything single thing for the gospel of jesus Christ. (he is the best dressed homeless man ever). Well Bro Troy Williams took him to his house and now he is living with Bro. Williams until such a time that he is more financially secure and stable. Really intelligent and amazing man. It was an excellent interview and he has a very strong testimony.

Mavis got baptized last week and it went well. Next week her son is getting baptized and tomorrow she is going to bring more of her family to church with her. Which is great! Her son, dale as we call him is really tall. Six foot seven. He is great, likes to read, likes the church, already decided 6 months ago to live the word of wisdom. Very prepared. We are excited for him. Elder Stevens and I have had a lot of success already.

I was told this week by Pres. Graff that I will more likely then not be transferred from the office. I will be happy to leave it on such a good note, with a strong area for the next missionary and everything in the office pretty much caught up. ZLC was this week. We were in charge of inspecting vehicles and buying sister Graff lettuce. It went well. We had a really really good lunch after that. Two days after that was district leader training. Which also went well. Ugh-don't really got much else to say about those 2 events. Part of inspecting cars is to test the seat belts. So we get to try on all the seat belts!

There will be no pictures this week, I left my camera at home today, so next week I will make sure to get a few attached. Also, while this in on the forefront of my mind, I still need the address for the Harrisons and I would also like the address for Bro. Michael Phillips. Thanks!

Hmmm-what else happened this week. In church, it being young here, they had a most unique discussion about consecrated oil. Someone was trying to argue that consecrated oil could be used on wounds and that you could splash it on mad men to keep them away! haha! Thankfully the branch president stepped in and corrected all the silliness.

Today we are going to work on Bro. Williams car again. That will be fun. Ugh..well I don't have much to say about that either haha. Elder McGrath is a talented crochet man. He has made some fancy scripture bags in the last week. Well I am mostly just rambling on and throwing out random thoughts that pass through my mind. I still have email time and I am really running out of things to say. On LDS.org they have these things called "Mormon Messages" which are like 3 minute videos that share an inspiring thought. They are all really good. I think I have seen all of them now. About once every 2 weeks a new one appears. I would suggest watching them if you ever have free time.

Is your new job dad going to give you a new laptop? If so will it be running windows 7? I here it is nice. Thanks for everything you all do for me back home. I appreciate it. I hope that this coming week is great. I love you all and look forward to your emails next week!

Elder B. Kent Talbert

p.s. Happy birthday dad. hopefully your card arrives this week....

The Circle is Now Complete

Family,

Happy New Year! It has been good to hear from everyone yet again. I will make sure to get letters out mother, although I do need to know the Harrisons Address, I could guess it but I think I would only get close. I am glad that the trip up to Idaho was good. I am excited to hear about dad's job next week! I got the pictures this time mom, thanks!

The week has been excellent. Elder Stevens and I have been working hard and have got a lot accomplished. So now where to begin- There is this old lady named Mavis that we have been teaching. She is getting baptized today. She is great! While teaching her we have also begun to teach her children and grandchildren, 2 of which are lined up to be baptized during the month of January (Dilly and Ignatius Dale). Ignatius Dale, Mavis son, has a silly name but is awesome! We met him sitting on a bench looking like a homeless bum. We taught him for like 15 minutes and told him we would be back the following day. The following day came, we showed up and asked him if he had read the pamphlet we had left him. He had! And not only had he read it, he knew it extremely well, he could quote it and explain everything that it talked about. We were amazed. Well we taught him a bit more and he agreed to be baptized in the coming weeks.

New Years Eve was dull, definitely not as much fun as you all had! We got to go in early (6pm) because the President and Sister Graff were worried about our safety and crazy people on New Years eve. So we went in early, planned, ate food, talked, and then went to bed at 10pm. So we just got random extra relaxation time that wasn't horribly effective but oh well, it was still nice. 2010 has now come. Weird to think that in a year when 2011 comes I will be nearly done in Jamaica. To Celebrate the new year we got up on New years day, drove to the city of Linstead and helped some missionaries move from one house to another. I am now up to 13 houses that I have helped move out of. I have decided that I could never be a mover for a living, I am not a big fan of it, although I have gotten good at packing a truck to its brim. After that we came to the office and Elder Stevens and I worked on some spreadsheets that the Assistants wanted made. The spreadsheets are looking good! It has been a lot of fun to serve with Elder Stevens, he knows computers very well and so he has caught onto excel very quickly. He will, more likely then not, be my replacement in the office. I probably will leave the office on January 28th, but that is not final yet so who knows what will really happen.

Funny story, So Elder cheesman was working on his computer and needed to print something. So he pushed print. Somehow though he did something wrong and his computer began to print off a ton of pages! They were all blank pages, so now we have a ton of blank paper to use, again. The thing he meant to print off printed, but it was microscopically small and just a big ink smudge on one of the pieces of paper. I got it to stop printing before if finished (it wanted to print over 800 pages of blank paper).

Well I am going to include 2 pictures today. One is of a street in downtown Kingston. We took it just the other day and I liked the photo a lot. That is what it typically looks like.

The second one is that of the crashed airplane. It is still there, they haven't tried cleaning up the wreakage yet. Who knows when they will get to that. I think only 1 person on the plane died, everyone else just suffered injuries. Thankfully it wasn't to bad of a crash.

Hmmm-- What else to say. Life is going great, it is a ton of fun to be serving with Elder Stevens again! We are having a great time and we are working very hard. It is still hot here, but I am happy that it is hot, snow doesn't sound like that much fun! Happy Birthday Dad, With Christmas an everything I forgot to send out a card on time. Haha it will more likely then not be late, but maybe it will be super fast! Enjoy school this upcoming week, I am sure that my week will be good. Well that is it for this week. I love you all and hope that things go great!

Elder B. Kent Talbert