Last week a couch...this week carpet!

Hello everyone!! It has been another good week this week.  Not too much changes from week to week around here.  Pres shut our Ochie trip down so we are just staying in Spain today ): Well I just talked to Devin and he said that you all are at the Memorial Day thing right now, I hope you guys are having fun.  I miss summer time, I bet you guys are stoked to be done with school!!!! I know I would be!!

Well mom my trainers name is Akeem Wright.  If you write him do it as soon as possible, next week Wed is transfers so that means I will be finding out who my next comp is on Sat and I will be leading the area starting next week.  We'll see how that goes lol!

So we had a baptism this week!! On Saturday K. got baptized. 

 

I got to perform the ordinance as well.  It was a really cool experience for me, it helps me remember why I am really out here.  She has been being taught for a long time so it is cool to finally see her get baptized.  K. is actually the person that I had my first lesson with ever as a missionary if you remember that pic I sent home of me and her and my comp the first week out here.  There was strong support from the branch that showed up to support her as well that was good.  They say  that I am serving in the strongest branch in the mission so I guess that's not suprising.  We couldn't get a member of the branch presidency there to welcome her tho, the branch president told us he would be there and we called him a couple mins after the baptism was supposed to start and he was like oh yeah I am running a little late in Port More right now so I can't make it.  Other than that things ran really smooth.  So last week for church , church is supposed to start at 9:30 and not one member of the branch presidency was there at 9:30.  They started showing up at like 9:35 9:40.  Jamaica standard time ha it's crazy.  I also had to teach Gospel Principals class last week because the teacher didn't show up.  They told me to teach so I stood up walked to the front they told me what chapter the lesson was on then I had to go from there. I had to teach chapter 18 and it turned out pretty good. :)

So last week I got to teach a lesson while sitting on a couch, this week I got to walk on some carpet!!! It was so nice to walk on the carpet it felt so good underneath my feet! I didn't realize it until I walked on this carpet but no one here has carpet, they either have tile floors or cement floors everywhere.  I didn't realize how much I love carpet until I haven't got to step on it for 3 months!

So today is also my 3 month mark!! :) I celebrated by riding bikes out to Angels Plaza, it is a shopping plaza about 30 mins away riding a bike from our house and ordered some cinnomon sticks, they were really good!! So happy 3 months to myself :) And happy 3 months to Cody Harris :)

So mom thank you so much for the cockroach traps that you sent me out with that I didn't want to take!! We haven't caught very many cockroaches with them but we did catch that big scorpion and this week we caught 3 mice on them! Yeah we have been having a little mouse problem at our house so those are working great!!

So last night we were able to go to a members house and have a lesson with one of their neighbors that they have been sharing the gospel with.  It was a really good lesson, this guy is so prepared to receive the gospel.  His name is M. and has the biggest desire to change his life around.  He told us that he was having a kind of bad day and that when he walked into their house for the lesson something happened to him, he said that he just got happy and he didn't know why.  Elder Wright explained that that is the spirit that he felt.  He agreed with us.  Now I know why we have been being told, invite referrals to be taught in the members home. That is supposed to be our first goal to try and reach. If that can't work then have the member go with us to see them, if that doesn't work use the members name when we visit them. I see now how big of a difference each of those 3 things can have on someone.  It was a really good lesson.

Well there isn't much left to say, that's really cool about having all of those farewells lately, that's crazy about Cody Harris in Oklahoma! Hope everything is alright down there, he is there for a reason. Well have a good week guys !! LOVE YA!!

Elder Colton Harris

Ahhh, a couch!

So what's up guys? It has been a pretty good week out here.  We have gotten quite a bit of work done.  It has been hot out here as usual.  Thanks for the email Devin, Don't have too much fun at the imagine dragons concert without me! It sounds like it will be really fun!! So I recieved a whole lot of dearelder letters this week because it has been like three weeks since the ZL's picked up mail so that was fun to read everyones letters that you sent me mom.  It sounds like Cody Harris is serving in his own little Jamaica lol, it sounds like he's having fun though.  So not too many stories to be told this week.  Oh I do have one big story to tell.  So this week I gave a lesson, and that's not the crazy part yet, but I gave the lesson while sitting on a COUCH!!! It was so nice to give a lesson in an actual living room!! We were teaching this Young man named C., I tried dragging that lesson out so long, bore an extra long testimony, expounded into more of the doctorine that we were teaching just to  stay sitting on the couch for as long as I could, the couch felt so nice.  It wasn't even like a super nice couch, but at least it was a couch.  95% of the lessons we teach out here are taught either in there driveway or front porch or under a tree or something while I am either standing, sitting on a hard metal chair, cinder block, curb, or the one that we do the most often is pull our bike sideways and sit on the bar of the bike if that makes sense, so now you know why a couch is a big deal!!  All of my friends and cousins serving in the states have it so nice!! So yesterday we also ended up with 3 dinner appointments on accident.  I'm not really sure how it happened but I didn't complain.  Normally we only get fed once, maybe twice a week so 3 in one day was crazy.  Now all 3 meals were chicken and rice and peas but you just get used to eating that food. I was kind of sick afterwards, no one should have that much rice inside their body at one time.

 

 

One of his three dinners

Well we also found someone who has to be the most prepared person for the gospel ever!  His name is S. and he is such a boss.  We were riding our bikes down this road when someone yells something at us, I didn't think anything of it because that happens all the time but Elder Wright turned around so I did too and we went up to talk to him and he actually told us that the spirit told him to stop us as we were passing so he did.  That was our first clue that he had potential because he knew how the spirit works, he said he felt it in his heart which isn't something that a lot of Jamaicans understand, they think you need to jump and dance and clap and roll on the ground etc to feel the spirit, and that's what happens in all of the churches around here, even the one he goes to but he says that he doesn't like that.  He also told us that very first night we met him that people shouldn't limit what God can do, that he has more words out there in the world somewhere and he is going to find those words.  We introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he just lit up like I have never seen anyone light up before.  When we told him that he could keep it he was just so thankful and happy.  He was like thank you thank you thank you, this is the most precious gift I have ever received.   We invited our future mission president, Pres Brown over for the next lesson that we had with him and Pres just rocked his world. I even learned a whole lot in that lesson.  After we left him the first night I promised elder Wright that he is going to be a strong leader in the church in Jamaica someday.  Elder Wright says that he hasn't ever seen anyone like him before and he has been out 23 1/2 months.  He was dissapointed too when we told him that he couldn't serve a mission because he is 26 and because he has a kid, HE WANTED TO SERVE A MISSION AS SOON AS WE MET HIM!! CRAZY!! Well I amgoing to send you a couple pics of places we eat at and shop at and stuff.  I don't have a lot and they aren't the best pics but you'll get the jist of it since someone asked me for them last week.

Irie Jerk Center: we usually eat her a couple times a month too, usually after Zone Meetings since there are more missionaries to eat.  These places that I sent home are really nice too, other cook shops are just a old old abandoned look plyboard shop.  For Jerk Chicken, I always look for the most run down shop because it usually tastes better there

This is a cook shop that we eat at twice a week, after district meeting and usually one other time

This is where we shop for groceries, it is called Shoppers Fair and it is actually a nice store, pretty Americanised.

Well I hope you guys have another good week.  Next week for Pday we are taking a trip to Ochie, which I think is supposed to be a short name for Ochorios.  It is about 2 1/2 hours from here where I am serving and it is a tourist town where cruise ships come in and dock so it is supposed to be pretty fun, I'm looking forward to it.  Well I love you all. 

Love Elder Harris

Our church building here in Spanish Town

Elder Harris and Elder Wright

Ninja game 2 pdays ago

Sis Edwards, the one that the
Yardley kid knows I think. A Sis Laden remembers Elder Smith

New grey pants and a tie Colton bought because he said all his black pants were sooo hot.

My Pepsi expires on Kierstins birthday :) (sorry mom)

Happy Mother's Day!

Wah gwaan? It was so so so so good to see you guys yesterday and to hear your voices, I have missed that so much!! I did tell you happy mothers day mom but that is all I did and I feel bad.  I never told you how thankful I am for you and all that you have done for me in my life.  Thanks for the love and support through everything.  You truly are a great great blessing to me in my life.  Thank you for the way that you have raised me.  You really are the best mom I could ever ask for.  I love you so much! Yesterday really was a a treat to see all of you.  Marissa, you are talking so much better!! It's crazy!!  Thanks for the kisses too Marissa!! :) The braces looked good on you too mom! :) I guess I'll see you guys again in 7 months, kind of a weird thought...

So to answer your question dad, yes, as soon as we got to the mission home we went to a back room, took our suits off, put plastic over them and hung them up on a hanger.  Pres said, "Missionaries come out here with a new suit and they go home with a new suit too."  We don't wear them to any meeting or anything.  Pres has never even wore a suit out here I don't think.  We even have Cornish, a member of the 70 coming to talk to us at the end of this month and we won't wear a suit for that.  Uhm to answer your other question about why there is cow skin and cow foot out here, but there is no beef.  I wondered the same thing and I'm not sure if this is a good answer but I stopped asking after getting this answer lol.  I asked my comp and he said cuz America takes all the beef and we are left with that stuff.  Not sure if that is the real case but like I said I stopped asking cuz I felt bad.  You can buy beef at some stores it is just more expensive and not very good quality at all.  Like I said, rice and peas and some sort of chicken for every meal.  Fried chicken, baked chicken, stewed chicken, jerked chicken, etc.  Nuf nuf rice and chicken!! (Alot of rice and chicken in patois:)  I'll start taking pictures of different places around here so you guys can see "my hood". So it was kind of cool that you got to see that Jamaica dude come and beg for my bike and try to sell me blouses and shorts and panties and belts.  (We were able to Skype with Colton on Mother's Day.  He was using a Galaxy phone with earphones so he walked around the outside of the home he was visiting and showed us a little of the neighborhood.  A young man came by  riding a bike and selling things from the bike, including panties...I told Colton to stock up on those!  He also asked Colton if he would trade him bikes. )  That stuff happens all the time here.  People walk around or bike and they sell some of the strangest things sometime. And it isn't that my bike is the best bike on the island or anything, that's not why they beg for it, they just ask for anything and everything.  I wish someone would have chatted you in patois better tho, it truly is impossible to understand people when they are talking in patois.  So I was skyping at sis M's house, you saw that living conditions and that isn't even considered like a really poor area.  Her house is made out of plywood and 2by4's.  That's just an average house, there are better and worse living conditions around here.  Tell Dallon E congrats on his call!! Tell the Browns hi too.  Oh I would like beef jerky and post it notes in my package please :) So there are places here to buy good pants I guess so you can hold off on that, I just need to get a ride to there someday, the closest store to buy descent clothes is in Port More, bout a half hour away I guess.  I loved the pics that you e-mailed me too.  Keep doin that and send some printed of pictures ocassionally too.  Well I hope I answered your questions, keep asking me specific questions in emails so I can answer them if you have any. I love you guys so much.  Happy Mother's day once again mom, your so amazing!!! I love you!!!!

Elder Colton Harris

Downpours and Blender Mis-hap!

Wah Gwaan?! (What's up)  Well this week has been a pretty good week, not too much going on this week.  Were teachin and workin hard, still riding in the sun all day and this week we also rode in alot of rain.  Here in Jamrock you just ride in it.  Huge downpours like I have never seen before you just put your stuff in your backpack in a scandle bag (plastic grocery bag) and just keep going.  I was kind of hesitant at first but now it's just pretty fun.  Just hittin big puddles riding through mud, I tried to dodge it all at first but once you get wet you just don't even care anymore and just make it fun, it was pretty fun but it did make a ton more laundry for me to do and since I hand wash I think that I am going to reconsider the amount of puddles that I am going to ride through in the future.  Some puddles are just unavoidable tho, some of the streets just get completely flooded like flooded like you see on the news all the time.  We had an appointment that we had to make it to and this happened to this road that we had to take to get there. The puddle was the whole width of the rode and sidwalks and stuff and at least a 1 1/2 to 2' deep so we just peddled right through it for about 50 or 60'.  Fun times lol. 

 

We also had a little mis-hap with a blender this week.  Elder Adamson and Elder Romney stopped by, they are ZL's on the other side of the island but they were in Kingston for something and Elder Adamson bought this new blender that he couldn't wait to get home to try out so he brought it over to our house and it just went downhill from there.  We loaded that thing with veg and fruit and it was blending nicely then all over a sudden the lid exploded off and green smoothie went EVERYWHERE!! It was so awesome! :) It happened just like the movies.  It was pretty funny until we actually had to clean it up, but we still had fun.

 

Well one of our top investigators who was progressing SO good and was supposed to be baptized this sunday fell off this week.  One day he was fine talking about how excited he was for baptism and stuff and the next day we show up at his house and his mom walks out and hands us the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets that we gave him and told us never to come back.  We were shocked because she haas never ever been rude to us when we were over there or anything.  His name is P and we came to find out because he has a friend that is in the branch that talked to him that he went on the internet and started reading anti-mormon articles and now he wants nothing to with this church because of the crap that he read.  Crazy how satan works.

Well I can't wait to call home on mothers day!!  I am working on arrangements to skype home sometime in the evening, probably like 7 in the evening Utah time.  I am going to have one of the members here that I am working with e-mail you and let you know the exact time hopefully and the the rest of the plans.  That's the plan and hopfully it works out all good.

Love you guys, we're about to go to a members house here, Sis E, she invited all 8 of the Spanish Town elders over for food and games and stuff today so it should be good.  We DEEP CLEANED our house this morning and you would be proud mom of how good I cleaned the bathroom today :)

Love you,

Elder Colton Harris