Elder Colton Harris' Mission: Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! To start off the letter today I want to start with the Christmas story in my nativish language.

"Iina dem die de, de Ruoman ruula, Siiza Agostos, gi aada fi rait dong di niem a evribadi iina im kingdom. (Dis a di fos taim niem a rait dong sins di taim wen Kiriniyous did a ruul uova Siriya.) Aal im piipl dem didafi go a di toun we dem baan fi get dem niem rait dong, so di gavament kyan taks dem. So kaaz Juozif did kom fram Dievid fambili an Dievid did baan iina Judiya, im did afi lef from Nazaret iina Gyalalii an go a Betliyem iina Judiya. Juozif go de wid Mieri fi get dem niem rait dong. Di tuu a dem did ingiej fi marie dem wan aneda an shi did av biebe iina beli. Wen dem de de, Mieri tek iin fi av biebi, an shi av ar fos pikni, wan bwai. Shi rap im op iina biebi blangkit an put im iina di baks we di animal dem nyam outa, kaaz no spies neva iina ges ous fi dem" -Luuk 2: 1-7

You can go read that alongside the English verses in Luke 2 if you can't understand them. That is copied straight from the patois bible in case you were wondering. Yes, they have a patois bible believe it or not. I can't wait for the patois version of the Book of Mormon, haha that would be the day! And for some reason, church headquarters calls this an English speaking mission, I don't see it, nor hear it very often. Nah, that patois above is very very thick even for locals out here.

Alright, we had our branch Christmas dinner on Saturday, it went well. We got just as many to that dinner as we do to sacrament meeting so that is good. We had almost 30 people. It was a pot-luck dinner. I made liver, turkey neck and curried chicken back and brought that to the dinner. I will say that I made them pretty good if I do say so myself. Watch out mom, your kitchen is about to get some new flavors brought into it in just a few weeks! At the Christmas dinner we put up the First Presidencies Christmas devotional to watch since I don't think anyone in the branch watched it last week.

Yesterday in church was just as hectic as last week. We had 4 speakers planned to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday and only 2 out of the 4 showed up. The first 2 speakers finished their talks at 10:40, which meant that there was still 25 mins left in Sacrament meeting. This time I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting without any preparation. I still wasn't able to take up all of the time so we still finished early, but oh well. The Elders quorum presidency is getting rearranged so they never came prepared for the lesson, so taught that on the fly again like last week. At least we had bread for the sacrament this week though! We have been kept very busy the past couple of weeks. We got home last night at 9:20 and realized that we didn't take a lunch or dinner break yesterday. Not healthy or good for the body I'm sure, but by going that long without eating it makes Mac n' cheese taste so much more delicious than when you are getting 3 square meals! Don't tell my mission president our occasional eating habits lol. Speaking of my mission president, his wife had a baby this week, a little baby girl. I'm not sure what they named her but I did hear that she was born.

I am super excited to Skype on Thursday! I hope you all have a great Christmas week! As we invite the world to discover, embrace, and share the gift of Christ this year, also remember that the same invitation is being extended to us personally as well.

Big up yute.

Elder Colton Harris

Pomegranate or in Jamaican a pomgunut straight off of the tree.

In an area within our are named Munro, very often it is super foggy up there, it's high in the mountains and we drive through a cloud all the time!

Treasure Beach area

Anybody want a mango?

The top of the mountain that's covered in clouds is Munro! This picture is takin from Treasure Beach. Super glad that I don't have to ride my bike up that mountain!! :)