Fastidious new companion, crashes, candy eating donkeys and slack lining stoners.... Oh my!

So this week I got my new companion Elder Ashworth, he's a total Mormon kid from Idaho. He's 20, I  think and he's cool, a total clean freak though!!! The first night he got to the house he cleaned everything!!! He mopped, he cleaned the stove, he cleaned under the stove! He cleaned under the washer and the fridge!!! But hey, I'm not complaining:) I feel like we make a good team for teaching others.

This is me and Elder Packer right before he went home. I already miss serving with him :)but the day before he left I crashed my bike hard! I was peddling up a really steep hill super fast and my gears broke, so I fell down, luckily I was wearing my helmet-- which saved me, literally. But my arm got pretty scraped up, and my front rim got folded up pretty good:) Don't worry though, my arm is almost all better and I fixed my bike. The guy at the bike shop gave me a rim with red, white and blue spokes. I can't tell if he did it on purpose or not:) but it's really cool looking.

So far since I've been in Jamiaca, I've been asked or begged for practically everything.
My money, my tie, my shirt, my shoes, my socks! I know right?! A lady asked me for my socks! My bike, my helmet, my bag, even my daily planner someone asked me for! Also, I've been asked to get married twice:) and someone asked me for my face once and my hair. It's so funny people will just ask you for stuff even if they don't need it:) They do it kinda as a joke, but if you offer, they'll actually take it:) I've also been asked for my guinep fruit,  which I actually share:)

We also did a service project for one of our investigators named Vavine. We helped her move a ton of dirt to lay for her foundation of her house. We also carried some crazy heavy railroad ties for her fence posts. It was really hard work and I'm pretty sure she started taking lessons so we would help her with her house... but I'm happy to help anyway:)

I also caught this crazy 40 legger while we were working. It's like 8 inches long and they are extremely poisonous. One bite will render you useless for a week, so I smashed it up:)

Ok first crazy story! So today for P day we went to a members house who has a field and we played cricket and football (soccer) and frisbee, but we also set up my slackline and everyone tried it! It was awesome! This picture is a high rasta man who just walked over and hoped on! It was sick-- he was flailing around all over the place and everyone was laughing and all the littile kids were so excited to see the white man game:) Wow, I never thought my slack line would make such a good picture but all these little kids are awesome!

White man up to bat

White man up a tree

Trade offs in the rain! It poured for like 5 hours, everything was a river! Everyone thinks we are crazy :)

Rasta man on a donkey asking you to buy it some candy to eat. Classic Jamaica :)

The district before Elder Packer left. Now we are back up to six elders in Linstead Jamaica. Elder Hall is training a new missionary who looks like he's 15:) He's really cool though, poor kid crashed his bike the first day in Jamaica and then again later that week. But he's doing good:)

Yes, this is a three gallon box of ice cream:) It was wonderful:)

Rain and Thunder Man

Hey Mom,

Don't worry, my house is really solid for hurricane, they make them like that on purpose. Also we have like 100 gallons of water and filter water bottles so don't worry. The mosquitos are starting to stop biting too, so don't worry about that either. My diet is fine, I buy fruits and veggies from the market place for dirt cheap.(He's just responding to all my worries!) Also my bike is nicer than both my companions, I got it used from the last missionary. I kinda leave them in the dust wherever I go. I love you all so much! Thanks for being worried Mom but I'm fine, I love you. :)

The outside looks nice right? But he says the inside is super crappy. lol.
This is our house, we live in about a 1/4 of it on the bottom floor. Oh by the way, did I mention there is no hot water?! Showers are really cold, but it's not too bad because of the heat. Also the power and water sometimes just turn off for a while! This really is a third world country.

This me and my companions going to our investigators in the ghetto during a rain storm. We get soaked at least once a day-- it rains a lot! Elder Packer is in the middle, Elder Humpreys is on the right.

This is the view of the jungle from a cliff side that one of our investigators lives on.

The other day a dog bit my ankle and bruised my heel pretty good, but it didn't cut me because of my pants. Also, a week ago I asked a less-active to be baptized!!! Hahaha, she just looked at me like, "What?" and then my companion whispers that she's a member! And so I was like, "Oh, I mean, now it's time for the baptism of fire." We all laughed and she was nice about it. :) We still get fed everyday by someone. Apparently, this is like the only area where people are so nice. The other missionaries at zone conference said they never get fed. Also, this area is the most beautiful and least violent crime-wise, so I pretty much lucked out.

Sunset after a storm

This is me and my companions walking on a wall between a robbed graveyard(?) and a small ocean that was in the road! It was a fun day!

The other day I met a guy who rode a motorcycle and called himself 'Thunder man'. He told me his life story while he was smoking a joint, and it goes like this (he's like 50):

"Two bolts of lightning came down and I grabbed them with my hands and God pulled me up to heaven on the bolts. He then showed me the creation of the world and I walked through the door of the moon and the door of the sun and saw the orbit of the universe ( I'm summarizing the story-- he was saying way more crazy stuff). He then told me that Adam and Eve were not the first people on earth, it was a man named George who was a ninja and who could control the elements and he came to earth in a meteor...

Anyway he was nuts, but I really loved listening to his craziness! :) I think he actually was struck by lightning. :)

Oh one more story, we met this guy named Mr. Brown behind a bar and taught him about the origin of the Book of Mormon, but he refused to even pray to know if Christ came to the Americas. He basically worshiped the Bible and was really stuck in his ways. I really loved him though, and really just hoped he would pray about anything. Then while my companions were fighting with him it started to rain. I knew there was nothing else we could say to convince this man that he needed to pray, yet I felt like we should stay, even though my companions were basically yelling at this guy. All of a sudden, a younger man walks under our roof to stay dry and immediately picks up a Book of Mormon, and starts reading the introduction and the testimony of the witnesses. While he's doing this Mr. Brown is yelling at him, telling him we were liars and stuff, but he just kept reading and saying "It's just a testament of Jesus." Then we told him about how the book talks about how Christ came to the Americas. Mr. Brown screamed, "Lies!" but he just said, "Show me." So we turned to 3 Nephi and he started reading aloud the acount of Christ coming to the people and how they felt the prints in his hands and side and were crying. The whole time Mr. Brown kept yelling, but his eyes just kept getting brighter and brighter. When he was done he just looked at Mr. Brown and said, "This book talks about Jesus." Mr. Brown walked out-- even though it was raining (people do not like to get wet here) and the younger man told us that Mr. Brown was like his father figure, but he was so faithful that he just kept reading about Jesus. Anyway, we shared the message of the restoration and made a return appointment. I can't wait to see him next, because he knows the Spirit and is willing to pray, and the adversary using Mr. Brown just strengthened his understanding of the spirit because he was able to feel the opposition. It was awesome! I love you guys, have a great summer!

The 3 pound snail

Freaky spider. *shudder*

First Letter from Jamaica!

Hey Mom and family and Rachel! 

Wow, it is so humid here you sweat allllllll the time no matter what,  and it's pretty hot too,  but my companions tell me it's the cool season. Yep companions. I'm in a tripanionship, it's actually really nice to have 2 trainers. They're both really great and I like both of them and it's really fun the three of us together in a house with another companionship. So there's five in all living in our house. It's a super crappy house,  not as bad as Conners, but around here it's a pretty good house. At least it keeps the rain out. We cleaned today and I swept the floor three times and got the same amount of dirt each time-- it was crazy! We don't have a dryer,  we hang up our clothes to dry in our bedroom, which turns our bedroom into a huge swamp cooler with the fans running. 

I got a bike but Elder Humphrey's bike is broken right now so we walk everywhere, or taxi.  A taxi here is basically anyone with a car:) you just pay them 100$ (US $1) flat rate to go any where on their route (usually about 2 or 3 miles long) so to go 5 miles it costs 200$ one way. The taxi drivers are crazy and everyone drives like a maniac-- it's fun. Also everyone drives on the other side of the road which is weird. Wow, it's a third world country over here for sure. The shopping side of my area is way ghetto and there are people selling stuff everywhere. Everything is pretty cheap too, they give us plenty of money for food. The houses people build out here (everyone builds their own house) are all made from cement and cinder block and that's it. They build the first floor and live in it until they get the money to finish the second and third floors, which basically just means that 90% percent of the houses out here are only half built. Oh and the roads are terrible. 

So thats all the temporal stuff, but the people out here are amazing!!! For the most part they're kind, warm, and  friendly and want to talk. So many people want to learn the gospel. The members are super awesome and always feed us:) the food is amazing!!!! It's so good, mostly rice and chicken, but wow it's awesome!! Right now we have a few investigators. The ones that are progressing are named Suzette and Hores, they're married and have been trying to find the right church for a while, they never heard about our church but they're very open with the lessons and read the BoM every day and they're going to come to church. I can see they're starting to feel the truth of the restored gospel:)  I really hope they choose to be baptized. We extended the invitation and they said they'd prepare if they kept feeling the spirit:)  Our other awesome investigator is Anisha, she is really nice and smart, she has a boyfriend who she lives with and a daughter. She wants to be baptized but has to get married first, so she's working on that and hopefully we'll be able to help her from there:) 

We probably walk like fifty miles a day, but it's so beautiful out here it totally makes it worth it. Trees everywhere, green everywhere, no brown just green and every other tree is a fruit tree of some kind. But the only one we have in the US is mango, all the other fruit trees are totally new to me and so far they've all been really tasty. We just ordered a crate of 200 mangos for 15$US. Also they have cook shops over here for like 350$($3.50US) you can buy a huge plate of awesome food! And they give us enough money, I could literally buy cook shop every meal and never have to cook. The bugs really aren't that bad. I use bug spray at night since that's when they seeem to get me. Oh,  and get this, so my companions have never been in a Hurricane but this year they predict three!!! And one is supposed to be major! I'm so excited! Don't worry, my house is really solid and we have food and water storage. 

Oh my other companions name is Elder Packer and he's cool too. They've both been out almost two years one is leaving in 6 weeks the other  in 12 weeks, so they'll be around just long enough to train me. The way people talk out here is really hard to understand, even when the don't speak Patois (Slang English, like Pidgin in Hawaii). I can only understand half of it, if they do speak Patois, no chance I'll get any of it yet. I don't think I'll be coming back with an accent. We have done two service projects so far. One we built a tin roof, the other we hauled about a ton of rocks onto a roof for cement to build the third story of a house. We just put them in buckets and hauled them up on the roof. 

photo from the web

Everyone makes fun of us for being white it's pretty funny. Also eveyone calls me a China man, which I love! Little kids come up to me and say ''Ching chong ching chong"-- it's so funny. I think they can tell I'm Asian because in the humidity my hair sticks out a ton! So much for a nice hair cut:) Jerk chicken is awesome, stew chicken is awesome, curry chicken is awesome, brown sauce chicken is awesome, all the chicken is awesome!!! And they make really good pumpkin rice. We do a ton of planning, we plan our days for an hour every day after study and every week we have a super plan where we plan for three hours!! Not a fan. Oh well. I sleep super good-- my sheets (We got him bamboo sheets, because they are supposed to be cool) are also really awesome, thanks Mom. The other night the bar next door played music till 2am in the morning so loud it literally shook the house and I slept through it! They have these centipedes out here called 40 leggers, I  have yet to see them but look them up they're crazy! Super poisonous and apparently it hurts super bad to get stung. 

Also the other day I saw a snail that was like 3 pounds! It was twice as big as my name tag! And they have these huge bannana spiders out here-- they're really cool and they get like as big as my hand! Everyone hangs out outside here. It's a totally different culture, very effective for meeting people though. There are soooooo many dogs and goats and chickens just wandering around everywhere!!!! The goats and chickens all look pretty good and normal but the dogs out here are the saddest things you've ever seen. They all look like puppies even though they're older, they just are skinny and their growth is stunted, but they're friendly for the most part. 

photo from the web

I'm having an amazing time out here spiritually. God has blessed me to feel his love for everyone I've met and it's almost been more than I can handle because it's so awesome. Also, He's really helping me learn a lot, even though I'm not really sure what it is yet-- when I figure it out I'll tell you:) Love you Mom and Dad. I really miss talking to you. You guys are my best friends. Oh, just so you know, it takes a month for letters to come and leave Jamaica, so we should just email. Also packages can take 2-4 months, up to 6, so if you send a package, make sure it's ahead of time. Also, make sure it's nothing too valuable because they go through every package and take what they what they please. One missionary got an empty pack of Oreo's, because they decided to eat them. Tape pictures of Jesus on packages you send me, people over her are superstitious and apparently that works. 

I think that is about everything-- is that enough Mom?;) (When we found out Rachel got four page letters from the MTC, and we only got a paragraph, I told him that I wiped his butt for 3 years and he owed me MORE! lol)

I miss talking with you and I love you all a ton.

Love Luke

P.S. I'm really sorry, I have pics but I can't send them on this computer. I'll send them as soon as I can. My P day is on Monday, so that's when I will be emailing.