Week 23-- When doing wheelies, watch for mud holes...

This week was fun, I have a few stories. The first one is that I've gotten really good at wheelies on my bike so whenever there's a bunch of kids they just yell, "Wheelie wheelie!!" So I was riding up the street to an investigators house and there's a 5 foot deep 4 feet wide gutter on the side off the road for floods, and I saw some kids so I did a wheelie and then I fell of my bike head first into the gutter!!!!  I was covered in mud and the the bike fell in on top of me! I handed my bike to Elder Simpson who was laughing hysterically, and then climbed out.  All the kids started laughing so hard! Then all the parents came out and laughed too. It was so funny, funniest thing that's happened on my mission so far:) and I wasn't even hurt! But I did smash my bottle so if you could send me an new 32 oz hydro flask that would be great:)

This morning we went to these caves-- really just a really deep depression in the ground. It was still way cool though.  I made a fort out of rocks:) 

Mom: What does E. Simpson think of your rock creations? 

L: He thinks they're cool:) but he also thinks I'm a hippie:)

It was surprise missionary Sunday in church this week, which means we all had to give a talk with 5 min. notice. I talked about keeping the commandments and having the spirit, then I bore my testimony and cried in front of every one. I told the branch that I had literally felt the arms of Christ around me. It was cool, and I have.  This funny old guy in the ward came up to me and was like, "Hey why are you crying?!" It was funny:) Oh, and the youth sunday school teacher didn't show up so me and Elder Simpson taught it:) It was way fun and we had a great lesson on following the revelation that God gives us.

Mom: What is the branch like? 

L: The youth is like 7 kids, and the branch is like 60 active members, 300 less active. 

Mom: Do you work with the inactive? 

L: We are working with 4 inactives, but the rest have been inactive for like 20-30 years and we just can't find them anymore.

Mom: Tell me about E. Simpson.

L: He's been out for a year, he has an older brother and 4 younger sisters. One died while he was out, I think about 5 months ago, it was really hard for him, but he's really helped me get through my trials, because he's already been through so much. I think it's interesting that God has put me with two companions who have had a family member die while they were out. I think he's trying to show me I'm not the only one going through hard stuff, and compared to them I'm not.

We helped a member chop her yard the other day and she called me a bulldozer. I've bought my own cutlass (machete) and I've gotten really good with it:) so when I come home I won't need the lawn mower any more. I'll just use a cutlass:)

M: They won't let you bring that home you know.

L: They actually will if you check it. :)

Dad: Dude, we are keeping the mower.

Oh and yesterday we had three different members feed us!! It was awesome, one lunch and two dinners:) {Getting fed by members is rare, bc everyone is so poor.}

Mom: Couldn't you spread out the meals over a few days? 

L: When someone offers you food in Jamaica, you just say YES. End of story.

Mom: What do the chicken feet taste like? Don't they have bones? 

L: They cook them so long the bones are soft and they just taste like whatever you cook them in, so curry.

M: Gross. gross. gross.

I have to go in like two minutes but I really love you guys and I miss you so much, tell the family I love them ok:)

Luke

I stole this photo from the sister missionaries blog. Luke said he didn't trust the internet cafe they were in today for viruses, so no pics. :( There are 4 Elders and 2 sisters in his district, he says having the sisters is fun, but they never see them except at church and meetings.

Luke on TV!!

The story starts at 42 min. and goes till the end. You can see him a few times, singing, on the roof, shoveling and cutting grass.

Mad Machete Skillz Paying Off!!

Service project Jamaican style!!!! Chopping the grass in the yard with a machete, and mixing cement by hand with a shovel! Hardest work I've ever done! We helped a lady in the community fix up her school house:) It was a blast! 

Some mormons from Salt Lake who work for KSL came and filmed it all too and they said we would all be on in between sessions of the Oct. General Conference.

I could mix cement so good by the end of the day that all the Jamaicans in our ward were yelling that I could mix cement like a Jamaican:) but they said I chopped the yard like a white man and that I should just stick to mixing cement:)

In addition to laying a drive way and chopping the bush we also patched her roof with the stickers made of tar:) So I got on the roof:)

Elder Ashworth, Bro. Blake and Bro. Walker taking a rest in the shade. Me on the roof.

Mixing, and Bishop giving orders:) He ran the show like an Army drill! He's a cop.

Finished Product

 

Part of our area is up on a super tall mountain called Gibraltar.  Wow,  it was a tuff bike ride but going down was a blast!

They're also cutting a huge freeway in the side of the mountain! The Chinese are paying for it and Jamaica is going to pay them back over fifty years!

Doesn't look that steep right?:) Well think again!!! It's like the stairs in the Lord of the Rings!!!
This is how they do it on Jamaican construction sites:)

Service at a members, this is Elder Ashworth chopping a tree with a machete. We chopped this thing to pieces! It was awesome, bet you never thought my chopping skills would come in handy right mom? ;)

I thought this was funny, one of our investigators has a weed plant:)

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:)