19 April 2011
Dear Family,
Monday, April 11, we had Family Home Evening with the other senior couples. President Hendricks spoke on the atonement. He stated that we would be more accurate to call Easter, Passover. He taught the events of the last Passover the Savior participated in. The Schaefermeyers displayed the puppets and stage they just received. They can be checked out to do presentations to schools, etc. on hygiene, good nutrition, or avoiding smoking, drinking and drugs. We were joined by the Flakes’ daughter and son-in-law who were visiting.
This week for a few days our internet was down which made it hard to get things done. Pres. Hendricks checked email when he was home for lunch and called for me to walk him through the steps to see missionary recommendations for a new couple. It was challenging for me to try to picture where things were on the screen “in my minds’ eye”.
I cleaned the mission office this week since our cleaning lady was let go. It made me really appreciate what she did! The physical facilities department hired a new assistant and a “mechanic” this week. The mechanic’s duties include cleaning the mission office, repairing things at meetinghouses, etc. So I won’t have to clean the mission office anymore.
The Schaefermeyers finalized customs paperwork and got a large shipping container of disaster relief supplies delivered to the church grounds by one of our meetinghouses.
The washing machine at our apartment quit working and we were grateful when it was repaired later in the week! Many of the Jamaicans wash by hand and we are thankful we don’t have to!
We had zone conference Thursday morning and then were able to tour the USNS Comfort hospital ship. It was amazing! They have 14 operating rooms and 998 patient beds. They manufacture their own oxygen for the patients and have desalinization equipment to provide their own water. We saw many LDS nurses and a dentist and his wife and learned that 71 LDS professionals will volunteer during the 5 month tour of the USNS Comfort (some will help the entire 5 months, others for shorter blocks of time). The Church provided over 8 semi truck loads of equipment and supplies for this tour. It made us proud of the United States, the Navy, and the Church. Since two missionary couples came to Kingston to volunteer at the medical clinics run by the staff of the USNS Comfort, all the senior couples went to dinner at Port Royal that night.
Friday was quiet at the office since the President and the Assistants were gone to Mandeville for zone conference. I unpacked 14 boxes of distribution center orders. I also typed baptism records, forwarded some medical information to the Area presidency to update missionary applications, and processed four applications for the Temple Patron Assistance Fund.
Saturday we helped at the National Stadium at the medical clinic set up by the USNS Comfort. We passed out numbers for people to see the doctors. I gave out 150 for pediatrics, Elder Daniels did 220 for optical. The Navy sets a quota the doctors can see in a day. There were lots of people turned away. We encouraged them to come again another day. Some of the people were quite agitated but the police helped to keep order. The Navy told us that at some stops on their last tour, riots erupted.
We cleaned and did our grocery shopping that afternoon. I spring cleaned the spare bedroom. I washed curtains and bedspread, etc. I made pepper steak for dinner the next day. We thought the Smiths were going to come and spend Sunday night with us. They needed to get their pickup in for servicing at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning and they live 2 to 2 ½ hours from Kingston. But Sunday they had some branch business come up so they had to postpone coming until the next morning.
We had a good day in Yallahs Sunday. All the speakers did a good job. We had a small group there, around 20. I taught Primary. We visited a couple of branch members after our meetings. We delivered some things for a girl who will be moving to Kingston soon. We were grateful to be protected on our way home. A semi pulled way to the right on a hairpin curve. Since we thought he meant for us to pass, we pulled up. Then the truck started moving back, so we had to accelerate to get out of the way. After some anxious moments and severe swerving, we were happy to be safely out of the way.
We started the day at the mission office on Monday. Elder Daniels went with Elder Smith to take their pickup in for servicing. Then the Smiths took Melanie Smith, from Port Antonio, for screening to see if she qualified for corrective surgery for a cleft palate. A blind man in our branch called to ask if he borrowed money to pay the fare to come and be seen at the medical clinic, could we repay? After a call from the friend loaning the money, it was agreed. So we waited for his phone call and then picked him up where he got off the bus. We took him to the ship shuttle boat area as directed since he had been selected by the Navy as one to be screened for surgery on Thursday but didn’t make it here to Kingston until Monday. After about an hour waiting for permission to go to the ship, they referred us back to the clinics at the National Stadium. I asked for a note to present to the Navy personnel at the stadium and that helped us get right in to see the doctor. After being checked by the ophthalmologist, he learned that he was not a good candidate for surgery. In addition to cataracts, he has severe glaucoma and retinal bleeding. He did get a referral to an eye clinic here in Kingston for continuing care. The doctor explained that even though his won’t regain sight, it is important to continue treatment or his eyes will become painful and will have to be removed. We took him back to the mission office, bought him lunch, and then Elder Daniels tried to help him catch a bus to go home. They were unable to do so, so Elder Daniels drove him to Yallahs, and one of the branch members helped him catch a shuttle from there. (He lives another 1 ½ hours down the coast.) Evidently if they had driven into downtown Kingston they could have caught a bus here, but they were on the outskirts of town.
Today we were getting ready to go to the mission office when we got a phone call that a girl from our branch was here for medical treatment at the USNS medical clinic and didn’t know what to do. So we went straight to the National Stadium and searched through the crowds to try to find her. Finally we learned that many of the wheelchair patients had already been taken from the tent into the building to see the doctors. We were given clearance to go try to find her and were happy when we found her and her father. She has club feet (all the toes on both feet turned black and fell off several years ago). She also has developed mental problems. After all they could do for her, we drove her and her mother home to Yallahs. It is a tragic situation.
Elder Daniels took lunch and more money to the blind man from our branch today. He had a friend come with him to go to the eye clinic this morning.
It has been a wonderful opportunity for many to receive medical care from the USNS Comfort. One of the nurses asked me today how long we will be in Jamaica. When I told her, she said, “That isn’t a mission, it is a duty station!”
We love you all very much. We were happy to hear from Uncle Jim and Aunt Irene that Jothan is defending his thesis this week. We are very proud of him.
Love,
Mom and Dad, Sister and Elder Daniels
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