I am including a picture of the practice of our Missionary choir for Elder Walker's Memorial Service Jan. 24th. You can see me at the keyboard, Dad and Elder Flake in the back, and Sister Flake on the other side.
Friday, Jan. 28th, we were happy to have a visit at the office from Patrice Smith and her son, Kolob. The Smith's were in the same branch with our predecessors, the Cheesmans. Chris Smith is the Assistant Physical Facilities Manager for Jamaica and works in the same building with us. Kolob is 7 1/2 months old and just started walking! It was so fun to see him so happy as he was walking around. I taught him and his mother "Pat-a-Cake".
That night we bought some ice cream at the Devon House on the way to the Flakes for a potluck supper and movie. Elder Flake purchased the movie Secretariat online and then showed it with his projector. If you haven't see the movie we recommend it. That was the first movie we have seen since we left home.
Saturday is our P-day so we cleaned the apartment and went grocery shopping. I washed the curtains in the bedroom. I only have the bathroom and kitchen curtains to go! I also made some pepper steak in the crock pot to use when I am too tired to cook during the week.
Sunday, Jan. 30th, we only had five people in attendance when we started Sacrament Meeting--the full-time Elders, Dad, me, and the chorister. By the end of Sacrament Meeting we had 30 people there. That is the worst attendance has ever been at the beginning of our meetings. Most of the people come via taxi or walk and we recognize it is hard for them to come on time but we hope things improve. Paul asked me to bear my testimony since two of the speakers weren't there--one came later, in time to speak but the other didn't arrive until during Sunday School. Paul taught a combined lesson the third hour on commitment and temple worthiness. I helped with the Primary so the Primary workers could attend the combined meeting. After the block and interviews, we visited two sisters. We were both so exhausted when we got home we took naps before eating supper. We were happy to talk to Mike & LeAnn and Amy, Bryce & Lizzie that night.
Monday it was my turn to give the spiritual thought for our weekly devotional. I gave scriptures on duty and faith. I started with D&C 107 99, "Wherefore, now let every an learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence." Next, Jacob 1:19, "And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility...". Then I mentioned sometimes we don't know exactly what we should do or how to proceed, but we move forward "for we walk by faith, not by sight". I also included Elder Boyd K. Packer's talk, "Walk to the Edge of the Light", where he learned you have to step into the darkness before the light comes. (See also Ether 12:6.) Then I ended with 2 Timothy 4:7-8, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteouness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." I hope we are moving forward in our duty with faith.
We finally received the papers we needed for the four missionaries due to come Feb. 8th. It usually takes just three or four weeks. We dropped off these Nov. 30th and received them Jan. 31st! I quickly sent the work exemption letters and a letter to the Embassy to Salt Lake for them to apply for visas.
Tuesday while we were working, we were happy to receive a package from Amy and Bryce. It was full of goodies, a mini photo album with lots of pictures of Lizzie and their family, and my denim skirt.
Wednesday I was surprised to have another reporter call. We hadn't had any since the week Elder Walker died. This was the Sunday Herald in Jamaica. It is a weekly paper. That night we went out to dinner with the other senior couples to celebrate Elder Flake's 71st birthday.
We had to hurry to get to work on time Thursday since we were up later than usual the night before. I ate breakfast after we got to the office. Then I finished up the monthly report to the area presidency. I also sent an email regarding new member packets for our off-island locations (Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and Turks & Caicos Islands. We haven't received any for them in the last six months. We receive the supplies for the new member packets for Jamaica and assemble them for the missionaries to hand deliver. We understood that the off-island NMP were going to be sent directly from SLC. We have had trouble with the Distribution Center mixing up addresses of our off-island locations with Jamaica so hope to get it cleared soon. The reporter came by for more information and promised to bring us a copy of the newspaper with the article about Elder Walker. We were happy to talk to Sarah and Craig that night.
Friday, we met with Chief Inspector Ainsworth to hopefully finalize getting our Jamaican drivers licenses. Paul has been working on this since November. We are in the first group to be processed. All our mission drivers will need to get Jamaican licenses. I got an email that our four missionaries due to come Feb. 8th received their visas so will be able to travel as scheduled. We don't like getting these so close to the wire! Dad and I were locked out of IMOS Friday so had to have Pres. Hendricks add us as users. We had been using the user names and passwords of our predecessors. I did some laundry after we got home to lighten the load on Saturday.
I did some mending but couldn't go to the mission home to use the sewing machine because Pres. and Sister Hendricks were traveling to a branch on the other side of the island. I gave Dad a haircut, we got our groceries, cleaned, and did laundry. I had to buy a new watch--mine wasn't working and I thought it needed a new battery but when I went to the jewelry store and they checked the battery it was good. The watch worked for about 15 minutes before stopping again. I bought a new Timex at the drug store close to our house and changed the band from my old one to the one watch. I boiled a chicken, deboned it, and then made some chicken/rice soup for this next week.
Today we were back in Yallahs. Gratefully more were on time today. We met with two people after interviews and my music lessons. We were happy to be home a little after five o'clock. We had a nice visit with Mike before Dad went to bed early.
We are grateful to be able to serve and grateful we can share the good news of the gospel. Dad is especially enjoying teaching the Gospel Essentials class each Sunday now. We love you and hope you all have a good week.
Love,
Mom and Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment