One Today, One Tomorrow

This last week has been somewhat eventful. I bought Orange Marmalade last Monday. I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT! It tastes like fruitcake. Needless, to say, I'm finishing it, it seems like a waste of money to not eat it.

Then, Elder Tonks and I had a close encounter. Have you ever been wandering around in the complete darkness and not realized how close you were standing to someone? That happened to Elder Tonks and I; Elder Olson and I had just finished turning off the lights in the house for the night. When I walked into the bedroom (dark) and I have to pass everyone's beds to get to mine. Elder Tonks was standing by his bed - which I didn't know - and I was just walking through. He knew I was coming but didn't know how close I was. When all of a sudden, Elder Olson flips on the lights. And our faces our inches from each other, with the looks of utter terror. He fell back onto his bed and apparently I "shrieked". It was mildly humorous and we all laughed about it and as such took us a while to go to sleep that night.

Then, I had an awful experience in which, I just finished frying some dumpling (a local dish which I'll be happy to make for anyone who wants it - when I get home) and was moving the pot full of hot oil to the back burner of the stove so that the others could use the front; when all of a sudden the handle broke off of the pot! There was no sign of wear or anything to say that it could come off. All of a sudden it did, and hot oil was all over the stove top. So I didn't have a fun morning.

Nextly, Elder Olson and I have come to an agreement in which once a week, we cook dinner for each other. So I got to prepare Mac n Cheese with some dumpling, and enjoy some Spaghetti. Yep, Spaghetti, I was so happy.

Then, I've told you about a local soda I've come to enjoy, called Bigga. They just came out with two new flavors: Mango and Pommegranite (I don't know how to spell) The Mango isn't a good one, but I do enjoy the other.

Lastly, we had a baptism, shout hurray. (see picture) This is Sandino Gordon, aka Spoogy. He was baptized Sunday and we have another baptism this Sunday. That's the longest my hair will be. I just got a trim yesterday. I think it was about 3 inches that the barber took off. :D

That's all folks
Elder Huffaker

Bikes!

First off, We had Zone Conference last Tuesday in Spanish Town. The Kingston-Portmore zone came as well. There, we met a new senior couple who will be serving in Turks and Caicos-Elder and Sister Herbert. They're from Eagle, Alaska, I think. Also, I got to enjoy the zones singing happy birthday to me as well as a few other Elders who had and will have birthdays.

Next, Elder Olson got sick for 2 1/2 days He got sick on Thursday and didn't head back out until Saturday afternoon. We're not sure what it was, but he had strep throat about 3-4 weeks ago, and we thought it might be that coming back. So I stayed home all day Thursday. At first I thought it was kinda nice, but then it turned to the fact that I now had boundless amounts of energy. Then on Friday after our weekly planning, we split. I went out with Elder Tonks in the afternoon and Elder Hicken in the evening. I learned my lesson of patience, which brings me to my next point...

I will not ride a bike ever again while on my mission. The bikes down here are quite different, despite the fact that they ARE bikes. My butt still hurts from riding just half a day. Sure it doesn't hurt when you first get on and you have a good time, but by the end of the day. OUCH. I then stayed in again on Saturday morning and proselyted the rest of Saturday with Elder Olson again, he felt good to get back outside.

Lastly, I finally finished peeling my sunburn that I got a week and a half ago. It didn't blister, but it kept peeling.

Thats all for today, hopefully I will get some photos later today to send next week.

Elder Huffaker

General Conference

Ahhhh, this week has been a different week.

First off, you all know that I'm now in a four man house. Elder Tonks is the district leader, and it's kinda weird that I now report to someone who lives in my house. He went to district leader training on Wednesday, so we had no district meeting. So Elder Hicken, Olson and I proselyted 3 full days in a row. The sad part that came from it is I got sunburned on my nose, forehead and
upperlip. Not cool, my nose is still peeling from it.

Thursday, the Zone Leaders came to Old Harbour and they split to go with each of our companionships. Elder Knowlton (who is a transfer above me) came with Elder Olson and I and Elder Christensen went with Elder Tonks and Hicken. We didn't really do much, we just did some street contacting in attempts to increase our teaching pool.

Saturday, we travelled to Maypen to watch General Conference. Elder Olson and I stayed at a house in Maypen with Elder Rebeiro and Elder Smith. Elder Rebeiro is a transfer above me and Elder Smith is a transfer below. We had a pretty good time there, although I forgot some things to pack for staying the night.

Then, it brought us to today. And now I'm writing.

I needed to include some photos so here we go:

First is a local soda that I've come to enjoy, called Bigga. Flavors include grape (as seen) orange, fruit punch, jamaica kola, pineapple, and ginger beer (no alcohol). They just changed the bottle style when I took the photo.

Next is me and my previous zone leader Elder Brown enjoying some ice cream at Juici Patti (a local restaurant) after playing a few games of pool. I had butter pecan he had strawberry cheese cake.

Here is the photo of the members of our house. I actually took this picture in Maypen. Elder Hicken is on the left (he turns 18 months this transfer and served in Old Harbour about a year ago), Elder Olson (my companion who is currently 16 months), Elder Tonks (who is my district leader and turns 1 year this transfer), and me (who turns 6 months this transfer and hates the racoon look I have because of my sunburn).

Lastly, this a photo Elder Olson took and I'm standing next to a sign that says Cameron's Bulk Chemicals. I thought my little bro. might like this.

Transfers

Transfers, in missionary lingo, means the missionaries get moved (or not) to other areas of the mission, usually resulting in getting new companions. Brandon has been looking forward to transfers for a few weeks now, which we could tell when he started counting down: "three weeks to transfers", "two weeks to transfers", "Transfers are next week!". For those of you who may not "get it," this link is an excellent explanation of how, when, and why missionary transfers happen, all over the world.

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord: Transfers: How Missionaries Reckon Time

Maybe you can see why Brandon's last email sounded so encouraging!