WHOOOO WEEEEE!

That would be the shout of one drunk Jamaican last week Monday night. He thought he was the baddest man in the whole world. And just loved to shout that phrase.

So news for this last week is somewhat good. I finally started paying attention to my surroundings (more than usual) and noticed a big faded sign on the way to Falmouth from Mobay that has something about a swamp safari. It also says on the sign "James Bond was here in Live and Let Die" It makes me want to go and watch the movie, but you'll have to do it for me.

Tuesday night, Elder McGlossan was picked up by Pres. Graff and taken to Portmore. An Elder had to be sent back to Jamaica from the U.S. and so our threesome was broken up.

Yesterday, we taxied out to a members house who wanted to feed us and on the way out, I saw this Jamaican walking down the side of the road balancing a chainsaw on his head. I wish I had my camera! It was pretty cool - how many of you can walk while balancing a chainsaw on your head?

Also, when Pres. Graff came and picked up Elder McGlossan, he told us he wants us to find a new house. So Elder Vea and I are now in the house hunting business. He wants us closer to town/the church. So Elder Vea and I are currently on the lookout for a new place to rent that will be decent for missionaries.

Lastly, I was on a tradeoff again on Wednesday, and in order to bring Elder Vea back, we had to travel to Sav. Not only is it an arm and a leg to taxi there, but on the way back, it took an hour longer because we had to turn around and take a detour to make it to Mobay. I left at 10:00 a.m. and didn't get back to Falmouth until 5:00 p.m. I have to go to Sav again this Wednesday for Zone Conference. This is gonna really suck.

I'll send photos when I have more time, I'm done for today. I also can't remember the last photos I sent, so hold on, they're coming!

Elder Huffaker



P.S. from Marilyn:

Brandon's shorthand for the locations might be a little vague. "Mobay" refers to Montego Bay, and "Sav" is Savanna La Mar, which is quite a distance from Falmouth. It looks about 40 miles away on the map.

A Weird Week

So this week, has been different, especially in a new area.

We had district meeting in Montego Bay on Wednesday. It was nothing like I expected, but then again, neither was anything else down here.

Then, Friday night, Elder Vea broke his bike pedal, we got to take it to a bicycle repair shop later today to have his pedal welded back on. Sucks to be him, and only 3 months left.

Saturday, we were informed of an area conference fireside that we had to go to Montego Bay for, again. When we got there, we started watching it (via satellite broadcast) but the weather was not in our favor. The picture kept going in and out. We eventually called it quits. So we made a trip to Mobay for nothing.

Then, we also learned that our letters to president (we send via email) never reached Pres. Graff. Apparently, there was a dispute between the Church and Yahoo, so he didn't receive any emails. He had to change his account to gmail.

Lastly, we had white people at church yesterday! It was so weird. They were members on vacation from Canada (alberta I think) I didn't expect them in Falmouth because the town is so small here. But there's like 30 hotels/resorts between Ochi and Mobay and we're right in the middle, so it almost doesn't surprise me.

Sorry I didn't get to send pictures this week. Hopefully I'll send some next week.

Elder Huffaker

This Week Now

Alrighty ...

Now that we're to this week; I am in a new area. The place is called Falmouth (foul muth [like wooly mamuth]) This place is between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay along the north side of Jamaica.

I have two companions (we're in a three-some) Elder Vea (a Samoan) and Elder McGlossan (a Jamaican). It's a different area than Old Harbour in that everything here is spread out. The branch covers an entire parish (a parish is equal to a county) Not to mention Falmouth is not very big in itself. It's actually a small town and there's not much to it.

The branch here is one of the smallest in the mission. we have 25 people to church on a good day.

I wonder how long I'm gonna be in this area. Elder Vea goes home next transfer or the transfer after. Elder McGlossan has been out just over a year. Then there's me at the bottom of the food chain. We'll have to see how it goes here, because I'm on a bicycle in the area. By butt hasn't really gotten sore yet, but I'm sure that will change.

I'll try to get photos out next week, but this computer place won't let me move them around. I'll see what I can do. Until next week though.

Elder Huffaker

The Mail that Didn't Come

I'm sorry about last week. I had a bit of trouble with the computer I was on. I had typed up my email and was trying to attach some photos, but it was taking forever to attach the photos. So, my time ran out and my email wasn't sent. So, here's last week's mail that didn't come.

Well, it was Halloween, and this year I decided to dress up as a missionary. It's very uneventful down here because the people don't believe in Halloween. In fact, they're kinda against it.

As far as this week's happenings, we had interviews with Pres. Graff and I learned that 8 missionaries will have gone home and only one new one is coming. We're losing missionaries in the field, but not just here, it's happening all over the world.

Along with the interveiws, transfers are this week. All of us here in Old Harbour are pretty sure it's going back to a 2 man house, we're just not sure who's staying and who's leaving.

Lastly for this week, we had dinner at the Relief Society President's house. You could say it was like a mini branch party. It was pretty good and I got to say goodbye to some people. I've been in Old Harbour for 6 months and am 99.9% positive I'm leaving. Here's the photos:


-Weight loss with pants that I have not had taken in by a tailor

-6 month mark of my mission

-party at Sister Dennis' and the Don of Old Harbour herself

Another One Finds the Truth

My apologies for not posting Brandon's last email right away; it has been a wild week. The photos go with his letter; the last one of the flowers in Bellas Gate he described: "a garden we saw up there and it was awesome, because it had flowers out of one plant that were 3-5 different colors. (a flower itself wasn't five colors, but one flower would be blue and another yellow and another pink)" He had this to say in his emailed letter:

Yes, we had another baptism. This one is Vanessa Bell. Vanessa is 14 yrs-old and loves school. She lives next to the Relief Society Pres. here in Old Harbour. She was baptized yesterday and I had the privilege of performing the ordinance.

This week has also been very weird in the weather perspective. It has been raining off and on so much. I wonder sometimes whether to take a plastic bag (they call them scandal bags down here) or whether to wear my sun glasses. It will rain cats and dogs for 20 minutes and then let up, and won't rain for a couple days. Sometimes it rains so hard, I like to say instead of raining cats and dogs, its raining horses and cows.

Nextly, this week, Elder Olson and I received a referral to go to the edge of our area to a place called Bellas Gate (very expensive taxi ride) There we got to meet Debbie Clark, who just moved there from England. Very interesting lady, but doesn't really have any interest right now.

While there, we got to try a new fruit to my taste: Passionfruit. For those of you who have not had fresh passionfruit, it's very tangy. Elder Olson has a picture of me eating it and making a "sour" face. You don't even really eat it, technically, you suck out the insides, seeds and all. It looks like frog eggs. I'll have to get the picture from him later to send to you.

That's about it for this week. Keep in touch, I like to read up on everyone to see how it's going.

Elder Huffaker