Singing

There are many reasons to sing!

First you can sing in the rain! It rained all last week until Sunday, when it finally stopped. Tropical Storm Nicole hit us on Wednesday. Sad to say, I was out in it for a good portion of time on Wednesday night. A little rain doesn't hurt missionaries, but a lot... well that makes us a little more than upset. To make a long story short, we had to have the Assistants come and rescue Elder Branson and I from Portmore. We didn't get home til after 10:00 p.m. For full details, please email mother Huffaker as she will be getting a snail mail with complete details (hopefully she'll post it on the blog too.) So most of last week involved getting wet or staying inside.

You can also sing when General Conference comes around and the person conducting the session says, "The choir and congregation will now sing..." So we attended General Conference last weekend and heard some really good talks. To me, a lot of it seemed to be focusing on us. As far as our character goes. I believe Elder Scott put it in pretty plain terms.

Also, you can sing as you work. I know whistling is a bit more common, but Elder Ostberg came to Kingston for a few days. They moved Elder Walker to the Boulevard house with Elder Ostberg's companion since both of them have to stay in. We really just worked Friday, since Saturday and Sunday was conference.

Lastly, you can sing to your new companion. That's right! I am now in Yallahs and training a new missionary. His name is Elder Jarman from Riverdale Utah.

So when things in life are bad or good. SING!

Elder Huffaker

Here are some of the photos Brandon sent this week. Yallahs is pronounced, "Yowl-us", and is located on the southern coast of Jamaica, a little to the east of Kingston. Brandon says it is a little smaller than Falmouth was.

Elders Huffaker, Branson, and Hoffman on Transfer Day:

Flooding in one of the main gulleys in Kingston from Tropical Storm Nicole:
Closer view of landslide damage in Kingston:
Street flooding from Tropical Storm Nicole:

Flooding on the missionaries' street in Kingston:

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

(Brandon's letter from September 13th)

WHEW! A lot has happened.

First off, I got a taste of Starfruit. It's like eating an apple, it has a core. It's yellow-green (more on the yellow) in color. It only looks like a star when you look down the core of the fruit. However, it tasted really good.

Secondly, Elder Hoffman and I were invited to go with the zone leaders out to Port Royale. (there are more pictures than this, but these are some of my choice) It was really fun and interesting to see Fort Charles. I didn't know this, but Port Royale has been hit by earthquakes twice! Anyway, it was a blast!

Wednesday, we had our first zone meeting in over a year. It was okay, we watched some new Preach My Gospel videos and practiced. It was good to see who all is in my zone though.

Thursday was another interesting experience. I had ants living in my mattress. So I notified the mission office. They sent me another mattress on Thursday. However, when the office Elders came to drop it off, it was raining and we were halfway across our area. So we tried to convince them to come pick us up... to no avail. Instead they said they were going to go run some other errands. When we finally made it home, we see them there reclined in their vehicle. OHHHHH I was a little miffed that they weren't doing anything at all and could have picked us up and made everything better for everyone.

Friday, after our weekly planning session, Elder Walker and I were picked up to got to the doctor's office. Elder Walker was getting his back checked out. We got there at one-o-clock. They finally called him back at about 3:45! I'm just sittin' there readin' my BoM away. I mean, yeah there were about 10 people there when we got there, but still. WOW!

Friday night the zone leaders came to stay the night. six elders in a four elder house with only four mattresses and one is a bunk bed. So we put three mattresses together with five elders on. Elder Walker lucked out and got the lone mattress on the top of the bunk. The zone leaders were checkin' on our planning and study sessions making sure we're taking the correct amount of time and doin' all the right things.

Saturday morning the zone leaders left and I was on tradeoff once again with Elder Hoffman while Elder Walker went to Portmore with Elder Branson to check how their area was doin'.

Lastly, we have a bit of a mouse problem in the house. Sooooo. KILLING SPREE!!! This is number three killed with at least 2 more to go.

Love
Elder Huffaker