A Week of Sorrow

I'm sure many of you have heard the news. Elder Walker was hit by a stray bullet last week on Monday on the way back to Kingston from Spanish Town. He returned home almost instantly. There were seven other missionaries in the van.

This is how the missionaries in the van were situated:

~Front!~
__________
(B) (E) Elders Brough and Emery
(T) (L) Elders Toutai and Luke
(W) Elder Walker
(K) (N) Elders Knowlton and Nelson
____ _(O)_ Elder Ostberg


The bullet came in through the back window and hit Elder Walker in the left temple. It was a tragedy to all of us missionaries.

For more information on the matter, please consult my mom.




Next in news. President Hendricks came to district meeting last Wednesday. I think it had something to do with the fact that all of our zone, except Elder Snelson and I, were involved in the incident regarding Elder Walker. He also interviewed Elder Snelson and I after the meeting and we had a good chat and I also got a few doctrine related answers while I was at it.

Next, we have the amazing super planning on Friday. Elder Snelson received some summer sausage in his Christmas package. Soooo, I broke out a tin of cheese I had been saving and we purchased some Ritz Crackers knockoffs and enjoyed our weekly planning session.

Sunday we travelled down with the Daniels to Kingston to stay the night at the zoneleaders house. But before they took us to the zone leaders house, we stopped and ate dinner at the Schaefermeyer's house. While there Elder Schaefermeyer showed me a video that I ask you to watch on youtube. It's called Two White Girls Pon a Minibus. This kinda relates the experience of travelling via public transportation in Jamaica. The head out the window thing is the only difference. People can't really do that anymore.

Yesterday, the zone leaders took us to Spanish Town for Elder Walker's memorial. Elder Coleman and his wife were there as were President Hendricks and his wife. All four of them spoke. Elder Coleman represented the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Carribbean Area Seventy. It was a good service. I also got a picture of me and my protege's.


Elder Huffaker


Note from Marilyn:
Brandon's comment of Elder Walker "returned home" -- refers to his death, and returning home to our Heavenly Father. I liked the comment I read on one of the senior missionaries' blogs: “Elder Walker's life was cut short, but his mission was extended”. And President Hendricks' affirmation that, “God is in charge.” You can email me if you have further questions about this, at PaintedFlower@aol.com.

ummm

(Brandon's letter from November 22, 2010)

Well, I don't really know what to tell you this week because not much really happened.

First off, Elder Jarman left Wednesday morning. The Assistants came and picked him up and dropped off my next trainee. While we were waiting, it was dumping rain. So Elder Jarman and I had a little fun. Then we decided it would be funny if my new trainee saw me in a wheel chair sitting out on the veranda thinking I was incapacitated. So when Elder Snelson showed up he had this look on his face like "this is my companion?" It was really cool. I didn't keep the charade for very long.

I'm still the district leader for Yallahs and Boulevard Elders. Just enjoy the pics from last week and this week!

wHaT!?

Well, as I'm sure you are all aware. We had a tropical storm/hurricane. So last Monday was prepping for the storm and getting all our supplies. AND WE WAIT.

Wednesday I went into Kingston for a leadership meeting with Pres. Hendricks and the Assistants. It was pretty good, except for the fact that I pretty much sat there all day. Elder Jarman went to Portmore for the day. When I finally got Elder Jarman back and reached Yallahs, it was 7:30 at night, and we left out at 5:00 in the morning. LONG DAY!

Then we had our "storm". Thursday was as quiet as all get out! I've never seen a place in Jamaica so quiet. We couldn't really teach anyone because they would lock themselves in their homes. This storm was supposed to hit Thursday morning, then Thursday afternoon, and then Friday morning. I'm sittin' here thinkin'.... what storm? It just drizzled a little and they got everyone worried about that. Well, I guess you can never really predict these things, better safe than sorry. But I'm still trying to figure out where the storm went.

Apparently it turned into a hurricane after it passed Jamaica and was on it's way to Haiti.

Friday was kinda interesting at our Friday night activity. We had two investigators that came (we had more than two but these two made it interesting) that also happen to be sisters. Well every game we played, I think they were out to get each other. Especially when it came to a water game. They just gave it! It was pretty funny to watch. AWWW Family love!

Lastly for this week. ITS 18 MONTHS!!!! This means I burn a pair of pants! WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Please see photos:

Elder Huffaker

It's a Wonderful Life

Well, I may not be in a black and white film that takes place at Christmas time, but being a missionary is great!

Tuesday, Elder Jarman and I had an adventure of putting up two and a half walls of a house. We used two 4 x 8 sheets of plywood, two hammers, a half lb bag of 2 in. nails, and 3 hand saws. This "little" adventure took all afternoon and left me with a blister. I remember that when it neared 5:30 p.m. all I wanted was to finish this and die! At first I kinda made light of it, but as we went along, it took its toll on me.
Wednesday we had a zone conference in Kingston. We had the area doctor, Elder Kilgore, visiting. He gave a little instruction on missionary health. He told us to drink more water. We need to be drinking 4 liters of water a day, I was at about 2. DOUBLE IT! So Thursday I did, and I've seen more bushes and walls in one day than I normally did in one week. This little fiasco is no good on my body that is used to a lower intake. So when we bussed on Saturday for a baptism (which I'll get to in a minute) I actually had to stop the bus so I could get off and go. Elder Jarman had to as well. We ended paying an extra $80 each. I'll pay an extra bit of cash as long as I don't have a wet spot on my pants by the time I arrive in Kingston.

Saturday was a baptism. Arleen Francis, who lives in Morant Bay, that we did the service project for on Tuesday, was baptized. Elder Jarman performed the ordinance. I think he was really nervous about it, because he kept asking me about it.

I'm sending pics of this week plus a few other pics I bummed off Elder Jarman.
Pictures include my white shirt after Tuesday's project, Friday Night Activity where we floured a member for his birthday, some red pea soup, our project on Tuesday, and the baptism.

I'll have to send the other pictures I got from Elder Jarman next week (red pea soup and the project)

Picturesque

How do I describe this week..... I dunno, but it was good.

This week I taught my first district meeting as district leader. The Assistants decided to join us and even shared a little bit themselves. I went over "the challenging and testifying missionary" by Alvin Dyer. The Assistants said it was good except to get my district more involved next time. Oh well. After district meeting we went out to see one of the mission vehicles. They just switched over to Mitsubishi pickups. They look pretty good and still have that new car smell. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

After the district meeting, I went on a trade off with Elder Edwards, who is one of my zone leaders. He seemed very complacent while he was here in Yallahs with me. Elder Jarman went to Kingston with Elder Emery and rode in a car all the time. He misses the A/C and had quite the experience eating pig skin. I can't wait till he eats some mannish water. Not to mention he took one look at chicken foot and said, "NO!"

Anyways, Friday Night Activity was a little different this week. I introduced the family game of States, except I used countries because 90% of Jamaicans only know 5 states: Texas, Florida, California, New York and New Jersey. I don't really know why these are the only 5 they know other than that's probably the only places where they go when they go to the states. Back to the game, they really had a blast with it and I think they will want to play in the future.

Saturday, we had a lot of service we were doing. First we helped clean the Meddow's shop (they're a family in the local branch), then we went and cleaned the church, then we went and purchased some plywood for another service project. Well, I'm sure most of you know the saying, "When you play with fire, you're gonna get burned." AFTER 21 YEARS, it finally bit me. While cleaning the Meddow's shop, we cleaned out their chest freezer. To speed up the process we lit some coal and put a pot of water on it to get it going. So to help the coal get started, I blew on it. Some little ember decided to pop out at my face. Got me right on my left eyelid. So then I squeeze my eye shut. No I've got burn marks on my upper and lower eye. Needless, to say, this didn't stop me and won't stop me in the future. Lesson learned, watch out for leaping embers!

Pictures include: the sky that just seemed to pop out from a painter's canvas, me kissing $2700 goodbye for the purchase of the plywood for one of the service projects, and our orchids are in bloom, except for one last white one.

Elder Huffaker

Another Week in Yallahs

I dunno about you, but when you're not Lance Armstrong and you ride your bicycle all over the hills. You get pretty tired. So tired, you can't stay awake in studies.

Anyways. Well, we had zone meeting last Thursday in Kingston. Well this is great an' all, but the last elders had a car and we don't really know how long it would take us to get there. So we left out at 8:00 for the 10:00 meeting. One bus to Kingston, another one through Kingston, plus walking time to the church building equals 10:40!?! We were really late. I think the bus we got on to go through Kingston took the scenic route. Not to mention it stopped every 2 minutes to let people on and off. grrrrr STOP RINGING THE BELL!!!

We also had the fun experience of making rice and peas. It's not my first time, but the gas ran out. So the rice and peas turned to mush. Elder Jarman ate it still, but I've got to make another batch for him.

Then we rode up the side of the mountain. It takes about an hour to go up and only 10 to come down. But I did slap the bull! :)

We also got to enjoy some local ice cream cake. It's more like a 2 inch layer of ice cream with cookie around the outside.

Lastly, they've been building up a levee for the river to help control flooding. This involves a bull dozer. So when we rode by last night and it was parked, we decided. Hey! WHY NOT?

~short, simple and to the point. PLUS picures are worth a thousand words. Here's seven thousand words~

Elder Huffaker

First Week on the Job

Well, week one is now finished as far as training Elder Jarman goes. We did have some interesting times this week. Thankfully we had a member here who was willing to show us around and get acquainted with the members and investigators. We've been climbing up hills and chopping yards.

Along with all of that we got flooded.... again! Well I wasn't in Portmore this time. Saturday night brought some heavy rains brought water pouring down the mountain side. Our entrance was blocked off and so we had to climb up the mountain and come around a different way to get home. We were drenched and Elder Jarman broke his bicycle crank. Not only did it break, but was lost. It fell into some water and we tried to find it, however it was dark and the water was all muddy. So with wet clothes comes..... ANOTHER MISSIONARY CLOTHING DRYING MOMENT. (was that too long?)

Before the rains hit us Saturday morning. We stopped by a recent convert who grows and sells orchids. She even lent us out two of them which we are keeping on our veranda. We've got a purple-white one and an all white one. The purple has had another bloom since the photo was taken, but still nothing from the white. The member said she's trying to collect all 43 different color varieties!

Yesterday, I had to take over conducting the branch. It was kinda formidable, but I managed. I also ended up teaching Sunday School and Priesthood class. One of the former missionaries here was the branch president, so since he's gone, I've basically been given the responsibilities. Pres. Hendricks should be here this Sunday to set apart a new branch president.

We also have a brand new senior couple attending the branch here. They're training to be the new office couple. They're the Daniels from Mesa Arizona. We figure that either Elder Daniels or I will be called as the next branch president.

The Daniels did want to go out and do some missionary work, so we went to Morant Bay to see an investigator. On the way back, I got these pics to go with. It was getting kinda dark so sorry if it's difficult to see. It's the ocean and this falls along the road.

Elder Huffaker

P.S. I received a phone call from the Assistants last week. I'm also the District Leader.

P.S. from Marilyn:

In case you were wondering, a Branch President is the leader of a local congregation. Since the Church is pretty small in Jamaica, there aren't wards (larger congregations), only branches -- which are smaller. Yallahs is just a little east of Kingston, on the southern coast. Morant Bay is a little further east, still on the coast.