Thursday 12 September 2013
We got an email from Bro N asking us to meet him at the
office so we got dressed and went down.
We have no idea what his agenda was or why he even wanted to talk to us
but he said he was there to hire the new self-reliance manager for
Jamaica. After we talked for a minute or
two he pulled out his computer and began giving us his power point presentation
on the new self-reliance program. We
actually interrupted him several times making comments and suggestions and telling him that the program needs to be adapted to Jamaica and he did not hear a
single thing we said; he was determined to give us the entire presentation.
Even after we told him we only had 8 days left in Jamaica, he still continued to
give us the whole program. Even when we
disagreed with him he continued. We
tried telling him what a good power point it was but that did not slow him down
either. He was absolutely oblivious to
our comments, our attitudes, our concerns, our time or anything. When he finally got to the end I took Bob by
the hand and said we have to leave. It
had been two hours. We had already told
him we were in process of packing up etc.
I felt rude but there was absolutely no reason for him to insist on our
viewing his whole presentation.
Bro Alvarodo, the Area Self-Reliance Director, was to be
there to interview as well but we never did see him or hear from him. We found out later that he had been told we
did not have time. I fear, meaning we
would not take the time rather than we were busy. Bob was a little hurt as he
had offered our services in any way Bro Alvarado would need.
Friday Bob had his last orthodontist appointment (though he
had to go back again to get the retainer glued better.) Saturday we drove to
Old Harbour to do our last inspection of the Missionaries apartment. We were very lucky in our inspection
assignment—our missionaries were very neat and clean. I can’t remember why we were late and in a
hurry but we saw Sean on the street and he said he wanted to talk to us but we
did not have time and I could not pull over so I told him we would catch him
later.
Sunday we did our last employment fireside in Hopeton. That is a nice branch and we had a nice time
with them and the fireside went well. It
really is a good program and has been very well received. That was the last of our long drives.
Monday I told Bob I was through working and that I was going
to spend this week packing. Well I did,
sort of. We had dinner at the Chinese
Restaurant with the senior missionaries and Sis Brown and that was very nice. Everyone said good bye again. Tuesday we spent more time trying to solve
the phone problem for our CSMs. We ended
up buying a cheap phone and some minutes. We kicked ourselves that we had not
thought of that earlier. –Even that we
had not thought about it for ourselves at the first of our mission so we both
could have had a phone for those times when we were separated and I
worried. Then we packed up a few things
and took them over to Paula’s –I was glad to be able to give some of our food
and supplies we had purchased to her and Audrey.
Even though I was a little paranoid about the packing it
actually went very well so on Wednesday Bob asked me if I wanted to go to Devon
House for lunch which of course I did. I
really love a Callaloo stuffed Curry Chicken dish there that I will never get
at home. We saw Sean on the street and
he told us he wanted us to help him fix up a little farm or something so he
wanted to talk to us about giving him some money. Bob gave him quite a bit and we arranged to
meet him on Friday so we could talk about his plan.
This is where we ate at Devon House, the Grogg Cafe which looks like is is set around the carriage house.
This is the side front views of Devon House. It is lovely;
Thursday Audrey invited us to dinner—we were to pick her up
at 5:00 near her school and take her home for dinner. Sister Brown also said that day would be best
for them to go to lunch with us to Wendy’s.
We thought that would be fun for the kids. They could not come until 3:00 so we thought
that would work since Pres Brown had another appointment at 4:00—that would
give us time to get to Audrey. They were
late, then he left in our car instead of the bus and she was to take us to the
office to get our car. We were getting
very close. By the time we got to the
office we should have been leaving to get Autrey but we had to go home and get
some things we were taking to her house and the cake I had baked. We called her and said we would be late and
then we really rushed—so much that I dropped the cake in the garage. Amazingly it lit right-side up! We were actually only a few minutes late but
of course the traffic at that time of day was bad. We had a nice time with her
for the rest of the evening. I made
mental notes of some of her cooking procedures.
Jonathan and Jared Brown at Wendy's.
In addition to the rush and confusion of meeting the Browns
and getting to Audrey, Bob was also trying to arrange new interviews for the
Self-Reliance manager. It turned out
that Bro N and Bro Alvarado did not find the right person last week so Bro
Alvarado was sent back to finish up. He
emailed and asked Bob to arrange the interviews and talk to Pres Brown about
who should be interviewed. Bob called
six people and made appointments for the next day. The other thing he did was to coach each of
them as he talked to them—telling them about the job and a little on how to
present themselves. He was totally fair
with all the candidates. He was talking
to one of them in the car as we were driving to Audrey’s. She told me later how impressed she was about
how good he was at preparing the person he was talking to. He finished up sitting in the car in front of
Audrey’s while she was cooking dinner and visiting with me.
We had a visitor to our table while we were eating ice cream at the Devon House. He was pretty brave coming so close to us and then he started showing off.
Friday Bro Alvarado asked us to come to his hotel and have
breakfast with him and Bro Rapleyee who had come with him. They asked us about our experience with Bro N
the week before. We told them about what
had happened and we learned that he had been misinformed about our interest in
helping Bro Alvarado. It is unfortunate
to have a negative experience with a church member with some authority but we
were glad to get it straightened out and understand why Bro Alvarado did not
contact us. Bro Rapelyee was there
because he knew us and he had talked to Bro Alvarado and was incredulous that
he had not talked to the Pugmires about this project. Meaning we probably knew as much or more
about Self-reliance and the candidates as anyone in Jamaica. Anyway, after breakfast I took them to the
church to conduct their interviews. Bob
waited and acted as receptionist and I went home and did some cleaning and
packing. I came back at the end and was there when Bro Rapelyee, who is over S
& I in the Area, said this was the strongest pool of candidates he had ever
interviewed in the Caribbean! It didn't
dawn on Bob until later but I knew it was because of the way he coached and
prepared each candidate.
We drove the two of them to the office to meet with Pres
Brown and then later back to the church for Institute class. When we arrived back at the church Bro
Alvarado asked if he could talk to us for a minute. He asked what were the 2-3 most important
things that should happen in Self-reliance in Jamaica and he took notes on what
we said. He also apologized again for
the mix up the week before. He really could not have treated us better and with
more respect. It is too bad he had to
lose respect for one of his managers in the process.
Saturday we met my friend Terry-Ann Dixon at the Jade
Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was
very pleasant and I think she enjoyed it as well. She lives in Port Antonio but comes to school
in Kingston on Saturdays. Sunday we went
to both Boulevard and Constant Spring branches and were given the opportunity
to bear our testimonies. It was very
nice and people were very kind to us and seemed very genuine about their love
for us.
Monday the Senior Missionaries wanted to get together again
for FHE. We took our car to the office
and dropped it off and rode with the Evans to Mortensens for a few minutes
visit with them as we felt we had not really had much time to really get to
know them. They live next to Murdocks so
then we just went down for dinner in a lovely gazebo off the parking lot. Murdocks had arranged the dinner and the FHE. It was really nice because even the Wrights
took the 2 hour drive from Junction to town for the event. What good people—fun to share with them and
learn what we all feel about our missions and how different all our missions
are. We all concluded that every senior
missionary couple created their own mission and determines their own
success. The Pearsons drove us back to
our apartment and Murdocks picked us up at 7:00 Tues morning to go to the airport. Camille our apartment day security person did
the final clean up and took the food I left in the refrigerator.
The Wrights from Idaho Falls, Seminary and Institute/ PEF missionaries.
Pearsons from Utah, recruited by Pres Hendricks while vacationing in Negril last January. Member/Leadership Support missionaries serving in Branch Presidency in Spanish Town 1 Branch. Also helping with literacy and music.
Murdocks from Utah, Humanitarian Missionaries.
Evans, Office Couple as well as Branch President of Yallahs Branch. Their third mission.
Mortensens, from Lubbock, Texas. MLS missionaries serving in Port Antonio and Boulevard Branches. They were packing to leave their mission when the President told them the Lord wanted them so stay another year--so they did.
This is the end of a life changing experience. I could have passed this by and never known
what I missed but now that I know what I would have missed if I had not agreed
to come on this mission I am very grateful we came. We had many PEF participants tell us we had
made a big difference for them. Some
said we had done more than anyone else before us—which is not much in some ways
but it was about 10 years worth of people trying to do the job. I know for sure Bob was the best possible
person to come and solve some of the problems that had been perpetuating
themselves in the program here. And I
also know he could not have done all he did if I had not been here to support,
add in-put, back up with the technology, etc. so It is a really good feeling
knowing we were a great team and that we really did accomplish a good work for
many people. It is also wonderful that
we did a good job replacing ourselves with good people who will carry on for
the PEF participants. The influence and
contribution of senior missions are huge—I mean really huge—not just for the
people being served but for the mission as well. But even more especially for the senior
couple! The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is true! It is lead by
inspired men –and women. The gospel it
supports is the source of true joy, peace and happiness in this life and hope,
security, and peace here after.
