Getting Ready for Christmas

Sunday 16 Dec  

We did our first Job Seekers Seminar today in Spanish Town 1st Branch.  We had asked the Branch Presidents to hand select participants but Pres Lue announced it to the whole branch so we had about 30 people show up after meetings.  Bob’s presentation went pretty well.  We were glad we cut it back to basically Networking for the first day.  We were also happy to have Sisters Sandra Moodie and Sandra Whitehorne the Branch Employment specialists (probably actually the Island Employment Specialists—since they have been doing it for years) there to help us deal with the number of people and to fill out mini resumes.  We probably had at least 20 or our 30 who actually filled out forms. 

We felt pretty good about how things went and realize we will have to simplify again for next week.  We had planned to give them the rest of our presentation which went through ldsjobs.org and interviewing skills and what employers want etc.  I think we will pretty much stick with networking skills and how to present themselves.  It was fun to meet so many people and to be able to interact with them.  We enjoyed attending their meetings.  We have pretty much scheduled every Sunday up until two weeks before we leave our mission—two weeks in each branch.  Some of these will be overnighters as we will not be able to drive one way early on Sunday mornings. 

Thursday Bob got his braces on his lower teeth.  He is still struggling with the associated discomfort.  He is not particularly good with discomfort.

 Sister Richards is the Relief Society President and is one of the more successful at raising chickens.

 These are 5 of the 6 Brown Sisters.  Ruth Ann is the oldest at 23 and Rochelle is the youngest at 14.  Their father passed away a couple of years ago leaving them completely on their own.  They do amazingly well.  Ruth Ann works and Tonnie (missing from picture) and Shirlette are in college both quite academic.  The next Alexia plans to go into medicine.  Amazing family--never miss a thing.


Saturday was the Constant Spring Branch Christmas dinner—the one we went with Pres Singh to check out the chickens.  It was supposed to start at 2:00 but in Jamaica we actually got started sometime after 3:00.  We had a nice dinner with Jerk chicken (jerk is apparently a kind of seasoning they put on chicken, pork and fish—sort of spicy), and grilled chicken, curry goat, rice and peas, green salads, and cake for dessert.  It was quite nice and there were at least 150 people, which was good.  Afterward, the young adults did another “talent show” –more dances and a few songs.  It was interesting though that they incorporated in their dances signing for some of the Primary and Christmas songs.  They also Rapped some Christmas songs as well as “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus”.  A few of the young women modeled some dresses they made out of various products like black garbage bags, newspaper and phone book paper.  They were actually very well done and people really got a kick out of them.  

We helped clean up and then Bob wanted to take the Dakins’ home.  This would have been great except they live on top of the mountain and the roads are horrible and windy and narrow and it was dark!  And to make matters worse some of the other people who live up there wanted a ride too but of course we did not have room.  We ended up with 10 people in the back or our car where 6 people should have fit.  I am sort of getting used to the drive up there as we have now been 3 times but I really feel the responsibility with so many people in the car.  I think maybe the Dakins’ and we have adopted each other.

Thursday we had the Mission Christmas Conference/Devotional.  All the missionaries from the entire  island were in for the conference.  It was really nice.  Pres Hendricks invited Pres and Sister Glazier, the MTC President and his wife from Dominican Republic.  We met them when we were there for our training on our way here to Jamaica.  They had known all the Jamaican Missionaries so it was fun for them to see each other again.  They gave some nice talks about Joseph Smith as we commemorate his birthday this weekend.  It was good to be reminded how important it is to often renew my testimony of Joseph Smith as a Prophet.  It is so easy to remember all the good things that are said about his personality and leadership but it is important to remember that he was a man with weaknesses just like every other man and yet God chose him to be the prophet of the restoration.  Too often we expect prophets to be like the Savior and be perfect and they are often portrayed as almost perfect but it is good to know that, good as they are, they are no better than anyone else, it is just that they were chosen by the Lord to be the prophet for that time.  I am so grateful for my testimony of living prophets on the earth today to help us deal with the difficulties of our world and times.

 Picture courtesy of Sister Smith.  All the missionaries in Jamaica except the Wrights who are with their daughter.  Pres and Sister Glazier from the MTC in DR are also present in this picture.






The major part of the program was what Pres Hendricks described as his "ponderings” about the circumstances surrounding the birth of the Savior.  He wrote sort of a readers theatre with readers representing Isaiah, Nephi, son of Lehi, Nephi, son of Helaman, the angel Gabriel, Zacharias, John the Baptist, a Shepherd, one of the Kings, Joseph, and Mary and others that I cannot now remember.  Pres Hendricks sang a really neat song about Joseph and his care of the Son of God.  He has a pretty good bass voice and the song was very poignant.   The whole program was very good and really helped us to focus on the divinity of Jesus Christ and all the important circumstances of His birth.  I hope I will be able to keep the feelings I had then with me at least through the Christmas season.  I wish I was better at keeping those good feelings with me permanently. 

After the program we ate pizza (the delivery man had to make 4 trips because he could not fit all the pizzas in his car for one trip) and salads and brownies.  The missionaries love being together and being able to spend time visiting and enjoying each other.  After we ate, Pres and Sister Hendricks handed out all the packages from home to all the elders.  One of the cute moments of excitement was when one of the elders opened a package at the urging of some of the others.  Laughter broke out when he pulled an old pair of his own shoes from the package.  One young man got a particular kick out of this gift as it was he who had sent the old shoes to his former companion because he had left them behind at the last transfer.  They really do grow to love one another.  

Bob and I are getting in the Christmas spirit by going to the shopping mall almost on a daily basis or even twice in a day because one of us (me) keeps forgetting things I need.  It is a pain in the neck as the traffic is pretty bad and the parking at the mall is congested but the mall is decorated and there are lots of happy shoppers.  We went this evening and decided to eat at one of the local favorites while we were there.  It is a sort of fast food place in the food court in the mall called Island Grill.  We had barbeque and jerk chicken and rice and peas and a festival.  Rice and peas is actually rice with red beans in it.  It has a slight flavor which is really quite tasty—not just the usual bland rice flavor.  A Festival is a type of bread stick which is rather dense and almost has the flavor of a corn bread but not quite.  It was very good.  I really enjoyed the meal.  However, when we got home I realized again I had forgotten something I need for tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will participate in our Branch service project—I think we are going to a nursing home to visit the elderly shut-ins.  It will be nice to participate with the branch members, they are such good people.

I have been wanting to write a little about some of the fun Jamaican idiosyncrasies.  For example the tops of all the telephone poles or electrical poles have all these curly wires sticking out of them.  I guess that makes it easier to find the wire you need when there is a problem.  When we went to Negril I noticed in these little housing areas there would be a group of poles clustered together, each pole had wires going to a different house.  

Another example is the way they build stairs.  I think they do not measure or anything when they begin the stairs.  They just begin and whatever is left over at the bottom becomes whatever it is:  either a step noticeably shorter than all the others or one that is noticeably taller than the others.  It happens way to often to be just a mistake. Once in a while it can be the top step that is the odd height.  It can be a little jarring. 

Speaking of little stairs, almost every building we have been in has these 3 inch steps leading from one room to another.  There are several in the building that houses the mission office.  I am not sure why the floors cannot remain all one level.  I can see no purpose at all for the little steps, but I have seen many of them.  As a matter of fact coming into our apartment you have to step up about 2-3 inches walking in the door—not sure why it has to be a different level from the hall.  It is an inside hall so there is not a fear of water coming in…

One of my favorites is sort of difficult to describe because it is the way they talk.  But for example in Church at Linstead the music was lead by Sister “All” and the organ was played by Sister “Handerson”.   (We would say Hall and Anderson.)  I love it!  We still have a little trouble understanding some people especially if it is hard to hear.  Tonight when we ordered our chicken at the Island Gril the girl asked us if we wanted “brest” or “ties”  since it was hard to hear she gestured by putting both hands over her breasts and then on her thighs.  I don’t think Bob caught it but I cracked up.

A "Typical Week" as Senior Missionaries

This is the Green and Black Streamer Humming Bird, or Doctor Bird, the National Bird of Jamaica.  I got this picture thanks to Elder Larsen who spotted him in the tree in the parking lot of the Church.  Remember how small a humming bird is but this guy's tail is about 6-7 inches long.

Tuesday December 11

Well we miss our truck but the car is actually working out very well—I am a little less worried about hitting street vendors between the lanes of traffic.—It is working much better for Elder Evans so I suspect this will be our car for the remainder of the mission though the senior couples trade whenever anyone needs a truck or whenever the Larsens need to service a car. 

  

 Sister Pugmire and her truck.











We were invited by one of our participants to attend the Institute class on Friday night.  When it started there were 11 people including us by the end of the evening (2 hours) there were 22 or 23.  Pres Brown was the teacher and he is very good.  There was wonderful participation and the comments were most often very insightful and even profound.  Talking about scriptures I was very familiar with but giving insights I had never considered.  Like how when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples it was a symbol for the Atonement.  It was a really good class—we want to go again.

We went up to see how Brother Dakins is coming on the roof of his house.  When he took us to visit all the Humanitarian Projects it was evident he has had a hand in nearly every one of them in terms of building the foundation upon which the chicken coops are built.  And he has helped repair them as well.—sort of a Wesley Miles type of good man.   I was impressed with his involvement with so many different people, but Bob did something about it.  He offered to buy the materials to replace the zinc roof that blew off his house in Hurricane Sandy.  I am always pleased with Bob’s good heart and his generosity to others. So we went up to see how they were coming.  We took Bro Dakins on Thursday last week to buy the materials and he said he could have it done by Saturday but of course when we got there the roof is on but not completed and he was off helping someone else!  We had a nice visit with his wife and met some of his sisters and took pictures of some of them and made lots of friends when we handed out granola bars to a small group of the relatives.  Fun experience except that one little boy saw it happen and came and asked for a granola bar and I was out –all I had was a mint candy piece in my purse.

The new roof.

The back side of the house where the bathroom is.

Sister Dekins' wash tub still in the yard.  She usually has 3 tubs--two rinses after the wash.  You can see on the left where the pole is holding up the clothes line.

This is the side door into the kitchen area.

This is the cooking area, just outside the kitchen door.  This is where Sister Dakins cooks her "peas and rice"  rice with red beans to us.  The corrugated "zinc" on the top is what she had propped up when it was raining while she was cooking.  Some people use a car tire rim to cook on, which looks like it might work pretty well.

 Austin Dakins and his cousin.  Most of the people in the complex are relatives of Bro Dakins.

Then on Saturday evening we had another interesting experience.  We were invited by the District President, President Medley, to a birthday party for his wife.  The other senior couples were all invited.  We had an adventure getting there—thankfully we borrowed the Larsen’s GPS (they were not able to go as their Branch, Kingston, was having their Christmas Program and she was organizing the kids in a “pageant”).  We ran into construction and that in addition to the rough, very random, unnamed streets we never would have found it.  But we were actually the first there—the others had the same problems.  Anyway, we were invited for 5:00, President Hendricks was invited for 5:30, Pres Medley was not there when we arrived and did not get there until around 6:30 or 7:00.  There were several branch members and several young single adults also invited.  We arranged chairs on the driveway that ran along the side of the house.  At around 7:00 Pres Medley started things by an opening prayer, song (lead by his 9 year old daughter) and a spiritual thought.  Then he asked each of us to tell something we had observed in terms of the growth of the Church in the past year.  (They were cooking chicken and hot dogs when we arrived.)  Around 7:30 he said so let’s eat and walked into the house.  I thought we would all follow but no one moved and pretty soon the kids and some neighbor women brought us all a hotdog in a napkin and handed catsup around.  Then a drink (and we were told to keep our cups). And then we were each brought a plate with chicken, fish, rolls, and salad.  By this time I was deep in conversation with Sister Veronica Bonilla, (more later) so I did not really eat anything but my salad and a roll, one of the Bonilla children ate one of my pieces of chicken.  (I felt bad about the waste but I really could not eat the chicken and fish.)

Sister Medley in the pink and Sister Hendricks, the Mission President's wife.

The Pinocks in the blue were married last month so it was a big deal for a lot of the mission as they had a ceremony here and then left the next day to go to Panama to be sealed in the Temple.  They took some family members also and did some temple work while they were there.  The woman in white is Patience, a young woman from Africa--can't remember which country.  She is here in Jamaica studying medicine.   She has two more years and then will return to her country.  On the right is Ariana Segree my special friend whose hair I often photograph.

Part of the Bonilla family.  They are from El Salvador and he is in the Branch Presidency of Constant Spring Branch where we are assigned.  They have 4 daughters with a fifth on the way next month.  

Brother Bonilla, Sister Medley and President Hendricks.

You can tell we are outside in the evening in the middle of December!

Not long after eating the missionaries started leaving, but Bob and I were visiting with some of the young adults (some were PEF participants) and so we did not leave until 9:45—after the young people enticed Bob to participate in the dancing!  It was cute and they got a kick out of him.

It was not like a party we would have at home but it was a nice experience.  Though it was not really set up for it, Bob and I did a lot of visiting with more than the missionaries and so I felt good about that.

As I said I visited with Sister Bonilla.  She and her husband are from El Salvador.  They are quite young and have 4 little girls with the 5^th to be here next month.  He is here for his employment.  In El Salvador he was a Bishop and is an outstanding young man.  He is in our Branch Presidency and so we have heard him speak several times.  He really is a good leader. He is also a PEF participant.  They are setting a wonderful example for the people here.  They talk a lot about Family Home Evening and blessings from paying tithing, and Family Prayer and all the things they are trying to do as a family that many of the people need to learn here.  I think I have mentioned that there are relatively few priesthood holders here in relation to the number of faithful women—women raising children alone often times.   Anyway, Sister Bonilla’s English is almost without accent and she is obviously very bright.  I asked her one day if she would teach me Spanish.  We have not been able to arrange any time yet but this may be my perfect opportunity.  She is going back to El Salvador to have her baby and her Mother is coming to stay with her other children.  She is looking for a nanny for her children when she returns and I am going to keep my ears open with some of our PEF people who are not finding jobs.

 I was a little distracted during Relief Society in Linstead.

Sunday we went to Linstead.  There is a great little folk song about taking Aki fruit to Linstead Market—I hope I will learn the whole thing before we leave—that is how I remember the name of the town—by thinking of the song.  We used Larsen’s GPS again and again it was a good thing.  The drive was absolutely beautiful--All along a windy little river with huge dark green leafy trees and tropical type trees and vines in the very close forest.  The road is very narrow of course…  But we had plenty of time and it was a wonderful hour drive.  Unfortunately—or fortunately—we turned in a little town called Bog Walk before we even got to Linstead.  We thought we were turning in the right place but we weren't.  This road took us winding out into the orange and lime orchards and then the sugar cane fields.  We did not see another car for several miles and it certainly did not feel like we were getting close to a church.  But finally as our time was now running out we started to see another car or two—always going the opposite direction.  And then finally we started seeing houses and people walking to church and all of a sudden we pulled up in front of the Church, with only a few minutes to spare!  

 Linstead Chapel

Again the chapel is really lovely—another upstairs chapel with classrooms below.  Ours was one of two cars in the parking lot but the chapel was nearly full (it is less than half the size of our chapel).  Many of the women were in their Sunday hats and everyone was shiny clean and crisp.  It was a good meeting as was the Sunday school class, a very good teacher.  We met with Pres Barrett after –after many branch members—but while we waited we visited with one of his counselors, Denito Ford, a returned missionary (served in Jamaica).  He is engaged to a girl in our branch so we have met before.  We talked with Pres Barrett about PEF participants and our Jobs seminar we are planning to take to all the branches before we leave.  He told us a little about what he is trying to do with his branch to help them be more self-reliant.  He would like to buy some land for the people to farm—raise food and animals I think.  He is also exploring ways people can be self-employed as there are very few actual jobs available—so they can market their own personal skills and products.  Bob and I have been very impressed with both Pres Barrett and Pres Britton of the Spanish  Town 2^nd Branch who really seem to be assessing the needs of their people and addressing them directly and aggressively.

Monday we went with Pres Singh, our Branch President to check out one of the chicken farms to see if he had any chicken that would be ready for dinner this Saturday.  It was interesting to hear them sort of haggle.  It almost sounded as if they were irritated with each other but of course they weren't it is just a tone of voice common to these people.  And they do indeed say ‘Yea Mon’ often, just as we would say yah. 

Wrights came again to look at the changes we have made on our jobs power point presentation.  They have been a great help.  Then we all went to the office to have our PEF Council meeting with Pres Hendricks and Pres Brown.  We talked a little about what DR is expecting of the Pugmires in regards to employment and then Pres Hendricks advised us to be cooperative and do what we can but not get uptight if we are not able to do all they want.  We all, but Pres Brown, hurried to the missionaries favorite Chinese restaurant where we all met for FHE dinner together.  It is good food and fun to be with all the senior missionaries.

"The Race" --And the Race Goes On

Tuesday December 5

Well we ran our race.  We actually did pretty well considering.  I came in a little over a minute behind Bob and we both recovered quickly but getting in the car immediately was not good for my knees!  They are still a little stiff and sore.  But we did it and the trip with the Larsens was fun.  It took about 4 hours to drive to Savanna La Mar where we stayed because we could not get closer.  Negril is about half an hour farther up the road.  The absolute worst thing about the trip was the condition of the roads.  Riding in that back seat of the truck nearly rattled all my bones—no wonder my back aches—it is not just the run.  The roads around her are incredible!

Isn't it pretty the way the trees grow over the roadway.

The Savana La Mar Chapel--really pretty.

We ate in Negril at a beautiful place called Rick’s—right out on the water.  It was beautiful.  There is a nice little nearby cliff where divers will dive off for a price.  Bob paid but it must not have been enough because the diver only went half way up the cliff not to the top!  After lunch we drove to Negril and registered and picked up our tee shirts and neat carry bags.  I was ready to just go home after I got the shirt and bag but Bob said we had to run.

I of course love the light house.

 I missed The Dive










We could not have done it without the Larsens!  They waited in the hot car while we registered and picked up our things and then they got up at 2:00 in the morning to get us back to Negril by 3:00 because we were not sure what the traffic would be like at the drop off.  We were early!  We took off at 5:15 and passed the Larsens (our faithful cheering crowd) at the turn around at the half way post.  I pretty much kept up with Bob up until this point but then he got his second wind and took off so I had to actually jog more than I really wanted to in order to keep him in sight.  But as I said we survived and are now glad to have not only the tee shirt but a participant’s metal.  (For the record I came in 8^th out of 20 in my division.)  We caught the shuttle back to the center of town to meet Larsens.  Anyway, as I also said the Larsens were wonderful to make such sacrifices for such a couple of Crazies.  (I forgot to mention we were not the only Crazies out--on our way from Savlamar to Negril at 3:00 in the morning we had to almost stop in two places for dozens of people wandering around on the road around what must have been taverns or bars.  There were lots of cars and lots of young men especially.  We were not sure they were aware of us as we passed. Fortunately we heard the music before we saw the people to warn us to slow down.--everyone in Jamaica loves very loud music.)

Signing up the day before the race.

Elder Larsen got us on the turn at the half way point.  It is dark because at this point it is about 6:00 in the morning!  Thank heaven or the heat would have been too much.

 And at the end we are still standing!--and smiling!  Notice the medals around our necks.

This is where we stayed in Savana La Mar,  The Comingle Hotel.  It is a nice hotel with a nice wedding chapel type thing and a nice patio dining room and beautiful pool--we did not take our suits however.

Sunday Larsens came to dinner and we went through our Jobs presentation for them to critique for us.  It was good practice and as always they were good sports.  Then we went to the First Presidency’s Devotional at the Branch Building.  It was fun to be there with the Senior missionaries and several elders and a few Branch members.  Transportation is very difficult for people here—they have to take the bus or taxi as most do not have cars and live a long way from the building.  Sometimes they pile a bunch of people in one taxi to save money. 

Another interesting thing happened on Sunday after Relief Society one of my favorite young women—the counselor in the RS, a single woman, a teacher—pulled me aside and asked me about marrying late in life.  There are so many good women here who are not married who really have not many good prospects of marrying.  I really feel I have something to share—I hope I get a chance to share my story and testimony with these women.

This is Arian Segre, the young woman referred to above.  I have shown her hair in another post.  She has extensioin and usually wears it down or pulled back but this day she had it all twisted and braided up and it was so pretty I had to take pictures of it.

Monday we downloaded our lists and started our calls for this month.  We continued on Tuesday until the Wrights came and helped us with come computer and projector problems.  They then watched a few minutes of our presentation and gave us some really valuable pointers.  Then we went to an early dinner at a great little taco place.  We really like the Wrights.  They are S & I missionaries and also help us with PEF. 

We got an email from our Area Director in DR asking us if we Skype and could we have a Skype conference in the morning with the Director of Employment for the Area—he lives in Puerto Rico.  Anyway, we knew we were in trouble because he really wants us to be employment missionaries and do what he wants and we want to be PEF missionaries helping our PEF participants with employment.  Anyway, I had to figure out how to download and sign up for Skype—which I did.  And we had our conference.  We were right—we were in trouble.  We really could not come to agreements so Pres Diaz our PEF Director from DR, suggested the two of them should come to Jamaica where we can meet face to face.  We are not sure we want to do that.  It is interesting what different impressions people have of Jamaica.  Some have high expectations and others have rather low expectations.   We think we know what is needed here but he thinks he knows because he has been working with the country for 20 years—why is it still behind?  The bottom line is that he wants an employment center and we want to take employment training to the people around the island.  They really do not have the capability of traveling even the length of this small island.  Most members do not have cars.  How can they go to an employment center? 

I do not want to be uncooperative but we really are feeling pulled in two different directions with PEF and Employment.  And I feel our first responsibility is to PEF—which thankfully is what our mission President feels.

Elder Evans is having trouble with his back and thinks it is because of the seat of his car. (I suspect it is because of the roads myself!)   So he asked if we could trade vehicles.  So we are now driving a small SUV instead of our big secure truck!  It may or may not be a permanent trade.—interesting to just trade cars with someone…

 Our Truck.  They finally gave us a parking space I could get into and then we lost our truck--maybe for ever.













Here are a couple pictures I thought might be interesting.

A very common sight along the rural roads and in the smaller towns.  Goats everywhere!  The babies are so cute.

Another  common sight even in Kingston.  These little shops will be almost right beside a store of some kind.

This I have seen but not been able to photograph before.  Bob could not get the camera to work for him so I had to do it while I was driving.

On the way to church.  I'm glad there is a helmet law here.  Notice the rear view mirror.  I think I have mentioned how the motorcycles zip in and out of traffic and down between the lanes and even into oncoming lanes to get through traffic.