Today is a beautiful day here in Jamaica. The sky is blue with a few puffy white clouds. The temp is around 82 with a gentle breeze. What is the weather like where you are?

We have had a great week. We have visited Mandeville, Spanish Town, Linstead, Kingston and Yallahs. We attended church yesterday in Yallahs. There were around 35 in attendance, including 4 missionaries and 3 Senior Couples. In each town we were scoping out medical facilities, and we are so impressed with most Dr. Offices, Clinics and Hospitals.

Apparently the Jamaica Kingston Mission has the worst driving record of all the missions in the Caribbean, so we are starting a driver training program for all driving missionaries. Last Thursday we had our first Drivers training for all mission drivers here on Jamaica. Elder and Sister McKenzie conducted the training. And I must say they did and exceptional job. We both passed.

Here are a few pics that you may enjoy.

At the Ministry of Tax there is a full sized door mounted in a walk through space in the counter.
Not sure why...I suppose they just had an extra door and needed to put it somewhere. 

This is the drive thru at the Old Harbour KFC. I'm wondering if goat meat tastes like chicken.
Read the sign on the wall????

Driving on the left (wrong) side of the road takes a bit of getting use to. For the first few days I kept turning on the wipers to make a turn.

The Elders and Sisters do a lemon-aid stand to introduce the Church to passers-by.

This was the welcoming party in our apartment. Not sure how long he had been waiting, but he was petrified.

Sister B here....I walked up to this woman in the market to buy callaloo (a dark green leafy vegetable..maybe like Kale)  She looked at me for a moment and simply said, "You are a nurse." Surprised and imaging I had heard her incorrectly, I asked her to repeat what she said. Again she said, You are a nurse.  I tried to make sense of it by pointing to my name tag ???...questioning if she were a member???...knew the local missionaries?? Nothing!
Finally, I said, "I am a nurse. How did you know.?"  She shrugged her shoulders, but the old man sitting near her said, "She knows things like that." Gave me a little shudder. Her name is Lena if anyone needs a fortune teller contact?

 

The road North from Spanish Town to Linstead.
It's beautiful in the mountains. I really didn't expect to be in the mountains here in Jamaica.

The river is muddy from all the rain that we have been getting every afternoon.
It is the rainy season you know.

This is Sister Dennis from the Old Harbour Branch. She invited us to dinner one evening and what a spread she put on. I think we were served every traditional Jamaican dish in one sitting.
Sister Dennis would be considered one of the Pioneer members here in Jamaica. She was brought into the church by Victor Nugent who is considered to be the first priesthood holder and local leader here in Jamaica. The Church has a movie about him if your interested.

                                    This is one of the things that she prepared.It is the National Jamaican Dish. Ackee and Salt Fish.                                      It really tasted better than it looked. But we are game for anything...if it is prepared properly.


The food is easy. The hard part is a notification that came yesterday and said that the water supply in all of Old Harbour will be "disrupted" for the next MONTH!!!!!  We do have a large tank, but never the less this might get interesting. The missionaries in this area do not have such a tank.

Some local vendors and their go-carts. I'll get a better picture of one soon. They have a steering wheel from a car with ropes to the front wheels to steer. Reminds me of the "Little Rascals".

I was always taught to pull over and let your vehicle cool off when it over heats on a hill.

                                       The only facility in Yallahs. The waiting area is outside and we were told,  "always full".                                                                             Sister B prays extra long for the missionaries in this area.                                                           The closest real clinic is probably 1 hour away. 

This is where the Saints meet in Yallahs. It's a small house. Sacrament in the front-room, the overflow is the front porch and the garage where the missionaries are standing.

This takes guts..but I can do it. Passed my drivers training test twice.

Well here we are in Jamaica, Jamrock is what the locals call it. I'll plug in some pics from the past few days and explain as I go. We have attended two Zone conferences and we are so impressed with the missionaries. One was in Kingston and the other was in Mandeville. As I already mentioned in my last post, we are housed in Old Harbour which is about 1 hour West of Kingston. We were handed keys to our apartment, given a driving test administered by the office elders and pointed West towards Old Harbour and wished "Good Luck". There are 3 challenges with driving, (1) we drive on the wrong side of the roads and for the first day or so I kept turning on the wipers to signal my turns because the wiper controls are on the left and the blinker controls are on the right. (2) there are very few road signs and someone keeps forgetting to update google maps. It's a guessing game with directions. (3) the traffic is crazy....I get a real feeling that we are in West Africa again.
We have meet a few of the member here in Old Harbour and they are super nice and most helpful. Church is at 10 am and the chapel is only 10 min from our apartment. The only problem is Sister Barney and I will be traveling a lot at the request of President Parker. He said to tell the Branch hi and well see you again in a year or so.

Here is our humble abode...and of course the limo. Right now we are driving the old Mission Presidents vehicle while we wait for our new one. I'm sure the wait is Jamrock schedule.

Looking West on our street Mandela Close.

Another shot looking South

Castle Jamrock

The neighbors across the street, Anthony and Beverly, have a beautiful home.

Looking in our house from the front door.

Our rustic entertainment center....soon to be replaced with a piece of real furniture.

Sister Barney at the IT work station.

Our kitchen and laundry room. We do have a toaster oven but it need an outlet.

Guess.

Master bedroom.

More master bedroom.

Looks like we had a visitor in the night...looks like cat tracks to me.

Do you think the Aviary housing development that we live in was inspired by a liberal?
I'm not sure if I can continue walking in the mornings.

One of the many local culinary delights that came highly recommended by one of the local Jamaicans.
Made from Ram parts that I can't spell at this time.



Before I sign out for today, I want you to know that the gospel is true and I'm so happy to have a living Prophet on the earth to guide and direct the church with direction from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the Cornerstone.

Good morning Jamaica.... and a top of the morning to anyone that is checking our blog!
We arrived in Kingston last night at 7 pm and we were so pleased to be greeted by Elder and Sister McKenzie (Sues Sister and Brother-n-Law). After a nail biting one hour ride back to their apartment, we finally got to bed around 11 pm.
Our breakfast this morning was FRESH papaya, bananas, pineapple and filtered water.
We are so excited to get to work serving the people here in the Jamaica Kingston Mission.
We have been assigned to the Old Harbor area just west of Kingston, and as soon as our apartment is ready, well be moving from the McKenzie to Old Harbor. Hopefully that will only be a day or two.
We are suppose to meet President and Sister Parker tomorrow (Monday) and receive our marching orders...no pun intended, as he is retired military.
The MTC experience was fantastic! It has changed a bit from the last time we were there in 2014.
They have done away with "roll play" and we actually are assigned to pair with another couple, get to know them, and then teach them by the spirit something that will be of use to them.
What a marvelous experience that was.
The couple we were paired with are Elder and Sister Allen from Victor Idaho and they are assigned to one of the Philippine missions as Mission Nurse and MLS.
It was instant love. They are such a cool couple, and they were so inspiring. Sister Barney was able to help Sister Allen with lots of nursing insight that helped to take away some of her apprehensions and I feel so inspired by the lessons they prepared for us. They certainly followed the spirit and presented uplifting messages that were needed.
We certainly hope and pray for them to have and feel success.
Well I better get on with the morning.
As they say here in Jamaica...."see ya latter"  ;-)

Oh...I'll work on some pictures for the next post.

Well today is a RED LETTER day for me. We got word that my (Terry) paper work was turned over to the Office Elders who turned it over to the Mission Secretary who intern sent it to Salt Lake. The missionary travel office called and said they were forwarding it to the Jamaican Embassy in Florida with a rush written all over it. Hopefully we will still be able to go to the MTC this Monday. There is a chance that we will be delayed a week. I'll be in touch. 

I hate 3rd world snags.

We were doing a follow-up on my paperwork that was sent to the Department of Labor in Jamaica where they process the "Non Work Permit".  The non-work permit is apparently a precursor to getting a Visa.
The mission secretary checked and the Department of Labor said they have lost my application.
Well it looks like a re-set I suppose.
We did a fast scramble and sent the needed forms to the mission so they could take them over for review and approval, we hope.
Hopefully they feel bad for the loss and will process it on the spot, or at least move it to the front of the line.
The time is getting short, but I have that peaceful feeling that things will fall in place to accommodate our October 1st MTC date.

Keep smiling and praying.

Well Here we go again!

Sue and I have been called to serve again in the mission field. We are to report to the Mission Training Center (MTC) on October 1st for a fun filled week of training. Then we fly to Jamaica on Saturday the 6th of October. We are very excited to serve again, and we have heard lots of good things about the Jamaica Kingston Mission. We will be serving with a brand new Mission President named Tony Parker from Atlanta. We have spoken to him and his wife Lina on the phone and they sound like they will be great to work with. We hope to post weekly on the BLOG.
Oh there is one thing that is the icing on the cupcake...the McKenzies will be serving in the same mission. Lee and Pam McKenzie are dear friends and relatives. Pam is Sister Barneys sister.
They say you can pick your friends but you cant pick your relatives....well we would choose them on both counts. If you follow us, you will get to know the McKenzies and the Parkers.

 

Wow it's good to be back!

February 25 2016

We've been here in Sierra Leone for 3 weeks now and we have been really busy getting apartments ready for new missionaries here in the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission.
As most of you know, the mission was closed in August of 2014 because of the EBOLA outbreak that devastated the country. It's interesting to see some of the changes that have taken place here.
We have noticed that the tension level is up a few notches, and there seems to be more trash scattered around. I'm hoping both will remedy themselves with time. Sue and I are tasked with re-evaluating the medical facilities that missionaries can be sent to if they become ill. It's interesting as we visit some of the same facilities that we visited back in 2014 to see the changes. Some of them are better equipped because of  Non-Government Organizations (NGO) donations, and some of them have fallen apart because trained staff vacated during EBOLA. We have certainly felt the guidance of the Spirit as we have started traveling the mission and visiting the outlying areas. We just returned from Kenema and Bo.

Here are a few pics that we have snapped:

 First of all, we had birthdays...

 New missionaries arrive February 9th

All experienced mostly from Nigeria and Ghana

20 Elders and 2 Sisters

 Let the feeding begin.

This brings back memories...

 Transferring to their apartments.

Grafton, Kissy, Freetown, Bo, Makeni, Kenema.

 This is the view from a new Branch Building in Ebo Town.

It was organized on Feb 14th.

 Sister Barney teaching a song while we are teaching families

at Kossoh Town Branch how to hold Family Home Evening.

The rule is to have fun and teach something.

She is moving faster than the camera, (she likes her new hip)

 The end of the road trying to locate a member in a small clinic.

 View from the Clinic...

The member was OK, just no place to go, blind and needed help to get 

to his family.

 A small shop that make buckets for drawing water.

They are made out of old truck inner-tubes.

You can see them on the ground.

 Lab workers in the lab pictured in the next pic.

The lab is up stairs.

Notice the green bucket on a pulley....not sure what it's for.