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Monday, March 26, 2018

Sunday, March 25, 2018

This Holy Week, change is possible. 

In the span of one week, Jesus rewrote humanity’s story. This Holy Week, He can help you start to rewrite your own. This Easter, we invite you to follow the example and teachings of the Savior by loving others, loving God, and making changes that will lead to lasting joy and peace in your life.

Our daughter, Heather, was talking to her children about next Sunday being Easter and General Conference and April Fool's Day. One of the younger ones said, "Well, Mom, which one is it?"
True, Sunday, April 1st is all three, but for us the order of priority will definitely be remembering Our Savior's miraculous Resurrection, receiving instruction and inspiration watching General Conference, and resisting playing any April Fools pranks on one another. 
One of the senior missionary couples went home earlier this month. While serving here, Elder Gotfredson demonstrated his expertise in tanning goat hides and even taught several members the whole procedure. Some of these members are supplementing their income now by making these beautiful pieces to sell. Elder Gotfredson knew we admired his work and was very kind to give us one of the hides he had tanned.

Not exactly sure where this might end up hanging in our home, 
but it's great to have this to remember our dear friend, Elder Gotfredson, 
AND to never forget the thousands of goats in Jamaica.

We were away from Kingston for a long weekend March 17-19 to travel to several places on the island. We started out in Spanish Town for a Public Affairs meeting. As First Counselor in the Mission Presidency, Buddy serves as the Priesthood Advisor for the National Public Affairs Council for the Church. 


LDS National Public Affairs Council for Jamaica

We then traveled on east with stops in May Pen and Mandeville to deliver mail to the young missionaries; they always love receiving mail. We also stopped for a few minutes to take a look at the farming project outside of Mandeville. 


  
We never know what we'll encounter during our drives around the island. 

We then went to Santa Cruz with intentions to make visits to the families with chicken and bee projects, but because of torrential rain, we instead just met with most of the families at the church building. Many sisters were there for an activity to celebrate the 176th anniversary of the organization of Relief Society. The sisters had a display of homemade crafts and produce, and we were excited to see bottles of honey from the bees of one of the sisters in the Member Welfare Project group.

  
Some of the Santa Cruz Relief Society Sisters 
enjoying an afternoon of socializing.

We loved witnessing Elder Shepherd taking some time out of he and his companion's busy schedule as Zone Leaders to tutor this young man to help him understand some higher level math concepts.
Oh, to be young and still have a brain for complex math!

    

We stayed at a small inn right on the ocean and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset 
in the evening and a tranquil view in the morning. 

  

We attended church at the Savanna-la-Mar Branch on Sunday. Buddy presented a training session to the Branch Council after the regular three hour block of meetings. We always come away feeling inspired and uplifted after being with these great saints.

Some of the members of the Savanna-la-Mar Branch

On Monday, we traveled up the west coast to Montego Bay to make the last of the mail deliveries and made it safely back to Kingston after a wonderful and productive weekend. 

We want to share some of the beautiful flowers of Jamaica in this post. We've been having fun using a new phone app to identify plants and trees.  



  








This past weekend we went to the Ocho Rios Branch for church. Once again, at the request of the Branch President, Buddy offered a training session for the Branch Council. Many of the leaders in the branches are very new members, and occasionally some incorrect procedures and policies have been passed down as new callings were filled. These training sessions are excellent opportunities to teach the correct order and organizational structure of the Lord's Church,  clear up misunderstandings, and answer questions. 

Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. 
Doctrine and Covenants 132:8



We wish everyone a very special Easter 
and General Conference weekend.


Because of Him - Easter 2018
Until next week...all our love. 

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing some of your mission experiences. Training branch leadership is one of the blessings of serving missions. We were also happy to read how well the projects to help members become more self sufficient by giving them a jump start is going there.

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