Colorado to Kingston : Eating fish is fun to do, fun to do to do to do!

Hey everyone!

This week was one of the hardest weeks of my life, but it was also one of the best weeks! Funny how that works sometimes, isn't it?

Monday we were supposed to go to the beach but it's hurricane season and there was a massive rainstorm/windstorm all afternoon, so we had to stay inside. We just studied a lot instead, and then went to an awesome British family's house for FHE that night.

Tuesday was awesome! Tuesdays are full proselyting days, so we study for a few hours in the morning and then spend all day out teaching. Sister Rampersad was sick, so we had trade-offs for the day. I went with Sister Collier to teach for the morning, and then Sister Rampersad and I taught a few lessons that evening. Tuesday evening, I had just finished my prayer and was getting ready to climb into bed when I saw something move in my pillowcase. I looked a little closer and realized there was a lizard tail poking out of my pillow. Naturally, I screamed and jumped on a chair. Ramp ran in and asked what was going on and when I told her, she jumped on a chair and starting screaming too. Then I ran out of the room to grab a broom, and Sister Wilkinson grabbed a can of roach spray. Sister Collier grabbed the mop, and pretty soon we were all screaming and chasing a lizard out of our house with a broom, a mop, and a can of bug spray. In our pajamas. I think our neighbors think we're certifiably insane now but that's okay. The next morning I went outside to apologize to the lizard. He's living outside of our door now, and we named him Bill. Bill and I have grown to be great friends. So that's good.

Wednesday, we found out that since the Dinkleman family is moving, Ramp and I are going to be in charge of all the church's immigration stuff for the entire island of Nassau while we're here. So we spent most of the afternoon in various government offices learning how to work the system. The Bahamian government loves us now, so that's good. But the most important thing that happened Wednesday is that we had a dinner appointment with Lisa and Andrew (Andrew's getting baptized in two weeks... woohoo!) But they fed us fish and I was like oh no I can't eat fish I'm going to throw up in an investigator's house. So I prayed really really hard before I bit into it and holy moly it was the best food I've ever had!! I officially LOVE FISH. I don't know why because it tasted the same as all the other fish I've ever had but I really loved it this time. Heavenly Father is aware of us and all of our little needs, no matter how small they are. I know that and I'm going to call this my fish miracle for the rest of my life.

Thursday we taught Arthur Jr. and I just love that little boy! He's the one that was living with the guy I contacted in the airport. He's progressing so well, and he just has to come to church one more time and he can be baptized! I've never met a thirteen year old as knowledgeable of the gospel as he is, and I've sure never met one with as strong of a desire to learn as he has. He's pretty amazing! Thursday night we had fish again at another member's home... and SURPRISE! I loved it again! Woohoo!

I also killed six cockroaches in our kitchen on Thursday... Those things are nasty and HUGE here. Gross.

Friday was hard, but a really good learning experience. I'd been feeling all week like I just wasn't learning as much as I should, and I was having a really hard time understanding what I should be teaching. So all of our lessons on Friday were one's I was supposed to be leading, but I was just feeling like I didn't know what to say at all the entire morning. So during a meeting Sister Rampersad had that afternoon, I read my Book of Mormon and prayed and then for the rest of the lessons I had a lot more confidence... So I guess I learned that when I don't focus on my studies as well as I should, it's more than just me that suffers! It's all of the people I'm teaching as well.

Saturday was zone conferences! Our zone is a bit weird because we're the off island zone. We have districts on Turks & Caicos, Freeport, Grand Cayman, and Nassau. (All islands in the Bahamas. Ish.) But anyways, because we're so scattered, we have to fly to have zone conferences. So the elder's from Freeport flew in, and the AP's and President and Sister Brown flew in. The rest of the districts just skyped in with us. We talked a lot about having a full desire for the work, and why that's so important. President Brown is the most inspired man I've ever met. Holy moly when he teaches it's like no one wants to even breathe because they don't want to miss a single word he says. I love it. But anyways, we had a role play to practice teaching and I got really discouraged again (similar to Friday.) So then I just went home and started praying and praying and praying asking how I can improve my teaching. Even though I've only been on a mission a month, I still feel like I can be better than I have been. So I prayed all day Sunday, and then that night I met with President Brown to talk for a few minutes. I asked him for a blessing, and what he said answered my prayers exactly.

I know have a firm testimony of the priesthood and especially priesthood blessings. I obviously knew before that the priesthood was true, but I guess I'd never had like a super powerful confirmation I guess? If that makes sense. But after that blessing and the things that were said in it, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God acts through his priesthood holders to lead and guide this church. I know that He is ALWAYS listening to us, and that even when we pray for the most trivial things, he'll answer us. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us so much, and he will answer our prayers. The priesthood authority is the power of God given to man to lead and guide His children on earth.

OHMYGOODNESS AND GUESS WHAT!!! So President Holland is coming to Jamaica to establish the first stake in a few weeks (yay for the growing church!!) But anyways, we were bummed we couldn't meet him all the way out here in Nassau. So we were talking to President Brown yesterday, and he said that he'll have Holland SKYPE US! I GET TO SKYPE WITH AN APOSTLE!!! Ahhhhh I've never been so excited for anything ever! Two weeks couldn't go fast enough!

I love this gospel so much! I wish I could spend the rest of my life on a mission, but I guess a year and a half will have to do for now.

I love you all! Have wonderful weeks!

Sister Oman

The road to our house. There's jungle-y kind of stuff everywhere! It's like one second you're in the city, and the next you're in the middle of a forest.