Let Go and Let God

Hey ya'll! First of all... you guys are the best people in the world! I love getting your emails and letters and cards and ahhh I just love you all! 

Real quick rundown of what's happened this last week... 

Monday's are our p-days, so we usually try to do something entertaining. but... last week our source of entertainment was skyping with President Brown for most of the afternoon. Because he is in Jamaica and we are not and he wanted to talk to us. #offislandprobs That man is one of the most inspired men (man? men? I don't know.)  I have ever met! I'm so glad he's my mission president. Then after we did our shopping and stuff, we went home and got ready to go out! We went and taught AJ, then we saw the Taylor family for a while and headed home for the night! 

Tuesday, we spent a longgggg time in the morning going through the area book and contacting about 50,000 past investigators and members and less actives and basically just everyone in Nassau trying to build our teaching pool. Then we went out to teach a few lessons and... surprise surprise! The Lord blessed us for our efforts! We had just finished our last teaching appointment and we still had about three hours before we had to go home when our phone rang. It was someone we had met at the parade a couple of weeks ago... he had read the pamphlet we gave him and wanted to know more! Then after we met with him, another guy we met on the beach a while ago called and wanted us to come see him! So basically the Lord really does bless us when we show him we care enough to work hard even when we aren't seeing any progress from our efforts. 

Wednesday we had district meeting. The Freeport elders skyped in again, and it was a really good meeting! Sister Rampersad has become such an awesome district leader over the last three months! After district meeting, we went to lunch with a member of the branch, and then went out teaching for the rest of the day! 

Thursday was Jervance's birthday! (He's one of our recent converts... I feel like I've talked about him before. He's so cool.) And you know what birthdays mean here in the Jamaica Kingston mission... FLOUR TIME!! Sister Rampersad and I called him and asked him to come teaching with us. So we met him outside of AJ's (our investigator's) house (who was totally in on this by the way), and we bombarded him with like five pounds of flour! Hahahaha it was fantastic. I will never get tired of flouring people. I'm going to carry that tradition home with me and do it to everyone for the rest of my life. :) Thursday, I spent a lot of time thinking about the expression they say down here... let go and let God. I think that is just absolutely beautiful. We all spend so much time worrying about silly little trivial things all the time that we tend to lose sight of the things that matter most. So something I've started to work on is putting that expression into play. I'm working on not worrying about the little things, and just trusting that God knows what's best for me, and He'll take care of me. Worrying never fixes anything. It really only makes the situation worse... face everything with a positive attitude and trust in God and life goes a lot smoother! (I know... easier said than done. But I figure if I keep saying that to myself I'll be able to make it second nature eventually. haha.) 

Friday is weekly planning. Which means we sit at our desks for 2 hours for studies, and then take a five minute break and sit there again for three hours to plan our upcoming week. Needless to say, it's not my favorite activity. I'm not very good at the whole holding still thing. Oops. So this week, about an hour into planning, it started pouring rain. And if you guys know anything about me... you would know that I LOVE PUDDLE JUMPING! So I coerced Sister Rampersad into coming outside with me and we went puddle jumping for about twenty minutes. We used that for our lunch break. So we weren't being disobedient... don't worry mom. In the process of puddle jumping in the pouring rain, we got thoroughly soaked. So we had to change into dry clothes but we finished super planning and all was well. I finished the Book of Mormon on Friday too!!! First time on my mission- check! I was hoping to have read it twice by now... but alas, I must spend time studying other important things too. I wish there was an 8th day of the week that I could just spend studying all day. I would love that. Man. We also had a very interesting lesson all about weed Friday evening. We were supposed to be teaching the plan of salvation... but it turned into the word of wisdom which turned into an angry man who really enjoys his weed. It felt just like home. You know... Colorado and such? hahahahahah just kidding :)  But anyways he still wants to meet with us again and he's coming to church on Sunday so I guess we didn't completely scare him off. That's good. 

Saturday. Man oh man. Saturday was one of those days where you don't completely understand anything that happens to you.We were supposed to have a baptism Saturday night, so we spent all morning cleaning and filling the font. Then we went and taught a lesson... and it was one of those afternoons where literally every single one of your appointments fall through. So we had a dinner appointment, and we were there when the phone rang. It was the person who was supposed to get baptized... well his dad. And his dad said that he changed his mind and he doesn't want his son to get baptized anymore. So that was a shock and we spent a while talking to his dad... we're going to continue to work with both of them. Then we went to see a home bound member, and we had a really nice lesson with her. She is so sweet and she shared a really nice thought with us about trusting in God. Remember what I said about let go and let God? It was along those same lines. And I realized that even though I don't understand why anything on Saturday happened the way it did, I know that it all happened for a reason and it's in God's hands. So it'll all work out in the end. Yep. So also I forgot the house keys inside on Saturday and we got home a half an hour before the other sisters so we had to stand outside and play charades until they came home. Which was fun but I still felt a little dumb because I didn't mean to lock the keys inside. Oops. 

Sunday we had church... same old same old. It was super good though! We didn't teach a single lesson, so we actually got to just sit and be taught! It was fantastic. After church, we went over to Sister Dauphin's house and she fed us the best chicken lasagna ever. Seriously it was delicious. Then we went and taught a few lessons, and ended the night with some of our recent converts! We talked about enduring to the end and acted out a few bible stories. Mucho fun. haha.

So. Let's chat.

Law of Consecration ya'll. I've spent a lot of time studying it this last week. And while the whole temporal aspect of the law of consecration isn't exactly in effect... it's still an eternal law. Which means that it technically is in effect. Now.. right now, we don't have to give all of our worldly possessions to the church in order to further the Lord's kingdom here on earth. Nope. All He asks of us is a measly 10% of our income. Which is nothing, especially when you consider the fact that we're really just returning a tiny portion of the blessings He has given us. Which led me to think... the Lord gave us everything we have, so even if we give him all we have, it's still nothing he hasn't given us already. We have the agency to choose if we want to follow him or not... and the one thing we can give him that He doesn't already have is our will. We can choose to follow him and serve him with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. We can choose to love him and trust him and submit ourselves completely and entirely to his will. If we trust in the Lord, and give him our entire self, we will find more peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come than we ever could otherwise. So while we don't have to give our wordy possessions to the Lord, we should still give our will. And I know that includes a lot of sacrifices... but we will be blessed for the sacrifices we make. I hope that sort of made sense. I would explain more but I'm running out of time. Oops. 

In other news... I've been out 3 months already! What? Where did time go? And transfer calls are this weekend! Two transfers down! (Almost!) 

Well, that's all for now folks! Have a fantastic week everyone! I love you all!! 

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman 

PS Someone in the branch told me I'm turning ghetto. I'm not actually sure what that means, but if I come back talking like I'm from the ghetto, I guess you've been warned. Hahaha.

Teaching our recent convert boys! I love those kids so much!! 

close up of Jervance after we floured him 

After we finished puddle jumping! 

Look at the beautiful blue sky!

Flouring Jervance for his birthday!! Best tradition ever! 

Soaking wet puddle jumping during weekly planning! Woohoo!

Charity Never Faileth

Hey everyone! Whatcha sayin?

This week, I spent a lot of time studying charity. Everyone always tells me it's the hardest Christlike attribute to obtain and then maintain, and I guess I never really understood what they meant until I really studied it. Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it's so important for all of us to have charity! So this week, I really focused on trying to obtain some more charity. I think something I struggle with is truly loving people I don't really see eye to eye all the time with. Christ truly loved and accepted everyone, regardless of background or personality or any of the things we tend to focus on. So as I've studied charity more and more, I've realized more and more how important it is for us to have! And even more, how hard it really is to be charitable at all times! I realized that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really do love each and every one of us completely, regardless of our imperfections. I also realized that when someone insults or hurts the people I love, I get upset and hurt! So when we hurt those around us, and we are anything less than charitable, we are not only hurting the people we talk to and interact with, but we are also upsetting God. And I don't know about you all, but I don't really want to upset God. So I'm working on my charity! As I've worked on being kind and patient and understanding and loving towards everyone all the time no matter what, I've realized something. The scriptures say charity never faileth, and man oh man is that true. When you're nice and genuinely loving to someone, they are so much more receptive to the truths you teach. They want to listen, and they want to keep their commitments more! Charity rocks. I know I'm far from being perfectly charitable all the time, but that's okay. Because God doesn't demand perfection, He only demands progression. 

Okay, so what happened this week? Let's see.... 

Monday! 

After emailing, cleaning, and shopping for food, we took a bus downtown and went to the straw market to do some souvenir shopping (family- keep an eye out for a package headed your way sometime soonish!) I got some killer deals because you can bargain there. I've discovered that being stubborn is a really good thing when bargaining. Because once I decide I don't want to pay more than five dollars for something, I don't pay more than five dollars for something. Which means I got three different items that were priced between 15 and twenty dollars for three to five dollars each. Woohoo for stubbornness! After p-day ended, we went down to the beach to do some street contacting and to teach one of our investigators. Yeah, that's right. We teach on the beach. Ya'll can be jealous ;) Our bus driver on the way home was named Gary! We love Gary! He gave us his number and told us to call him whenever we need a ride because he loves Jesus. Hahahaha you meet some of the funniest people on missions. 

Tuesday! 

Tuesday we walked a lot and taught a lot of people. We ate dinner at KFC, and I accidentally ordered the world's largest, most disgusting fried chicken sandwich. So that was a bummer. But I ate the bun and the lettuce so that was good! hahahah. Then we went to AJ's house and we had a water fight with him and Jervance. So please know that in the pictures below, I am not sweating. I am merely soaked in water. I don't know why my shirt and hair are the only things that look wet in the picture, but Sister Rampersad and I were both pretty soaked. But then it started POURING rain, so we got completely soaked through anyways haha. We walked to a member's house, and before she would let us in she made us dry off with towels on the porch! It was so funny. She and her husband took us home, and in the back seat of their car was a bottle of sparkling cider! We started talking about how much we like sparkling cider, and when we got home, they insisted we take it! So... we had a party involving sparkling cider and sugar cookies that were a little funny looking but pretty good tasting. (I may not have the whole baking skills thing down to an art yet. Oops.) Also on Tuesday, it was Lisa and Andrew's son's birthday... and you know what that means! It was time to flour the three year old! Woohoo happy birthday!!! 

Wednesday! 

We had a fantastic district meeting combined with the elders on the Book of Mormon. Holy moly I love that book so much!!! We watched Elder Holland's talk from like 2009 on the Book of Mormon... every time I hear or read that talk, I get goosebumps. The Book of Mormon is true you guys! There is absolutely no doubt in my mind as to the trueness of that book. After district meeting, we walked and bought some giant hot dogs again, and then we walked a while up the road to the area a lot of our recent converts live in and spent the rest of the day teaching our those boys! 

Thursday! 

Thursday was Bahamian Independence Day. Which meant pretty much everyone was at the beach all day... so we only were able to see a few people and we just went contacting a lot. Then in the afternoon, we got to collect vines and pinecones and leaves and stuff for a service project! Apparently Nassau has a forest... it was almost like being back home! Hahahah I just loved it. Then we went back to the church for our weekly branch correlation meeting, and we were a little bit early. So we walked over to Bamboo Shack (a little stand that sells the best burgers and fried chicken in the world) to buy dinner. What happened next has officially been titled as our Bamboo Shack Burger Blessing. 

We were standing in line counting our various dollar bills and pennies to figure out what exactly we could order. Since we were walking, we didn't carry a lot of money with us and we had already used most of our money for the day on bus fare... so we were pretty darn broke. A lady behind us heard our conversation, and went up and paid for our meals. When we started to protest, she told us that she needed to serve us because we're doing the Lord's work and she knows she'll get blessings from helping the Lord's servants. Hahaha it was such a blessing!! So we got her number and stuff and hopefully we'll be able to meet with her some more! And that is the story of our Bamboo Shack Burger Blessing. 

Friday! 

Friday morning during studies, we got a phone call from our branch mission leader saying one of the members of the branch had passed away. It made for a rough morning, but we all started to talk about it and we just realized again what a blessing it is to be a part of this church! We don't have to be heartbroken forever when people die, because we know that we can see them again after this life! We have a knowledge of the plan of salvation, and if that is not one of the greatest blessings our Father in Heaven has given us, I don't know what is. We did weekly planning, and then took a bus to the church for a meeting with the sister training leaders over skype. During the meeting, we got a call saying... wait for it, wait for it, wait for it.... OUR CARS WERE READY!!! We were about to bus to the car lot when a member of the branch pulled up and offered a ride. So we got to the car place, hung around for an hour or so, and pulled out of that parking lot with the nicest car I have ever driven in my entire life! I feel so spoiled, but we've already seen the work improve because of the car. It's such a blessing to have it... we are able to see so many more people every day because we can get around the island so much quicker! Yay!!! We realized that the scriptures talk about the Lord blessing those who cheerfully and patiently endure their trials... while not having a car really wasn't that big of a trial, it was hard at first and there was some complaining and whining. However, after a few days we realized complaining wasn't going to change anything, so we started looking for all the blessings that come from walking! By the time we got our car, we were singing hymns everywhere we went and I really don't think I'd ever been happier in my life than I was the last few weeks while walking. And... the minute we stopped focusing on when we were going to get a car and not have to walk anymore, guess what happened? We got a car! See? Blessings. 

Saturday!

Saturday, we went to teach AJ. We were teaching the 10 commandments when all of the sudden our branch mission leader whips out this awesome thing he does with his hands to remember the commandments in order. I will never forget any of the commandments again. Haha. We taught a few more lessons, than went to find some of our recent converts and investigators, who were all conveniently at a young men's activity at the Dinkelman's house! It's was great! We didn't have to track them down all over the island haha. The Dinkelman's fed us a little bit of dinner, and then we went out and taught lessons for the rest of the day! Part of those lessons included marriage proposal number...8? 9? 10? I've lost track. Hahah men here crack me up. 

Sunday! 

We woke up and got ready, and then went to PEC at the church! We get to go to PEC because there's not actually any elders here, so we're the next best thing they have haha. Then we went to sacrament... I had to speak again! I spoke on hope this time... I talked a lot about a talk Uchtorf gave in the April 2013 conference. It was so good! You all should look it up. We taught young women's again, and then that was church! After church, we drove to the dinkleman's house one last time... sniff sniff. They're moving back to the states this week! I'm going to miss that family so much! They're all amazing people and I just love them!! Then we went and taught two of our investigators, and had a fun lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with some of our recent convert boys. 

I'll just leave you all with a quote from President Uchtdorf for the week. I love that man, and I love this quote!! 

"Isn't it wonderful to know that we don't have to be perfect to experience the blessings and gifts of our Heavenly Father? We don't have to wait to cross the finish line to recieve God's blessings. In facet, the heavens begin to part and the blessings of heaven distill upon us with the very first steps we take toward the light. The perfect place to begin is exactly where you are right now. It doesn't matter how unqualified you may think you are or how far behind others you may feel. The very moment you begin to seek your Heavenly Father... the hope of His light will begin to awaken, enliven, and ennoble your soul. The darkness may not dissipate all at once, but assuredly as night always gives way to dawn, the light will come."

I love you all so much! Have fantastic weeks, everyone!! 

xoxoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman 

No, that is not sweat on me. It is water. And no, my arm is not around AJ. It is resting on the pole behind me. This is AJ (investigator) and Jervance (recent convert)!!

Look at our new car!!!! Isn't it sick???????

Miracles, rain, and blackouts galore!

Hello fellow people! I hope everyone had the best weeks ever! Our week here was full of adventures, miracles, and lots of laughter! 

Monday:

The dear lovely Sister Ballard took us to do our grocery shopping and emailing since we didn't have a car. Bless her soul. We love that lady so much! Then we just hung out at home for the rest of the day because it was insanely hot and we didn't feel like walking anywhere when we were allowed to stay home haha. Then at six, we decided to walk to the beach behind our house and go street contacting! We were able to find four people that have a lot of potential... yay for teaching on the beach!! 

Tuesday: 

Tuesday was such a good day full of a ton of adventures! First of all, we bussed to one of the areas we teach in for the morning because it was too far out to walk to. We got on the bus and the driver (who neither of us had ever seen before) took one look at us and changed the radio station to a gospel station. Hahahaha it was fantastic.People here know us, even if we don't know them! It was just a reminder that everyone is always watching us, and even if we don't realize it, we are representatives of Jesus Christ literally at all times, and we'd better act as such! After the bus ride, we had a few appointments in that area, and then we were walking to our next appointment (about a half hour away), when it started pouring. And when I say pouring, I mean pouring. Picture earth shaking thunder and someone literally dumping what feels like  the entire ocean on top of your head all at once. Our umbrellas didn't stand a chance to keep us dry, and we literally could not see a thing in front of us because there was so much water coming down. So we sprinted to an abandoned roof building thing on the side of the road and stood under it to attempt to wait out the rain. Well after about five minutes, we realized it wasn't letting up any time soon and we had to get to our appointment. So I just said a quick little prayer in my head and told Heavenly Father that we needed just a little bit of help to get to our appointment on time. We started walking again, and after about thirty seconds, we realized it wasn't raining anymore! We thought that was kind of funny and kept walking, but then as we looked around, we realized it actually was raining still. The rain was falling all around us just as hard as it had been before, but it wasn't falling on top of us anymore. As we were walking, the rain just kept moving away from us! It was seriously a miracle, and we were able to get to our appointment on time! It was so good we got there when we did too, because our investigator told us he'd been waiting for us all day... he had been praying the night before, and he got an answer! He told us he wants to be baptized :) Heavenly Father will do what you ask him to if you ask in faith and it is His will! He knew we had to be at that appointment to talk to that investigator at that time... so He provided a way! Tuesday night, right after we got home and changed into dry clothes, the doorbell rang... and there was a grocery man standing outside with a delivery of food from the best parents in the world! Thanks familia! You guys rock! Free food, free food, free food! 

Wednesday:

Wednesday, we had district meeting in the morning, and then after district meeting, Sister Rampersad started feeling really sick. So we went home and she slept all afternoon... which gave me a chance to read the Book of Mormon for a few hours! I love that book!! And bonus... I finally finished Alma!!! Woohoo! It always feels like Alma takes forever to get through because it's so long haha. 

Thursday:

Thursday was a normal proselyting day. When we got home, we made dinner, and started to plan. Just as we were all going to our rooms to plan, the entire house went dark. I screamed and sat down (I don't know why I do that, but lately every time I get scared I just sit down haha. It doesn't seem like a very practical reaction. Oh well.) Sister Collier screamed and ran to get the American Flag (don't ask haha). Sister Woolf screamed and then continued to just sit at her desk, and Sister Rampersad just kind of laughed and went to find a flashlight. So now we know who to go to in times of crisis haha! But anyways, there was a blackout all over the entire island. And for some strange reason, when the power goes out so does the water and usually so does the gas. We sat around and told stories by candlelight for a while until bed. So Thursday we didn't get much sleep because it was dark and hot (no fans=still, humid, hot air everywhere), but it was such an adventure! I felt like I was camping haha.

Friday:

Fourth of July!! The power came back on around 4:45 Friday morning, so we got a little less than two hours of sleep with fans, and then we were up and ready to go! We still didn't have running water, so I took a bucket shower... if I said I felt like I was camping before, it was nothing compared to how I felt Friday morning! Thank heavens I know how to wash my hair with a bucket... camping gives you some serious life skills man! Right after we finished studies, the power went out again, so we did superplanning in the front room because there's the most light there haha. We finished superplanning, and had a mini photoshoot with an American flag we found in the attic a couple of weeks ago when we were exploring. So we could be patriotic and stuff, ya know? Then we started teaching for the day! We were riding the bus to our area, and we were wondering why there was so much chaos all over the roads (more so than usual haha), when we realized the power was still out all over the island so none of the stoplights were working and people were just kind of going whenever they felt like it! If there was ever a day I was grateful to NOT have a car, Friday was it. haha. Friday night after branch correlation meeting, Sister Smith was driving us home and we got to watch some fireworks the US Embassy was shooting off over the ocean! It was a perfect way to end what was possibly the most adventuresome independence day of my life :) 

Saturday: 

Saturday was bucket shower day 2! I was grateful again for having parents who made me learn how to bathe in the wilderness :) hahahahah. We had one appointment in the morning, and then we had a branch mission activity! We had a bouncy house (which didn't work the first half due to a power outage again haha), and we grilled chicken wings and hot dogs, and the young men and young women did a free car wash! We advertised it on the street, and while people were waiting for their cars to be washed, we gave church tours and they watched the Restoration movie! It was such a cool activity and we got a ton of good contacts and referrals! Woohoo! After the activity, we went to a few more lessons for the evening, and called it a day! We also ate the world's biggest hot dogs for lunch... literally. I'm pretty sure one hot dog was like almost three feet long. It was insane. 

Sunday:

Sunday, Sister Scott picked us up to take us to church! She's wonderful!! We had one of the most spiritual fast and testimony meetings I've ever been to (*sniff, sniff* I love my little branch!) Sister Rampersad and I had to teach young women's again, so we watched Finding Faith in Christ and had a mini testimony meeting with the young women... they're such good girls! I love them all!!! Then Lisa and Andrew took us to the Dinkleman's house for dinner, and after dinner, Brother Dinkleman took us to a marching band thingy in downtown so we could go street contacting! It was a really cool cultural event, and there were a ton of awesome families we got to talk to about the church! After that, we walked across the island to teach some of our recent converts, and Brother Dinkleman picked us up and took us home for the night! 

This week, I've been thinking a lot about temples. We have quite a few recent converts that we're helping prepare to go to the temple, and since we've been talking about it so much, I've been thinking about it! I never realized how blessed I was to have a temple so close to home... even though at the time it felt like it was so far away, it's nothing compared to these people. They cannot get to the temple unless they take a plane, and it's a HUGE deal when they get to go. I am so blessed to have had a temple so close to home my entire life... they say you never know a good thing till it's gone, and I never really understood that saying until now. I've never appreciated the temple as much in my life as I do now that I know I can't go again for a little over a year. I can honestly say I will never take the temple for granted again... for the rest of my life, I will go at least once a month. No sacrifice is too great to make for the blessing of attending a temple! 

Have a great week everyone!! I love and miss you all... keep up the good work everywhere you are! You are all such good examples to me!! 

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman 

The avocados here are insanely large and funny looking. But they taste delicious!! 

The giant box of food that got delivered to my doorstep tuesday evening! Thanks family! I love you guys!! 

My water bottle is as big as my head. And I drink about three or four of these every day because its so hot haha. 

I killed three more cockroaches! gross. But I think we've all come to a consensus that if they don't mess with me, I don't mess with them (usually. muahahah)

we took bucket showers for two days last week due to a lack of running water! 

We read and study by candlelight when the power goes out :) 

the event we went streetcontacting at!

french book of mormon! I study this occasionally and try to make sense of it haha. I also study a spanish one too. 

I'll Make a Man Out of You!

Sak pase everyone! I hope you all had wonderful weeks, and happy fourth of july! (almost)

Monday.

We did all of our usual errands and emailing and stuff, and then we decided to go explore cabbage beach some more. Let me tell ya, when you decide to nap on a beach in the bahamas, you'd better make sure you put sunscreen on before you nap. Let's just say my legs have some sweet awkward tan lines haha. 

Monday evening after P-Day had ended, Sister Rampersad and I were driving to do FHE with a less active family in the branch. I was driving down the road when a big scary police man waves me down. So I pull over, and roll down the window, and he's like "Excuse me, miss. But did you know it's illegal to drive with a crack in your windshield?" Which I did know and I can't lie so I told him I did and we tried to explain it was a mission car so we had no control over what happened with the maintenance and stuff, but he wasn't buying it. He was going to write me a ticket for driving with a cracked windshield when I pulled out the whole handy dandy crying trick. So Sister Rampersad and I are sitting in the front seat crying and apologizing and it made him uncomfortable haha so we got off without a warning even! Score one for the sisters. So that was good. The only downside is that President Brown told us we aren't allowed to drive that car anymore and we still don't have our new cars, so we were walking all week. But it's okay because I learned so many lessons from it!! 

Tuesday.

We woke up, did studies, walked an hour to Gethro's house, and taught a lesson. Then Sister Reid (bless her soul) took us to our next appointment in Rockcrusher (which is like a two hour walk from Gethro's house so it was a huge blessing!) Then we left that appointment and we had to go to Baintown, which is like another thirty minute walk, and it was blazing hot. As we were walking along the road, another member of the branch pulled up and said she just had a prompting to drive down this road! So she picked us up and took us to our next appointment. Definitely a tender mercy!! We taught a less active family, and were able to teach two more lessons before we had to walk one and a half hours (ALL the way across the island) to our dinner appointment.The member that fed us drove us home, which was yet another tender mercy. The Lord really does look after us!! 

Wednesday.

We had zone meeting at the church, so we walked there and hung out there for most of the day. It was such a good zone meeting! Exactly what I needed to hear this week... I've been working so hard on applying everything we learned to my teaching and my overall attitude here! We walked to Wilkin's house, taught him a lesson, he taught us a little more creole, and then dear darling Lisa picked us up and took us to her house for dinner! We did a lesson with her and Andrew, and then they drove us home! 

We also wrote our own version of the I'll make a man out of you song from Mulan. It's now officially about missions and how hardships make you stronger (hence the subject of this email haha)

Thursday.

I'm going to be completely honest with you. I don't really remember what happened on Thursday. I know some members helped us out and drove us to a lot of our appointments, but it sort of just blends in with the rest of the days this week haha. The only noteable thing that happened was that we figured out how to take a bus (or jitney or coaster depending on what you call it)! The jitneys here are more like taxis... you stand on the road and hail them, and they pick you up and run a semi-regular route. So we hailed a jitney and then once we were on it, we realized we didn't know how to get off haha. Because there's no like set bus stops. We also realized we didn't really know where it was going. We asked someone and they told us to just yell bus stop and it stops, so that's good. So we developed a fool proof system to taking a bus in Nassau. 

Step 1. Hail a bus. Pray it's the bus you need. 

Step 2. Get on the bus. Pray that you can find a seat. 

Step 3. Ride the bus. Every time you reach a corner, pray that the bus turns the way you need to go. 

Step 4. Realize you need to pay the bus driver. Pray that you have enough random change in your bag to pay the bus fare.

Step 5. Yell "bus stop!" as loudly and as ghetto-ish as you can. Pray that the driver listens to you. 

Step 6. Run to the front of the bus, give your fare to the bus driver, and pray that you can get off before he starts driving again. 

So there you have it! How to ride a bus in the Bahamas. Basically it's just a test of faith and prayers. But we usually get pretty close to where we need to go, so it's a very good thing!! 

Friday.

Friday we normally have superplanning all morning, but we had to go to the insurance place to get insurance sorted out for the new cars. We had to go with President Ferdinand (the best branch president in the world!) because apparently we aren't old enough to buy insurance. #babies Haha. 

So we got that all sorted out, and then went home to do superplanning. By the time we finished it all, we just had enough time to walk to the church to do correlation meeting with the best branch mission leader ever. He and his wife took us home, and we ordered pizza for dinner to celebrate everyone's month marks!! 

Saturday. 

Saturday was another day full of walking and adventurous bus rides. We taught some people the gospel, ate some jerk chicken, and that was about it! Saturday morning I prayed that we would meet someone who had been taught by the missionaries before, and viola! We did! We were just about to walk home when a cute little old lady called us over and started talking to us. Turns out she'd been taught by the missionaries like 40 some years ago. She doesn't really remember anything about the church, but she wants to learn more from us! Prayers are answered, you guys! The Lord is so mindful of us and He really does listen! 

Sunday. 

Sunday we went to church and man oh man was it a good church! Brother Dinkleman taught an AMAZING lesson on learning from spiritual, physical, and emotional trials. We sat in on the youth sunday school class, and I don't think I've ever seen a group of crazy teenage boys sit that quietly for that long. The spirit was so strong! After church, the lovely Sister Ballard dropped us off at the Dinkleman's house for our weekly Sunday dinner. Then Brother Dinkleman took us to our afternoon appointment. We taught two of our recent convert boys how to teach the plan of salvation, and it was so fun hahah. We acted the whole thing out, and it was just a really good, fun lesson. Then brother dinkleman, being the wonderful man he is, picked us up and dropped us home for the night! And so ended our week! 

This week, I spent a lot of time thinking about the pioneers. They walked for miles and miles and miles in freezing snow and burning heat to get to somewhere that they had no idea what it would be like. They endured death, starvation, all kinds of sicknesses, and persecution because they had an undying faith in their Savior Jesus Christ. They had a sure knowledge that this is truly the restored gospel, and that the teachings and ordinances in this gospel are the only way to get back to our Father in Heaven. After thinking about all of this all week, I think I'm more fully beginning to understand what this mission is all about. It's so not about me or the little things I think are important. It's not about the sore feet or the bug bites or the sunburns. It's all about Jesus Christ and what He did for each and every one of us. It's about the fact that He gave His life for us so that we could return to live in the presence of our Father in Heaven. It's about learning Christlike attributes. It's about serving the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind and strength, and leaving every single last worldy thing behind. It's about learning to give your entire heart to the Lord, not just for the time you're set apart as a missionary, but for the rest of your life. Missions are amazing. People's lives change every day because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and although I still feel inadequate to represent my Savior at times, I know that I have been called as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and if I give my entire heart to this work and work harder than I ever thought possible, He will give me the strength to accomplish whatever tasks I find set before me. 

I love this gospel so much, and I love you all so much! Hold to the light of Jesus Christ. He will be the strength that we need to endure whatever trials we face. Not just endure them, but endure them with patience and happiness. 

"Behold, we count them happy which endure." -James 5:11

Have a fantastic week everyone! I love you all! 

Sister Oman 

9 months, 13 months, 16 months, and 2 months! Our little happy district :)

This little guy really likes the inside of my pillowcase. I think he thinks he lives there. Which would be fine and dandy, but unfortunately I like to sleep on top of my pillow every night. Sorry, buddy! You'll have to find a new home.