Colorado to Kingston : In Search of Breadfruit!

Hey everybody! I just love you all... you fantastic people, you :) Thanks for all the letters and emails and the wonderful support you give me every week! It sure gets lonely out on an island in the middle of the Caribbean with only three other missionaries sometimes and we sure do appreciate ya'll :)

This week was full of a lot of good, a lot of awkward, a lot of adventures, and a lot of laughs!

The Good:

We were on the phone with an investigator yesterday before church. We had had a really, really powerful lesson with him the day before, and at the close of the lesson we invited him to pray about the gospel for the fifty trillionth time. This time we knew when he accepted the commitment that he would actually do it. I mean, you can't have the spirit that strong in a lesson and not take the commitment seriously. So we called him to see if he was coming to church, and while we were on the phone we asked him if he'd had a chance to pray about it. He said yes, so we asked him if he got his answer. His reply? "It's true. Of course it's true. It's always been true." I have never been so happy in my life as I was when I heard those words... this gospel. Man, this gospel! I love this gospel, and those words were just the sweetest words I've ever heard.

Another time, we showed up to a lesson with a family we're teaching. The nine year old daughter runs out of the house and yells "Sisters! Joseph Smith's a prophet! The Holy Ghost told me so!" Heart melting experience number two! Prayers and diligence really do pay off... I love it when people get their witness that the church is true :) And the fact that this nine year old girl took the time to pray about it and listen for her answer is just a really strong testimony builder for me!

Wednesday, Linda asked us to fast with her to help her get her answer about the Book of Mormon. It was the first time she'd ever fasted in her life... and when we came to the lesson a few days later, we asked her how it when. Her response? "It's true. So when can I get baptized?" Now that is something you don't hear every day! Ahhh I just love that girl!!

Lots of good this week! We were in a lesson and our investigator was just spewing all sorts of concerns left and right. I had absolutely no idea what to say to him, so I just said a little prayer in my head and flipped open my scriptures... the first verse I read answered his questions perfectly! The Spirit came in instantly and man! It was just a really good lesson! I love prayer and I just absolutely love this gospel!!!!

We also had almost 20 people (less actives, potential investigators, investigators, recent converts) at church yesterday... which is an insanely large amount! I was sitting next to one of my favorite families that we've been working with and between having Arden (remember Arden? I love that girl.) sitting next to me and coloring with me during the talks and looking around the chapel and seeing all these faces that I just absolutely love... my heart melted again. I'm surprised I even have a heart after this week because it melted so much :)

The Awkward:

Awkward moments that happened this week include...

Extending a baptism date and having the investigator tell you she's never had any intention of leaving her current church. *cricket sounds* No matter how many times that happens, it's always a little awkward for a few seconds. Or minutes. You know. haha.

Telling someone they're looking really skinny (as in they've lost weight) and coming to find out that they speak creole and I just called them hot. I'm a missionary! I can't call people hot. Oh well. It was an accident right? Right.

And a whole bunch more!!

The Adventures:

We had a lunch appointment at the fish fry downtown this week. As we were driving, we hit a bunch of traffic. There was a police on a motorcycle next to us, and we rolled down the window to ask him for directions to the fish fry. He gave us the directions, and upon seeing our confused faces, he told us he'd just escort us there. So we had a police escort to lunch. #missionaryswag Don't believe me? I'll send pictures to prove it.

I had breadfruit for the first time last week, and ever since I've just wanted more. But unfortunately we can't find any more. We've been to almost every cook shop on the island looking for it. I'm rather disappointed. But the good news is, I found a breadfruit tree yesterday. I plan on climbing it and getting myself some breadfruit later today. Yep.

We ran out of drinking water Saturday evening and seeing as Sunday is the sabbath and we can't find water, we had to run out and buy some. The only problem was it was 8:45 and we have to be home at 9:00. Which meant we couldn't go to the place we normally go to to buy water. We drove around for a while and eventually found a sketch shop on the side of the road that had a bunch of water in a rather large sketchy cage... so we bought some water and it hasn't killed us yet! Bonus!

Thursday it dumped rain on us ALL DAY LONG. So the island was flooded. Again. Which meant everyone was stuck on the roads. We sat in traffic for hours. It took us an entire hour to drive to english class from a part of the island that normally takes us five minutes to drive to english class from. That's how much traffic there was. Also the church parking lot was FLOODED. (Seriously. The water was half way up my leg. Given I'm shortish so it was only like a foot and a half of water but still.) So due to the flooding very little people showed up to English class. And the roof in the church was leaking. But we still had english class, survivor style.

We went to the church on Saturday to teach a lesson and inadvertently crashed an Elders Quorum BBQ... I'm not sure how happy the men were about having a couple of ladies at the church during their manly bonding time but we got free food so that was good! Woohoo free food! haha.

The Laughs:

We were in a lesson one evening, and the wife went into the kitchen. We were about ready to say the opening prayer, so her husband called her. Which wouldn't have been funny except for how he said it. "Sharon, come forth." Sister Bailey and I leaned over at the same time and whispered to each other "Lazarus, come forth." We then proceeded to try not to die of silent laughter because we think we're really funny. It's official. My sense of humor has become the missionary sense of humor.

For example, I was reading the Book of Mormon one morning and I got to the story where King Lamoni calls Ammon in to talk to him. I don't know why but I just found it so funny this time! I was just picturing poor little humble Ammon walking in to where the king is and asking him what he wants. Then the king just stares at the poor guy for an hour until Ammon asks what he wants again... and gets stared at again! Man it was hilarious. I would have been so embarrassed if I were Ammon! Hahah.

One night we were planning and we were talking about what to do with a certain man who refuses to come to church. Sister Bailey suggested that maybe he just needs to wait until he passes on because in the spirit world he won't have to take the bus to church. It'll just be right there. Yeah... maybe you just had to be there for that one hahaha. Take my word for it. It was hilarious :)

The Spiritual:

I've been reading Isaiah lately, and this week I got to chapter 43. Verse one made me feel so loved that I cried, so I thought I'd share it with you all :) Liken it to yourselves! Replace Jacob's name with your own name and it gets about ten times more powerful.

"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine."

Aww isn't that the sweetest scripture you've ever read! I've really just been blessed with so many chances to feel of the Savior's love for me this week. My testimony of His Atonement has grown ten fold over the last seven days I think, and I love it! I know that Christ died for all of us... He died for each one of us individually! And no matter what any of you are facing in your lives right now, I know that if you'll just rely on our Savior you'll be able to make it through! He loves each of us so much and all He wants is for us to be happy and be able to return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father after this life :) Keep moving forward!

Mwe renmen yo! (I love you!) Have a good week everyone!!

xoxoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman