3 Companions in 3 Days

Alrighty. Hello folks. How are you all? 

This week was fantastic. Slash insane. I don't even know where to begin. 

I think I said last week that I was supposed to be in Kingston for a few days until my new companion came from Cayman. Butttt plans changed and my week was crazy as a result. Monday I hung out with the Sister Training leaders for part of the day until the newbies came in from the MTC. Then I took one of them home with me to Portmore for a day and a half until transfers. Her name is Sister Manetja and she's from South Africa and she's pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread. So we had a rather good day for sure. 

Then Wednesday morning we got up at FIVE IN THE MORNING. (That's insanely early for a missionary in case you didn't know.) We had to be in Kingston by seven so Sister Manetja could be at new missionary orientation before transfer meeting. So then I was without a companion once more. So I hung out with Sister Judd (she's finally back from Nassau!), Sister Bailey, and Sister Thompson. We went teaching for a few hours. On our way back from teaching, we were driving along when we looked out the window and what did we see? A donkey cart! So Sister Judd and I made Sister Thompson pull over and we ran like a block and a half after the donkey cart until we finally got to take some pictures with it. We made some new friends and shared the gospel with them too. It was rather fun. 

Then we went to transfer meetings, and I got to see all of my favorite people! It seemed like half the mission was at transfers this week so it was just a blast. I got shipped back to Portmore with Sister Garrett and Sister Nelson for Wednesday evening. We taught some great lessons as a cute little tri companionship and then the next morning we said goodbye to Sister Nelson because she was going to Nassau! So Sister Garrett and I were then companions for two days. And man let me tell you that was like the best two days of my mission! I LOVE Sister Garrett! We decided we were premortal best friends haha. I don't think I've ever met someone that I have that much in common with! I just love that girl. 

Thursday we did some service...we helped a member move! We are super sisters and we can move heavy things! Hahha it was a blast and we got some free bag juice afterwards which made it even better. Hehe. We actually did a bunch of service this week... we did some wash for an investigator, helped decorate for a lovely little wedding in the chapel, and something else but I can't remember. Anyways I just love doing service. 

Saturday morning we got up at FIVE IN THE MORNING. AGAIN. This time it was to take Sister Garrett to the airport so she could go to Cayman... and then we picked up my real life official companion! Sister Tafuna has reached Portmore, ladies and gents! And I just love her. She's so chill and we pretty much just laugh all the time. Haha. 

The last two weeks, we have pretty much been dropped or we dropped every single person we were working with (besides like two), which means right now we have approximately two investigators. Which means we don't have a whole lot of people to go see... so we do A LOT of walking and talking to people. We've discovered a great finding strategy. Portmore is really hot and we run out of water really often. So we have to beg water off of people. But it gives us an excuse to talk to them and share the gospel! We've found a ton of really awesome people the last couple of days and we're really excited to start working with them and getting to know them more. 

We came home Saturday night exhausted after a really long day of working, and I went to get my pajamas out of my closet. I was just about to grab my shirt when all of the sudden I noticed my clothes moving and a lizard popped out of the top of one of my shirts! I am very afraid of lizards people. So I screamed and stood on a chair and tried to beat my shirts with a broom for a while until Sister Tafuna came and tried to help for a little bit. Long story short we never got the lizard out of the closet that night but I said a prayer that it wouldn't crawl on me while I slept and it didn't so that's how I know prayers are answered and Heavenly Father loves us. Also I learned that Sister Tafuna and I make a great companionship because she's not afraid of lizards and I am, and I'm not afraid of cockroaches and she is so we can just take turns killing things and chasing them out of our house. So yep. 

I found a cool scripture this week. It's 1 John 5:9 and it says: 

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 

I just loved that scripture because we go and we tell people all day every day "Now, we can tell you all of these things all we want but we don't want you to just take our word for it. Nothing is going to make a difference in  your life until you pray about it and you receive a witness from the Holy Ghost." And a lot of times people don't really understand how important it is to get that witness from God that the church is true... they don't really get why they just can't take our word for it. But here it is right in the Bible! The witness of God is greater, people. So pray about anything and everything! He'll answer. If there's one thing I've learned on my mission more than anything else... it's just that. He always answers. No matter what. 

I love you all. Ya'll are the greatest people in the word and I miss you tons. Thanks for being rad. 

xoxoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman 

Me and Sister Brown (Alexa... she's from Portmore and I helped her get ready for her mission!) 

Sister Brown and Sister Slater (i came out with Sister Slater) and President Brown likes to photobomb... 

Me and Sister Manejta.  She's from South Africa and I trained her for like a day and a half until she went to her real trainer hahahah

The donkey cart we chased after and our new friend Damion. 

Me and Sister Wilkinson (she went home last week! isn't that crazy?) 

Me, Sister Nelson, and Sister Garrett the day we were in a tri-companionship. 

This is how Elder Biddulf moves furniture

Me and Sister Garrett with our bag juices

Hehe a random sign in Kingston. Repent! Haha

Me and sister Garrett. We decided we were premortal best friends and we shall be living together when we go home.

Hehe Jamaica a nation on a mission... get it? 

One is the lizard that gave us quite a surprise on Friday night. Like how he was just chilling in my closet? Rude. 

The park has a sign that says no dump, yet there's trash everywhere... including this lovely little toilet! 

Sister Tafuna and I! Sorry for the awkward angle of the picture... this is what happens when you don't want a selfie but  you want to both be in it and you have to use the timer thingy on your camera. 

This is me and Sister Tafuna. She's a darling and I love her! 

We thought this sign was relevant because it says eternity. I was going to come up with something clever to say about it but I can't be bothered. So enjoy the picture. Haha. 

We pretty much live in Kingston!

Hello good people. 

This week has been rather crazy. So please forgive my email if it is rather scattered today. Plus we have like literally no time to email today so I apologize for the fact that I won't really be replying to anyone's individual emails this week. 

We went to Kingston FIVE TIMES in the last eight days. That's a whole lot of times. In fact, I'm in Kingston right now... and I shall be here for who knows how long because they still don't have all the transfer logistics figured out. 

Oh! Yes that's right... we had transfer calls this week. Sister Llewellyn's mission is done, so she's going home.... which means I get another new companion! I'm going to be serving with Sister Tafuna but she's currently in Cayman and nobody knows when she's flying back to Jamaica... so I'm just going to hang out with the Sister training leaders for a few days haha. Vacation time! (Not really.) 

Okay so let's see... what else happened this week? 

Wednesday we had zone meeting! It was one of the best zone meetings I've ever been to... we did the usual training stuff for the first part and then the second half we played this big game to learn about companion unity... it was like that game you play at bridal showers and stuff... the "how well do you know your companion" game. Basically we spent an hour just dying of laughter and making total fools out of ourselves. It was a blast. 

I had the flu Wednesday and Thursday though... so we had to spend Wednesday afternoon and an hour of Thursday morning inside :( Good news though! I said a prayer that I'd feel better so we could go out to work and bam! I felt better like a half hour later. Faith is real folks. 

We went to do some washing for one of our investigators on Friday. We were just sitting there washing clothes and talking when all of the sudden he comes and is like "Uh... guys, this is really awkward. But I don't have any money to pay you for all this work." We just started laughing because service is free! He was so confused and kept insisting that he'd have to pay us later. But we shall not be taking any money from him... no sir! 

Friday night we had a little party at the church. One of the members, Emiele, is leaving for his mission today. He's going to California... So all of ya'll in California, keep an eye out for Elder Johnson! But anywho the party was a blast. We played a ton of games, ate a ton of great food (I learned how to make ackee and saltfish! Yummy yummy yummy!), and basically it just reminded me of being home on a Friday night. Well minus the fact that we left at 8 so we could be home in time for curfew... haha. 

Saturday we were back in Kingston again, and we found a WENDY'S! Holy canoli I haven't had wendy's in approximately fifty kabillion years. It was a very good treat haha. 

Okay so this email is so scattered this week... I'm sorry. We got picked up to come to Kingston yesterday at like nine o'clock and it's just been a whirlwind ever since.

But! Ya'll the Atonement is so real. Yesterday we were taking the sacrament, and I have literally never felt the spirit that strong in my life while taking the sacrament. As I was just thinking about the Savior and his sacrifice for each of us, this overwhelming sense of peace came to me... I haven't felt peace like that in a very, very long time. It was amazing. It was such a testimony builder to me. I love this gospel. And I love my mission. 

Also I love you all :) Have great weeks! 

xoxoxoxoxox,

Sister Oman 

The view of Kingston from the sister training leader's apartment... isn't it beautiful? 

Kingston

FHE at the Pommell's last monday night

Cottage meeting last week, Jamaica!!!!

Jasmine and I! 

The fancy pants chalkboard we made for Emiele's farewell party on friday night 

JAMAICA!!!! Land that I love :) 

Our district minus my companion because she didn't want to be in the picture haha. 

Sprained Ankles, the Atonement, and Answered Prayers

Hey everyone! Happy Valentine's Day, and Happy President's Day to all you people in the States today!
This week was full of many adventures and memorable moments. But I'm short on time for emailing today so please bear with me. Okey dokey.
Last Sunday night we were walking home and I stepped really stinkin hard on a giant rock on accident. It sort of hurt but I was like "eh, whatever", and kept walking. Monday it hurt a little bit more, and by Tuesday my whole foot was swollen and throbbing every time I took a step, so I called Sister Pearson and she told me I had to go to the doctor. So we had to cancel all of our afternoon appointments and jump on a bus to Kingston. The doctor thought my foot was broken, so I had to go get about five thousand x-rays done. That took about all day... which is the bad news because we got no work done. The good news is I got a call on Wednesday and my foot isn't broken, only sprained! So I just have to wear a little brace for a few weeks until it gets all healed up. Woohoo for tender mercies!
We went to a lesson with James this week, and he had his little drum thingy out. We got there about five minutes before the member that we were taking with us got there, so we had an impromptu five-minute jam session involving the song "Nearer, My God to Thee", some sick harmonies, and a cool little African drum. I have a sweet video ya'll shall see one day. It was mighty fun.
We were teaching some people about the Plan of Salvation this week. All I can say is it made me so grateful for this gospel and our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I've never seen so much confusion about the scriptures before, and it really just opened my eyes to how important modern-day revelation and the Book of Mormon is! They just clarify the Plan so much... I love it :)
We were walking to an appointment this week when we felt prompted to stop and talk to this guy, so we did and he asked us to come back over. When we did, we found out he has a super strong Christian background, but he's in the process of becoming a Rastafarian. We asked him what made him want to make the switch, and the guy has absolutely no idea... he just felt like he wanted to. It made us think that maybe we felt prompted to talk to him because right now he's at such a critical point in his life and he doesn't really realize how big of a mistake he's making. We'll see where he goes but I'm excited to continue teaching him.
We were talking to David this week, and he told us he's afraid to pray about the Book of Mormon because he knows when he gets his answer he'll have to make a lot of changes in his life. After he said that, we all just sat there in silence until he kind of started to grin and said, "Oh. I guess that means I know what answer I'm going to get doesn't it? The Book of Mormon is true, isn't it?" And bam! There was the spirit. Man I love spiritual lessons. :)
Confession: We totally forgot it was valentine's day on Saturday until one of our investigators cancelled a lesson because she had to get her hair done for her date. Oops. Welcome to being a missionary!

Other than that, I found one of my new favorite scriptures this week! Doctrine and Covenants 12:8:

"And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care."
This scripture was one of those moments for me where it feels like the scriptures have been written just for you. I love the scriptures, and I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I've seen this gospel change so many lives in the short time that I've been in the field, and every day I'm just more and more amazed at how true this gospel really is.

Well that's all for now folks. I love you all. Have a splendid week.

xoxoxoxo,
Sister Oman

Brother Malcolm picking some coconuts for us because we were mighty thirsty and hungry while we were out teaching so we decided to have a small snack break.

A school where we cleaned for service this week

This is my ankle brace. My goal is to be as tan as my brace so you can't even tell i'm wearing it. hehe. 

This is what elementary classrooms in Jamaica look like.  

A very blurry picture of me, Emiele, and Shirlette, and Beth! 

Me and Shirlette (I love her), 

Add caption

Sister Davis and Ruth-Ann

Toni and Shirlette! 

Ruth-Ann and Beth. 

I take Vacations in Kingston

Hey everyone :)

Okey dokey let's do this whole email thing (again!) Good grief it feels like I email every other day now... time is flying by so fast.

Well this week started off with an adventure! I had just climbed into bed Monday night when I realized I forgot to plug my fan in. So I hopped out of bed to plug it in and a saw a really long, worm lookin shadow moving across the floor. I jumped on a chair and turned on the light and what do you know there was a 40-legger in our closet. Seeing as I'm really stinking terrified of 40 leggers, I stood on the chair and refused to move for a while until I realized if neither of us were moving, the thing would just stay where it was. So I ran out into the front room and grabbed the broom, and then good ol' Sister Llewellyn beat it repeatedly till it was just about dead. I finished it off and then we had no more 40-leggers in our house. Hallelujah.

Hmmmmm other adventures from this week included a lost name tag. Oh dear. I was in Kingston (which I shall talk about in a few minutes), and we were coming out of a lesson when all of the sudden Saskiah, the member we were with, was like "Sister Oman! I knew something was different. Where's your nametag?" We looked alllllll over the place and saw it no where. But then later that night I found the magnet in a random house so who knows where my nametag went? Thankfully I have another one... but if anyone's in Kingston and they see a nametag with my name on it, I'd like it back haha.

Okay so I was in Kingston this week for a while on another trade-off! I got to be with Sister Thompson and we had a blast. We made some delicious Jamaican food, talked to a bunch of awesome people, and had some fantastic lessons! I love Kingston. I would just die of happiness if I ever got to serve there... a girl can dream, right?

You remember the guy David I've been talking about? We're teaching his friend James too. James is a hardcore rasta man with a sick Santa beard and some sweet white dreadlocks. He came to church yesterday and he loved it. He told us he's coming every week from now on annddddd he's reading the Book of Mormon every day anndddddd he's really praying about everything! He told us in the last lesson we had that he really feels like it's the word of God, and if he gets his for sure answer he wants to be baptized. (He said if, I say when he gets his answer he shall be baptized.)

But you guys. Here's a lesson for ya'll. James came to church for the first time yesterday. As I just mentioned. Which should mean that the only members he knows are the ones that we've taken to lessons with him, right? But noooo. Literally three quarters of the ward knows him! You guys. He's known some of these people for over 20 years, and they've been a member of the church for that long and he didn't know they went here! This man could have been partaking of the blessings of the gospel years and years and years ago but none of his friends took the time to share their testimonies with him... it's really shown me how important it is to share my testimony with everyone. You never know who could be waiting to hear it :)

Well let's see. We were in a lesson this week and the investigators had a lot of questions about the plan of salvation. Every question they had, Alma 40 just kept popping into my head. So we just all turned to it and read the whole chapter and every single question they had was answered! The Book of Mormon is true and guess what? It really does have answers for anything and everything!

I had my interview with President Brown on Saturday and we were talking about what it takes to get to the Celestial Kingdom. We were talking about how a lot of times we focus on the "do's" of the gospel... like the saving ordinances. And a lot of times, we get so caught up in the "do's" that we forget about the "be's". He said something that's really stuck with me... Christ gave us the beatitudes, not the doatitudes. That means in order to get to live with Heavenly Father, we not only have to do the things in the gospel, but we have to be the kind of person that is worthy to live as God lives. It really impressed me and made me realize how much I have to work on in order to get back to God. Thank heavens He's given us so many second chances and especially His son so that we have a way to make it better when we goof up! Cuz I don't know about ya'll... but I seem to goof up a lot more than not. And that just makes me so so so so so grateful for the Atonement!

Well I think that just about does it for this week. I love you all. Your emails and letters mean so much to me. Thank you for your support and prayers. It all makes a world of difference!

Talk to you next week (or tomorrow... that's probably what it'll feel like haha.)

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman

I have created a very little cozy spot for myself in our bedroom. It's my sanctuary. It's almost like being home. 

This is Nordia. I love Nordia.

 That's sister Llewellyn with Nordia. 

I love adorable little children more than words can express. They make my heart happy :) 

A typical street in my area!

Me and Sister Davis (she's my favorite. I love her)

These mangos will be ripe in a few weeks.  Yummy!  Yummy!

I had chicken foot soup for the first time yesterday and it was surprisingly delicious!

This is Sister Coates, a member we've been working with lately. She's just darling :)