Beach Barbeque

Mon, Jun 11, 2012

Well, we had a fairly good week. We went to Port Antonio on Wednesday and spent the day with the elders there and did some baptismal interviews for them. Thursday we were in Kingston all day. As far as things in Ochi, it's going alright. We had one lady we were teaching that was doing really well, but she's been hiding from us for the last few days, so I'm not sure what that's all about. Besides that all the contacts we got from the forum are being difficult to meet with again. Anyway, we've hit a bit of a rough patch but we're working hard right through it and praying that the Lord will bless us for it. 

 

Today we hosted another combined zone p-day here in Ochi on the beach. This time Elder Wright and I cooked up a whole bunch of Jerk chicken and festival. It was quite a hit.

Love you all lots!

Elder Kartchner

Howdy

Mon, Jun 4, 2012

We had a pretty good week here in Ochi. Elder Wright worked really hard all week to advertise and get people to our open forum. We put up posters and handed out flyers and invited everyone we met. Of all the people we invited, however, I think only one person came. What we found to be effective was to meet with all the members in the branch throughout the week and have a lesson with them and give them 5-10 flyers and committed to give them out to their friends and family. That approach worked fairly well. We had the forum on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday night and had at least 15 or so of the members friends that showed up. We got a couple of good new investigators out of it and some more that we need to follow up with. Besides all of that, things are going well. We had good church meetings yesterday even though the attendance was low. It was a bit weird to think that it was my last testimony meeting in Jamaica. Their usually pretty exciting which I'm going to miss. Well, this week should be very busy for us, which is good. No time to think about home. Sorry guys. Anyway, have a great week. Love you Lots!

Elder Kartchner

We've had a really good, busy week this last week. We've been working really hard to find some good people to teach. We've made some good progress this week. We're advertising for an open forum this weekend where the public can come and ask questions and be part of a discussion about our beliefs and such. We're really excited for it. We'll see how it goes. In advertising for it we've been able to find a few people who are genuinely interested already. Church yesterday was good. We finally had a few investigators at church. Things are starting to pick up again. I love you all lots. have a great week.

Elder Kartchner

Hey Fam

Mon, May 21, 2012

We've had another good week here in Ochi. Things are going well for us here. We've finally started to see some good progress with a few of the less-actives that we've been working with. We're still struggling with our investigators. We don't have any right now that are really ready to change, so we're trying a number of things to find some new investigators. Besides all that, things are going well. We had good church meetings yesterday. I got to teach gospel doctrine which was fun. So, have a great week. Love you Lots!

Elder Kartchner

Thanks for the Call

Mon, May 14, 2012
Hey Fam,

 

It was so good to see you all. I'm glad the internet worked well. I appreciate all the good encouragements. I'm definitely working hard right to the end of my mission. Things are going well for us here. This week we had a really good opportunity to spend some time with some of the elders in our zone. It was a companionship that has been really struggling this whole transfer. We went on a 2 day trade-off with them and worked with them on a few things. It really helped them out a lot which has been really good to see. Unfortunately we weren't able to see the same improvement with our investigators this week. We have several investigators that we've been working a lot with the last few weeks but it seems like none of them are really ready to make a real change. It's been a little frustrating at times but humbling at the same time, which has been good for me. I'm continuing to learn a lot and I'm looking forward to what I can still learn in the few weeks I have left. 

Happy Mother's Day once again! Thanks for all you do. Love you lots!

Elder Kartchner

Mon, May 7, 2012

Well, I'm assuming you didn't get my email last week since I got on my email today and found out that all the emails I sent last week didn't go through. Anyway, This week was good. It was a bit slow since as far as missionary work in our area, but it was still good. Wednesday we spent the day in Port Antonio with the elders there and Thursday we were in Kingston. We also got tons of rain this week which always makes missionary work interesting. It's been good though, we have some good people we are working with. The best news of the week came today when I talked to the elders from Linstead and they told me that Vaughn, who I helped get baptized when I was there, received the Melchezidek Priesthood and is engaged to be married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Today we had a zone p-day with The North Coast Zone and Spanish Town Zone. Everyone came here to Ochi and we went to the beach. We borrowed a grill and had a big cook out and played some beach football. It was a lot of fun, but I am really sun-burned right now.

  

Talk to you soon! Have a great week.

 

Love you Lots!

Elder Kartchner

Happy Last Day of April!

Mon, Apr 30, 2012

We had another good week in Ochi, in spite of the rain. It rained most of the week, but we managed. Things are going well. We have a few good referrals and others that we are beginning to teach, so we'll hopefully begin to see some results fairly soon.

 

This week we had zone conference. President Hendricks spoke about the main concern the Brethren have with the church experiencing growth, but not real growth. The church is growing amazingly fast numerically, but many of those baptized are not being retained as a result of a lack of true conversion or a lack of understanding of repentance among other things. This is definitely the biggest problem we have in Jamaica. If you noticed in conference, several of the speakers addressed the issue of Real Growth. Anyway, our meeting was very good and opened my eyes a little bit more.

 

As for Mother's Day, I was thinking that I don't really need to call since I'll be home soon anyway. Ok, Just kidding. Skype would be the easiest thing for me. We'll have to do it in the evening. We'll probably use the same member's computer as last time so hopefully it works better this time.

 

Have a great week. Love you lots!

Elder Kartchner