Happy almost Christmas week

Mon, Dec 12, 2011
Hey Fam,

It's been another good week in Ochi. We only got to spend about half the week in Ochi actually. Wednesday we went to Montego Bay for district meeting and worked with the elders there. Thursday we went to Kingston for a meeting which took the whole day. Friday we went up to Highgate for half the day to work with the elders there. It was a lot of driving especially on these roads. It's been good though. It's nice to have the truck. I'm learning to drive again. Jamaican drivers are crazy.

The work here in Ochi is doing well. even though we were gone a lot we have several really good investigators that are really progressing. We met Danielle, this 20 yr old girl, last week and started teaching her. she loves it. she's reading the book of mormon and came to church yesterday. We weren't sure what she was going to think of church since at the beginning there was only 6 people there and 3 of them were our investigators. She loved it though. She even announced when introducing herself in Sunday School that she was going to be baptized in January. Charmain is a member referral that came to church last Sunday and we've been teaching her this week. She is doing very well, but just has a few past teachings we need to help her overcome. She came to church again yesterday. We have a few others that are doing well also. We had 6 investigators at church yesterday and we have a few baptisms on the horizon. We really feel blessed because the work in Ochi has been struggling for a long time.
As far as Christmas we haven't made any plans - sorry. We haven't been able to see the members that we want to ask to Skype from there house. We are going to do our best to Skype so you can plan on it. I Don't know times though. What works best for you?

Christmas is a bit of a crazy time in Jamaica, as everywhere. It doesn't seem to make too much of a difference in our missionary work. The new year helps though, since everyone wants to get baptized for the new year. It is a little crazy at christmas time since that's when we have the most crime because everyone's trying to make a little extra cash for the holidays. Also Jamaica has their elections coming up on Dec 29 which is a huge deal for them and causes a lot of violence. We just can't wear green or orange ties since those are the two parties' colors. I'll do my best to stay safe. dont worry.

Well, have a great week. Love y'all lots!
Elder Kartchner

Happy New Week

Mon, Nov 28, 2011
Hey Fam,

It's been another good week here in Linstead. It has been a little slow in terms of meeting with most of our investigators but we have been busy getting Audrey and Zenique ready for baptism. We had both their baptisms yesterday after church. It went really well. We're kind of hitting a wall with most of our other investigators because they won't make time to meet with us regularly and we're having a hard time getting a few of them to church. We'll have to see what we can do. Well, actually, when I say that I mean we'll have to see what Elder Worley can do because I'm getting transferred on Wednesday. I'm getting transferred to Ocho Rios or "Ochie" to be a zone leader with Elder Randle. I don't know him too well but he seems like a really good missionary. I'm excited. We should be getting a truck so good bye to the bicycle. Ochie is on the north coast and is one of the big tourist spots. The branch there is really small and it needs a lot of work. That's about all I know about it. I have visited there a few times back when I was in Highgate and it's very pretty. I'm a bit sad to leave Linstead and the branch here. It has been really good to us. I'm especially sad to say good bye to Vaughn, our all-star convert. He's doing so well. Oh well, all good things come to an end. I'm really looking forward to Ochie though. It should be good. Have a great week. Love y'all lots!

Elder Kartchner

Basketball and Pudding Pie

Mon, Nov 21, 2011
1 Vaughn, our recent convert, teaching the kids in the branch to play basketball

2 It's not pumpkin pie, but it will have to do. They call it potato pudding. This lady made it and gave it to us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mon, Nov 21, 2011
Hey Fam,

Its been another good week here in Linstead. yesterday the girl we baptized last week was confirmed in Sacrament meeting. We have two baptisms planned for this sunday. It should be good. We are really excited. One of them is Zanique, a 9 yr old girl Whose mom is a member but just never got baptized. The other is 30 yr old Audrey who we've been working with ever since we got to Linstead. They are both doing well. It's so good to see these people we've worked with progress. We also have a couple people planned for baptism in December. The only problem now is that I get the feeling that I will be transferred again this next week. We'll see.

That's so cool that you're doing the family history. We taught Vaughn, our recent convert, about temples and family history work. He is awesome. He told us that he already has an account on the familysearch website. Now he's got his sights set on going to the temple next year. I so wish I could go to the temple again.

Well it's a good thing you reminded me about thanksgiving because I almost forgot about it. We'll have to see what we can do to celebrate. It was good to hear from y'all. Hope you have a great week. Love you lots! Have a great Thanksgiving and eat some extra for me.

Elder Kartchner
p.s. I wouldn't suggest taking Marla up on an offer to swim across the pond after Thanksgiving dinner.

Hey Fam

Mon, Nov 14, 2011
We've had another good week here in Linstead. A week doesn't go by without some form of excitement. On Tuesday Elder Worley and I got our bikes stolen. We were teaching an investigator named Audrey at Sister Wallace's house and then left our bikes parked up behind her house while we went to visit another member just up the street. when we came back our bikes were gone. We walked home thinking we'd never see them again. On Wednesday, Sister Wallace and Audrey call us up and tell us to come to the police station because they had our bikes. They had seen these kids riding them and called the cops. Well, they were our bikes alright, but they didn't look like them. the kids that stole them scratched off all the paint and scrapped all the good parts off my bike. I can't complain though, it's still rideable for the most part - just needs some brakes. Friday they had an activity at the church where they watched 17 Miracles, that movie about the handcart companies. It was good, except I think it just confused our investigator that was there. We had a baptism yesterday for a 10 yr old girl named Leony. Her mother was recently reactivated and now we're working on the dad to get him baptized. We had good church meetings. It was branch conference so President Hendricks was there. We also had 2 of the referrals we contacted come to church. Vaughn, who was baptized 2 weeks ago, got called to be the Young Men's President. It's so good to see our recent converts getting involved.

I forgot to say last week that I did get the envelope for my birthday. Thank you for the SD cards and pictures and such. I was thinking about Christmas and what I needed to carry me to the end of my mission and I might need a 2 or 3 more shirts. Also, my insoles for my shoes are falling apart so I could probably use another set of them. Besides that I think I'm good.

Well, have a great week. Love y'all lots.
Elder Kartchner

Cool Mormon message

Mon, Nov 7, 2011
Things are going well here. It's been another good week in Linstead. Yesterday in church, Vaughn was confirmed and was ordained a priest. It was really cool. The branch has really done a good job with fellowshipping him. Besides that, we have tons of people we are teaching. We made a point to contact as many of our referrals as we could this last week and now we have a bunch of investigators. Now the hard part is scheduling so we can see everybody. No, I'm not complaining. One of those we contacted this week came to church which was cool. Also, one of the ladies we've been teaching for a while finally committed to be baptized in December. It was pretty neat because all it took was for us to do a bit of service for her and she was finally willing to read from the book of mormon. after reading 2 Nephi 31 she feels its right. Things are going well. I'm loving life as a missionary. With November comes the cool "Christmas Breeze" which is helping to cool things down a bit here. Well, have a great week. Love y'all lots.
Love, Elder Kartchner

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Mon, Oct 31, 2011
Thanks family for all the emails and birthday wishes. I feel really old - practically a fossil - at least I assume I will tomorrow.
Yesterday I had the best birthday present. We had Vaughn's baptism after church and it was so good. It was one of the coolest baptisms I've had on my mission. We had good support from the branch. about 40 people stayed after church for the baptism. Our branch president did the actual baptism since he and his wife were involved in fellowshipping. His girlfriend, who is a returned missionary, also came up from Portmore. It was all super cool. We are so excited for Vaughn. He is an all-star and will make an awesome member. He should be confirmed and ordained a priest this next sunday. There's nothing like a baptism to get people excited about missionary work. after the baptism the branch president pulled us aside and gave us a list of referrals.
We're making progress with some of our other investigators. We've been meeting with them and have had some really good lessons. We had a few of them at church - not near as many as we were hoping for - but it was still good. Things are going well. we have a bunch of good investigators and a bunch of good potentials. We are also pretty excited because we found out yesterday that one of the guys we started teaching while Elder Worley and I were in Spanish Town for those two weeks, should be getting baptized soon.
Well, I haven't got any birthday envelope yet. I'll keep my eyes peeled. It should be a good birthday anyway. Elder Worley and I are thinking of going out to a place called Natural Bridge which is just outside of Linstead.
Love y'all lots. Have a great week.
Elder Kartchner

Happy Monday

Mon, Oct 24, 2011
Hello Family,

That's cool to hear about Josh and Dallin and Larry and all. Sounds like a pretty good service project. I wish we could organize something like that here.

We had another good week here in Linstead. The work is going well. Vaughn is doing awesome. he is an all-star investigator. We hardly have to teach him anything. He's read half the book of mormon already and loves it. he should be baptized this Sunday, Oct 30. We also have 2 more baptisms planned for November. We had 4 of our investigators at church yesterday. It was good but we were expecting twice that. a couple of them got sick, I guess. Elder Taylor left to Spanish Town on Saturday. Elder Worley is doing awesome. We're still working to get to know the branch. Yesterday Elder Worley and I got to speak in Sacrament meeting. We spoke on missionary work - imagine that. Life is good though. I really am enjoying the work here. Have a great week. Love y'all lots.

Elder Kartchner

Hello!

Tue, Oct 18, 2011

Well, It's been another good week. Yesterday was Hero's Day, a national holiday for Jamaica's national heroes. all the stores were closed so that's why you get the email today. This past week we had zone conference in Kingston. It was really good to hear from President Hendricks. On Sunday we had District Conference in Spanish Town, which was also really good. They changed the District Presidency and they shared some great messages about all the members here stepping up a little and working a little harder to help us prepare to become a stake. So this week has been a lot of travel as well as a lot of rain. we got soaked a few times. Always fun. Things are still doing good with all our investigators. We had 4 of them bus to Spanish Town to be at District Conference. Vaughn is doing very well. He is still planning to be baptized on Oct 30. Things are going very well besides that. We found out that Elder Taylor will be leaving us this week. He'll be serving in Spanish Town. It will just be Elder Worley and I here in Linstead. I don't have much time to email, so have a good week.

Elder Kartchner

New Pictures

This is at the edge of our area.  One of our investigators lives on the top of the Hill overlooking a place called Bog Walk, which is in our area.

Life in Linstead

Mon, Oct 10, 2011
We've had another good week here in Linstead. We've kept very busy working with a lot of really good investigators. Our work with the members is starting to pay off. We've been working with this 25 yr-old guy named Vaughn. He is a referral from the branch president's wife. He is a super solid guy - very educated. He works at a bank and is going to law school. Elder Taylor had just started to meet with him before we got here. We've met with him a few times now and had a really good lesson with him last week. We invited him to be baptized on Oct 30, but he wasn't too sure. We asked him to pray about it and and come to general conference and see how he felt about it. He came on Saturday and Sunday. We talked to him yesterday and it was so awesome to hear him describe his experience at conference. There's no better time for investigators to recieve personal revelation. Anyway, he's planning to get baptized on the 30th and I'm super excited for him. Jamaica needs a ton more priesthood like him. We have three other good men that we are working with - John, Palmer, and Brother Grant. They are all member referrals and pretty solid. John has been coming to church for a while and was set to be baptized this next weekend, but we're not sure if it's going to happen. We'll see how it goes. Palmer came to the priesthood session of conference and liked it. He is a solid guy, but we're working on the marriage thing. Brother Grant is married to a member and has been coming to church for 4 years. He knows more than most of the members and is a super cool guy with a young family. We started to work with him this last week. We had a good talk with him on Saturday and he said that he wants to get baptized by the end of the year. We're also working with this 11 yr-old girl, Leoni. She's wanted to get baptized for a long time but her dad wouldn't allow it. we finally got to talk to her dad and he agreed to let her be baptized in November. Things are doing very well. There's only been 3 baptisms here in the past year and we already have a couple on the way. It's amazing to see the difference it makes when you get the members behind you. Missionary life is awesome when you have good people to teach you see things start to happen.

I'm still enjoying life with Elder Worley and Elder Taylor. Linstead is nice. It cools down at night to about 78. It's pretty rural in the surrounding areas, so it makes for good scenery. They have a ton of Orange tree orchards. Life's good. couldn't be better - except for the fact that our fridge is too small for the 3 of us and there's tons of giant cockroaches, but it's all part of the game.

Oh, for kids books, I honestly don't remember. I haven't seen any kids books in over a year.

Love y'all lots. Thanks again for the camera. I'll try and send a few pictures.
Elder Kartchner

Hello Hello

Mon, Oct 3, 2011

Well, this email should be short. we had our zone p-day playing basketball in Portmore so we're a bit short in the time department. Its been a good week. Conference was great. We had 5 of our investigators show up during various sessions. It was awesome. We have some good people we are working with. we should have a few baptisms planned pretty soon. Things are good. I love Linstead. My companions are great. couldn't ask for anything more. While we were in Spanish Town today I bought myself a camera. It was $17,000 Jamaican which is roughly $200 US. Thanks a bunch. Yes, you can count that as my birthday present and maybe christmas too. as far as a package, I think I'm pretty good, except for maybe another memory card or two. Well, you have a great week. Love you all lots.

Elder Kartchner

Hello Fam

Mon, Sep 26, 2011
Hello Fam,

It's been another good week. we had a few surprises so it didn't turn out quite like expected. The first half of the week went very well. we started to get some good member involvement and a bunch of referrals and such. Tuesday night, though we got a call saying that Elder Worley and I needed to pack our bags because we were moving to Linstead the next day. Kind of a big surprise. Anyway it had to do with a missionary getting sent home so Elder Worley and I had to take his spot. We are now in a trio - Elder Worley, Elder Taylor, and me. It's kind of weird to work in a trio but it's a lot of fun. We've been working the last few days on getting the work moving for real here in Linstead. They haven't had much happen here in the last year in terms of baptisms and such, but we'll soon get things going. The branch here in Linstead is pretty good. They have a good amount of priesthood holders for a jamaican branch. I'm excited. Church yesterday was interesting. There was no water at the church so they decided to only have sacrament meeting. Well, at the end of the usual sacrament meeting they were about to close off but the district speaker (equivelent of a high counselor) felt like he had to give his two bits. Well, he ended up rambling on for another 40 minutes. It was the longest sacrament meeting of my life. Oh well. We have a few good investigators we're working with and We're working on getting a lot more referrals and such from members so we should start seeing some things happen.

I excited for conference this weekend. I should be able to watch it here in Linstead, so it should be good.

Sounds like things are going good back home. Logan James isn't too bad of a name, I guess. Oh, one other thing. Kelsey emailed me and mentioned that Shirley's expecting. Thanks for telling me. When is she due? And what's this whole thing with Karina being engaged. I don't believe it one bit.

Love yall lots
Elder Kartchner

Another week

Mon, Sep 19, 2011
Well, we had another good week back in Jamaica. Spanish Town is really good. There was already 2 branches here and 2 sets of missionaries. We got assigned to Branch 1 which is smaller and needs some work. Right now we are sharing the area with the other set of missionaries that were here before us. There wasn't much happening here before so we're working on getting things going. If you want to look it up the church is on the Brunswick, set back from the road a little with a big open field next to it. For the moment Elder Worley and I are staying with the zone leaders who cover Branch 2 because there's not enough room in the other house. We're waiting for the last tenants to move out. We don't know how long that's going to take. Till then we're sleeping on a mattress on the floor living out of our suitcase. We're staying a place called Whitewater if google earth will find it. it's not in our area at all though. The Spanish Town Bypass road is the boundary between the two branches. our area is to the north and east of the bypass road. I don't really know much road names because they aren't labeled. we just know the area names like Tawes Pen, Ellerslie Pen, Irish Pen, Ensom Acres, Ensom City, Eltham View, Angels,ect.... We're still walking for now because someone still has my bike since when I went to Nassau. Hopefully I'll get it back soon.

Things have gone good this week. We've spent a lot of time finding because when we got here there wasn't anything to work with. we're starting to get some of the members involved and we've started to teach some part member families. Things look promising. Hopefully this next week we'll really start to see some things start happening. My companion is new but is doing awesome.

This morning we had a little fun at the church. the Humanitarian couple brought 7 pallets of hygiene and newborn kits that we unloaded and stored in the basement at the church. I thought about pulling out one of the newborn kits for Alan Jr.

Well, love you lots.
Elder Kartchner

back in Jamaica

Mon, Sep 12, 2011
Things are going really well back in Jamaica. I guess I still miss Nassau but I'm excited to get things going here. I'm serving with a new missionary named Elder Worley from Logan, Utah. He's a real solid elder and is well prepared to go to work. like i mentioned earlier, we're opening up a new area in Spanish Town so we're having to start from scratch. We've spent most of our time tracting so far. We've been working with some of the members to get some referrals and we've been able to get a few good ones so far. Hopefully this week we'll start to see some things happen. Right now we're staying with at the zone leaders house in a different part of Spanish Town which isn't really big enough for 4 people. We should be getting a new house in the next week or two but until then we're sleeping on the floor. It's all good. We got to meet the branch yesterday. we seem to have some really good members here, but, as always we're a little short on priesthood. We had a good PEC meeting talking about how we can get more priesthood. we made a list of part member families and less active men that we can start to focus on. It should be good.

Elder Brockbank stayed in Nassau and is now with Elder Gilson who I briefly met in the airport. Since I've been in Nassau, most of the mission has changed. all the elders I knew have gone home. I did get your hand print envelope, and yes the SD card with all the conference talks was in the package. Thanks a bunch.

Have a great week. love yall lots.
Elder Kartchner

Howdy Do

Mon, Sep 5, 2011
Well, looks like its back to Jamaica for me. I'm flying out tomorrow. I'll be serving in Spanish Town. They said I'll be opening a new area there and training a new missionary. Should be fun. looks like i'll be back on a bike - no more car for now. It will be really weird to see other missionaries again. I've been with elder brockbank in Nassau for so long now that I've forgotten what regular mission life is like.
I'm going to miss the bahamas. I'm going to miss the people here even more. Oh well. I'm sure there's good people in Spanish Town too. Yesterday we went to visit all those we've baptized since we've been here. It is so rewarding to see them all progressing in the gospel.
Yesterday we had a baptism for Widline Joseph, a 20 yr old Haitian girl. She is best friends with the girl we baptized a few months ago. It went really well. There's no better way to leave.

Besides the fact that I'm leaving, everythings good. love you all lots.
Elder Kartchner

Happy After Hurricane Monday!

Mon, Aug 29, 2011
Wow! That was the most intense hurricane I've ever been in. It was so crazy I could just feel the whole house shaking. We spent most of the day on the kitchen counter because the house was flooded with 2 feet of water... Actually it was pretty disappointing. The worst part about it was having to stay inside for a whole day with no electricity and with all the windows boarded up so we couldn't see anything. Oh well, comes with the territory, I guess. It was a real storm though. we didn't get hit like some of the other islands, but it did its fair share of damage here. It mostly knocked down a ton of trees all over the roads and power lines and such. No real housing damage for anyone we know except maybe some missing shingles. The place where one of our investigators works got blown into the sea. it was a big warehouse tent where they sold crafts to the tourists. When the storm calmed down Elder Brockbank and I headed to the church to check on it. there is a bunch of tall trees in the yard that we were pretty worried about. Luckily none of them fell, but there were branches and trash all over the place, so we spent the evening cleaning it up. The hurricane wasn't all that exciting. it pretty much just killed our missionary work for a few days. Surprisingly, no one wanted to meet with us when they didn't have electricity and they are cleaning up their yards. We tried offering our help but weren't able to do much. bummer.
We did have some success this week. Lesley was confirmed on Sunday. She is doing really well. Sunday evening we had an activity for our new members and the rest of the branch on Family History and temple work. it went really well. We taught the doctrine behind it all and we had our branch family history consultant (it's crazy, I know. we actually have one in this branch.) do a presentation on how to start gathering information on your family and such. The members recieved it really well. They were really excited about it.

Things are going great. We trying to make this week a good one (no dengue, no hurricanes). it looks like this may be our last week together. Transfers is next week and I think one of us will be leaving back to Jamaica. We'll see.
Well, We'll talk to ya next week. love you lots.
Elder Kartchner

Good Sabbath

Mon, Aug 22, 2011
Hello Family,

It's good to hear all is well. That's crazy to hear about the tornado in MO. We don't hear about any of that kind of stuff here.

Well life is good. We had a bit of a slow week. Elder Brockbank has been sick for the past week and a half. It's been pretty bad. The doctor said it was some virus. She said she doesn't think its the dengue fever but it sure acts like it. We decided to call it dengue anyway. we figure if you're sick on your mission you might as well have a cool story to tell afterward like you got dengue on your mission. at any rate, it's slowed us down quite a bit this week. We were still able to teach a little bit, but not much.
On Thursday President Vineas, the area president, flew in with president and sister Hendricks for a mission tour. The elders from Freeport, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos flew in as well. we got stuck with taxi driver duty. It was good though. We had a really good meeting on Friday. afterwards we took everyone back to the airport. President Vineas talked alot on the atonement. He made an interesting link between Jacob 4:12 and John 17:3 saying that one of the best ways ways to help people gain eternal life is to learn and teach of the atonement.
On Saturday we had a funeral here at the church for a member who was born here but lived in Chicago. The daughter of the man that died came down for the funeral and somehow was banking on the fact that all missionaries can sing and play the piano and she asked us to do the musical number. well, Elder Brockbank can play better than he can sing, and I can sing better than I can play so we gave it a shot and stumbled our way through it. Now I've sang at a wedding and a funeral. the funeral itself was pretty interesting. all the relatives that attended were non members - mostly baptist. Most of it was really good, but when one lady got up to speak everyone was shouting and hollering and then these old ladies break out into song (and they sound terrible). This is all happening in the chapel and Elder Brockbank and I are just sitting in the corner trying to keep a straight face.
Sunday was really good. we had a few members invite their friends to church. Looks like there's some potential there. after church we had a baptism for Lesley Clarke. She's doing awesome. We've been working with her for the past 3 months. It's been incredible to see the change she's made in her life.
Well, that's pretty much like a long email so hope you enjoy it. love you all lots.
Elder Kartchner

Big Weekend

Mon, Aug 15, 2011
Awesome. looks like a successful wedding and such. I was a bit sad to have missed it - so sad that I totally forgot about it till Friday night. I was hoping that you would set up a cardboard cutout of me in the picture. oh well, maybe next time.

this week was good. we have some awesome investigators. Lesley is doing very well and will be baptized this Sunday. Widline is doing good as well. she should be baptized 2 weeks after that. we also have a guy by the name of Kenry who's come to church twice now and is planning to be baptized in about a month. It is so rewarding to have real investigators that actually put in the effort to change. Our recent converts are doing awesome as well. Melda is on fire. She can't put the book of mormon down. (just to give you a heads up, she told me she found Mom on Facebook so if she sends you a message you know who it is.) Also, we've been working with this 20 yr old guy, Marcthony for a while now. when we first got here he was totally inactive. We've befriended him and taken him out teaching with us a lot. it is awesome to see the change he's made in his life. yesterday he wore a white shirt and tie and passed the sacrament for the first time in his life. It's been awesome to watch the changes the gospel and an eternal perspective makes in the lives of people. I'm happy as can be.
Besides all that, it's just been good. we had a bit of rain this week, but nothing too serious. Elder Brockbank is sick. we think he got food poisoning from eating at a members house. we'll see. The mission president and the Area President should be coming on Thursday for a Zone Conference.
love you lots,
Elder Kartchner

Howdy

Mon, Aug 8, 2011
Good to hear you've been getting some rain. We got a little bit too over the weekend. It was a bit disappointing though, because we were supposed to get a small hurricane. It ended up just being overcast and drizzly on Friday and Saturday. Nothing exciting.

Things are going well here. We have several good people we are working with. All our recent converts are doing awesome. it is so rewarding to see them grow in the gospel. The mission has really changed my perspective on life and what's most important.

Wow, the wedding is already here. that was fast. glad I'm not the one to clean up and get ready for it. Way to go Jeff for getting married when I'm gone! Tell the family Hi for me. Don't have too much fun without me. Make sure and save a piece of cake for me! If it goes stale before I get back, you can feed it to Rio. I'm sure she'd love it. make sure to send some pics of the wedding/ reception and such.

Love you all lots.
Elder Kartchner

Happy August

Mon, Aug 1, 2011

Acute Conjuntivitus - that's what the doctor said it was. All I know is that it felt like there was a load of sand in my eye. Don't worry. it only lasted a few days. all's well that ends well. It makes it pretty awkward to do missionary work when you have pink eye because no one wants to come near you. It didn't slow us down too much. we just were'nt able to do as much finding as we normally do.

Speaking of getting sick, a couple people we know, including one of our investigators, got Denge Fever (i don't think that's spelled right). don't worry, though, it's not the kind that kills you, it only makes you sick for a week or so. (I only tell you that because I trust that Mom won't freak out and make some irrational phone call or something)

Well, you don't get any sympathy from me about the hot nights. I don't remember the last time it got below 85 at night. We do have AC but it cost tons to use it so we only use it for short periods of time. about a month ago when we had zone conference we ran the AC all night because we had everyone there. It got so cold I couldn't sleep.

The work is going well here. We've been meeting with Melda's friend most every day this week and she is doing awesome. her name is Widline and she's 20. She came to our branch fun night on Friday and Church on Sunday. One of our other investigator's, Sis Theme, is also doing well - or was until she got Denge. Lesley is still doing great. All three have a baptism date for Aug 21. We had another really cool guy come to church yesterday for the first time. one of our other investigators invited him. We'll meet with him this week and hope for the best.

Last night we had our branch activity on the Family Proclamation. It went really well. As far as other news, it was elder brockbank's birthday the other day. I got your package. thank you so much. I really like the tie downs that you button on. thank you for the shirts. they were much needed. the socks as well. I think I'm good to last till the end of the mission.

Love you much
Elder Kartchner

Finally

Mon, Jul 25, 2011
That's cool. good to hear that you got some rain and flooding. I just want you to know that we did too. We had a couple good rains this last week. Since Nassau is totally flat and there is no drainage on the roads or anything, when it rains the whole place turns into a lake. In some places there is just a foot or so of standing water on the road that just has to wait till it dries up. it makes it hard to get some places. It's not bad really, just makes life interesting sometimes.
Things are going good. We've spent a lot of ime finding this week and we have a few new good investigators. We also got a few member referals this week which is always great. We started to teach one of them and she came to church yesterday and really liked it. Our recent convert, Melda, is doing awesome. We taught her about missionary work the other day and she called us yesterday and told us she had a friend at her house we could come teach. we showed up and had a super spiritual lesson with her friend and comitted her to be baptized. We'll see how she does in the follow up. It's so awesome to see members get excited about the gospel as they live it and share it with others.
It is transfers tomorrow. Elder Brockbank and I are both staying for at least another 6 weeks. I'm glad. I'm really starting to love the members of the branch here.

I'll be picking up my package today. I got a notice that it is at the post office. Hope it's good.
Love you lots and keep up the good work.
Elder Kartchner

Keep the Faith

Mon, Jul 18, 2011
Hey Fam,
It's been a good week. We've been keeping real busy. We've been working a lot with strengthening our recent converts as well as a few less active families. we've been seeing a lot of success with that. All three of our baptisms- Mylande, Melda, and Scott are all doing awesome. One of our investigators, Lesley, is still doing awesome. she has changed so much already. We also found a few more potentially good investigators this past week. we'll see how it goes.

Besides that, there's not much to say. just working hard, being obedient, and enjoying life. I haven't got the package yet. I'll let you know when I do. It may not be for a while yet. Elder Brockbank's mom sent him a package a couple weeks before you did and we still haven't got it yet. Well, hope all goes well on the home front. keep it real and keep the faith.

Elder Kartchner

Hello

Wed, Jul 13, 2011
Hello Fam,

Things are going good. this past week's been a bit crazy but good. The reason I'm emailing you Wednesday is because we had Zone conference yesterday. Monday we spent the day picking people up at the airport and such. Elder Brockbank and I are thinking about starting our own taxi service. Zone conference was good though. President and Sister Hendricks flew in from Jamaica along with the assistants. the Elders from Freeport, Bahamas and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos also flew in. we also had two senior couples come in from Dominican Republic. one is the area medical advisor and the other is the mental health advisor. it was a bit crazy picking them all up from different flights and different times. It pretty much took all day. We had a good meeting Tuesday morning followed by another round of trips to the airport to drop them all off. During our meeting we talked a lot about finding which was good because our teaching pool is very low right now.
Sunday, Elder Brockbank and I were asked to speak in sacrament meeting. We talked about missionary work (of course) and had a very positive response from many of the members. I talked about the atonement and its connection with missionary work. I shared how ours is a companion work with Christ's atonement. His suffering will have been in vain if people do not repent (D&C 19). In respect and gratitude of His atonement and the joy it has brought into our lives we need share this opportunity with all of God's children (2Ne 2:6-8).
I love being a missionary. It's the best thing in the world. It's the best thing in the world to see people change and live the gospel. we've been meeting with Scott and his wife. they are so excited to go to the temple. they already set the date for next year to go to the salt lake temple and get sealed.
Well, things are going great. I Haven't got your package yet. hopefully soon. It takes forever to get through customs. Love you all lots.

Elder Kartchner

4th of July

Monday July 4, 2011
Wow. that's pretty crazy. I like the pictures. gobblers looks a bit different.  (Editor's note: Devon is referring to pictures from Alpine, AZ where his parents spent the weekend cleaning up their cabin after the Wallow Fire.  Gobbler's Peak is a nearby mountain.)

well, things have been good around here. this last week has been busy. with the Ockeys leaving we had to move all the senior couple stuff into our apartment. Now its a bit crowded. its a good thing we have a big apartment. We took the Ockeys to the airport this morning. I'm going to miss them - especially sister Ockeys cooking. President and Sister Hendricks flew in on Thursday to say bye to the Ockeys so we got to enjoy their company for a day. it's a bit weird now that the Ockeys are gone. now we have to email and skype and everything at the church.

on saturday we had Scott's baptism. it went really well. he is really solid. he got confirmed yesterday in church and received the priestood. Scott's wife, who was an ex-ed member was rebaptized yesterday after church as well. Scott was able to perform the baptism. it went really well. it was a good finish for the Ockeys. they have been working with them for a long time. Lesley is doing really well. she continues to imrove in her reading and everything. besides her we dont have too many other solid investigators. (we've baptized them all) we've been spending a fair amount of time finding which is always fun. you always have some crazy stories to tell after. 

things are going well. it's getting really hot and humid, but that's life.  besides that and the traffic, the Bahamas are great. The work is going well. we're just hoping and praying we can find some more good people to teach and hopfully we can get them through the members.

love you lots
Elder Kartchner

June Pictures

Mon, Jun 27, 2011
1. Melda's Baptism last week.

2. golfing on paradise island

 3. Scott and Norma's wedding. Scott will be baptized this Saturday.

4. a couple of world class golfers

Happy last week of June

Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 11:59 AM


It's been another good week. Keeping busy. We had the confirmation for Melda yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. She is on fire. We had an activity on Friday about Joseph Smith where we watched the Joseph Smith movie. before starting the movie we had Melda tell a little about Joseph smith's life using Joseph smith History. She did awesome. She was up there in front of the branch telling all about it without any notes. she even recited the first vision from memory. She is loving it, although she is facing tons of opposition from her mom and everyone else. Her mom even threatened to kick her out of the house.

Besides that we are working with Scott. he was just married and will be baptized this Saturday. he is solid and will make a great member. We are also working with Lesley, who is the girl-friend of one of the members. She is finally beginning to make some real progress.

Things are going well. Oh, yes we will keep the same PO address. and what is an adventure package anyway?
well, love you lots. have a great week.
Elder Kartchner

Powerful

Mon, Jun 20, 2011

Wow, that's intense! I'm glad I'm not going to be there when you have to clean the fridge and stuff - at least I hope you can get there before next year. (Editor's note: this is in reference to the Wallow fire that has burned over 500,000 acres in Arizona.  Due to a spot fire that quickly grew out of control, Devon's parents were unable to make it to their cabin to check on things.) 

the craziest story I have from this week was last night when we were visiting an inactive, we saw this little girl get attacked by about 12 dogs. luckily there was a few people nearby to fight the dogs off so she's ok.

Happy Father's Day!

We had Melda's baptism yesterday after church. she is doing really well. it was a surprise earlier this week when we went to visit her because she had memorized the first vision and started to recite it to us. she finally left her Baptist boyfriend. she has been getting a lot of anti stuff from her old Baptist pastor/principal and her friends. it's been really neat to watch the change in her over the last month.

we had about 7 investigators at church and several of them are making progress. things are looking good. our elder's quorum had a "reach out night" last night where we split up and visited a bunch of our less-active elders. it was good.

besides that the only news is that the Oackeys are leaving in 2 weeks (july 4). there will be no senior couple here anymore so we are in the process of moving all their stuff into our apartment for storage.

take care, don't burn the house down (or the cabin)
love you lots
Elder Kartchner

Solo

Mon, Jun 13, 2011
Hey Fam.

things are going great. we had the wedding for Scott on saturday at the church here. I got asked last minute to sing a solo. that was fun. Sunday morning we got invited to visit an Anglican church. we went to the 7 am Mass so that we could still make it to our church at 10. It was quite the experience. I'm so grateful to be a part of the true church. Life is good. melda is getting baptized this next Sunday. Scott's baptism is scheduled for July 2. today the ockey's are taking us golfing on Paradise Island. We'll see if I can hit a ball or two. Besides that we're just dealing with the ongoing challenge of keeping a good teaching pool. I shouldn't be getting transferred anytime soon. They haven't applied for any work permits yet for our replacements so I'll be here for probably at least 3 more months.
have a good week
Elder Kartchner

Good Morning!

Mon, Jun 6, 2011
Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!  Hope you have a great day and week. I wish long life to you and your goats!  Well i figured i'd get that out of the way first. I'm not to good at this whole birthday ting.

Summer is definately here with hot, humid, sunny days and a fan to sleep with at night. it's been like that ever since I got here so I'm thinking that the bahamas just has summer all year long.

So, for the cool story of the week: on friday this lds couple from florida came in on their yacht and they took us to lunch at this nice restaraunt by Atlantis. then, after they had stuffed us full of burgers and cheesecake and everything else, they invited us to dinner at this really nice italian restaurant. then after a huge dinner, they ordered this dish of icecream that had no less than a half gallon of icecream topped with whipped cream and fudge. I thought I had died and gone to heaven - literally because I was so full I thought I would die.

Now, back to the important stuff. the work is going well here. we're making progress with several of the less-active families we are working with. Also, Melda is doing awesome. she is on fire. she is progressing so well that she's already better and knows more and is more comitted than most of our members. we had planned to baptize her this coming sunday but but it will probably wait till next week due to schedule conflicts.

Scott is doing really well also. he is finally getting married this saturday and we're shooting for his baptism next week as well.

we have some other good potentials and yesterday we had a couple of members bring their friends to church. All is well in Zion, Yea Zion prospereth. just kidding, but things are going well.

well, have a great week. hope the family is still all alive and well. love you lots.

Elder Kartchner

Happy Last Week of School

Mon, May 23, 2011
Well it's good to know that i'm missed for something even if it is just for horseshoeing. sounds like a lot of fun back home. It's been good here as well. this week was good but it came with a few disappointments. we had to postpone the baptismal date for patrick because it turns out he has a court date in the middle of june that could cause problems. we were finally able to meet with Cy again yesterday and he's not sure he wants to continue. we're still continuing to talk and teach lots of people but as of right now, nothing too exciting. last night we had our Member Missionary Fireside for the branch. we got several of the members and our recent convert to speak. it went really well and hopefully we'll have something come out of it. this friday we're having a branch activity about the book of mormon where we'll be watching the Testaments on the big screen and such. it should be good.

anyway have a great week. love you lots.

Elder Kartchner

Another week

Mon, May 16, 2011
Well, everything sounds good. Sounds like Karina's having fun, and Jeff too. Things are going well here. We've been getting quite a bit of member involvement. We weren't able to meet with Cy this week because he's been working overtime everyday, but he's still doing well and hasn't been chewing tobacco this week. earlier this week, we went to contact a referral out on Paradise Island. We met him in his office in this huge hotel place. It was pretty fun. we went tracting to some of the huge mansions there while we were waiting for him to show. We tried to get into the complex where I was working 2 years ago, but we didn't quite make it past the security guard. This week we had several lessons in creole and one lesson in spanish, using members to translate. It keeps it interesting. We started a music/piano class on Saturdays and we had 9 people there. This weekend was our branch conference. President and Sister Hendricks flew in on Saturday. We got to have dinner with them and had really good meetings on Saturday night and Sunday. Anyway, been a fun week. looking forward to another.

Love you lots
Elder Kartchner

Thanks for the call

Mon, May 9, 2011

It was really good to see you all yesterday. Wow, all the kids (including Duane) are getting so big. It was a lot of fun. Hope everything's going great. Things are here.
Later,
Devon
 

Me and Elder Brockbank arriving in the airport in Nassau

 me in the shark tunnel in Atlantis

the beach at Atlantis

us with the Oakeys at the airport

baptism of Mylande Alcime with her friend/fellowshipper Bro. Saint-Natus

 a couple of our crazy members

District meeting on Skype

Is this against the rules?  don't worry we didn't have any money to gamble with

(sorry--I tried turning the picture, but blogger still thinks it should be sideways)

The Oakeys took us bowling.

Another week

Mon, May 2, 2011
Hey Fam

Been another good week in the Bahamas. We had a really good baptism after church yesterday. We only had one unfortunately. Mylande Alcime was baptized which was totally awesome. She is 20 yrs old and way solid and comitted. Thomas was supposed to be baptized but he had to go to the island of Andros for an emergency. Don't really know what's going on with him because we can't get a hold of him.
Have a good week. talk to you more Sunday.
Elder Kartchner

Bunnies??

Mon, Apr 25, 2011
Well, we had another great week. We had zone conference on Thursday. Pres and Sis Hendricks and the assistants flew in that afternoon. Our zone leaders from freeport, bahamas flew in a day early so we got to do trade offs. It was really good. Unfortunately the elders from Turks and Caicos weren't able to come because of immigration paper issues.
Easter was great. On Friday night we had our branch easter activity that we've been planning with our branch mission leader. It turned out really well. We had a walk through at the church where we had each room representing a day in the last week of the saviors life. Then we watched The Lamb of God on the projector. We had a good number of people there. We got a great new investigator that one of the members invited.

Well enjoy the easter holiday, now that it's over. have a good week. love you lots.

oh, about the calling for mother's day, what time would work best for you to call. The Ockey's (senior couple next door) said we can use their computer to Skype so that would be cool. I'm pretty sure we are 3 hours ahead of you here. We'll make final plans next week.
Later,
Elder Kartchner

Happy Easter Week!

Mon, Apr 18, 2011
Hey Fam. How's life? sounds like everythings going great. the bahamas are treating me well. I'm emailing you today from an internet cafe down by the cruise ship docks.

I figured i'd start off by answering your questions.

How are your investigators doing?
We have a couple of solid investigators right now. Mylande is doing way good- reading her book of mormon 30 min a day. she finishes her college finals this week so she should be more available soon. she's been coming to church for a couple months now and she has some good member support. her baptism is scheduled for May 1. Thomas is another really solid guy. he's 18. the sister missionaries before us started to teach him in January and really liked it but had to move to the island of andros for work. over the last couple months he's been flying back to Nassau every couple weeks just to go to church. He finally made the decision about 2 weeks ago to give up his job there and move back to nassau just so he could join the church. He finally found a job here so he's here for good. He's also scheduled to be baptized May 1.

How much of the regular church programs exist in your branch?
This branch is pretty legit. it's probably the most functioning branch in our mission. we actually have functioning auxilleries and such. This week we, along with the branch mission leader, are putting on an branch Easter activity on Friday for fellowshipping our recent converts, less-active's and investigators. It should be pretty cool. we're doing a walk-through in the church of the last week of the Saviors life. We'll have each room represent a day and show what he did and talk about it's importance and such.

Are the branch leadership locals? From the Bahamas or elsewhere?
The leadership is pretty much all locals. we have some good returned missionaries that provide the core. we also have a few families from the states/England that live/work here in Nassau.

What kinds of things do you do on PrepDay?
Well, mostly we've been spending our time with the senior couple, the Ockeys, that live next door. They are way cool and she is a way good cook. Today we're planning to go out to Paradise Island and take a look around Atlantis and Cabbage Beach and such. Should be fun.

Any cool foods or other cultural stuff?
The bahamas is pretty lame when it comes to culture stuff. It's not near as exciting as Jamaica. It's mostly just a mix between their old British heritage and their modern American neighbors. There are a lot of Haitians around, though so I've got to try some good Haitian food. It's pretty close to Jamaican food- rice, beans, and chicken - just with different spices.

Anything I could send you that would be helpful to you or others?
As far as other stuff, I think we're doing just fine. I can't think of anything. I can get just about anything in Nassau.

How often do you see someone from the mission office?
It's not very often we get to see anyone but the senior couple next door. This week, though we are having zone conference here so Pres. Hendricks, the assistants, and the elders from Freeport and Turks and Caicos are all coming on Thursday and spending the night at our place. should be fun.

How many missionaries serve in the Bahamas? Any other places besides Nassau?
We are the only missionaries in Nassau. There is one set in Freeport, Bahamas, One set in Turks and Caicos, and One set in Grand Cayman. besides that everyone else is in Jamaica.

Well, got to go. have a great week.
Elder Kartchner

Oh, another interesting tid-bit is that we do our district meeting (which is for everyone not in Jamaica) every week over skype. I had to teach this last week. It was a bit weird teaching over the internet but it was cool.

hey fam

Mon, Apr 11, 2011
So, thanks for the emails. I really appreciate all the support from home. Well, at least Jeff emailed me so it's all good. 

Editor's note: I sent an email to Devon about a half hour before he sent this, but I guess it didn't reach him in time (the ethernet currents must go west).  So, moral of the story is write to him by Sunday for Monday delivery. : )
well it's been a good week. we had a bunch of people at church. we have several really good investigators. we have one baptism scheduled for may 1st for a lady named Mylande. we have another really solid guy named Thomas that should be baptized pretty soon as well.

well, love you lots. later

Elder Kartchner

conference

Mon, Apr 4, 2011
Hey Fam,

Things are going well. I can't say I've picked up a whole lot of Creole yet. I still can't understand much at all. There are tons of haitians in the branch but most of them speak a little english so we can usually get by. to answer your question dad, many of the Haitians are here legally but some are not.

We've been having to spend a lot of time finding. We've met some good potential. We are trying to get the members to help us with the missionary work and we're getting there slowly.

Conference was awesome. we got to watch all the sessions at our branch building. It's so nice to have a building.

As far as mailing things, still send any letters and such to Jamaica but send packages here so we don't have to pay duty on it twice.

My address for packages is:
P.O. Box SS-6360
Nassau, Bahamas

Have a great week.
Elder Kartchner

Happy Bahamas!

Mon, Mar 28, 2011
Hey Fam,

Nassau is great. Elder Brockbank and I flew here on Wednesday. We replaced the sister missionaries that were here before so I'm whitewashing again. There is a senior couple here - the Ockeys - and they are way cool. The branch here is big. there are about 600 people on the role but about 100 are active. plenty of work to do. the branch is solid though. we actully have a functioning branch presidency and elders quorum and everything else. we even have a branch mission leader! I'm excited to get some things rolling.

I feel like I got a whole new mission call. Nassau is so modern. It feels like I'm back in america. My apartment is so nice. it even has carpet, ceiling fans, hot water, couches, and a weight bench!! We have a car here so I'm learning to drive again but on the left side of the road. There are a lot of Haitian immigrants here looking for work. They are very humble and receptive to the gospel. probably half the branch is Haitian. Now I have to start learning Creole. We started teaching a few Hatians already using one of the members as a translator. It's fun.

It is so weird being back here as a missionary. It's pretty awesome though. I'm totally excited. Elder Brockbank is really good.

Well, later.
Elder Kartchner

Transfer!

Mon, Mar 21, 2011
So, it's official. I'm off to the Bahamas on Wednesday. I leave highgate tomorrow and go into Kingston. It's always weird leaving an area because you're sad to go but excited for something new. The branch here is doing well - much better than when I first got here. The average church attendance has gone from 15-20 to 30-35. We've reactivated several of our priesthood and have extended callings to several of the members (when I got here almost no one had callings and there wasn't any priesthood to speak of besides the branch president). It's been an awesome learning experience. I just hope the next missionaries keep it going.

Elder Ferrin will be staying in Highgate and Elder Luke (the one from Yuma that's cousins with Aunt Donna) will be taking my place. My new companion will be Elder Brockbank. He's fairly new so I don't really know him yet. I'm excited for nassau. It should be awesome. I'm going to miss my mountain view though- nassau is totally flat. Rumor has it that the apartment there even has carpet!

I don't know my address yet. I should know by next week.
Love you lots. Later
Elder Kartchner

Howdy

Mon, Mar 14, 2011
Hey Fam,

It's been a good week. We had our baptism on Saturday. It was fun. After a short service at the church, 11 of us piled into the branch president's mini-van and drove down to the ocean at Robin's Bay. It is an awesome place. Very beautiuful with the ocean and the view of Blue Mountain Peak in the distance. Anyway, her name is Gabbrielle Granston. She's 11 and we were able to get her father to baptize her which was good.

We got her confirmed in church yesterday. Also at church we had 2 of our investigator families show up at church. (the only problem is neither of them are married). It was a good day at church though. We had over 30 people there and about 1/3 of them were our investigators. yeah. It was the most investigators I've ever had at church. We have several solid investigators right now that I think are going to do really well.

The only problem is that I have a feeling that I'll be moving next week. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure that I'll be moving to Nassau, Bahamas. Cool, huh? It's been exactly 2 years since I've been there. I'll be sad to leave highgate though. At any rate don't send any packages until I get official word. I think the elders off Jamaica have a different mailing address. I'll let you know for sure as it comes.

So, yeah, It's been fun. Love you lots.

Elder Kartchner

Howdy!

Mon, Mar 7, 2011
Hey Fam,

Broken-hearted does not adequately express my sincere regret for missing the historic ball. I was so planning on going this year too. I thought you would at least have the decency to let me know ahead of time so I could have made arrangements to be there. Oh, well. Maybe next year.

Everything's going pretty well here in highgate. We had a good testimony meeting yesterday with about 30 people. Most of the people with new callings are doing very well. Things are running a little smoother each week. we had an investigator show up at church that I've never met before. One of the branch members, Sis Dryden, is a very good member missionary. she met this guy on the street the other day and invited him to church. He made up his mind to come and Sunday morning he walked over a mile taxied the rest of the way just to visit. His name is Micheal and he is way good and we should be meeting with him later this week. Just goes to show how effective members can be at missionary work. Most of the time, we missionaries can meet with someone for weeks and they still won't come to church.

We ended up not having our baptism this last week. It got postponed till this next saturday. Our other baptism that was originally scheduled for this saturday might have to be postponed as well because the girl's step-mom doesn't think she's ready. We also have a 10 yr old girl who wants to be baptized but her mom, a less-active member, won't let her. It's Jamaican culture not to baptize until you are 12 or even much older just to be sure you know what you are doing. Things are going good, though. We have several solid investigators we are working with.

Love you lots. later
Elder Kartchner

Pictures from Home

 (These are the pictures from home that Devon refers to in his email.)

Happy Monday!

Hey Fam,


Wow, those pictures look cool - a little too cool. It almost snowed here the other day too...well not really but I almost felt like wearing a long sleeve shirt in the morning.

Been another good week although a little crazy. We've been working hard and hopefully smarter and we're starting to see some results. As of right now we have a baptism scheduled for every saturday in march. If all goes well, we should have our first one this saturday. We're just hoping and praying that they all go through. Now that we have the branch somewhat in order we can focus more on our missionary work. Things are going well. I'm learning a lot from Elder Ferrin.

As far as things I need, I could use speeder-bike and a jet-pack but that's about it. Pictures are also good. For most everything else it is easier and cheaper to just get it here. everything you send has to go through customs and we have to pay duty on it. As far as branch materials, we have too much already for our little building and branch, but thanks.

Well, hope things go well. love you all.
Elder Kartchner

Pics

1. our branch 2 weeks ago

2. another sunrise

3. Elder Conder with a giant banana spider on his face

4. Another sunrise

5. Me and my half of the jack fruit.

Hey Fam

Mon, Feb 21, 2011


We had another good week. We did get slowed down a little because it rained all week long. After I'm done emailing I'm going to have to go back home and do a lot of wash. All of my clothes are all muddy from walking around in the rain and mud all week. fun stuff.

We had a pretty cool experience yesterday. We started working with this girl named Itiesha last Monday. We followed the counsel given in the new training for Preach My Gospel which says to extend a baptism date no later than the 2nd lesson. she didn't accept the date but it got her thinking and praying about it. On Sunday, when we met with her she said that she felt ready to be baptized and accepted a date. Just goes to show that the prophet knows what he's talking about.

Elder Ferrin is doing good. he still can't understand the patois (pronounced "patwa") which means I end up having to do a lot of talking but it's all good.

We had another good day at church. Things are starting to run a bit smoother now that some of the members have callings. We had quite a few people there including a few of our investigators. I got to give another talk since the other speakers ended early. I talked on tithing using the story of Elijah and the widow in 1Kings 17.

Other than that things are doing just peachy. We're starting to get some sunshine again.
Have a good week. We'll be sure to do the same.
Love you all,
Elder Kartchner

Happy Valentines Day

Mon, Feb 14, 2011
Sounds like a good day at the bull sale. that's pretty high tech dealing with EPD's and such. That's cool though. I hope it works out as planned. Have fun fixing pipes. I can't say I miss that too much. Well, actually i kind of do, but whatever.

The branch here is doing well. We are continuing to make progress. Yesterday we sustained and set apart a relief society presidency as well as a gospel doctrine teacher, a young womens and a young mens president, and a music director. It was pretty much the coolest thing ever seeing the branch members accept callings and responsibility. We've been trying to get members with callings for the past 2 months and we're finally making some headway. We had a lot of people there at church again. We have several more priesthood that are coming regularly now which is great. Our next big hurdle is to update the branch records. They haven't been updated in years and many of the people on there have moved or died.

Yesterday I gave a talk on forgiveness and not taking offense. that has been the plague of this branch in the past. Everyone we talk to has been offended by someone at some point and that is why it all pretty much fell apart about a year ago and almost got shut down. We're trying now to piece it all back together and trying to make sure it never happens again.

Training a new missionary is fun. My new companion is Elder Ferrin from Pima, AZ. He's a solid guy with a great testimony. He's a good teacher although he's still having a hard time understanding the lingo. It's been good.

To answer your question Dad, I've been the district leader since last transfer.

Things are going very well. I love the work here. I have learned so much about the church and about myself.

Love you lots
Elder Kartchner

Winter

Mon, Feb 7, 2011
The weather sounds crazy where you are. We had this major cold front come through as well. I think it got down to 73 the other night. actually the weather here is pretty much perfect - not too cold and not too hot. I don't think I'm ever coming home.

We had another great week in Highgate. We made a lot of progress in the branch this week. I think our 5th sunday discussion last week really helped motivate some of the members. our branch president called us up and asked to go teaching with us which was awesome. We also got one of the members to start up a Friday Night Activity at the church where members could come and play games and socialize and bring their friends. It was a big success. we had about 20 people show up and several were nonmembers. hopefully we'll be able to continue to use it as a tool to help fellowship our investigators and find new investigators. We were also able to finally sit down with the branch president and discuss extending callings to many of the members and try to get things organized. Church yesterday was awesome as well. We had a record 39 people at church. We had several less-active's come back including several priesthood. It was the answer to our branch fast for January as well as many prayers to get more priesthood in the branch. It is really great to see the excitement in the members as they see others coming back into the church. Our hope is to continue this excitement and keep reactivating and bringing more people into the church. Right now we have several good investigators including a few part-member families that we are working with.

Other news is that Elder Conder is getting transferred on Wednesday to Montego Bay. I will be staying in Highgate and will be training a new missionary. I'm excited to train although I'm sad to see Elder Conder go. He is very obedient and hard working.

Love you all. enjoy the cold weather!

Elder Kartchner

Pics

Mon, Jan 31, 2011

1. Me overlooking the hilly countryside around 9-miles

2. Another beautiful sunrise in highgate

3. Yep, this is me and my district in a weed field. pretty funny story how that happened. 

Hey You!

Mon, Jan 31, 2011
Sounds like y'all are having fun. Things are going good here. We had another good but crazy week. Last tuesday for p-day we went with the elders from Port Antonio and Ocho Rios to 9-Miles, the birth place and burial place of Bob Marley. Don't ever go there. It is way out in the middle of nowhere and the tour is pretty lame and the rumors that you get to see his mummified body are not true. Not to mention there's a guy named Weedy outside the gate that scams you into buying weed. Don't worry, we didn't smoke it! It made for an exciting day.

The rest of the week went good though. On Wednesday I went to Ocho Rios to do a baptismal interview. We have a lot of good investigators right now and we've been having some good success with less actives. We found and been working with two inactive brothers that are elders. one came to church and agreed to teach young men's. We are really excited for them because they will really be a strength to the branch.

It has been fun the last couple days to teach. because of a sore throat I lost my voice for Friday, Saturday, and sunday, and it's still not all the way back. It makes it interesting to teach and lead the music in church, and teach gospel principles class, and everything else when you can't talk. For 5th sunday disscussion we talked with the members on things we could do to strengthen the branch. As of right now when church is supposed to start, there's usually only 2 or 3 people there. Even the branch president is late most of the time. Also we talked about organizing and serving in the church because no one in the branch has callings and there's no visiting or home teaching. There's a lot of work to be done, but that's what I'm here for. Our discussion was really good and hopefully effective. since our branch president is a recent convert and is so new he doesn't really know how it's all supposed to work, so we're trying to help him to get things going.

Anyway, Things are going very well for the most part. Thanks for the emails and everything.

Love you lots,
Elder Kartchner

Hello!!!

Mon, Jan 24, 2011
Hello Fam!

This week was a little bit different than most. As you heard Elder Walker got shot last week monday. It was pretty crazy. I was really good friends with Elder Walker and his companion Elder Luke. Elder Luke is actually in my group although he didn't go to the mtc with us. He is a great guy and we had figured out that that he is related to some of my aunts. Elder Walker was 3 weeks away from finishing his mission, but now he's been called on another one. It's pretty crazy because I was serving around him about a month or so ago when his mom died. Anyway, we had a memorial service for him this morning in Spanish Town. We had the whole mission there along with members from around the island. Even Elder Coleman from the area presidency came. It was really good. Things are fine, though. Don't worry about me.

The rest of the week went really good though. We have several good investigators we are working with. One of them, Sister Kelly, accepted a baptismal date but she ended up not coming to church so I'm not sure what's up with that. Church yesterday was pretty interesting. The branch president showed up 20 minutes late to sacrament meeting. We also had some random white girl visit church. It was the first time seeing a white person at church that wasn't a missionary. crazy. Anyway, Things are going good. We are working hard. Because of Elder Walkers memorial this morning, we are having p-day tomorrow. If all goes well Elder Conder and I should be going fishing in Robins Bay with some rastas in the morning. I'm excited.
Thanks for everything, Love you all
Elder Kartchner

Port Antonio

me in Port Antonio

the coolest tree ever

the view from our house in highgate

picking bread fruit

view from the highgate house

sunrise in highgate (it is always cloudy)

 port antonio

lighthouse at port antonio

another picture of the coolest tree ever