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