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
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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
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
Monday, February 7, 2011
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
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
Monday, January 31, 2011
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
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
Thursday, January 27, 2011
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
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
Monday, January 17, 2011
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
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