Pics

 1. Nephi's baptism at White River a few weeks ago

2. Reminder of Home - this is a farm we passed driving through Linstead.

3. "Wastin' away again in Margaritaville!"

4. This is Ochi - it's a little blurry but our house is right in the middle of the picture by the yellow hotels.

5. we see some awesome scenery driving on the north coast. this is Port Maria.

Another Good Week

Mon, Jan 23, 2012
It's been another good week in Ochi. The weather has been awesome - not too hot. We had a good week in missionary work too. Our investigators Charmain, Alecia, and Grace are all doing very well. Charmain should be baptized in the next few weeks. Alecia is doing awesome but just had a baby so she hasn't been able to come to church. Grace is doing well but she's had to work almost every sunday. We fasted with her this last Sunday for her to be able to work out a way to come to church and already this week her work schedule got changed so she should have off most Sundays. We also found a family that we are teaching and they came to church yesterday for the first time and loved it. When I say family I mean the mom and kids - that's as close as we can get.

We spent the day on Wednesday in Montego Bay working with the elders there. We had Zone Conference this last Thursday here in Ochi. It was really good. President Hendricks explained the doctrine of "Grace" in a way that I've never understood before. He also talked about how to improve our prayer relationship with God and to help our investigators do the same.

We're still going strong on our working out in the morning. Elder Randle and I have gone every morning this week. I've also borrowed the keyboard from the church and I've decided to relearn the piano so I can play for church. This singing along with the CD's is getting old.

As for the Larsens, I've heard the name, but I haven't met them yet because I think they just got here. As for the zone leader thing, it's ok. I enjoy having a truck anyway. besides that it just eats up a lot of time driving and such. our zone covers from Montego Bay to Port Antonio - the whole north coast.

Congrats on the calling mom. Stake RS presidency huh? you must be important. I wish we had a stake.Oh, could you send me Grandma and Grandpa's mailing address? I think I have it somewhere but can't find it. Thanks.

Love you all lots!
Elder Kartchner

Another week

Mon, Jan 16, 2012

Hey Fam,

It's been another good week here in Ochi. This past wednesday was transfers. It was a bit sad to see Elder Forde go but it's all good. Elder Randle and I get along really well. Elder Worley, the one that I trained in Linstead, got transferred to Highgate which is in our zone so I'm excited about that. The best part about transfers was that while we were in Spanish Town we picked up our new washing machine. We didn't have one before. It's really nice. Other than that we had a pretty good week. We have a few really good investigators that are doing really well. Church Sunday was good. We had a full house.
One of my new year goals is to work out every day till I go home. This week Elder Randle and I bought a gym membership and we've been getting up an hour early to go work out every morning. It's been good.

Well, have a great week. Love ya lots!
Elder Kartchner

Happy Jan 9

Mon, Jan 9, 2012
Hey Fam,

It's been another good week in Ochi. Things are starting to pick up again after the holidays. We Had Nephi's baptism on Saturday morning. It went really well. His mom and his older sister who lives in America were there. We did it in White River which is just east of town. It was a really pretty spot. I got to perform the baptism and the water felt so good I felt like swimming. The whole thing went really well though. Nephi is such a good kid. We also went to a funeral on Saturday with a member family. The funeral ended up being WAY out in the hills. It was pretty cool. The funeral itself was ok. It was pretty tame for a Jamaican funeral. Sometimes they are crazy. On our way out to the funeral we were driving down this narrow road with tall grass on either side and then out of nowhere a big huge rat showed up on the hood of our truck. Speaking of which, on Thursday we traded in the old Nissan Frontier for a brand new Ford Ranger. It's pretty sweet.

Yesterday we had tons of people at church. There was 13 couples from Provo and one couple from England that visited and more than doubled our congregation. We barely had enough chairs. It was a really good meeting, and it was especially good since Nephi was confirmed and a few of our investigators and less-active members we've been working with were there.

This week is transfers again. Time just keeps going quicker and quicker. Elder Randle and I will be staying here in Ochi and Elder Forde will be moving to Kingston. No more tri-panionship. I'm excited to stay here and see what we can do to really help this branch. If it doesn't get better soon it will probably have to close.

Well Fam, Love y'all lots!
Elder Kartchner

Pictures!

Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 1:05 PM

1 The Christmas Party

2 The view from my front yard

3. On Saturday we went back to Linstead for baptism of Jermaine. Elder Worley and I were teaching him when I was there.

Happy New Year

Tue, Jan 3, 2012
Hey Fam,
Happy New Year!

We're doing well here in Ochi. It was a rough week for missionary work between Christmas and General Elections and New Years. Last monday was a bust since everyone was still celebrating Christmas. Tuesday was back to normal but Wednesday we spent in Montego Bay. We had to stay inside all day on Thursday because of elections. (The People's National Party won in case you wanted to know. Nothing too crazy happened in Ochi but things were a little crazy some other places.) Friday was crazy with all the celebration from the election. Saturday was crazy with New Years Eve. Sunday was a total bust since everyone stayed up all night Saturday. Yesterday, everyone was still celebrating New Year's. It all took a toll on the progress of our investigators but we'll soon be back on track. I'm just glad the holiday's are over.

Things are still going relatively well though. We should be having a baptism this Saturday for Nephi, a 9 yr-old kid. We also have a few other investigators that are doing well. We are starting to work with the McKenzie family (the ones that let me skype from their house). They are inactive but show a lot of potential.

Other than that things are going well. Thanks for the packages and such. I really appreciate it.
Love y'all lots!
Elder Kartchner

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