Another one bites the dust

     So last Monday we visited abandoned Ochi in a resort thing (looks like it went bankrupt or something). It was cool and the sisters went with us. It was a major creep level ten and we had some good scares too!

     Okay. I'm going to be positive about this week. This week was good. We didn't get very many lessons and a lot of investigators fell through, but in the end, as missionaries, we can't control what our investigators do, and as long as we do evertyhing we can to invite others to come unto Christ, we have done a good job. Like PMG says, no effort is wasted. Gotta keep moving forward or you don't go anywhere!

 A "harmless" banana spider. This one doesn't have a banana for scale, but is about four or five inches in diameter.

This is a sweetsop. It looks like a bunch of squidward-noses got together for a hulk costume party. It isn't as good as a soursop, which is bigger and a bit more flavorful and juicy. To eat it you break it open and eat the flesh around the seeds.

Rain keeps falling on my head!

     Have I got some pictures for you this week! So we found an investigator at the grocery store last week and it turns out he lives up up up in New Hope. We ended up going way too far up and spent an extra half hour hiking up past his house... We got some amazing views of the entire city of Ochi though!

We went left and it only got steeper and rougher for 30 minutes straight...

 Ochi from New Hope (elevation 8,000 feet above sea level)

Ochi from Limebottom (closer to my house, elevation 2,000 "fasl")

     Here is my first update on cool fruit! This is ginnup. It's a paintball-like outside, with a sweet, mucous-y inside that you suck on until the pit is all that's left.Super good and Elder Gardner and I found a tree and ransacked it for a few dozen!

 Off the tree

 Cracked open

Eaten :)

     Yeah this week we did more service cutting down trees with our machetes, and we were hanging from the trees to be able to swing at the parts we needed to get off. We stayed safe don't worry! It was raining the whole time and the cool wet feels so much better than the hot wet! Yeah its always wet here. I'll choose cold wet any day. A Jamaican yelled at my comp. and I for picking ginnup another time and we thought nothing of it cause it was because we were white. Whatev's. I know how it feels to be a minority now. :P

     Update on Sandy, our one investigator right now! We watched the Restoration video (2002 version hour long, watch it if you haven't!) to familiarize her with Joseph Smith. After the video she said this: "Now I know he is a true prophet. He did the miracles of Christ and he did do all those things. So about my baptism: when and where will it be and what else do I need to do to be ready for it?" WHAT?!?!!? She is so ready to be baptized and that will be the first of August.

     Today we are going to an abandoned hotel resort thing up in Shaw Park it's at the end of a really nice tourist house district and looked way creepy when we found it two days ago. So those pics will be up next week. I'm loving the work and I know this church is true. My testimony grows every day!

Grease lightning, GO grease lightning!

     This week was long. Sandy is doing well, getting ready for baptism and trying to make it to church on time. She is showing a real effort. We got new fans at the house and i finally have one that works well! I froze last night a few times cause the fan actually worked! Hallelujah! We got hit by lightning Saturday night and it was LOUD! Less than 100 yards away from our house. We were planning for the next day and it shook the house and scared the crap out of both of us. Yesterday (Sunday) it rained for two or three hours of church and was so loud I couldn't hear the lessons (tin roofing)!
     My companion and I made mango freezer jam and couldn't find pectin so we used lime jello instead! It turned out really good but looked like puke! We also did more service at the Life Tabernacle Pentecostal church in Great Pond and I took pictures this time!

Elder Gardner mixing mango jello jam

 Finished mango jello puky freezer jam

 These are pics of Sandy's backyard after we decimated it with our Machetes!

 The clear space is where there was bush just as thick as the stuff you see in the back

The finished project!

Oh Say, can you see?

     Yeaaaah!! The fourth of July was fun and we had a simple celebration. In between lessons, the sister missionaries and us got a scoop of ice cream and sang the national anthem very quietly. I got rocky road. One average scoop of ice cream is like 220 dollars! Worth it though! We had a good dinner that consisted of (for me) a burger and fries, baked beans, watermelon, and one can of root beer. It was better than last year up in Arizona even though we had some fireworks then. I don't know why I enjoyed this one more.

     I'm excited for the crock pot and can't wait to see what recipes I have at my command soon! thank you Thank You THANK YOU mom and dad!!!! :) I've built a small essentials pantry and it is sufficient for my needs lol. Nothing like at home. The food for transfers won't be a big deal, spices and dry stuff get carted and whatever perishables aren't eaten get left. They give you a few days to prep for that.

     The mosquitoes aren't bad, just annoying. Our windows on our house don't have screens and the landlord is in the states. The backup landlord might be dead cause we haven't seen him for months and the yard isn't being cared for anymore...so yeah...we are supposed to be getting screens... We just stay in the fans at home and the skeets aren't a problem. During the day mosquitoes aren't a problem really. I'm doing better and yeah I think it was food that got me but the rest of the missionaries are getting Zika virus from skeet bites. I hope I stay healthy I was just sick last week you know!

     Our power went out this last week on Tuesday. We got home to make lunch and the freezer was off. None of the lights worked either. We promptly called the sisters to pick up our perishables to bring to their fridge after cooking some food and having additional study and hoping that after two hours the power would go back on. So for two or three days we had no fridge food...it was not the worst part though! No power = no fans to cool you down and keep mosquitoes away! We were miserable!

     The last 3 Saturdays we have been helping President Francis's old Pentecostal church build on to their building. Mixing big piles of concrete with shovels and carting it around in buckets and placing mortar and cinder blocks all over, it's hard work. You aren't a man until you do this kind of work. :)

 President Francis in the shot! Elder Gardner on the left.

     The missionary work is slow right now. Our whole district is struggling to find people to teach and our branch is falling apart a bit. We're trying our hardest to get pioneer work done to get a good baseline. We don't have anything to work with really. I have faith that we can bring it up though. There are people out there who are waiting for this message and we just need to find them. I love being out here even though it can be tough at times. The stronger the wind, the stronger the tree, right? Our top investigator is Sandy and she is working toward August 1st for her baptism date. She has learned a lot and is reading the Book of Mormon on her own for her own answers to her own questions. She hasn't made it to church on time yet but soon come. She is great and seems ready for the gospel. Were going to start commandments and repentance soon and we're going over to her house tomorrow morning for some service and to learn how to make banana fritters! I've tried to make them once but don't know how to compare since I've not had the real thing.