week #12 -Montego Bay

Hey fam,

This week included a great zone conference taught by President Brown. He presented a lot on the Gospel of Christ and how we can teach towards true conversion. I already sent Rachel a long discourse on it.  Maybe I will just copy it here for you to read.

"The Gospel of Christ (found in 2 Ne. 31) is the path to our salvation.  It includes; faith, repentance, baptism/H.G., and enduring to the end. These are stepping stones. The first step is faith.  One must build faith.  Once faith has been sufficiently built, it will lead an individual to want to repent.  How do we build faith?  First one must understand what faith is, their divine potential (the godhead, and the why?) and how to know (what prayer is). Then we move into the faith building lessons (the restoration, the plan of salvation, and the gospel of christ). Strive to teach material in all cases to meet their needs.  Build faith first and do not move on to the next step, repentance, until one is showing signs of faith. Signs of faith? Faith leads to action. You can see people exercise their faith as they keep simple commitments like reading, praying, and coming to church."

This truly is inspired. The focus is now teaching what people need and truly converting them. The Lord has put forth the gospel of Christ for all of us.  Not just for new investigators. As we cycle through the gospel of Christ each day of our lives, we endure to the end. This means that after baptism we continue to; build our faith, repent, partake of the sacrament (rather than getting baptized/H.G. again) and endure to the end.  This will keep us holding fast to the iron rod. I would encourage you all to study it as a family. Read 2Ne. 31 for yourselves.

This week... Hmmm.... 

We ate more fried breadfruit. Breadfruit tastes like a sweet potato when it its ripe. To prepare it, you cook it on a fire or stove as shown in the picture, cut off the outside, and then eat it, or fry it. I do love breadfruit. 

I also climbed a coconut tree and picked myself a coconut a while ago. If you have seen a coconut tree, you will know that it is not an easy climb.  Climbing the coconut tree- I had to wrap my hands around the back to hold me on while I put my feet up by my chest to keep enough pressure to keep me on.  Then I walked up it in a sense.  Once you have the coconut, you hack it open with your machet and drink the juice, then cut it in half and scoop out the meat. Mmmmm. Fresh coconut. Welcome to paradise. 

We started teaching a rasta this week. Rastas are usually really hard to teach, but this one is the friend of one of our members. He is a nice humble guy, and he is very accepting. I am excited to continue teaching him. 

News wise, not a whole lot happened this week. Just the normal every day grind. I have been enjoying it though.

Transfer calls were saturday night. I will be staying a third transfer with Elder Hall. Elder Dawkins will be going to downtown kingston, and Elder Christensen will be coming to replace him. It should be another good transfer.

I hope all is well back home. I looks like you are all having fun!

Yes yes me breddren. 

Bless up.

Love, Daniel

PS- Tell matthew to go and get good at snowboarding so he can shred with me when I get home. I envy you. Cold weather and skiing sounds really nice. Enjoy it!