week # 8 & 9 - Kingston

Feb. 9, 2015

Hello Fam!

This week has been great! Sis. M got baptized!  How is that for a birthday present?  Haha. There is nothing more rewarding than being allowed to reap the hard work of many others. I have been allowed to participate in Sis. M's conversion in a huge way, and I consider it a blessing.  It has been cool to see the changes that she has gone through over the past months.  You can see the light and joy in her now.  She fits right in with the rest of the members at the church and has received a warm welcome from them. 

She had been doubting things earlier in the week for various reasons, but we asked her to fast and pray about it.  She did, and she received a powerful answer on Tuesday night.  She had the courage to act on it and let us know that she was ready.  We scrambled to get everything ready, and with the help of the ward, things came together beautifully.  The baptismal service was very spiritual.  Her brother baptized her.  One other girl got baptized in the same service with her. (She was the other Blvd. Elders convert.)  Everything went great.  I am so happy for her. 

I got the birthday package last Thursday.  I had to open the box in order to fit everything in my backpack and get it home, but I have not opened the letters or the wrapped gifts yet. Thanks so much everyone!  The guitar capo works great.  I have been using it all week. 

I don't feel any different.  I guess 20 years old will just be another day for me.  Or maybe it hasn't hit me yet... Ask me tomorrow morning.

 

I think that wraps up the week for me. I have been doing a lot of work lately, but that should be expected. Missionary work does not get done unless you work. That is the secret to it all. 

I love you all! Thanks for the birthday wishes. 

Thanks for being such great parents mom and dad. You have been such a blessing to me. 

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Pullan

Oh, and the whole moving situation. We went from a 2 man house to a 4 man house when I got to Kingston.  The landlord wanted more money, and we weren't willing to pay that much, so we moved.  We had known for about a month, but it didn't happen until last week. The new place is nice though!

Sis. M's Baptism !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this shot, although I will edit out the spider web when I get home.

Feb. 2, 2015

Moving today!

That is right. We will be moving houses today. We had some issues with the place, so we will be moving into a new apartment.  As a consequence, I have neither camera nor cord today.  So no pix. Sorry.  Nathan- I saw a lizard last week that was yellow and blue and over a foot long!  I didn't get a picture though.  Great job on the play too!  That is exciting. 

This week has been ok.  Sis. M is not sure about getting baptized any more.  We asked her to fast on Sunday and pray to know if this is the right time for her.  I am not sure how things are going to work out.  We still need to follow up with her on her fast.  It is perfectly natural to be a little apprehensive, and if she goes into the fast with an open heart, she will get an answer.  I worry that she had already decided for herself before she went looking for an answer from God.  I don't know how it will work out.  I will keep you updated. 

Part of the focus of our zone meeting this past week was Family History.  We spoke about the spirit of Elijah and the way that it is affecting the world.   Many people who may not be so interested in the church will have their heart softened as they do Family History.   Family History is becoming a big thing in the world today for people of all faiths.  We need to use this spirit of Elijah in order to help them to find the truth, and complete those vital saving ordinances for those in the spirit world.  Only by this can the whole human race have a chance at salvation.  God has entrusted us with this great work and will help us as we put our shoulders to the wheel. 

We were teaching Sis. S again this week. We were able to talk a little about Family History with her as we discussed the Plan of Salvation. It answered a lot of the questions she had about how God is able to give all men a chance at salvation. She was very excited to start working on her Family History. 

My week has been good. Lots of hard work, sweat, guitar, soccer in the mornings, and a bit of rain. It is all part of the mission!

I love you all!

Love, Elder Pullan 

week #7 -Kingston

Hello Everyone-

My week. It feels like we did a lot, but I really don't have too much to say for it. 

One highlight was our investigator, Sis. Mitchell.  She is a teenage girl, the sister of a recent convert.  We have been teaching her for a while now, but she was beginning to fall off the map.  We weren't able to catch her for a couple of days, and we were worried that she was making herself disappear.  Investigators tend to do that when they are getting close to their baptismal date, but don't feel ready.  We were a little worried about her, but we were able to see her at the beginning of the week.   When we saw her, she told us that she received her answer!  Those are some of the best words a missionary can hear.  You can't really comprehend them at first.  After they sunk in, we began to discuss her baptism and all that will need to be done in preparation. 

 That is one thing I love about our church.  People must prepare for baptism. People have to know what they are doing before baptism. People have to know it is true before baptism. People must be worthy to be baptized.  If they are not ready, we do not baptize them.  Other churches don't do that.  My past year and a half here in JA has given me quite a bit of insight on other churches.  It has only increased my testimony that ours is the only one with the full truth.  

Sis. Mitchell is now excited to be baptized. I  have been able to see the changes in her as we have taught her.  She is truly experiencing conversion.  It is still the same Sis. Mitchell, but she seems so much happier.  She has more light and purpose now.  If all goes well, she will be baptized on the 8th.  I will keep you updated. 

I got to go on a trade off with Elder Beck this week.  He is our new District Leader.  I received a lot of good reminders on how I can improve my teaching.  Elder Beck is a great missionary and I was able to learn a lot from him.

To close for the week, I have been reflecting on how much I have grown since I got to JA. I have grown and changed so much.  My understanding and character have increased exponentially.  I also feel that the more you improve, the more aware you become of your imperfections.  I still have soo far to go.  I want to be so much better than I am now.  I am going to work my hardest to change as much as I can in the time I have left.  The time I have left on the mission is short, and I intend to use it well.  I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the chance we all have to change and become better.  To change and become perfect.  I hope that we will all apply ourselves and change as much as we can to become our best selves. 

I love you all. 

Stay safe. 

Love, Elder Pullan

Nathan- There is no snow here, unfortunately.  I don't have any pictures of lizards right now. Sorry.  My apartment is small. 2 rooms, kitchen, bathroom, 4 guys.  Did you enjoy skiing last week?

Lydia- Nice job skiing. The play sounds like a lot of fun too!

A Christmas Thank You from the Mission Home

Sorry- None of the photos came through on this post and I don't know why. 
 I will have to figure it out…      

THE CHURCH OF 

JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Jamaica Kingston Mission

4 Garelli Avenue

Kingston 10

Jamaica

Phone:  1-876-618-1625

Dear missionary parents, ward members and all who contributed to the Jamaica Kingston Mission Christmas,

There are not words to express our gratitude for the generous donations received from you this season.  Every elder and sister serving here at Christmas received packages and mail, and thanks to your assistance, not one was left out, not one was without a gift to make Christmas special for them.

The missionaries celebrated in their zones, first receiving a spiritual training session with Elder Hugo Martinez of the Seventy, and President Brown.  This was followed by a delicious Christmas dinner, and a program of Christmas music, stories and songs provided by the talented young missionaries of our mission.  All were truly fed – spiritually and temporally!

Following those activities, we adjourned to the cultural hall, where President Brown and the assistants donned their Santa hats, and distributed all the packages – neatly wrapped in Christmas paper, thanks to the help of some seminary students and office missionaries.

As names were called out, there were smiles, and looks of surprise, too, from some who thought there would be no gift for them.  The young missionary in the picture here was so shocked that someone would give him a gift that he began to cry.  He was so overcome that he just sat and held his Christmas package for quite a while, saying that this was the first time he had ever had a gift to un-wrap.  That is just one example of how the missionaries were touched by your generosity.

As you can see from the following pictures, it was a happy, touching experience for all.

     



   

All the packages were wrapped and waiting on the stage, for the missionaries to receive, as President Brown joyfully called their names.  Your gifts were thoughtful and appreciated by the missionaries.  Your donations of money went a long way, providing gift items, wrapping paper, treats and more.  This will definitely be a Christmas our missionaries will remember for a long time.  The Jamaican missionaries and others who were assisted by your contributions shared in the joy of Christmas giving with their fellow elders and sisters. 

These photographs are just a glimpse into the sights of the several zone conferences held this December.  We wish you could share in the sounds as well, but rest assured that your contributions were of great value in making each Christmas conference a wonderful event for all our missionaries!

With sincere appreciation,  
        

President Kevin G. Brown

Jamaica Kingston Mission

week #6 -Kingston

Hey Fam!

My week was pretty good.  But first, to catch you up on last week, I will tell you a bit about downtown.  I went on trade off to downtown with Elder Fowkes last Saturday.  Downtown was sweet.  Each scheme was complete with tight winding streets, zinc fences, grimy canals, and burning trash.  It is a totally different world from the uptown.  I had to shift back into Patois mode because people chat raw down there.  It was everything I had hoped for.  I enjoyed having a final debut with Elder Fowkes.  He is home now.

This week has been really good.  We were able to have a lot of good lessons with our members and investigators.  We managed to get quite a few of our members out with us to lessons, and have started to teach some of their friends.  That is the way that missionary work becomes effective.  Missionaries working with members to teach their prepared friends.  We have a few that I think will choose to make the step of baptism sometime in the next month.  I will keep you updated. 

We did some service on Saturday for a lady in Seaview Gardens.  We worked with some members of the ward and some paid workers to mix concrete and lift it bucket by bucket up to the roof of the house.  We casted the roof.  This entailed standing in line passing bucket after bucket of concrete up to the roof.  It was hard work, and we were pretty tired by the time we finished.  It took a lot longer than we anticipated. 

This Sunday was ward conference.  We got to hear from our stake president, President Lieu.  He is an incredible teacher.  Everything he said was easy to understand, and undeniably true.  I want to get to the point where I can teach like that one day. 

Great job on your talk dad!  It sounds like you did a great job.  I am excited to hear it.  

It would be best if you sent it on CD mom. 

I am doing well. I hope everyone is good there too!

I love you.

Elder Pullan

week #5 - Kingston

Hey everyone, 

Sorry!  You are all just going to have to settle for a quick email this week.  But, I will tell you why.  We had a zone p-day today!  We all went out to Fort Rocky? on the way to Port Royal and played capture the flag on it.  IT WAS SO SWEET!  Capture the flag with the zone on an abandoned fort?  YES.  We did a lot of running and climbing and exploring all over the place.  I even threw some flips with a few other elders off a brick building into the sand. You will have to wait to see the videos later.  Needless to say, p-day was great.  It was the best one I have had so far!  However, it has not left me with much email time. 

Remind me to tell you about my trade off to the downtown with Elder Fowkes next week.   I would tell you if I had time. Sorry.   I am going to try to send pix before time is up.

I love you all!

Elder Pullan

week 3 & 4 -Kingston

January 5, 2015
Hey fam,

This week has been a good one.  I don't really have too much to say for it though.  Elder McGregor and I worked hard.  We tramped around in the hot sun all day every day, and had varying levels of success.  It really just depended on the day.  We didn't do anything for New Years.  Nothing at all.  We were all too tired.  That is the way it goes some days. 

I do have a story from the week.  Elder McGregor and I were standing on a corner, figuring out where to go... When we see it.  An old rasta man holding a cane slowly running (as fast as he could) away from another old guy in red gym shorts.  The guy in the red shorts was waving a machet and running slowly (as fast as he could) after him.  It was the funniest thing to see the old rasta in front looking over his shoulder as he high-tailed it away.  Both of these men had to be something near 60 years old.  Now, some of you might say "Elder Pullan, that is serious, you shouldn't laugh".  That is only because you are not used to these things.  It honestly didn't even phase me when I saw it.  I just chuckled as I watched and thought "what is going on?".  For those of you that are worried about the result, he didn't catch him.  No one got hurt.  He didn't really intend to chop him.  Just rough him up for stealing his money or something.  Hahaha.  It was quite the sight.

We also had a great lesson with Sis. S this sunday. Sis. S is something in her twenties, and we began to teach her last week.  She works out near New Kingston, and lives out there while she is working, so we don't get to see her all that often.  We did get to see her after church on Sunday though.  We had a great lesson about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We also talked a bit about the necessity of temples and temple marriage with her.   She had a lot of questions about why not everyone can go in, and stuff like that. She seems really ready to accept the gospel, so I am excited to see how she takes it. 

I love you all! Happy New Year!

Love, Elder Pullan

PS- I will Pray for you Dad!

PPS- Congratulations on your baptism Nathan! That is a great step you have taken. Make sure you write in your Journal about it! I love you.

*******************************
December 29, 2014

Hey Fam!

Christmas was pretty good for me.  I loved being able to skype you all!  It was great to hear from you.  I had forgotten how much I miss you all until I got to see you! Soon come, I will be back though. Before unu quint mi a be dere. 

My Christmas started with caroling and passing out "He is the Gift" cards on Halfway Tree. I was with most of the Elders in our district. After that, we went to the Medley's and Skyped. After we were done skyping, we went caroling with them to a couple of ward members.  We spent the rest of the evening over at Bobby's house.  Bobby is our ward mission leader.  We ate some really good food, and all took turns saying the things that we are grateful for from the past year.  This Christmas was really nice.  I enjoyed it a lot more than the last one.  Christmas is always a rough time for us missionaries, but I am very excited that it is almost over.  Things will start moving a little faster for us now. 

You guys wanted me to write about the crocodile hunting adventure from last week. You guys know about that one, so I am going to tell you about Elder G and I's adventure in Seaview from 5am this morning. Elder G and I decided to give it another go, as we did not get to see any crocs last time.  We went back into the marsh walking along the bridge over the swamp.  We went and searched in vain... or so we thought.  We went ahead and made a crocodile hunter video while we were back there.  On the way back to our bikes to head home, we saw him. There was a huge croc right under one of the pipe-bridges we were walking on.  This thing was massive.   At least 12 feet long, sitting perfectly still in the water about 15 feet below us.  We threw a rock onto its' back and it snapped at it, then swam silently away underneath the black water.  It disappeared so quickly.  We had no idea where it went  after just a couple of seconds.  It was so cool to see.  I am thoroughly convinced that we would not stand a chance against a croc in the water.  We returned from our hunt successful, with some great videos and pictures!  That was my week for you. 

It was great to hear from you all! I am so glad that you had an awesome Christmas!

Love, Elder Pullan

Good Luck with your Baptism Nathan! I am so proud of you!

The Gator

The Tracks

The Sunrise

week #2 -Kingston

Hey Fam,

This week has been an interesting one.  Mission Christmas happened this week and I would like to thank you all for the presents.  It has made for an awesome Chrismas!  I have been enjoying a plethora of candy and treats ever since Thursday.  So, Thank you all for the treats.  I am enjoying them.  The homemade cookies are wonderful, and I have been rocking my new gym shorts every night since.  Thanks guys.  Merry Christmas!

So, this week...  This week started with a couple of Family nights on Monday night. We shared a message about Jesus Christ and His purpose in coming to the earth. We wrapped up and with me having a draw-off with one of the family members while the teenage son played guitar. He is incredible at guitar, so it was fun to hear. We will be seeing the same family tonight!

On Tuesday, the Mo-Bay (Montego Bay elders) were in Kingston for some meetings, so they spent the morning going around with us.  Elder McGregor and I went on splits with them. We walked around, talking to people for most of the time, so it was good.  We have been doing a lot of that lately because we are whitewashing (trying to find investigators). 

Wednesday, Elder McGregor caught a ride with one of the Kingston Zone Leaders to go to his uncle's funeral.  I spent half the day with the other Kingston Zone Leader, Elder Adams. We had no solid appointments that day, so we walked around and talked to people. It gets rough sometimes. 

Thursday was Zone Conference and mission Christmas. Elder Martinez of the Seventy was there. We got to hear from him. He is an amazing teacher. He teaches with such simplicity. We talked a lot about setting goals for the new year, enjoying the present and doing better in the future, and helping others come into the gospel so that they can feel included and welcome. After Zone Conference ended, we had a wonderful Christmas program. A lot of the Elders and Sisters in our the Kingston and Spanish Town zones (the zones in attendance) played instruments and sang songs. The talent displayed was incredible. I don't know how we got such great talent in such a small mission. We then went to another room and had a Christmas meal of rice and peas, chicken, ham, macaroni salad, and dessert of ice cream and cake. The meal was prepared by a few of the members. After that, we cleared up, and President Brown put on his Christmas hat and began to hand out presents. The office couple had wrapped every single package that came in, so we all enjoyed unwrapping our gifts and reading letters. When things wrapped up, us elders from Boulevard rode to the Bishop's house and had a meeting with him discussing the ward. 

Friday was a long day. We super-planned for the week in the morning, and then headed out in the afternoon.  We had solid appointments planned for every hour, and EVERY SINGLE ONE FELL THROUGH.  So it was another day of riding around and talking to people. 

The ward had its Christmas party on Saturday, and we were invited to attend.  We elders played soccer in the falling rain in our proselyting clothes (suit and tie) with some Jamaicans for over an hour.  It was a lot of fun, but I wrecked my pair of shoes… Don't worry, it is one of the older ones. I think I will make it through the rest of my mission. 

Sunday was good. We were actually able to see some people. That was a relief. 

Last night, we pulled all of the mattresses into the same room of the house and had a sleep over. Our house consists of me, Elder McGregor, Elder Guereirro, and Elder Davidsen. Elder G and I had a great time telling stories while the other two passed out.  Haha.  It was great.

I am hoping that this week is a little more productive than the last, but things are improving. I can't complain. The only thing I can do is work hard and be patient. Things are going to take off soon. 

I am glad that you enjoyed the Christmas carols.  I thought you would. 

The things that we put on our Who is Jesus Christ Wall in Linstead was anything related to Him.  Nothing too picky.  We had everything from His purpose, to deep doctrine of how the atonement works, to the origins of His Name-Titles, to instances that show his character. We had it all organized around a lot of different pictures of Him, each one relating to a different topic, like; the atonement, the priesthood, His miracles, His character, etc. 

Anything you can find about Jesus Christ that isnt common knowledge that really doesnt deserve to be stated went on the wall. 

I would make a nice statement for you on Christlike attributes, but I fear that time is running short. Just remember Matt. 5:48, and John 14:8-10 ( If you have seen me you have seen the Father. I think that is the right reference.) Christ shows us and provides for us the way back to the Father. He is the only way. Our goal should be to become as He and our Father is. Perfect. 

I love you all. I hope that you are having a great Christmas season! Please, take some time to focus on the past year and pick out what you are going to do better in the next. Focus on Christ. He is our Heavenly Father's greatest gift to us. In Him lies eternal life. He is the Gift.  I know this to be true. 

Love, Elder Pullan

Elder Packer- I love this guy!

Kingston

Missionary Christmas!

Me & Elder McGregor with our new haircuts