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