Hey yall sorry for the late email. I don't really want to give an excuse on why it's out so late, because I don't really have one so let's kind of get into it.
This week was an absolute mess. Usually I hate reading emails that are done day by day, but for this week I'll suffer my pride and do it this one time. I'm sorry for all of yall that are like me.
Monday: Played tons of bored games with the Elders close to us in Morant Bay. I'm kinda cracked at them sometimes.
Tuesday: Went on an exchange with one of our APs, Elder Gillings. He goes home tomorrow so it was nice to learn a ton of stuff from a seasoned missionary. He's Jamaican and he's coming home to the area I serve in. Our Key Indicators our going to be soaring for this last week of the transfer!
Wednesday: Ended the exchange and ended up having to drive all the way to Kingston, instead of meeting halfway. This took up the most of our day. On our way home, we were trying to fill up some emergency water jugs for some of the Elders in my district. As we were driving down there road down to the main one, we just started hearing something flapping against the car, and it almost sounded like it was next to the Wheel. We stop and check it out. Turns out there's 3 screws in a piece of fabric just chilling in a water puddle I drove over. We hurried and changed it. It's kind of annoying that I've had to change like 4 tires on my mission in thr last 3 months and I've never had to do it before. I feel like I'm definitely going to have skme crazy trial in like 30 years and I'll be like "wow, I'm so glad I changed 4 tires in 3 months in Jamaica. I know exactly what to do". Well see though.
Thursday: we came back with the spare tire to actually fill up the water jugs for the Elders. As soon as we start driving it's raining literal cats and dogs. A cyclone apparently came through/around Jamaica and it was just raining hard with no chance at stopping. The windshield wipers were swiping as fast as they could, but the rain was going faster. I don't think I've ever been so blind while driving, ever. It also rained super hard this night
Friday: we wake up and start doing our usual morning tings. Around 8 am the power goes out. Oh well, this is normal, and happens often. Then our service goes out and we need to make calls. This isn't too common and usually is fixable. We get in the car and start driving to our usual spot to get service. We get about halfway there and there's just tons of dirt and rocks everywhere. We get told almost instantly that we need to turn around. Apparently 2 of the light posts had fallen down. Not even like had the post broken, but all the rain moved all the ground around the poles. There was literally nothing there to support them, so they fell. The rest of the community was similar with everything falliig down or apart. A foolish man definitely built all of this, because a wise man wouldve done a much better job. We started driving another way to try and get service, and we started getting a little uneasy about everything. It started raining hard again while we were driving and were a little skeptical about conditions where we were staying at. So we decided to pack and go spend the day with the Morant Bay Elders to try and be more productive and safe. Getting out of there was just about impossible. I drove through what felt/looked like 3 feet of water. Never have been so nervous in my life. This road is pretty famous for potholes too, and a pothole right then and there would've ended us. However we get to the place in decent condition and continued on with our regularly scheduled missionary day.
Saturday: we drove back to our area pretty close to first thing in the morning. We wanted to check out what conditions were and talk with people and see how long it would take for everything to get back up and running. We call one of our recent converts and she says it'll be Monday at the earliest, but most likely middle of next week. We decided were gonna keep staying at the other Elders apartment and go back to the area for our proselyting days. We drive back with all our food so it doesn't spoil. After we continued on with our usual proselyting efforts.
Sunday: I check my phone when I wake up at 6:30 and see that I got a text from the same recent converts telling us that lights and service are back in the area. We grab all our stuff and bring it back to the area and hurry and get church set up and everything. With the mess we had the last couple of days, church still ended up bring pretty good. A couple of less actives showed up and we ended up having to rebless the water in the Sacrament because we didn't have enough for everyone. I never thought that would happen out here. Then we continued on with our usually missionary efforts.
Earlier in the week (couldnt tell you what day honestly. All of them have blended together) , I got a call from our ZLs telling me that I was going to give a training in zone conference this upcoming Tuesday (tomorrow). I spent a good chunk of Sunday (and most of like 3 or 4 personal studies) just figuring out what I wanted to share. I think and overthink and ponder lowkey way too much about this stuff and it takes me a while to figure out what im actually going to say. I think I have it pretty figures out by this morning though. I'm waiting to just feel like I need to scratch everything tomorrow though and just go off the spirit.
Overall this week has been forever. Aftwr writing this all out, theres definitely things I look back on and wish I knew and wish I did better at. However, that's what life is for. To learn, to recognize, and to improve. I definitely needed this week to help me in the rest of my mission, and honestly my life. As we rely on Christ, everything becomes better.
Love you all, big up yuhselves
Elder Turnbow
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