It's All Good

We fly from Kingston to Seattle in 4 days and then to Alaska the next week.  It's all good!  

One More Week

Dear Family and Friends,

Right now we are at our friends home using their computer to write our last note home.  We still don't have use of a computer without begging time at other's home.  We have missed talking to children and keeping up on emails.  Our pictures are stored on my camera so when we get home, I will be able to organize and enjoy the memories of the last few months.  We have finished our last "normal" week of the mission.  Next week we are touring the island and enjoying the beautiful parts of Jamaica that we have not seen.  

There is so much to analyze and evaluate about the work here.  Perhaps it will take some time home to put it in perspective.  We exit Jamaica with heavy hearts. leaving people we have loved and served for the last 18 months.  But we are so excited to come home to wonderful children, new grandchildren and friends in Alaska.  (I can't wait to be in Walmart....sorry Kaleb).  We have began the "thinning" process and dividing our accumulated items to missionaries/members.  We put all our canned goods to take to a member family that has a little store.  Perhaps they can sell them a make a few dollars. 

Our last Teacher Development class will be taught tomorrow. Our last real assignment will be speaking in Sacrament Meeting next week. 

Just want you to know that we felt your prayers through our whole mission.  So many life-changing experiences.    Thank you for all the love and support.  See you soon

Love, Elder and Sister Herbert 

PS>   I am having a very hard time adding pictures because I don't know how to make them smaller on this computer...Can't wait to get home to a MAC!!. 

These cows were coming down a street and I had to snap a picture.  The man yelled out to me that I needed to give him some money (for the picture).  I told him he should give me money because he was blocking the street and holding us up. He smiled and went on.  I am getting brave ....

2nd and 3rd pictures:  Young women in Spanish Town.  They were learning how to decorate cakes.  So cute.  Last Sunday they had their New Beginnings.  It was wonderful with these Young Women draped in their value colored sashes.  

4th pic... 4 baptisms last week.  So exciting in Spanish Town.

5th:  zinc fences around the homes.

Sorry!

Dear Family and friends.

So much has happened these last few weeks.  Not the least of which is that we have not had a computer....AGAIN!....  We depend of them so much.  Our BORROWED computer got a terrible virus and the hard drive needed to be erased and re-everythinged.... I am not sure we will have a computer before we leave.  Since I have no computer, I have no way to send pictures and even a nice letter.  I have been hand-writing the things that go on so I won't forget them. However I am using an office computer at the moment and will not have access to it often.

.Anyway, just want you to know that we are well and happy.   Time is flying by.  It will not be long before we will be home and this will be a life changing memory.  We love you all.

Elder and Sister Herbert

Grrr...

Our borrowed computer is down so I won't be able to call or email for a few days.

A Good Week

We participated in a wonderful memorial service for Elder Walker at the Spanish Town building.  All the missionaries in Jamaica were able to travel  and participate.  President Hendricks is so wise to bring all the elders together and teach them (one more time) about the plan of salvation.  Elder Coleman of the 70 was here with his wife.  They both gave great talks and everyone was edified.  Since this has all happened President Hendricks has been interviewed several times by newspaper people.  They all want to know if he is pulling out the missionaries, if the church is going to sue the police, if the church blames Jamaica, and other such inquires.  It is so funny to hear him repeat over and over that the church blames no one, that the church is staying here in Jamaica, and that this was not a tragedy.   Without the perspective of Eternity, I can see why some would be inconsolable.  It seems the newspapers want to make this into some sensational.

Elder Walker’s little sister was there.  What a beautiful young lady.   Her aunts and uncles have taken her in.  I know she is very lonely without her brother and mother.  But she is in a place where she feels loved. 

Fun with Senior Couples

One of the fun things on a mission is the friends you make.  We have had some wonderful experiences with the other senior couples.  A few weeks ago we went down the Rio Grand River on banana boats.  It was quite an experience.  We spent a few hours on the river, had a wonderful, traditional lunch, then another hour down to the take-out place.  When we were finished,  assistants pulled the boats back up the river (about six miles) by hand….all barefoot.  The boat captain allowed Mike and I both to go to the front and used the stick to guide the boat.  Lots of fun.

George

George is our wheelchair friend.  A few weeks ago he told us of one of his dreams.  (He is the one who was stabbed in the back, cutting his spinal cord, leaving him a paraplegic).  He said someday he wants to walk up to bear his testimony.  We talked of finding him a walker to start with.  Today at church there was a lady who had a walker and George traded her for the day. She was having trouble getting around with her walker, so George, being George, just traded her for the day.  He was so slow and careful but he walked up (with the walker) to the front and bore his testimony.  The whole congregation sat stunned and you could have heard a pin drop as he made his way to the front.  It took all his concentration and his legs shook the whole time, but he made it.  (I told Mike I wanted to take a picture.  He just rolled his eyes and said something like, “you can’t”, which made me want to do it even more.  But I didn’t take it.)  However it is etched in my brain and I am so thankful to be here and see it.  I think the whole audience wanted to cry.  This is the guy who gets in his wheelchair and goes over an hour to get to church every week.  He is always here and always early.    What a great inspiration to us all.

I know this is short.  So much more has happened, but much sounds the same.   One of the wonderful things about being a missionary is that life is really simple.  We get up, exercise, study, find, teach, visit, visit, visit.  We have so few other cares.  I think when we go back to “real life,” it will be hard to manage all that is required of normal people.

We are getting excited to come home….but trying not to think about it.  We love you.

The seven Elders that were in the van with Elder Walker at the time of the shooting….and Elder Walker’s little sister.

Mike pulling banana boat

Things Are Never as Ugly As They Seem

This week has been such an emotional one.   Tonight we spoke at a missionary fireside.  It was so fun and the love we feel from and for the Jamaican people is amazing. It is hard to explain the extreme “highs” and “lows” that come with where we are and what we are doing.  We (sister Flake and myself) had two people approach us asking for information about our church.  After talking with them, they both want to be taught by the elders.  Elder Walker’s death has softened hearts and made people want to know why this young Jamaican was serving for two years….what we are all about….  There are lots of rumors about the church here and this has brought it all to the front.  Many think this is a “white man’s” church and they are surprised to see their own people serving as missionaries.

We took Elder Osberg (the elder who got glass in his eye) to the Ophthalmologist twice this week.  He has no permanent damage.  I communicated with his mother on FaceBook for which she was extremely grateful.  I am so inspired by these young elders.

Another quote from the Schaefermeyer’s note: 

Recall with us the story of the tapestry,

There was a little boy sitting at his mother's feet as she was sewing a tapestry. After a long while of him gazing up, he had this strange look on his face.  His mother asked him, "Darling, What is the matter?"

His reply was, "Mommy, that is the ugliest thing I have ever seen!"

His mother turned her tapestry over, and He was right!  It was ugly.  There were knots, and strings and threads and they were all crossed in various ways and it WAS ugly!

His mother replied, "Oh sweetie, you are right, but you are looking at it all wrong!

You see, if you look at it from up here, it is beautiful!"  With that she turned the tapestry over for him to see. It WAS beautiful. It was perfectly stitched.  "The little boy replied with joy, "OH Mommy! It is PERFECT!" I couldn't see what you saw!

That is exactly how this life is for us. We see things from underneath; from our human perspective. The entire time, GOD is weaving the tapestry of our lives from up above, and He sees our lives from HIS perspective. He sees the right side of that tapestry.

God is weaving something beautiful with the fabric of our lives and we are each a unique thread in God’s beautiful tapestry.  Some of us are long threads and some of us are shorter ones.  Elder Walker had a shorter thread, but it was woven into just the right place.  It was the right color, the right length and highlighted all the threads around his.

Just want you to know that we never feel afraid.  We feel protected and led every day.

Tiny Blessings to Lift the Spirit

Yesterday I was getting a temple recommend interview (because I had lost my purse with the recommend in it).  Right in the middle of the conversation I got a call from Price Savers (a huge Costco like store here).  Someone had found my purse and wanted to return it to me.  We immediately got in the car and drove to Spanish town to find the address.  We went to a very rough area where I found the man who said they found the purse.  Oshane went with us to help us find the home.  The man (Christopher) said the back pack was found in the bushes and my purse was inside. 

A preliminary investigation found most everything was intact.  All my checks, credit cards, license, debit card, were there. (Of course I had already cancelled them)!   The backpack containing Elder Poulsen’s scriptures and ID were there.   Of course the computer and camera were gone…… I gave the guy 2000 Jamaica dollars for helping us…about $23 American.  We took the elder’s stuff to him.  It was such a relief to get the purse back…. To know no one had my checks to use is such a blessing.

The Schaefermeyers invited us to dinner.  We went and they offered us this extra computer to use while we are here.  It belongs to the Humanitarian missionaries, but they both have their own and do not need another one.  I am so grateful to be able to write my journal, skype, and email friends.  So I went back for the past several months and found old emails to get your addresses.  I'm sure I have left some out and perhaps added some new addresses.

Rasta Village- MoBay Spiritual Leader

At Port Royal