Likkel (little) more from the Murdocks
Hope you had a great Easter. We had lots of fun meeting Easter week when both Districts on the Island had a Family Fun day in Mandeville around 900 members attended. All the Branches chartered bus’s to take the members to Mandeville (most members do not have enough money for this kind of a trip).
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| Just trying to be a kid. |
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| We all sat down to have our picture taken and this gentleman and his granddaughter decided they wanted their picture taken too and jumped into the shot…they love to have you take their pictures. |
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| Lots of time was spent writing reports for the wheelchair program. Food For The Poor received a new shipment of wheelchairs from the Church. |
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| Jamaican’s love Dominoes. Anywhere we drive you can see men on the side of the road playing dominoes. When they put down a new domino they slap it down as hard and as fast as they can. This bounces the other dominoes all over and they have to re-arrange the them every time a new piece is slammed down. The man on the left is President Durrant, if you remember he is the one we gave some toys to and he used them to start a nursery in his Branch. |
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| Mom makes friends everywhere we go. This one’s name is Carrie. She is about 25 years old but looks 15! These Jamaican women look so young!! She said “Please take a picture of us together!” Here it is…lol
We had a Missionary Zone Conference, General Conference, and Priesthood session of Conference. The sisters stayed at the Mission Home and made Banana splits. They all enjoyed visiting together.
I think there were about 300 wheelchairs in this shipment. It has been a while since we received any chairs so these are already spoken for and the recipients are anxious to get their chairs. Our next shipment will be in about 6 months. We are planning a training course for new Wheelchair Assessors and a refresher course for those who were trained in the last training.
The rest of our time was spent writing an agenda for Bennie Lilly our Area Welfare Manager and his assistant Brother Acosta (soon to be our new Area Welfare Manager) visit to Jamaica. They are coming to talk to Food For the Poor about the wheelchair program and to visit some of the Priesthood members we are working with to start some new Short-Term Food Projects (chicken projects). We responsible for setting up all the meetings, Motels reservation, and travel arrangements for the visit. Bro Lilly is bringing his wife this trip. Bro. Lilly has been the Area Welfare Manager for 5 years and this will be his wife’s first visit to Jamaica. They will be going home in June so this is likely the last trip for them. Bro. Lilly was here in November of last year and January of this year. We are fortunate to have been able to see him so often. Most Area Managers don’t make the trip to see their missionaries the way Bro. Lilly has.
Zone Conference was wonderful. Pres. Hendricks spoke on the four kinds of missionaries. #1 is Disobedient; he complains and disobeys the mission rules. He will do things his way or not at all. He usually ends up going home and struggles to complete anything in his life. He is miserable most of the time and will struggle with activity in the gospel. He feels shame when he thinks of his mission. #2 is Disobedient as well. He obeys but complains about everything and is seldom happy. He will complete his mission, but quickly returns to his ‘normal’ life and feels relief that the last two years are over. He will feel some shame upon returning. #3 is an Obedient Missionary. He sacrifices to go on his mission. His heart is on home, wondering how things are there. He will return home and wonder if he has done all he could to be a good missionary. #4 is Obedient as well…he consecrates his time and talents to the Lord for these two years. He is never the same after he completes his mission. The rest of his life is changes because of his service to the Lord. He wears his missionary badge in his heart for the rest of his days. Most people think being #3 is ok…and I guess that’s fine for some. But what about ‘what could have been’ if you truly consecrated your heart to the Lord for these two years? What blessings will you be giving up? What more could you have done with the rest of your life? …just something to think about…
Listening to Conference this weekend has been wonderful. Such inspiring messages of hope, love, and obedience… The weekend went by so fast!
Know that the Lord lives and loves us as his children. He gave us a plan of happiness…no sense in letting a good plan go to waste…
Love to all
Mom and Dad
E/S Murdock
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