November 17, 2013

Dear Family and Friends

Sister Murdock is singing in the Churches Jamaican Christmas Devotional.  Jamaican’s and Missionaries from all over the Island are participating in the choir.  The program is open to the public on the hope we can let more people know more about the Church and help them understand that we believe in Christ and are Christian Church.  Members of the church can only come to the Christmas Program if they bring a non-member or less active member.  This Christmas Devotional will be streamed online on Dec. 21, 2013 at 12 pm (noon)-2 pm Utah time.  We will send the link when we know what it is. Sister Murdock is praying for a back row position for the performance!

 We got to deliver another wheelchair to a 16 year old young man.  He has had his disability since birth. So he has never gone to school and he is a very quiet and shy young man.  He was excited about his new chair so he can get out of the house and move around the neighborhood.  When we asked if he was going to go to school now that he had his new chair, he simply and quietly said no.  Talking to his mother she said because he has not been out of the house much he is too shy to be around all the other kids and there is no provision for a wheelchair at the schools. Hopefully he will get around a little more now that he has his new chair and make some new friends.

 This is the road leading up to his home.  All the scenery here in Jamaica is very pretty.

 We got approval to start the Food Initiative projects in Yallahs.  Ten Families are going to raise chickens.  8 Families are going to raise Broiler Chickens and 2 Families are going to raise Layer Chickens.  The all the families will build a chicken coop, get chickens (100 broilers or 40 layers) and enough feed to see them through the first little bit of the project.   It is the purpose of the program to help the families become more self-reliant.   The people in the picture are the Branch Leaders.  The young Missionary with the yellow tie it the Branch President.  His name is Elder Stuart and he is from Woodruff, UT.  They are going to form a committee with all the families that are going to participate in the program.  They decided to name the committee the Chicken Council Committee.

We are still working on the Wheelchair Training class that the Church will be doing here in January and February.  There will be three full trainings and one refresher course taught.  We will also have the Cullimore’s here in January checking on the other Food Initiative Projects that have been going on since 2010. So our January is already pretty booked up.  March will take us to the Dominican Republic for a week for our Area Humanitarian Training.  It seems the time is really moving so quickly now.

We admonish each of you to hold your testimonies sacred…Keep it alive and flourishing in your lives and actions. The Lord is truly hastening his time and there will be many temptations and excuses for not doing what you know is right.  Hold to the Rod dear family and friends.  The gospel is true…

Love Dad and Mom

Elder and Sister Murdock