My how time flies when you’re having fun!! We have been working hard this week. We received a call from Food for the Poor saying they had received a shipment of Hygiene Kits. They let us know when they arrive and we get to have some of the kits for our own distribution. We were very excited to hear this as we are going to be doing quite a bit with these little gems. Many of the branches will be doing service projects with worthy (ie. needy) organizations and at the end of the service; the local Priesthood will hand out these wonderful kits to help the organization with their critical need for Hygiene items. It took two trips to get them and as always Elder Mortensen was up for the challenge of helping us again.
This trip was on the same day as Zone Conference in the Kingston Zone and during a break they were able to help us unload the first two truckloads. We started unloading them with just Dad and I and Elder Mortensen . We worked for 15 minutes and were still on the first truckload. Then there was a break at Zone Conference, and with it the Young Elder and Sisters…10 minutes later they had both trucks unloaded and neatly stacked for us! The final load was unloaded by the three of us again but it was only ½ a load so we were done in about 20 minutes. We were so thankful for youthful muscles…you know the Elders were showing off for the Sisters and that is why things happened so quickly but they were all laughing and having a good time. It is so fun to work with these wonderful young men and women.
Saturday (the 22nd) we ended back in Spanish Town. We got a call from the Elders there and they said they were rather ‘hairy’ and ‘full of holes’ and could Mom help them out. I guess the word of free haircuts and clothing repair is out. So Mom spent the morning making the elders handsome and modest again.
We also went to May Pen to look into a few possible projects there. One was at the May Pen Infirmary. The picture below is of one of the rooms that the May Pen Branch painted during the International Day of Service Nov. 2013. The residents remembered Pres. Piper, he is the Mandeville District President, who was with us. He recounted that he knew Pres. Pipers Grandfather. They had a nice little chat.
This is Elder Murdock when I walked by the gentle man below reached out to shake my hand. Well he didn’t really want to shake my hand he just wanted to hold my hand. He could not talk he just held my hand and smiled. So I put my other hand on his shoulder and talked to him for a while. He was kind of sad when after a while we had to go, I almost had to pry my hand from his hand. If you get a chance visit the elderly sometimes they just need some company and someone to hold their hand.
Then we went to Faith Basic School. They have children 3-6 years old. It is a school that is trying to get by on their own resources. They have tuition and uniform requirements but never turn a child away because all children need an education even if they cannot pay. We were so impressed with this school and how they care for the children. The Principal attended this school when she was small and one of the current teachers had the principal for a teacher when they were small. Seeing that type of dedication to this little school was really a marvelous thing.
Below are some of the sweet little faces attending here.
The blackboards are wall partitions that separate the classrooms. Look at all the posters. It looks like something my sister Vicky would make only here it is a necessity. The teachers make all the teaching aids and even hand write or down load material from the internet for daily lessons. Each lesson is then copied and handed out the students.
We went to the airport and picked up Elder and Sister Hunsaker and Elder and Sister Harris yesterday. They are from SLC and are here to develop a vision project. I hope we will be able to participate in this project before we head home. We will be learning more about this as the week goes by. This will be a development trip to plan for the actual project that we anticipate will happen in August. More on this next week.
As always we love and miss you a lot. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. Today is Bodi Bitton our oldest granddaughters birthday. We want to wish her the very best Heavenly Father has to offer in her life. As we all know, that happens with our individual choices. And Bodi is wonderful in making true and correct choices. She is a beautiful young lady and has a great fun loving and sweet spirit. Everyone who meets her loves this wonderful granddaughter of ours. But, she has great parents to teach her too! We love you Bodi!!! May you all have a blessed week…
Love
Mom and Dad
E/S Murdock
