August 17, 2014

Wah Gwan in Jamaica

Our week started of great with Family Home Evening at President Brown’s home with the Senior Missionaries.  Then it got sad as we had to say good bye to some really good friends.  Yes this great adventure is coming to an end.   Time has gone by all too fast.  Try as we may to slow down time it just keeps dragging us kicking and screaming ever closer to the end.  Only thoughts of seeing our family again brighten our days.

 During the week we visited with President Pearson and Sister Pearson.    President Pearson formally, Elder Pearson is now second Councilor in the Mission Presidency. Their apartment is on the SEA and we took a couple of hours to go Snorkeling.  Look I found a little mermaid.  Mom here…Dad has such an imagination We did have a great time. We actually were able to take the whole day to recharge our batteries. We went to the Luminous Waters by Falmouth for the evening. It is a magical place where the waters glow at night when you make waves. We took a boat ride out in the bay and some people got out of the boat and went swimming and made the water glow all around them. If you put your cupped hand in the water and lifted it out it looked like you had a handful of stars. There are only three places in the world with these bio phosphorescence (wrong spelling) properties in the water. There has to be just the right mixture of salt water, fresh water, temperature and other scientific stuff that I can’t remember. It was a little like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia waving his magic wand and the fireworks appeared.  We didn’t have all the colors, just yellow, but it looked like a glow stick was spilled in the sea. It was awesome. We tried and tried to take pictured but none of them turned out.

 How many fish can you find?  Their well camouflaged so you may have zoom in on the picture.

 Back at the apartment we cleaned and cleaned to get ready for Elder and Sister Whitehead. And we are not done yet! They will be taking our place and are arriving August 25 and we still have lots of cleaning and Humanitarian work to do before they get here.

Our week ended with Sunday meeting in Ocho Rios Branch. I can’t remember this young man’s name but he was baptized earlier this year. He is a great young man with a growing testimony. These pictures were taken after church. The members like to stay around and visit for a while. Today someone brought a fruit cake to share so the members got a little snack before they returned home after church.

 This is Sister Rampasard and Sister McClean . Sister Rampasard lives in New. Jersey and comes back home to Jamaica for a visit several times a year. Sister McClean is the Relief Society President and also the Chorister for sacrament meeting. She is planning on attending the Temple in September. She is a great lady.

 This is Tracy and Rohan Francis. They are a great couple. They were baptized about 4 months ago. He is the Young Men’s President and she teaches Relief Society. They are such a great example of love and dedication to the gospel.

Our hearts were saddened this week with the unexpected death of Ed Munger, mom’s brother in law. He will be missed by our family. Uncle Ed was an extremely talented man. He was a great artist working with oil paints, wood or whatever medium he could find. There was nothing he couldn’t do if he decided he wanted to try it. He couldn’t sing but he could play the harmonica or the bagpipes so well you would cry with emotion at hearing him play. He had a tender heart and a special love for his wife Jan, their children Jerry and Marie, and of course the grandchildren were the joy of his heart. He will be missed so much. How incredibly thankful we are to have the temple blessing that bind and seal our families together forever…Such tender mercies the Lord gives us to have been given the opportunity to be sealed together.  If you have not taken advantage of the Temple blessings the Lord is offering, we implore you to make yourselves ready and go. Do what is necessary to put your lives in compliance with God’s will, and do it. Our lives do not end with our death. It goes on and if we want that same association we have in our families here on earth to continue, we must do as He asks us. I can’t imagine life without each of my family members here or after we die. I want you all to be with us…together forever. Of course just being sealed is not the end either. We must continue faithful throughout our lives.

Take care our family and friends. ..we will be seeing you all soon…

Love

Mom and dad

Elder and Sister Murdock