I love Jamaica :)

Let's do this email thing again! I say this every week, but the weeks are flying by! I can't even believe how fast time is going... I wish it would slow down!! 

This week was Elder Aguirre's birthday. Conveniently, it was on the same day as district meeting so of course we floured him after district meeting. And then later our entire district had a meal appointment at a member's house, so of course we floured him again. Success. 

I got super sick last week... so we had to stay in for a few hours on two different days and man it was the worst! I just wanted to be outside working but nope couldn't really get out of bed. Saturday evening we'd been home for like an hour and a half and I was like "I can't do this anymore we have to go teach!" So we went and had a lesson. We were on our way home and I'm thinking "Oh maybe this was a bad idea... I don't know if I can make it home... Uh oh." When all of the sudden a member pulled up in her car next to us! She said that she didn't know why she was driving down that road but she just felt like she should and could she give us a ride wherever we were going? The Lord is mindful of His children and He will always provide a way for us to do what we need to do :) 

We got to our investigator Joe's, house for a lesson last week. We were planning on introducing the Book of Mormon to him. When we got there, we heard the Book of Mormon playing on CD... and we were sort of confused. When he came out, we asked him where he got the CD's and he said his friend that introduced him to the church gave them to him. It was like four in the afternoon and he'd been listening to the CDs since really early that morning. He asked us to teach him more about the Book because he felt so good when he was listening to it. And then he accepted a baptism date in the lesson. And he walked about forty five minutes to and from church by himself this week... and he was at sacrament a half hour before it started! Man I'm so excited for him. 

We had FOUR INVESTIGATORS in church on Sunday! You guys, I almost fell out of my chair I was so happy. That's more than I've ever had at church at one time my entire time in Old Harbour. It's amazing. It was a miracle. I love this gospel. I've never experienced so much joy in my life than what I've experienced on my mission. I never want this experience to end... I could stay out here for the rest of my life and be perfectly content. I love Jamaica. I love the Bahamas. I love these islands, I love these people, and I love this gospel. I am just more and more humbled every week when I think of how much trust the Lord must have in us as young missionaries to send us out here to share something so precious with the world. I don't think I'll ever be able to wrap my head around how He could trust me, of all people, to be the one to share this gospel with these people here... but somehow He did trust me, and I will never be able to repay Him. I thought I was coming on a mission to pay Heavenly Father back for everything He's given me, but this experience has just blessed me so much more than I ever expected and I'll never be able to repay Him.

I love this gospel. I love you all. Have a wonderful week and don't forget to pray and read your scriptures this week :) 

The church is true! 

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman 

Be not deceived by how beautiful of a day it was!  It was 1,000,000 degrees out!!

When we saw the sunset, we looked at each other and blurted out in unison, "It's the second coming!" And then we started laughing hysterically in the middle of the road. Not sure why it was so funny looking back... but hey it's always good to have a good laugh right?

Flouring Elder Aguirre after district meeting :) 

Zone Conference

The Manner of Happiness

This week was one of the busiest weeks I've ever had on a mission. We had so many people to see that we had to speed walk/jog to our appointments and take shorter lunch and dinner breaks. It was the best week ever. 

We had a lesson with one of our investigators on Tuesday. Oh my goodness I love that lady so much. She just started bearing her testimony in the lesson on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and how she came to know it's all true. I think my favorite part about missionary work is seeing these people go from knowing next to nothing about anything we teach to bearing their testimony about it all. And seeing the changes in their lives that go along with those testimonies... it's definitely a huge testimony builder to me. Hearing her testimony just completely filled my heart with joy... I never knew it was possible to be this happy until I came on a mission. Even when days are hard and it's hot and we're tired and no one wants to listen to us, we're still happy... and that's how I know the gospel is true. 

In other news, I hit my 500 day mark last week. That seems like a lot of days... weird. 

We have a new Sunday night tradition. We come in for dinner, make bread sticks and marinara sauce, and then eat them on our couch while watching part of Meet the Mormons and talking about life until our dinner hour is over. This was the second Sunday we've done it and it's officially my favorite thing. I think I'll continue this tradition for the rest of my life. 

Alright. Cool story time!! 

We met someone who may very well be the most prepared person I've ever met on my mission last week. Here's what went down:
A recent convert in the elders' area, Brother Wright, had a friend he wanted us to meet. We went to have our first lesson with his friend and he told us that three weeks ago, he woke up in the middle of the night and heard a voice tell him to stop smoking and find a church. He stopped smoking that day... it's been three weeks since he's smoked. Which is a really big deal here. And the day after that happened, he was talking to Brother Wright and Brother Wright told him he should start meeting with us. He was very accepting when we invited him to be baptized, and he was at church a half an hour before sacrament meeting started yesterday. He is so cool and I'm so excited to work with him!! 

I love this scripture:

"And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." -2 Nephi 5:27

The thing that I love about this scripture is that they weren't living easy lives when Nephi wrote this. They were working hard to get food and shelter and clothing for their families, and I'm sure they faced all sorts of trials. But you know what? They had the gospel. They had the temple. They had a prophet. They had eternal families. And so even if their lives weren't going exactly the way they had planned, they could still live "after the manner of happiness." And you guys, guess what? We have all of those things too! So even if our lives don't go exactly how we'd like them to, and we hit some road blocks and speed bumps here and there, we can still be happy. :) 

Well that's all for now, folks! Love you all!! Have a great week :) 

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman 

A street in our area.

The best pasta I've ever had at this random ridiculously nice restaurant we found a few weeks ago.  Totally random for this part of Jamaica.  

The scripture case we made for our investigator's birthday present!!

The final wrapped product (yay for recycling things that were sent to me)!

Me & Sister Douglas!  I love this lady!!

One of my investigator's niece

We have a new Sunday night tradition.  And I'm going to do it for the rest of my life.  During our dinner hour, we make bread sticks and marinara sauce, and then we eat it on the couch while watching Meet the Mormons.  Best tradition ever!!