Go Forward with Faith: 9th Transfer: Week 2 : OUCH!!!, Coconuts and Washing Clothes

Walking down a steep road in
Granville. Pretty tiring:).
LOTS OF STEEP ROADS
in these little towns.

HEY MOTHERRR. So I hope you are not too worried about seeing me use the card at the doctors BUT I actually had a really BAD infection on my finger. It turned GREEN and was very swollen. It hurt so bad. It kept growing and growing every day. I thought that it was an ingrown fingernail or a fungus. I went into the doctor and she put me on medication. I started to use the medication and it only got WORSE. So I went back in on Friday when the infection started to get under the nail. She had to do a "mini surgery" on my finger to get all the infection out. She was really worried about the finger so she swabbed it and took that into the lab. She cut off part of my nail, some of my skin surrounding the nail and the ingrown fingernail on the side. She didn't numb it or anything. It was SO PAINFUL but I didn't cry. I just kept thinking to myself "Joseph Smith endured more than this!". So when it was done I started to joke around with the doctor. It was painful but nonetheless everything is alright... it will take a while for my finger to heal. I have to take medication and keep a bandage around it :) This one pill is so HUGE that I can't take it. I've even cut it in half.

My poor finger! and all of the meds
I have to take.

President Brown asked if I cried and I told him that I didn't. My companions were like " I can't believe you handled it like that!! I would be crying so bad!". They make me laugh. But it did hurt... to where I said in a louder voice.. "are you almost done?!". It is on my right hand which I use to write which is hard but it's doing better. Sister Brown (President Brown's wife) and I had a really good laugh about my finger. She said she will try to convince President Brown to let us sister missionaries go and get a real good manicure. I just love this mission.

President Brown came to our branch yesterday for church. That went great. He kept looking at my finger and saying "Ouch!" haha. He is like a father figure.

We having washing machines but we have to buy tokens to use them. We can hang our clothes on the line outside to dry. We don't have dressers (and other needs in our apartment) however we will be getting dressers sometime soon.....maybe next week. We bought "homie" type things today to put inside our apartment so things should be good with that.

As for missionary work here in Montego Bay, yes it is adventurous but it is such a blast. I am making great memories right now. It's hard work, but WORTH IT :) I will gain a reward after serving the Lord. He is my greatest friend. We have 4 investigators with a baptismal date. Danny, Colette, Sasha, and Theo. They are great! Sasha is 9 years old and she is the cutest thing. Her parents are excited for her willingness to be baptized. Colette is working out some living arrangements before she gets baptized.. and Danny is SO GREAT! He reads the Book of Mormon every day and he reads and prays with his family. So he is excited about baptism. It is actually next Sunday that he will be baptized so pray for him! :) Theo.. he is a funny guy we are still working with him.

Danny and Donovan cut us
jelly coconuts! They are so good!!!
They are our investigators.

Oh, did I mention how much i love Mo-BAY? and the members here?! AH, they are amazing. I just love them! We are really close to this one member, his name is Brother Armstrong. He is an older guy. He acts like he is my dad all of the time. He calls me Georgia (Georgya) and he KISSED MY FINGER!!! He was hilarious. I love that guy. He feeds us and gives us water every time we are around his neck of the woods. He comes out and walks with us to our appointments at night in his town. The men get so angry at him because he is walking with the 3 of us girls. Poor Brother Armstrong!

We only have about 30 active members here in Montego Bay. It's a small branch but a little bit bigger than Ochi. The only difference is that we have a church building here but not a lot show up. It's still hot with bugs and so forth but the GOSPEL is so great and brings me such happiness that there is no time to be down with the situation. I really have been the happiest I have been in YEARSS. We don't have the best living circumstances, we walk up mountains to preach the gospel and its sooo hott. BUT its the best

Donovan cutting the coconut :)

experience of my LIFE! and I know it is because of the happiness that the gospel brings me. I have really gotten to know my Savior on a more personal level. He is so great mom. I read this morning (in personal study) the introduction and the testimonies of the witnesses. I then read Joseph Smith's account. It was the coolest thing to read!!! It really helped me to have a better understanding and actually know that this book is TRUE. The Lord is so loving to give us the Book of Mormon. I thank him every day for the tools that we have. I was thinking about this this morning. When I get back home, I want to get new Books of Mormon and read them one by one. When I am done with one Book of Mormon I will put it on my shelf and begin another. I want to do that throughout my life. President Brown gave me a great idea as well. He said that due to all of the driving he does, he listens to the Book of Mormon CD's in the car. He said that by doing that he can read the Book of Mormon in one week!! How cool is that?! I want to do a study with dad, or even with the family, by us all reading the Bible. That would be great. Talk about the knowledge we will gain!! woohoo! It's great.

You cut part of the shell off of the coconut and
use that to eat the jelly on the inside.

The teaching and the training is going very good. Sister Mundle is so great. She wants to become the missionary that Heavenly Father sees her becoming. I JUST LOVE HER. She grew up with Sister Bailey so we are definitely making plans for after the mission for the 3 of us to get together.

This was a crazy experience this week. We were in Wendy's and we saw this homeless guy. He came up to us and said "oh, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I went to that church every Sunday in California but I killed a man back in 19** (I don't remember the date he said ) because he murdered my sister so they brought me back to Jamaica." He was trying to get some food in Wendy's and they kept kicking him out. People were laughing and making fun of him. It was SO SAD to see...so I gave him the rest of my french fries and walked out. But other than that everything has been fine and my finger will soon be healed :)

Also.. I forgot to mention to you.. the only reason why I used my home card was because I actually lost my church card on my way to Montego Bay (from all the airports and the transition) so I had to call the office and they are ordering me a new card. I won't get that until next week so they said they will put money on Sister Schwendimans card. So hopefully we will get that today but if not I will use the home card only when necessary. Sorry about that.

LOVE YOU MOTHER AND TELL DAD THAT I LOVE HIM AS WELL! AND THE REST OF THE FAMILY! HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK! STAY SAFE, BE HEALTHY AND HAPPPPPPYYYYYYYY!!!!! I will take my meds don't worrrryy about me mom I will be fine!! LOVE YOUUU MY FAMMILLLYYY!!!

-Sis Judd

Hand washing at our apartment! woohoo!

Our washing machine, and where we hang out things to dry!