Kingston, Jamaica on Thrusday.May 27, 2010

Greetings  to all.  Many of you have called to express your concern about us.  We were scheduled to meet with Brother Brown in Kingston today but he called and suggested he come to Mandeville to meet with us due to the circumstances in Kingston.  Well last night late I got a call from Elder Chessman in the mission office who asked if we could go to  Santa Cruz and pick up Elder Allen who needed to see a Doctor due to some urgent health issues. So naturally we could not refuse so I got up at 5:30 am and drove 35 min the opposite way to get the Elder Allen and his companion Elder Johnson.  Both are native Jamaicans serving in their own country. I was a bit concerned about entering Kingston but everything went well.  We also needed to go to PriceSmart to return a fan and get another one so Brother Brown called to determine if it was safe or not as there had been  an incident in that area this morning.  We got a call back from one of  members of the church who said it was ok so we got our shopping done and met the sister who works there. Since there was not a confirmed Doctors appointment when we arrived at 9:30 am in Kingston we were a bit worried about getting out of the city before 5 pm.  As things worked out Elder Allen was on his way back to the office just as we returned from shopping.  As inspiration would happen we did buy a large hawaiian pizza at PriceSmart.  (a store like Costco but smaller in scale) Fran thought the AP's would surely get some lunch for the Elders but I knew that would not happen and it didn't.  We left Kingston at about 2:30 pm and stopped at Michhi, another store like Target, on our way out of town.  On the road again we had pizza and drinks on the way  home to Mandeville.  While we were approximately 20 minutes away from the war zone  in Kingston there were no incidents and life is pretty much going on as usual around the other parts of Kingston.  We are about 1 hr and 15 min out of the city and we are safe.  The press is acurate in reporting the trouble and we are not taking it lightly but want all of you to know we are OK.  Thanks for your interest and prayers.  Jack.