Thanks Brewers for your visit....random photos of the fun

January 20th a great day. Our dear friends Stan and Diane Brewer arrived at Montego Bay and we picked them up for a great 8 day reunion. We had a great time together and will cherish the memories of it.

We started out by spending the first two nights at Rondel Village in Negril.  As you can see the beach (7 miles in length) is quite nice.  To those of you who have visited Carmel the bay penisula remids us of that scene also.

TheBrewers in our palacious living room in Williamsfield, Manchester, Jamaica

This photo is at the Brick Oven Pizza place we have referenced in past posts.  Below,  this gentleman, Mr. Forrester introduced himself as the owner.  We had a nice visit with him while our pizza was baking.  He was not short on self confidence explaining that not only did he own the guest house but was also the largest sweet potato producer on the island with some 80,000 lbs annually.

On Monday January 24th a memorial service was held for Elder Walker in Spanish Town.  (Elder Walker was with 7 other Elders on a P Day activity when while stopped in traffic the police were chasing car thieves and gun fire erupted with a bullet entering the van through the rear window striking and killing Elder Walker.  An indeed sad experience for all.  Our hearts and prayers go out to his sister as their mother had just been buried 10 days prior to this event) 

After the memorial service we drove on into Kingston and had lunch at Gauchos, one of our regular places to eat while in Kingston.   The food is good and we are well known there.   In addition to Stan and Diane Brewer we had the sisters with us who are assigned to our Mandeville Branch. On the left is Sister Wilkinson from Morgan, Utah and on the right Sister Payne from Mesa, Arizona.  We love them and have them to dinner at our apartment nearly every Sunday.  They are indeed hard working dedicated missionaries and are making a difference in the branch.  While in Kingston we dropped by the mission office to show it to the Brewers.  The mission recently purchased this property and moved into it.  It is a great improvement from the location and environment they were in before.

Next on to Treasure Beach for Pizza and relaxation.  We have posted Jack Sprats on the blog previously.  We love to go there, sit under the tree on the edge of the beach and enjoy our pizza and the serenity around.  I think Fran (Sister Andersen) and the Brewers were shell shopping when I took the shot below.

On the way we stopped in at the Junction chapel to use the restroom. I did not understand brother Powell when he said someone was in the restroom so I opend the door and his granddaughter was in there.  I quickly closed the door and after she came out she promptly adivsed me that I should not be opening the door when someone was in there.  Her picture is below. She is a beautiful child which indicative of so many Jamaicans  Her name is Tiamoy.

On January 26th we then returned to Rondel Village for two more nights,  We did try a new restaurant the first evening Margaritaville (Jimmy's Buffets song comes to mind) but is not a bar for missionaries to hang out in but rather a restaurant on the beach.  Fran and I walked up the beach in the afternoon to look at the menu and to find out about eating out on the beach that evening. We asked for a menu and after discussing our desires to return in the evening I asked the waitress her name.  Rose Marie.  When we returned that evening and asked for her to serve us you would have thought we were part of her long lost family.  She was very attentive to our needs and I think quite suprised that we had actually returned and asked for her. All in all it was a good experience.

On Friday we drove to Montego Bay to take the Brewers back to the airport.  We were sad to see them go home but very thankful for their coming and spending time with us.  We are thankful that we are serving a CES/PEF mission as we were able to schedule our duties on both sides of the visit allowing us full time to enjoy our friends.

We miss all of you and want you to know that even though Jamaica is not an easy mission we are enjoying our service here.  Last Sunday in church the realization came that we are going to leave someday and return home.  We will always cherish our memories of these saints and neighbors.  They do not have it easy like we do at home but never the less they have wonderful hearts and are a very friendly and caring people.  Jack.