Surgery Day!

Surgery went well today. After getting called to come in an hour early, we spent the next five hours waiting to go into surgery. But the procedure only took a few minutes once he got in. We hope Jake has a quick recovery so he can get back to Panama soon!

18/ Im home!

Well, first off my mom is going to get mad at me because my punctuation it terrible, but its kind of part of not speaking English for a while.  

As some of you may have realized by this point, i am home. and you probably all know why. And for those who don't, i am home for surgery. i have a bone tumor in my leg. 

this last week was pretty hectic, i couldn't do much of anything, and laying in bed all day is something that is mentally destructive, especially when you spend most of your day speaking a language you don't really know all that well. and then the last few days were insanely busy. getting a call at 7 o clock saying that you are flying home the next morning, having to pack all your belongings (which included a few too many soccer jerseys as my dad pointed out) getting 2 hours of sleep before flying home, and then the stress, anxiety, and every other emotion that comes with it! 

That brings us to the plane ride to SLC, 1 hour away from seeing my family, in other words the longest hour of my life time so far. the clock seemed to be playing a game with me, time seriously felt like it was standing still. But i made it home, so i guess it all worked out! 

Which brings us to the present time. I have an appointment with a doctor this week to check out my leg, and after that i will probably schedule surgery. so i guess i will keep all you guys updated. Remember the church is true, jesus loves you whether you like it or not. 

17 - Coming Home!!!

Well, my president called me last night. He said he and the area doctor think that I should go home for the surgery. He said he will call the Stake President and get me a flight. He told me he wants me to go home in this next week. And he also said after I get better to come back to Panama. 

I don't know how to feel. I wanted so badly to have my surgery in the US, and now that I got it, I don't completely know if it's what I really want or what will be the best. So I prayed about it and I'm gonna keep praying about it. But whenever I pray I have a lot of peace so I know that whatever happens is what's best. Because it's not my plans, it's all the plan God has for me.- But you know how much I hate not being able to control the future. 

I decided this will be a huge test of my faith and determination and trust. I'm gonna need to trust that the Lord can see how badly I want to be in this mission and will reward me for staying determined and my faith. I remembered a talk by Elder Bednar last night. It was talking about how we receive answers from God. One line is if we don't feel like we have an answer, we need to act on our faith. That's been a huge thing for me. However long I am home, my mission will probably just get extended. Which would really work out great, because when you guys would come to pick me up at the end, it would be in rainy season when it looks so much prettier than in the dry season! But I guess that's just me looking at the bright side! 

But while I'm thinking about it, I got to teach this Jamaican guy yesterday. He only knows English. He is like the perfect investigator! He told us how badly he wants to change his life. He is an amazing guy and he was a pro soccer player in Jamaica! So yeah. Just wanted to throw that in there. 

I got 2 pairs of shorts today, it was a total of 3 bucks, one pair of swim trunks and one pair of like little shorts. They are both pretty cool. But yeah, only 3 bucks for them both!

But I'm so glad you will make me soup when I recover! And I had a weird experience. The other night we were walking, and I remembered when I got my scooter, I was riding at like 4 in the afternoon, and it was like 98 degrees or something like that. Well it felt the exact same here! I was like wow. 98 in Utah feels kinda chilly for Panama. So I came to the realization that Panama is hotter than crap-. All the time. 

That's funny that D Will came to Utah willingly! Kinda crazy! I remember when dad tried to race him. Dad's in a 4 cyl with 211 horsepower. And he was up against a super car v8 with like 480 hp. Funny stuff those Audis. And yeah, I know you didn't wanna know the hp of the cars, but it's my way of staying sane. Sitting at home is killing me. Like I picture myself with my scooter, taking off the air box and going for a ride. I'm probably gonna go riding every single day, I wanna take full advantage of that thing while I still can! 

That sucks about the office flooding. But at least they got it when it was early,  not floating furniture! Because you know how dad still believes in paper work, which would have probably ruined all his paper work. But I guess I just like looking on the bright side! 

I love that quote. It is good to remember that sometimes we can be doing everything right but just because this is life we have troubles, whether we want them or not. We just need to trust that everything has a purpose.

I started reading the scriptures right after president called me, because I got this weird feeling. And then I thought of in D & C where it says have I not spoken peace unto your soul concerning this thing. And it made me feel a lot better to think that this isn't my plan, it's all part of God's plan. And whatever happens I just need to remember that I can't choose everything that happens. But I can choose to stay on the straight and narrow path,  to keep doing what's right even if I don't know why these things are happening. 

But mom. The funny thing is you guys are more stressed about what has been happening to me than I am! Like you guys are always worried about me stressing. But if you don't remember, I handle stress pretty well. So there's no need for you guys to worry about me. I can handle my stress! And for being in such stress as some people call it, I've actually had a really good time with my mission! And I can kind of speak Spanish with dad. So that's a perk right now.

Well I gotta go. I gotta pack! But when I find out my itinerary, I'll email you and give you all the info, or maybe I'll be able to call you. I don't know. But I love you!