47 - Sometimes we do things we don't want to.

Hey! So this week was amazing! First off, to the fun. My shopping trip in Zona Libre! So I’m sure you have seen on the debit card, I had some fun. I bought a new pair of Cristiano Ronaldo CR7 cleats, some new black Nike shorts, and 3 new pairs of Nike soccer socks. Mine were all blown out. It was so dang fun! I got the CR7s, and they have the galaxy on them. Elder Kinghorn got some super cool Mercurials, and then my comp Elder Halls got some super cool pink HyperVenoms. So we got 3 gringos in Colon running in style. We are pretty stoked! 

Now this week, I wrote a few days ago so not much happened since then. First I will talk about Kasey. She is 5. And she is just the cutest little thing. She is a temptress too. She told my comp she is going to eat her vegetables, grow taller than him and then she can marry him. So needless to say she is too cute to say no to. Then Gia, she is another cutie, 6 years old, and she is just funny. I sent pictures of them.

Now onto a super cool lesson we had. So we found this kid Kenneth who is 14 years old. He is handicapped. His bones are curved and he is roughly 3 feet tall in total. He is a super cool kid though. I contacted him with Elder Laird, my ZL, and we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Christ. When we were teaching he seemed really interested. After we taught, I asked him how he felt and he told me happy. So I told him that was the spirit. It was telling him that what he was hearing is true and important. It was an awesome lesson! 

I have a friend that is serving in my first area and he is teaching some people I taught when I was there. So I am hoping that if they get baptized I can go back and see them. He has actually eaten dinner with the lady Margorie that I baptized there. So that’s super cool that she is still going to church! 

Dad, thank you so much. You taught me that sometimes we do things we don't want to. Like go to Priesthood session on Saturday nights. But now I see why. There is a new kid from another South American country here, and he is going home because he wants to go to school instead. So thank you for teaching me that sometimes things just have to be done. I love you dad.

I know this isn’t long, and I’m sorry. But this week was short! I love you! 

46 - Carnival!!

Why is Jake always spotted shoving food in his mouth???? (Top of pic in light blue tie)

Sorry I couldn't email on Monday because of Carnival. I'm glad you guys are all doing good! That's super funny that you and grandma and grandpa were checking pics of me. The album will be fun to see.

Yes I really do like my comp, yes I am still DL. There are two ways to get released, subir or bajar. Subir would be to go to ZL or AP, bajar would be comp mayor or menor. Ask dad about that. Most of the time they don't bajar you but I don't know when I'll be changed. But things are going good here! Next p day I'm going to go buy my cleats and maybe a pair of socks and shorts. I'm running low on stuff! But I'll let you know. 

So now on to my update. So last week a few crazy things happened. First, you know, I got food poisoning. I'm not sure what from, but it sucked. But gladly I survived. Then comes p day. I still went to play soccer, because it's fun! I scored another 5 goals and assisted for about 6 more so I am starting to play a lot better. Then we went to Colon Centro where every single internet place and the zona libre was closed because of Carnival! So I couldn't go buy new shoes. But we did get some good pizza. 

Then comes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It included doing some service, going to a waterfall, having some good lessons and just having a good time. Then Friday we went to do service again, and right after that we had divisions with the ZLs, and I was in charge of our area. We taught the law of chastity to some teenage girls and it was actually super good. We brought up everything from finding a husband who will love you for the rest of your life, to dressing modestly, to the reasons behind all of it. It  turned into like an hour and 5 minute lesson. But it was a super good one. They answered a lot of questions and I could feel the spirit super strong. Then we went and contacted for a while. It was pretty fun. 

Then the next day we were on a bus, and 2 guys started fighting in the front. I didst really pay attention, but one of them called the other a bad name. He started to get up, and said 'Come here' to the other guy, and the other guy jumped out of the bus! He fell because he didn't think ahead and kind of slid a few feet. Then he got up and ran away.  I'm about 99 percent sure he was going to get stabbed by the other guy. So that was pretty stinking insane! Other than that it was pretty good. haha

During the week, we had a service the other day in which we used a machete to cut down a full size stinking palm tree! It was awesome! But so hard! It was Carnivales this whole week so everything was closed until today. It kinda stunk! But now it's all back to normal so it's good!

Then yesterday we had a Zone Conference and Elder Duncan talked to us, and I got 3 big things from it. 

1 my wife will always be better than me

2 I need to think of my ward as being big enough to be a stake

3 I need to come back in 10 years to see how well the people I met are doing

Those are the main three points I learned. Number 1 may be the most important, though! haha But I love you mom. I miss you! But I'm glad things are going good! Thanks for being awesome and allowing me to buy the shoes I want ;) 

45 - Food Poisioning.

Well this week was pretty crazy.  My comp got changed! Now I have another gringo companion. His name is Elder H and he is frrom good ol' Kaysville. He is a really cool kid and we get along super well! We are having fun! We got to go to the temple this last week. It was super good! Super spiritual experience. And then I got food poisioning. It was super fun! haha Not even close. It sucked! I was so sick all night! But I'm better now. It was only a little bit. 

Our one investigator, L, is doing really good! But since I was really sick, we couldn't go to the lesson this week. But we will see her again next week. It's kinda hard. People aren't really progressing, but I'll just keep trying. 

No I haven't gotten the package yet but I'll keep my eyes peeled!

So now onto this week. So we had changes on Wednesday. So Tuesday we went out and said goodbye to everyone. Then I got my new comp on Wednesday. We went home, Thursday we went out and worked after district meeting and had some good lessons. I told a lady that we baptize and that we have a message that will change her life. She said if God shows her a sign, she will. So I told her if you pray with faith and really want the true answer, you will receive it. So we will see how that one goes! Then Friday we went out, had a good couple lessons. We had a super good one with a menos (less) active member. She hasn't been to church in a long long time. So we tried to help her remember why she was baptized. It turned out really good actually! Then Saturday we went to the temple. It was like 12 missionaries in total and it was awesome! Then we went to get pizza and stuff, and that's when I got sick on the way home, so we kinda relaxed. Then Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting and I felt like crap so we had to go home. Then last night we slept at Buena Vista and played soccer this morning. Needless to say I had 5 goals. And I mean like top 90 goals. One I stopped and just drilled it right into the top corner, it actually broke the net a little! I felt so cool! haha But now we are going to zona libre. I am going to try and find a sports brace. So if you see some money taken off the card don't freak out! 

Dad, you need to be looking hard for those great cars that maybe aren't the most talked about! In other words, something V8. Dodge, Chevy, something like that! haha I'm just kidding. I have complete faith in you, even though you won't buy an STI! haha Dad I will always question that one. 

But this week was good but hard. Some super good lessons. We are working hard.

This internet doesn't have USB ports so I can't send pictures. I will try to do it from the church. If not I'll just do it next week. But I love you! I didn't hear from Dolores yet. We will see next week! Tell grandma to stay strong! That's super good that she's on her last round! I'm glad things are going good with the fam. I love you guys! 

44 - Great Week!

Haha mom are you serious!!!! How could you guys party without me?????????????? It makes me so sad!!!!!!! I miss my friends so much! I wish I could have been there for it. And it’s super funny to me how you invite my friends over without me there, and they stinking come! Haha they must be really cool!!!! 

But now on to the week. So this week was a tough one, but a fun one. Changes are this Wednesday but they say we will know changes by tonight. So I’m just waiting. But we have no clue what is going to happen this change. There are a ton of new kids coming in and they are opening a new mission in Costa Rica. They are going to send 30 missionaries from our mission there. That’s in March, so next change. So that’s another crazy thing happening soon! We are trying to guess who it is going to be. I really don’t want to change missions but we will wait till March to see what happens. 

We are teaching the woman with kids and we had a great lesson with her the other day. We took an RM named Eddie with us and we gave her a Book of Mormon.  He taught some important parts that changed the lesson completely. It was super good. Then this week, we had to do a baptismal interview on Wednesday. Thursday we went to the Hermana leaders’ church building for a cultural night. It was super cool! There was a lot of dancing and then we ended with some super good food. It was a fun time! Like really fun! Then Friday we had a normal day. And then Saturday we had the baptism of the girl I interviewed. She was super excited about it! It was cool to see! They also baptized another lady and she was afraid of going underwater, so it took some time to get that one done. But there were many pics taken from the missionaries. Let’s just say there are selfies of me on about half of the mission’s cameras now! haha yeah I try my best mom. 

That picture is of me and Elder Harris. He is my brother in the mission, which means my trainer was his trainer too. He is my zone leader here in Colon, and he is the only sibling I have in the mission. So it’s pretty cool! 

So this week I learned a lot about Latin culture. Me and Elder Ah Sue were talking about everything last night, politics, women’s rights, monopoly, Latin culture, gun laws. Everything! It was awesome! Then this morning we woke up early for pday to go play soccer again. Then we went to Zona Libre. I got a knee brace because my knee is acting up a little. So yeah, that was cool I guess!

But other than that not much is going on, things are good. I hope to stay here so I can keep working with our investigators. Especially Lacey and this new lady we found! She is a teacher, and her husband died 6 years ago. Y cuando ella me dijo eso, yo pense plan del salvacion. (When she told me that I thought, Plan of Salvation.) Y despues ella me pregunto como sabian a enseñar sobre familias. (Then she asked me how we knew to teach about families.)  Y mi respuesta fue porque enseñamos por el espiritu, el es nuestra guia y este es porque estamos aqui enseñandoles. (My answer was because we teach by the Spirit, he is our guide and this is why we are teaching them here.) She got super excited when we were teaching. She got super wide eyed and was like wow! That’s soo cool! She is super excited to hear from us. It was super cool to finally understand what it means when they said teaching with authority. I told her everything how it was, and I felt the Spirit super strongly. It was way good.

Anoche fuimos a la casa de Buena Vista para jugar futbol hoy. (Last night we went to a house in Buena Vista to play football.) Y ganemos. pero despues fuimos a Zona Libre, cuando vienen vamos alla un dia. (We Won. But then we went to the Free Zone. When we all come we will spend a day there.) Pero me alegre mucha a saber que todo esta bien. (But I’m happy to know that everything is fine.) Nadie tiene un extra hueso en su cuerpo! (That no one has an extra bone in your body!) Entonces hay peores! haha Te amo papa. Espero que tienes un buen semana. (Then there are worse! Haha! I love you dad. I hope you have a good week.) I hope this letter is sufficient length mommy. I love you!