51 - Another Transfer!

Well if you can't tell by my pictures I got changed. I am in Boquete. It's in Chiriqui by Costa Rica. It is super pretty here. It smells like pine trees and it actually makes me kind of homesick. It smells and looks and feels just like Utah in fall. And there are some stinking rich people here. This is the richest place I have ever been in my mission! Like it is so weird! I have seen everything from Dodge Rams to yellow Maserati convertables! It is so crazy! But my area this week, has a high of 76 degrees! It is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dang cold mom! Like I think I got a cold! 

And that brings up that we have hot water shower. Yes I know. It's super cool! It's really nice at night when we are cold. But things are good. My area is super hard. Most of the people are never home, or they are traveling through. so it's hard to find people home and to find people in general. But things are good. This was a hard week for me, being in a place just like home when I want to be in Colon still. 

There are a few people in our branch that don't speak Spanish. I had to translate an interview that one had with the president. The translating was easy actually. Really really easy, but just weird to do. 

I like it here. It is cold, not much people, but I love it. We are in the mountains all day, right next to the volcano. 

But we do have 1 progressing investigator. We taught him the restoration again, and he got kind of emotional and said he is ready to be baptized now, so it's super cool! We have to wait a few more weeks to do it. But it will be cool! There isn't much to say this week. 

But we are totally going to visit this place when you guys come! 

50 - Service!!!

First mom, I did get that package! And thank you! I really did enjoy it! I talked to president about my going home date next year and he said if you guys want and can, like you guys can show up in the afternoon of March 30th, or on the 31st if you need to. 

Now onto my week. So this week was just insanely full of service. I’m not joking, we did service almost every single day this week and it about killed me. We painted a school, we cleaned a members house, then went and chopped some grass and then dug out a 3 foot trench for about 15 feet long for our neighbor. And then we went and helped move dirt. We actually do that a lot. We had a meeting with the bishop to see what he wants us to do. It seems like the members love us, but we still need to get the help of the bishop. It’s like he just sees us as other members of the ward, so we need to get him to help work with us. So we are trying with that.

We also found a few new people to start teaching. There is a kid that I met a while back, and he plays guitar. He is a really cool kid. And we have been trying to find him at home, but he is never there. But finally the other day he was home, so that was good. But other than that we are waiting for Kenneth to get home and that’s a big thing. We are going to put a baptismal date. But that’s roughly it. 

Other than that things are going good. We are just trying to do our hardest but sometimes it’s hard. I get disanimated sometimes and it’s hard. But I’m trying my best to be obedient and to work as hard as I can. I’m glad that I have the experience to be a missionary here. It’s helping me learn a lot about myself and about what I need to work on too. But other than that we are trying to find some good people. Our area hasn’t had a baptism for a year now, and we are the first companionship to get really close. We are hoping to work hard this next change. But that’s about it. Thank you for everything and your advice dad. It really does help a lot. I love you.

49 - 1 YEAR MARK! The Week I Learned to Love Unconditionally

So this week was super crappy but then super good! We will title this week, the week I realized how to love unconditionally.  Now I will explain. So this week was a tough one, a lot of services, a lot of getting yelled at, and a lot of hearing no. I was getting really discouraged, like really, really badly. Then we had a day where it was the same, a lot of walking, no one home, no one wanted to listen, the usual here. So we sat down at a bus stop and we were there for like 20 minutes. I kind of felt like crying, it sucked! I just tried to forget about all that. And then we decided to go to our dinner appointment an hour early. It’s with the Sanchez family. And btw, we are going to visit them when you guys come to Panama. Best family ever. They are all amazing members, they want to help us, they always tell us how cool we are! And the little girls love us more than anything! 

Now onto what happened. So we go there, and we show up, it’s at the top of a big hill. We saw a kid, Harrison,  filling up water jugs, because they don’t have running water. So we carried the water in the house. We got it in, and the mom started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said nothing. She told us how amazing we were and how much of a help we were, how we were a direct answer to her prayers! It was so cool to hear someone say that! She told us how we always think of others before ourselves and how we are always willing to help them. She told us how awesome we are and all that jazz! It made me feel so much better! In that moment I realized that I loved that family. I loved them with a Christ like love. It was cool!

Then we taught Lacey yesterday. She has been busy lately, but we had a super good lesson. I told their family that I loved them, and they are important to us and to the Lord. The spirit was super, super strong! It was good! Then we have Kenneth the one I told you about before. We have tried to find him all week, but he has been gone. So we are going to try this week and put a baptismal date (fecha) with him. We are really trying to find more people to teach. The Sanchez family is helping us a ton. It’s actually really awesome. It’s kind of hard sometimes. but we are trying to work with the members. But that was this week! And I hit my one year mark, and bought my first machete! Good stuff this week!

haha Love you!

48 - Backstreet Boys Performance

I don’t know if you saw Justin’s letter, but it has a picture of him with at a stop sign that says alto y guapo. So dang funny! 

But now to the questions. Just an FYI, I brush my teeth and floss 2 times every day. And I’m using whitening toothpaste so don’t worry mom! This mouth is gonna be white and healthy! 

CH emailed me a few weeks ago. I’m glad he came over to the house. I love how he is using my dang Elk Ridge t-shirt in that picture! haha That freaking kid! 

But I’m glad things are going good. And I’m sorry about the back mom. If it makes you feel any better I’ve had back problems all my mission. So I feel the pain! But today was pretty cool. We went and played soccer, in the new shoes! And then we went to Marquesa, a member who does insane mola! Like the coolest I have ever seen! I asked her for one that is like a bamboo forest and has a koala bear climbing on it. It’s gonna be cool! 

But this week was weird to say the least. It seemed like no one was home. And then everyone was busy! It kinda stunk! It seemed like all of our lessons bailed on us this week too. But we have been hanging out with a family, a mom and her daughters. They are super cool! They are always busy though. But we decided they would be super cool members, and super good members! So that was cool. And we have another good family, the Sanchez. We have a noche de hogar with them this week. They are going to bring some friends to it.

And we did a huge service! We pretty much moved a mountain, so that was cool. It was super hard though.

And now to the best part. We did backstreet boys. I’ll try and get the video. But it was me, my comp, and our ZLs Elder Harris and Laird. We sang ‘I Want It That Way’. It was so funny! The members loved it! And a couple sister missionaries had flowers and necklaces and started throwing them as we did it. It was actually super cool and super fun! We had a really good time with it! But really, you gotta see that video! I’ll try and get it!

But things are good—we are working hard and trying our best all the time. I love you!