62 - Changes are coming up

Hey mom.. well things are going good today. We had to move the baptism to this weekend. It’s a 9 year old boy and his mom is already a member of the church.  We are planning for Saturday but we have changes this week so I don’t know if I will be here for the baptism. President likes to send me somewhere new before I want to go so we will see.. haha I’m kind of tired of moving around all the time. But whatever, what happens, happens. But thanks for the prayers pops. It really is helping.

I haven’t heard much from Elder T.S., but Elder L.B. yes.  

It’s awesome that you guys are so excited about the house! I wanna get a picture of those plans! I wanna see what we are going to be working with.

That’s awesome that P.L. got to do the baptism! That’s an awesome experience! And I’m glad that we will be living close to them, I wanna see them! They are awesome!

But this week was good, little worried about changes because I want to stay here actually. But it’s whatever. 

This week we went to do visits with some members. It actually went really good! We have a new family that we are teaching, they are a 16 year old girl and her dad. They seemed really interested and really had some good stuff to say. So we will see what happens! We are trying to work as hard as we can and we are seeing a little bit of an improvement. But then with another family, the mom started to get mad at us and started to tell us that we didn’t know certain things about the Bible, and we explained it and everything. But we finally just said read the Book of Mormon, pray and let us know what you receive and how you feel. So that kinda stunk. But I guess it’s just not time.

But we really gotta change dad’s view of cars after my mission. There is a whole 'nother world out there! The wonderful world of 2 doors! Haha

I’m glad things are going good, things here are moving along and things are good! Love you! Have a good week! 

60 - Baptism!

 

haha Okay first off, yes the little girl is a gringo! Her parents are from Texas! They speak English with a little bit of Spanish.. so yeah! haha  Selling a house doesn’t sound fun. At least you are learning patience! Someone will realize that the house is the bomb .com!

But Brooke hasn’t emailed me! You should ground her! haha no I’m just kidding. 

But this week was a little crazy. And by little I mean a lot! There were a million things happening all at the same time...

Okay to start, on Tuesday we had district meeting, and it was really good. I taught about patience and love. And especially how I need to try harder at it. And then Tuesday we had to clean and everything because the assistants said they would check houses when they came to visit. But they didn’t. And then we went to go have some lessons.  Just normal ones really, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Then Wednesday was the Zone Conference where I saw a few old friends and ate some good pizza. The whole zone conference was on miracles and spiritual experiences. It was pretty good. Then Friday we felt sick, so we did the baptismal interview with L. a few lessons and then went home. Then Saturday we had the baptism for L! It was awesome! Sadly not many people came, but it was a good experience. I could tell that he felt something really special. Then Sunday he got confirmed. Then we went out and did some visits. And that was kind of it. It was a slow normal week. But L. got baptized! So it’s all good!

I hope you like the pics on the mission blog! I think I looked cute at the conference ;) haha just kidding. I love you mom! Have a good week! Tell Marcus I said hi. He doesn’t like to email me anymore.

56 - Weaknesses Make Us Better

 

Well, this week was a little weird, mainly because I've felt a little dizzy. It feels like I'm on a roller coaster when I close my eyes. I went to the nurse and she said it might be due to stress and to come back in a week and check. 

Things with Luis are going okay. I am working hard to teach my comp how to teach a structured lesson. Changes are this week, so we will see what happens! I don't know what is going to happen, and I don't really mind all that much. I'm just going to take it as an opportunity to do better, whatever happens. I'm feeling like I haven't worked as hard as I should have out here so far.  I need to work even harder, and I will start feeling better physically, and things will get easier. So I'm going to go for it. Give it my best and try and help people. Thanks for the letter mom, I know there are a lot of things I could do better. And I'm going to do it. I need to always do my best, no matter what situation it's in. I always gotta do it, but hopefully my health problems start to get better. It's rough when nothing seems to be going right. But I guess it will help me one day.

That's one thing I realized, that yeah it stinks to just translate all the time, but maybe one day I will be able to use that to help someone. It is really stressful. But we will see in the future! But things are getting better. I had a really bad attitude about things when I got there, but now I'm just taking it a day at a time and trying my best every day and it has actually made a huge difference. Thank you so much mom, you have always been there to listen and help me, even through all the times of not doing my homework. haha

Oh and an FYI I gave a talk Sunday. It was about the talk from the Liahona on challenges and sins. I think it was super good. I felt the spirit super strongly. And people were crying in the congregation! It was really cool! And I felt really good about it! In studying I have learned a lot about my weaknesses, and it's easy to forget that sometimes that is necessary to become better. It was a good thing for me to learn that.

Like I said, it's kinda tough out here in this area. But I'm learning in the process. 

It's good to hear that things are good. I have been praying for you guys a lot and I hope that I'm doing well enough so that you guys will be blessed. I hope things get easier and the house works out. It would be really cool to have that all work out. 

Who is serving in Monticello? I can't think of anyone that would be there. But that's cool! I hope you have a good week. I love you! 

55 - A Good Week

Well this week was good! We had a few really good lessons this week, and we did a lot more contacting. I turned it into a game with my comp and it seems to work! It’s a lot better now so I’m happy! Things are going good. I am translating all the time pretty much. It is really hard and sometimes I get tongue tied. For Sunday I had to translate from Spanish to English and then English to Spanish. It was a little weird but cool! And I realized that I am pretty decent in Spanish. I can do pretty much everything. I have actually explained deeper doctrine, so that was pretty cool! But I’m starting to enjoy my area more. It’s hard but I’m becoming content. I like the weather, and the people are pretty nice so I’m having a good time. Yes there are some things I wish were different, but I get what I get, I can’t change it all at once. So I just gotta work hard and get what I can done. It’s interesting because missionaries pretty much do a lot in the branch. It is kinda stressful, but I’m getting a lot of experience so that’s good! Maybe it will help me if I’m ever a bishop one day or something like that. So I’m not going to complain about it anymore. But thanks for your help dad. It has been a tough time, but I like it.

That’s awesome that we might be in the same ward as the Littlewood family! I miss Reagan Littlewood soooo much!!! She is so dang cute!!! And she is sooo cute when she gets all shy!! I’m so going to hug her when I see her.

Last week I talked to president again, through weekly email. I told him how I felt and how things are going. He told me the Lord always has a plan, so I kind of have become content. I am really starting to like my area. We don’t have many investigators, we don’t have many members, and it’s tough to be in charge of everything. But I have realized that I can’t change anything, so I am just trying to enjoy it. We have had some great lessons with Luis and he seems to be doing well. But I’m not sure if he is going to get baptized. My comp wants to go and answer any question he has but I’m trying to find of things that I can do to help him learn more and not just kind of do it by having him ask whatever question comes to his mind! 

I feel like everything is going better. I don’t feel sad, I don’t really miss home as much, I don’t feel as down, I actually am pretty happy. I like my area, even with its problems. I feel like this has kind of changed my outlook on things. This has been a huge help for me! I love it now! This was a great blessing for me! I know that the Lord has been helping me with an open mind. And it’s actually a lot better! I love you! Thank you for always being there for me! I miss you and I love you!

54 - Festival week

Well this week there was a lot of stuff going on. There was a huge party, so it was like a big fair out here. It was a jolly old festival, which included a horse parade, a bunch of people selling stuff, and last but not least everyone completely drunk. It was actually kind of funny. But it kind of stunk because we got practically nothing done. It was the worst week I have had for work in a while! I didn’t feel sad or didn’t miss home or anything, it was just so impossible to get work done when no one is home, and everyone is out in the streets getting drunk. So to anyone reading this who likes getting drunk, just an FYI, you look pretty silly. But hopefully this next week will be better.  We did find a few new people to teach.

Something cool this week, there is another gringo here, he moved from San Fran and he doesn’t speak any Spanish at all. So now I’m in charge of 2 people at church to help translate for!!  This is in addition to my district leader responsibilities. I have 2 companionships as a district leader, but being the English speaking missionary, I am in charge of 2 people, like 60 and an 80 year old. They don’t speak Spanish so I have to help them and translate everything they need. We had to go do an interview for a recent convert to be ordained to an elder and I had to translate everything for him. I also had to translate stake conference for him, and that was crazy. I had to pretty much yell English to him, (he can’t hear very well). Haha. But it was okay I guess, pretty cool. And then there was the cutest little girl that lives in our branch, her name is Abby and she just turned 4 years old. Her parents are from Texas and are a super cool family. This little girl is so cute! We were sitting on the bus and she was talking to me and holding my hand on the way to stake conference, she is so dang cute!!! She reminded me of Jade and Emmry. I had divisions with the zone leaders, so that took us out for about a day and a half.   

Lately there are a lot of stupid little things going on in the mission, little fights going on between people and dumb stuff like that. So it’s kinda getting annoying. But we will see how it turns out. 

But I did see a super sick white Nissan GTR the other day. There actually are quite a few super cool cars out here. Every night I hear what sounds like a Mitsubishi 3000 GT, and a Mazda RX7 racing down the road. So that is pretty cool too!

I’m just working hard and hoping it all pays off in the end. I talked to president about my area and everything, so I don’t know what he will say. But I forgot to tell you, I have a problem in my back. The nurses said I’m not allowed to carry my backpack, and I have to take Advil 3 times a day. I could use some good ol mommy love.

I love you! Have a good week. And good luck with work! 

53 - Conference

 

  

Well this week was a little better. It was a rough one, but good. I am in charge of a lot of stuff. It seems like because I have a year in the mission everyone thinks that I have all the answers, so that’s kinda hard for me. I seem to be in charge of everything so it is kind of stressful. I have to translate interviews and they always ask me what to do. It’s like I have no clue!! But it’s good, it is a learning experience for me.

But today we went to an abandoned castle as you can see. So that was really fun! But this week I’m hoping is better. We honestly just did a lot of walking this week, so that was super hard. And I feel like we are wasting too much time. I’ll talk to my companion about it. But there wasn’t really much happening this week. It was really slow. 

But now onto conference. So we had a good time, but during the morning session on Sunday, the power went out. So we didn’t get to see hardly any of it. That kind of stunk. But there were a ton of good talks. I really liked Pres. Uchtdorf’s. when he was talking about being a true disciple of Christ, that this isn’t just a one time thing. We can’t make it to the tree of life by repenting and just kind of fall asleep, we need to do the things every day that can change how we are. And change how we act. I realized that a lot of things are like that in life, in marriage and everything, you can’t make it to a point and just take a nap. You gotta keep trying, keep working hard every day. 

I also loved the talk where that guy was talking about how the laws of the land might change, but the laws of God will never change. He kind of threw a machete at some people! It was so cool!

But other than that, things are going good. Our investigator is progressing, which is super awesome! But there aren’t many people to teach out here so it’s kind of hard. But I’m feeling better, working harder, and praying a lot more. So we will see how this week goes! 

But I love you. Thank you for your help! 

52 - A Busy Week

Hey mom. Well this week was a little different. It seemed like we didn’t have as much time to work. So we had Monday, which was p-day. Then Tuesday we went out and did some work, tried to find some new people to teach, tried to teach some lessons, and luckily Luis was there, and he asked us some good questions about wars and about why bad things have to happen. He really wants to get baptized. Really really bad! He says it every time we come. So I really hope he can keep coming to church. He didn’t come yesterday so that kind of stunk. But things are going good. And then Wednesday we went out and visited some less active members, but to get to their house you have to walk up a dirt road to a little farm for like an hour, and that’s after about 40 minutes of walking on a mountain road. And it was so tough! And I actually had a hard time breathing. I called the nurses in Colon, and they said I have asthma. It’s induced by dirty air, so that was pretty cool I guess. So now I have to carry an inhaler in my backpack all the time, it was a promise I had to make.  But it was so dang hard! But we chilled with that family, played monopoly and ate so it was cool. The great thing was they showed up to church on Sunday! So that was super cool! People really can feel a difference when we come visit them, and they are willing to work a little bit harder. 

But now to the sucky part. On Thursday we had to be in David 1 hour away at 8 in the morning for a meeting of district leaders (yes I am still a district leader). Then we got home at like 4 and went and visited some members, and then went home. Then Thursday we had to be in David at 8 30 for interviews with president. We got home at 4 again, so then we did some planning, and then went to dinner. Then Saturday we went and visited Luis again, and we taught him about the word of wisdom. He said he drank coffee, so we asked him if he would stop. He said he knew it was bad for him before, just wanted a reason to help him stop so he promised us to stop. Next we are going to teach him law of chastity. We will see how it goes! Then Sunday we had church, went to lunch with some members, and one has a boyfriend who is an investigator of the sister missionaries in our ward. He had some good questions about the Book of Mormon and about certain things so we started answering his questions. My job as a missionary is to answer people’s questions, but we have to be careful because the hermanas are already teaching him.

But now onto my area. It is dang hard! Our area is super touristy, so pretty much every single person is a tourist. They just pass by, and the people that do live there, are never home! It is so hard! There are only 2 members in our area, 1 of them is inactive, the other is less active. It’s difficult. I’m just trying to stay focused and work harder. I can work all day long, and just pray for help.

I found a little gem out in the back of a car yard. It was so gorgeous! With a dual cut off exhaust right under the driver seat, with a holley hood shaker intake. Oh dad you have no idea how happy I was! It was the coolest thing I have seen in all of Panama! And I have seen a brand new McLaren!

But other than that, things are going good. We are trying to get more help from members and trying to find more people to teach. So we will see how this week goes! 

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 ;)