69 - Apple Pie!

Haha Well funny story about my strep throat. I went back and the shot wasn’t working! The first shot they gave me didn’t work. It was penicillin, and it wasn’t strong enough to kill the virus so they gave me 3 more shots! And then pills for 10 days. So I had to pay about 30 bucks on shots. It kinda stunk. But whatever. It’s life I guess! I do not feel good. Poor little booty hurts. But we’ll make it through!

So now the pictures, we made apple pies for a family here! They are literally like my second family. They act a lot like our family and they are super funny!  I actually really like them and they are really nice to us and they always want to help us out! 

 

And now to my numbers problem. I have thought a lot about if it’s just my pride or if it’s a real thing. I found the problem. I don’t mind when people tell me I need to do better, yes it hurts, but I need to hear it sometimes. But the problem when it all comes down to numbers. You still have to care about the people that we help or about getting better personally. You can’t expect a complete change in 2 minutes. We are trying a lot harder to do better but it’s an everyday thing. It doesn’t just come. It’s changing little things to get better little by little. That’s what me and my comp are doing. We have changed little things every day to try and get better. It’s frustrating that we were trying so hard, but you can’t see the changes because it wasn’t exactly as much as they wanted. That’s my problem. I think it is more about the things we learn but some people just want the numbers. So that’s my explanation. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong. And if the lord says I’m wrong, I’ll admit it completely. But I’m more worried about getting better, not just going out to get the numbers. 

The doctors told me I wasn’t allowed to leave the house to work. But I still went out and did the important lessons. And no mom, you can’t get mad at me for that! But we live outside of the area so we actually went to a member’s house, (the family that we did the pies for) and they let me sleep in their house. Because it’s not very good to go to the area, go back home, go back to the area, go back home and etc. so yeah. But we actually had a really good lesson with K.. She is 23, has 2 kids and is married (kind of a miracle in Panama) and we gave her a Book of Mormon. When we explained it, we asked if she had any questions about it. She actually told us she has always been curious if the people here ever heard about Jesus. So that was pretty cool! But she promised she would read it. We will see if she actually did it! I really hope she does. She is really nice and would make a really great member. 

Nothing more happened. It was a slow week but it was pretty good. We got a little bit of work done, so I tried my best! I love you! Good luck on the house! I’m glad you guys had a good week. Thank you for everything you have done. And I can’t wait for the derby next year! Only had to miss one in my mission! I love you!

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! 

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! 

43 - Traveling and Working

Haha, thanks for the little input about my eyes matching with the tie mom! This week was good. I'll start with p day first. So last night we got on a bus and went and stayed at the house of some other missionaries that was like an hour away. It's a super cool house! It was actually owned by a gringo, but it got broken into and they tried to kidnap his daughter, so they left back to the states a few years back. But the house is so nice! Like really nice! They have a garden in the back yard, with a full size pool! It is so dang cool! And we had 12 missionaries there last night. It was awesome! We played monopoly cards. 

Then today we woke up at like 7, we went over to the soccer field (it is astro turf) and played soccer for like 3 or 4 hours. It was awesome! But I kinda got hurt. I got kicked in the shin, in the ankles and in the knee, so it was awesome! And we had the last game go to penalties. It was actually super fun! We did gringos against latinos, and sadly we lost. But it's okay. We did 7 on 7 and there were only about 3 on our team that could actually play pretty well, so it was hard! But we had a good time. The  kids in my zone are pretty cool, we get along pretty well. 

I loved the remote control in the Christmas package, it was a great idea! And it was super fun. I loved the letters. 

Now on to the rest of the week. So it was super hard, it's really hard to get the members to work with us. It's hard because they are all busy and they don't have time. But we are still trying. We had this one kid and we have taught him a few times. He was like I don't like when people aren't honest with me. So I just kind of got serious with him and told him why we were there and how we could help him. It actually turned out super super good. Then we also found a new family to start teaching, a mom and her 3 kids. The oldest one is 8 and me and my comp both feel really really good about them. We taught them the plan of salvation, and it wasn't the best lesson I have given, but we both felt really really good about it. I could feel the spirit was there, and she had some super good questions and some really good thoughts. She had a good time and she seemed receptive, and we have another lesson with her next Sunday. I really hope things work out. It would be really nice to get a family to work with, and it would be really nice to help a family kind of grow up in the church. It would really mean a lot to me! 

Other than that things are good. We had a meeting at Cardenas this last week with the assistants and president. It was actually pretty fun. That's where the pictures from Sis. Carmack's blog were from. We learned a lot and had a good time. And the food was seriously good! There is some good barbecue here! So I'm happy! I have a few places I'll take you guys too. Don't worry!!! I love you! Have a good week!