85 - Happy Birthday, Jake!!

 

So good news! We are going to have the baptism for G. this Saturday! I’m so excited! So we are really looking forward to that! And we hope her family will come to church, that would be really nice. That would be awesome to see a whole family accept the true gospel. But we will see what we can do.  But G. is really ready, but she had her first person tell her she was wrong and her teacher told her a lot of incorrect things with the church. She just told him, I’ve been there a lot and I know how it is, and I want to go there. I feel good there and I believe what they teach as true. So that was really cool to hear from her! I’m so glad that she has chosen to do this. It’s an awesome feeling for me.

Things are going good here! We are working hard. It’s hard to find new people. It’s hard because there aren’t many people here. But I guess it’s all part of mission work. But I am doing good ;) We have a few other members that want us to teach their friends. We just gotta get them to help us and go teach with us! So we will see what happens.

For my birthday, a few families made me cake, and food and other things. It was actually really cool! But we played basketball this week, and it was fun! I played okay and it felt good. I didn’t have any knee problems so I felt pretty good about that.

I love the new house!!!!! Mom sent pictures and it looks sick! It’s cool! And which room is mine? ;) I really hope it ends fast! That would be awesome!

So Marcus finally sent me a good letter! It was pretty cool! He kind of admitted that even though he was a punk, he still loves me. So that was funny.

But other than that not much has been going on, just crazy stuff in Paris, and running around in the sun :) Speaking of, what do you want to do here in Panama when you come get me? It’s a real question what we want to do.

But thanks for sending a Christmas package. Have a good week! Make sure to keep going strong on the whole workouts. Dad, make sure mom doesn’t get hurt in all that training! I love you!

84 - Panama Independence Day

Well this week has been a good one! It was the Independence Day and Flag Day of Panama so there were a ton of parties. There was also a ton of drinking around, so we couldn’t get much done. But it was okay I guess. We knew it was coming. There was no one home to teach. But me and my comp are doing good. We’re just trying to find new ways to serve the people. So we will see how that goes! We did have a few new investigators. One is a single mother named A, and she was really nice, and she really wants to know more about the church.

Yah, our ward mission leader told us about the change in church policy, and then our President talked a little about it today. It honestly doesn’t make sense to me why people are upset over it. It’s just saying that they have to wait until 18 to get baptized. It’s not like they are saying they can’t get baptized because of it. They are just doing it so there aren’t problems with the parents or anything. If people are leaving the church over it… The Lord needs strong people. We need to not put the world’s opinions before God. So ya. That’s my two cents on it. But the world has always tried to go against the church. It talks about that a lot in the scriptures. 

I think I’m good on socks. I don’t really need anything now. I don’t have much time left here anyways. But I love you mom, I hope you enjoy your last 5 months without me! I will bug you like none other when I get back! I’ll be like ‘Mom! You told me you missed me!!!’ haha love you mom! 

It is really good with a fun comp. We just kind of joke around and make things more fun!  We are excited! We got new beds. And they are amazing so we are enjoying that.

I will totally eat some birthday cake for you guys!

I’m glad it was a good time in Park City. I remember when we went while Marcus was on the mission. It was a pretty fun little trip for us!

But I will keep doing what I can here. I feel happier, and I feel like I can enjoy what I’m doing more now. Before I was super worried about Spanish or things like that, now it’s just kind of go with what I feel! I’m enjoying my mission. But I love you and I hope you have a good week! 

83 - Day of the Dead

Well things are good here…not much going on, just trying to find new people to teach, but we are happy. We are doing our best and we are trying to serve and love the people. It’s hard sometimes. Sometimes people don’t act like they care. Some people are hard to love but then I have to humble myself down a bit and remember that God still loves them. So that’s a little hard for me sometimes. But it’s good to remember.

Me and my comp play basketball with a bunch of other people every week so it is pretty fun. It’s a little hard because then we feel crazy tired, but I guess it’s no pain no gain. But I’m feeling healthy for once and now my comp is sick, so it just kind of switched. But me and him get along really well, we are a lot alike and we seem to just work well together.

And now onto the area, so things are good here. We are just trying to get things done. We always seem to be late for something no matter how hard we try! But I guess that’s life in Panama. But we are doing the best we can with the time we have. We are just trying to figure out ways of finding new people to teach. It’s tough sometimes but we decided to go to a place and contact it all on Tuesday. We will see how that works out. But we are trying to change things up, do more activities and invite more of the members to come. Sometimes it doesn’t work but we will try different things to see what the members would like to do. We can hopefully get to work with more families, so that would be cool. G. is getting ready for her baptism. I hope it goes through! That would be awesome! We are trying to get more kids in the ward that can help us meet their families. Hopefully we can baptize more here in the future. But we will see!

That kinda sucks that there was only 1 kid trick or treating! Yes, it is the Day of the Dead here, but they don’t really take it seriously I guess. A few people dressed up and stuff but it’s nowhere near as cool as back home. But I mean sometimes things happen, so our Halloween went pretty good. We start off with my comp not feeling well, he still has stomach problems from San Blas (thank you Lord that I didn’t have any problems from my time there on the island) and then we went to buy some stuff, my comp bought crappy shaving cream, and then we went to a baptism later in the day, so it started out crappy but ended okay.

So the house sounds like it’s coming along great! That’s exciting!

So FYI, I finally got some Mike and Ikes last week in the store…can you please send me some more? They kind of don’t exist here! And it sucks!!

But I hope things are going good there. I love you. Have a good week!

82 - Don't use your phone in church!

Well things are going good. I’m happy here. I kind of hope I don’t get changed before Christmas. I would love to be here for Christmas. I got taken off San Blas last year right before it. I would really like to stay in an area where I know the people for Christmas... But we will see what happens. Things are good here, my comp is cool, and we get along well. So it’s pretty cool!

It sounds like things are coming along well with the house! I’m ready to start working on the basement when I get back!

I had to spend 80 dollars today. I had to buy a new pair of shoes because mine broke! So that was a sad moment, handing over the card was like NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Money!!!!!!!! So yeah, I kinda felt that one!

There are about 60 members that come every single week, and we are trying to get more and more. So yeah! It’s good.

But this week, we did some service, and it was cool. We went to a house and cleaned up their yard because the people walked past and just kind of threw the garbage in their yard. So we just helped them out for about 3 hours, cleaned up, then took out some plants, and helped level the dirt in their yard. So it was pretty cool!

And my comp is super funny and really cool. It’s weird after living for 5 months with a Latin to be with a gringo again. But we do look kinda funny together. We have actually been trying really hard. It isn’t easy but I guess it’s best for me. We still have G. who is planning on getting baptized on the 21st. And we are just trying to find more people to teach at this point. It’s tough but it’s just how things go sometimes.

But I hope you like the pics!! I love you, I hope things get better. Tell Brooke to get off her phone in church. It kind of ticks me off when people use their phones in church, like a lot!!! So yeah, hopefully she will change that before I get there! But I hope the house comes along well! Bye mommy! Thank you dad for everything you do for me. I hope you have a good week! 

81 - Staying Here!

Well things are good here.  No, I didn’t get transferred! So that was pretty coo! But I got a new comp, he is 6 foot 10 and from Mesa, Arizona. Let’s just put it like this. He had full rides playing basketball to Ohio state, Illinois, Virginia, Michigan state, and many others. He said no to all of them to go play for BYU. He is really cool, and we get along really well. Today we played ball, and it was pretty fun. I played okay, and we are doing good, but everyone just stares at us. Me and my giant comp walking down in the ghetto, it’s pretty funny actually! 

I cut my foot open with metal roofing, so that was cool! The things we do for service.. but things are good. I just have a headache right now…so ya! So yes, I have been having some health problems. The doctor took all those tests and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. So he just told me to see how I feel in a week or two. But I feel okay... just headaches a lot.. but I’m sure that will go away when I don’t have to walk every single day in the sun. So you know how it is..

But G has a set a baptismal date for the end of November, and we have a new person we’re teaching. He moved from another area, and he is super cool! His baptismal date was for this week, but we will probably move it to another week. But other than that, things are good. We have a few other people we're teaching too.

G said she would really appreciate it if you could send one of those CTR rings, size 7. That would be amazing, and you could just send it in my next package. That would be a huge help :) And her grandma wants to know your homemade bread recipe... so yeah that’s another thing. 

I’ve learned a lot about life on my mission. I have learned a new language, learned how to make my own food, and pretty much be married to someone in a sense, and I’ve learned how to act like an adult. I hope Brooke has fun learning to be an adult.  It’s hard sometimes.

Other than that, things are good. The area is good, the members are good. Me and my comp get along. So yeah! That’s about it! I love you mom, have a good week! 

80 - Mom seems to be losing it

All the tests the doctor ran on my blood

Yes, we have changes this week but we don't know yet what will happen. Honestly I hope we don't have any change. I really wanna spend my birthday here with my comp... but we will see. 

But this week was a little crazy. I had to go to the hospital again. I met with a doctor and he sent me to get some blood tests. They don't really know why I haven't gotten better, but hopefully they will be able to find something. If not I just have to wait till I get home to figure it out, so I guess we will see! 

Sadly we didn't have our baptism this week... but the elders in our district did. So we invited her to go see it with us, and after the baptism, she told us she got baptized twice before. She wanted to know if that meant she couldn't get baptized in our church. We explained that yes, she could get baptized. She said she wants to get baptized this weekend, so we will see what she says this week. That's another reason why I don't want changes. We have worked so hard together and now she is ready. I don't want to miss it. And we had another in church that we have taught for some time. She just never came to church. She is really nice, and she would be an awesome member. But we can't make people do anything. 

I'm glad you guys had fun at the game! I hope they get the house done soon. Mom seems to be losing it a little bit, and it will be good for you too, she always tells me you want to go out and do something. She told me you can't handle staying in such a small place! 

I was talking to my comp about it a little, and I've realized that we are sometimes like the Nephites. They just forgot the little things, and that changed everything. We all have the chance to choose yes or no, but we need to restart doing the little things. 

Other than that things are good. haha punks! Always do cool stuff without me!  I love you. I hope this week goes well. 

 

79 - A little western showdown

 

Haha Marcus told me about Brooke’s new car, but in all honestly I don’t think she even remembers that it was me and Marcus that did everything for her. But that’s probably because she just never learned all the things that are needed to take care of an animal like we did. Haha. So I guess that’s just life. but maybe she will realize it someday. Probably not but whatever! But Marcus said you guys are gonna go test some more cars. Maybe you should go look at the Lexus RC F. It looked pretty cool before! 

So I have had a pretty good week. We have a baptism planned for this weekend with G.  We are trying our best.  Her boyfriend is a member and they are always with his mom. So I hope that she understands the need to get baptized. But we will see how it goes! She is really cool and nice.

Something that has been on my mind lately is that God is the one that gives us everything. All blessings come from him. The things we do (cars and money) only depend on what he thinks we should have. But Marcus had a good point a while ago. To develop a testimony, you have to sacrifice for the gospel. So many people haven’t learned about sacrifice and the importance of it. It’s a lot like the people in the Book of Mormon, they say hundreds of times that the ones that left the Nephites became way worse. In Spanish it actually describes them as a more blood thirsty, more hateful people. We can’t change them. Even the prophets couldn’t! But the Lamanites after they converted did everything that was necessary.  So they actually sacrificed a lot because they knew the things that they were willing to do to lead others away. 

But that’s my little talk on that. 

Well, I haven’t gotten robbed yet. And I am hoping I can keep it that way. But we did have a scary moment the other day, we were walking and 4 guys walked past us with pistols and knives, like out and loaded. And then a little ways away we heard a little western showdown. So it was pretty lucky! But life is good. We will see how things go with the baptism on Saturday! We hope for the best but we are just waiting to see. Other than that we do have a few others that we are teaching, but they just never come to church! It’s so hard that way! They haven’t gotten to see what church is like. But we are just trying our best. And today we went to the Christo statue! It was cool. My comp sent the photos.

But I love you! Have a good week!