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!

78 - The Eclipse from Panama!

Hi mom!!! So I’m glad you had a good time out there in Michigan! And I knew BYU was going to lose, but I guess there is always worse!

Well this week kind of stunk. One of our investigators got kind of defensive and was like no! I have faith in my church! And I can’t just leave my family religion! So that kind of stunk.. But we are still working with G who is doing really good. We actually have a family home evening with her family! So it’s pretty cool. She is really nice and she likes coming to church! So that’s good. And no, we don’t have a mission home. Normally missionaries go to the AP’s house before they leave. So I might be able to come pick you guys up and then stay with you guys. But don’t worry! It will all work out!! It’s Panama! We just kind of go by the seat of our pants! 

But this week we had a ton of meetings! And some good lessons! But we had interviews with president this week, and he explained how to know if we out the Lord first in our lives. It was actually really good! He explained a lot and I felt really good about it. He explained that sometimes we just feel down, but that doesn’t always mean that we are doing things wrong. It’s just that the Lord needs us to make sure we remember where we came from and the progress we have made. So it was really cool!!!

But not much else happened. We got to see the eclipse and it was really cool! I got some pics of it on my new camera and no one else could! So I felt pretty good about it ;)

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

77 - It's About The Little Things

 

 

Hey mom! Don’t worry about my missing Lake Powell, it’s a necessary thing sometimes! But yes, I do like my camera! It’s awesome! And yes, president said you guys can come the 30th. But you guys can choose where you want to stay, we don’t really have a mission home that I’ll be at, so yeah. You guys can kind of tell me where you are thinking. There are only a few places where I will take you guys. So far Boquete is one for sure. There are others but they might be kind of a little bit too dangerous to just travel to... so yeah! You guys can find some places where you want to go. We can do it like you did with Marcus in Rio.

Now to this week, so we didn’t have any one come to church, but at least we knew they weren’t going to come! So there is a bright side! But this week was pretty cool. We have some good investigators, and they seem to want to change. We actually had one that said she didn’t know drinking wasn’t good and kind of got sad. Then she asked if she could change. It was kind of funny, but then we had a good lesson about repentance. So it turned out good! But the problem is we have about 5 people that should be baptized! They just need to come to church. It sucks! I really just want them to understand what this would mean for them. But I can’t change them, they have to do it. But me and my comp have been getting along really well. He is an art expert, and he drew me a picture of a wolf. It was so cool! He is going to finish it this week.

This week I was studying Alma 49 to 58 and it was a ton of fights! And I really liked in one part, it said more or less, something about how we easily forget the lord. Because the Nephites were a really peaceful people but they just lost sight of the Lord. For that they lost a ton of fights, a lot of people died and they had to work hard to get them back. They didn’t turn extremely bad or anything, they just forgot the little things that the prophets taught them, like praying and reading the scriptures. That’s what I learned, it’s the ones who don’t read and pray regularly that don’t see the importance of it. And it’s not much work, it’s something amazingly simple, but just like the people with Moses, they couldn’t even look at a golden snake. So it just shows that it always happens...

I’m glad you guys are doing good. But I love you... thank you so much! And yes I did get better!

76 - Kool Aid rocks

Okay, first off yes I got all the stuff in the package and it rocked! I loved the kool aid too! It was awesome! And yes I got the video. Thank you for making me miss Lake Powell :)

I really hope BYU wins, but we all know what the odds are against Michigan... and speaking of that how is Ohio State doing? :) haha no I’m just kidding mom! But I’m glad you guys are doing good. I’m sorry that they framed that one house before ours. But ours will be so much cooler than the other house! I promise that because our family is awesome! Haha

Well I got a cold this week, so I wasn’t in a very good mood. But we still had a lot of meetings and we went out to visit a lot of people who haven’t gone to church in a while. We were planning on having 6 in sacrament meeting, but only 1 showed up. So it was my sickness, and not what we were hoping for at church, and about a million other things at the same time that bummed us out so it was rough. But I realized that sometimes even when we do everything we can, we can’t make the other people do what we want. But there is a girl, she is 16 and her boyfriend is a member. She started reading the Book of Mormon that her boyfriend has, and they read together. She asked him for more things to study. She is super cool! And she is extremely smart and likes to know about the church :) So we are hoping for the best with her! 

I’m studying in Alma 38. It’s like the end of the missionary work, and the start of the wars. So you know how that is!

But things are good. Me and my comp have been working really hard and trying our best. Things don’t always end how we wanted so it is a little rough on us but we are still going at it.

Thanks for emailing me even though Marcus & Brooke couldn’t find time to do it. It actually meant a lot to me :) I love you guys. And make sure to take a look at the Cadillac’s! They always were little quick guys! And I hear they got even better. But have a good week :) And tell everyone I miss them (the ones that I don’t email) I love you! Have a good day!