Hello all of my family and loved ones, how are you all doing?
This week has been a good one, I've had some fun moments, spiritual moments, super crazy exciting and terrifying moments, all the aspects of mission life of course.
Let me begin by describing last week's p-day because that was something crazy. We decided, Bradford and I, that we would go to a touristy spot called 5 de Mayo where there are a bunch of shops, and Kunas selling mola stuff and everything, which was really cool. And everyone, good news... I bought a hammock, woo! Oh baby it is wonderful, and it is small enought that I can pack it up and carry it to mis siguientes areas when I get transferred and it is beautiful. Not only that though, but my comp bought one too and we put them out on our front porch and we swing in them and read scriptures for comp study, it's so great. Only problem with that is Veracruz has quite a few mosquitoes, so when I swing out there they come and attack my gringo white flesh and then I itch for days, but that's to be expected.
So let me go back a bit, 5 de Mayo, while we were out shopping and buying hammocks, we began to hear loud BANG BANG BANG noises, which we then discovered was people shooting at each other. After the shots had been fired, everyone of course began to run, but not AWAY from the gun shots, no that's too logical, they all ran TOWARDS the action, it was so nuts! Turns out that a couple guys tried to rob some people with guns, and the police saw them pull out their pistols and then the cops just put bullets in their backs. So I got to see 2 dead dudes laying on the ground with blood all over, surrounded by about 300 spectators all coming to see what had happened. It was so crazy. Haha, but don't worry all, nothing happened to me, except people pushing and shoving me to see what was going on :P
The Kunas that sell all the stuff there see us walk in and I know that they just see two dollar signs walking, they immediately begin to attack us and follow us around pointing out different things "Oh buen precio, tenemos muchos colores, cómprenlos!" AHHH leave me alone I don't have any money to buy your awesome Kunas bracelets. Speaking of Kuna bracelets, I learned how to make them, they're called chakiras, not to be mistaken with Shakira, haha. They are super cool, and it's like I'm learning to sew when I make them cuz it takes a lot of patience and you use agujas, needles, to feed the beads through.
Kunas are crazy, them with their own language, and when they look at us and want to talk about us without us understanding, they speak their Kunayale language. Because of them looking and pointing while speaking, I've discovered two wonderful words in Kuna, mergi and sepu, which both mean gringo, haha.
There is one thing that really bothers me about Panamá in general, but Veracruz specifically, is that everyone burns their trash, EVERYONE. I walk down the street and just see and smell random disgusting trash fires where people just chuck all their trash out onto their front lawn, then throw in a match. Heaven forbid that they could just use trash bags, hahaha.
We have a reciente converso named Lincoln, who is such a funny man, he actually knows quite a few English words and talks to us with them. But the coolest thing about Hermano Lincoln is that he's a blind man. It's really cool, like that's sad for him but he is so happy all the time, and loves us, recognizes our voices, and when Sunday comes around we stop by and walk him to church with us. He has just a dumb pvc pipe that he uses as a walking stick, so I told Bradford that we're gonna buy him a cane, I'm so excited to do that, sweet little gift.
We live in a little gated area (now I know what you're thinking, oooh I bet it's a super nice house then, but you're wrong, haha) It's just like 4 houses together in a gated locked fence, and our neighbors are actually from España. And the greatest thing about those 2, they have the FATTEST beagle dog I have seen in my entire life. That dog is so fat it's hilarious, Elder Bradford and I call her Furpig, because literally she oinks and snorts like a pig, I always call at her "Run to me Furpig!" hahaha I want to take a picture with her because its literally hilarious, and she waddles when she runs.
And lastly let me talk about la conferencia de estaca that we had yesterday, first Stake Conference here. It was sweet, we all went to a really nice chapel in a nice area called Brisas del golf, where all of our zone was there and their wards, and a few other areas. What is great is that in our stake is an area called Cardenas, where the temple is, and that ward is almost all gringos, and they're all ridiculously rich and the husbands all are here working for what they call the Embassy, haha. And so they had Stake Conference in both English and Spanish, so we all stayed in the main room for Spanish. It wasn't a normal Stake Conference like back home though where the Stake President speaks and all, it's a broadcast for all of Central America, so I'm assuming Max saw it too. President Boyd K Packer was there presiding and about 2 sentences he spoke in Spanish, haha but not all of the talk. They had 2 guys from the 70 that gave their talks in Spanish without translators and they were really good. One guy didn't even sound gringo. It was cool also because my ward from the last area was also there because I'm still in the same zone. So I got to say hi to all the members that I had just left, and at least they recognized me and smiled and talked to me which was nice. It was cool, and that chapel was massive, I think we're going there in 2 weeks for General Conference also.
This was a good week, I love all the work that we're doing here, and I'm enjoying every moment of it. This week I have one scripture for you all that I dont have marked right now but its like D&C 102, where it says that the Lord was responsible for the Constitution of the United States, which I thought was awesome.
Love you all, have a wonderful week.
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