Correo Semanal

BONJOUIR!!!!!!!!

 

Wait, I'm not serving a French speaking mission? Hmm...oh well, back to Spanish I guess then. This has been a pretty good week here in Penonomé, off in what the Panamanians call the "interior" which is anything from here in my city all the way off to the border with Costa Rica. People live a more relaxing life out here seems like, not as much crazy traffic and big buildings because we're not in the city. This is where all the Panamá hats get popular. I don't know if you've ever seen a Panama hat before but look them up, it's pretty cool, like a sombrero. My dad told me before I came to Panamá that he wanted me to get him a Panama hat but I didn't really know what it was till I came here. All the men wear them here, and I like them. Apparently, the way you wear it, and how you fold the bill of the hat, has different meanings. I heard that if you fold the bill up, like most people do, that's normal, that's just like the normal everyday way to do it. If you have the bill folded down, I think it means that you're looking for work. If you have the front bill down and the back of the hat bent up, means something else too. Pretty cool little fact, I want to look more into that, but I'm definitely not going to leave this area without buying one for me and for my dad.

Elder Segura and I decided to do a little contacting the other day in a little bit nicer neighborhood where all the houses look identical, felt like I was going down Privot Drive in Harry Potter, or neighborhoods back home like that in Ramona. Sometimes it felt like that in the Estates. Anyway, rich people, (like all missionaries will testify), are less likely to accept the gospel or let us into their homes to share the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. And that is the kind of neighborhood that this place is, called Villa Karola. Anyway, we go up to a house, and I never know what to say or how to start a contact, just by saying "BUENAS!" and having them come out and stare at me, a gringo, on their lawn. A lady answers this time, and straightaway says "No. no. no no no no..." haha, and I just asked "¿por qué hermana? and she responds so kindly and lovely by saying "No, nunca jamás, tuve una experiencia horrorosa con los mormónes" and I just asked if she would like to tell me what happened in an attempt to correct her thinking about missionaries or members of the Church, but she just slammed the door. It was pretty funny actually, to describe it that way, horrorosa, which in English is like horrifying, haha. I wonder what the missionaries or maybe members did to make her so disgusted by the Chuch. The funny thing is that we go there all the time because we have a few investigators that live there in Villa Karola and we see her walking around all the time going to and from her house, and she will NEVER look at us, even if we say "Hi" to her. Just one of those old bitter women that claim to be Christians but won't show respect to real chosen servants of God. That's who Jesus was referring to when he called all the Pharases hypocrites, haha.

Also this week, we (the 4 of us elders) went to a birthday party for a return missionary up on a mountain in an area by another area called La Pintada. And we get there just thinking we were gonna have a little food, cake, and be on our way, but oh we were in for quite the other surprise! Funny thing was we get picked up by the RM and a gringo guy is driving, like super gringo, spoke almost no Spanish. Carlos the RM met him at church off in Chorrera which is more towards the city. Carlos is studying to be a translator so he speaks pretty good English and understands almost everything. The gringo guy was cool, a member, who had served his mission way back when with the Native American Indians, thought that was cool. So at the party we get there and see a dead wild boar that they had hunted hanging from a rope on a tree. Naturally us guys took all kinds of disgusting pictures with it that I hope my mom will post on the blog. Best part was hanging out with the gringo guy who was like 60-something, Pfister and I talked to him the whole time. While there, Carlos's dad showed us this cool plant thing called porongo, which when it grows, the plant is in the shape of a pot. It grows that way, and is like rock hard, go check it out, see if Google can show you what it looks like, I thought it was awesome. It's kind of like a gourd if you know what that is, (I know my aunt does), but way bigger and stronger, that I guess the ancient inhabitants used to use to preserve salt or something like that. Cool little Panama history lesson I got to learn, just goes to show the amazingness of God's creations that He made something that could specifically be used to preserve food and stuff.

This week also we've been setting lots of baptismal dates for investigators. The only problem is that everyone seems to live far away from the chapel, because our half of the area is away from the chapel, so people need to take buses to get to church and any sort of effort outside the day to day norm is difficult for people, not willing to make the sacrifice. I can understand a bit, but it's not expensive at all, like max of a dollar each way. Pfister and Castejón have the church in their area, so it's a bit easier for them, but still lots of houses of investigators are far away. We're going to keep working on that, make church attendance the number one priority of our investigators, so that they can get to know what it's really like in the meetings. Anyone will commit to baptism, it takes effort to get them to come to church so that they can make those covenants.

Also this week, bad news, we're getting kicked out of our house. So dumb, the dueña always complains about little things. Apparently before I came, the house used to be really filthy, which it was. When I got there it was a mess, but that first night we cleaned it up really nice, and last week we did this huge makeover on the bathroom and kitchen so it looks a lot nicer. But that wasn't enough I guess and she wants us out by the end of the month. SO because of that, we have about 2 weeks to find a house for rent and move, otherwise we'll live on the street, haha. We called President Ward to tell him the situation, and I think he's making changes in the area anyway, putting sisters in, and taking 2 elders out, so we've been ordered to look for 2 houses instead of just one for the 4 of us. I like living as 4, but obviously it can cause some problems for cleanliness, even though it's really clean right now, I promise. Mom, I wouldn't feel bad at all having you come into that house, you'd be proud of me ;) So this next week, we're going to be looking frantically for a new house that's cheap and just for me and my comp now. Please pray for us, it's going to be tough, we looked a lot yesterday and didn't really have any luck.

Elder Pfister and I passed up our year mark this past week, and as the custom is for the mission, we burned one of our shirts. We did it quite intelligently though, pouring hand sanitizer on it and stuffing it with wads of paper. That thing went up in flames SO fast, haha, got some cool pics and videos. I really have learned so much in this past year, things that I will never forget, lessons that I never would have learned had I not come on the mission. The Lord has blessed, preserved, and forgiven me time after time that it would be impossible for me to not repay Him as best as I can.

I want to end by quoting Elder Holland from his conference talk, which really impacted me, he said something along the lines of this, quoting the Savior: "I need disciples, someone that TRULY loves me. DO what you are called to do. Don't just go fishing. Feed my sheep." That's us. That's all of us. We have been called to feed the Lord's sheep and help His flock grow. These people NEED what we already have. If we just go off fishing, or in other words, take for grated this eternal blessing that we have and simply do nothing, and keep our mouth shut, our Heavenly Father can very easily cease to bless us. He is only obligated to fulfill His commandments if we do our part, but if not, we have no promise (D&C 82:10). Work hard all you back home, not just in your mortal jobs, but your eternal jobs. The Lord needs us all, like the gears of a machine, all need to work together to get the job accomplished.

I leave you with my testimony that the Church is true. I know it, and I know that you all know it as well. Some of you back home are still holding out, haven't become members and haven't felt the encompassing love of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I invite you now, to stop waiting. Stop wasting time, the Lord needs you now, because He has gone out the last time to gather in His vineyard.

2 scriptures for you all, Helaman 12:3 which is great, saying that the Lord sometimes has to execute His wrath so that His children learn from their mistakes and negligence. The other is in D&C 59:23-24, which promises us peace in this life and the life to come. I love you all, I want you all to feel the indescribable love I feel right now, being here, and I tell you this because the Lord has called me to do so. Have a wonderful week :)

These were the scriptures that I wanted to put in after my 2nd San Blas email. Alma 7:23-25, Alma 13:27-28, Alma 19:14, Alma 24:30 for less active members of the church, Alma 37:37, D&C 121:34-40, Alma 39:9 for the law of chastity lusts of the eyes, Helaman 12:7-17, 20-21, Helaman 14:30-31, 3 Nephi 27:27, Moroni 6:9, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 from the miracle of forgiveness.