Interesting Dinner :/

You'll never guess how I ended my fast yesterday. Come on, I dare you, what did I eat to end my fast? Chicken? Nope, wrong. Beef, tampoco? Spaghetti? Not even. IGUANA! YES!!! Finally I was able to try the famous iguana here in Panama. Everyone talks about how good it is and how I needed to try it. 15 months in the mission, 3 of which were off on the islands where they eat monkey, literally, the kunas eat monkeys, and I still hadn't tried iguana. The best part about it all was that it was our neighbor you bought it, and invited us over to eat it. I'm sure you're thinking, hmm no thanks, I'll pass. I got to see the whole process, desde viva al plato, de la calle hasta mi bariga haha. The guy was prepping it all as we did laundry at their house and he let us take pictures and film a video as he cut it up, so cool. It was kinda like a few months ago when I sent home those pictures with the pig head, but this was better and tasted better too. He cuts it open and guess how many eggs it had inside? (Am I grossing you out yet Mom and Mama T, and Grandma Lori?) 44 eggs! And we each got to eat 8 of them, really good. The eggs tasted like hardboiled eggs but just the yoke part, all the fat. It tasted like a mixture of pork and chicken, the iguana, but way better than chicken. I'm just sitting there munching on an iguana's hand and fingers and it felt like I was eating a dragon, with the green scaly body, so awesome, you should've been there.

 

Also this week I had an incredible day with Elder Clarke doing divisions and going with him to the city so that he could do immigrations. He called Pres to see if he could get permission to go visit a recent convert of his that he had in his previous area, Juan Diaz, and president said "Go for it elder!". So we had an amazing day. Clarke and I played a pretend contacting game on the bus and I was the investigator and he was the missionary. I was a Jew named Rasha'han from Jerusalem and I was here in Panama on business as a lawyer. It was really cool, we got into the whole situation, him starting the contact on the bus, me telling him that he was bothering me while I was trying to read my newspaper, etc, etc. One thing that Clarke said to me though impacted me a lot, along with my reading in the Book of Mormon this week, helped me to base my lesson today in district meeting on bearing powerful testimony, how we gain testimonies, and how we should share them and strengthen them. Testimonies are literally living beings, if we don't share them often as well as listen to the testimonies of other people, it becomes weak and dies, making our faith wither away and die as well, like a plant without water. Clarke told me that "I know these things to be true because they have been confirmed to me by the Holy Ghost time after time". That was also what I read from Alma in Alma 5, (my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon), the following day in my studies. Alma testifies with CERTAINTY that what he shared was the truth, that his faith was strong and firm, and no matter what happened to him, he would not waiver and fall away, as he was before his conversion. He was a truly converted man and son of God, as all of us need to become. Today is the day when we need to prepare ourselves to meet God, face to face. How are we all doing with our daily preparation? What kinds of things do you do throughout the day? Do they bring you closer or farther away from God? Are you happy with the decisions you make? Is it an eternal happiness or simply a temporal happiness? ¿Como va tu preparación?

 

On a separate note, I can't wait to be a dad. I watched a dad and his son show so much love towards each other this week on the bus I just couldn't stop smiling and laughing. This tiny little chubby baby (like I was), was sitting on his dad's lap as they played horsey, and the baby was like singing bouncing up and down and grabbing my finger, man, so great. I also got to carry a new born baby this week of like 2 months old, and walk around patting it on the back. I'm definitely not ready to be a father yet, but I'm very excited that it is going to happen, sometime in the future.

 

There's a saying I've heard in all of Panama throughout the mission which is "Si Dios quiere..." and they continue with their response/excuse. If God wants me to go to church, then I'll go. Umm...why would He ever NOT want you to obey His commandments? It's just a way for them getting out of their commitments. The new one I've heard a lot here in Penonome is "Dios primero hermanos, Dios primero". Ok. So if you really believe that you put God first in all things, why don't you really do it? If God was first, you would shape your life around what He wants you to do. Dios primero means that you are willing to trust in Him and put your faith in Him and go to church, be baptized, pray, etc. God needs to be the center of our lives everyone, do what He wants you to do, think always in His Son Jesus Christ.

 

When we ask people if they pray (orar) we often receive the word resar, which is basically "recite". "Oh si hermanos, yo reso todas las noches antes de acostarme, so se preocupen". Resar, or recite, is a one way conversation, repeating the same thing over and over. A prayer is personal and 2 way, not just one person involved. We all need to pray, not recite. Make sure you realize that God is listening to what you say, and He wants it to come from your heart, not your head.

 

Our branch president here said yesterday, being separated from his wife right now as she's in the United States with their kids for school for the past 2 weeks is that "In these past 2 weeks I've begun to understand a little bit of what hell much be like". That's how I want to feel being separated from my wife for any amount of time, complete loneliness. I love my family like he does his wife. being without family is really what hell must feel like.

 

Thank you all for what you do, really. Listening to testimonies yesterday made me really appreciate my family, and I love you all with all my heart. Love one another.

 

I have for you all D&C 6:15, 22-23 which are amazing, talking about revelation we receive from God through prayer. And lastly we have Alma 5:45-46 as Alma gives a very powerful testimony to his people. I want to be like Alma giving testimony like him. Have a wonderful week, Carnavals this week, pray for me so I don't get pegged with raw eggs or beer poured all over me, haha.