A New Week of Goals & Transfers

This week I've been called Slim Shadey, one of the Men in Black, and Correy Heart as I wore my sunglasses at night.
Firstly, I want to tell you about the great success I had to have this week. Tuesday I went out with on splits or divisions with the Zone leaders. Elder Vasquez is such a killer. We worked hard that day and we were able to commit four of our investigators to baptism. 
Elder Vasquez
Wednesday, was a day of total strength. We push ourselves more on this day, and more specifically on finding new investigators. We set a goal of twelve new investigators per companionship mission-wide. Elder Vela and I set our goal for eighteen. We got twenty-one, new investigators. That's more than we find in a normal week. The Lord has big plans for Panama. 
Thursday, it was like someone was trying to stop us. I don't know if you remember a few weeks back, but I said I was sick and I was just thankful I didn't contract the Spanish Pink Eye which is about a four to six days of recovery. If you catch it you are confined to your home until you get better. Well..., Let's just say that this week when I did get Pink Eye I was thankful that it wasn't Dengue which is so much worse, but I am good right now. I did accidentally pass my cold on to Elder Vela though... So he is stuck there. I'm So Sorry!
Today we had transfers and I just finished my training. I guess that means I am a real missionary now! Wooo no more training wheels. I was expecting to stay here in Arriajan with Elder Vela, but the Lord had other plans and now I'm with Elder Franco in Colón. We are in an area called Nuevo Mexico. I literally just got here and threw my bags inside the house, ate, and I'm here writing. But I'm excited.  The place I am living is small... Okay, let's just say this... My house before was a house and I now live in an apartment. The apartment is about the size of a big bathroom with 2 concrete walls that separate the bathroom the bedroom and the kitchen. It is all concrete bricks and well it has the most amazing view I have seen here.
Hopefully, my pictures will be able to upload, this computer doesn't like my SD card... So the pictures may be a delayed.

Elder Irizarry
Climbing the hill to take one last look at this amazing city!
Elder Vela and I in Arrajian.
My new companion Elder Franco in Colón.

Sick and Serving

At the beginning of this week, my throat felt sore. Because of this, the first half of the week we tried to stay indoors as much as possible. The Zone Leaders said we should not leave until I feel better, but I just became too stir crazy. We stayed in most of the time but went to our important appointments. After telling our neighbors, I was feeling under the weather, they checked up on us to make sure I was doing alright. Then they got me some weird unlabeled medicine and I have no idea what that was, but I feel better now. To be fair in Panama anytime you order medicine at the pharmacy they take the box of medicine and just take the pills out of the box. A lot of what I remember from this week was staying inside studying and sleeping but my thirst for knowledge has only grown this week. I closely relate to the words of Phil Collins’ song ‘Strangers Like Me’ from the movie Tarzan, ”I can see there's so much to learn. It's all so close and yet so far... I want to know; can you show me. I want to know about these strangers like me. Tell me more, please show me.”

Now I studied about a lot of different subjects this week. I want to talk about the importance of teaching youth. I was always told that youth are important and that their opinion will shape the world when they become older. Now at times, it's funny to think that these kids will be our next generation of leaders. We had a kid we interviewed for Baptism. One of the questions for baptism is: “Have you ever committed any serious crime?” He squirmed a little in his chair and said, “No… H-h-have you?”. I have never heard my companion laugh that hard before. I was outside in the backyard and I even think I heard him fall out of his chair. Apparently, he asked his brother and received the same response. 
Our Mission President understands the importance of teaching youth, as he was a convert. I have a testimony that when you teach someone the principles of the Gospel from a young age they grow up with the peace and the answers to a lot of the big questions in life. When we teach them the standards and principles of the church a lot of the worldly habits become undesirable for that individual. And I have such a great opportunity to teach these precepts to youth as I had been blessed to have learned them when I grew up in the church. The Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley always stressed the importance that nothing is more important than raising your kids. I recently read a talk from him entitled “Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World”. If you’re looking for something to read while you’re at a bus stop or on a lunch break, it’s not very long and by all means, print it out. I’d like to share a quote from him.  

Set an example for them [Your Children]. That will mean more than all the teaching you can give them. Do not overindulge them. Let them grow up with respect for and understanding of the meaning of labor, of working and contributing to the home and its surroundings, with some way of earning some of their own expense money... I do not hesitate to promise that if you will do so, you will have reason to count your blessings.”

I can’t tell you how many church talks there are about teaching the youth. I can’t tell you how many studies have been made about raising your kids in this environment versus that environment. I can’t tell you how many teachers and leaders have influenced my life and my decisions. I guess what I’m trying to say simply is don’t shy away from your opportunities to teach; especially as a missionary.

Now I will answer a question by popular request… “How is my Spanish coming along as I am to the end of my training?” Umm… Well, I don’t sound much different. But I understand so much more. I understand a decent amount of conversations when I pay attention. I definitely understand more about religious conversations than normal small talk. It is a process but I’m learning. I know you will ask, what are some of my stories? Well, let me tell you just about this week.

·     Last night, we had a taxi driver who misheard us when we said we wanted to go to Calle Negra, but I guess he heard Calle Larga. There was already someone else in the car so he said he would take us there right after we drop off this woman. But we kept going and going and we soon hit the boundaries of our zone. We called the zone leaders and they just told us to get out of the car. We stopped him and reminded him that we just needed to go down five blocks. That was when we found out he wanted to take us to a city about a 20-minute drive away. We got out and paid him, had to take a bus back to where we got the first taxi and then flag down another taxi to get us to Bishop’s house that night.

·     We had an investigator who told us on Sunday that he had a divine dream confirming that baptism was the right decision. He asked us to come by his house on Tuesday to hear about it. That was the worst news you could have told me. For those two days, I didn’t think about anything else. It’s was like I was a kid again on Christmas morning. Just sitting under the tree waiting for my parents to get up so I could open up presents. Knowing full heartedly that even if I waited another minute, hour, or day it wouldn’t change what was inside. But nevertheless, the thought was always in the back of my mind as to what it would be? Finally, we went over and let me tell you, I was so excited. While we were there his son kept asking me questions and I became distracted at the beginning of the lesson. I didn’t realize he was talking about his dream and by the end, he realized I didn’t hear the story.  He decided to retell the dream again but I thought he was just talking about this weekend and didn’t realize it was his profound dream. So right as we were leaving I said, “Oh you didn’t tell us about your dream”. My companion just died a little inside. He then went and told in incredible detail for about 10 or 15 minutes about this dream… for the third time. My Spanish is not quite there yet, but ehh I’m getting there.

I would love to bear my testimony about how the Lord is all-knowing and sometimes his way isn’t in line with our ideas. There have been many times where I have been prompted to say something I normally wouldn’t have said to an investigator or gone down a path that I didn’t even think was a path. When we listen to him he blesses us and uses us to bless the lives of others. Oddly enough, our neighbors were sick as well and a decent amount of time we were over there and kept them company and comforted them. They helped us and we helped them. I just have a feeling that we were supposed to be there. I am just very grateful this week I was sick so that I could be used as his instrument and also that I had the chance to study more.

Football, Pizza & P-Day

I finally got my first Zone P-day in which we all went out to play football (soccer).  It was exhausting, we were there from around 8:00 in the morning until 12:00.  I am a little bit rusty and really need to clean up my skills. Afterwards, we all got Little Caesars Pizza, it was really fun. 

Arraijan is beautiful. I love it here. Our goal is to find 18 investigators each week that we can teach which is reasonable. We have four that are close to baptism and we are teaching about 25 at the moment. There are 13 districts in the Panama mission.  Three which are in the city, three that are in the boonies by Costa Rica and one that is in San Blas Islands.  The others surround the city.



Doubt Not, Fear Not

Well, another week has gone by and as always, my desk started off clean. By the end of the week slowly but surely it gets buried under piles of notes, old water bottles, and with at least three different books opened.  Mondays are always nice, because I know I get time to clean up and actually see my desk. 

I also finally got my picture with President Uchtdorf. We have a guy in our ward who looks like a general authority in our church. Every time anyone has a question about what a scripture reference is or what time an appointment is they always just say, "Oh just ask Uchtdorf."


We had a reunion meeting for all the new people and I got to see my old district from the MTC this week. That was so cool! They have all lost weight, but they’re all great. It was so nice to talk to them.


I was recently having feelings that I was not sufficient in my Spanish. That I couldn’t do and teach everything that I needed to teach. Questioning how could I be a missionary if I can’t even talk to people in Spanish let alone teach them about the gospel. However, this week we taught a family with a deaf son. He is seven and communicates with grunts, squeals, and sporadic hand gestures. He had found baby turtles that were passing by his house and so he caught them and made a home for them in a bucket. As you can imagine, he was so excited when we stopped by his house. Two new people with whom he could share his newfound joy. He taught us what made them scared. He showed us what they like to eat. He taught us where they like to pass by his house. Each thing he taught us through determination, simple hand gestures and squeals would give him so much joy he could not help but laugh. Let me tell you his laugh just made you smile. It was just a laugh of pure joy. As you can imagine I was very humbled by this investigator. By this teacher. 

As I had been having my doubts about being able to speak, I think of how this young man had the ability to communicate although he is unable to speak at all. Where I can still speak at a basic level and communicate most things. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." -Ether 12:27

It wasn’t ever my Spanish that was the problem. Sure, it’s a hurdle and I’m still straddling that hurdle and I should expect to be straddling that hurdle for a while. Over time it will become easier and easier and I will be able to jump over it. But it was never my Spanish that was holding me back. It was my doubts. "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.-D&C 6:36.

Don’t let your doubts consume you. They can hold you back from so much of your potential. Just keep pushing through with faith. Turn to the Lord for help and I promise you that he will provide a strength equal to that which is asked of you.
This week was our neighbor's birthday so we went over and surprised her with a cake. 
With Elder Vela, we have had one baptism and have four people we are teaching.