A blog about me serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Panama. I have been called for two years, not panamantly.
I am sorry that the Internet is slow today because I had a lot going on this week... I wrote something but it doesn't want to send. I do not have all the time in the world and so I will write to you next week. One quick highlight, I ATE TURTLE Sunday! That was super good.
It has been a crazy week, we started off the week by taking a road trip to David. I was able to see Elder Franco, Elder Reyna, and Elder Arriaga a few of my past companions which was cool. I also saw Hermana Updike who was in the same district as I was in the MTC and she was my cousin’s first companion here in Panama. She gave me the updates on where everyone is and how they are doing! That was super nice.
In this month of June, Panama as a mission has made it a goal to baptize the most people in church history for the duration of one month. I have been seeing a lot of times during the week when I have been listening to the small promptings and have received big blessings. We have been guided to find some really special people and some old investigators who have re-sparked their interest.
Late last night we got a phone call from Elder Lopez, he asked us what our plans were for Monday. Well, Umm, not a whole lot, we will be cleaning, writing home and going to the clinic. Well, he said, you will never guess what, President Current gave the entire mission permission to see the World Cup game tomorrow in which Panama is playing against Russia. It starts at 10:00 and so change your plans. My companion and I were both like Wait, What? Yeah, VAMOS PA'RUSSIA!
We went over to the nicest members house we knew. One with air conditioning which is like one in a million over here. We watched it on the big screen, and even though we knew they weren't going to win the game. 1. It was on television, in which I have been able to watch for a year. 2. Everyone in that house was Panamanian so it was a lot of crazy fun energy and overall a really great time.
And... then we went to the doctor and they took out my toenail.
Man, I'm always bummed when I have a companion who we have hobbies in common or have the same likes and they leave. I've gotten used to that of course over time. My new companion Elder Amaya is really a strong missionary. I have already seen things I can improve just by his example. He analyzes the problems of the investigators and is direct about what they need to do. We have been having a lot of success. Also, have I mentioned he is from Panama. He was originally serving in Nicaragua, but because of political problems, they sent all of the missionaries out of the country. Now he is serving in the boonies with me. And let me tell you, I think he fighting for the seat of being the most American Latino comp that I have had.
Elder Amaya
Well, this week was frustrating and as I have looked I'm just surprised I don't have any white hairs. This week we had five baptisms planned but one by one by one small strange and crazy situations came out of nowhere.
1.We have a young woman here who is 16 years old and was planning on getting baptized. It was perfect, she heard the missionaries for a while and was just a little scared. We helped her gain a testimony of the things we were teaching and then we planned a baptism for her about a month ago. Three days before her baptism, she gave birth to her kid and the doctor told her that she couldn't get into the cold water for a month. (In Panama that’s basically saying you can’t shower for a month...) But then we planned another date for this last weekend and everything once again running smoothly. She was pumped, she brought her cousins to church and they were excited for her. After going to church on Sunday, this young woman ran into her ex-boyfriend who abandoned her for like ten months before and she has been just staying at his house. We have passed by every day this week since then and she hasn’t even come back once, not even to get a change of clothes.
2. Another young boy who had separated parents. The Dad was an active member of our church, and the Mom was converting to the church of her second husband. This young man lost permission when he started behaving poorly and the step-father started saying you can’t get baptized if you’re not obedient.
3.An 18 year old has been trying to get baptized, but has an addiction to coffee. Well a lot of people here do, it’s cheap and it’s a hunger quencher, so parents feed it to their babies straight from the bottle. Well he doubled under the pressure and went back to drinking coffee.
4&5.Then it came down to a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. Other missionaries taught them before when one of the other kids was baptized. This family left on ‘vacation’ to go to the finca. It’s super cool right. It’s a home away from home! They live on the top of a great giant hill and it’s like going to the cabin for a weekend, only the entire time you’re working on a farm. So it’s not so much vacation as it is just brute work. They arrived back after a 3-4 month vacation and both the kids were excited to get back and get baptized. The 13-year-old boy has always been indecisive was going back and forth but was still too scared. At the very end, his sister did get baptized which was wonderful. It has been a weird strange turn of events.
