We have an area in our Nuevo Mexico that has a river. One day Elder Franco and Elder Tenney had the impression to cross it. They called and asked permission to cross it that one time. Elder Tenney was Elder Franco's old companion and my MTC companion and has now transferred. This week we asked if we could go back to revisit that area. Our Mission president said it was good but we needed to baptize three people before we could go. That's just his sense of humor. We have this tribal village, which is not Kuna but a different tribe that we go and teach once or twice a week now. It's really really really cool. It is the only area in all of the Zone has anything like this. Yeah, and I am here!!!
This week I was given a new apellido (last name). The branch president had trouble pronouncing my name, but he knew the tribal language of Kuna. So he said, "Your new name is, Elder Igi Sugi." Translated meaning, Elder Tell Me. Now when people can't pronounce my name I give them the Kuna version. Any phone call we get from the other Elders is always, "Habla a Elder Igi Sugi." My plan is to convince my Mission President to let me get a name tag with my new name on it.
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| The trail to the tribal village. |
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Elder Igi Sugi  |
I don't know if you remember the hottest day I had in Panama when I had soup for lunch. This week I think I felt just a little hotter than I have ever felt before. We had a member who fed us lunch one day. Let me tell you, it was so good! He is from Mexico, so it was genuine Mexican food. He had pork, rice, and potatoes. Which is pretty normal here, but he had a homemade salsa. A homemade Jalapeno and Chile salsa. Normally I don't do well with spicy things. But that was the best dang Salsa I have ever had. It was just so delicious. I was literally pouring it on top of my bowl by the spoonful. Oh man, was I ever sweating like a pig. I came out of his house satisfied, but trying to convince my companion that we could walk around shirtless that day.
General Conference was soo good. Different but good. We went to the stake center and it was being broadcasted in Spanish. Luckily Elder Banister from Idaho was in my Zone. We went upstairs and we watched it broadcasted in another room but it was so hot we opened a window with the fan on. While watching General Conference we had the background sound of the Spanish translation below us, the sound of the cars passing by, the rain, and neighbors blasting their music. At one point the rain was so strong we actually lost our connection... On Sunday we eventually got moved to the Family History room to watch it which had an air conditioner. I did miss being with my family on the couch in sweatpants for this Conference, but that nor the many other difficulties I experienced did not take away any from the message. Well except when we lost signal, which literally took away from the message. But I'm just happy it was in English.
We had a day of total strength this week. We had a neighbor who is just finishing his papers, we call Short, who tagged along with us that day. It was going to be great. We started off teaching and we were just killing it. Short knew shortcuts through the neighborhood and we were making excellent time. We then were walking over for a lunch appointment we had when a member who called us over. She said you look exhausted come sit down real quick and get some water. We had some water sat in front of a fan and shared a simple, but strong lesson with this family. When we finished they said, "Oh, after that we cant let you leave without a little bit of food." They gave us an entire lunch. It was just rice and banana. The rice had shrimp and fish flakes in it. Oh, what would I do to have that rice again; best rice ever. Better than coconut rice. We left feeling satisfied and remembered that we still had lunch with a non-member scheduled... So we went over and they gave us not a plate, but a platter of food each. It was about the size of two heads of food. We were dying. I have never tried so hard to eat before in my life. At one time I looked over at Short and asked him how he felt, and he said 'Man, I feel like I have filled my stomach with food and I just keep filling it. I'm now just up to my forehead with food." I loosened my belt by the time we had to leave and I felt like I was waddling like a penguin out of there. We re-named that day to the day of total stomach strength. But hey, we are getting fed.
One day we found some keys on the ground and we prayed and were directed towards a few peoples houses until we found the owner of the keys. Because we weren't directed immediately to the person's house by the time we finally got there, the owner was just barely returning. It was really cool. We found quite a few new investigators through that. It helped build a testimony about how Gods ways aren't always our ways.
Today we got the chance to go to Zona Libre. A strip mall of about twelve blocks. It was ridiculously huge and after getting completely lost I bought a pillow (because in the 1st two houses I lived in had them, but apparently that was something we were supposed to bring), a speaker, and a backpack. It was a good trip.
I love you all and I hope you had the chance to watch General Conference. If you didn't please take the time to listen. This conference was really cool.
Elder Igi Sugi
Megan-What can I share with you before you get here in three weeks? Just so you know, you can get Liahonas every time you go to the Mission Offices. You normally go about once every month. You get Spanish Scriptures at the MTC, but the Small Spanish Quad is a nice investment. I love having a backpack and YES, sisters do wear boots here. Make sure you have a pillow, a positive attitude, and a big laundry bag. The one thing that I have loved having is my camera. You are going to love it here!