Make The New Year Bright

What can I tell you guys about this week? My companion has gone home. It is funny how many different people take leaving their mission at the end of two years. I have seen many different feelings, some get really discouraged when they feel like the best part of their life is coming to a halt. Others will state, “Sweet I did my part, I'm ready.” Elder Boyd loved his mission and felt great about doing his part.  He is now very excited to get back to college life as he starts his way home by taking a five hour boat ride back to the Panama City. 

What happened this week? Not a whole lot! Whenever transfers come, we always play a game I call 'Personal Apostasy' where we predict who will be coming in for changes. None of us predicted correctly, but oddly enough we were able to guess out of the four of us who share the island that Elder Burke and Elder Dudley would be the zone leaders. My new companion will be Elder Nelson who should be coming in on Wednesday. I'll just be here chilling on the island till he comes in.

Before all the missionaries left, we took pictures with all the families, and then printed them off. Everyone has been making fun of Elder Daffer, because he left a note to a young lady in the ward and one other guy. Everyone here is saying that those two will be getting married now. One of the grandma’s here is trying to convince him to just propose already. It is hilarious!

As the missionaries were trying to leave to go home it was the worst time to get a boat with it being New Year’s Eve with high tide! It has been hard enough finding people who aren't already busy, but we went from house to house looking for anyone to get us in a boat ride for the past week. This last evening, we were able to find a delivery boat that came in that day and would leave today which worked out conveniently, but very last minute. I have found that this is how God works at times. We were grateful that this worked out with us putting in a lot of effort and putting our faith in him.

A Coastal Christmas

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday, here on San Blas we have had many wonderful experiences. Currently there are eight Elders (six who are new) serving on all the islands and we are all enjoying life. Recently there was a boat heading from the Panama Canal to Columbia that had a lot of cargo but hit something and was taking on water. In order to prevent it from going down, they threw over board a lot of items and because this happened near the islands, many natives took their boats out and filled them up with items which made this one of the best Christmas times ever for the children. Many of them received scooters and roller skates and it has been funny to watch them trying to learn how to use them on the sand.

See the line where the sky meets the sea it calls me And no one knows, how far it goes

Being out on San Blas reminds me of the movie, The Other Side of Heaven or Johnny Lingo which I highly recommend watching. The two combined could literally sum up San Blas life. Like the movie Johnny Lingo, many here just travel from island to island on canoes.  It is a very simple way of living and seems very similar to the movie. Hopefully, we will not see any prearranged weddings where the girls are bargained for cows. 

They do have a lot of animals on the islands though and it is funny because they just wander around everywhere like the children. We see cats laying out on the beach and they wander into our hut at times as well.  They will let you pet them and are great for capturing rats which will try to tunnel up through the ground here and there. When cats are around, we often times just put rocks in the rat holes to keep them from coming into our place to get our food.

Speaking of food, we just headed back to the city last weekend. It is about an eight hour boat ride. I suggest that if you ever get to visit that you take a small plane, it is a lot quicker. We were able to go get more food, like pop tarts, granola bars and fruit snacks to add to our daily canned chicken, pork and beans, and tortillas. The last missionaries here were sisters and they had bought pasta and sauce but they ate all the pasta. We have been using the sauce and parmesan cheese with a doughnut like bread they make here without the sugar; it tastes a lot like a calzone.  

Sadly, I just missed the high seafood season. If I had been here earlier, I would have been eating crab and lobster all the time. Right now, the tides and waves are high and three fishermen were lost to the ocean. The other day a man braved the high waves and went out fishing for lobster and crab. I asked if I could take a picture with one of the lobsters he caught, he looked at me as if I was strange then brought out the biggest lobster I have ever seen for a photo. No, I did not get to eat this or any other lobster, but I have eaten some crazy things. I just can't wait to watch the second Indian Jones movie again when they pull out the big tray of food with weird foods, like monkey brains, and I can say, I ate that, and that and that. A while ago, a family told me that they had a monkey that someone killed for them which they eventually had burry the bones in our front yard. They told me that if I wanted it, I could dig it up and I could have its teeth. 😳

We live in sandals and the only problem I have found is it causes crazy tan lines and you get bit by ants. The first week we got bit a few times on our feet and you do feel it. My companion actually ended up having some swollen bites bursting open from getting an infection. We heard of a family that went to go to the Monti (mountains) and bring home ants for their daughter who was turning six years old. They thought ants were hard workers and that it would be a great idea to put them all over their daughter's head so that she could learn from the ants how to be hard worker.

Another unique experiences here is learning the Kuna language. There really are only about 15 letters in their alphabet. Many do not read here except the younger generation who are also becoming bilingual. Those who speak Spanish intermix the two languages and so it is still difficult to understand. We have been learning as we study. One thing we found hilarious is that the word for grandmother is “mu” and the word for drunk is mu, mu. If you had a drunk grandmother you would say mu, mu, mu.  Everything is super funny with translation, for instance, the chief leader of the island here is a member of the church. In their language he is referred to as Sapen Dula (hope I spelled that correctly) which means tall with authority or in Book of Mormon terms, Chief Judge. The name for God means tall dad, or granddad as in big. It all translates very directly which is cool. Everyone around here just calls the missionaries Mergi sipu, which basically describes us as white guys. 

In our ward here, there are about sixty or seventy members each week at church. Most of them are younger. In fact, the new second councilor in our ward is seventeen years old. 

On a stranger note, we recently, ran into a girl who had been using a witch doctor to help her. He was chanting and mumbling for over 10 hours until the girl started screaming. Her mother came to us and asked if we could help her by giving her a blessing. As missionaries, we of coarse said that we would help. When we got there, there was not much light in the room. The witch doctor's cigarette filled the dark room with a small light, smoke, and embers that fell from it onto the ground. The family literally, took this flailing girl, wrapped her in a hammock to control her and we then were able to pray, she immediately stopped her seizure like activities. The witch doctor said, wow, that worked, and then he began his chanting over her again and she went from calm back to screaming. That was crazy!

One of the things that you see a lot of here on San Blas are these small tiki-like figurines called Nuchu carved to look like people. When they go to retrieve the wood to carve them, they pray over the tree to make sure that it is the right time because they believe that there is life in the wood and they need to preserve it in what they are creating. Many believe there is healing power in these figurines. Since we were seeing them everywhere as well as mola art, we were hoping to maybe get one of these as a souvenir, but were told that they are not made for others because this is faith based and it would be a waste of a spirit. Lucky for me, I happened to get some Mr. Rogers exciteMINT's this holiday from my family. It had a picture of Mr. Rogers and his puppet King Friday on the outside of the tin container. The picture of the puppet king looked like one of the wooden Nuchus. I showed the man the mints and he considered that if Mr. Rogers had a Nuchus, then it would be okay for him to make a small one for me.  He said, "okay, I will make you one."  I now have a small Nuchu about the size of your index finger, that I will cherish.

It was great to get another Christmas advent calendar from home, my mom and sister made this up during July before she headed off to college. We were floored as we opened up one square to post and thought this must have been inspired.

Trip to the Panama Temple with my companion Elder Boyd who heads home next week.

On The First Day Of Christmas

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find the simplest things, not the great occasions-give off the greatest glow of happiness. -Bob Hope

A Panamanian partridge in a pear tree!

On A Tropical Island

On a tropical island. Underneath the molten lava moon. Hanging with the hula dancers. And I'll take back my previous answer... This does just seem just like vacation. Yes, I mean I'm working. Yes, I am tired. But just look around at all these beautiful beaches, all these Kuna kids, the sandals, the constant sound of the ocean, and all this culture. Of all the islands we got the biggest one, meaning we actually have three restaurants (fondas) and like I said before running water. One of the restaurants actually sells burgers the others just chicken and rice. So weekly we try to make a budget to buy a burger.

This week we were invited to a party for the celebration of the one-year anniversary of the death of their grandmother... I guess that’s a thing? Anyway, all parties here are just a big invite for people to come over to eat. As we arrive there was a line of about thirty people going out the door. So, by the time we got into the house we could start to see how the system worked. They have a table for six who each are given a plate of rice and spaghetti. Once they finish, they're kicked out and the next person takes their spot. The party head goes to the back to wash the plates and comes out with food for the next guest. This entire time one person is just rushing you to eat to make sure everyone can get something to eat and go back to work. The smart people, who have been to these types of B.Y.O. (bring your own) plate parties just get stuff to go. Right as we got to the end of eating our healthy serving, the host came in with a trash bucket just filled to the brim in a soup like spaghetti. That made us both just lose our appetite. Note to self: Never go to dead people’s anniversaries!!!

We got a visit from a German tourist. They were on a three-year world journey. We helped a couple around the island get some water and some food. Conveniently, Elder Daffer and Elder Burke were eating at a restaurant as we walked by. Where in their first reaction was to jump up and yell out the window, "WOAH! Who are those guys". I think it’s been a little too long since Elder Daffer has seen other foreigners. It was even funnier when we explained to them, because they knew English.

Quick background. The Kuna flag in case you haven't seen in some of my pictures has a swastika symbol. Yes, that’s actually their flag. Yes, they have it hung up in many parts of the island. Now even though it has gone through many changes throughout the years (One in which had a nose ring). The flipped swastika stands for rebellion (and independence) over the Panamanians who tried by force to take the islands and unity between the North, South, East, and West islands. So, the Germans tourists got here and all the Kuna’s are like totally getting in their faces. WAIT! Are you guys Nazis? They responded back, No... If anyone’s a Nazi it’s you guys, you literally have the Nazi flag up. I never thought I would see this day come. It was hilarious.

It was Panama's Mother's Day this week. For San Blas, that meant all the fathers have been working all week to make chicha fuerte. A fermented sugar cane juice traditionally drunk in times of celebration. Oddly enough, all the men seemed to be more into the drinking then the mothers actually were. But it was a crazy day. The major part of the island was drunk. And the next day hungover. It was pretty funny just watching everyone drunk. We convinced one guy his name was Baulvino Mumu, or Baulvino the drunk. We had a few recent converts there along with investigators. One I think actually got put to jail for punching a little kid. It was just kind of sad after explaining specifically that chicha fuerte is an alcholic beverage, and then people telling us they wouldn't drink it, but due to peer pressure fell into temptation. I'm just glad that we can learn from our mistakes and become better people every day as I have seen quite a few people do this week.

A lot of people left for the city this past two weeks. Which meant that our favorite Panamanian Police who were interested in our message left as well for changes. We hope to get some people in here for the holidays. It’s a perfect vacation spot.

Due to an investigator getting just wasted, we had to postpone his baptism. We were kind of bummed that we weren't going to baptize this week. However, helping out our Branch President, we found a kid at the church. Calixto was just talking, "Oh look this is Kenneth, he is eleven, I think. Soon he could get the priesthood, but he's not baptized yet." So, we asked if his parents are members. And Calixto told us that "The Dad is and all the siblings are, just not his mother." During this entire time Kenneth is jumping up and down, "Hey wait I'm 9!" We ask Calixto if he supports us baptizing this kid. And Calixto was just like "He's been going to church with his best friend every week for about four months. If you get his mom's permission, baptize him tomorrow. Better yet, I'll go ask his mom." So, he gets up and leaves, comes back five minutes later with the permission signed. We just had a Baptism of Faith! We baptized him this last Saturday. That literally just fell into our lap. We did nothing, God planned that one out. What a miracle.

An Nome Ebobischo Maibie

Elder Irizarry.

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like...The Middle Of Summer!

How’s the islands you ask? Well, I'm just here on some beach somewhere.

Let’s just say all my areas have been fun and unique. This one has to be my favorite and I have only been here two weeks. Unlike my old areas, I live in a wooden hut with dirt floors. Surprisingly enough after so much time walking on the floors, they're pretty compact. Well at least compact enough to sweep and not dig a moat or break into the rat tunnels. But its dope. We have running water. Not all the islands do, but its suggested not to drink it. Sometimes it comes out brown. I've been drinking a little here and there to see if I can build up my stomach strength. We have a Shrek looking outhouse, but it has a toilet. We live basically off of canned beans, canned shredded chicken, and tortillas. 80% of our meals. We do sleep in hammocks. Now occasionally a Columbian ship will come to the islands to trade. They spread out all their goods. In the words of a local here "I want, I buy. I don't want, I don't buy". Yeah, they're kind of a simple people. The men just go out to the mountain, collect their coconuts and sugarcane. The woman wash clothes and sew mola all day long. The kids just run around the island...It is about the size of a High School and so you can only get so lost.  And so....I saw, I wanted and I bought a family sized Colombian hammock. I know sleep like a baby. It is big enough for you, and a wife and a kid.  But this one is just all for me and now I sleep like I am in a cocoon. 

Out here we do have quite a bit of service. A lot of people are constructing. So they bring in sand and dirt from the mountain and we end up taking it back in barrels. I can't remember how many times we've hauled barrels of sand. All I know is my arms are sore. This Sunday our investigator was just shoveling from his canoe to haul it all in. We jumped in to speed up the work. I was feeling sort of dead. After not really having the opportunity on the mission to truly workout you, I have lost quite a bit of muscle. So, when a young mom saw that I was exhausted under this blistering sun, she called out saying. "When you get back home, you're going to be so bulked up and so tan your own dad won't even know who you are." You know it’s just little things like that, which motivate us in life. We came back with more energy and we worked faster. Anyways with double the man power we finished in time and our investigator actually went to church. Sweet! 

Now I invite you guys to look for little ways, especially in this giving season to give compliments and to lift up the lives of people around you. It can really make a huge difference.

Oh, and we had two baptisms this week.

Love you all - Jake

Nue Gambi

General Things to Note about San Blas:

#1. There are tourist islands and native inhabited islands. I do not live on one of their tourist beaches. I lived here on Ustupu, one of (if not) the biggest inhabited islands. It is so big it is actually cut into two parts where we share half of our islands with another companionship of Elders.

#2. Yes, I said islands. There are a lot of little islands connected up to others through bridges. They are about 30 feet long or so. These islands are pretty close together. For example, one island just holds the school. The next holds about 15 houses. The next holds our church and about 20 or so houses. And then there is the big island Ustupu. We share a small bite out of the big island and have a handful of houses there.

#3. Living on the island means new rules. For example. We wake up at 5:30 and go to work at 8:00 and stop teaching by 6:00 where we have a nightly island meeting. After that we return to our house by 7:00.  

#4. Everyone here speaks a dialect called Dule Gaya. I'll talk more about that in the future.

#5. Internet here is pretty slow as you would imagine since we are on an island. I will shrink the picture quality for now and I can send you blurry pictures and then when I have the chance, I'll try to upload all the high-quality pictures at an undetermined date. So, keep your eyes open in the future. I may tell you all to look back.

To back track to last Tuesday at 4:00 in the morning a member took us to the Comarca where we then arrived at 7:30. Then we took a boat dropping off all the missionaries at the propio islands. We were on the last island and reached it at about 1:00 PM. We were kind of wiped out, but we are energized now.

Also, one thing they did was clean San Blas this change. Normally you have two trainers in the mission, one for training and the second if you ever go to San Blas. And so we are just white washing this area and none of us have ever been to San Blas. President Current has something planned.

My new companion is Elder Boyd from Texas. He has almost completed his mission which means that I will actually be killing him. That is just slang which means that this is his last transfer before he goes home. He is a really talented missionary, a giving person and connects with the hearts of the people. He loves kids, is chill but has a determined personality. And Yes, he's single and will be studying in Utah in a month. Keep your eyes open ladies!

This week I've been getting used to sleeping in a hammock. It is super comfortable once you get used to it. I absolutely love it, but I should note that it requires a skill of not moving whatsoever. After the third day, it seems very normal.

Hey I love you guys and will keep you updated and with stories next week.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Hey good morning! How are you guys doing this wonderful morning?

I have some news.

I have changes. For the 1st time in 11 months I am leaving interior.

I'm headed somewhere exciting.

Are you ready for this... San Blas! I will be traveling in una panga (a fishing boat) to get to my area.

Hey just wanted to tell you I won't have a whole lot of time to write you guys this week. Thanks for everything and your support. I Love you all!!

Happy Birthday Mom. I hope that you'll have a great one. Thanks for everything! I'll make sure I'll get the photos up next week. 

Panama Mission Conference

Elder Bivings (Big Red Giant)

Recently in my mind, I have been thinking of the story found in the Book of Mormon; in Mosiah, we read about a group of Nephites who have been put into the captivity of their enemies (basically slavery) due to their wickedness and forgetfulness of the Lord.  After much pleading with the Lord, they finally were given an opportunity to leave. It meant leaving the cities they lived in and leaving behind everything they fought for, this promised land owned by their founding fathers. Through their renewed faith in the Lord, they escaped into the forest and went down to another Nephite city.  Another group of Nephites from this same city escaped prior to captivity, but they had to start from scratch, with zip, nothing, nada but with hard work, they built up a new city. They realized the problems with dictatorships with kings and rulers and started setting up a basic government. They started getting rich and prospering in the land, but their enemies found them and put into slavery.  It was with more intense work and rules. They ran away from a terrible situation with a promise of new opportunity, but quickly fell into the same problem. Only this time, it wasn't self-caused. 

Now sometimes in this world, we cause our own problems. Maybe mistakes we make, maybe we have problems because of disobedience to the commandments, or maybe just because the Lord wants to test us. (2 Nephi 1:20) "And he hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence." (Mosiah 23:21) "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." The Lord will try our patience at times to see if we are humble and faithful to him. To see if we remember him and still want to be obedient when the blessings aren't coming.

As we jump back to the story of these Nephites. They were being pushed so much that they weren't even allowed to pray. But they kept faithful in keeping the commandments.  (Mosiah 24:14-16) "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.
And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage."

The Lord with time let them go. The Nephites had listened to the will of the Lord. It wasn't for them to stay in the forest for the rest of their life. It was to go back and reunite with the rest of their nation and with faith-promoting experiences and complete and utter trust in the Lord. Through these experiences the Nephites prospered exceedingly in missionary work. If we are patient the Lord will make us into the best people we can be. Be obedient and you will feel peace. If you endure these challenges it will make you stronger and will help you later on in life. 

This week I had divisions and went to visit Puerto Armuelles. I taught a newer missionary a bit how to teach better.

The best event that happened was that I had the chance to visit Panama City for a conference. In the 1st time in over 3 years, all the missionaries in Panama were called into the city. That is around 200 missionaries and made me so happy. I ran into almost all my old companions (except those who are home). I was also able to see Megan (my cousin) but the big red giant, Elder Bivings, separated us (Sisters/Elders). To top this, I saw a lot of old members from the branches of Boquete, Almirante, y El Empalme. That just made my soul sing for joy. It was like a flush of all these memories of hard work, service, and preaching the gospel. Then we had the conference with Ulyses S Soares, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I got the extra motivation and hope I have been so craving. We talked a lot about faith, setting goals, and inspired plans.

It was great and as I got back home (we left at 2 in the morning Saturday and got back at 2 in the morning Sunday) we went to a church council and had the opportunity to teach the Branch how to make realistic goals. I was able to share what I knew and what I just learned. Today I slept in and then I also prepared for a special investigator with questions. When you have scripture study for the benefit of somebody else it is so much more meaningful, I invite you to try it.

Love you guys,

Elder Irizarry

And shout out to Elder Sargent who read my blog before coming to the mission.

During divisions, a guy that I knew from Boquete was working in the area and just threw me full sized Snicker Bars. It was like a belated Halloween.

(Part of his cousin Megan's letter this week: So as I mentioned earlier, Elder Soares came to Panama this week and Saturday afternoon. This time the WHOLE mission went, which is the first time I have seen all the missionaries in one spot...We had half a day and everyone saw everyone they hadn't seen in forever. Oh yes, I saw my cousin for the first time in a year. We had like a 2-minute conversation, but it was so good to see him. Let me tell ya, Irizarry genes are some crazy stuff because while any missionary will tell ya the Hermanas gain weight and the Elders lose weight, we're both pretty much the same twigs. The funny part, though, is that we all started trickling into Albrook, waiting for it to turn 1:30 so we could go to Bella Vista, which meant at 1:30 the train was FLOODED with missionaries, all going to the same place. Normally on the train, it's super full, but only a handful of people get off at every stop, not 200 people. So the doors were open long enough for the majority of people to get off, but everyone was dying of laughter to see a certain Elder Irizarry with a look of panic on his face as the doors shut and took him to the next stop. The trains pass by every 2 minutes, so 5 minutes later he was back where he needed to be, but boy was it funny waving as he zoomed away.)