Normal Everyday Missionary Work & Goodbyes

I am writing this ahead of time because I don’t think that I will have time this Monday. Transfers are coming and it's typical to only be in an area for three months. I think that I am probably going to be transferred because I have been here in Nuevo Mexico for just under 5 months. I hope not; I love it here! I know the area, the members and the investigators and their situations. Ironically, I just found out that I was in the area where Elder Betts served! It was quite literally the last three days that we found an old note from him here. I found out that I actually taught some of the same people that he had taught.  Sorry man, some of them were progressing but it is possible that one day Anna and Alfredo will be picked up again by a future missionary. They are pretty solid but just have a little trouble getting to church. As any missionary who has served in this part of Colon, its Nueva Italia on a Sunday, there is no transportation. It was sad as I said my goodbye to Aldea and it was just very tranquil. Of course, the bar on the other side of the river was blasting music but this time it happened to be Bob Marley. I came to the walkway to listen to three birds and it was so beautiful this time of year.  I could not have asked for a better goodbye. Well…. except that nobody was there. It's probably better this way. 

Now that I am leaving I should probably tell you a bit of what we have been doing there. We have been teaching many families here who are apt to listen, many have a great faith in God, but know nothing about Jesus and the scriptures. Others attend different churches but they do have their questions.  Now, after reading the Book of Mormon and many other things they want to get baptized. They just feel nervous to get to church. Its like when you buy a pizza and nobody wants to be the person to eat the last slice but they all want it. We invited them and many ask…yea, I want to but who else is going? Many have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We have been teaching one of my favorite investigators, se llama Juan. He overheard our lesson about the word of wisdom and was captivated. He told us, "Why doesn’t the world at least the youth here know about this!" We invited him to baptism and left that day and Elder Franco after we sat down at the bus stop said, ‘You know what we just did right?” I was just like, ya we invited the brother in law of Diana to baptism…. And? Then he said, “He is El Nono or El Casique” (meaning the tribe leader). 

We started teaching Juan and he fell in love with the Book of Mormon and asked for two more books so that he could share them with his friends. He asked a lot of questions and all them were rather deep. He has a passion for the history of different tribes and cultures. Now the Book of Mormon explains a lot about the people who were in the Americas, how they got here, what their belief was, challenges, circumstances, but the crowning point was when Christ came after his resurrection and gave personal ministry to the inhabitants here. This book not only is up his alley of personal interest but very spiritual. 

I remember and will always cherish the one day we were answering one of his questions and I have never seen anyone look at a book the way he studied the scriptures while we showed and pointed things out. With a voice softly trembling, he said and I quote, “I have been looking for this answer for the past twelve years of my life…and here it is so plainly in the Book of Mormon. Why couldn’t I have had this book sooner.” When he had a question, he had his scriptures opened and was waiting for us to guide him as to where he could find his answer. I actually gave him my triple combination and he is now using it often. We have invited him to baptism a few times and he genuinely wants to get baptized but he is just very busy. That and as the leader, he can’t have a legal sway on politics or religion. With time, he said, “I don’t’ care, I know this is what God needs me to do.” He is just now at a stage where he wants to know the Book of Mormon front and back so that he can defend himself when others start questioning him.

I have strong reason to believe, that when he gets baptized. It will turn into a smaller version of the King Lamoni story. Like Matthew said, “When they see his good works, they will glorify their God,” or as Paul put it in his epistle to Timothy, “He will become an example to the believers.” I am just thankful for this experience that I have had here in Colon. Even though I didn’t get to see it all play out, I couldn’t have dreamed of an experience like this. I can’t express my gratitude sufficiently.  That is what I have been doing in Aldea...Normal Everyday Missionary Work! 

This past Sunday, we had a baptism and this Wednesday we had another scheduled. It was her birthday and she was really excited about baptism. With the very small budget we have here, we scraped enough money together to buy a cake, it was perfect. Just until she came into the water and then had a panic attack. She never told us that she had a fear of water. After calming her down, she went for the first time underwater and forgot to plug her nose and started flailing. We had to do it again but she being more panicked and took a step out. We dismissed everyone and gave them warm remarks for showing their love and support for Marret. Bless her heart, even though she was utterly terrified, she was firm in her decision to get baptized. We lowered the water and tried many things to help her, but after two hours of sitting in the water, we called it a night. She, this week, has been practicing in the river by her house and we have plans for next week to try another time. I have never been prouder of a little girl for trying to follow Gods example, and have never seen a man with more patience than Elder Arriaga that night. It was really a testimony builder of preparing down for letting the Lords will swallow up our own will even if it is difficult.

So it happened, I will now be serving in a new area Changuinola, boarding Costa Rica. I say that as I am writing this in hour eight of my very long bus trip to get here. Isn’t that the greatest blessing in the world, eight hours of an air conditioner.  I sat next to a tour group from England which also meant eight hours of English; what!!! The lady I sat next to was just the sweetest elderly lady who loved to tour the world and even better, a history buff. Oh’ you better believe we had a good time. Within the first ten minutes, I started going into missionary mode but she shut that off saying, it's better if we don’t talk about that, we have a long ride left. She did have questions later and I was able to at the very least bare my testimony.

I should be getting Changuinola around Tuesday morning and I am honored to be one of the eight missionaries who is practically in Costa Rica. This morning we waited for a bus for about thirty minutes to get from Colon to Panama City and I missed the 6 o’clock bus from Panama City to David. However, we ended up passing the 6 o’clock bus on the way because it had broken down and had to go into a garage while everyone in that bus waited so that is another blessing. I am now with Elder Reira and he is pretty cool! We have only had the chance to talk three times and one of those times was when I passed pink eye to one of his investigators. We are already off to quite an experience and there are only going to be more.

The first bus ride from the bus terminal Albrook to David was nice, I was on a double-decker bus and sat by the window. Wow, what a view! The second bus from David to Changuinola was a little bit sketchy. The trail that you go up reminds me of going on the narrow road out by Hearst Castle or when we drove to see the sunrise on Mt. Haleakala in Hawaii. We went up and down those winding mountainous hills and at times we were driving in the clouds and sometimes above them, we past waterfalls, rivers, dams, and rainbows on the cliff side. I felt like I was on a tour bus. It was absolutely beautiful, I felt as if I was going to a secluded mountain to become a monk. As with this haircut, I am halfway there… and the best part was I was genuinely cold. I think I am free from melting, but I have no idea how they got a road up here and how they planned it out, but it was amazing. I wish that I could have stopped off to have taken pictures. I am also glad that I didn’t have a lot to eat today because I think that it would have turned that trip into a different experience. Many small decisions turned into great blessing throughout this day.

I am here and alive, I actually got here late, late, late Monday night! Changuinola is in the boonies, but I absolutely love it. 

Growing My Testimony & Hair

To keep you updated, Russel M. Nelson is now the active and living prophet. He is 93 years old, but still kicking and as lively as can be. I have not heard much else about the new members of the apostles, but I'll keep you updated on that as well. However, it was really cool this week for the first time we taught someone about the restoration and prophets where I got to talk about Russel M. Nelson. I had no doubt in my mind that Russel M. Nelson is the current prophet called by God. When we taught it the spirit flooded the room and testified to me, my companion, and most importantly, our investigator that Russel M. Nelson is, in fact, a living prophet of God called to this time to receive revelation and direct the people of Zion. It was so powerful and I am so thankful for the experience.

We had divisions this week, but this time I was with Elder Kuhn from my district in the MTC. Was that the best! He is such a cool guy and such a good missionary. I saw that we both have improved significantly from the MTC and that we both have learned and adapted from the different experiences put in front of us. As we worked together with our different talents and abilities it went so smoothly. We had lessons after lessons where you just felt the strength of the Spirit in the room. It went by so fast. It didn’t even feel like work. We talked about everything. I would love to be his companion one day in the future. Let’s hope I get that lucky. I learned quite a bit from him in just that one day. I realized how much I actually knew and that I really learned quite a lot from past Elders. It was actually such a blessing. 

At the high point in our day, we got to teach a recently baptized Kuna, who I had met before. But Elder Kuhn asked me if I had a scripture that I could share with her. I shared one of my favorite scripture stories in the Book of Mormon, Ether 6:1-12. It was a favorite scripture shared by our teacher to both of us in the MTC and soon after became my favorite. If I ever feel down, If I ever feel like I'm not doing well, or that that life is hard I turn to this scripture. It teaches us that these ancient people had followed the commandments of God to build boats and travel to the Americas. They sat in the boats just waiting to get to the Americas for nearly a year. They didn’t have a whole lot to do, but sit there in boredom in these air-tight cells and wait as many times, the waves were strong and heavy and pushed their boats completely under the water. But the entire time they didn't complain. They sang songs and praises to the Lord and accordingly, the Lord blessed them. At last, when they got to the Promised Land they humbled themselves before the Lord for the strong blessings they had received. What a strong spirit that was with us when we taught. You could cut it with a knife. I felt an impression to read this scripture and it was exactly what this woman needed to hear. 

At last! We finally had a baptism. No, it’s not who you may be thinking. It was a 10-year-old girl named Kate. Their family was inactive and we've been working to get them back to church. Kate has recently been very sick and in the past few weeks, she has gotten better after a doctor’s visit. After working for a while we finally prepared her for baptism. Now before the baptism, there is always a small interview which we can't interview our own investigators for security reasons, so other Elders need to come for the interview. At the end of the interview, we asked her who she would like to baptize her: Elder Arriaga, Yo, or as a joke Elder Sierra (the companion of the other missionary). She said, "I don’t care, I just want to get baptized". And so Elder Arriaga and I both said, "Look, Elder Sierra has about 1 month here and hasn’t ever baptized anyone." She chose him. Now that meant he had to take a one-hour bus to where we are, but he had his first baptism! And most importantly, she was baptized. The family is in a very humble circumstance was open-minded about going back to the church and motivated to baptize their youngest. Just like we read in Alma 24:27 "...The Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people". What a blessing was it to see their family receive the blessing from turning to the Lord in a time of struggle.

Speaking of struggle, With divisions, we went to the house of a broken family who wasn’t raised with the same principles I was raised with. The youngest daughter was recently baptized, but struggles to feel the spirit with the environment she has been placed in. What a wonderful opportunity it was to read her the Book of Mormon. This book has the answer to all of my troubles and is the source of my joy. This book gives us the strength to get through the hard trials in this world. This book will bring you closer to God and strengthen your personal relationship with him. If you have not had the chance to read a copy they have a digital pair online at LDS.org. If you haven’t read them recently, I encourage you to do so. It will change your life as you study this divine gift regularly. Of these things, I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Until Next week,

Elder Irizarry

Oh P.S., Our neighbor Short, the one who took us on the tour to the waterfall and who normally is in Aldea with us and who gave me this haircut..., finally got his mission call. He's going to Cobón, Guatemala. We are so excited for him and hope he won't freeze to death. He already has such a great headstart from going out with us so many times. He will make a good missionary. Good Luck, Elder Short, You'll do great. And Cobón, prepare yourself for this Loco.

Joy in the Journey

As many of you know already, I am stationed in Colon, Panama which is known for having its problems. In fact, they finally took the sister missionaries out of here. I am in, however, a good part of Colon which is about 30 minutes out of the inner city. Those that live in the city have their own language which is not quite Spanish and it's definitely not English. It sounds like a mixture of whatever English they have heard combined with Spanish which makes up a lot of slang. Luckily, I get to hear it often enough where I’m able to understand it and it cracks me up. I absolutely love it! We, missionaries, like to call it “Wopping.” Why? Because that’s how the people greet you here. I have had experiences when I had been walking down the street and when they see that I am American, no matter where they are or what they are doing they’ll turn to us and yell, “Wa – ahping Mo,” or to translate into English, “What’s Happening Man.” Oh yes, they love whatever little English you can teach them. I can’t tell you how difficult it is sometimes not to burst out laughing. Panamanian Spanish already has a huge American influence, which makes it easier for me, but "wopping" I swear is just Google translate. I like to share some of my other favorite phrases: “Voy a parkear a su casa esta noche.” (Parkaer as in parking) “Donde esta su Oman.” (The heavy Panamanian accent for Woman) “Ya a town manana?” (Town is what they call the city) It gives me the biggest smile and I just hope that the day you will get to hear my Spanish that it will actually sound like Spanish and not "wopping".

As for my weekly update on Aldea, and the beautiful tribe of Embera-Quera. As of the recent storm, a few of their trees fell over and some others they were just chopping down. With all this extra wood, they are working on making more canoes. Apparently, it only takes about eight days with a regular old hatchet ax to carve a tree trunk into a full-sized canoe. I have been pushing them to name one after me, but with no success. Mario is firm in his decision to name the canoe, “Melvin el Barco.” I will keep trying, but he thinks it’s the funniest thing to call his canoe a cruise ship. All the local leaders of the different Embera-Quera tribes in Colon gathered together to have a meeting as of Saturday and Sunday so we were not able to talk to Juan. We asked a local family a little bit more about this tribe and they told us that they broke off from a bigger tribe a little more than 40 years ago and have been living here ever since. They honor free agency, freedom of religion, unity, and family. With the exception of their spouse, they are all family and blood relatives. It is really cool, many chose to live here due to the freedom and the family as well as their love for the peace and tranquility there. They live a simple and modest life and are very happy. Many times that we go there it is just so silent. You can hear the river running, the kids playing, and the crickets singing. They definitely are a reminder to me to look at all the blessings God has given us. There are a lot of small blessing that we don’t recognize. As Thomas S. Monson once directed us to find “Joy in our Journey.” I have found and will always be grateful for the many lessons I have learned from this simple quote.

Recently we have had many less actives coming back to church. Our ward is finally growing and it is great! Thank you, everyone, for your prayers, thank you, home teachers, for actually visiting members and thank you, Bishop Groves, for your above the bar effort!

Dust In The Wind

This week we have been trying to ask more specifically to find people in need of a blessing from God. As we were trying to strengthen our faith in the power of prayer we said a specific prayer to find a woman who was single and who had kids who was pondering about God. I feel at times it would just be easier to ask God directly for the people who are ready and who are in need of a blessing, but I have been praying to strengthen my testimony and that I can find the people I was sent here to find. After the prayer, we were walking and walking and were feeling nothing so we kept going, then all of a sudden in synchronization we both turned our head and saw the little dirt trail that ventured off behind a house. We followed the promptings of the spirit and continued on this little dirt trail that lead to a neighborhood of about 25 homes. As we followed the spirit we stopped when we felt prompted to stop. A lady opened the door just a little dazed and we explained that we are missionaries and that God sent us here to bless her and her family. She said, okay give me one minute. She ran off and so we started talking with the kids. At this point we were thinking did she go out the back door or is she actually coming back? After a little bit, she came back, with different clothes on (a lot of times Panamanians will walk out with just a towel on or something less on) and in her hands, she had a bullet. Apparently, last night there were some gunshots going off and one ricocheted and ended up in their house. All that morning she was pondering and praying about death and what was to come. She had a need for protection because she is a single mother. It is hard to describe the sweet spirit that overcame me during the lesson.  A sense of humility renewed as I realized I was only being used as an instrument in order to help others and that I would have never found her house without the guidance of the spirit. I previously had been a little stubborn to listen to the promptings in the past and the idea that the Lord knows each one of his children and their needs. Over experiences like this in the past week, my faith has grown in the power of prayer and God’s knowledge and love for his children.

This week we went to Aldea again, there are two different tribes that live over the river. One is focused on tourism and we haven’t gone there yet. We have spent a lot of time in the Embera-Quera tribe that live on the upper side of the river. We have been trying to plan activities there for all of Aldea for a little while now. This week we were planning a baptism but they sometimes get backflow tourism there. They had to make last minute preparations which meant they would be busy all day. We had to postpone the baptism until next week, but we had the chance to help out with the preparations. All the young men and boys went out that evening to cut sugar cane. They came back and started feeding them into this handmade juicer. Occasionally they would call out switch, and the boys on the sides cranking would take a break. As soon as we saw that they were rotating we hopped in and helped to get all of the sugarcane through the press. Oh, man was that a work out, but I have never tasted a better tasting natural juice, it was fresh and cold.

Also, in Aldea, the kids are fascinated by my camera. One of the best decisions I have ever made was to let them use my camera and just go around taking pictures. Of course, a lot of the pictures are not great, but some of them are priceless. I’m just going to start giving my camera to little kids wherever I go. They just take pictures of everything. Look a duck! "Click," Hey Grandma! "Click," A peach pit! "Click." I think the next time I’m there I’ll tell them to go around taking pictures of people and the houses, because I can’t just go around and take picture of everything. 

With this new year, we have a new time that we meet at church, we recently got a new bishop and will have a new prophet soon. In case you haven’t heard our prophet, Thomas S. Monson passed away this week. Just as in the primitive church, we believe in its same organization of Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, Evangelist, and so forth and since the gospel has been restored entirely, we have been blessed to have a Prophet, a divinely chosen representative who can receive revelation for the whole church and the whole world. In the following few days, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will unite and through inspiration reorganize the Quorum and receive revelation of who is the next acting prophet. What a glorious time we live in where we have a prophet of God that walks the earth and directs the people according to the will of God. We appreciate their service and willingness to whole heartedly serve in this calling and all the service Thomas S. Monson provided. May he be at rest and reunite with his wife in heaven. Now, this last Sunday we had the highest attendance in a while. I don’t know if it was because of the new year, the setting of new goals, the new bishop, or in part the work we’ve been doing. However, and for whatever reason, the ward is slowly growing once again. The hearts of the people are becoming softened and there is a confidence of trust within the ward.

This week my companion was just a little bit distracted. As missionaries normally your mind is going a million miles per hour. You’re constantly thinking about where to go next, what our investigators need to hear, what do we need to do to bring them to Christ, how we can teach better, how can our investigators keep commitments?  He had an ex-girlfriend write him something sappy this week. It’s hard enough to worry about the people, let alone your family and friends. Trying to deal with girls or ex-girlfriends is the icing on the cake. Nobody sane eats the icing. They cut it off and just eat the cake and give the icing to a little kids. That’s what we did. I told him to tell me every girl he ever dated or had a crush on, and then I wrote them down. He was obviously a little confused, but he said okay your next. On the same note card, I went through all the names I could remember going back to middle school. It was actually kind of funny because neither he or I could remember all the names so we took turns making up new names. At the end, we rolled up the list, doused it with rubbing alcohol and set it on fire. I told him, unlike Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego all your past love life has died in a fiery furnace. They are no longer important to you and no longer exist. All they are, are dust in the wind. Your mind won’t sing the same old song and will now be at rest. Now let’s get to work!

On our P-Day we found a waterfall!

Ring in the New Year

I cannot believe how jammed packed this week was. It seems like three weeks have passed since we talked last week. On Christmas day, I got to call home and talk with my family which was great! That call seemed like it went by so fast, it felt like only ten minutes even though it was longer. Surprisingly we did get feed a Christmas Dinner. It was a traditional meal that they eat here around this time of year. Yes, we ate rice and beans, but with a side of ham, tamale and fruit cake; it was really cool. 

From Christmas until New Year’s you find a lot of people are very busy with family, preparations, or partying so we had a little bit of a different week. One of these days we had a zone conference and that meant I got to see my cousin for the second time. This conference was more spiritual and uplifting. We talked about the accomplishments of the year and the goals for the upcoming year. We talked about our own personal goals and our visions as missionaries. It was a great conference! 

Every other day this week we just kept finding people in need of service. Little things like helping someone take their beer and soda cans to the recycling deposit, helping an elderly man with his phone and how it works, moving a fridge up a notoriously tall flight of stairs and removing his old fridge back down a different flight. (I made a pack that I will never live on a hill like that one unless there is an entrance for a car), filling up a tank of gas, installing a new curtain frame and so on. I always love the service that we can provide in our neighborhood and in our communities. Many times the opportunity to serve may be an inconvenience or not sound fun, but I have found that in my life nothing makes me happier. Even when it is hard work and when at times you don't immediately see the fruit of your labors. I am always filled with a deep joy as I roll up sleeves and just dive in. I have had very stressful and frustrating days become enlightened by providing service or receiving the service from others. I promise that you can find the same joy as you look for service. 

This week we also had divisions with the zone leaders. Elder Quel and I went to their area and Elder Arriaga and Elder Kuhr stayed in Nuevo Mexico. Wow, is there a difference when you don't walk on those rolling hills and hike up those mountains of Panama to talk to your investigators. They have a very flat area and oh' man theirs is a dream. Elder Quel has great energy and works hard. I don't know if we sat down once that day. Well, okay only one time and that was for a baptismal interview. The interview was with a man who is deaf and so they had their entire conversation on a whiteboard. A lot of stick diagram pictures and the rest of the conversation was really heartfelt. 
You could see in his eyes that this was something that he deeply desired, it was a really nice opportunity and testimony builder that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is in fact for everyone. My favorite scripture about the atonement is found in Alma 7:11-13 in the Book of Mormon. It tells us that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and that we may live again in heaven. However, it goes deeper and explains how he suffered for our sins, pains, afflictions, temptations of every kind, sicknesses, infirmities, and for our transgressions. Jesus Christ died for us so that we can return to the presence of God. He died as well to give us comfort and joy. Then in our times of trouble, we can know that we are not alone. In our troubles, we will be able to receive comfort by feeling peace. Like this man we met with, we are all entitled to have the comfort that the atonement brings all of God's children.

When Elder Kuhn was in my area with Elder Arriaga, he became the third person from our group at the Missionary Training Center that has now gone and visited Aldea, and the beautiful Embera-Quera tribe. The river seems to have something against us as it has now tipped all three of us in this river. Elder Tenney was the first to have gotten completely and utterly soaked, which ruined his scriptures. On a later date, I was the second to fall in and was left with a junky agenda and hymn book. And this week, Elder Kuhn, unfortunately, fell in the river when it was about 6 to 7 feet deep and even though he is around 6'3 he was sopping wet the whole day. He lost his wallet, probably the worst of all the losses. Luckily, it was the end of the month and he did not have a lot of money left, but still a loss.