Cambios
Avena
Chuleta... We started off this week normal. I actually thought to myself nothing exciting has happened this week... Que Va. I'll just write something spiritual, then Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. BOOM BOOM BOOM. Out of nowhere locura estaba saliendo.
Wednesday- My companion got sick. He had a need to throw up but couldn’t so we bought bananas and sprite and I spun him around in a circle and that did the trick. Then because he felt nauseous he ended up sleeping all day. That gave me time to read the “Teachings of the Presidents: Joseph Fielding Smith.” Man was that guy a flechone. Super strict man, but I loved his style.
Friday- The assistants to the president accidentally broke our hot water shower and for about a week and a half, I have been taking literally the coldest showers of my life. And because we didn’t have a shower head it was just like taking a shower from a PVC pipe. Yay... It was the first time I heard my comp scream like Scooby-doo, the water was so cold. Finally, we went to the store early in the morning and installed a new shower and it’s even better than before. The reign of hot water returns!!
My companion and I went to visit Joaquin who is a progressing investigator... He has a girlfriend who he wants to marry and take to the temple, so he is really progressing. During the middle of the lesson, there was an EARTHQUAKE. It wasn't big, it just caught all of us by surprise. The couch, TV, and the ceiling fan all were rattling for a good 45 seconds. After that, we headed back to our apartment, which is a 45-minute bus ride away. He works during the day so we can only visit him later in the evening and there are not any buses after a certain time, so we started our long walk back. Normally after walking thirty minutes, we end up passing all the houses and someone with a kind heart will see us and say, “You're not going to walk all the way to the entrance are you? Hop in!" This time we walked about two-thirds of the way which was a good 2.5 hours in the dark with a bunch of cars passing by. Finally, someone heading to their house in the opposite direction saw us and made a U-turn to bring us to the entrance. We talked for like 15 minutes in the car, just thanking him!
When we arrived home we received a call from Elder and Sister Johnson. A couple missionary who works with houses and finances in the mission. They called us, to let us know that they would be at our house Sunday to inspect it. We then asked them if they had a Pricemart card, and they did. “Hey, do you think that you could pick us up some Quaker Oatmeal." Elder Johnson starts talking to his wife as my companion yells in the background "Get 2 boxes!!!" Elder Johnson replied, "Oh these boys are serious about their oatmeal. Well, we do have some downtime so sure let’s do it!" We may have walked for ages that day, but we were so excited that we started jumping up and dancing around the room singing the Hawaii 5-0 theme song, which just goes to show you, a lot of your energy is a mental game.
Saturday- We got a call around 8:00 in the morning. The power was out and we were needed for help to do a service activity. We ended up making Tamales and were needed to hand crank them.
Sunday- Hermana Wendt saw that we didn't have umbrellas with us most days so she put together some old fashion trash bag ponchos we could take with us. This Sunday was the first time I have ever conducted a sacrament meeting. I have been teaching in front of people every day. I've taught huge families of twenty people before. But as I got up to start conducting, I became so nervous even though there were only thirteen people. After speaking a sentence or two my mind calmed down and everything was okay, but you'd think after talking in front of people so long I would have gotten over that. Obviously not yet! I think it must be something to do with the podium. The next time I have to conduct, I'll just move the podium to the backroom and I'll be fine, HA. This calling will be good for me, and I'm glad to have this position, to push me out of my comfort zone a bit, in order to be a better missionary. I can see myself improving, so that deserves a good pat on the back. After that meeting Elder and Hermana Johnson came and inspected our house and dropped off the Avena (oats) and said it was a gift! THANKS, MOM and DAD! They are so cool! They always have so much energy it makes us happy. It was funny Elder Johnson said that he has only been to two wards with missionaries and both times it was with me. He then asked, “Where are you from? California. Oh, look, hun, after the mission we are going to have to fly all the way out to California just so we can go to church!” (Which if you are reading this, you are always welcome to come our way!!!) Then Hermana Johnson had homemade cookies waiting for us. As we got back to church, the Branch President’s son had a seizure, so we gave him a blessing and rushed him to the hospital.
Monday- Elder Cambell is a missionary that will finish his two years in a week. Now in the mission, the area you start out is where you are born. Your first companion is your parent, and the area in which you end is where you die and your last companion is the one to kill you. In my mission genealogy, he is my great-grandfather; he trained Elder Maya who trained Elder Garcia who trained me. To wish him a good farewell, I passed him a reference or referral of a Senorita Guadeloupe, who was 'really positive'. However, it was just a Funeral Home for Virgin Guadeloupe. Today was the first time I saw him since that reference and everyone busted up laughing.
Today was P-day de Elderes. Which means, at least in Latin America... Soccer. Genuinely I'm a little tired of soccer so I've been asking for other ideas of what we could do and so we had a water balloon fight today with the district and then went to a cereal bar. A restaurant that literally sells cereal. What a fun twist of events.
On the bus ride to get to David we ran into a man from the States by the name of Nick. He for whatever reason had a weird feeling that he should talk with us. He was one of the nicest tourists I've ever met and the chilliest dude. I felt as though I was back in college. He told us his story about how he married a member of the church, but he was never a member although he went to church for three years with this young woman and loved it. It ended up being they had different plans in life and so they separated. Later on in life he met his wife and she said she wanted him to become a member, he started looking for the missionaries to hear a lesson so that she could see what it was about. He looked for two days on church websites but didn't find anything. So he decided just to go over and talk to this girl and asked, "where can I find the missionaries". Just as he was leaving the door to look for them, they were walking to his door. He described that moment as an overwhelming feeling where he felt it was destiny or fate to see them right at that time. Later he asked this girl if she had sent them, and she said she had no idea of what he was talking about. Right after meeting those missionaries, he became close friends with them and still keeps in contact with them now. He's read the beginning of the Book of Mormon but never got to the end. This is where the strange part comes in. He wanted to leave early this morning at like 5:00, but he ended up taking the 8:00 bus. We wanted to take the 7:30 bus for P-day but it was full, so we were on the 8:00 bus as well. I was able to share a small testimony with him and invited him to read one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon Alma 37, where Alma is talking to his son Helaman and reflecting about the beginning of the story of Nephi. It was great because he even had the Gospel Library app on his phone. I don't know if what I did was much, but a strong spirit was with us today as he reflected on the beginning of his experience with the church.
Stronger, Faster, Smarter!
My companion and I have this investigator in which we taught her the Restoration of the church of Jesus Christ. As we closed the lesson, it is normal to ask the person we're teaching to end in a prayer. During her prayer, she asked that God would continue talking to the Prophet to guide the restored church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was a sweet spirit that was felt there. It is not too often that you teach someone in the mission and it just clicks immediately.
We had four bus rides from David to Boquete this week. They are about an hour commute and most of the time they are ye-ye buses. Like travel buses and not Diablo Rojos! The majority of them have television and just old music videos of people singing tipico. Accordions aren't the center of my world so... Blagh. One of the four bus rides had an old TV program, 'El Chavo del 8' playing. Now that I can make a few references, I pass off as more Panamanian every second.
This week we also had a fast and testimony meeting. Wow, was that special. We had an investigator of about thirty years old who has two daughters. One is ten and the other is eight years old. He has a girlfriend that is a member of the church and got up and bore a great testimony. Then, this eight-year-old girl seeing this Mother figure in her life give her testimony was motivated to give her own. She got up, nervous, but said straight from her heart. “Every time we pray as a family, I feel... I feel Jesus with me. Even after we pray when I go to school!” I don’t know, it just hit me hard; this testimony of an adorable little girl. Testifying of what she knew. I love fast and testimony meetings.
Then one day around 3:00, we received a call from the Zone Leaders serving in David. "Hey... Umm... When does the last bus get to Boquete?" It was, Elder Hernandez, and I've known him since I served in Changuinola. He isn't even in the least bit sly, planning on having divisions. Then at 8:30 we were surprised by this phone call. "Hello, this is Elder Valerio... We are in the piquera, come and pick us up." Now for those of you are not living in the Panama Mission, Elder Valerio was just released from being the 'Assistant to the President' to a new special assignment. He is now the 'Travelling Assistant'; or as Elder Daffer calls them 'The Flying Machetes'; or how we refer to them as 'The Sons of Thunder'. But Elder Valerio is like a drill sergeant. When he talks it sounds like he's unloading a clip right into a running blender. We were in a low-key panic thinking, wait, what did we do? We've been living obediently, we've been completely diligent and we haven't done anything ponch or stupid. Why are they here? The only reason they would be here is if it was to completely machete the crap out of us. As we picked them up, and we started talking the first thing we noticed was that Elder Valerio and Elder Herrara were actually super chill when they weren't in front of everyone. Secondly, they explained that their new calling meant they have been traveling Zone to Zone going on divisions with every single companion. This was to help them with how they can improve. Phew...
Let’s just say, being with Elder Valerio for a couple hours was just super cool. I learned a lot just in a matter of hours. We ended up having to cut divisions short because of the hour bus ride to David to have interviews with President Current. While I was there I found out that actually we were supposed to be the 1st and 2nd counselor of the bishopric in the branch. That has made Sunday filled with a little more responsibility and if that isn't enough we had Zone Conference the following day. I left this week just feeling jacked up. I've learned from Elder Valerio how to work harder and make it better and that if we do it faster it makes us stronger. Then after the Interview at the conference it just reminded me that more than ever, our work is never over.
 |
| Living in the clouds! |
 |
Some of the thrift stores here are called Ropa Americana. I was able to find an Alpaca blanket to keep me warm from a members store who was born in Equador.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)