La Concepcion

It is another day of transfers and I am leaving Boquete and heading west to La Concepcion which is about 20 miles away from Costa Rica but still in the Chiriquí providence. The weather is still a little bit cooler than David but not as cool as where I have been.  I have also had my last 20 minute hot shower which was great seeing as though I did not feel well this week.  I will meet up with my new companion Elder Mendez today in David at 3:00 and I will let you know about my new area next week. 

Still Alive

Guess who's still alive! Barely. I recently just had the lovely opportunity of going down to migrations. We live in the interior and migrations were in Panama City. In order to get there last Monday morning, we left Sunday night at 7:00. It took a few hours of just sitting there on a bus and so what did I do with all that downtime? Nothing, and it was kind of nice! I slept, I talked and we found some old newspapers and I tried to teach myself Sudoku again. I became a master at children’s crossword searches. I slept some more. I was literally inside a bus for one day... que va. But hey, this is part of getting to be a missionary.

What exciting things have happened recently? We found a ‘Frank Sinatra impersonator’ (his words not mine), who is just a tiny bit insane. We have run into him a few times in the streets and he’s just wanted to talk our ears off about his knowledge of the world. For whatever reason this week we walked past the same path we have always taken to get to church and we have passed this same barriada a million times. One day was his day off and he was working outside when we passed by and so now we know where he lives. As we came near, he frantically called us in. He had a wardrobe of old business clothes that he wanted to sell to us. We told him we didn’t have money on us, which was true, but he said, “look they don’t even fit and if all you got is a dollar I’ll be cleaning the house and will be a dollar richer.” So that’s how we bought a grandfather’s wardrobe for $1.20 and I now have a jacket for the cold. Then a week later, we found out he went to jail for killing his father. So… I actually have a murderer’s jacket. I think I will pass on wearing it.

We met with a guy from Tennessee who is an ex-Army, ex-rugby player, and full-on hippie. He is this huge guy who looks twenty years younger than he should be just because of his physical condition. He shared with us a few stories of his life. Including, but not limited to: how he got to Panama, how he got out of the army, and how he saw a U.F.O. (swore by his heart that was before he even started smoking, so he knows it was real).  He also explained how he became who he is today, which is a huge nature lover. From what he explained to us he took his favorite parts from other churches: part Buddhism, part Hinduism, and part of the Baptist church. His goal was to be reincarnated in life until he gets it right. Well, we shared a small message with him about how you shouldn’t just throw in the towel just yet. How Jesus died for us so that no matter who we are or what we’ve done, we can change the bad to become good and change the good to become…great!

This week this Elder in the district who is a little newer to the mission shared that he was having trouble finding people to teach through doing Cosechas. We prayed together to be divinely guided where we need to go. As we left and started looking, he wasn't feeling anything. I explained to him as it says in Galations 5:22-23, the feelings listed come from the spirit. We may not get this overwhelming heart-tugging feeling every time and a lot of times it’s going to be a soft feeling and as always if it's good it comes from God. He will not steer you wrong and so let’s keep going. Then he said, I feel this house a little, but it looks locked up no one looks to be inside. I said, “What’s the worst thing that could happen, that no one will be there or that they could say no!”  We ended up knocking on the door and then out of nowhere a taxi wheels up and the passengers leave the car right as we were out front. This was a great opportunity, as we left them with a blessing. It was nothing short of a miracle and what an amazing teaching experience.

Elder Moore has set a goal this week of highlighting his bible. He decided to mark every word that comes directly from the Savior’s mouth or is directly being quoted. About the third day into just painting over the New Testament my companion yells, “Good fudge! Why does Jesus talk so much?!” I just fell out of the hammock laughing. Yeah, that’s my comp. How I love him so.

Recently, in the ward, we have had a chance to talk with the leaders of the Relief Society, Primary, and Elders Quorum and teach them how to conduct a consejo de presidencia, which they had not been doing. Now they were very good at identifying the problems. We did alright with finding solutions, but a big part for them that they were missing was taking their suggested solutions and praying as a unit to God to ask him if it was okay and His will. After we started doing that with everyone, you could feel the presence of the spirit more abundantly. It made a world of a difference.

Coati's

I finally got my package and the new camera, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!  To say the least, we have been very busy here.  My companion, Elder Moore is a country guy from Arizona and he feels right at home here. I absolutely love his sense of humor and we get along great. I would say that he is just one of those types of guys that wants to be hunting, fishing, and loving every day.  

Boquete

Elder Moore

Elder Irizarry

Coati's - they look like monkeys but are a part of the racoon family!

Chao Dinner

My companion and I ate at a member’s home this week and unfortunately, the food didn’t settle too well for my companion.  We just ate fish soup and had papaya juice. Papaya is apparently made to clean out your stomach if you drink a lot of it... so Chao Dinner. I genuinely think that he must have just eaten some bad fish and combined with the juice it was a disaster waiting to happen. He ended up feeling pretty sick to say the least. We stayed home three days and after visiting the doctor considered that it could have been parasites like the implied, but we both were convinced that it was the fish and juice.

We were soaked all week long as it rained and rained and rained. As we were proselyting one day we stopped by a home of a women and tried to leave her with a prayer.  She invited us in and that was where we discovered that she was actually a Catholic pastor who was in the middle of teaching a seminary class. Well, this was kind of awkward entering the house and realizing what situation we just got ourselves into. It was however a cool experience to pray with them and let them know we are praying to the same God and we all are trying to follow Christ's example the best we can. Even though the visit could have had any number of wild outcomes, it actually ended on a good positive note. I was thankful for that and maybe later down the road they will remember that experience. Who knows!

One thing I forgot to mention is that I am currently the district leader here. The responsibility has not been to much, except that I teach a small class to the missionaries during the week. This week was my first time and it ended up being really fun. It helps that the missionaries in my district are just super chill and I just felt comfortable with them.  This week we talked about some of the difficulties they have experienced. I had the opportunity to share some personal experiences of what happened in the mission and with working with the missionaries beforehand. I've noticed that they don't use the scriptures a lot, so I was thinking about what we could do. I got this idea and was able to tie it in with a quote from the movies Dodgeball. “If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball.” I told them they can only teach using the scriptures. You can't use any of your own words, just the scriptural text.  I gave them a few minutes to prepare something and it was just fun. Then I told them if you can teach an entire lesson using just the scriptures, you can find a balance and use the scriptures while you teach. A few people personally thanked me and told me it was spiritual and upbeat. So whooo! I feel like I can do this and I'm getting the hang of it. 

Elder Moore  and me

Human or Dancers

We got a question recently from a member that I loved and thought it would be good to share it with you. Now to put the question in the words of the music group,'The Killers', "Are we human or are we dancers?"

Before we lived on earth, we all lived with God as spirits. We learned, progressed, and prepared for this earthly life, in which we were to be sent to the earth as imperfect beings to receive a body. Now this was a part of Gods plan. We know that he wouldn't leave us here helplessly in our sin, so he sent his only begotten, Jesus Christ, so that through his sacrifice (called the Atonement) we can repent and be saved. We read that Jesus was chosen to be the Christ even before the world existed, sort of like a Hunger Games, "I volunteer as tribute" deal (1 Peter 1:19-20). We also read that many other prophets (Jerimiah 1:4-6), church leaders (D&C 138:55-56), members (Ephesians 1:11), and even the times of events (Acts 17:26) have been preset, and prechosen. This is where the question comes into play; Does that mean since we were chosen we lose our agency, our will to choose between good and evil? Are we just puppets being used by God himself? 

Not at all, God is a huge supporter of agency. He fought to make sure all of us could obtain this freedom. God just knows us perfectly, He knows who we were, who we are, and who we can become. For example take your best friend, your child, your parents, or a loved one. If you were to set out a pizza and $15 on a table and told them they could only take one, what would they chose? You have been with them long enough to know what they like and how they think or act. You would know what they would chose. Now, if we stretch our limited knowledge of a loved one to the infinite knowledge of God, He knows us very well. 

Continuing, In Alma 13:1-9 we read why God preordained people: for their faith and good works. In other words he trusted them from before this life. Now nobody is perfect. Neither were the people he called on. We look at David, having relied heavily on the Lord in his youth, then falling into sin, lost his potential of eternal blessings. God's plan involves that everyone of us are given trials, in which they help us grow dependent on the Lord.  

Now lets apply this to our life, 1st of all I'm choosing the pizza. I'm a sucker for a good pizza. But also, every choice we have in front of us is ours to make 100%. God will never force us to do his will, but he can be rather convincing. We read about how God sent an angel to comfort Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and help him choose to complete the Atonement. Now, I can't think of anyone I know doing something more convincing than that, but one of the rules God lives by is that he will never force us. Alma invites us to, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good..." (Alma 37:37). By doing so, God's will, will be revealed unto us. Accepting his will, as it says in Alma 26:3, we can be used as his instruments to bring about his work. 

Sticking to the Killers' theme, God will never force us to dance. But if we accept God's will into our lives, we'll start to notice we are naturally dancing a little bit. We'll learn that dancing is enjoyable, contagious, and we just don't want to stop. I invite all of you, learn the joy in following the counsel of God. Share this joy with others and teach them how to dance.