Father's day (week 71)

Dear friends and fam,

    I am working on college essays so I'm not guna have the most time to write this but man its been a heck of a two weeks. So i'm back in arraijan in an area called Burunga and man i forgot that this zone is straight jungle ahhaa. Its been  a crazy two weeks and it all just feels like a blur in my mission now. We have been doing soo much work haha and working the hardest i have in my whole mission. Last week we had two baptisms and this last sunday two more. We have been expecting an average of 5 every week but man the family we were supposed to baptize this week was having marriage problems and backed out saturday night!! day before their baptisms due to the marriage problems. They are soo cool, luisa is from Nicaragua and louis is Panamanian and they have 1 girl that's 9. They are getting a divorce as of now but man god sent us at the right time to them and we are working super hard with them so they don't do it. I will try to send pics too of the area and everything. Ok but man my comp is Elder Zalavarrieta from colombia and is the best comp i have ever had in my life haha. He is 25, and has had the craziest life in the world. Well we have soo much in common and it was an instant connection. We are literally best friends and man we work soo hard. He's soo motivated and has so much energy it's unreal. Little bit of anger-management but man i love the kid so much. So he was originally supposed to be going home in 2 changes but went home his second change in the mission. He was in love with a girl and was thinking about her all the time and talked to pres and decided it was best to go home to marry her. So he went home proposed and she said NO hahahaha. Sooo  sad.. So he called pres after and begged for days to come back to the mission and eventually got back after like 8 months. So he gets back and like a month later he gets a called from president saying that his mom had a stroke and is in a  coma and will probably die. Pres gave him the option of going home and HE SAID NO. He said that his mission here is more important in this moment and when he told me the story and i just about cried. His mom has been in a coma for like 5 months now and it straight motivates this guy to work soo hard. So ya lots of expectations this change and man its flying by in this area with him. Love the mission and i know without a single doubt that this is the work of the lord. My testimony has never been stronger and the miracles i see are un real. Chuso side note panama played its first game ever in the world cup today and lost and man the streets went from empty to after people walking around crying. haha super sad but good stuff.  love u fam bye!

pic 3- my trainer going home. prob one of the saddest moments in my life. this guy taught me sooo much.

 other pics... of comp and area etc. one of the baptism pics. Left my other memory at home or else i woulda sent the pics of my baptisms in other area.

Summer at Pear Cottage (week 70)

Hey friends and fam, 

   

Wow well it’s been quite the crazy time out here in the mission of elder call in panama. Last week was awesome and a ton happened. We went super hard the last week of the change and had two awesome baptisms...I was so pumped. One is named Yorlenis and is 19, and her niece got baptized with her too and she's eight.  It was sooo awesome and the other two sisters are for sure getting baptized this next weekend. I love their fam too and if i come to panama they will probably be the first fam i visit haha. But man we were busy and to top it all off today i had changes.  Now I’m in Arraigan. I started my mission in the zone here and i'm super excited to be back, always soo much success here and especially in the area i'm in now called Burunga.  Wow I’m new here but from what I've seen its sooo much different. I got used to the city and now I’m in pure jungle again haha its going to be awesome. My comp is elder Savarrieta from colombia. he's the only colombian in the mission and seems like a really good guy.  he's pretty old too haha 25. The area is cool though and i hear they baptize a lot so I’m excited.  But wow what a change I’m sad to have left san miguelito.  I got here and now i gotta change my slang cus holy cow i was talking ghetto not guna lie…used to talking to only gangsters and stuff haha I’m going to miss it... made soo many friends there.  Really sad, but life's about change so here i am.  Weird though too cus i just feel like I’ve only talked to like 5 people since I’ve been here and they just seems so much different. So I’m super excited and I forgot my old memory card so I can’t send pics of the baptisms but I will do it next week. I’ll never forget my times in the hood of san miguelito…so many memories and cherished moments.  I’ll let you know how it is here next week.

 

Love u all bye!!

Memorial Day! (Week 69)

Hey friends and fam, 

  Wow what a week hahaa ups and downs and honestly more downs than ups. So last monday we taught a kid named osvaldo, his dads side of the fam is all members of the church, but unfortunately his dad got shot and died and the moms side of the fam is catholic. But he had been to church with his cousin and liked it and we found where he lived after a good ole scavenger hunt (Panamanian directions Are soooooo bad hahaha) and we taught him and within seconds he accepted baptism for this last week. So we went everyday to his house to prepare him and he was totally ready. SO the problem was is hes 17 and was telling us everyday that his mom says its ok if he gets baptized and that he already talked to her. Its a rooky mistake to not talk to the mom but she works from like 6 in the morn to 8 at night so we never could find her. So sunday rolls around and we go to get him to church for his baptism and the mom was there and asked what we were doing and we told here we are here to get her son to church for his baptism, She was so confused and said that osvaldo never said anything. HE had lied to us a ton of times by saying he was talking to his mom about it. So we got the rest of our investigators to church and went back to their house to convince her. Like a good ole panameño would say i gave her un buen par de machetes but she was soo stubborn and straight apostasia so we could have it. I was sooo sad cus like 2 days before i went on divisions with some missionaries and my comp was supposed to visit him but didn't do it for some reason. So the next day we went and those baptisms fell so we were stuck with another  week without success. Man rough but besides that all is well and im doing good. Changes next week so we will see what happens. Love u all have a good week!

me, sao- the pig foot i explained last week, my city, comp fighting with all the rice we eat hahahha

classic panamanian sunset, son of the area (or the ghetto as we say now)

Vegas Baby (week 68)

Hey friends and fam,

   Wow pretty average mission week with plenty of ups and downs as usual. We are keeping are heads down and continue to work hard but man the fruits of the labor have not been the best. The attendance of the ward continues to go down no matter how many people we activate haha. We were also planning on having some baptisms but they fell. Im maintaining my hope and faith though and I know that we will see some miracles in these upcoming weeks. The mission however is good as usual and in terms of love for panama and the people it couldn't be better. I love it here and my comp and I get along fine. We both are suuuch different people and our personalities are opposite but ive realized if u just focus on the work and the mission than it doesn't really matter too much. SO ya still have been finding cool families and little by little we are seeing some success. Lol dont got much else to say or story except on friday we had he best bbq chicken that i have had my whole life, and on saturday we went to some sketchy chinese restaurant and my comp clogged the toilet and they found out and it was a nightmare hahha. Also an amazing family made us sao, its a classic Panamanian dish of vinegar, onion, cucumber, and pig hooves. I have always been scared to try it and i was kinda forced into eating it and not guna lie it was real nasty, just straight hoove fat hahah Good times. Well love u all have an awesome week!