Hey friends and family!!
Wow, it was an absolutely crazy week hahaha and it ended even crazier. My last week with my companion Elder Ferrufino was freaking awesome, super motivated and ended the week with three baptisms!! --Juan and Anais Bonilla, and Ashly Cordoba . I was very fortunate to help them make that sacred covenant and i wish them the best and hope they can endure to the end. Wow, come to find out i had changes. I thought i was going to stay in the area but my comp stayed and is training and I am in Changuinola, Bocas del toro!!! Wow i was sooooooooooooo shocked when i got the call, I never thought i would make it this far haha. It is the furthest area in the mission and it was a 13 hour drive. The area borders with costa rica …haha the border is actually in my area. My area is absolutely huge and the biggest by far i have ever been in. The drive yesterday was insane…took 8 hours to get to the terminal in David , Panama . I got to know pretty much all of the part we call the "interior" of panama. The culture and people are sooooo different…different food, music, etc. More livestock and farming and sooo much empty space. Really was an awesome drive and literally I was glued to the window the whole time…getting to know as much as i can of my beloved country before my time to leave comes. After 8 hours I had to wait in the David terminal and then took a little van "chiva" 5 hours through literally nothingness... straight jungle. The road was terrible and I thought i was going to puke like ten times haha, but the views were gorgeous and it was one of the most beautiful drives by far that I have made in my life. Got to the area, thought there would be less here, but its actually a city and there are a lot of people here and it seems suuuper cool. Have time to write right now cus we couldn't do anything but drive yesterday. Well, the people and culture are soo different here and even more different than in the interior. the majority of the people are part of an indigenous group similar to kunas called ngobe. I worked with them a lot in the city too...including some of my favorite baptisms have been ngobes. However, honestly I have never been the biggest fan of them haha because they’re a very reserved and interesting people. But I’m sure i will learn to love them cus 90 percent of the people here pertain to the group. My companion is named Elder Amaya and he has 14 months in the mission. He was in Nicaragua and got taken out and placed in our mission due to the political problems there, and has been here for about 3 months. He's panamanian and is from Arraijan and literally lives 5 min from my last area…i have been to his church and home ward numerous times. He's great so far and I’m actually very excited to be with a Panamanian…another opportunity to learn more about their culture and their way of being. Well, that's all i got for now, good times and I’m expecting a lot of success from this area. Where I am is definitely crazy…crappy jungle house, no clean water, lots of bugs, bucket showers…you know the regular. This area is sooooo poor and all of the houses are an interesting wood with stilts built over like swamps…super weird and probably the closest to san blas i will get again in my mission. Not guna lie, when i got the call i just sat in my wonderful hammock and cried…hahaha…tears of joy and sadness. I’m coming into the last stretch of my amazing journey and I’m pretty positive this will be my last area. I’m so fortunate for my experiences and the things i have learned and the way I have grown these past two years. I’m so excited for this change and to do absolute work out here in this wonderful area and country of panama. Love u all tons…have an amazing week!
Elder Call
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