Ella's Birthday (week 82)

Hey Friends and fam! 

   Wow super good week out here in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro. Good time with my comp, Elder Amaya. This man is teaching me all sorts of patience, literally a hippie, bob marley missionary, which i really need sometimes out here when the people we teach litterally sometimes make me feel like teaching a wall would be more productive hahaha.  So we have been working a lot this week with an amazing couple ana and demetrio. They are super special and have now gone to church twice but man its been hard, they still feel like they aren't ready and are unsure about baptism and feel like we are pressuring too much. We found them a while ago and I would have dropped them by now but there is something special about them and their already married, 1 for 4583465234 families that we have contacted that are married and not going to church. Demetrio also drank a lot but he is transforming his life and dropped it, so im hoping they get baptized soon cus the branch needs some priesthood. also we had a super cool baptism this week of an 18 year old kid named albert. He's great and was a miracle we found someone so spiritually prepared for our message. Hes soo humble, really sarcastic, which got on my nerves but there was no water in the church so we had to go to the river and it was an awesome baptism. He leans over to us before and just said how happy he was and it made me feel the spirit so strong. So it was awesome and i got my camera working again so i will send pics of it all soon. This friday is multi-zone our conference in david so we gotta take a chiva for 5 hours thursday and sleep at another missionaries house to catch it but im excited to do the trip again hahaha. Well thats all I got, Love u friends and fam! have a great week!

Hello September (week 81)

Hey friends and wonderful family!

     Wow its been quite the week around here in Changuinola, getting to know the area, members, and my new comp.  Its really cool here and the people are soo humble and kind.  Pretty much everyone receives you but the trick is keeping them interested and helping them to understand. You gotta have a ton of energy here because the Ngobes are quiet and shy people.  We have had some awesome experiences and this week was such a tease for success.  We found soo many people who have gone to church including all the people that have been to church but have not been baptized.  I tried to use the convincing powers to help the people come unto christ and by Thursday we were planning on having 4 baptisms.  But in the end the people didn't have the desire they needed and I humbled myself and learned for the 1 millionth time that it has to be the spirit in the conversion and not me.  Super pumped though because we helped a young family get to church who are really interested.  Unfortunately, the dad drinks so he won’t be able to get baptized right now but the wife has a date for next weekend and we are hoping she will get baptized.  The kids are too young, but the family is awesome and i am praying Anna can make it strong to her baptism date.     Wow, so president had a conference with the leaders of the mission and he was telling us some new focuses in the mission.   There are soooo many recent converts in the mission and the new focus is using the converts to help baptize.   The mission of Panama has been the best baptizing mission in Latin Central America by like double every month and now there are soo many converts who are not getting the visits like they were before.   So we are hoping that changes and we can balance our time but still have the same success as before.      My comp Elder Amaya is freaking awesome and his humor is soo great.   Such a laid-back dry Panamanian sense of humor…it’s been a lot of fun. I’m super excited for the week and this new area is soo dope and I’m excited for the success we are going to have here.   Thanks everyone for your support and prayers…love you all have a good week! 
Elder Call