Pop turns 60...week 66

Hey friends and fam, 

    wow so last week as i have previously told my mom was just an average week in panama of a lot of rain and rice. Man you all wouldnt believe how much rice i eat, its unbelievable. And honestly i dont think i have really expressed how much rice we really do eat down here. Fried rice, rice pudding, white rice, rice with chicken, rice and chicken.  just had to get that out of the way quick. ok well in terms of the week we had probably the best conference with the mission president that i have ever had in my mission. He is sooo inspiring and we set a bunch of goals and like always he talked a lot about obedience and diligence. Its a very strict mission, like as in we literally cant do anything, but he related it to our love for Jesus. That we need to Love jesus more than music, movies, clothes, other worldly stuff. HE also told amazing stories from the bible and especially about Peter and understanding his purpose as an apostle. He hadnt really understood alll his time with jesus until he went out fishing after jesus was resurrected and they were eating and jesus asked peter THREE times if he loves him. That has a ton of symbolism and really changed peters view on mission work. After Jesus foretold that peter was going to die the same way he did. Peter was so motivated that he knew he was going to be crucified at the end and continued to work and teach people about the savior. I think we really have to understand our purpose as missionaries and that the sacrifices are nothing compared to the long run. I know that I am on the lord time for these years and im going to continue to help people come to the knowledge of our redeemer. The mission is really hard but this past week the message of peter and loving jesus more than the worldly stuff has been glued in my mind. Well besides that the wek was pretty normal. Oh ya we also had stake conference in san miguelito which was dope and cool to see all the 11 wards of the stake together. Comps bday today too so we guna go try and celebrate by buying a cake so ya good times. Well love u all!

Mother's day in two weeks... week 65

Hey friends and fam, 

    Wow so it’s been quite the eventful week out here in santa librada panama.  Oh, idk if i said this last week or not but president closed the second area to our ward and took out the missionaries because he wasn’t seeing that much success there.  Well I called him last week and convinced him to let me and my comp have the area.  So now we have a huuuge area and it has been a little harder, more walking, and definitely more work, but its totally worth it.  The other area is wayy more hilly and there are soooo many cement stairs leading to groups of houses and man i feel like my legs are already like twice as jacked!  It’s been cool tho but we live a little far from that area so we were planning to move into the elder’s house who left because its a little more centered.  Well we planned on moving today but lets just say we ended up doing it on Saturday and it was a little rushed.  Lol…so what had happened is the first real rainstorms have been hitting pretty hard and when we got home last Friday night the owner of the apartment was in front of our door.  It turns out the roof wasn’t put on very well and when we walked into the house there were giant puddles on the ground and a lot of wet books and clothes.  It was rough and the owner felt really bad so she ended up washing the clothes for us but the damage was pretty terrible.  I lost some good study journals, books, and other personal items.  Pretty sad but I’m alright lol.  It really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise because that whole apartment was sketchy man. Idk I always see other missionary emails and they’re living in like beautiful apartments and everything and their living conditions look so nice and then I just see my house and wow what a different story…lol.  Gotta love Panama hahahaha…so we had to move last Saturday and it was cool that a member helped us.  He has like a 60 year old pickup that probably puts out more exhaust than a jet engine but we got the job done.  So good times out here hahah it’s been a wild ride as usual and I have loved every minute of it.  Opening up the other side of our area is awesome and I expect us to have more sucess now.  The area is super hard in terms of baptising but nothing that hard work and prayer can’t fix haha. Have a good week everyone love you all!!!

1. Breakfast this morning, idk if y’all know what is traditional food down here.  Well its rice, chicken, or plantains and usually all three together hahaha.  Well this is pollo guisado, yuka, y crema de avena.

2. Cool view of the city we got from our area 

3. a little shot of our area.

The pics are loading soo slow I can’t send more right now I’m sorry

Sun's out... Week 64

hey Friends and Family!

     Wow well pretty uneventful week out here in san miguelito. SO i didn't have changes and i still have the same comp. Im excited for the change and help this ward that needs soo much help hahaha. The attendance it terrible and its known to be a really hard area and honestly president just took out the other two missionary's and put them in a new area. So im going to talk to pres this week and ask if i can open up their area too, which would be an awesome experience and definitely would make the future a lil brighter this change hahaha. Well the works been pretty god here, lil on the slow side in this are but we always keep ourselves busy and we have had some awesome investigators. The kunas ended up STILL having doubts about baptism so we have to wait ANOTHER week haha man im getting impatient but the baptisms here just dont come easy so u gotta work with what u got. But we found an amazing family the other day. They are strong catholics and super humble and poor and we convinced quick about the errors of the catholic church and they are right on board. They are soo awesome and the 22 year old, jennifer came to church and really enjoyed it, so we are praying hard for them. Well besides that and going on an adventure to get shoes for my comp from the mall it was a pretty average last week. They always go by fast tho and i love the mission, the ups and al the downs, although there are too many around these parts hahaha. Good stuff love yall have an awesome week! ps momma forgot my adapter to send pics sorry i came here straight from the city i know im a terrible son lol

Back to Normal (week 63)

Hey friends and fam!

     Wow week was alrite hahah but the bad news is it started.. Yup the rain season started last week and when it starts i don't think it ever ends. At this time last year it started too. it starts off with the most amount of water u have ever seen in ur life. Like were talkin river in the streets and u somehow can be inside a house and still get wet it makes no sense. So ya i will be in it until i get home, kinda sad but that's just how it is out here i panama. Other than that not much happened this week. Baptisms we had this week got pushed off till next week cus the fam went out of town and that was pretty sad. But we should be having em next week. Man also our english class took off, got tons of peeps in there and we make the class a ton of fun. Every saturday from 6-730. Ya so that's all i got for now area is chill and comp is chill. Changes next week so we will see what happens. Only changes six more times and shoooom. forgot my camera so yup another week without pics lo siento

I saw whales (week 62)

Hey friends and fam!

Wow well all is well out here in santa librada San miguelito. Sounds like everyone is doing big things back home…man, miss y’all tons.  Well as for me it was a pretty awesome week.  The area has grown on me a ton and although it is small, we somehow manage to find the best people for the gospel in the world. The members here are awesome and i will never forget the way this ward has treated us and how awesome and inviting they all have been. I will make sure to send pics with me and some members before i leave here. Wow SO we have been working hard here.  Even though we opened the area, we learned it pretty well (mostly because it’s small) and have been teaching tons of people. This weekend we had two baptisms, hermana rivas and jasson. They were both awesome and i am so lucky i had the opportunity to find them and teach them about the gospel.  Hma rivas is the first member in her family but jasson is what we call  (mango bajito)_ his family was inactive and we found them and reactivated them and baptised him.  So it was awesome and the other highlight is definitaly that we found an AWESOME kuna family.  I freaking love them so much and the fam rodriguez aready has a special place in my heart.  We found them tuesday and we already brought three of them to church and they have baptisms dates for this next sunday.  It was just a goal and maybe a little early but i will see if they are ready this week.  Well that’s all i got folks.  i forgot my adaptor but we have to send the baptism registros so i will go back to the crib and get it and send pics. Love u all!!! 

Spring Break (week 61)

Hey friends and fam! 

    The week was good and wow i never can believe how fast time goes by its sooo crazy.  Like how is it Monday again?  I think the difference too is having your free-day on Monday, cus after today everything is just a blur.  Happy Easter everyone…well it was yesterday.. but its not like we celebrate it anyway down here in this mission hahaha…just a normal day.  But wow was i excited for conference this last weekend..wow i dont think i ever watched a full session from conference before my mission.. now i anticipate it months in advance hahah so ya this mission has made me wierd.  But it was an awesome conference with a ton of new change.. no more home teachers and elders and high priests combind.  Pretty cool stuff but i especially liked the talk by Uchdorf about beholding him.  I also like the second talk in the first session of Saturday about how we are all children of god.  We should all feel special even at the worst of times…it was great.  So this week we were supposed to have a baptism of this kid we found by a miracle whose family is inactive and he’s not a member. But at the last second he came down with some wierd eye problem so he had to go to the hospital.  I was super sad but this friday we are going to baptise him and sister rivas, a lady of like 50 years of age. Well comp is good haha he’s a crackup.. like the things that come out of this guys mouth.. its too good.  But yea that’s all i got this week.  The area is good and honestly the people here are sooo awesome.  In this area we have found a ton of immagrants from Venezuela because they have sooo many problems there.  But they are the best people ever and come here with like nothing.  So we found a dope family from Venezuela that should be getting baptised shortly so pray for us hahaha. Well, love you all have a good week!   Btw, President Nelson seems like the absolute man and some wounds I felt from monsons death are now healed hahhaha! 

Love, Elder Call

 1.some friends from the district

2. comp and i

3. always gotta add the san blas pics lol

Happy Easter (week 60)

Hey friends an fam! 
wow been quite a week hahaha lots of ups an downs but mostly ups like always in the mission. Work has been a lil slow so far in the area. Opening areas is never easy but the challenge we are facing is that all the lessons we set up, we go back and they arent there etc. So ya been ard but we are working super hard and have found a lot of positive people. Found a family this week that is literally ready to be baptized rn but they arent married.. and the want the kids to be baptized with them.. Well i have married a couple before and its quite the process but im prayng they go through next month. Found some awesome other people but its definitaly been a hard area. Love the people here tho especially haha. san migalito is a lil hood but super cool and people love us here. So funny seeing all the gangsters come up and say whats up or as they say it "que sopa" or "Que lo Que loco." But its been a good time, comp is wierd but we are doing good and hes totally fine with working so we doing good hahaha. Yup also started english class last Saturday night, class so far has been a failure cus not a lot of people come but i think this next one we will get more of a turnout. Wow the people that did come it was soo funny hearing their english.. like we say ow here "enpanga". well thats all i got lov yall have a good week! -dont have time for pics this week sorry