Hebgen (week 77)

Hey friends and fam, 

    Wow so first off cant believe know one keeps me updated on life until the last moment. Gotta give my shout outs to Brady for the marriage, Mark and Annabelle for finally  going to get the four kids! Fams out here doing big stuff hahaha and im still out here in Burunga panama haha teaching about christ. Wow So much for me happened this week I cant even express how crazy it was. Wow so I was training and literally dragging the poor guy around, he really did not wanna be here. Had suuper bad culture shock and was talking about his fm all the time and was super depressed. Well i was helping him and helping his spanish and everything but he had a couple interviews with president and sure enough after one of em he came out and said he was going home. I honestly cried i felt terrible he doesn't know what hes missing out on and i tried to help him soo much. But long story short after a straight battle of dragging him around and helping him and trying to baptize he was sent home. We share a ward with two other missionaries who cover half the area and there was an elder named elder ferrufino from honduras who was training a guy from honduras. Well his comp ended up going home for worthiness issues and president put us together. Was meant to be cus hes freaking awesome but the area is huge and we are hoping to see a lot of success but it will be hard balancing it all out. But we have great goals and are going to see a ton of success this change. Super excited cus my comp is now the man but also eel bad for the both young missionaries who left. Well other quick story is while i was waiting for my new comp i got assigned to my area with a new missionary whose been "sick for a month" and was in the offices. Well poor kid i could tell right away that he was faking, apparently he says he has really bad stomach problems but the doctors cant find anything. So after dragging him around he begs me to use the bathroom and finally i give in and we go to n investigators house and hes in there for like an hour and im pretty mad knocking on the door telling him we gotta go. HE said he couldn't and that he was pooping blood and diarrhea and i said to save the poop for me cus i wanted to check it out. He said thats gross and no but i made him do it lol. Well like there is not much money round these parts so it was like a crap out house portapotty thing and i went in after and it was like a narrow tube and super shallow and at the bottom were just two diapers and not any diarrhea on top or toilet paper and i totally caught him in the lie. Lol so that was funny i felt terrible for the lengths that some missionaries take to go home. Sad stuff and out here u just gotta man up and bite the bullet. Good times and im so happy for the future and to do work this change love u all have a good week!

Ella's almost home (week 76)

Hey friends and fam, 

    Wow so as you all know from last week is that im training. Wow so I was pretty anxious to be receiving my companion, there were like 9 new missionaries coming from the mtc. I was excited to be training a latino haha apparently all of them already spoke spanish which was a relief. Buuut im the only elder of nine that is training someone from the states who doesnt speak spanish haha what luck. So it bummed me out but i was excited to teach my new comp elder jardine how we do it here in panama. So tuesday i was in my old area loma coba- that was sooo weird and it was such a happy day but so weird cus its been over a year since i was there. Well Wednesday i went to the office by myself and got my comp. Hes suuuper quite and reserved and an interesting character. Unfortunately it was a hard week, but i have lerned a lot. He has depression apparently and it had has been a struggle to keep him motivated slash comfort him. He broke down a bunch of times and definitely has some culture shock cus i mean we aint in the states no more haha. I definitely had empathy with him but it was weird cus im so used to working so hard and I am so used to and in love with it here in panama. So finally he told me some of the stuff that was going on and we went to the offices sunday so he could talk to pres. He was thinking about going home and i talked him out of it and pres helped him with some of his more private issues. Its been hard having to do everything and drag him around but its been an amazing growing experience for me and im honored to be able to help someone who needs my help so much. So these next upcoming weeks will be very challenging but i plan to always be a hard working missionary and we will still baptize weekly. Im super grateful to my father in heaven for giving me the chance to progress even more spiritually before going home. Im grateful for the mission and for all ive learned, and the way it has impacted my life is astonishing. I know the church is true and this is the lords work, and im excited for a week of much success here. Have a good week!

Charlie turned 12 (week 75)

Hey fam and friends!

     wow it was a quite a week last week but definitely an amazing one for many different reasons. We found some amazing people and 2 of our baptisms yhonathan and arianly got confirmed sunday but unfortunately we had our first wee without a baptisms. Yhonathan is thirteen and one of my favorite baptisms in all my mission. Hes sooo mature and smart for his age and comprehends everything about the church and is guaranteed to be active and begging for the priesthood. Super awesome, I love the kid and we were at his house talking about mission work and he gave us 978634537 references of friends, family, and so on. He promised us he was guna serve a mission to so i hope he does it. Arianly is also really special and is so dirt poor, probably the poorest baptism I have ever had in my whole mission, in terms of temporal things. She barely has a metal shack and literally has nothing to eat and is struggling with 5 small children, shes super special tho and I know that the gospel and the relief society will help her a ton. Was so awesome with my comp this change, he wil be a valued friend for forever. I plan on visiting colombia fast after the mission haha he has talked it up soo much. He taught me so much and has such a great attitude, was really special buuuut we had changes. He had been in the area for a couple changes already so he left :( i was super sad but im pumped cus ima train haha. The missionary either comes tomorrow or Wednesday so im in a trio waiting to see if hes latino or gringo. Love the mission and this change We ended with 9 baptisms and i was happy but not satisfied. This change i want at least 15 so im guna work with the new missionary like never before. Love u all have an amazing week!!

Happy Fourth of July (week 74)

Hey Friends and wonderful family,

 

   Wow sorry I have been pretty spotty with writing this past month. Been really busy with college apps and I'm sure most of you all know how that is. Man these past weeks I have been feeling incredibly blessed for the life my father in heaven has given me. The mission has been the best opportunity that i have ever had and its so weird the happiness that can be found in helping others and working your guts out everyday. My companion is the man and we are seeing a ton of success out here in burunga arraijan. We have baptized every week and ended this last weekend with two more baptisms. The people are very humble in my area and are so open to the gospel. I am so fortunate to be in an area like this and to have been blessed with so much success. I cant believe I only have 4 changes left in my mission after this week and I cry when I think too much about it. I had an amazing interview with president Current, I know he is an inspired church leader, and I love him so much. We talked about my last 4 changes and setting spiritual goals to be able to overcome the temptations that a non-mission environment provides. Wow if I wrote about all the miracles that we have seen in these past couple of weeks I would be writing this letter all day. The lord has blessed us in sooo many ways and I know its been for our obedience and diligence. We have found so many people and  I am so pleased with the work here. We also are managing to have so much fun as my comp is one of the craziest people I have ever met. He's a little Colombian fireball hahaha man the hardest time we've had together is when Colombia lost their world cup game this past week. He didn't talk for like a solid hour...hahaha... it was hilarious. Ya so next week I will update you all more on some miracles but that's all I got for now. Love you all so much and love the mission. I love Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for his atoning sacrifice for me. Peace out fam! --Elder Call

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)