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

Here comes the sun...(week 59)

 Wow, it’s been quite the week hahaha its still so weird being back in the city.  I’m getting healthier here and my body is getting adjusted to being back in the actaul world haha.  So my comp Elder Overall is quite the interesting guy. He’s a little awkward and it’s been a little hard with him in the teaching aspect and working part but its ok I’m still loving it. We don’t have that much in common so we don’t talk much but we are working suuuper hard and getting a lot done. So we have been opening this area up and its been a pretty hard experience.  Lots of contacting and references because we don’t have that much to go off of because the last missionaries here was quite a while ago.  We got an amazing reference to someone called Hma Rivas, she’s like 50 and has been awesome and we only met her a couple days ago.  She came to church and has a baptism date for next Sunday.  So I’m praying that it goes through.  City life is soo different haha and the work is way different too and all in all i just miss my kunas hahaha.  I was scrolling through my old pics last night from the beginning of my mission in Loma Coba and i got to a picture of the first lady i ever visited on my first day in Panama.  She is a native kuna and we re-activaed her and now shes a die hard member and walks like 30 min to get to church every week.  Lol thats when i first fell in love with the kuna people…she’s the absolute best!  She is so funny, happy, and kind even though she literally lives in a shack for a house. So yea I saw the pic and just cried again.  I know I’m a wussy but i just can’t help it haha. But life is good and i love the mission as usual but wow, I’m not going to lie it’s been hard.  We are also teaching a pastor from an evangelist church.  He’s sooo good but we talk too much and we couldn’t visit him during the week anymore because the lessons would waste so much time.  But he has soo much potential and has been flying through the Book of Mormon.  Lol…I set an appt with him for today during our free time to not waste time during the week and I’m sure my comp was not happy about that hahahaha. But yep all is well…love you all and have a good week!  Elder Call

1 and 2. comp and I at church yesterday

3. Hermana Erutina from the beginning of my mission

Blue sky for days.. (week 58)

Hey fam and friends,

This past week I worked with the zone leaders in their area.  It was sooo dope and i loved the experience. They are working full time in an area called kuna nega that’s like a thirty minute bus ride from their area.  They just have a group in kuna nega because there isn’t a branch there yet.  The area is more in the mountains and is soooo poor.  But the people are so open to the gospel there and the successes have been huge.  It was awesome teaching the people and especially the kuna people up there hahaha.  Yesterday we took everyone to the nearest church in a huge bus which was like a 30 minute ride.  We took 45 people on the bus with us.... half of which were investigators.  So ya they are going to have a branch up there in no time.  It was awesome and we straight filled the church.  It’s still a little weird to be in the city but I’m adjusting pretty good mentally but my body is still having trouble though.  I have terrible diarrhea siempre hahaha and its killing me.  Just got back to my area about 5 hours ago with my new comp elder overall.  He’s pretty new in the mission and is from Arizona and it should all be good.  Always a bit disappointed not getting a latino but its chill.  I also thought I would be training this change but its ok that I’m not.  well yup so this is going to be quite the week getting to know the new area with a new companion that doesn’t know the area either.  I will send some pics too hahaha its been a long time since I’ve had good enough internet to send pics.

Love you all and have an amazing week!

Pics

1. conference with the Eders…I provided sea turtle

2.  kuna nega where we’ve been teaching this week

3.  glory days in San Blas

4.  glory days in San Blas

5.  glory days in San Blas

6.  glory days in San Blas

How Can it Be March? (week 57)

Wow hey fam and friends,

This has been by far the craziest week of my mission hahaha…as far as changes go at least. Well last tuesday night we got a call randomly that i was going back to the city.  Changes aren't till next monday but pres did changes early for san blas cus its earlier.  I’m going to be honest i was soooo surprised and shocked i never thought i was guna leave. Shocked me to my core haha…well at first i started freaking out then i was just sad. hahaha. i was in san ignacio so bright and early i got to playon the next day and packed and waited for a boat to leave and they never ended up coming because they were too full because it was the end of vacations.  so I had to wait a day in playon.  I was saying bye to everyone and teaching my last lessons. It was a hard day for me honestly and that night i requested, from basically my mom on the islands, ibeth to make me the classic kuna dish that’s called dule masi.  As i ate the plantain and coconut soup all of the other times i had eaten it flashed by in my mind….man soo many good times, challenging times, sickness, amazing times and crazy experiences.  So in the morning i left by boat and as i passed by every island and pueblo i would just look at it and remember my times there…man im going to be honest i was balling.  I love the kunas so much, they are the best, nicest, humblest, funny people in the world and the quote that just kept flashing in my head is “don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got until its gone” haha.  

So i got to the city and was there for a day then got my changes. So pres put me with a missionary who is realllllyyyy struggling. He's from el salvador and is super special.  pres told me i had a special role with him and that this was his last chance to shape up or he was going home. So we were opening up a huuuggeee area on the outskirts of panama called san migalito. Its super ghetto and a pretty hard area and it was super stressful honestly. So i was there for 3 days and i'm going to be be 100% honest...wow, they were the hardest three days of the mission.  Elder serrano my comp is super off and has the worst attitude and flips out for no reason and i have had to be sooo patient. Well long story short i have learned soo much in these three days and have tried to help this kid soo much but he would just refuse to work.  So on sunday he was begging to go back to the house to poop and i wanted him to try and hold it but he couldn't so we went all the way back to the house and he was in the bathroom for like 30 min.  Then finally he comes out and sits on his bed and refuses to get up and he just says he's ready now and he cant do it anymore. So i tried talking him out of it for like 2 hours but i couldn't so i called pres and we left this morning to the mission offices in the city and that’s where i'm writing from. 

So i'm going to be with the zone leaders for i don't know how long, maybe until changes.  So ya that's pretty much it. Btw, the city is crazy and sooo different and i have been sick as a dog from the change of food haha.  Its been so weird not sleeping in a hammock after like 6 months and its been so weird not seeing kunas.  I saw my first kuna 2 days ago and i was soo happy i ran and caught up to her and just started speaking to her in dialect.  She was old and soo funny and i just loved it.  After i stopped talking with her i left, and im going be honest, i cried again super hard.  I'm a mess. I will never forget these amazing kuna people.  So there’s lots of weird stuff in my area but it might just be because im so used to the island life and im pretty shell shocked here…haha.  I’m out of practice with speaking good Spanish…dear heavens I hope it all comes back.  i forgot how fast they speak here in the city especially in the ghetto of san mig.   

Ok, gotta go…love you all…bye!!!!