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)

Vegas Baby (week 68)

Hey friends and fam,

   Wow pretty average mission week with plenty of ups and downs as usual. We are keeping are heads down and continue to work hard but man the fruits of the labor have not been the best. The attendance of the ward continues to go down no matter how many people we activate haha. We were also planning on having some baptisms but they fell. Im maintaining my hope and faith though and I know that we will see some miracles in these upcoming weeks. The mission however is good as usual and in terms of love for panama and the people it couldn't be better. I love it here and my comp and I get along fine. We both are suuuch different people and our personalities are opposite but ive realized if u just focus on the work and the mission than it doesn't really matter too much. SO ya still have been finding cool families and little by little we are seeing some success. Lol dont got much else to say or story except on friday we had he best bbq chicken that i have had my whole life, and on saturday we went to some sketchy chinese restaurant and my comp clogged the toilet and they found out and it was a nightmare hahha. Also an amazing family made us sao, its a classic Panamanian dish of vinegar, onion, cucumber, and pig hooves. I have always been scared to try it and i was kinda forced into eating it and not guna lie it was real nasty, just straight hoove fat hahah Good times. Well love u all have an awesome week!

Best Phone Call (week 67)

Hey friends and fam! 

       Wow it was quite the last week, tons happened in terms of the work. Also shout out to the fam, it was super fun talkin to yall yesterday seems like all is well in the home. Well as for me its been a ton of work out here in the hood of santa librada. I have never in my whole mission wanted to help a ward like this one im serious.. (mom delete that tho if i wrote it last week lol). But wow we have seen soo many miracles including a guy named edwardo coming up to us in the streets and asking how he could become a missionary like us. He is 27 and literally wants us to come over to his house everyday and teach him about God. He is going to get baptized this sunday or the following, so we are super pumped about that. Also we have been in the process of activating a ton of people, including a return missionary and his fam. They got offended cus someone was gossiping about them and for that they become in active, super sad how easy some people go but now we are activating him and his family. Also soo many more. Like we are so busy and we never have even 1 minute during the week with nothing to do. So ya been crazy and im super excited for the miracles to come. Love u all and all u continue to be an inspiration to me and what I am doing here in panama. 

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