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)

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!