Panama is Pretty Dang Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 3/24/14

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah Don Bosco is just outside of Panama City. And yeah Panamanians are a pretty happy people!!!!! So Unfortunately we didn`t have our baptism on Saturday but this week for sure!!!!!!!!!! And yeah we`ve been having some pretty good success finding some new investigators. My ward mission learder just got his mission call to Guatemala and his mom who`s never really been interested in the church is now interested and wants to get baptized so hopefully we can get her baptized before her son leaves on the mission. But yeah things are going pretty good here.

This week was pretty cool because we had the opportunity to go and visit the area of the hermanas in my district. That`s my favorite part about being a DL. I get to go and visit a lot of other areas and meet a lot of cool people. But anyways we went and had a family home evening with a part-member family. The daughter who is 22 is a member but her parents aren`t. It was a SUPER COOL expierience!!!!!!! We watched the 20 minute long Joseph Smith movie and then had a short testimony meeting afterwards. The spirit was really strong there!!!!!!!! And then it was cool because we asked Dario (the dad of the family) if he had any questions or doubts because he has had TONS of doubts about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but when we asked him all he said was, ¨No, todo està bien.¨ (No everything`s good) It was cool because right when he said it the spirit got WAY STRONGER. After about a year of doubting the church and not getting baptized he finally had no more doubts or questions. He just knew that what he had just seen and felt were true. It was one of the strongest testimonies I`ve ever heard!!!!!!!!!! It was a SUPER COOL experience!!!!!!!!! And they`re going to get baptized next weekend which is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But yeah like I said things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m happy and I`m having a TON of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE It here in Panama!!!!!!!! yeah my area is kind of ghetto but I still love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Panama is pretty dang awesome!!!!!!!!!! 

Anyways thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trust in the Atonement

Email received 3/17/14

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Rasmusson is doing good!!!!!!!!!!! He´s been telling me a lot about farming and stuff (Oh also, he´s a farmer) I don´t know if Max is still into farming but for reals if he is that kid could make a ton of money!!!!!!!!!!!! There´s a big business side to farming that I never knew!!!!!!! It´s pretty cool!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah he´s doing good. We had stake conference this weekend so we weren´t able to have the baptism...But hopefully this week!!!!!!!!!! But like i said things here are going GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This week I´ve never been so happy to be from the good old ¨Bubble.¨ Everyone ALWAYS says that living in Provo is dumb and boring and the majority of the people that I went to high school with ALWAYS said that as soon as they graduated they were going to move away from Utah because they hate it. This week has made me a strong advocate of bubble living. So the area I'm in is a pretty rough. Every night we hear gun shots and see people dealing drugs and there´s at least 1 person per week that gets murdered here. And this week was pretty bad. We saw a lot of crazy stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never thought so much about Utah in my whole life!!!!!!!!!! In Provo I never once saw someone get shot, someone dealing drugs, someone get stabbed, etc...Here, these are everyday occurances and it gets me thinking of all the little kids that live here and have lived here their whole lives and to them it´s natural to hear gun shots all night long. It´s pretty sad that that´s the norm here. I feel SUPER blessed that I was able to grow up in Utah or the bubble!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It´s something that I think I took for granted. 

It´s also SUPER COOL to see because yeah, even though it's rough here, there are still TONS of SUPER GOOD people here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It´s AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I meet tons of people everyday that have lived here their whole lives and they are AMAZING people!!!!!!!!!! Always willing to help and have a good time. It´s pretty amazing!!!!!!!!!! I´ve always had the belief that happiness is a choice and if you really want to be happy and have a good time you can do it in whatever circumstance you find yourself in. Yes sometimes it´s harder than other times but you can do it. All you need to do is trust in the Atonement and we can be happy whenever we want. It was a good testimony builder for me.

But yeah, I´m SUPER GLAD that you all are doing good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That´s SUPER COOL that the house is going to be different and we´re going to get central air and everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´m excited to see it but not for 3 more months :) Anyway, thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

P.S. It turned out that Phil had a mom who was WAY bigger than Phil. So we chased them both out and they haven´t come back so we are officially opossum free!!!!!!!!!!! 

We`re Pretty Excited

Email received 3/10/14

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things here are going pretty good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Caranvales are over so that`s good!!!!!!!!!!! It`s prettty good to go out and work normally without too many crazy people. But yeah, things are going pretty good here. We were going to have a baptism this weekend but it got postponed until the next week but yeah we`re getting pretty excited about that. We`re also looking at hopefully having 2 more this month so we`re pretty excited.

We had a conference about family history this week which was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really put into perspective how missionary work and family history are related. The people in the spirit world that didn`t receive the gospel here on the earth need the help from us to do their temple work. So really we`re missionaries helping those people get baptized and get their ordinances done in the temple. It was REALLY COOL!!!!!!!!!!!

But yeah, like I said things are going pretty good here. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened this week. I`m SUPER GLAD that you guys are all doing good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell everyone I said hi!!!!!!!!!

We´re Pretty Stoked About the Success We´re Having Here!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 3/3/14

Hey!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, this is now my 4th change as a DL. Being a DL has been pretty cool!!!!!! I´ve got to meet a lot of really cool people who were getting baptized and I´ve got to visit a lot of different areas during divisions so it´s been a pretty cool experience. We didn´t have any baptisms this last week but we are going to have 1 on the 15th for sure and we´re hoping for 2 more next month also. So we´re pretty stoked about the success that we´re having here!!!!!!!!!!!

That´s SUPER COOL that Caleb´s going on his mission!!!!!!!!! As far as tradition goes in our family every single person that has ever gone on a mission has gone out of the states so I´m guessing that Caleb is going to Guatemala. Also tell Jordan congratulations! I´m 86% sure I have a friend from SUU in that mission. Her name is Brooke Stringham. .

Anyway, Carnavales started this week and Carnavales here is WAY CRAZIER than everywhere else!!!!!!!!!!! Right in front of my house some people dug a really big hole and filled it with water and were grabbing random people and throwing them into it. And people have been throwing rotten eggs and water balloons filled with urine at everyone. It´s pretty ridiculous!!!!!!!!!! We had to stay in the house most of the day yesterday. Today´s not too bad but apparently tommorrow is the worst day so we´ll see what happens. 

This last week Elder Amado came for a mission conference. It was SUPER GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He talked a lot about being happy all the time. He also talked a lot about the scriptures and how we need to study them like crazy!!!!!!!! So yeah, the scriptures are pretty important in our lives!!!!!!!!

That´s SUPER COOL to see Max growing in the church and living up to his calling as a preisthood holder. That kid´s going to be a GREAT missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Anyway, thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Yeah the Opossum was pretty NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, it´s still in the house. He just lives there now, his name is phil. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Can Be Happy All the Time.

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things here are going pretty good!!!!!!!!!!!! Arnulfo got baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! He showed up early and everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He`s a really cool guy!!!!!!!!!!! Arnulfo, for reals, is someone who truly wants to change and follow the example of Christ. He`s a really cool guy!!!!!!!!!!!

But yeah this week was a pretty good week. A little crazy but good. My comp and I went all over the place because I needed to do a lot of baptismal interviews for people. Yep that`s right, good old San Miguelito is baptizing like it`s nobody`s business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! San Mig usually only has 5 or 6 baptisms per month and as of right now we have 21 for the month and we should have at least 2 more this week in the zone!!!!!!!!!! So yeah it`s pretty SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week we didn`t run into too many crazy people. Just the usually ones. It`s kind of funny sometimes because people think that 2 gringos walking down the street in Don Bosco is weird and they always think we`re lost or something. And then when we tell them that we live here and we`re missionaries they think it`s SUPER COOL and buy us some watermelon.  But yeah it`s pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did find an opossum in our house which was pretty nuts!!!!!!

But yeah, like I said this week was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday in Priesthood, our Elder`s Quorum president gave a talk about forgetting the past and moving on in life. There`s also a guy here running for President and his slogan is ¨Vamos Pa´ lante no hay Pa´ tras¨ Which means "let's move forward because there`s no going back". So I`ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Jesus suffered for his sins so we could be clean again and move on with out life without the heaviness of sin weighing us down. That`s a SUPER COOL thing that we need to take advantage of!!!!!!!! Because if we just forget about the Atonement, we`ll have to live with that sin and live unhappily. That`s not what God wants. We learn in the Book of Mormon that Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy. So we need to be happy and how we can be happy is when we understand the Atonement and apply it in our lives. I know that when we apply the Atonment to our lives we can be happy all the time.

But yeah like I said things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m loving it!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures of Don Bosco

2nd Email received 2/17/14! :)

Hey!!!!!! So here`s some more pictures of what my area looks like and and also one of the mircle that happened to us this weekend. Like I said before San Miguelito is pretty bad when it comes to water so the water goes out A LOT!!!!!!!!!!! They usually tell us before hand but sometimes we don`t know. So the water went out this weekend and Saturday we weren`t able to shower at all and so we were sitting in our house planning and then we all of the sudden heard the water in the sink that we have outside and so we ran out to see what was going on and we had water!!!!!!!!!!! So we clogged up the drain and it was SUPER COOL because as soon as the water filled the sink it stopped and didn`t come back until this morning. So yeah the Lord was DEFINITELY watching out for us!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Outside sink that miraculously filled up.

Don Bosco

The Lord is DEFINITELY Blessing Good old Don Bosco!!!!!!!!!

Email received 2/17/14

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah, this week was a pretty dang good week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a pretty cool surprise spring upon us. We were eating lunch on Tuesday and the family we were eating with told us about their nephew that goes to church every week but isn`t baptized. So we taught him the lessons and baptized him. We baptized a kid named Dario on Friday and then Hermana Maura on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep 2 baptisms in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty dang cool!

!!!!!!!!!!!! And then we`re going to baptize Hermano Arnulfo next Saturday. It was also SUPER COOL because yesterday we were waiting in the chapel and we were kind of worried if a few of our investigators were going to come because we didn`t get the chance to vist them too much this week so we were kind of worried and then right before church started Arnulfo, Hermana Columba and her grand-daughter, and another kid named...well I don`t remember his real name but we call him Jay Lo because he likes Jenifer Lopez. But anyway it was SUPER COOL because we were able to confirm Maura and Dario and we also had 4 investigators in church. So yeah the Lord is DEFINITELY blessing good old Don Bosco!!!!!!!!!

It was also really cool way to end the week!  SUPER good because this week was a pretty weird week. We had a big crazy lady try to rob us, we had some drunk guys yell at us and throw trash and beer cans at us, we had a lady tell us her WHOLE life story without leaving out ANY details (also, she`s pretty in love with my comp :D), we had a Jehova Witness lady yell at us because our church is apparently the wrong church (bless her heart :D) and we got SUPER bad food posioning from some rank speghetti. So it was SUPER GOOD to end the week in such good way!!!!!!!!!!

It was also SUPER COOL because in the baptism of Dario his Grandma bore her testimony and it was seriously one of the most powerful testimonies I`ve ever heard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She talked a lot about people who are in-active and fallen away from the church (Dario`s parents are in-active) It was SUPER COOL because she said something that really stuck out to me. She said that if we fall away the Lord is ALWAYS waiting for us to come back and no matter how long it takes or how many times it takes he`ll ALWAYS be there with open arms to accept you and welcome you back. It was a SUPER powerful testimony!!!!!!!!!! For reals, the people of San Miguelito are amazing!!!!! These are some of the strongest people I`ve ever met!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m SUPER GRATEFUL that the Lord sent me here so I can meet these amazing people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah like I said things here are going pretty GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all your support and prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!