3-Way Skyping for Christmas!

On Christmas Day, we were able to have all 6 of our children "together" laughing, sharing, and joking around just like old times. It was THE best Christmas present EVER! 

Sometimes I am in awe of technology! We were able to connect via Skype to both Cole in Argentina and Scott in Panama and they were able to see and talk to each other! 

It was PRICELESS!

Being able to hear them all laughing together was seriously the best thing ever! 

They are both doing really well and are SO happy! 

It was really great to hear about their everyday lives and the things they do.

I feel so bad for both of them though...It's totally hot where they are! Cole said it was 115 degrees in San Juan! But, they are doing well!

A picture of the computer.  The sun was shining so brightly through our windows that it was hard to get a good picture! 

Merry Christmas from Argentina and Panama!  

I´m SUPER Stoked

Email received 12/23/13

I´m SUPER Stoked to talk to you guys on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!! This week has been pretty good. The only thing is that missionary work is pretty dang hard here in Panama during December. Everybody is either out of town, painting their house, or drunk. So it gets kind of frustrating sometimes. But we´re trying our hardest to get some things done.

Things are going pretty good with my comp. He´s a pretty cool dude!!!!!

Our investigators are doing pretty good, unfortunately it´s been pretty hard to get them to come to church lately but hopefully after Christmas they´ll have some more time and be able to come to church. We did find a lady that is SUPER cool!!!!!!!!!!!  She´s come to church before but never got baptized. She´s pretty positive and we´re teaching her and trying to get her baptized next month so I´m pretty excited for that!!!!!! Hopefully it all works out.

But yeah like I said things are going pretty good here. Sorry I didn´t write too much, the internet today is pretty dang slow...But we´ll be able to talk on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, thanks for EVERYTHING and I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk to you on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Training´s Pretty Cool!!!!!!!

Email received 12/16/13

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

Yeah training´s pretty cool!!!!!!! I was really nervous about it at first but it´s getting better!!!!!!  But yeah it´s pretty fun!!!!!!!! My comp is pretty cool. His name is Elder Polio. He´s from El Salvador. We´re still in the same area which is cool. I like this area but it´s kind of frustrating because it´s my third change in this area and my fouth change in Chorerra and there´s this rumor going around that President Carmack wants to keep the trainers with their kids for the full 2 changes of training. Which is cool I like my comp and my area and stuff, but I just kind of want to see some more parts of Panama. I´ve really only seen 3 areas of Panama. Tocumen, Chorerra, and Bocas. But it´s all good we´ll see how things go. 

Our investigators are doing pretty good. Unfortunately none of them came to church yesterday which was kind of frustrating...But it´s all good. We went took Jose David to come work with us yesterday and he brought us to a lot of his friends and cousins houses and so now we have some new positive investigators which is good!!!!!! But yeah It´s going good. 

That´s cool that you guys got to go see the lights!!!!!!!! I was telling my concinera about that the other day and she didn´t believe me so she looked up pictures on her computer and she flipped when she saw all of the lights!!!!!! Ha ha it was pretty funny!!!!!!! Here in Panama there's not too many people that set up Christmas lights. Ha ha it´s actually basically only the Mormons that do it!!!!!! Ha ha but it´s still pretty cool. The coolest tradition that Panama has for Christmas is that EVERYONE paints their houses a different color for Christmas. We´ve already helped paint 2 houses this month!!!!! It´s a pretty cool tradition!!!!!!! And you should send some of the cold here to Panama because it´s RIDICUOUSLY hot here!!!!!!!!!

So President Carmack just told us that it´s fine to skype. And in this area I´m pretty much in the best situation for skype ever!!!!!!!! The members I live with said that we can use their computer to skype and so I´m going to be able to skype from my own house and I´ll be able to do it pretty much anytime that day. So with the whole 3-way skype thing that would be SWEET!!!!!!!!! So if that works out, just coordinate with Cole and ask him what time he can do it and then just tell me what time and I´ll be able to work it out. But yeah I´m STOKED to talk to you guys!!!!!!!!!!! It´s been FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! This is the longest gap without talking. May to December. So I´m pretty excited!!!!!!!

But yeah thanks for everything!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! Have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a REALLY Cool Experience!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 12/9/13

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

Well just to inform you all, I´m going to be a father. Ha ha we have changes this Wednesday and I just heard that I´m going to train!!!!!!!! So that should be fun. I´m pretty excited about it!!!!!!!

So anyways things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!! This week was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! Pretty packed but sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our investigators are doing pretty well!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are teaching a lady named V. Her son is a member but she never got baptized. She´s a REALLY cool lady and SUPER positive!!!!!!!!!! So we´re hoping to get her baptized this month. We also got a reference for a SUPER cool lady!!!!!!!!!!!! She´s an older lady named A.  And it´s pretty sweet, she´s a professional singer!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha she sings the typical Panamanian music,  it´s pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah she´s a REALLY COOL lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She told us that she used to listen to the missionaires and she has a Book of Mormon that she´s been reading for years now!!!!!!!! So yeah she´s SUPER COOL and she has a fecha for the 21st!!!!!!!!! So we´re hoping that she continues progressing!!!!!!!!

This week I also did the baptismal interviews for a family in an area called Progresso. I met this family a little while ago on divisiones and they´re SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they finally got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty hard to get them baptized, they had to get married first and here in Panama getting married is a very long and expensive process. But they finally we able to get baptized which was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! After the baptism the dad bore his testimony and it was really cool because he was up in front and he said, thank you all for helping me and my family get baptized and helping me be the happiest person in the world. It was really cool to see how much happiness the gospel has brought them. It was a REALLY cool experience!!!!!!!!!!

It was also SUPER cool last p-day we helped Hermana Carmen (our cocinera) set up her Christmas tree!!!!!!!!!!! It was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS TREES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I´m glad that you all are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have fun with the snow!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S.

Oh and also the other picture is of the song that we wrote. So, December 8th is Mothers day in Panama. So we had a ward activity and we had to perform something. And the only song that I can play on the piano is the Barney song so we made a parody of the Barney song about moms. Ha ha it was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{Loose translation: 

My mom is the best

around the world

cooks me my food

and I love you}

It was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 12/2/13

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

So you´re not going to believe this. Today I didn´t something that I´ve never done before in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to go run 6 kilometers...Yeah I almost died!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha yeah we had a ward activity this morning because today is ANOTHER holiday (good old Panama) So we ran and then we had a basketball tournament. Which I was also SUPER surprised that we played basketball. I´m in Panama for crying out loud. But it was pretty sweet because I don´t play basketball very well but when I play with Panamanians that have only touched a basketball like twice in their whole lives, I´m basically a professional!!!!!!!!! I think I´m ready for the NBA ;) 

Anyway, things are going pretty good. Jose´s cousin never came back to church but he told me that he was at a party with his cousin and his cousin pulled out a beer and started drinking it. And Jose being the cool dude that he is hit the beer out of his cousin´s hand and told him that he can´t drink. And when his cousin pulled out another beer, Jose did the same thing. So Jose prevented his cousin from getting drunk which was pretty cool. But yeah we're going with Jose to go visit his cousin this week so hopefully things go good. 

My Thanksgiving was WAY BETTER than last year!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last year I ate mondongo but this year I ate turkey, mashed potatos, stuffing, and even pie!!!!!!!!! Oh man it was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I attached some pictures. 

But yeah our other investigators are doing pretty good. We are currently teaching a family. It´s pretty cool, do you remember Elder Clarke? He was one of my ZL´s out in Bocas and he´s a SUPER COOL DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!! So anyways, my area right now was Clarke´s first area and he was teaching the family when he was here so he´s been helping us out a lot with that which has been really cool!!!!!!!!!!! The only bad thing is that they didn´t come to church yesterday because good old Black Friday hit Panama. But I don´t know how it is now in the states but here it´s Black Weekend and they have the Black Friday sells all weekend long so  they were in all the malls and stuff buying things...But we´re working hard with them and we´re hoping to get them baptized this month.

But yeah this week was pretty good. A LOT better than last week!!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 11/25/13

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

Things here are going pretty good!!!!!!! This week was a little frustrating but I've learned here on the mission that for every bad week the Lord gives you 3 good weeks so it's all good.

I`m glad that you guys are getting excited for Thanksgiving.  It's pretty sweet, there's this lady here in Chorrera that's going to cook all the missionaries here a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and everything so I'm pretty stoked about that!!!!!!!!

But yeah, like I said things are going good here. It was cool becasue this week I was reading in Alma. And I'm currently in the war chapters. And it's interesting because The Book of Mormon being another testament of Jesus Christ, we sometimes think, "Why are there so many wars in a book that is about the Savior?"  But as you analyze the chapters and look at the reasons why they're fighting, who wins, and why they win and all the miracles that happen throughout the battles, you can see that the Lord really had a part in the battles and that it's still a testimony of him. It's pretty cool to see.

Anyway, sorry but we're at a different internet place today and the internet here is SUPER slow so I'm running out of time. But thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was Definitely a Miracle

Email received 11/18/13

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

Good news about that family that were all sick... They aren´t sick anymore!!!!!!! They´re all fine and doing well. It was definitely a miracle that they are all doing good and that they didn't die.  [Thank heavens! Such good news!]

Inside his house in La Chorrera. This is it except for the bathroom! Can you guess which side is his?  (Yeah, the "messy" one by the window! Some things don't change!)

This week has been pretty good. The hermanas that I share a ward with had a baptism yesterday which was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! It was also SUPER COOL because our recent convert, Jose, brought his cousin to church yesterday and he really liked it and now has a fecha for the 7th of December. He´s a really cool kid!!!!!!!!!! And I think he´ll progress really well!!!!!! Especially because he has the help and friendship of his cousin to support him. That's something that I´ve been noticing a lot lately. When the members fellowship the people investigating the church, the investigators progress a lot faster and become a lot stronger in the church. It´s really cool!!!!!!!

We also had a really big stake activity on Saturday. It was REALLY cool! It was a culture activity where each ward represented a different province of Panama and they did traditional  dances and dressed up like the people from that province. It was really cool!!!!!!!!! There was also a guy that sang. And it was cool becasue it was the traditional singing of Panama. Usually I don´t like it at all but this guy did it good. He´s one of the most famous traditional  singers in all of Panama and he just so happens to be a member also. Anyway, I recorded it but it´s too long to attach to an email so I´m sending it on a flash drive with  my pictures. But it was really cool!!!!!!!

I also attached a few pictures from the stake activity. The first one is of something called a Tembleke. It´s a typical thing that panamanian women wear in their hair. This one is pretty extensive and is only used during activities and dances and stuff. Hermana Vielka made me some simplier ones for you, Beth, Emma, Grammy,  and Nanny. I was going to mail them over but I don´t want them to get stolen so you´ll have to wait until I get back. But they´re SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!! 

Very beautiful!  Those are all little beads! Incredible!

The other picture is one of the traditional panimanian dresses. 

It´s pretty nuts!!!!!!!!!! The dresses are called Polleras and apparently they´re one of the most expensive dresses in the world!!!!!!! A hand-made one is around $8,000 so yeah they´re pretty nuts!!!!!!!!! 

I also got the flashdrive back so I´ll be sending that out hopefully here pretty soon!!!!!!! 

Anyway, like I said things are going pretty good!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything and I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep Trying Everyday to Help With Missionary Work

Email received 11/11/13

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

Things are going pretty good here. And the parades are STILL going on!!!!!! Ha ha today should be that last day well until the 18th then there`s about 3 more days of parades and stuff. Other than the fact that almost everyone is drunk all the time, it`s good :) 

I`m SUPER GLAD that you all are doing good!!!!!!!!! The temple looks SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it`s making a lot of progress!!!!!! It`s going to be such a cool temple once it`s finished!!!!!! [I sent a couple pictures of the Provo City Center Temple's construction.]

This week has been pretty good. On Saturday we went on splits with some of the young men from the ward and it went really well!!!!!!!! I went with a kid named Joseph to a part in our area called La Estancia. We visited an investigator and then he showed me where a few less-active families which was pretty cool!!!!!!!! Elder Aguero went with another kid named Kevin to a few old investigators that for some reason stopped listening to the missionaries. It turned out REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!! We are now teaching a family that were SUPER positive (they got married so they could go get baptized) and then the missionaries that were teaching them got switched out and the new missionaries didn`t know where they lived or anything about them so nobody visited them for a while. But we`re now working with them again and we`re hoping to get them baptized this month!!!!!! They`re a REALLY cool family and I know with faith and hard work they can get baptized and become really strong members of the church!!!!!!!!!!! 

I also had a really cool experience yesterday. There is a family in my ward that got really sick with a sickness called Dangay. it`s a sickness that comes from mosquitos and is SUPER dangerous!!!!!! A lot of people here in Panama die from it every year. So anyways this family got it and they got it BAD!!!!!!!!! One of the kids has the worst form of Dangay and very few people who get the type that he has live through it. So yeah, it`s pretty scary stuff!!!!!!!!!!!! So anyway, they called us and asked us if we could go to the hospital where they were at to give them blessings. The only problem was that they are in a hospital in the city [Panama City]  an hour and a half away. After getting permisison from the ZLs to go out there, we went with some other members to the hospital. Unfortuantely, after waiting there for about 2 hours we got the news that me and my comp weren`t going to be able to enter the room to give the blessings because we weren`t family members. So we were only able to give blessings to the mom of the family (who is sick but not as bad as the kids) and the dad (he`s not sick but he needed a blessing of comfort). It was kind of weird because we had to find an empty hallway and do it in the middle of the hallway but it worked out and we were at least able to give them two blessings which was good. But while waiting in the hospital, talking to the dad of the family, I learned something. While I was talking to him, he told me that yeah, it`s REALLY hard to go through this right now, not knowing whether his family were going to live or die. But he said that it`s all good because all this is is a trial and we need to stick with God and keep the faith and whatever happens it`s what God wants and needs. It was a SUPER strong testimony of faith and living through our trials!!!!!!!! This guy seriously has all the reason in the world to complain and to be mad, but instead he has decided to keep his faith in the Lord and accept whatever happens. It was really like the scripture in Ether, ¨...you will not recieve a witness until after the trial of your faith.¨ We have trials in our lives everyday and if we endure them with faith, we will receive the comfort from God that we need. 

I also had the opportunity to give a talk in Church yesterday. I talked about the importance of members in missionary work. I just want to remind you guys to keep trying everyday to help with missionary work. Jospeh Smith once said, ¨After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.¨ As members of the church we all have recieved blessings and happiness from the knowledge of the Gospel. It`s now our turn and our duty to share this knowledge with others so they too can recieve the blessings and happiness that come from living the Gospel. Remember the challenge that Elder Nelson gave us in this last conference for EVERY member of the church to find at least 1 person for the missionaries to teach before Christmas. I challenge you all to take this change seriously and find at least 1 person for the missionaries to teach. I know sometimes it`s hard in Utah where almost everyone is a member, but I know if we try our hardest, we will be able to do it. Also take some time to look at the new website that the church put out hasteningthework.lds.org.  It`s SUPER COOL and is going to help the missionary work increase and be more effective!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work and always remember that you`re in my prayers!!!!!!!!! 

The Spirit was SUPER Strong

Email received 11/4/13

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

Things here are going pretty good!!!!!!!!! Jose´s baptism was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were a lot of people there to support him and the spirit was SUPER strong!!!!!!!!!! His mom, who´s not a member, also came and we gave her some time to share how she felt and stuff. She said that she felt really good and wants to learn how she can also come closer to God. So we´re now working with his mom and trying to get her baptized too. It was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah I´m SUPER excited that he was able to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!  Our other investigators are doing pretty good.  But yeah, things are going pretty dang good!!!!!!!

Elder Aguero, Jose's Grandpa, Jose, and Elder Houghton.  I love how happy every one is!

Yesterday at church was a little ridiculous. Ha ha so my comp and I showed up at the chapel at about 8:45 and nobody was there. Not even the bishop was there. There were 3 people waiting outside because they couldn´t get in because it was locked. Luckily we have the keys to the church also and so we were able to open the church. But anyway, we started setting things up and the bishop still didn´t even show up so we were thinking that we were going to have to run sacrament meeting but then at about 9:15 the bishop finally showed up. As we were finishing setting up the sacrament and stuff the bishop says into the microphone, "Alright everybody. We´re only going to have Sacrament Meeting today so you all can go to the parades." (Yesterday was Panama´s Independence Day from Columbia and there were parades ALL DAY LONG.) So we only had Sacrament Meeting so everyone could go to the parades...Yeah good old Panama, never ceases to amaze me :D

But yeah like I said, yesterday was a holiday. And basically all of November is full of holidays. Yesterday was the indepenance from Colombia, today is Flag day, tomorrow is something else, the 18th is the Independence Day from Spain, and there´s some little random ones that I don´t know. So yeah this month is kind of nuts!!!!!!!!! Today there´s a HUGE parade all over Chorrera so it´s pretty crazy right now. Ha ha but it´s fun!!!!!!!!!

I´m glad that everyone is doing good!!!!!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Fact That We Can Go to the Temple and Be in the Lord`s House is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 10/28/13

Elder Houghton with one of his ward members in La Chorrera. 

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

So things are going pretty good here in Panama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m basically loving it here!!!!!!!!!!! I don`t know why but this week especially I just felt really good!!!!!!!! But like I said things are going pretty good here!!!!!!! We`re getting stoked for Jose`s baptism on thursday!!!!!!!!! Oh man that kid is SO COOL!!!!!!!!!! When we visited him yesterday he was asking us about the mission and he said that he`s really stoked to go on the mission!!!!!!!!!! He`s only 15 so he still has 3 years to go but he`s SUPER excited about it!!!!!!! I`m REALLY excited for him!!!!!!! He`s going to be a GREAT member of the church!!!!!!!!! 

As far as our other investigators go, we are teaching a lady named Zuly and her son Daniel. They`re pretty cool!!!!!!!! They`ve known the missionaries for a long time and are really acceptive to the Gospel!!!!!!! The only problem with them is they have 3 HUGE pitbulls!!!!!!! So I almost pee my pants every time I walk into their house!!!!!!!!! Ha ha I don`t know what it is but I have developed a fear of dogs. I think it`s because here in Panama EVERYONE has HUGE dogs!!!!!!!!!! I don`t understand it!!!!!!!! Ha ha but other then their dogs they`re GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, yesterday a member brought an investigator to church (I LOVE when that happens!!!!!!!!!) So we`re going to go visit her tomorrow so we`ll se how that goes. We`re also working with a less-active family who owns a resturant here in Chorrera that we`re going to go eat at this week which I`m pretty excited about. But yeah they`re a really cool family!!!!!!!!!!! They live kind of far from the Chapel (which is their excuse for not going to church lately) but they`re a really nice family and we`re hoping to baptize the dad (he`s not a member) But yeah the work is going pretty good here!!!!!!! 

Anyways that`s cool that you were able to see Cole at the front runner station!!!!!!!! I read his e-mail it looks like he`s doing well!!!!!!!! That kid`s going to be a GREAT missionary!!!!!!!!! That`s NUTS that Max`s birthday is coming up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He`s going to be 14 right?!?!?!?! That`s NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, he`s playing for Provo High?!?!?!?!?! I thought he was still at Dixon? ANyways that picture of the back yard is NUTS!!!!!!!!!! We have real grass back there!!!!!!!!!!!!! That`s SO COOL!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha but yeah I`m glad that everything`s going good for you guys!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But yeah I`m SUPER GLAD that you guys are all doing FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also one last thing I just remembered. So on Saturday Jose went to the temple with the other jovens (youth) in the ward and he said that even though he wasn`t able to enter (because he`s not a member yet) he said that he still could feel the AMAZING spirit that comes from being close to the temple. There`s a symbol in a lot of the temples that is a square with a circle on the inside (I know for a fact that it`s in the Timponogas temple) That symbol means the place where heaven and earth meet. I want to testify to you that the temple really is the closest to heaven that we can be while still being on earth. I`m serious. Just from being outside standing on temple grounds you can feel that the Lord is with you. I promise you that with temple attendance we can come closer to the Lord and recieve more revelation then from doing anything else. PLEASE take advantage of the fact that in Utah there are temples all over the place and you can pretty much go to the temple whenever you want. Because it is seriously one of the BIGGEST blessings from the Lord. The fact that we can go to the temple and be in the Lord`s house is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! The Lord has trusted us with this opportunity and we need to take advantage of it and go as often as we can and I KNOW that we will recieve blessings from it. I LOVE the temple and I KNOW that everything that we do in the temple brings us closer to our heavenly father. Please take the time to visit the temple whenever you can. 

Anyways thanks again for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's some fun pictures he sent from his visit to the Panama Canal...

He finally got to spend the day at the Canal.  He said it was really awesome!

He said, "Finally I get to cross 'Play pool in front of the Panama Canal' off my bucket list!"  Gosh I love that guy!  So funny!

He said, "Strangely, there's no routes from Utah that go through the canal..."

I Still Have 8 Months Worth of Time to Continue Learning from These Amazing People of Panama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 10/22/13

We didn't hear from him on his p-day. Thank Heavens his President gave him to ok to email us the next day!  

Hey sorry I`m writing late. What happened was yesterday we went to the Panama Canal and when we were coming back we got stuck in traffic because there was a big car accident and we were stuck in traffic for like 4 hours. So President gave us permission to use internet today.

But anyway, things are going pretty good!!!!!!!!!! Things are going alright with my comp and we`re still working hard and teaching some good people. Jose David is doing good. He showed up to church on Sunday and he was wearing his white shirt and tie with an Angel Moroni tie pin. Ha ha yeah everybody thought that he was a member!!!!!!!! He`s a SUPER cool kid!!!!!!!! We talked to his Grandpa today and he said that Jose`s dad was baptized on October 31st and married on October 31st so he wants Jose David to get baptized on October 31st also. So, it looks like we`ll be having a baptism on Halloween this year!!!!!!!!!  I`m pretty excited about it because this has been a rough change so it`s going to be good to end it on a good note. But yeah I`m pretty stoked about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I`m also pretty stoked becasue after 16 months of being here in Panama I FINALLY went to the canal!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`ll send pictures next week. I completely forgot my camera cord today so I`ll send the pictures next week. But yeah pretty much every missionary here in Panama will tell you that the canal is boring. But don`t listen to them. It`s SWEET!!!!!!!!!!! 

I`m SUPER GLAD that you all are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That really makes me happy when I hear that!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because I think about you all everyday!!!!!!!!! I`m always happy to hear that you guys are doing good!!!!!!!!!!! 

So, I want to share a spiritual experience that happened today. Today I was on divisions with Elder Pasket (a missionary from American Fork that dies {goes home} next week) He`s a cool dude and it was cool because he was in my area early so he showed me where a ton of old investigators live. Anyway, we were walking to a cita and I had the impression to stop by Hermana Anderson. Hermana Anderson is a SUPER COOL lady!!!!!!!! She`s SUPER strong in the church and is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!! So anyway we stopped by her house and it turns out that her daughter was really sick. Her daughter has really bad health problems and has been in and out of the hospital for about a year now. And she`s been really sick lately. But  we showed up to the house and Hermana Anderson was there and she was having a rough time so we shared a message with her and gave her daughter a blessing and then left. But the cool thing about it was that I think the Lord needed me to go to that house so I could learn a lesson from Hermana Anderson. I`ve been complaining this whole change. But I never once realized or thought that maybe all of these trials are for my benefit and I need to learn something from them. Today when we were talking to Hermana Anderson she said just that. She said, ¨Yes I`m sad, but I know the Lord is on my side and he`s helping me. I just need to keep my faith and follow and hopefully at the end I`ll learn something from it.¨ We are always going to have trials throughout our entire life some will be big like one of your kids being super sick and some will be small. But if we keep the faith and keep going the Lord will help us and we`ll learn something from the trial. But yeah it was a REALLY COOL experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But anyway,  like I said things are going pretty good!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I`m grateful because I still have 8 months worth of time to continue learning from these amazing people of Panama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love them. 

Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep having fun and stay happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Got Pretty Much the Best Reference EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 10/14/13

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

Things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!! We got pretty much the best reference EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! He`s 16 and SUPER POSITIVE!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday in church when we were talking to him about baptism he asked us how and when he can get baptized. So needless to say, he`s getting baptized on the 26th of this month. He`s a SUPER COOL dude!!!!!!!!!!!!  He knows a lot about the gospel!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously when we were teaching him and we were sharing scriptures with him from the Bible and he would cut us off and then recite the scripture from memory. It was pretty dang impressive. But yeah he`s doing really good!!!!!!!!! As far as our other investigators, we have 2 more -- a mom and her son. They would`ve been baptized about 6ish months ago but something happened and they weren`t able to get baptized. So we`re currently visiting with them and they`re pretty positive too. The only thing is it`s REALLY hard to find them in their house sometimes. But it`s good. Yeah so our area is starting to pick up a bit. Which is nice!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

It`s been SUPER COOL to see people from my old areas!!!!!! I had this fear that when I leave an area people won`t remember me but I`ve been seeing tons of people that remember me and stuff which is cool!!!!!!!! One of the members that we ate with in Guadalupe. She`s SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!! And I saw her at the stake center when we were eating dinner and I talked with her for about a half an hour. Her daughter is on a mission now. She`s going to California and she`s currently in the Provo MTC too!!!!!!! Ha ha so maybe Cole has run into her. That was good to see her. Also, we went to the temple with the stake on Saturday morning and I saw a lady from Predregal in the session room with us which REALLY made me happy because when I was in Pedregal she wasn`t endowed and she was kind of going inactive but now she`s endowed and SUPER active also which is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Members Really are Vital to the Work

Email received 10/7/13

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!! Things are going pretty good with Elder Aguero. I like being a District Leader. I didn`t like it at first but now it`s pretty fun. The people in my district are all really cool people and I get to go on divisions with them every once in a while which is fun!!!!!!!! Chorrera is going good. My area`s struggling a little bit right now but we`re trying. It was SUPER COOL yesterday I got to see a lot of the members from Guadalupe at conference!!!!!! And It was SUPER cool because I learned that an old investigator of mine got baptized!!!!!!! I don`t remember if I told you about her but she`s 12 years old and her family are all members but she didn`t want to get baptized until she was 18 because she wanted to feel what it was like to get drunk. But it`s all good it looks like she got over that and got baptized about a month ago!!!!!!! I was pretty excited to hear that!!!!!!!

Conference was REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!! I loved how there were a ton of talks about the importance of the members in missionary work. The members really are the key in missionary work. Without the members the people we baptize will never progress more in the church and will become inactive. So the members really are vital to the work. 

I also really liked Elder Holland`s talk. I liked it because he usually machetes everybody but then every once in a while he gives a talk like he did on Saturday that is super tranquilo but still SUPER powerful!!!!!!!! I love his talks!!!!!!!! But yeah this was an EXCELLENT conference!!!!!!!!!!! 

That`s SUPER cool that Daddy and Max got to go to the Priesthood session!!!!! The priesthood session was REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!!! I loved President Monson`s talk because he was talking about home teaching, it all also applies to missionary work which was good instruction for me.

That`s cool that you guys have Fall break right now!!!!!!!! That should be fun!!!!!!!! And that`s SUPER COOL that you`re doing a lot of family history work!!!!!!! There was a talk by someone in conference about the importance and the blessings from the temple this conference also I don`t remember who gave it but it was really good and it`s sweet that you are going to be able to take some of our ancestors names to the temple so they can recieve the same amazing blessings from the temple!!!!!!!!!

Anyways thanks for everything!!!!!!!!! Have a GREAT fall break and I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

Things are Going Pretty Good here in Chorrera

Email received 9/30/13

*photo from https://twitter.com/La_Chorrera

Yeah things are going pretty good here in Chorrera. It´s pretty dang sweet! There is a grocery store here called the Rey and they have Mountain Dew!!!!!!!!!!! Mountain Dew is pretty much one of the hardest things to find here in Panama!!!!!!!!!! The only thing is it´s kind of expensive so I have to limit myself to only 1 can per week or else I´ll waste all my money on Mountain Dew. Ha ha but yeah things are going pretty good here. {In case you're wondering...no, it's not against to rules to drink Mountain Dew. :) }

My comp is doing pretty good. He likes to teach so that's really good.  I see people I know from Guadalupe {Guadalupe was the other area of La Chorrera that he served in a few months back.} every once in a while but not too often. The ward seems pretty cool. We are working with them a lot and they are good to work with. There´s some really strong members and it´s going to be fun to work with them.

This area was kind of dead when I got here which kind of disanimated {I think he means "disappointed".  Every now and then he translates Spanish to English literally. :) } me a little bit but we've been working pretty hard this week and we have some pretty good investigators. We should see some pretty good success here if we keep working hard. But yeah, like I said, things are going good. It´s pretty cool to live with members who are SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!! They´re gringos from Washington DC so that´s pretty sweet to see them around and be able to talk to them and stuff.

Anyways like I said everything here is going GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back in Chorrera

Email received 9/23/13

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

Hey sorry I don`t have too much time left but things are going pretty good here!!!!!! I got changed back to an area in Chorrera called Barrio Centro. It`s a pretty sweet area and a good area with a lot of potential. We`ll have some pretty good success here. My new comp is named Elder Aguero. He`s from Paraguay and he`s a pretty cool dude. They also made me District Leader. I was really nervous about it at first but now I don`t feel too nervous about it.

But yeah like I said everything here has been pretty good. We haven`t had too much time to work this week because of changes and we also had to go into the city so my  comp could get his migrations all worked out but I really like the area!!!!!!!! I was pretty mad that I got changed to Chorrera at first. I really wanted to go to San Blas. But yeah once I got here and met some of the people here I got over it. We live with some members that are really cool!!!!!!! They are originally Panamanian but they lived in Washington DC for their whole lives and moved back here about a year ago. But yeah they are REALLY COOL people!!!!!!!!!!!

But yeah like I said everything here is going good. I`m glad to hear that everyone is doing good over there. Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

So My Time Here in Changuinola is Coming to an End

Email received 9/16/13

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Things are going pretty good here in good old Changuinola!!!!!!!!!! Elder Seegmiller is doing fine. Our investigators are also doing really well!!!!!!!!!!!! The family Quinchoa is looking like they`re going to get baptized here pretty soon!!!!! Hopefully by the end of this month!!!!!!!!!! But unfortunately I won`t be here to see it...We just got news the other day that I have changes...So my time here in Changuinola is coming to an end...I`m pretty sad about it because I LOVE this area but I can`t be too greedy usually missionaries are in this area for only 3ish months and I`ve been here for 7 so I just have to be grateful for my time here and await to see where the Lord sends me. But I`m REALLY not looking forward to the 11 hour bus ride back to Panama...

This week we Elder Ochoa came for a zone conference and we had to travel to David (a 5 hour bus ride) It was SUPER tiring but it was good!!!!! I learned a LOT from Elder Ochoa and it was really cool!!!!!!!! He talked a lot about following the spirit so we can be led to the people who the Lord has prepared to hear the Gospel. It was REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But yeah things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!! I`m just getting all packed up which has been quite the experience. I`ve been here in the same house for 7 months so throughout my time here I have basically taken every single thing that I own out of my suitcases so now I have to find all my stuff and pack them back up...But it`s all good.

Anyways thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are truely AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel your strength and your support every day!!!!!!!!!!!! I love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big News!!!!!!!!!

Email received 9/9/13

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

So as you can see from the picture Nicolas got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It was SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That guy is seriously an AMAZING guy!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was SUPER happy after the baptism and the Branch was really supportive of him which was REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! It`s super cool too because Nicolas is the first investigator that I`ve seen from start to finish. We found him, taught him, and baptized him. All of my other baptisms I`ve come into them about halfway through the teaching so it was a pretty cool experience!!!!!!!! But Nicolas is going to be an AMAZING member of the church and is really going to help this branch progress and turn into a ward. It`s also really cool because from the first cita we had with him I knew he was going to get baptized. So I`m SUPER GLAD that I was able to be here to see him get baptized. 

But yeah everything here is going SUPER WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! Our investigators are progressing pretty nicely except for the fact that we have to move the fecha for Niko`s wife Angelica because she wasn`t able to come to church yesterday but she`ll get baptized soon. We started teaching a kid named Tito. I first met him when I got here but he then moved but now he`s back living with Claribell (he`s her nephew) So we`re teaching him and he has a fecha for this Saturday so we`re hoping that he`ll get baptized and we can end the change baptizing. 

Also big news!!!!!!!!! I don`t know if you remember but back in my second week my comp Meyer and I baptized an 18 year old kid named Jordan. Well anyways that kid has been a SUPER STRONG member of the church ever since he was baptized. On the blog from the mission there`s a picture of him baptizing one of his friends. But anyways I was talking to Meyer the other day on the phone because he goes home this week but anyways Jordan got his mission call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He`s going to El Salvador!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He leaves in December. It`s SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He`s SUPER excited about it and he`s going to be a GREAT missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That`s SUPER COOL that Cole`s going to be a missionary in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And today is his birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! I attached a picture for his birthday just in case he doesn`t see it on his email. 

But Elder Seegmiller, Elder Clarke, Elder Olivas, and I went golfing today for P-day and it was SUPER FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to find a flag that said 18 on it but the course here is only a 9 hole course. So no he`s not turning 9 but he`ll just need to do some quick math and double the 9 to make 18 :) Also, when you guys figure out Cole`s MTC mailbox address could you give it to me? I want to send him something and I need to send it now if it`s going to get to him before he leaves the MTC.

Anyways I`m SUPER GLAD that everything is going GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sending the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love seeing pictures of you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell everyone I said hi!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck with this week. I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Week was Seriously an EXCELLENT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 9/2/13

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

Things have been going GREAT here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was seriously an EXCELLENT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately Nicholi did not get baptized. He had a TON of work this weekend and didn`t have time this Saturday. But he`s getting baptized this Saturday for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That guy is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!! And he`s going to be a SUPER STRONG member of the church!!!!!!!!!!!! We also talked to Nicholi`s wife Angelica and she told us something that we didn`t expect at all!!!!!!!! She said, ¨Well, Nicholi tells me that he`s going to get baptized this Saturday. So he`ll get baptized this Saturday so that means that I`ll get baptized the next Saturday.¨ She also told us that she can`t wait until she can get baptized and be a member of the true church so she can be saved and have a perfect body in the next life (she has a lot of physical problems which cause her a lot of pain) But anyways it was one of the COOLEST things I`ve ever heard!!!!!!!!!! When she said it the spirit was SUPER strong and she`s SUPER ready for baptism!!!!! It was pretty dang cool!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that it`s been a pretty normal week. All of our other investigators are doing GREAT and also Hermana Vielka and everyone are doing SUPER WELL!!!!!!!!!! Today for P-Day we went to this farm of a member and went on a hike and I saw a toucan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 It was SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I`m glad that you all are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! That`s SUPER CRAZY that Cole leaves next week!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m SO EXCITED for him!!!!!!! I can`t wait until he will have these same experiences that I have every day!!!!!!!!!!! 

Also that`s SUPER FUNNY that Max is playing football. Ha ha I have a feeling that he`s going to be another Delicate boy like Cole was when he played football ;) Ha ha just kidding. Also that`s good that Jake`s wrist isn`t too bad. but that`s too bad that he had to work on labor day. 

But anyways, like I said things are going pretty dang good here!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything that you guys do for me!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Faith is a Real Thing

Email received 8/26/13

Everything`s going pretty dang good here!!!!!!!! We`re working hard and having a TON of fun doing it!!!!!!!! I`ve learned that when you and your comp are working hard and having a lot of fun the work is WAY more effective!!!!!!!! Our investigators are doing good. Nicoli is doing SUPER GOOD!!!!!!!!! We`ve taught him everything and he`s now been to church enough times so we`re hoping to be able to baptize him this weekend!!!!!!!!!! Jospeh is also doing well. He is SUPER ready and always comes to church and reads.  The only thing that he is missing is the permission from his parents. But once he gets that he`ll be baptized and will be a SUPER good member!!!!!! 

Seegmiller is doing good too. And the next changes are the 18th of September and I`m almost certain that I`m leaving Bocas. It`s not very often that a missionary stays in an area for 4 changes let alone 5!!!!!!!!!!! So I`m probably going to leave. It`s going to be sad but it`ll be good. I was talking to Hermana Vielka and her family yesterday and we were talking about how hard it is going to be for me to finally leave Bocas. But it was SUPER cool because Vielka reminded me that she can go through the temple next March so If I`m in an area that`s close to the temple I'll be able to go with her when she takes out her endowments!!!!!!!! I REALLY hope that I`ll get that chance!!!!!!!!!!! 

We got the washing machine this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I attached some pictures. Washing machines here are different. You wash your clothes in one side and then the other side has this little basket thing that you put your clothes in for like 5 minutes and they kind of dry them. But anyway it`s pretty dang cool that we have a washing machine in the house now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, it was pretty dang crazy!!!!!!! This week when we were visiting Nicoli, his wife came out and asked us if we wanted some purple bananas. At first we thought that we mis-understood her, but then a minute later she walked out of her house with a big branch of purple bananas. It was pretty much one of the craziest things of my life!!!!!!!! Also, it turns out that purple bananas are SUPER GOOD!!!!!!!!!! WAY better than regular bananas!!!!!!!!! 

That`s pretty nuts about Cole!!!!!!!! That`s all going to happen SUPER fast!!!!!!!!! It`s NUTS that he`s already leaving on his mission!!!!!!!! But that kid is going to be a pretty great missionary!!!!!! 

This week was also really good because I learned something REALLY important. Elder Clarke (one of my ZL`s that lives with me) gave me a talk by Gene R. Cook called Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I attached it to this email so you can read it because seriously this is one of the GREATEST talks I`ve ever read!!!!!!!!! It completely changed my perspective about faith and how we should go about asking the Lord for things. This talk is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! And if every member of the church reads it and then applies it into their lives the church would be so much stronger!!!!!!! I`ve been trying to apply it into my life and also into the work of the Lord and we have seen some GREAT blessings come from it. For example, everyone of our investigators that we talked to this week said that they probably wouldn`t have been able to come to church yesterday. So instead of giving up we exercised our faith in the Lord and when we woke up yesterday we felt like passing by Nicoli's house to pick him up for church and when we got there he was right about to leave to go to church. And then when we were sitting in Sacrament meeting and the familia Quinchoa (the golden family that we started teaching last week) walked in and sat next to us, and then about 5 minutes later Joseph walked in and sat down next to us too. Faith is a real thing and when we understand how to exercise our faith effectively, anything can happen!!!!!!! So I STRONGLY suggest you all to read it because it really is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, like I said things are going pretty good here!!!!!! I`m loving every minute of it and it`s all just SUPER AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Things are Going Pretty Good Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email sent 8/19/13

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing is some things are going a little slower than I originally expected so it`s kind of frustrating at times but it`s all good. Nicoli is doing good. Also we found out the other day that his name is really Nicolas which is good to know because we`re now calling him by his real name :) Ha ha but yeah everyone else is doing good. We also got a reference from the sisters this week which happened to be the BEST REFERENCE OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It`s a mom who`s the only member in the family, the dad, and 3 kids. the mom has been a member for like 25 years but has been inactive and is just now coming back to the church. She told us that now that here kids are old enough to get baptized she needs to start being the example. So they`re pretty dang positive!!!!!!!!!! Also, the dad wants to get baptized. He said he would`ve been baptized sooner but his parents are SUPER Catholic and so he`s been trying to get them to loosen up the the idea of him being a member of the church. But yeah they`re SUPER positive and we`re hoping to get them baptized here pretty soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortuately for some reason the money for the washing machine hasn`t gone through yet so we haven`t gotten it yet...But we`re hoping we`ll have it by Wednesday!!!!! 

It was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! We had a talent show Saturday night and Seegmiller and I wrote a rap in English and the best part about it is that none of it made any sense it just rhymed. So Seegmiller beat-boxed and I rapped and it was awesome because nobody understood what we were saying so they all thought it was like a real rap. but in reality it was just a bunch of stuff that made no sense. Ha ha it was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!! I`ll try to email you the video of it next week.

But yeah other than that nothing too crazy has been happening around here lately. Right now we`re in the hottest time for Bocas. August and September apparently are the hottest times of the year for Bocas. So it`s been pretty dang hot. The other day I seriously thought I was going to die!!!!!!!!! I was sweating more than I`ve ever sweat in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty dang ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!! But it`s all good. 

Also Elder Olivas (an elder from El Salvador that is one of our zls) found this piece of paper in one of his old areas that has the ¨push-up challenge¨ on it. It`s basically this thing were everyday you do some push-ups and then from week to week you do more and more push-ups. For example this week was 13 push-ups then you rest for 45 seconds, 11 with a 45 second rest, 12 rest 45 seconds, 9 rest, and 9. So anyways we started doing it this week and we`re going to get so buff!!!!!!!!!! :D 

Ha ha anyway, thanks for everything!!!!!!!!! I`m SUPER GLAD that you all are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things Are Going GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 8/12/13

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

Things are going FANTASTIC here in good old Changuinola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We`re working hard and having a lot of success!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately Nicoli couldn`t get baptized this week. But he has a new fecha and he should get baptized before the end of the month!!!!!!!!!! All my recent converts here are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!  Cladier just got ordained a teacher a few weeks ago and is 1st counselor in the Teachers Quorum, Saurin is Laurals president, Angelith is 1st counselors in the Laurals, Vielka is working in the Primary, Leilanis is doing GREAT in the young womens, and Dadiana is loving Primary. It`s SUPER COOL to see all of my converts so active in the church!!!!!!!!!!! Also it was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!! The other day while we were visiting Vielka she was telling us how the Gospel has changed her life. It was SO COOL listening to her story. She`s a GREAT person!!!!!!!!! 

Anyways we have a new zone now. Every companionship except for Seegmiller and I had changes. So we have a lot of new people here in Bocas. It`s kind of cool my old comp Elder Harr is in the zone so that`s kind of cool. 

But yeah like I said things are going GREAT!!!!!!!!!! We also just got word from President Carmack that we`re getting a washing machine for our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ever since I`ve been here we`ve been washing our clothes at Claribell`s house but about 3 weeks ago her washing machine broke and since there`s no laundry mats here we`ve been washing our clothes by hand. But President told us that we`ll be getting a washing machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never in my life would I have thought that I would be so excited about a washing machine but I`m SUPER EXCITED about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It`s not going to be a washer like we have in the states. It`s a lot different. I`ll take a picture and send it to you guys next week. But anyways I`m SUPER STOKED about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m glad you all are doing GREAT and having tons of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I Will Definitely Not Have an Experience Like that Again in My Life!!!!!!"

Email received 8/5/13

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

So I have some pretty crazy news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we just had changes and it looks like that this is going to be the last e-mail that I`m going to be able to send for the next 6 weeks...I`m going to be on a island. That`s right I`m going to San Blas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember those pictures that we saw online before I left about the islands? Yeah, it looks like that`s going to be my life for the next 3 months!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha just kidding. I`m not going to San Blas :D (What a turkey! He had me convinced.)

But for reals I`m staying here in Changuinola with Elder Seegmiller for a fifth change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m SUPER EXCITED about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m going to have 8 months here in Changuinola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It`s going to be super cool!!!!!!!!! Because like I was saying last week, we have a TON of SUPER cool investigators that are probably going to get baptized next change and I`m going to be here for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It`s going to be SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I`m hoping for San Blas next change :) 

Anyways this week has been pretty dang crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!! It started out with pretty much the hardest service I`ve ever done!!!!! We went to Almirante to help a member on his rice farm. We first had to walk in water up to our knees and then in mud up to our knees for about an hour before we made it to the farm. And then when we got to the farm we split into 2 groups. Elder Seegmiller, Elder Bulloch and I went with the member to this swamp thing where the rice was planted and we filled these giant bags with rice. Then we put them on our backs (they weighed about 8 MILLION pounds) and hiked through this swamp with water up to our knees and then up a big giant hill that was SUPER muddy and we were sliding all over the place. I fell like 20 times and by the time I was up the hill, I was completely covered in mud. I wish I would`ve brought my camera to take a picture of it because it was pretty dang ridiculous!!!!!!!!! Ha ha but yeah it was a pretty sweet service. It was the hardest thing I`ve ever done but I will definitely not have an experience like that again in my life!!!!!! (He hopes anyway!)

Joseph unfortunately didn`t get permission...But we`re still working hard and praying hard and eventually he will. WE had a SUPER cool lesson with our investigator Nicoli this week. We taught him the plan of salvation. That guy is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lord has prepared that guy like CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He excepted everything we told him and then gave his own testimony about the Atonement and seriously, it was one of the strongest testimonies of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty dang SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had to push his fecha back to the 17th because he wasn`t able to go to church yesterday but he`s DEFINITELY going to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our other investigators are doing pretty good they`re all progressing and we`re going to have a lot of success this change!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I`m glad to hear that everything`s going GREAT over there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just got an email from President Carmack and he said that Sister Carmack is going to be starting a new blog. Here`s the address for it so she`ll start putting pictures up there here pretty soon. 

http://sunshineinmysoulpanamamission.blogspot.com/

Anyways I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Elder Seegmiller says hi 

and also, Panimanian sunsets are the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!