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!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Things are Going Pretty Good Here in Don Bosco!!!!!!!

Email received 2/10/14

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

Yeah things are going pretty good here in Don Bosco!!!!!!! Ha ha yeah Elder Nielson is a SUPER COOL dude!!!!!!!!!!! I was never in a zone with him but I always saw him on P-days and things like that. But yeah he`s a cool dude!!!!!  [Elder Nielson is Coni and Doug's next door neighbor from Taylorsville, Utah that recently returned home from serving in Panama.}  And no, I haven`t lost any weight here. To tell you the truth I weighed myself the other day and I weigh the same that I did when I entered the MTC so don`t worry I`m eating A LOT!!!!!!!!! Yesterday alone we ate 5 meals so don`t worry I`m not losing weight. And yeah Carl`s Jr. is pretty dang good!!!!!!!! It`s not as good as it is in  the states but it`s pretty good. DEFINITELY the best fast food resturant in Panama!!!!!!!!!!!! But it`s expensive so I don`t go there very often. And no you can`t get rice there but you can get rice and chicken at pretty much every other fast food resturant. Yeah rice...

But yeah, like I said, things are going good here!!!!!! We`re going to have a baptism this weekend. We`re going to baptize a lady named Heremana Maura. She's SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!! We found her contacting and she`s been SUPER positive the whole way so we`re pretty excited that she`ll be getting baptized this weekend!!!!!! Then next weekend we`re going to baptize a guy named Arnulfo who is also SUPER COOL and SUPER POSITIVE!!!!!!!!! They`re both going to be SUPER GOOD members of the church!!!!!!!!!

Nothing too crazy happened this week but when I was studying in the Book of Mormon I was reading in Moroni where it says the sacrament prayers. That`s always a SUPER GOOD thing to study!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes we forget our convenant that we made to God when we were baptized but if we study the sacrament prayer we are reminded of our covenant and what we need to do to recieve our blessings. If we stand as a witness of Jesus Christ and obey the commandments, we will have the spirit with us ALWAYS. That`s quite the promise!!!!!!!!! The Spirit is our guide and the fact that we are able to have the spirit with us ALWAYS is a HUGE blessing for us!!!!!!!!!! Without the spirit in our lives we won`t be able to do anything we need to do and we`ll fall away from the church and the Gospel.

But yeah like I said things are going pretty good!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!! Say hi to everyone for me and have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good old Don Bosco!!!!!!!

Email received 2/3/14

Hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, the water goes out here kind of a lot. For example, the water went out this morning and so I had to take a bucket shower. But yeah, Good old Don Bosco!!!!!!! This week was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all, the Bishop left with us this week to visit some people. Now this guy is kind of a beast. He`s a doctor and he works nights so he worked all night long and got home at 7 in the morning and then from 10 in morning until 5ish he was working with us. Then he had to go back into work at 9 that night. He`s a pretty dang cool dude!!!!!!!!! Also, don`t worry about things. Yeah it`s kind of dangerous but EVERYONE respects us here. We don`t have any problems. The area is going pretty good!!!!!!!!!! We had a pretty successful week!!!!!!!!!! We worked SUPER hard and had 3 more people in sacrement meeting and we`re going to baptize some people on the 15th. We are teaching a lady named Maura who`s SUPER positive and tells us everyday that she`s SUEPR excited for her baptism. We`re also teaching a guy named Arnulfo. I think that I told you about him last week. But he`s a cool dude that is SUPER ready to get baptized so I`m pretty stoked!!!!!!!!!!!! Arnulfo and Maura will be the first people to get baptized here in Don Bosco in a little more than a year!!!!!!!!! So the ward`s pretty excited about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah, like I said things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Rasmussen and Elder Houghton enjoying some Carl's Jr. :)

Ha ha to tell you the truth I completely forgot that the Super Bowl was even a thing!!!!!!! ha ha but I`m sure Brandon Wilson will be pretty happy that the Sea Hawks won.

But yeah, anyway, like I said thing are going pretty good here!!!!!!! I attached some pictures of my comp and I and of our house. This house is bigger than my other house in my last area but it`s DEFINITELY a lot more disgusting. But it`s all good because we have air conditioning in our room so that makes up for everything. Also it`s 2 stories and I`ve seriously fell down those stairs like 3 times already so yeah the house is pretty sweet :)

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

The Lord Answers Prayers

Email received 1/27/14

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

So yeah, I`m in a new area now. I`m in the Zone of San Miguelito in the area of Don Bosco. My new comp is named Elder Rasmussen. He`s from Oaklahoma so he has a southern accent and everything!!!!!!!! He`s a SUPER COOL DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he works like a BEAST!!!!!!!!! We had 35 lessons last week!!!!!!!!!! But yeah, he`s a cool dude!!!!!!!!!!! I can`t upload a picture of him this week because I don`t have my camera with me but I`ll try to bring it next week. The problem is I`m kind of in a dangerous area so I don`t carry my camera around with me everywhere like I used to so I forgot it this morning. But I`ll bring it next week. But yeah my area is a pretty sweet area!!!!!!!!!!!! It`s kind of ridiculous because it is all hills. And not just hills, hills that have millions of stairs going up the sides and stuff. It`s for reals SUPER CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`ll try to take a picture of it sometime this week to show you because seriously it`s RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!! But yeah, things are going GREAT!!!!!!!!!! Apparently the missionaries that have been in this area for the last year haven't experienced many baptisms. Just to put it into perspective, the last convert baptism in the ward was December of 2012. So the ward`s been SUPER dis-animated about missionary work and stuff. But it was SUPER COOL because my comp and I have been working SUPER HARD this week so we could get some investigators in church to animate the ward a little bit. So we worked SUPER hard and we had 3 investigators in church yesterday. It was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the ward got pretty animated and everyone came up and set up appointments with us to go visit some of their friends and family members and stuff. It was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah like I said the area is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a TON of REALLY COOL investigators and we`re going to have a TON of success this change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here`s a cool experience that happened the other day. So San Mig is famous for never having water. Like for reals, the water goes out here all the time and sometimes for like a week at a time. So the other day the water went out. But this time it was planned. Apparently some pipe broke or something like that so they told us before hand. But for some reason the water went out earlier than expected. So my comp and I got home and we were going to fill up everything we have with water but the water had already gone out. So the only water we had was a 5 gallon bucket half way full of water that we had in the shower. This was Friday and the water didn`t come back until today [Monday]. So, we measured it out and we had a half gallon of water per person per day until the water came back. So basically we weren`t going to be able to shower or drink or anything all weekend long. So we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. Then we just said a prayer and asked the Lord to help us with our problem. Then we went to bed. But when we woke up the next morning we went outside and we had TONS of buckets and stuff out there all filled with water. So we were sitting there trying to figure out where all the water came and then our neighbor told us that she came and filled up our buckets because she thought that we needed water. So we had a TON of water and we were able to shower and drink and everything. It was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!! The Lord answers prayers. I don`t have a single doubt in the world that that`s true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But like I said things are going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m loving my area and we`re working SUPER HARD!!!!!!!!!! I was a little worried to come here but when I got here I realized that this area is SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!

But anyway, thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE Seeing Things Like That Happen in My Life!!!!!!!!

Email received 1/20/14

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

Yeah, I have changes but I won`t know where I`m going until Wednesday. But yeah, things here are going pretty good. It`s been cool. We`ve been able to leave and work with the young men in the ward everyday this week so that`s been SUPER helpful!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah things are going good. The bishop is doing good. He`s still SUPER sick but we were able to meet with him last week and he`s improving a lot which is good!!!!!!!

But yeah, like I said this week has been good. It was pretty normal but good. Something cool that did happen was I gave a baptismal interview to a guy who went to church for the first time 3 weeks ago. It was cool because he told me after the interview that he feels a little weird because he`s only known about the church for 3 weeks but he`s going to get baptized. He said that he doesn`t quite understand what`s going on but he said that he`s going to get baptized because he knows it`s true and the spirit is telling him to do it. It was really cool!!!!!!!!!! I instantly remembered the scripture in 1st Nephi when Nephi is going in to get the plates from Laban and he says that he went in following the spirit without knowing beforehand what he needed to do. It`s REALLY cool to see people exercise their faith to do what the Lord wants them to do. Sometimes we feel like we need to know all the answers before we do something. But that`s not the case. More times than not, we just need to go for it having Faith in Christ and knowing that he`s going to help us out and guide us to do the good. 

Another cool experience was that my comp and I were visiting some people with a lady in our ward that lives SUPER far from our house. And other then the fact that her son peed on my shoe it was a SUPER cool experience!!!!!!!! We visited a lot of her neighbors teaching them little lessons and inviting them to church. It was really cool!!!!!!! But anyway, after we finished, my comp and I went to go wait for the bus. But it was already 9 in the PM and there were no more buses so we were going to have to take a taxi. Like I said, we were SUPER far from the house so a taxi ride was going to cost us at least 6 bucks. So we were a little frustrated with that but we took a taxi anyway. But the cool thing is, when we reached our house, I asked the taxi driver how much it was going to be she told us that she wasn`t going to charge us anything because we are missionaries serving God and serving others. And she told us that if she could serve us and help us serve others that`s good enough payment for her. So we thanked her and invited her to church. IT WAS SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE seeing things like that happen in my life!!!!!!!! I love seeing people being good people and helping others. It really animates me!!!!!!!!!! And it`s animated me more to be constantly looking for ways to serve people. Because like it says in the scriptures, when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God. That is 100% true!!!!!!!!!!! And we recieve TONS of blessings from helping others!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But yeah, like I said things are going good here!!!!!!!!!!! Next week I`ll be in a new area. Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


P.S.
Oh, one more thing. In my interview with President Carmack he told me my exact date for when I go home. It looks like I`ll be going home the 3rd of July!!!!!!!!! Anyway, LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lord Looks Out for Us

Email received 1/13/14

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

Things are going pretty good here. Unfortunately none of our investigators came to church yesterday...But it´s all good. Hopefully they´ll start progressing here pretty soon. I haven´t heard anything from President Carmack specifically but we have interviews with him tomorrow. This will be my first interview with him so it should be pretty sweet. We have changes next week. I´ll probably be leaving this area. It´s not certain yet but this is my 3rd change here and you usually don´t have more than 3 changes in an area. Elder Polio is doing good. Yesterday at church he set up 5 different family home evenings with members from the ward and set it up so we are going to leave and visit our investigators with a different kid from our ward everyday. So that´s pretty good!!!  The ward is doing alright. The bishop is SUPER sick!!!!!!! He´s been in the hospital all week long and will probably be there this week too. So hopefully he gets better soon.

It sounds like you all are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That´s SUPER COOL that so many people from the ward are going on missions and stuff!!!!!!!!!!! Also, I didn´t even know that Elle was going on a mission. Where´s she going?!?!?!?!?! That´s SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Something SUPER COOL happened the other day!!!!!!!!! My comp and I were planning Saturday night and after we finished my comp said the prayer and during the prayer he asked God to give us 2 young men in the ward that can help us with our lessons yesterday (we had a lot of lessons yesterday and we needed to go on divisions with some members to get them all done) And when we got to church almost all of the young men in our ward and some of the members came up to us and asked us when they could leave with us to help us with the work. It was really cool!!!!!!!!!! It really shows how the Lord looks out for us and helps us whenever we need his help!!!!!!!!!!!

But yeah like I said everything is going pretty good here!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things are Going Pretty Good Here in Good Old Panama!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 1/6/14

Oh hey!!!!!!!!!

Elder Houghton and Elder Polio at the Panama Canal

Things are going pretty good here in good old Panama!!!!!!!!!!! Today we went to the canal and saw some members from Canada there. They were pretty cool. :) But yeah it was pretty sweet!!!!!!! My investigators are doing pretty good. They haven`t been progressing all change long but now that the holidays are over we FINALLY had an investigator in church!!!!!!!!!!  His wife and his daughter are SUPER strong members but he`s never wanted to be a member. The missionaries have been trying to baptize him for years now but it was just never his time. But he FINALLY came to church for the first time yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was SUPER STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we`re hoping that he continues to progress!!!!!!!!!! New years was pretty cool!!!!!!!!! Yeah New Years is pretty big here. Everyone and their dog sets off fireworks from midnight until about 2 in the morning. It was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! 

But yeah like I said things are going good here!!!!!!!! Something SUPER CRAZY happened yesterday!!!!!!!!!! We eat dinner with the family Caldaron Sunday nights and when we were their Hermana Caldaron was finishing cooking the food and we heard a HUGE explosion and we saw a ton of fire. We were SUPER worried that the gas tank for the stove exploded but what happened was...Well I`m not really sure what happened. All I know is that there was a huge explosion. And Hermana Caldaron told us that when it first exploded she said that she saw the flames going up towards her face but then all of the sudden she said that it looked like somebody pushed the flames back down and instead of burning off her face she just burned her legs a little bit. it was pretty crazy!!!!!!!! DEFINITELY a miracle!!!!!!!!!! 

But yeah I`m glad that you guys are all doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have fun in school and have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S.

I also made Muddy Buddies for New Years. The only thing is I couldn`t find chex so I had to use Corn Flakes. But it still turned out pretty good. Anyways LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muddy Buddys

New Year's Feast

It`s Cool to See How the Lord has Everything Planned

Email received 12/30/13

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

So things here are going pretty good. Things calmed down a little bit and we were able to get a little bit of work done this week but it`s going to pick up again tomorrow for the 31st. But it`s all good after that there`s nothing too crazy until Carnivales in February. 

But yeah it was SUPER COOL to talk to all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was SUPER GLAD that it all worked out and we were all able to talk together!!!!!!!! 

But yeah like I said things are going pretty dang good here!!!!!!!! We had an interesting experience the other day. My comp and I walked into a Chino (it`s like a little store) And the owner of the chino was looking at us really weird and then he said, ¨Hey this is yours!!!!¨ And he handed us a scripture case. We were kind of confused about it but I looked at the scriptures and they were from a family that lives SUPER far away from that Chino so we were confused what the scriptures were doing there. But anyways we brought them to church yesterday and the family was SUPER HAPPY!!!!!!!!!! They told us that they didn`t know where they had left the scriptures and they were worried about it. It was a pretty cool experience. It`s cool to see how the Lord has everything planned. The Lord made it so we happened to walk by that specific chino and that specific time so the chino could recognize us so we could eventually give the Scriptures back to the family Rojas. It was a pretty cool experience.

But yeah like I said things are going GREAT!!!!!! I attached some pictures from Christmas. The food that we ate with the familia Montoya and also a picture of the fireworks. Yeah that`s right I`m basically a professional photographer :) 

Anyways I`m SUPER GLAD that you guys are all doing well!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!