Pictures from Taboga Island

We finally got more pictures!!!!

There's quite a few but they're fun.

It's good to "see" that he's doing well. :)  

Here's the pictures he sent from his trip to Taboga Island on December 3, 2012...

I'm not sure if this was on the same day (because of the different shirt) but it's a good picture. 

I'm going to pretend I don't see him leaning/sitting on the railing of the boat!

Elder Houghton and Elder Harr 

Elder Houghton relaxing on the 45 minute boat ride to the island.  I'm wondering if the captain of the boat knew he was sitting there?

I have no idea what this is...proclaiming the gospel?  In awe of the beauty of the island?  :) 

There were big ships everywhere.  He took a lot of pictures of them.  I love how blue the water is!  It sure looks hot though!

Beautiful!  

This is the beach he played soccer on.

Classic.  He could make a book of the many pictures of his handstands.  This is the first in another country though! :)

Our handsome elder {{love}}

It was a SUPER Cool Experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received Dec. 10, 2012

(Pictures will be posted soon! Having technical difficulties on my end.)

I got to kinda "talk" to him again while he was online.  

He's doing really well but has mixed feelings about being transferred in a couple weeks.  I sure hope he gets his package soon!

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

Everything's going good here. Well this last week has been SUPER stressful but it's all good. It turns out that Carlos never got married so we couldn't baptize him...Also none of our investigators came to church even the one who we walked to her house to pick her up...But it's all good, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about everything. It's just hard sometimes...But it's all good. 

The Christmas party was SUPER fun!!!!!!!!! Ha ha we had some gringo food, ham and turkey but we also had rice. But it was fun!!!!!!! My package still hasn't come but changes are in a week and a half so I might get it then. I talked to President Ward and he told me "Elder Houghton this is your 3rd change in Pedregal, you'll probably have changes." And Changes are on the 20th. So that being said, I can't really plan with you guys when exactly I'm going to call yet because I don't know where I'll be or who my comp is going to be. But I do need you to make me a skype account. President hasn't said anything about not using Skype. So unless he says anything I'll be Skyping you guys!!!!! But like I said I don't know exactly how or when it's going to go down because I'll be in a new area with a new comp. I emailed president and asked him how I can get it all worked out so hopefully by next monday I'll know what's going on. Also President gave us some pretty cool things. He gave us a mini preach my gospel and he had some ladies make us Mola temple bags which are also pretty dang SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

But yeah I'm SUPER excited to talk to you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It doesn't even feel like Christmas here. It's CRAZY HOT and not very many people put up any decorations. But we're making the most of it!!!!! I put up some pictures and a few videos from the Christmas Party and also the past few P-days. But yeah I'm SUPER excited to talk to you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I only wish I knew what exactly was going on. But it's all good. I'll find out sooner or later.

So something cool happened the other day that I want to share. So we had to go work with the Hermanas in our district for a day because Elder Harr is the district leader and that's how you have to go on divisions with the Hermanas. Anyway, we were in their area and we were teaching this one recent convert who was freaking out about the temple recomend interview she has next week. But anyways we were teaching her and I felt the spirit SUPER strong to share the promise of the book of mormon in moroni and apply it what she was feeling. But anyways, I hadn't ever felt that strong to share something. So I shared it. I told her that even though it says to ask if the Book of Mormon is true that you can apply it to everything in our lives. And it was super cool because she stopped freaking out about it and said "alright I'll pray about it and God will help me to know if this is right." It was a SUPER cool experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways it looks like you guys are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! That picture of Cole made me laugh SO HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That kid is such a hypster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha and I didn't expect anything different from the score of the game. When it comes to other sports besides Golf, us Houghton's fall a little short ;) And that name of their team is SUPER FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha but that picture where he's jumping in the air is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways,  tomorrow we're going to the temple which I'm SUPER EXCITED about!!!!!!!!!!!!! The temple here IS SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, Daddy wanted me to tell you guys how the poeple here are. The people here are cool. They're very nice and almost everyone will invite you in to teach them the word. But that's all. Ha ha they ALWAYS say, "Well I'm Catholic and I'm always willing to listen to the word of God but I'm Catholic and my family is Catholic I can't change." or they say, "There's only one God so it doesn't matter which church I join as long as I follow God." or my favortie thing people say is this, "Si Dios quiere." Which means, "If God wants" it's just a saying that they say for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha but I think it's so funny when they say it after we ask them if they will go to church. Because it's obvious that God wants them to go to church. Ha ha but it's funny. But yeah the people are really nice and really funny!!!!!!!! The only thing that is hard is getting them to keep commitments. But they're good people. Also the Kunas (the native indians here) are pretty cool!!!!! They make Mola and one of their stories from they're heritage is a person dressed in white coming from the Sky and blessing and teaching the people. So when we teach them 3rd nephi they are SUPER receptive to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which is pretty sweet!!!!!!!! 

Anyways, everything's going good here. Hopefully I'll be able to give you some more information about calling. But as for now just make me a skype account and I'll give you more details about it next week. Anyways, I love and miss you guys SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Everything is Going Good Here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received on Dec. 4, 2012

(pictures will be posted soon)

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

Everything's pretty dang good here!!!!!!!!!! My investigators are frustrating but good. A lot of them just don't want to come to church for whatever reason but they're good. Something pretty cool that I don't think I told you about is we're teaching this lady Maricruz Padilla. She owns the lavamatico where we wash our clothes and one day she came up and asked us who mormon was. And then we visited her and she told us that gringo missionaries have been coming to her lavamatico (sorry for the life of me I can't remember the english word for that) to wash their clothes and she said that she's been starting to think that it's a sign or something. So yeah she's pretty golden well other than the fact that she doesn't come to church. But anyways, for a while we'd been noticing these big posters and signs painted on walls that say "Votar Maricuz Padilla" so like campaign posters and stuff. And so we were curious to see if that was the same Maricruz Padilla so one day we asked her about it and aparently she's running for some delegate or something like that. So yeah, no big deal, we're just teaching someone famous. Ha ha but yeah anyways, we're teaching her again today so hopefully she finally understands the importance of church attendance and comes to church this Sunday!!!!!!! Also, Carlos is getting baptized this Saturday which I'm SUPER excited about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he is too!!!!!!!!!!! 

Oh also the reason why I'm writing on Tuesday again this week is because we went to this Island called Taboga yesterday and we got back late so we had no time (well we could've got back on time but nobody listens to Elder Barrie and me and they get on the wrong buses and we go all over the place) but anyways, it was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously this Island is INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should look it up!!!!!!! I forgot my camera today so I'll upload pictueres from it next week but seriously it was DANG COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was SUPER cool too because not very many missionaries get to go to it because you need to get special promission from President Ward becuase you have to take a 45 minute boat ride. But we got to go and it was SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't heard anything from president about Christmas yet. But tomorrow is our Christmas party so I'll ask him about it tomorrow and I'll let you know. But I've asked around and nobody has said anything about the no skype thing. Even all the old people who were here last christmas said that President let them skype last year so I'll ask him about it tomorrow but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to Skype. The only thing that's going to happen is that changes are on the 20th of this month and since I've been in Pedregal for 3 changes I'm 95% sure I'll get changed to a new area 5 days before christmas which is a bummer... So I it will be a little frustrating but it will be fine. My package hasn't come yet but like I said the Christmas party is tomorrow so my package might be sitting in the office and I might get it tomorrow. It's pretty sweet we're having our party in Cardinas which is pretty much the richest part of Panama (it's where all the rich gringos live) . It's right next to the Temple. So we'll probably get some pretty good gringo food (so not rice) and it should be pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! 

I got to watch the Christmas devotional on Sunday which was pretty sweet!!!!!!!! It was in Spanish but I can understand 90% of spanish now but it was just kind of different not hearing the propeht and apostles talk in english. But it was still REALLY good!!!!!!!!!! I really liked President Eyring's talk!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The church that was broken into wasn't my church it was the stake center and it was broken into 3 times. They never caught the person who broke in. They're installing a security system so that will be good. But yeah all the members are good. 

It sounds like you all are doing good!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha that story about Emma not cleaning her room is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's cool that you got to go to Christmas around the world!!!!!!!! Yeah Kyla was telling me about it. Anyways, like I said everything is going good here!!!!!!!!!!!! Things are going good and my spanish is coming along really well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 12/4/12

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

Everything's pretty dang good here!!!!!!!!!! My investigators are frustrating but good. A lot of them just don't want to come to church for whatever reason but they're good. Something pretty cool that I don't think I told you about is we're teaching this lady Maricruz. One day she came up and asked us who Mormon was. And then we visited her and she told us that gringo missionaries have been coming to her lavamatico (sorry for the life of me I can't remember the english word for that) to wash their clothes and she said that she's been starting to think that it's a sign or something. So yeah she's pretty golden, well other than the fact that she doesn't come to church. But anyways, for a while we'd been noticing this big posters and signs painted on walls that say "Votar Maricuz" so like campaign posters and stuff. And so we were curious to see if that was the same Maricruz so one day we asked her about it and aparently she's running for some delegate or something like that. So yeah, no big deal, we're just teaching someone famous. Ha ha but yeah anyway, we're teaching her again today so hopefully she finally understands the importance of church attendance and comes to church this Sunday!!!!!!! Also, Carlos is getting baptized this Saturday which I'm SUPER excited about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he is too!!!!!!!!!!! 

Oh also the reason why I'm writing on Tuesday again this week is because we went to this Island called Taboga yesterday and we got back late so we had no time (well we could've got back on time but nobody listens to Elder Barrie and me and they get on the wrong buses and we go all over the place) but anyways, it was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously this Island is INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should look it up!!!!!!! I forgot my camera today so I'll upload pictueres from it next week but seriously it was DANG COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was SUPER cool too because not very many missionaries get to go to it because you need to get special promission from President Ward because you have to take a 45 minute boat ride. But we got to go and it was SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't heard anything from president about Christmas yet. But tomorrow is our Christmas party so I'll ask him about it tomorrow and I'll let you know. But I've asked around and nobody has said anything about the no skype thing. Even all the old people who were here last Christmas said that President let them skype last year so I'll ask him about it tomorrow but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to Skype. The only bad  thing that's going to happen is that changes are on the 20th of this month and since I've been in Pedregal for 3 changes I'm 95% sure I'll get changed to a new area 5 days before christmas... So it will be a little frustrating but it will be fine. My package hasn't come yet but like I said the Christmas party is tomorrow so my package might be sitting in the office and I might get it tomorrow. It's pretty sweet we're having our party in Cardinas which is pretty much the richest part of Panama (it's where all the rich gringos live) . It's right next to the Temple. So we'll probably get some pretty good gringo food (so not rice) and it should be pretty sweet!!!!!!!!! 

I got to watch the Christmas devotional on Sunday which was pretty sweet!!!!!!!! It was in Spanish but I can understand 90% of Spanish now but it was just kind of different not hearing the prophet and apostles talk in English. But it was still REALLY good!!!!!!!!!! I really liked President Eyring's talk!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The church that was broken into wasn't my church. It was the stake center and it was broken into 3 times. They never caught the person who broke in (but they probably didn't look very hard because it was a LDS chapel and the cops don't really care about it all that much) but they're installing a security system so that will be good. But yeah all the members are good. 

It sounds like you all are doing good!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha that story about Emma not cleaning her room is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's cool that you got to go to Christmas around the world!!!!!!!! Yeah Kyla was telling me about it. Anyways, like I said everything is going good here!!!!!!!!!!!! My Spanish is coming along really well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Never Thought I'd Ever Say That in My Entire Life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 11/28/12

Hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things are going good here still!!!!!!!!!!!! We have some SUPER sweet investigators, all old ones. But Carlos is getting baptized on the 8th and Davis and Katia should also be getting baptized that day too!!!!!!! And we'll probably be baptizing 2 of one of our recent convert's grandkids too!!!!!!!!!! So the Lord's work is moving onward!!!!!!!!!!! Also Ruth (that girl we just baptized) got confirmed this week at church and it was SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Also I ate pig tail on Sunday. Yep, I never thought I'd ever say that in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha but yeah it was SUPER gross!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also for thanksgiving I had mondongo (cow stomach) Ha ha yeah only the Panama zone got to have dinner at President's house. But it's all good :) 

Anyways, I'm SUPER GLAD everything's going GREAT for you guys!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell Max Happy Birthday for me!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll write him a email on Monday because I don't have time right now. But I love and miss you guys SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything's SUPER GOOD Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 11/19/12

They had transfers but he got to stay in his same area, Tocumen, but has a new companion.  He is so happy that he didn't have to leave the area because he's been working with a lot of investigators and has established some great relationships with them.  He looks and sounds really good!

Elder Houghton and Elder Meyer (his old companion) with the Torrentes family.  He said they were one of the many amazing families he's met.  I love it!

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything's good here!!!!!!!!!! I'm still in Tocumen but I did get a new comp. His name is Elder Harr, he's from Cedar Hills, and he works like an animal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha seriously he doesn't stop!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha so needless to say we're going to get a lot of work done this change!!!!!!!!! We should have a least 4 baptisms but we could have as many as 12 so I'm pretty excited about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah the riots died down a few weeks ago and they never made it to Pedregal which I was kind of dissapointed about. I wanted to be able to say that when I was on my mission I had to stay in my house for a few days because it was too dangerous to go outside. That would've of been a SWEET story!!!!!!!!!! But it's all good :) {Seriously!?!}

Anyways, my investigators are doing really well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a lot of them and they're pretty much all progressing!!!!!! And then yesterday when we were walking home from church yesterday this girl just walked up to us and told us that she wants to get baptized so we should go visit her house and teach her. Yeah pretty NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!  So we're going back there Wednesday. Also we had a SUPER good lesson with this lady Maricruz. She owns the laundry mat that we wash our clothes at. Anyways, we sang a hymn at the end, "Mas Cerca Dios de Ti" (Nearer My God to Thee) and the spirit was SUPER STRONG and she started crying and said that this is what she was supposed to be doing. So yeah she has a fecha for the 1st. Also, Carlos, my investigator we were waiting on for his marrige is FINALLY getting married on the 28th!!!!!!!!!!!! So we're FINALLY going to baptize him!!!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah our investigators are doing good

So SUPER funny and SUPER embarrassing story. So Saturday night we were eating dinner and I totally threw up. It wasn't because the food was bad it was because I'd eaten too much that day. You know, I'm kind of a light weight when it comes to eating anyways, and when I have to eat pounds and pounds of rice everyday it's too much. Ha ha but Hermana Rios was cool about it. I came out of the bathroom and she told me "Ha ha Elder, I've told you this before, you don't have to eat all of the food. If you can't eat it all stop." And then I told her that it was so good that I just wanted to eat it again and she laughed really hard. Yeah it was SUPER embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it was cool because I actually made a joke in Spanish!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Ha ha anyways, everything's SUPER GOOD here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yeah that guy in The District I think his name is Hepworth, anyways, he's a funny dude and yeah that's exactly how it is. Elder Harr was telling me the other day that he's never going to correct me on my spanish during lessons because he said that he doesn't know if the Lord needed me to say it the way I did. And I thought that was cool because it's true, you never know. A lot of times it takes some random Gringo with broken Spanish to get them to get baptized. Anyways I thought it was cool!!!!!!

Also, Harr is a singer and during 2 lessons already, I've sang solos...Yeah for some reason he likes singing a solo and then for me to sing a solo. Yeah not going to lie, I never thought I would ever be singing hymns in spanish in a random Panamanian's house :)

Anyways, I love and miss you guys SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He took this picture to show the 3 ties he got for $2 but I'm excited to see that he's been keeping his journal!

We Had a Baptism Yesterday!!!!!!!!

The email we received November 12th...

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all are doing well!!!!!!!!!! Everything´s been going good here!!!!!!! We had a baptism yesterday!!!!!!!! We baptized our Investigator Ruth!!!!  It was really cool!!!!!! And the baptism went really well!!!!!!!!!! 

Ruth is the beautiful young lady next to Scott.  She looks really happy!  

Elder Meyer, Ruth and her little son, and Scott.

It was good for her because she´s had a pretty hard life so I was happy to see at least something in her life go well!!!!!!!! Also this week has been pretty crazy!!!!!! On Saturday we went over to Ruth´s house to help her uncle do some yard work and I totally picked up a crab!!!!!!!!! It was just walking around outside and I picked it up and threw it into the trees. Yeah it was pretty much one of the coolest things I´ve ever done!!!!!!! Also, Friday I went on divisions with Elder Van Weezep.  When we were walking down the street this random guy stopped us and was telling us that he was scared to die and what he should do. He kept saying, ¨No qiuero morrir!¨  which means I don´t want to die. So, we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and he was really excited about it. Also, we went and visited Laundry Lady (the lady that owns the lavamatico where we wash our clothes) and we had a really good lesson with her and placed a fecha with her!!!!!!!! She´s really excited about the church and she said that she´s going to come to church. Shé couldn´t come yesterday because she was in Los Santos (2 hours from Pedregal) but she said she's going to come next week and if she likes it, she'll continue to come. And I'm pretty sure that she'll like it. She was telling us that she's been going to other churchs for a few years now trying to find the right chruch and she said that none of the churches were welcoming and the pastor people didn't even want to talk to her. So yeah, it's a good thing that Mormons are generally welcoming people!!!!!!!! 

Changes are this Thursday and I'm pretty sure I'll get a new companion.  I hope I get a latin companion so my spanish can improve!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, that's all that's going on here.  I hope you all are doing GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Tukia (with the apple in his mouth) was Scott's companion in the MTC.  This is a picture I got off of his mission blog.  This was taken during a Tocumen district training.