The Spirit was SO STRONG!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Houghton is healthy and happily working hard to spread the Gospel.  

Here's a summary of the email we received today 1/21/13...

January is the beginning of the summer season in Panama.  When looking up the forecast for this week, the highs were in the high 90's and the lows were in the high 70's!   He said, "It's pretty dang hot here!!!!!  Summer is here and it's ridiculous!!!!!!! But, it's all good!!!!!" (I love how he always keeps a positive attitude!)

Elder Christofferson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to speak to the missionaries.  There were also four members of the Seventy there also (Elder Duncan, Elder Amado, and two others but he couldn't remember their names off the top of his head).  He said that Elder Christofferson said that when he left Salt Lake it was -10 degrees and that he doesn't want to go back because it's so warm there! He said that it was "SUPER cool" to meet him and that he gave a great talk about their callings as missionaries.  Elder Houghton said, "He said that the biggest difference between missionaries and the Apostles is that the Apostles travel all over the world and the missionaries go to one place and then stay there...He said that we have the same purpose--to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was pretty sweet!!!!!!!" He was also impressed that Elder Christofferson translated his own talk and spoke in Spanish! He said that at the end of his talk he said, "Elderes y hermanas, yo se que Jesuscristo vive. You se." (Translated: "Elders and Sisters, I know that Christ lives. I know.") He said, "When he said that, the Spirit was SO STRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a SUPER cool experience!!!!!!"

He had an interview with President Ward last week.  

**Photo from http://panamamission2010-2013.blogspot.com/**
This is his district at the interviews he had with President Ward.
Good to see him eating his veggies!  He looks good -- even when he's smiling funny!

He is really excited because President Ward said that his next companion will be latin.  It might not be this change but probably the next.  Not that he's not enjoying working with Elder Daw, but he is excited to have a latin companion so his Spanish will improve. 

He is really excited to find out he's getting a new cousin!  He also met his Aunt Coni's neighbor who is also serving a mission in Panama.  He said that he was also really excited because next week he will be going to his cocinera's (the lady that cooks for him) farm to do some service so "that should be pretty sweet!!!!"  

He says, "I love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thank you so much for all your love and support!  

He is doing well and tries not to get frustrated.  

He's working hard and teaching a lot but is having a hard time getting people to come to church.

Please keep him and those he is teaching in your prayers!

It´s Going to be SUPER SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

Email received 1/14/13

Things are going good here!!!!!! That girl (her name is Mariaceleste ha ha yeah that explains why it took me so long to remember it!!!!) Anyway, she didn´t come to church yesterday because she was visiting her dad at his house, but on Saturday we had this ward activity where we read the Book of Mormon and she came with her family so that was good!!!!!! So hopefully we can get her baptized!!!!!!!!!!!! Also Elder Daw told me about this one investigator who is SUPER positive and the only thing that´s keeping him from getting baptized is he works Sunday mornings but he´s been trying to switch his schedule so he can start coming to church and so he can get baptized. But yeah our investigators are doing good. 

It´s SUPER cool Elder Christopherson is coming this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We get to go hear him speak and it´s going to be SUPER SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Also can you tell Grammy and Papa thank you for me? I got a package from them with this legit little snow globe of the new Provo Temple in it. It´s pretty dang LEGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell them that their letters are on there way too!!!!!! How is the progress on the Provo temple? could you send me some pictures of it? Anyways besides the fact that you´re all sick and it´s SUPER COLD there (ha ha it´s weird because it´s hotter than ever here!!!!!!!!!!!! We just hit Summer so it´s RIDICULOUSLY hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) it sounds like you guys are doing REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I LOVE AND MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Guess I Did Something Right!!!!!!!!!

Email received 1/7/13

Something that was SUPER cool this last week was the family that we eat with on Friday night we found out that one of the daughters (she`s 12) wasn´t a member and when we asked her why she told us that she wanted to wait until she was old enough to drink and then get SUPER drunk and then she said she`ll get baptized.  Ha ha but anyways I invited her to come to church and prayed really hard that she`d come. And then when we walked into the chapel she was sitting there with her sister!!!!!!! It was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!! And then all the members kept asking me how I got her to come to church and I told them that I just asked her. But I guess everyone`s been trying to get her to come to church for a long time now and she never wants to come. So I don`t know what I did differently than everyone else but I guess I did something right!!!!!!!!! Ha ha anyways it was pretty sweet!!!!!!!!!!

 

That`s NUTS that it`s below 0 there!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha yep it`s still INSANELY hot here!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha we just hit summer so that means that there`s no rain and just SUPER hot until about July. So it`s a good thing I`m in an area that`s ALL big giant hills!!!!!!!! ;) but seriously it`s good though. I still REALLY love my area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This place is seriously DANG SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My comps are both doing really well!!!!!!!!!!

 

It sounds like everyone is doing good and SUPER busy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That`s cool that both Cole and Max are preparing in their own ways to serve missions!!!!!!!! Anyways, I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings from La Chorrea, Panama

Email we received 12/31/12.

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

Everything´s going good here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was REALLY GOOD talking to you on Christmas too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Everything´s going good here. Yeah the ward is small but they have enough people to fill all the callings. They usually won´t open a ward if they´re aren´t enough people to fill callings. The only thing we have to help with is the sacrament. But the work is coming pretty good!!!!!!!! We found this family the other day that as soon as we came to the house the grandma called everyone out to come listen to the missionaries. They´re SUPER positive!!!!!!!!! They didn´t come to church yesterday because they were super sick but they we have another appointment with them on Friday so hopefully they can start coming to church. They live SUPER close to the church so I don´t think it will be terribly hard to get them to come. Elder Daw is good. And that guy that was sitting on the ground while I was Skyping... His name is Elder Teyes and he´s from Mexico. And guess what? He was training his companion but he ended up going home last Thursday for some reason. So, Elder Daw, Elder Teyes, and I are in a trio now and we´re working both Guadalupe areas. Ha ha yeah pretty crazy!!!!!!!!!!!! Our area is HUGE now!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it´s a little weird being in a trio but it´s all good. And it´s SUPER good because we´re speaking Spanish pretty much all day everyday now and this change for some reason is longer than usual (2 months) so my Spanish is going to improve A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I´m excited about that. The rest of Christmas was good. We pretty much just stayed at Hermana M´s (the house that I skyped from) until dinner then went to dinner at another members house. Today we´re going back to Hermana Mirrella´s house for New Years Eve. It´s nuts... we eat with her Saturdays and Sundays and Elder Teyes was telling me that whenever there´s a holiday or something out of the ordinary we eat at her house too.  So we end up eating at her house A LOT!!!!!!!!!! But it´s all good, she´s SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was a missionary here in Panama and then after her mission she came back to live here. Seriously she´s DANG COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But yeah everything´s all good. Today and Tomorrow are supposedly SUPER CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! {because of the holidays} We can´t get too much work done but we´re going to try to do as much as we can. 

Anyways, I wanted to share with you guys the lesson that Hermana M gave in Sunday school yesterday (yeah this lady does EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Anyways, she gave a lesson about coming closer to Christ through reading the book of Mormon. As you know the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ so there are hundreds of stories about Christ and what he has done and what he will do for us. Something that I started to do while  I´m reading is everytime it mention´s Christ´s name (in any form) I box it and then put a little check mark on the side of the page. It´s REALLY cool because you can step back and look at the pages and see how many check marks are on the pages and it helps you realize how much this book talks about Christ. 

It´s SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also in Moroni it talks A LOT about reading the Book of Mormon with real intent and with a sincere heart. This is important because God does not like it when we just casually read it and don´t have a sincere heart. Anyways I want to challenge you all that when you´re reading the Book of Mormon everyday (4 pages per day just like President Monson said) to pay attention to the many stories and testimonies of Christ. And I promise you that you will get a lot more out of the Book of Mormon if you go about reading it this way. I know because I DEFINITELY have a deeper respect for the Book of Mormon and of Christ now that i´ve been paying more attention to HOW the Book of Mormon is another Testiment of Christ. 

Anyways, I´m glad that you all are doing FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feliz Navidad desde Panamá!

Feliz Navidad desde Panamá!

Elder Houghton was transferred last Thursday (December 21st) to the Chorrera area and has a new companion, Elder Daw.  It was bittersweet for him to have to leave the Tocumen area and the amazing people he's gotten to know there.  But he is excited to be serving in the Chorrera area.  He was able to go to church Sunday in his new ward.  It's a really small ward (maybe it's a branch, I'm not sure) with only about 75 people in attendance.  He said that the people are very welcoming and he actually said that it reminded him a lot of his home ward in Provo.  He is excited to be working with Elder Daw.  He said he's a really hard worker and a really nice guy.  They get along really well and he is really happy. 

 We had the opportunity to Skype him today for Christmas.  It was so great to actually see that he is well!  He looks great and he is so happy!  We were able to talk with him for a little over an hour.  He's changed a lot but in many ways he is the same fun-loving guy we know and love!  He told us all about life in Panama.  I guess it's kind of the "winter" season right now.  He said that starting in January, it's supposed to be warmer up more and it's summer.  He said that he couldn't imagine it getting hotter but it will.  The people are really friendly and willing to listen to their lessons but it's really hard to get them to church.  They just don't see the need to go to church.  The Chorrera area is much more jungly and hilly.  He said that he has to walk up hills to get to anything.  They eat at members houses every night and they have ladies that cook breakfast and lunch for them every day.  He really likes the food for the most part. He eats fish almost every day and a ton of rice.  He eats a lot of Plantains and he said that is his his favorite.  He said his new area is nice and he's really happy to be serving there.  We asked him what kind of service he works on and he said that he's helped cut back bushes, etc with machetes, helped repair houses, and paint houses.  I guess they have a tradition in Panama at Christmas time...they paint their houses.  He said that just about everyone paints their house around Christmas time.  He didn't know why but they just did.  Another tradition is fireworks.  They let off tons of fireworks.  He said he's never seen so many.  I guess you could see them light up the sky from over the mountains! He said other than that they don't really celebrate Christmas.  He said that, just like other holidays, a lot of people get drunk and hang out in the streets.  I guess on holidays, the missionaries spend time with the members and don't go out.  He assured us that he is healthy and happy.

It was awesome talking to him! 

But...

it was really hard to say goodbye.  

We sure love and miss him!!!!!  

We are so thankful for his example and are so proud of him!

He FINALLY got his Christmas package!  Here's the decorations we sent him.  The ornaments have Christmas messages from all of us on them. I'm so relieved he got it!

Elder Daw and Elder Houghton.  I love the Christmas tie!

"It Really Strengthened My Testimony..."

Email received on December 17, 2012.

He hasn't received his Christmas package.

I REALLY hope it gets there by Christmas! 

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

Everything's pretty good here!!!!!!!!!! I'm getting pretty excited about changes!!!!!!!!!!! I love this area a lot but it will be good to have a change.  It was kind of sad in church yesterday. First of all we had none of our investigators show up which was SUPER frustrating...We're probably not going to have any baptisms this change even though we had a TON of really good investigators at the beginning of the change. But it's alright. But anyways, at church they had all the missionaries go up and bare our testimonies and then Elder De Jesus (Elder Barrie's companion) gave a talk. But anyways it was kind of sad saying bye to everyone because I've been here for 4 months but it was pretty cool because everyone came up to me afterwards and told me how impressed they were with how much my spanish has improved since I first got there. So that was good to hear!!!!!!! But yeah there were 2 families that it was pretty hard to say goodbye to. The Torrentes and the Rios. But it was cool I'll come visit them before I leave Panama. 

It was SUPER cool last week for P-day!!!!! We went to the temple!!!!!!!!! It was SUPER good because like I've been telling you this change has been really stressful and frustrating and it was REALLY GOOD to be able to go to the temple and feel the spirit in the temple. And It was REALLY cool because Panama is RIDICULOUSLY noisy and spastic (sorry that's the only word I can think of to describe it) and it was SUPER cool to sit in the Celestial room and just feel completely at peace and recieve some personal revelation and just feel the spirit. I honestly didn't want to leave the peace and then go into the craziness of Panama. It really strengthened my testimony about how the temple really is the closest place to heaven you can get to while still being on this earth. And how I really took advantage of having a temple so close to me in Provo. And now that there's going to be 2 it's going to be even easier. For example we had to get up at 4 am to get to the 8 am session. And we were talking to hermana caballero (a lady in our ward) and she was saying that before the panama and guatamalen temple were built they used to have to take a bus to Arizona to go to the temple. Pretty nuts right?!?!?!?!?! But yeah it was SUPER good to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways another thing that's been kind of crazy is we've been living without power for about 2 weeks now. Ha ha it's a LONG story but something about how they're switching the owners of the house and the bill is all messed up but anyways we haven't had power for 2 weeks. But the owner of the house who lives next to us gave us a cord from his house that we plugged a power strip and a ton of extention cords into and he gave us one light. So we have at least one light and we have everything we need plugged in plugged in. But it's pretty funny!!!! I'll upload a picture of it. It's pretty ridiculous!!!!!! Ha ha also, we have a cat that pretty much lives in our house now. We always come home and he's just sitting there and I'm pretty sure he sleeps in our house too. Anyways, we named him paul.

Anyways, I still don't know what the deal is about christmas. I'm not sure if I'm going to call or if I'm going to skype yet. President ward said that if I'm with a comp that can't skype then he wants us to just call so we don't make our comps feel bad but I don't know who my  new comp is going to be yet so I'll let you know as soon as I know!!!!!  But anyways I'm getting SUPER excited about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, I'll let you know as soon as I can!!!!!!!! I love and miss you guys SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random Pictures from Panama...

Here's an example of Mola that he's been collecting.  These beautiful works of art are made by the native Kuna  women.  These are panels that are made into blouses, bags or hung as art.  He said, "This is the best one I have."  Beautiful!

This is a cute Nativity scene someone set up to decorate for Christmas.  

Rainbow over Panama City.

Christmas decorations in the mall in Panama City.