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