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

Email received 10/14/13

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

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

 

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

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

Members Really are Vital to the Work

Email received 10/7/13

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things are Going Pretty Good here in Chorrera

Email received 9/30/13

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

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

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

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

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

Back in Chorrera

Email received 9/23/13

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

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

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

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

So My Time Here in Changuinola is Coming to an End

Email received 9/16/13

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

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

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

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

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

Big News!!!!!!!!!

Email received 9/9/13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Email received 9/2/13

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

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

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

 It was SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

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

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

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