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}