I ONLY HAVE 5 MINS

So this was an amazing week! I don't know how much I've told you about the area I'm in right now but I'll explain a little bit. It's honestly a harder area in the mission just with it's past history and I'm finally starting to see why this week. So in Puerto Armuelles about 30 or so years ago there use to be a huge American banana factory or plant that was centered right here. At the time almost everyone worked there and the company was the center of everything. They built the workers houses out of wood, paid for people to go clean them, paid their bills and even sometimes their food. It was a very prosperous time here. From many biblical stories and from the Book of Mormon also we remember that when groups of people prospered in the land they started to forget about God and his commandments leading to iniquity. Well Puerto is a modern day example of that. The people had multiple wives, adultery and party's ect... Valuing anything else but Heavenly things. So after, I don't know how many years this company ended up falling into debt and closed down. So many people went without jobs, almost more than half the population left. This leads to percent day. It has gotten so much better than what it once was but you can tell the history by being here. So this is why it was such a great week, because we found so many family's that are actually bonded by matrimony. So that's where the, Do you have 5 minutes?, come in. The people are super nice so we just would ask that and so many people let us in! 

Internet is closing so i'll finish tomorrow or tonight sorry!

DIVISIONS

So first I'll say sorry because I forgot the paper where I write all I'm going to say so I'll try to remember good! Well we had a service on Wednesday morning and we went to be farmers basically and planted plantain or platanos trees at a members house! We just cut them off of the main tree and then re-plant them so they don't fall over and get better nutrition alone. Then, after we started a 4 day divisions with the zone leaders that day. I went to the city of Concepcion with Elder Rassmuson who's from Oklahoma! It was an amazing few days of working and it went by so fast! Plus we had great results of our work in church Sunday. We visited a lot of less active and investigators. It's been nice being with someone with expearience in the mission so we were on the same page while teaching. Saturday there is a member who had a bone deteriorating desease and is in a wheel chair who can barely do anything. So every Saturday they go and bathe him and help him get ready for the day becuase the girl who does it every day gets really tired and doesn't receive anything for doing it. It was not an easy task and we had to carry him a lot and lift him up. He's a nice guy and pretty funny too. It was a really humbling experience for me. So on Sunday here we had 5 investagators in church and a bunch of less actives! Its a bigger branch here too, about 90 members came to church! And they are just a great help with the work here and that made all the difference. I felt so happy being here in this area and wouldn't be surprised if I end up serving here in my mission. Well that is the best I can do from just my memory right now so sorry. My memory is just loosing it here. Have all a good week! 

Elder David 

1. A teenager we are teaching has a parakeet. 

2. Feat. Bird 2

3. This 14 year old I met while on divisions named Anthony. No joke he was Austin's twin and HUGE too. Way         weird.

Without the downs there wouldn't be Ups

This week has been stacked full and busy but somedays were harder than others just with the out comes, but I'm just as grateful for those as the good times. 

I had divisions with Elder Rasmusson who's from Oklahoma for a couple days this week just because it's so far away. We visited Hno Zapata! And guess what!? He got a prosthetic leg! I was so surprised and he seemed so happy! He has to practice a lot with it still but he stood up with is and showed it off, haha. He was so grateful and looks at it as a huge blessing from Heavenly Father. 

While we were contacting that day there was a little 7 year old on a tiny bike going door to door selling this type of bean called wandu. He stopped and talked to us and then asked us if we are interested in buying some. Such a smart kid, We couldn't resist and bought a bag for a dollar twenty-five. Then he kept going door to door asking everyone. He was a champ. His name is Gorge Manuel. With the bag of wandu we just gifted it to the next people we talked too and it turned out to be a great contact! 

So one day we were getting back from Concepcion when we changed back companions and in the Chiba (bus) we told him to stop at the church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. They knew which one it was and so while we got off some guy on the bus made a comment saying ´oh Joseph Smiths Church´. I turned around with a smile and demonstrated the words it says right on the side of the building in big bold letters and I read it out loud. The Church of Jesus Christ. I don't remember his face but I felt good knowing I helped someone learn something, haha. 

Well Sunday came around and that afternoon while walking I was a little down and I asked my companion where are all the people that the Lord had prepared. Well, Our next lesson was with a girl named Ester, and Thursday when we had a family home evening in the church she just walks in and walked right up to my companion and I. She said she had a feeling we could help her with her situation because her health is not very good and she asked us to pray for her or anything we can. I was shocked she came right to us. So Sunday we went back to visit them and they live right next to the church. And oh my gosh it was am AMAZING lesson. We taught her and here husband and they are actually married! I've learned here that sometimes Heavenly Father makes us eat our words and for sure I know he tests us before letting us have the blessings. 

Well today a group of the zone all went to the costa rica border to walk around and look at the funny little stores they have. There was a ton of foreigners there so it was fun listening to their accents. Well I hope you all have a good week and enjoy the snow while you can! Before you know it you'll be begging for it like I am... haha. 

Elder David 

The zone of Concepcion. 

 Gardening at a members house, this is a vegetable called uka. you eat the roots of it. 

 Border Patrol  

Went to go see the border as a zone.

Getting to visit the beautiful city of David!

So this week starting off was a little difficult being that it was still the time of carnivals up until Wednesday which means there was literally no one in there houses. It was basically like labor day weekend for us in the States. Well everyone here either goes to Panama City or to the beach or to a city called Chitre where they have a big party for 3 days straight. It's funny to because everyone tells me a bunch of hippy gringos always travel here to go to that party. That made me laugh because I know its true. 

This week we had a zone conference with all the zones here in the interior, because  we are so far away from the city, me being the furthest. Elder Duncan was coming to talk to us who is the 70's, who presides over all of Central America. 

On Wednesday morning we had to travel to Concepcion central for a meeting and also had to stay the night because the Zone conference was held in DAVID about another hour away. That's right, its about time I'm going to David, haha, everyone was making jokes about it. 

Well  Wednesday night we had a dinner with a familia from Guatemala, p.s. Guatemalans are the shortest little cute people every, haha. And they were super awesome! Just a really humble family that has a huge love for the gospel. We sat on the floor as we ate an amazing dish from Guatemala. Every day here its a humbling experience seeing that people don't need all this cool stuff to live with. They have the gospel of Jesus Christ  and that fills the gap of any cool toys. Never thought I would say this and I'm eating my words what I always told Leslie Julian, haha. 

That night we slept in the house of the Elders in Bugaba Central who have a few other mattresses. Also I want to inform you I had my first shower with warm water in MONTHS that night!! haha. They have a electric shower head with a water heater that does work. Great waist of 30 minutes.. haha. Kidding, more like 15. 

So the conference we had was really amazing. He answered so many questions we all had and  he gave a lot of advice on how to help out branches. My favorite thing Elder Duncan said is that here in the mission things are either good or their good. That definitely changes my perspective hearing that being in this new area. It is either good or good. After I got to see Elder Garcia!! He's actually training again and so we took a trainers picture with our trainees. 

Well I have just a quick story to share this week. We had a lot of lessons fall through  this week because people were ¨busy¨ but on Saturday we went to teach a girl named Aura and when we got to her house her dad was laying down in his hammock outside, her dad is also really Catholic. We asked him to get Aura for us and he just screams at the top of his lungs ¨ÄURA THE MORMONS ARE LOOKING FOR YOU¨. Just shocked my companion and I. We just looked at each other and could help but break out laughing. The look he gave us after was the best part. That made the day. Saturday morning I had a family call me saying that they were going to be busy and weren't going to be there for the lesson but the hno said that he needs to talk to us because he had questions stuck in his head for some reason. This was the husband of Diana who came to church with us last week. Well they promised to be at church the next day to talk. Sunday came around and 0 of the 7 people that said they would come show up to church. We even went to help this teenager come too and he was sleeping with his phone off so it was a disappointing day, but just like what Elder Duncan said, "Its either good or good." I know Heavenly Father was trying to teach me something this week with that. Also I was suppose to give a talk Sunday and I had it all prepared but they said never mind right before I spoke and had the wife of the branch president speak. I was totally okay with it, haha.

I hope you all have a good week!! 

Elder David 

 

 

1. Training picture with my trainer and our trainees

 

2. Burning all the trash in the back yard. so satisfying cleaning the house.

 

 

3. Another cool Bridge, well it almost isn't a bridge..

 

 

4. solo una Vista

 5. A goofy hat they use here, felt like a grandpa

 6. The usual fisging boat, well..  fishing

 

 

 

 

Just Burning My Soul

So its been a great week here in Puerto Armuelles. I'm still getting to know the area because it's HUGE. Plus the heat is deathly here. Being right next to Costa Rica and having the salty ocean so close makes for a salty hot and humid combination. You would think there would be a good ocean breeze too but there almost never is one. Now I can say I've never sweat so much in my life. here we live about 2 hours away from everyone else or the city of Concepcion where everything is. So we have to go there every week for meetings.

It's very different here from parts closer to the city. The people actually are a little nicer here, like a small farm town type of nice. Most of them are elderly and everyone has bikes. It's a little funny to see a 90 year old guy riding a bike but the people are in crazy good shape here! And some bikes or most don't have working brakes. 

 In the states some people want to see how many people can fit in a car, right? Well here the question is how many people can fit on a bike, scooter or motorcycle. There is always someone riding with someone sitting of the bike frame or they have a little holder behind the seat that they sit. It just makes me smile, haha.  This week I don't have really any golden stories but I'll see what I've got. 

So here the missionaries do everything because there aren't very many members, so we teach all the classes and do all the activities and everything which mean the members don't  have us over for meals too often, so we have to cook. Yes cook and I'm   getting the hang of it now.

Right now we are visiting a guy who lives alone and is around 50 years old and had one of his legs amputated a few years back. He's is awesome. In his wheelchair he does everything. It is like a mountain terrain wheelchair too, so he can make it round his yard to pick fruits and vegetables in his garden. Plus he rakes the leaves, cuts the grass and everything.  The first time we taught him we left him a pamphlet of the restoration at the end for him to read. As we left I turned around to shut the gate and when I did I saw that he had pulled up to the table outside in his wheelchair, put on his glasses and began to read. I got my companions  attention to show him and the feeling we had seeing that was so joyful. 

Every Thursday night here we have a group night in the church for all the members to come and we are in charge of it. We just share a short message and then have a fun game after which this week we played team hang man and as I told you the branch is pretty elderly here and it got very intense. Old people love their hangman! haha, almost just as much as bingo. 

We spent Saturday basically walking all day and it was the worst heat I've felt in my life. We have to walk around with umbrellas from the sun because it's so bad. There is never anyone in the street walking here without an umbrella if the suns out. At the end of the day the hermanas in our branch had a baptism! They asked my companion and I to sing a song during. It was the when I am baptized song from primary, its called cuando me bautice in Spanish. 

It was a really good week and the work is just warming up out here. The truth is some days it's a little hard walking literally right next to the ocean and not being able to go swim. Its pretty nice to look at though haha.

When Sunday came we were so happy that we had fruits of our work for this week. We walked 30 minutes to go help and investigator come to church, her name is Diana and her son Richard who's 4 came with her. Well when we almost got there we realized we totally forgot money to pay for a taxi to get to church. After searching our bags we found a dollar which is only enough for one person in the taxi. So we sent her in the taxi and told her we had to go pick up someone else so she didn't feel bad that we had to walk back. She had a great time at church and said she felt so peaceful. We are working with her and her husband right now to get married. Here in panama it's such a pain to get married so I understand why no one does it even though it's a commandment. 

So sorry everyone it took me a few days to write this week. Right now there is these huge festivals called carnivals here in Panama but in the city of chitre. So right now everyone has a few days off from work. The people either head to the carnivals or everyone goes to the beach and we are the only people left here, it's like "who wants a Book of Mormon" but we will find someone to teach . So the internet place has been closed until today. I hope you all have a great week there in the U.S. of A!

Elder David

 

1. What we have to do to visit some people here. Just the casual bridge!

 

About to be a Panamanian

So this is my last few days here at the MTC in Utah. I leave for Panama Tuesday morning at 4 am so its going to be a long day. We land there around 8pm that night. This week has been really long here. We all received our flight plans last Friday and since then I haven't been able to focus at all. Just with wanting to start having cool experiences of my own. Not that I don't like it here, like we get all morning to study which I'm actually starting to like. but its just time to leave. So every night this week, Elder Keller in our district has party balloons so we fill one up as big as it gets and throw it off the apartment balcony symbolizing our last week in the MTC haha. I got to throw the balloon off on Tuesday night. Other than that this week has been the same as the others. Just a lot of thinking about the field and its weird because I thought I would be scared getting ready to be thrown out into panama but I couldn't be any more excited. The only thing I'm scared about is understanding the natives. in the MTC we have already learned basically how to speak perfect Spanish but all that's left is practicing and learning more words. Its crazy I've learned more Spanish in 1 month that I ever did in 4 years of Spanish at school. Yesterday we all tried to have a day of only Spanish but by lunch time we all wanted to tell jokes and have normal talk so we gave up. So this time next week I will officially be in the field and I can't wait.

1. Got Elder Miene back for when he took a pic of me sleeping 

2. Everyone Going to Panama

 

 

 

3. Playing with the a/c units and leaves

 

One week left in the MTC

So my letter is going to be a little short this week just because almost every day is the exact same. Wake up, study, eat, study, teach an "investigator" , study, eat, more study and then it is already time for bed. In between all of the studying and learning how could you not expect us to find something fun to do to take our minds off Spanish and all. So what we have invented, is leaf races. Yes leaf races. In the middle of all the apartments or classrooms there is a man-made stream that has a bit of speed to it. So each person picks their winning leaf to enter into the race and may the fastest leaf win haha. I've found that the freshly picked leaves tend to cut through the water faster than the dead leaves. Yes I know its dumb but if you know me, then you know being in a class room for more than an hour or so is torture, and we are in class for 16 hours. The second event we have is for height and duration of leaves. Outside the classes there are 2 A/C units with the fans on top side by side. So we take again a winning leave and throw them on the fan and see whose stays in the air the longest and goes the highest. Dead ones work better for that. Now I'm experimenting with the maple leaf tree seeds, the ones that start spinning when they fall, It's fun okay. So other than messing around last night I'd say one of my best friends that I've made here told us he's going home. I'm going to miss him and hope he'll be alright. This week our district has gotten into playing soccer during our gym time every day. We did earlier this morning also. Lucky for me I have an uncle I was able to learn from so its coming in handy. Never thought I would like soccer this much but hey at least when I come home I'll be in good shape. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder David

 

 

1. View from the Provo Temple

 

 2. Provo Temple

3. Elder Gibby, then Elder Avery he is the funny Canadian and then me.

 

4. Provo Temple

5. The racing pond

6. The squad