Hello from Panama March 4, 2013

So, I could just copy my words from last week about my comp. She´s completely amazing. Yesterday was the best birthday I have ever had cause por fin we had a day of hard work that showed fruit and we laughed and we walked and we had citas and we worked tons with members and we had investigators in church and it was just great. I want that every single day for Hna Navas. She deserves it! She talks tons in lessons. she commits. she testifies. she listens. she asked questions. she contacts. she studies. she prays. she believes. she loves. she loves this work so much. I´m so happy to be her comp.

I love working with members in our ward; we made a list where the members can sign up to work with us, especially with the elders who have opened the area here.  It has really gotten a lot of members to get active. We´re also talking with members to invite their peeps to clases ingles on Saturdays. It´s really quite easy in this area to get the members excited to do mish work. I feel like a missionary! I love training. I love working.

In response to training her missionary:
When mish train, you´re with your hijo or hija for two changes (12 weeks) but my hija is AMAZING so I´m telling Pres Ward that she´s ready when he needs her. So I´ll either be here for 6 or 12 more weeks.

In response to how her birthday was:
I had a great birthday. And it´s pretty much like the states birthday haha, but it´s in Spanish! haha I loved it. We worked hard and God seriously blessed us SO much yesterday. It´s amazing all the little things he´ll give us just to make us happy for a day.

In response to not using electronic communication:
It´s super weird... I know. but it´s such a cool experience. especially in the world we´re in... I´m like phone less, tv less, game less. all the things that this generation is obsessed with, I get a chance to be completely set apart from and just communicate with people all day instead of a screen. I love it.

In response to what are you eating:

I WISH I could eat healthy! Panameños fry EVERYTHING in oil first and after. and you eat a plate of rice with EVERY meal whether it´s spaghetti or eggs or soup (I wrote soap first cause the words in Spanish get all twisted around...) or potatos, you get rice. and we get fed ALL the time. You´d think we´d get like real fruit juice here, but it´s all from a package, like Koolaid but better. I´m getting fatty! it´s terrible! haha

In response to missing my sister's kitty Lulu:

pobresita, lulu! tell her hello for me and I miss her! I really do... all the gatos here are nasty gross... I miss my clean bugless cats that aren´t ugly...

In response to what are the church buildings like:

The church buildings are pretty much all the same. It really depends though. They´re a lot different than home though, one thing is cause no one here in Panama has carpet. There are different types of buildings though. I know of one that´s just like a warehouse thing. My last one was like a portable building thing, you know that like comes on a truck, but it´s still totally obvious that it´s from the church. haha  

In response to doing laundry:

Today we took some of our study time in the morning to go to the laundry mat and wash clothes. It doesn´t take that long. and when you have a day from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm without stopping, you have time. kinda. maybe. actually, maybe that´s a lie.

so this is random... but this old lady has this sewing machine that is absolutely gorgeous... it´s a Phico Sewing machine co. Deluxe with gold painted emblems and silver metal accents. says enber silk norm. it´s super old and awesome. it´s so interesting cause the poor peoples here have these amazing antique things! and they use these antique things. but seriously this machine is beautiful.

Tomorrow we´re headed to the temple... We´re going with just a couple other elders tomorrow morning at 8. meaning we have to leave at like 5:40 am cause of the retched traffic in Panama City and school has started for everyone so there are even more people.... I love going to the temple... and I´m sorry for all the people who went on mishes and they couldn´t go. We have an awesome beautiful temple in Panama! I love going all the time with my comps.