After First 4 Weeks in San Blas June 17, 2013 Catching Up Post

Thank you everyone for the emails.... I don't have a time limit cause we never have internet access. Can you believe I've been out 1 year this Thursday?!?! I'm coming home in 4 changes! super crazy. and this change went super fast. That's sooooo cool that Jakob and Dad blessed the Sacrament! and patriarchal blessings! wow! that"s soooo awesome!

Your questions:

1. how was it? well, to say the overall truth, it was like the boring-est vacation of all my life! 
2. I keep wondering how do you shower? well the island has a tank of water that distributes through piping on the island. sometime there isn't water. I was lucky so far. we only went a couple days without water and we had water stored up, so we were good. I love showering, the truth. I shower outside under the sky. with only a stick fence with shower curtains up to keep the peepers out. I figure if anyone's peeping, it's their condemnation, not mine.... there is a big tank of water in the shower that's like the blue tanks that we have at home in the arena. and I use like a tupperwear bowl to pour water on me. so I get wet, suds up and rinse. I've learned different tricks. haha. when there's no water you just don't bathe until you can't stand it and you go to the river on the main land and bathe with the crocs. we'll see if I'm blessed to have that experience next transfer.
3. wash your hands? with the water and soap. or just hand sanitizer. I never see anyone but us washing our hands, the truth....haha
4. avoid their food and water? There are only a couple families that feed us and it's all good. no one gives out water or things to drink. the  Kuna culture is way different. and we eat a lot of dule masi (dule means kuna and masi means banana) which is green banana boiled in water with coconut. sometimes they boil it with fish water, like they boil the whole fish in with it, but I haven't been blessed to try that YET haha. they eat very little rice and we ate lots of fish. I was dying for some chicken or meat. seriously.... but we eat everything. my comp and when hna cooper was out there drank the water... but I'm keeping my word with Bro. Doney and I'm using this super frustrating water bottle filter thing. but I don't feel like having some disease for the rest of my life... haha. when I'm super thirsty I buy a tiny bottle of nasty tasting water from the store for an entire dollar. or juice or soda. in the house we lived off of cereal (the milk we bought in cartons and only last about a day, two if we're lucky once it's opened) and canned chicken and apple sauce and Ritz crackers. I'm sooooo sick of this food. we never had green food out there. there's hardly ANY fresh fruit. some times they brought mangos from working out in the jungle.
5. sleep in a Hamaka every night? at first I felt like I was sleeping on a moving ship and I felt a little dizzy. but I've learned how to sleep well in my hamaka. I could do with a bigger one... but I live. I've learned that I can't sleep without my feet or my arms or my head hanging out of the hamaka... haha my comp had some good laughs.... and one night I kicked over the chair that was acting as our bedside table... haha I didn't wake up... but my comp sure did. we sleep on the 3rd level of a house. we have one of the nicest houses on the island for 30 bucks a month. haha. just us and 3 stories. we have one light that's powered by a solar panal. so when it rains a lot, we don't have light. we use a lot of head lamps.
6. At least I know it's safe. that's what you think.... the lightning storms killed a man this week and struck the post that the elders on the other island that they had their hamakas tied to.... they coundn't hear for a couple hours and are now scared to death of lightning. seriously, I've NEVER been in such loud thunderstorms. normally I love them, but these ones are seriously scary. this week a group of about 20 were in a boat when a storm hit. a bolt hit close and it took a moment for the people to realize that a man fell out. he had been sitting down until he stood up for a minute. when they finally found him under the water they saw that he was burnt on his head and his foot. dead as a doornail. he saved them all without knowing it. cause they say if he hadn't stood up, the lightning would have hit the boat and split it in half and everyone on the boat would have died. SO scary.
7. And your companion too, how was she? she's pretty great. chill. smart. it was relaxing to be with her. I wanted her to end her mish in peace so we just had a chill transfer. I have a list of children that want to be baptized, so this change well see work happening.
8. And learning Kuna? love it. I have notes and notes of dule gaca that I'll show you when I get home. I'm hoping to really put sentences together this change. bare my testimony and pray in Kuna.
9. And your new comp??? who knows???? only papa celestial

List of events:

• today I saw 2 monkeys on the way back to Panama in the jungle
• today I saw a dolphin on the way to the main land from the island
• my first day on the island I played with a baby sea turtle that pooped all over my skirt, the little punk! haha
• we poop over the beautiful coral and sea anemones and watch as all the fish rush in and it disappears. gotta love it.
• this weeks attendance in church was 18 cause Tupile won the basketball tournament! and they all went to the beach. and we had church at 4pm because the island claimed the churches basketball court. so it was crazy! all the islands came to hang out on our island for the weekend. I got a hamburger and pineapple shake out of it. I was happy.
• the normal attendance is about 40.
• The 6 grade school teacher brought us back iguana! it tastes way good. a bit like chicken but the first day it was soooo chewy. I had to chew it a million times to get it down good. I way liked it.
• my first monday I woke up with lips HUGE! no white girl should EVER have lips like that. don't know what it was but I have huge hives over my ENTIRE body. so I didn't leave the house for a day or two until my lips went back to normal. I only ate one thing new.... maybe it was just the first time experience cause now it's all good. dunno.
• the next week was vacations so EVERY single person on the island went to Panama. seriously... there wasn't anyone here... it was SOSOSOSOSO boring.
• the next week I didn't feel well and I didn't notice I hadn't eaten anything for 2 days until I passed out for the 1st time in front of a class of 2nd graders twice. haha. turns out I prolly had Dengue Fever, but I didn't want to leave my English classes hanging. so I tried to do everything till I couldn't do anything.
• next week it hit my comp. we were in the house for a week. I left only to teach seminary and every English class that I could.
• so that sums up the boringness of the island. I basically spent 5 weeks in my hamaka. sucked. but I'm looking forward to another chance out there.
• I have a couple people that mean a lot to me. A little girl and her mom and granddaughter, an another boy (a youth 14 yrs old).
• the island is beautiful. it's heaven. I've felt the Spirit in just looking at the sun set every night over the ocean.

Hna N is seriously harvesting the crop out there in Caceres. I"m happy to have been a part of the work out there and now I'm in Blas... this change was so different. I'm looking forward to the next change. I don't feel like we did much this change, but I've got a list of people to be baptized and I'm ready to see some action. Hrmna L is a great mish. I loved the change I had to get to know her. With being sick, the both of us, we didn't do much, but there is plenty to be done. We need more good priesthood examples and leaders out there! There are a pile of jovenes (youth) that need something stable and firm to grab onto and learn from! I hope they can learn a little at least from us mish out there. I love the people, but I need to get to know them better. My friend L is a huge help so I'm not worried in being able to take over the area and get some work done this change. The most spiritual experience has been getting to know my Father In Heaven better through his beautiful creations in Carti Tupile. I def think that he loves to paint. It's so evident in the sky and in the sea.

I gotta go. my comps bored to death. cause she's not writing as much as me cause she's going home home on Thursday. tomorrow I go to the temple in the morning and then we're staying with a family in Arraijan to say goodbuy to my comp and then Wednesday I enter the work field with Hrmna C and her hija in Marcasa in the city for a week.

OK, all is well in Blas!

Love you!