We arrived in Panama City last Saturday night.  We were met by our mission President, Curtis Carmack.  He dropped us off at the hotel and told us he would pick us up in the morning for church.  It was weird staying in a nice hotel.  We felt like we were on vacation or something.  We stayed at the Wyndham Trype.  It is connected to the largest mall in Central America.

We went to the Cardenas ward with the Carmacks.  It was fun to meet the members.  There are a number of American people in the ward so they have translators for both languages.  They have some speak in English and some in Spanish.  We were excited to meet a young man who is going to the Roseville, CA Mission, which according to Megan is the Best mission in the world!!  He is completely bilingual but is called to English.  We'll see if President Marston decides to use his Spanish.

I met a sister who is from Venezuela and she knew the Madarriaga family that we knew when we were in Venezuela.  I love Latins, especially members.  You feel like you've known them forever.

After church, the Carmacks took us up to a hill overlooking the city and the canal.

Took care of business in Panama City and headed to our assignment in Santiago de Veraguas.  Our house is completely empty so we are staying in a hotel until we get everything taken care of.  Still feels a bit like a vacation when you're staying in a nice hotel.  We had to wait for the elders to show us the house so we didn't really get in until late and then we went to look at furniture.  A member lives around the corner and we went by in the evening to meet them.  Just the wife was there with their little son.

On Wednesday we bought furniture- will be delivered Thursday.  We had a meeting with the 83 year old mission leader in the branch.  He was one of the early members of the church here.  He is amazing with a funny sense of humor.  We gave him a ride home to see where he lives and meet his wife.  He walked to the church which is probably about 2-3 miles away from his house.  You can see his dedication.

Thursday we waited around the house while all the furniture was delivered and we met the landlady.  We spent lots of time today, shopping (for other things like dishes, etc. that we needed), cleaning, and putting things away.

So far we haven't really done much missionary work.  We have met wonderful people as we've been at the mall, have eaten out, getting phones set up, ordering internet, etc.  We have gotten a few referrals and look forward to visiting some of these people later.

Overall we love the people here.  They are friendly, helpful, interested in why we're here, they feel they need to watch out for us and are very beautiful.

We have arrived!!!

What a fantastic week at the Mission Training Center.  We met incredible people who are going all over the world to volunteer their time to bring others to Jesus Christ.  I was in awe of those who were going to foreign countries and didn't speak the language.  I was inspired by those who have served before and want to go again.  I need to add that our missionaries pay their own way on their mission. For the young missionaries they all pay $400 a month.  For Senior missionaries we pay, at the most, $1400 for the housing.  The rest is additional.  The church does pay our way down and back.  There were 90 seniors with us this past week.  We met people going to: Thailand, Spain, Marshall Islands, Scotland, England, Italy, France, Nicaragua, Hawaii, the US, Namibia, Russia, and Singapore.

I can't begin to say all the things we learned this week.  We had lots of fun role playing different scenarios and they were so enlightening.  We enjoyed the other couples we would visit with over lunch or in class.  One of my dear friends, Alison, had a connection to a couple we met.  Alison's husband Pete, had a friend from the Military that baptized him.  He was there with his wife and they are going to Italy.  My daughter Megan has a roomate who is engaged to a teacher at the MTC.  We saw him during the week.

This was our district for the week.  They are going to Italy, Atlanta, and England.

We were able to see the kids a bit during the week in the evening.  We had a wonderful stay with the Ogdens.  Hated to say goodbye.

 We had a great evening the night before we left with Cheryl and Rick Duerden.  As I said in an earlier post, I had spent the night before my mission to Colombia with them over 35 years ago.

Left Saturday morning for Panama.  Arrived tonight.  Tomorrow the adventure begins....

Tomorrow is the day!

We are very excited that tomorrow we enter the Mission Training Center.  This is an amazing place that teaches over 50 languages.  The Provo MTC is one of 15 MTC's around the world. This is the place to prepare missionaries to go forth to serve.  Many of the language instructors are students at Brigham Young University.  Some of them are native speakers and others learned a language as part of their mission.  It is an incredible place to be. We are going to be in training each day from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

Tomorrow the kids will meet us there to say their good bye's even though we'll see them again before we leave.

We are so happy we had a few days before going in to catch up with friends and family.  I got to go to lunch with my dear friend Rosemarie.  We're staying with the Ogdens and then other chances to see friends.

Dinner out with the Harper kids.  We had a lot of fun.

Michael met up with an old mission companion when we were out to dinner.

Our last night before going into the MTC was spent with the Clawsons.  They are dear friends from Decatur who moved away but are here in Provo at this time.

The Long Trip West

We left home at 8 a.m. this morning to head to the Springfield, IL airport where we were scheduled to leave at 10:27.  After going through security, having my bags double checked :), the flight was overbooked and we did not make it on the flight.  We were given a nice monetary gift to soften the delay.

We finally left Springfield around 2:11 in the afternoon.  We flew through Dallas Fort Worth, instead of Chicago.  We are actually still here.  Our flight from DFW to Salt Lake has been delayed over an hour and so we wait.  We will arrive in Salt Lake after 10:30 p.m.  That's a pretty long flight from the mid-west to Utah.  

Denny and Sandra (Mark's parents) drove us to the airport.  Mark's sister, Laura met us at the airport.  We're so grateful for their support.

We don't mind, we are very excited to be on our way.  We had a special night last night.  Over 37 years ago, Mark's parents said good bye to him as he left for Colombia.  The night before he left, his father gave him a "Father's blessing" to send him on his way.  Last night, his father did the same.  In the blessing he was reminded of the impact he has had on many lives through his service in the church as a Bishop (similar to a minister in many churches), a member of the Stake Presidency (leader over 7 congregations in our church), leader of different men's group and youth groups.  He was blessed that he would be able to love the people and that they would love him back- not only with members of our church but in other capacities also.  He was also blessed that when he first arrives he should listen and understand the culture of the people he will be serving.  

I know Mark will be a great asset in Panama.  He has so much leadership experience.  He loves being with people and getting to know them.  Anyone who knows Mark, knows he likes to tell jokes.  In his preparation he has been learning jokes in Spanish.

I left for my mission about the 37 ago too.  I stayed the night before I left with my friend Cheryl McClellan Duerden.  We will be staying with Cheryl the night before we leave for Panama.  I'm so grateful for a friendship that has lasted long enough to have this connection.

When we first arrive in Provo, we will be staying with a couple who were very influential in Mark's life as a young man.  Lynn and Laurel Ogden have been great friends and we are so happy to share this time with them too. I think making these connections help us realize the influence we have on the lives of others for good. 

Thanks to all who have helped Mark and I prepare for this time in our lives.

Coming full circle.

On February 15, 2016, Mark and Cheryl Hughes will begin their new adventure in the Panama City, Panama Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  Both Mark and Cheryl served missions when they were young.  Mark served in the Bogota Colombia Mission and Cheryl served in the Cali Colombia Mission. 

When we got married we both wanted to "someday" serve a mission.  After three children, 4 moves, two new homes, two careers for Mark, four cancers for Cheryl, 2 Times as Bishop, 1 time in Stake Presidency, Young Men's President, Elder's Quorum President, Relief Society President, Primary President, Young Women's President for Cheryl. One faithful dog,4 graduations (Cheryl got her PhD in this time), lots of laughs, many tears, a lifetime of living.

Our someday has arrived!!!

Going back to the beginning, Mark served in the Colombia, Bogota Mission.  Here he is in Cartegena,Colombia.

Interestingly enough, I served in the Cali Colombia Mission during the same time period.  Here I am in the MTC.  We were teaching the Garcia Family.

I know that my mission helped to shape me into the person I am today.  I learned about love, about serving and about being obedient.  I'm so grateful for those lessons and the incredible people I met there.  I grew to love the Colombian people.  I have a great love for Latin people.  They are so humble, caring, loving and faithful.  I had an incredible mission president.  Here's a recent picture of my mission president.  I met up with him in July.

President Robert Harding and Sister Mercedes Harding.  What a blessing to see them again and to remember the great lessons learned from them.

I feel in many ways leaving on a mission is like going full circle.  I owe my membership in the church to wonderful missionaries who taught me as a young 17 year old.  When I left on my first mission I remember being humbled by the thought that I would be the hands of the Lord to bless some of his children as I had been blessed.  Since Mark and I served missions, it feels a bit like "paying it forward".  If you are blessed then it is your opportunity to bless others.   What an incredible opportunity to go again.

We raised three great kids.  Jared, Michael and Megan.  Jared is now 25, he served a mission to the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission.  Michael who is almost 23, served in the Uruguay Montevideo Mission.  Megan just returned last August from the Roseville, California Spanish Speaking mission.  We were so excited that we all speak SPANISH!

Here is Jared in Argentina.

Michael in Uruguay:

Megan in California:

Now it's our turn.  We are so excited.  We leave in 4 days!!!