Guided by the Spirit

I love this scripture.  I really truly believe this is the message of Jesus Christ.  Through Him we can have joy and peace and most importantly hope.  Many of the people we work with have few material things.  Some are stretched very thin.  It doesn't matter how much you have in order to be happy.  I have met beautiful hopeful families, filled with the Holy Spirit.  That is what I love about meeting people here.  You feel their spirit.

The other important part of the work we do is trying to follow the Spirit in leading us to people.   We also depend on the spirit as we teach people.  We have had wonderful experiences being led to say certain things to certain people and seeing the blessing that it is in their lives.  Today we went out with a young man who arrived about the same time we did to Santiago.  He is from Panama City and is great!!  He served a mission to Nicaragua.  He has a great job with one of the cellular phone companies here.  He says he has felt he was led here and feels that great things will happen to him here.  We feel it to.  He went with us to visit some young adults and he hit it off right away with them. We went to visit one young man that we had just visited yesterday.  I didn't want to bother him again today but Mark felt we should go.  It was great.  It really was inspiration that led us there.

I have felt so blessed to have received inspiration throughout my life to help me through trials, to help me in my decision making, in helping me to learn and develop my talents.  I know God lives.  He is waiting to bless each of us through his Holy Spirit.  We need to open the door and allow Him in.  E is there.  He loves us.  He will be there.

I have to share these pictures.  The first one we went to visit a member of our branch and as we walked up to his door he was up in the tree picking ciruelas.

Missionary LIfe

I'm going to explain a little of what being a missionary is like.  As a couple it's a little different than when we were younger, but it's pretty much the same in other ways.

This was a couples activity at the church last week.  I made brownies which were a big hit and Mark and I did the swing for our talent.  It was fun.  I think they loved seeing us having fun.

Our objective as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ.  We are doing this in a variety of ways.
1.  We visit with leadership in the church here.  They are a small branch of the church and often carry heavy loads in running the church here.  We do not have a paid ministry, so anyone from the "minister" he's called a branch president here to the Sunday school teacher is not paid and volunteers their time serving their fellow members.  When we visit we try to encourage them and ask what we can do to help them with their responsibilities.  Our view is to try to lift the loads they have.
2.  We visit members of the congregation.  Our branch president gave us the name of 9 families to visit.  We have visited with them.  Some we have visited many times.  Often there is a challenge they are facing that we are trying to help them with.  Sometimes it may be a couple who are struggling or a youth who has no support.  We have been received so warmly.  If feel like every time I go to a new home, meet new people, I feel I leave with new friends.  People that I now love.
3. Non members of our church.  We aren't really going out and looking for people to teach but we have found some in the homes of members, as we've been around town- we always tell people what we're doing, or sometimes they show up at the church.  We teach them beautiful lessons about the Savior's love for them.  About his atonement.  We teach them how they can know these things we teach are true.  We invite them to study and to pray and ask Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ if these things are true.  We give them challenges to read, to pray, to come to church, etc.

We also have the opportunity to work with young missionaries.  We have the best in our branch.  El L is from Guatemala, Elder P is from Idaho, Elder M from El Salvador and Elder F from Panama but going to Mississippi (He actually left today).  We are also part of a zone that had a wonderful outing yesterday on our day off up in the mountains.  We played capture the flag and had lunch.  Took lots of pictures.  Then we walked to a beautiful waterfall.

This was the drive over.

We try to leave the house around 11 a.m.  We visit members, we're still trying to find where everyone lives.  Sometimes we have meetings during the afternoon.  In the evenings we meet with families, usually 2 sometimes 3 different ones.  Often we drop in on people.  We now have phone numbers so we try to call first.  Everyone here uses whats app so we text that way.  If you want to text us you need to use Facebook messenger or whats app.

One of the things the members like is Family Home Evening.  It consists of a scripture, song, lesson, game and refreshments.  We had one last week with a family and it was really fun.  I was in charge of refreshments and made choc chip cookies.  They loved them.  Mark did the lesson and he did it on gratitude.  It was great.  He made a gratitude box where each family member wrote about 5 things they were grateful for.  We picked some out and read them.  It was really fun.  The 7 year old girls loved it.  The 12 year old son was in charge of the games.  We played hot potato and one where you say a word, the next person has to quickly say a word that begins with the last letter.  The daughter read a scripture.  Grandma was in charge of the song and the mom made the drink.  The father led us all.  We had a good time.

The elder from Idaho is teaching an English class once a week.  We may have to take over when he goes.  We're also talking about tutoring some kids in their school work.

Why now?

I was writing in my journal about my visit to a Doctor here in Panama.  I will need tests and blood work done in the next year and a half and wanted to have a doctor here to visit.  I had brought all my history with me.  I was writing that this doctor agrees that for the next few years or many years I really won't need to do anything with the Lymphoma.  I had to ask myself why then did I have to find it right before I left on my mission?  Believe me this created such a time of uncertainty, worry, and stress that I really didn't need right then.  I was already experiencing those feelings for other things.

I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for the many tender mercies that He has given me in my life.  It was strange that during this whole time of uncertainty, I truly felt calm.  I felt at peace.  We weren't sure if we were going to be able to come to Panama depending on the diagnosis but I felt at peace.  May I just say that I have had this peace before and the incredible blessing that it can be in a time of trial or hardship is hard to even describe. It is unlike anything else I've ever felt.  It's not something I can make myself feel or talk myself into.  It is a precious gift from a loving Heavenly Father.  This whole experience, right before my mission, has reminded me once again, that God lives.  That He loves me.  That he is aware of my trials, my needs, my desires.  At a time when I should not have felt peace and calmness- I did!

This is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that I think I'm supposed to share.  This is the message of hope of love, of peace that we can all feel as we turn our lives to Him.  As we trust Him.  This is the message I can share with those who sometimes feel they may not have hope.  He is there.  He knows you.  He loves you. If you knock he will open the door.

I love the Lord.  I know He Lives. I know He is my Savior.  I'm so grateful for this time I have to serve Him.

The people are fantastic!!

The people of Panama have been incredible so far.  We love the missionaries we work with, we love the members we've met so far and the people we meet around town have been fantastic.  As we mentioned earlier, we've had to get a house furnished and utilities set up since we've arrived.  We've been to the garbage collector's office, furniture stores, department stores, groceries, "Do it" centers (like Lowes), cellular phone offices, and government buildings.  Everyone has been helpful, kind and curious.  We have no problem telling people why we're here and that we'll be here for about a year at least and in Panama for 18 months.  They're impressed that we speak Spanish.  They're interested in us being a mature couple doing this and most have heard of the church.

Since we didn't know our way around Santiago, our 83 year old member over missionary work has gone out with us so many times.  He's always ready.  His name is Franciso O.  Just love him!  Here he is at the church with one of the sets of Elders in our branch.  Elder Lfrom Guatemala and Elder P from Idaho.

Hermano O is a stalwart.  He was one of the original leaders here and has served so faithfully many years.  He usually walks 3 miles to the church for our meetings.  He never complains.  He loves the Lord.

The missionaries we've met have been fantastic.  We have recently had meetings with our Zone, about 35 missionaries and then with another zone about 60 missionaries.  There are a few Americans mixed in but most are from Central America- El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and others from Peru, and Mexico.

The members are so faithful, have testimonies of Jesus Christ and make great sacrifices to be at church and to serve others. Many people don't have cars so to get to church they need to take a bus which costs money and has very limited service on Sunday.  There's no schedule to count on either.  It's very hot for all of us here.  To be out in the sun, fighting with little ones, can be very wearing.  And yet, they come.  They serve.  They're happy.

 It's fun.  You start taking a picture and then more join in.  They are such wonderful young people.  They don't seem to mind us old folks being with them.

 This is at our house.  We're having a district meeting and then the zone leaders came.  I fed our elders breakfast first.

The members are so wonderful!  We just drop by, we don't have their phone number, so we can't call ahead.  It doesn't matter what they were doing they welcome us in, they give us cold drinks and snacks, they make us feel welcome and share their testimonies of Jesus Christ.  They share with us how their lives have changed through the Savior.  They tell us of burdens he has lifted, of light he has shined down on them, of the love they feel for their families that they didn't have before.  I leave each visit loving another family in this branch.

We have met many not of our faith with the same results.  I leave, loving their humility, their kindness and their faith in Jesus Christ.

Life is hard here.  It  could be discouraging.  I have wondered how we can help.  Next post will share some of my thoughts.

Home Sweet Home

We've been in Santiago, Panama for exactly one week.  What a week.  We have made new friends, we have done lots of shopping, waited a long time for deliveries, meetings, parties, electricians, etc.  Mark and I are pretty punctual people and so we have had to make some adjustments this week.  I know that generally when a Latin American tells you they'll be there at 3, they probably wouldn't think of arriving before 3:30 or 4.  We were told there was a party at the church at 1 on Saturday, the party didn't really start until about 5 and we ate at 7.  Now I have no idea when things are supposed to start :)

We moved into an empty house.  It did have a refrigerator, stove and washer.

We had an air conditioner in the bedroom but we didn't have the control.  We ended up staying in a very nice hotel for three nights while we bought what we needed and had it delivered.  This is the hotel Mykonos that we stayed at.

We bought a queen size bed, but when it arrived it was not long enough for the mattress.  We had to sleep with our feet up over foot board with the mattress hanging over the end.  The store owner made new side rails the right size so now we are good.

The house is about 700 square feet.  It is perfect for us right now.  There are two bedrooms, the other one we use as an office.  and a little bathroom.  Mark put together a shelf so we could have our toiletries in the bathroom.

Here are the final pictures of our home.  We are planning on planting outside.  It's pretty much weeds and garbage right now.  We're going to wait for a month when the rainy season starts.

My favorite part of the first week was the people we met.  In our church and also in the community. The people have been so helpful and kind as we've waded through cell phones, looking for maps, buying furniture or just looking for directions (non existent).  That's for next time!