The latest, greatest, breaking news

Each week Mark writes a letter to the family.  Here is the latest:

Sometimes it's the little things you miss when you're away from home in a different country.  I had unsuccessfully been looking for root beer at the grocery stores in Santiago.  The only place that I knew of that had root beer was at a Price mart (kind of like a Sam's Club), which is in Panama City or David and where you need to be a member.  Then unexpectedly I found it at a supermarket here that I had gone to a couple of times before, called Machetazo.  It was a six pack of IBC root beer in 12 oz bottles.  It was $4.38 for the six pack and worth every penny.  Hopefully it wasn't just a one time buy.

This last Friday we went to a multi zone conference in David, a little over three hours away and met our new mission president, President Current and his wife.  They seemed very nice and he definitely hit the ground running.  

He shared his vision of the future of Panama and the mission.  He quoted 3 Nephi 5:13 which says "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ."  His vision is that "We are going to do things that have never been done before in Panama."  It will be accomplished through 1. Obedience to the Lord and the mission rules, 2.Diligence by working hard and consistently and 3. Doing everything with the Vision in mind.  As part of his vision he shared a picture of 67 people lining up to be baptized in Africa in 1979, when the work just began there.

He shared how that when he was called as a stake president in south Florida by Elder Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Elder Anderson said as he was leaving just "grow the Kingdom."  After decades of stagnant growth they were able to grow the Church in that area by 60%.  He also said that your success as a missionary will not be in the number of baptisms--since this is up to the people who listen and the choices they make- it will be your level of obedience and diligence.  But this will grow the kingdom because the Lord and the people will be able to trust in you.

Things are going well.  A returned missionary, who had been inactive for many years returned to Church this past Sunday with his 12 year old son, who is looking forward to being a Deacon.  We had an attendance of 105, whichis the highest during our time here. We continue to seek out less active Elders and heads of households to strengthen the branch here.  The members are doing a lot more visits and are becoming excited. This Sunday I spent a little time teaching a couple of young men how to tie a tie.  I used the rabbit, tree and hole method, which was taught to me.  The key is to make the knot nice and tight.

Today is the 4th of July.  Happy 240th Birthday America.  We love Panama and the people of Panama.  However, we are well aware of how blessed we are and have been having been born as Americans.  It has enabled us without having to overcome impossible odds to be able to blessed both temporally and spiritually so that we can serve others in the U.S. and throughout the world.  In many countries, Cheryl would already be dead as a result of one or more of her cancers.  Instead she is having a great impact here and everyone loves her.

Hope everyone has a great week!