This Week In Santiago

K Xopa familia?!

This week was long and HOT!  Probably the hottest week I've had so far here in Panama. During the week I was honestly just thinking how ready I was for the week to be over but last night as we looked at our numbers and what we were able to do this week it was really awesome to see all of the miracles, tender mercies, and prepared panamanians!

First- It was hot hot hot...so unbelievably hot but then IT RAINED!  We are finally coming into rainy season and it is a beautiful thing!  When it rains it rains!  And it cools us down for a little bit.  Along with the rainy season comes new fruits.  Last night I broke my fast with 3 huge mangos and a giant avacado.  In the past week I have eaten approximately 25 mangos and 23 of them came directly off of a tree.  Did you know how many different kind of mangos there are?  So many.  I hope I am making you all very jealous right now but I am going to bring you all back at this time of year so you can get it for yourselves!

All week people would stop me and as me if I was excited that my president was coming and I just kept thinking ¨Why is Pres. Carmack coming, he was just here a couple weeks ago?¨ but it turns out that President Obama was here in Panama this week and people were going nuts!  We were in a house trying to have a family home evening on Thursday and we couldnt get the dad to turn off the tv because he wanted so badly to see Obama get out of the helicopter.  But luckily we had prepared a pretty good lesson so we started with the tv on mute but by the end he turned it completely off.

This week we actually went to immigrations so now I am officially legal here in Panama and don't have to have mini heart attacks everytime I see the police.  The police here in Panama are straight out of the hunger games.  I want to take a picture but I'm too afraid so just google panama motorcycle police.  They drive around with 2 cops on a bike and the one on the back has a massive gun.  Also at immigrations I got to see some friends and meet some new cool missionaries.  The immigrations building is always packed with usually pretty grumpy people (who likes to wait 3 hours so someone can yell at you in Spanish?) and I was sitting next to this really nice guy from Venezuela.  I started talking to him and he told me that he had seen mormon missionaries before and he wanted to know why we were always so happy.  It was pretty cool to look around and realize that the 30 or so missionaries that were in this hot, crowded building were all laughing, hugging, or contacting, and they all really just looked happy.  Thats what the gospel is.  Its being happy and joyful even in immigrations which makes the dmv look like disneyland.

This Friday we did divisions and I got to be with my favorite sister leader one more time before she goes home in a couple weeks!  We got to wake up way too early on Saturday morning and go to a service project in Chitre.  We went to a little barriada near the beach and picked up trash for two hours and I got soooo tan.  I thought I had reached my peak tan but I was wrong.  And next time you feel like complaining about a church activity/service project/ calling, I want you to picture the little old panamena in her skirt or the single mom with her 5 year old following along who picked up trash for 2 hours under the Panama sun, smiling and laughing the whole time.  Your lives and church service are so easy you have no idea.

Yesterday at church we knew for sure we were going to have 2 investigators who are progressing really nicely.  We got to the chapel and saw 3 teenagers talking to the elders.  I asked one of the elders if they were his investigators and he says no they're yours.  What?  So at the beginning of the week we contacted these two boys on our way home and invited them to church but they didn't seem super interested.  But one of them showed up and brought his two cousins with him!  They stayed for the sunday school class we taught and really liked it!  Talk about prepared people.  We have a goal as a mission of 70 contacts every week and it has been a hard one for us to reach but this week we worked super hard and were able to get our 70 contacts and we are already seeing the miracles!  So even though it was a really hot, exhausting week, we were able to reach almost all of our goals and find some really incredible people! 

This week I was reading in the Liahona for April and I loved the article ¨It Isn't a Sin to be Weak¨ .  It has a little chart that explains how we can look at sin and weakness with humility and helped me understand how I can better react to challenges and weaknesses to make me better and help me grow closer to Christ. 

I think that is all for this week....I love you all and I hope that this week you will all just BE HAPPY!  Even in what feels like a crappy situation, remember that you have the gospel so what could possibly getcha down?

´dale pues,

Hermana Smith

Apr. 6

Alo!

 

This week was Semana Santa and for all of you who dont know what that is, I will tell you.  Semana Santa is the week before Easter when all of Panama shuts down, everyone goes to the beach, and everywhere you go there is the movie of Christ's crucifiction but super intense.  Seriously it's bigger than Christmas around here.  So we didn't do a whole lot this week because there wasn't anyone in Santiago!  We almost went to immigrations (ask me about that later) and we had an awesome zone meeting where we talked about letting the Lord lead us to His escogidos [chosen ones] and that same night we contacted a house that wasn't interested but they gave us a reference for the house down the street and that family is awesome!!  They even came to a session of conference!  Conference seemed super awesome!  I will let you know what I thought about it when I get the English conference ensign next month. 

 

Mango season has officially begun!!  There are mangos EVERYWHERE!  I bought some huge mangos in the super and guess how much they cost me.....15 cents.  As lame as it sounds they are a little bit of a tender mercy. 

 

This week we spent 3 hours shelling pepitas with one of our less actives.  Who knew thats where cashews came from?  Our hands were filthy and blistered but the homemade cashew brittle was totally worth it!

 

Katie

Hit My 7th Month Mark This Week… Whaaaa?

alo!

This week was definitely a strange one.  My companion has been having some health issues and so we didn't get to work as much as we would have liked.  Luckily there are two girls in the branch preparing for missions and they are super willing to do divisions with us so I have been able to go out with one girl and teach the gospel!  She is learning English and I am learning Spanish so we help each other out.  

We had transfers this week and we got some new elders! On Thursday morning we did some service at the church and it was awesome to see all of us working hard!  You should have seen me with that machete just taking on those weeds.  Yard work is way more intense in the rain forest, trust me!

We also had some training in Chitre on Friday and we did divisions with the sister leaders.  I got to stay in Chitre and on Saturday morning we went for a run!!  Pictures I promise!  I had a really awesome personal/comp study that day and I have been thinking and studying about it since then.

  I was studying about self-mastery and as I studied more and more I found out how much it has to do with humility and love.  I had always just thought that I could get better but that I was the way I was and some things would just never change.  Then I remembered a quote I had written down from last conference that says

 ¨to believe that weaknesses and deficienies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation.¨  

 It is exhausting and it's going to take time but eventually we can change our nature to be more Christlike, we just need to put our pride on the altar and use the Atonement daily.  I can change my thoughts and my nature as I choose to think good, loving things.  I was thinking about all of this when I came accross this quote from President Hinckley-

 ¨Most of us have not yet reached a Christlike stage of compassion, love, and forgiveness.  It is not easy.  It requires a self-discipline almost greater than we are capable of.  But as we try, we come to know that there is a resource of healing, that there is a mighty power of healing in Christ, and that if we are to be His true servants we must not only exercise that healing power in behalf of others but, perhaps more important, inwardly.¨

When we are willing to humble ourselves then can we ¨be like him, for we shall see him as he really is¨ and if we have the self-discipline and faith to really trust God and give up the weaknesses and deficiencies in our character we will eventually be able to not only change our actions and thoughts, but eventually our heart and our nature to be more like Christ.   I think that is the mighty change of heart that the scriptures talk about and I think that it is a choice, everything is a choice.  

This week I am working on not just changing my behavior to look like a disciple of Christ but really working on changing my heart to be a better disciple.  

Love you all!!

Hermana Smith

Mar. 16

This week was full of little miracles and just good things that make all the hard parts worth it.  

    Last Sunday I went on divisions with one of the hermana leaders and while we were walking from one appointment to the next she stopped in front of a house and asked if we had contacted it before.  We hadn´t, so we walked up to the front door and asked if we could come back another day.  He accepted but didn't seem too excited and I didn't really think much of it.  Then I went back on Tuesday on divisions with one of the youth in our branch and we taught the restoration...holy cow!  It was the dream first lesson- they listened, they asked a ton of really good questions, they were excited to read the Book of Mormon, and they are just a super awesome family!   We went back to teach them again on Thursday and when we arrived he started to tell me that she didn't understand anything about the chapter we had left them (Moroni 10) and he started talking about Shez and all the weird names and the wars and the kings and we were so confused because Moroni 10 isn't really that hard to understand and then we realized that they had read Ether 10!  Haha ooopps!  But how awesome is it that they read all of Ether 10 even if they didn't understand?  I think they are the first people I have taught that have actually read what we assigned the first time!  I am super excited to see where they go and so grateful for inspired companions and prepared investigators!

   Craziest moment of the week- On Tuesday morning right before we left the apartment we didn´t have any running water.  My comp turned the faucet in the bathroom to check but forgot to close it again before we left.  Sometime in the next 2 hours the water turned back on and luckily I had to go back to the apartment to grab something because when we walked in the bathroom and the room with all of our suitcases and clothes were flooded with water!!  so we spent the next hour and a half trying to get all of the water out of our house and dry out all of our soaking wet clothes!  Dont even want to know what would have happened if it had been left on til 9 o'clock!

   On Friday we did divisions again with the hermana leaders and I don't know why but it was the best day!  For some reason everyone we talked to had a reference for us and all of the references we contacted seemed super positive- one even came to English class that night and brought a friend!  We also found a cute little restaurant owned by an Italian couple that moved to Santiago 2 months ago and don't speak very much Spanish- that was an interesting contact haha!  They sell real Italian pizza and real ice cream:)  It was just the day I needed to remind me why I am really here and what can really happen in this work if I am willing to consecrate myself completely and do what the Lord asks!  

I LOVE being a missionary and I am so grateful and humbled that the Lord has trusted me to help His children here in Panama!  I miss you all so much but I know this is where I need to be!  Love you,

Hermana Smith

Surprise Transfers (Mar. 2)

Hey so suprise!

This week was going mas o menos but honestly we could tell that something was off.  Then on Saturday morning during companionship study we got a call from the APs and Hermana Patrick looks at me and goes ¨This is it, I'm going to Blas, I've had a feeling all week¨ and I didnt believe her because transfers aren't for two more weeks but we answered the phone and sure enough they told us that Hna patrick was going to San Blas Islands and that I would be getting a new companion here in Santiago and that we should be in Panama as soon as possible.  Patrick packed like crazy and said goodbye to a few people and by 3 we were on the bus to Panama to pick up my new companion.  We knew we were getting changes, they just came a couple weeks early!

My new companion is the Hermana Contreras from Guatemala and she has almost 5 months in the mission.  We have only been together for about 36 hours but I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot this transfer!  First off I am going to really get this whole Spanish thing!  And then I am going to learn how to be bolder in all of my teaching...Hermana Contreras is BOLD and the members and investigators are already responding and I really hope and think that it will be a good thing for Santiago.  More than just knowing the language, Latinos have a real gift for teaching and making people listen and understand so I hope a little bit of that will rub off on me during our time together! 
    This is something completely new and completely different!  Missions, I´ve decided, are super uncomfortable.  If you feel comfortable on a mission then you aren't doing it right.  As soon as you feel comfortable- with a companion, with the language, your knowledge of the scriptures, with teaching, contacting, working with members- The Lord is going to give you something to push you out of your comfort zone again and show you where you´re lacking so that you can cry and be scared and then do whatever it is you´re being asked to do. Sounds terrible right?  WRONG.  It is the best and everyone should live life this way because all of these things are preparing me for all of the good things to come in my life and all of these things are preparing me to be HAPPY, not just right now but for eternity!  Do something that makes you uncomfortable (in a good way, obviously) this week and know that I am right there next to you, except I´m in Panama. 

Love you, miss you,

Hermana Smith

Santiago week… Can't remember how long I've been here but it's been a while

My amazing family,

There isn´t much to say on account of me having written you like two days ago but here's the good good on this week-

We woke up at 1 in the morning on Thursday to go to David for the training with Elder Duncan.  The bus ride to David is about 4 hours on roads that remind me of Costa Rica before the nice new highway so I didn't get to sleep very much.  The training was intense and we all came out with a huge list of things that we need to be doing in our areas.  It´s interesting because Elder Duncan touched on a few different things that were rules in California that weren't rules here. Made me grateful for my start in the Redlands Mission because I am already used to following those rules.  One of the things that he talked about was that we have the right to recieve revelation for our areas and to see the vision of what our areas, branches, and investigators can become if we ask for it.  While he was talking I had the thought that the future stake president of Santiago is walking past us in the streets or sitting next to us in the bus so now I have this new goal where I am going to baptize a future stake president.  Pray for me please!  Then we ate some pizza for dinner and got on the 4 hour bus ride back to Santiago and we actually got to see where we were driving and guys, Panama is so freaking beautiful.  also guys, if you put 20 latinos on a bus they will sing hymns really loud for 3 straight, just a heads up...dont fight it, just sing along even if you don't know the words. 

Our miracle for this week was a good one-  We had been encouraged to improve our weekly planning so on friday we had an awesome planning session but we were having trouble figuring out how to get a lesson with our investigator Hermano J and a member his same age because the member is always working and Hermano J has school.  We prayed about it and we just couldnt see how it would work.  Then at English class that night no one came except Hermano J and we were going to tell him to just go home but we thought well we might as well teach him a little bit of English and maybe have a lesson.  We had just finished the song and prayer when the member (who had never come to English class before) walks in!  It was just the two of them in class and we had a super fun class teaching them English phrases (pretty much all the ones I taught Ava) and then we had a bomb lesson and the spirit was so strong! 

Also I found a dog that looks just like wilbur and that made me happy.  oh and we...I...killed a super big cockaroach (in Hermana Patrick's Texas accent) with some raid.  

Have an awesome week!!

Love,

Hermana Smith

Los Carnavales and Los White People

Happy Valentines Day!! 

 Let´s go back to last week-  We walked a lot.  I mean a lot a lot.  And our feet were super sore so the 5 days inside were a nice little break for our feet.  We walked so much because no one was home so we would walk to our appointment and no one was there so we would walk to our back up and our back ups back up and nothing, so we would walk to do some contacting.  We did have some fun contacts this week-

   We were on our way to Mcdonalds to meet an investigator (that's a long story) and at the terminal this big white guy walks up and goes ´ay some of my favorite people, the missionaries!´ turns out this guy is not a member, he's a Baptist minister who had been living in China for 8 years teaching English when his wife had a dream so they moved to the middle of no where in Panama.  But for some reason he knows and loves the Mormon missionaries (come on, we´re irresistable) and it turns out he and his wife were going to Mcdonalds too so we met them there and when our investigator never showed up we had a nice lesson with this couple.  Then we walked out of McDs and were waiting for a crazy long time at the bus stop when John walks by and looks at us and goes ´WHAT? There´s girl ones!´ and the next hour at that bus stop was probably the most interesting hour of my whole life. This guy was from Alaska but he is taking some time off of work and he flew to Panama City and bought a bicycle and is biking all over Panama (dad just think about this for a minute- biking from Jaco to Panama City when I get home) but he was riding down a hill one day and his brakes broke and he thought he was going to die but someone wanted him to live because here he was talking to the missionaries.  He was blown away that there were sister missionaries and he had a ton of questions about missions and rules and Mormons and it was probably the funniest conversation I have ever had with a middle aged man in my life.  Every time we said something new he would shake his face and swear really loud because he couldn't believe that we spoke spanish/didn't watch tv/didn't get tattoos.  What a gem that guy, and someday he is going to read the Book of Mormon we left him and get baptized.

Then from Friday at noon until this morning we were in the apartment (minus the three hours of church) because Panamanians like to party.  I read all of Jesus the Christ, Preach My Gospel, and the first half of the BOM.  Holy cow Jesus the Christ is an intense book and Sister Patrick was reading the New Testament and so she would read something and ask a question and then I would read about that same thing in Jesus the Christ and it would explain the answer perfectly.  Things I learned from reading Jesus the Christ-
1. Christ was real.  duh I know, but I had only ever read about Christ in the bible or the book of mormon but Jesus the Christ puts it into this historical but spiritual perspective that made it super real for me that He was actually here on the earth doing all those crazy miracles.

2. His apostles were real and they were human and even Christ´s chosen 12 had to learn and repent and work hard to be completely consecrated disciples. 

3. Dont argue with Jesus.  He will win every time and you will probably walk out feeling like an idiot.

4. A few of my favorite quotes I am trying to apply to my missionary work-

´The loss of a soul is a very real and a very great loss to God´ 

´´ their faith could best be gaged by obedience and untiring service´

´´ In the accounts kept by the recording angels, figured out according to the arithmetic of heaven, entries are made in terms of quality rather than of quantity and values are determined on the basis of capability and intent´´

I am super excited to be out of the apartment and back to working and walking and teaching!!  Tomorrow we are headed to another part of Panama to listen to Elder Duncan of the 70 which should be an awesome time! 

Have a good week!  love you all!

Hermana Smith