Several Short E-mails

[In response to her mom's weekly e-mail.]

The pictures are beautiful. Thank you so much for this email it made me smile, laugh, and get a little teary. I think it's funny what you said about how I look. I think after my mission I will forever be part Panamanian. What a strange history I have...born in England, grew up in New York, family in Utah, studying in Idaho, and living in Panama....haha but I love who I am and who I`m becoming. I know I have so much to learn but as my Zella says, We`re getting there. 

Merry Christmas family :) I love you!!

[In response to her grandma's advice about doing splits with members.]

My main concern about doing splits with members isn't the problem with unity. My companion and I are getting along really well and we wouldn't have problems with that. My main concern is that I am still getting to know my area and my area is really big. But I definitely want to work with the members and we have many plans to be able to do that. 

[In response to what to do about people who are struggling financially.]

As far as families that don't have food...we've been working with the bishop on that. The problem that we have is the stake will not help families that aren't fully active in the church and the family that we have is having problems with that too...but God can't bless people that aren't doing their part. We`re working with them. Yesterday we talked to them about tithing and I shared an experience about when dad didn't have a job for a year and you guys paid double fast offerings because of your faith in knowing that God would bless us...even when we had a big family with many mouths to feed. Thank you for being such good examples to me and for providing me with experiences to help other people. Yesterday we focused on the head of the house because he is having problems with taking responsibility and his wife is doing a lot of his part...aka leading the family. We talked to him about how he has priesthood authority and responsibility and that God has confidence in him. The next lesson that we have with them we want to talk about self-sufficiency and financing. We prayed with them and promised them that if they do their part God will bless them. The head of the house committed to paying his tithing when he finds a job. 

I know that they will be blessed. 

As far as carrying food with me...I haven`t met any other families that are really struggling right now so I haven`t seen the necessity. The people here have money..but it's not a bad idea to have something just in case. 

[The weekly e-mail.]

This week we made a real effort to focus on the people here and the work. We had some really miraculous experiences that I would like to share with you. Amazingly they both happened in the same day which was Friday, December 27th. 

The first experience happened like this: we were sitting on the bus. We had just come from an all-sisters conference. I was sitting next to someone, talking to him, and my companion was behind me. When I looked over at her, the people sitting next to her made a comment and my companion said something like, "She`s my companion." Then they asked us what church we`re from. She said the full name of the church and they had never heard of it. Then she said, "People know us like the Mormons." She told me that their faces lit up and they said, "You`re Mormons?! Mormons are so cool." Well the way they said it was, "Que pritty son los mormones." She got their phone numbers from them and we want to visit them this week. 

The other experience that happened...a few weeks ago we contacted an old man and then taught his daughter and grandson. My companion and I were not focused on him. The most recent time that we went to visit we started talking to him. He said that his daughter and grandson weren't there. As we were talking, my companion was inspired to teach the restoration. As we spoke with him he told us that he has always wanted to know which church is true. He said that so many different religions have come to talk to him but that none of them had shared this message. He is 78 years old. In our minds we judged him as someone that wouldn't be interested in the gospel...but God had other plans in store. 

Skype Report

We were able to Skype with Hermana Koehler for about an hour and a half. At first she kept laughing because she said, "I'm not used to saying so many words in English. It's weird." She was using a computer at the bishop's house. At first we weren't able to hear her, so she switched from the computer to someone's cell phone and she went outside where there was a hammock and some chairs. Maybe she was sitting in the hammock because it seemed like she was rocking some of the time. A few times she said, "It's really cold." We found out that it was around 80 degrees where she is in David.

I will put our questions in bold followed by a paraphrasing of her answers.

How's the weather?

Really hot. It's a little cooler at the bishop's house because there are more trees, fewer houses, and there's a breeze. There is no air conditioning, no fans. We don't even have fans.

How often does it rain?

Not very often anymore. We just started summer. The rainy season is over. My umbrella died. It was turning the color of rust. It wouldn't open all the way anymore. What caused it? Panamanian rain. I threw it away.

How are your shoes?

My feet get really hot in my big, bulky shoes, so I've been wearing my Crocs. Other sisters wear sandals, but I haven't gotten the final word from the mission president if that's okay, so I haven't. Also, the roads are really rocky and I don't think that would be good for my feet. Plus the insects. They have really nasty worms here. I thought our house didn't have any bugs, but then there was this one really big cockroach that my companion killed. We also had some standing water in our bathroom and maggots came, these nasty white worms, so we got rid of them. There are spiders that are really small, but we don't kill them because there are also flies. We'd rather have spiders than flies.

Do you have hot water?

No hot water. We had one day without water because they had to fix the "tubes." What are they called? Oh, "pipes."

The water is drinkable. I had a water bottle with a filter that they gave us in the MTC, but mine turned yellow so I threw it away. Nobody else's turned yellow. Everybody drinks the water. The water is good here.

What is your favorite thing to eat?

Arroz con pollo (chicken and rice). They mix it all up like a stir fry. I also love fried plantains. I didn't really like it when I first tried it, but now I love it. I love their natural fruit juices they make. Pineappples and passion fruit. Also, one that starts with an N. A member made us some strawberry juice that was really good, like a milkshake.

What kind of rice is it?

Every person makes it different. I have learned there are so many different ways to make rice. It's usually white rice, but sometimes it's orange. Probably because of the spices.

What is your least favorite thing to eat or drink?

Nancy. What is it? I don't really know. It's a gross fruit drink. It smells like vomit and tastes like vomit.

How is the chocolate?

Same. They have some yummy chocolate cookies-- square things with chocolate on chocolate. Mom, you'd be proud of me for trying the chocolate here. [I forgot she's never been a big fan of chocolate.]

Anybody speak English there?

No. Nobody speaks English. They understand English but they won't talk to me in English. We went caroling to all the widows in the ward and at one place somebody who lived in Minnesota for five years spoke to me in English.

Are there piano players in your ward?

No. We don't have a piano. They had a keyboard but it broke. I tried to play it once but it didn't work. We just start singing with the person conducting the music.

How is your ward? Are there a lot of less-active members?

It's a smaller building-- just chairs, no benches. The chapel has dividers in it that we can close where they hold classes. There are a lot of less-active members. I would like to have a rescue activity where we invite everyone to come all at once.

How many missionaries are in your ward?

Four-- two sets of sisters. Two are from Peru and my companion is from Honduras.

Do you still have trouble with Spanish?

Yes. I have trouble understanding some key words which can be a problem. People can usually explain it using other words and I can understand.

What did you eat for lunch today? 

Leftovers. A family gave us food yesterday.Our neighbors saw we went to bed early and felt sorry for us so they brought us food. So we took it over to a member's house and shared it with them.

Is there anything you want us to send you? What do you miss most?

Hot water. [We all laughed.]

How is your stress level?

Better. There are definitely some stresses in the mission, but I'm doing okay.

What percentage of the missionaries there are from North America?

Maybe 10%. I have had eight companions so far and none from North America.

Do you ever do splits with the members?

No. I don't really know my area yet. I would get lost. I follow my companion around. We just don't have the time to visit everything. We need to get to know where the members live.

Do you have maps?

No. We have one map that's really big on the wall of our apartment. It's confusing.

How do you pay for the bus?

It usually costs 35 cents (centavos) to ride the bus. We use change. We never use our cards. We take out money from the ATM. We pay the woman who makes us lunch every day 30 bucks when we get paid. We buy breakfast food for 30 bucks. We use dollars-- the green American kind, but the coins are Panamanian. They also have dollar coins called "balboas."

When you cook for yourself, what do you make?

We only eat breakfast at home. So, cereal. We also buy fried dough. There's a place right out in front of our house that makes it. So good. They also make really good chicken. We also have leftovers if we get home later and didn't have a dinner appointment. We usually have dinner appointments, but if we don't then we don't get home until 8 and we have leftovers.

Describe a typical day.

We wake up at 6:30. Actually, we've been waking up earlier, at 5:30, so we can meet a recent convert member at the church and we exercise with her. We get back to our house at 7 for our studies. We have lunch with Hermana S. It's usually rice. I'm getting chubby. We have chicken or beef. After lunch we work. We are out here by the bishop's house more often because we have more progressing investigators here. We work until night. We have dinner with different members in the evening. We have ward activities.

How many progressing investigators do you have? [She looked at her appointment book.]

Three with baptismal dates. One will get baptized in February. Looks like we have fifteen investigators, but we need to find more. Part of the problem is they've already tracted out, contacted, a lot of people here. We also have a really big area. It takes an hour to thirty minutes to get to some parts. So we try to talk to people on buses.

Was the talent show a success?

No, not really. I was disappointed that there were not many members there. We were hoping they would bring friends. But we talked about it in ward counsel and it's going to be even better next time.

What are the cultural traditions?

They have Christmas trees, but they celebrated Christmas yesterday. There were fireworks, dancing, drinking, and crazy music. They stay up until 12. Today is for relaxing with friends and family and enjoying their presents.

Are there a lot of Catholics there?

Yes, but they don't go to church. The Catholics I know didn't go to church on Christmas Eve. There are a lot of Evangelicals too. They enjoy talking about Christ but they say, "I'm Catholic."

Has your testimony grown since you've been on a mission?

I am learning a lot doctrinally. It's hard to express my personal experiences. I have a bad memory.

How has your health been?

I don't have any stomach issues any more. In my first area I think I was just getting used to the food and the new country. I get headaches sometimes because I'm sound sensitive. So when there is a lot of noise and I'm trying to focus on the Spanish I get headaches.

Tell everyone to always put "Mision de Panama" on letters. Otherwise it may go to another part of the same building where the mission office is.

Pictures Updated

[Hermana Hannah must have had a lot of e-mails to read and respond to this week. I'm sure she also realizes she will be Skyping with us in a couple of days. So we just get pictures this week.]

[Update: 12/24 I spoke with Hannah on the phone for a few minutes! She said she spent most of her internet time yesterday figuring out how to call me using the calling card she has. We decided to Skype at 4 PM her time, 2 PM our time. We are super excited and preparing questions to ask her. If you have any questions for her, please comment here or e-mail me. I will do a Skype report on this blog either tomorrow or Thursday.]

 Divisions and talent show pictures.

 From the talent show!!

Reindeer Ears on Hannah

[I found this on Hannah's mission president's blog this morning.]

I don't have too long to write today because the computer`s been really slow and I've been trying to load some photos...but I hope that ya`ll will understand. 

We've been working to complete the goals that the president has set for us. It's amazing to see miracles that happen as we work for those goals. For example, we found an amazing less active family that the bishop had assigned for us as one of the five less active families that we need to visit. They said that the only reason that they haven`t gone to church here is because they don't know anyone. 

Also, through another less active reference that he gave us, we found a golden investigator. He found a Book of Mormon on the bus and started reading it. He didn't come to church on Sunday...but we`re positive that he`ll progress. 

We`re trying to focus on the people that have baptismal dates because we really want them to progress. The hardest part here is getting them to come to church on Sunday...but I figure that when they know the church is true....like when they realllllly know, nothing will stop them from going to church. 

I hope that you enjoy the photos :) 

You can know that I`m happy and cared for and learning. I feel like I`m not very good at expressing everything that I`m learning and doing but I hope that you get a good idea from the pictures that I`m happy and changing for the better. 

I know that God sent me to this area for a reason....for many reasons...but one of them is to change my heart..to help me become more submissive, humble, and willing to follow his will in all things. I know that as I do these things I will be happy and will be able to have success. 

Lots and lots of love, 

Hna Koehler 

p.s. I love the Christmas tree!!! Thank you for the photos :) It was really a sweet moment to be able to see that. I was wondering what our tree looks like this year. 

p.s.s. I`ll be able to Skype but it will only be for 30min-1hr and it will have to be in the morning before we leave to work. It will be a normal working day for me. I`m not sure what my username and password is yet...but I`ll figure that out the day of I guess...also I have my calling card so I`ll be able to call if I need help. 

I LOVE YOUUUU!!!!

Our district leader and his companion...Hna Mendez made the drawing

....and the food is our breakfast and dinner. The bread with chicken....those are ohaldras aka fried dough..super yummy. I eat so much and so much that is fried! haha

The game that we played with the fake obstacle course. 

I will be able to Skype [for Christmas] but it won't be for as long. I think that we'll be able to talk for an hour. I forgot my username and password again...so I'll have to find that haha. 

Are you feeling healthy? 

I am feeling healthy. I haven't been having any problems recently. I think I'm gaining weight again because I'm hungry like all the time. Haha. I had a bit of a cold a while ago, but it passed quickly. 

Do you have running water now? 

Yes! We didn't have water for one day but other than that we haven't had any problems here. My companion said that before I came we never had problems with water. 

Are you sleeping better? 

The earplugs that you sent me have done miracles! I don't think I'll be able to sleep without them ever again. I put them in and I fall right asleep haha. And most of the time they stay in all night! It's definitely been a blessing. 

How are things going? 

We've been working really hard. I'm starting to get to know my area and the people here. The bishop is our "dad,' the mission leader is our "brother," Sherlly is our "mom,"...we have family here. I feel very loved. I know that if I ever have a problem or concern I have a whole bunch of people that are ready and willing to help me. My companion is a babe. I absolutely love her. She is a super happy, outgoing, loving, obedient, funny, wonderful person. Sometimes she reminds me of cousin Janae :) I am learning so much from her. I love the people here...but she is teaching me more about what it means to love. She came at the same time as Hna. Gomez so I've been finishing her training...but really she's the one that's been training me. I am learning so much here. I feel so blessed to be able to be here right now with these people. Today we find out about transfers...I don't think that we'll have transfers, but you never know. But no matter what I really know that I'm in the hands of the Lord. 

Now for the update on this week: 

Monday: Our district took a road trip to Costa Rica...just to the border....however you say it. We took pictures at the Welcome to Costa Rica sign! In the bus on the way there we played UNO with some special rules...if there's a 0 you have to change cards (everyone hands them to the person on their left) if there's a 7 nobody can talk and every time someone talks they have to draw a card, and if there's a 4 everyone has to slap the discard pile. It was really fun. In the afternoon we had a family home evening with a recent convert family. After that we had another family home evening with our sister Ana Maria who is a single adult in our ward. 

Tuesday: We had our district meeting in the morning. The zone leaders brought a cake that was absolutely beautifully decorated. It was our ´´last district meeting´´ so that's why they brought a cake. I took pictures but I'm still afraid to send them. Speaking of which, I found out that the problem isn't the memory cards, it's my camera. It has a hard time reading the memory cards. So that means that my photos weren't lost!! But I'm still taking precautions. After the meeting, we had appointments with recent converts and we found two less active members that the bishop wanted us to find. 

Wednesday: We had a service project in Ana Maria's house where we cleaned EVERYTHING. When she asked us to help her out she told us that we can do whatever we want with her house. So we moved all of her furniture around and made  it even more pretty than it already was. It was lots of work but it looked amazing when it was finished.  (We changed the dining room into the living room and the living room into the dining room.) We had an activity in the church in the evening where we had some lessons. Afterwards, we went to visit a recent convert. The bishop wants us to baptize her husband. We're working on that. He now has a baptismal date! 

Thursday: We did our normal studies in the morning. We did some contacting, had some lessons, and in the evening we had a group night in the church. We had some really fun activities. My favorite was when we made an obstacle course, blindfolded people, removed the obstacle course, and then someone guided them through the imaginary obstacle course. It was fun to watch. 

Friday: We had another district meeting in the morning because the zone leaders had a conference with the mission president. So we have some new goals as missionaries!! My companion and I are working to complete them. Here are the goals: 1. Be obedient to the commandments and rules 2. Study Preach My Gospel every day for ten minutes. 3. Study the white bible every day for 2 min 4. Reach the standards of the mission which is 15 lessons with less active members every week, three progressing investigators, 7 contacted references from members, and 5 less active members every week. 

In the evening we had an activity for Mother's Day which was on Sunday. My companion and I sang a song that is the hymn to moms in Honduras. I took pictures and videos...but not of us singing cause that'd be embarrassing haha.

So the internet just froze and I was so scared that I lost everything that I wrote...but thankfully, no, that didn't happen because it was saved as a draft!! 

Saturday: We went super far away to the part of our area where the bishop lives. It took more than an hour to get there in the bus. But it was definitely worth it for the investigators that we have there. I know that they are chosen. One of the investigators is especially positive. She had so many great questions and was really interested in the lesson. It turned out that a friend gave her a Book of Mormon a while ago and when we showed her the Book of Mormon she said, ´´I think I have that book.´´ Such a neat experience. 

Sunday: Mother's Day!!! Well at least it was Mother's Day here in Panama. After church, we had lunch then we went to a mission meeting with our bishop and mission leader. We were waiting for the bishop for a while, so during that time the mission leader was talking to us about deep doctrine which really blew my mind. He's been giving me homework...questions that I need to find the answers to in the scriptures. It's been really interesting. I'm almost always wrong, but then he explains it after and I get it. 

After that, the four of us missionaries went to visit the less active member whose husband the bishop wants us to baptize. That's where we put the baptismal date. After that, we went to see an investigator that we've been working with for a while. All of her family are members and her son was the branch president in their area. But she wasn't there and her daughter in law said that she didn't keep a commitment that we set for her. Later, we went to the Christmas Devotional which was absolutely beautiful. I loved the talk by Elder Nelson. Afterwards, we went to find our dinner with Hermana Sherlly, our "Mom. " From the moment we got into the house, we knew that something was wrong...so it turns out ... we were the only comfort to her on that special day for moms. I know that she needs us...especially my companion who truly loves her as if she was her own mom. 

In the mission I've met people with so many problems, trials, difficulties...it makes me feel sick sometimes....the awful things that people can do. But I know that in the end all wrongs will be made right. 

I'm so grateful for our family and for all the blessings that we have in our life. 

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!! I love you <3

I think that it's really important to learn how to find the deeper meaning in the scriptures. I´m still learning about how to study the scriptures and I´m a missionary! There is always ALWAYS more that we can learn...especially when we forget what we've already learned like I do :P 

Once again I don´t have much time to write, and I´m nervous about putting my USB and SD card in the computer because last time all of the pictures were deleted from my memory card. The internet places here are really sketchy and I don´t want to lose any more photos! 

Now for a little update on this week: 

Monday: We had to do our weekly planning in the morning...super crazy insane. The mission president changed our weekly planning session from Friday to Sunday. I´m not really sure why, but we´re trying to follow that new rule....but it didn't work out this week so we had to plan on Monday. After the internet, I had lunch at Subway. My companion didn't eat because she was fasting. As a mission group (the bishop, our mission leader, and us four missionaries) we´re doing a 40 day fast. My day is Tuesday. After lunch, we did our laundry. Then at 5 we had a family home evening. And then we had another family home evening at 7:30. 

Tuesday: We had our district meeting in the morning. It was fun to officially meet everyone. We were combined with another district. My old companion, Hermana Chavez, is in the other district. It's really crazy weird that I know so many people here. It makes me feel like I have a lot of time in the mission. In the afternoon, we helped a guy push his car to get it started. It was pretty funny because he and his friend had already turned down the help of some guy. And then we came along asking if we could help and he just gave us a look like, "What in the world?" So we just started pushing the car and he started laughing. My companion and I had fun. Then we had lots of appointments. 

Wednesday: Last Sunday we met a guy named S. P. He´s from France and speaks very little Spanish and even less English. In the lesson on Sunday, his friend, who is a member and speaks both French and Spanish, helped translate for him. On Wednesday, we had another lesson with him...but this time his friend wasn't there to help. It was really interesting and amazing that we were able to communicate. It was a pretty fun lesson. Another member was with us but she doesn't speak French, only a little of English. So our lesson was in Spanish, English, and French. I understood some French!! P.S. My first day here I met someone from Germany and was able to speak to him a little in German. Thank you Jake!! 

Thursday: We were allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving! A missionary couple invited the zone to come over to their house. It was absolutely beautiful. It was really funny but none of the latinos knew what stuffing is. Afterwards my companion felt sick to her stomach and one of the gringos said, "Is it the strange food?" It  made me think what it will be like to eat like someone from the US again. After the food, we had a little talent show thing and I learned something. My zone is extremely talented. People played the guitar, sang, juggled, and changed the words to songs to make them more dramatic and funny. It was a really neat experience. Afterwards, we had a group night in the church. 

Friday: We worked really hard. We had to take a bus to another part of our area to find a reference from a member. The reference ended up not being able to so we decided to contact. Because of that, we found two golden investigators. In the evening we had a service project...a surprise service project because we didn´t know until we got there that this less active member needed help. She was raking up a hugeeeee pile of garbage in her back yard. So we helped her fill the wheelbarrow to take it out of her back yard. Well my companion helped more than I did because she´s super strong. Once it got dark, my job was to hold a flashlight so that they could see. After that, we had a wonderful lesson with one of our new converts. He´s going to be receiving the priesthood really soon so we had a lesson on the priesthood. The young men's president was with us during the lesson. It was so powerful. I´m so grateful for the priesthood in my life. What a blessing! 

Saturday: In the morning we went to the church to clean the baptismal font and make a poster announcing the talent show that we´ll be having the 21st of December. After that, we had to travel an hour and a half to another part of our area where the bishop lives. We had lunch with his wife and his kids. While we were in the area, we did some tracting and found a wonderful family that had lots of great questions and gave us mandarin oranges which my companion picked from the tree. It was a neat experience. In the evening, we helped with a baptismal service. It was absolutely beautiful. It was a recent convert family. The dad was able to baptize his little girl that just turned 8. After she was baptized, she bore her testimony and the Spirit was soooo strong. 

Sunday: We had lots of meetings. Before church we went to find a golden family...but we were rejected in an awful way. The mom/grandma told us that they´re hardcore Catholics, that work is more important than God, and that if we come back we´ll be wasting our time. BUT we gave the Dad a call and he said that he´ll come to church next Sunday. They just couldn't come this week. So we´re hopeful that maybe possibly things will work out in the end. 

So yeah that´s my week in a nutshell. 

Send my love to everyone!! 

Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Birthday Grandma!

Love, 

Hermana Hannah

Unexpected Transfer to Doleguita, David

[Hermana Hannah and her new companion]

So this week I'm really cut short on time...but I'll try to do this as fast as I can. So I'm going to start off by typing up a little journal entry that I made in my "Seeing the Hands of the Lord" journal on the 21st of November:

The hand of the Lord isn't always easy to accept. Here in the mission, right when I feel comfortable the Lord throws out His hand and sends a curve ball. And that's just what He did today. Everything was going so well. 

We worked with Hermana G. today. The appointments that we planned weren't set in stone, but thanks to the hand of the Lord everything worked out. Hermana M. and Hermana V. were both in their houses and things worked out beautifully with Hermana G. In the lesson with Hermana V., the scripture Ether 12:27 just came to mind. When I shared it I knew it was inspired-not only for V.'s but for G. also. And maybe just a little bit it was meant for me also. 

After the lesson--at the end of the lesson-- J. showed up in his car. So he gave us a ride down the hill. While we were in the car, I checked my agenda and saw, unexpectedly, that we had an appointment with the S. family. J. dropped us off by their house but we decided to check up on Hermana A. because earlier we found out that she was in the hospital and was back in her house. She didn't answer, but we had time to decide that we would share a lesson on the atonement of Jesus Christ.

When we started the lesson with the family, I got a little bothered when right after the hymn--which totally set the Spirit-- Hermana G. started asking them about the dance on Friday and if they were going to go. I decided to go with it and I ended up sharing two personal experiences: deciding to go to a dance when I didn't have a fancy dress-- everyone said how beautiful I looked, and how my mom would say if your only reason for not doing something is fear then you're losing a great opportunity. 

Then the phone rang. Since we weren't in the middle of a deep spiritual conversation, I decided to answer it. It was Elder D., Hermana G.'s mission father and one of the newly called assistants to the president. After some joking around, he told me that I have changes, that I'm going to David and I need to be in Albrook, the terminal, at 8 the next day. At first I thought he was joking and I laughed, and then I asked, "Are you serious?" Then I asked him to repeat what he said again..in part to take it all in and in part because I was unsure about the details. In this call, he said that I would be an hermana leader. When this conversation ended I looked around at my Panamanian family and started sobbing. Hermana Gomez freaked out and asked if it was my family. I shook my head no and then kept on crying. 

By this point, everyone was really concerned and I knew that I had to say something. So midst my tears I somehow managed to tell them the news. Then Elder D. called again. I handed the phone to Hermana Gomez saying that I couldn't answer it. In this call he joked around with Hermana Gomez saying that her mom is abandoning her too. Then he told her that he misspoke about me becoming an hermana leader, but that I was going to David and I had to be in Albrook at  8 AM the next day. 

The fact that I was with my family at the precise moment shows the hand of the Lord. They expressed the love for me that I feel for them and told me never to forget them. Each one of them offered me a little gift, searching among the things that they already had, saying that they had a list of gifts that they wanted to buy me, but that now it was too late. S. started handing me things that weren't his to give. M. climbed up onto my lap wanting to be near me. For a little while, she and I were crying together. When she stopped, I kept crying. 

So right now I'm experiencing the hand of the Lord taking me away from my second home. It hurt so much that I have to believe it's for a greater reason than I can understand. 

So I traveled from Colon to the terminal by myself. The assistants met me there and then sent me on a bus to David. I went by myself also. It was an 8 hour journey with a lunch break about halfway through. 

My new companion is Hermana Mendez from Honduras. My new area starts with a D and is in the welcome to your new house picture that my new companion made for me [below]. Hermana Mendez came to Panama with Hermana Gomez so I'm still training. 

What happened here is an Hermana leader went to Colon where I was with Hermana Gomez because she was disobedient, Hermana Hernandez, who was with me in my first area, was called to be the new leader, and I came here to be with her companion. 

It was really hard to leave Colon because I was there for so long. Things are so different here. Everyone's white, I'm in the country nowhere near the city, the leaders of the church are super strong and super knowledgeable, and I'm surrounded by missionaries that I know from previous transfers. 

When I got to the terminal here, I had to use the bathroom, so I had a guy help me with my suitcases. Later, I had to pay him one dollar. I called the hermana leaders cause they weren't there yet, found a place to sit down...waited and waited...and then eventually I was greeted by...Hermana Molina! She was my mission mom aka my first companion. I gave her a big hug and just started crying. She was there when I needed her. She's leaving the mission after this change and she says she needs me too. 

So here I am in David in an area that I don't remember the name with a new companion. Crazy things happen in the mission. But I'm happy and loved...but I miss Colon and everyone there. 

Oh and we had a baptism the second day here. 

[Mom translating: "Fight your stress and don't let it dominate" and "Welcome to your new home and your new area 'Doleguita.'"]

We´re having problems with our fridge...it doesn't close all of the way sometimes...but we've talked to our leaders and they said that they´re going to help us out. 

You might say that we choose our problems, but there are a lot of things that are unpredictable. But every decision that we make can be for our good if we continually rely on God. We can make a sour decision but God can take that decision and make it into something sweet. We have to be wise in our decisions but we also have to choose to accept the decisions that we've made. There´s always light at the end of the tunnel...every cloud has as silver lining. The trials that we have help prepare us for greater things.

Now for this week's update: 

Monday-It was a typical P-day where we did everything that we needed to do. In the evening we paid a visit to Hermana O., (the young women's counselor). When we first got there it was just us, her, and the young women's president....but later the young women came and it was a success. From what I understand, there was a miscommunication and somehow she came to believe that the young women don´t love her....but because the young women came to visit her she came to understand that this lie wasn't true. The next day she held a young women's activity in her house. So the visit was a success! She has found new motivation and drive for the church. She wasn't able to go to church on Sunday because of work, but we´re excited about her future involvement in the ward. 

Tuesday- We did some tracting in the afternoon. We´re trying to find new investigators since our current investigators aren't progressing. We've had to discontinue teaching quite a few..we´re really sad about that...but I´m happy to see that we´re helping the ward...active, less active, and inactive members. Later in the day we had more lessons.

Wednesday-After lunch we helped the primary presidency prepare for the primary program on Sunday. We made little flowers for the girls' hair and made a sign that in the end said, "I am a Child of God"...in Spanish of course. 

This day we had our district meeting in the morning. The bishop was waiting outside with his car. He called me and my companion over and told us that he has a friend that he wants to visit with us and asked if we could. So we rearranged our schedule a bit to be able to go with him. Beause of that we were able to work with him for basically the whole day. It was a wonderful experience and it strengthened our confidence in him as the leader of the ward and it strengthened his confidence in us as missionaries in the ward. I´m very grateful for him and all that he´s done to help us, our investigators, and the members of the ward. 

Thursday- We had our first lesson with a new investigator. It went really well and we learned his needs and how we can help him. When we left he went to give a kiss on the cheek to my companion and she didn't  know what to do so she just went along with it. So when he did the same to me I didn't do anything. It´s something that´s just polite here and it can be offensive to pull away...but next time we´re going to talk to him about it and explain why that's not okay for us. 

Afterwards we went to visit some less active members. And one of them came to church on Sunday!!

Friday- We had our weekly planning in the morning. Later, we went really far away to have a lesson that didn't work out. So we ended up tracting to find new people. As we left to go to the bus stop, a crazy young-looking guy ran over to us. It was pouringgg so he asked if he could walk with us to the bus stop. He didn't wait for an answer. He ran under my umbrella and walked with me all the way down the street. I felt super uncomfortable the whole time and had no idea what to do...ohhh awkward moments in the mission. In the evening we had a lesson with a less-active family and....they all came to church on Sunday!!

Saturday- We had our second lesson with A. He lives in a really dangerous area that we can´t visit without a priesthood holder. So we taught him in the street. This was the second lesson that we´ve had with him in the street. He told us that he wants to get baptized. So we set a date for the last Sunday of the month. He knows a lot and he´s really positive...but he didn't go to church on Sunday so his baptismal date might not be set in stone. 

In the evening, we had a lesson with a less-active family and...they went to church on Sunday! They gave us fish, rice, and beans. They laughed about how I had no idea how to eat the fish...it was really thin and it had lots of bones...and I didn't eat fish before the mission...so the hermana gave me a nice big chunk of fish meat that didn't have bones in it...and told us about their family member that's four that can eat fish all by himself. I felt kind of ridiculous haha. 

Then at 7 we helped with a baptism. We sang a special number and helped serve the dessert. 

Sunday- Success with the less-active members! I was super happy about that. After church we had some super lessons...the last of  which was with an inactive member...and...she said that she´ll come to church next week! Her mom is a less-active member and she has told us that when her daughter says that she´ll go to church she does...so we´re pretty sure that she´ll come next week. 

At night we had dinner with some amazing members and they told us that President Ward is the new temple president here in Panama. He was my mission president. We´re going to the temple tomorrow. It will be really weird to see him there. I´m not really sure how this will affect all of the missionaries here. It seems like it would have a negative affect on the missionaries that miss him...but every calling is inspired of God so it has to be for the best. 

Lots of love, 

Hermana Hannah

I´m deciding to copy and paste part of what I wrote to President Carmack in my weekly letter to give a bit of an update on the area and how I´m doing: 

Hermana G. and I have been trying to work with less active members and investigators at the same time. It´s been really hard for a few different reasons. One reason is because our area is huge. We've been trying to focus on five less active members every week, like we've received direction to do. One of the families that we work with is the P. family. They live in Maria Chiquita. We have problems getting a bus to go there and getting a bus to come back. We had to cancel our dinner last week because we were stuck up there in the night and we understood that it was basically impossible to leave. But miraculously there was a bus that left from there...he was already done working so he didn't stop for anyone else and told us that we didn't have to pay. It was a miracle for us.

The attendance in the church plummeted this week...I´m hoping it's just because people are out of town...we´ll see what next week is like.

I´m trying to be really obedient because I know that with obedience comes blessings.

I just finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish today...which is quite an accomplishment to me because I've been working on it my whole mission...ever since the MTC.

I´m trying to seek more guidance from the Lord to know what we should do. I've been discouraged because we don´t have progressing investigators right now.

There´s a lot of things that I feel like I don´t know what to do...but I will continually try to rely on the Lord.

---

So you know roughly where the places are that I took pictures of, the place with the bridge is a place called Barriada del Rio. The place where I´m on the fence is called Maria Chiquita. I´m convinced that we have the most beautiful area in Panama...it should at least be in the top five most beautiful areas....maybe in the whole world!! 

Now for an update on this week:

Monday-We went to Albrook where I attempted to find a black skirt and crocs...and didn't succeed...but I´m saving the money for when I do find those things. (I found the shoes that I want but they weren't in my size). When we left the terminal we had to run to the express (the bus) because it went to the wrong part of the terminal. This day the buses were really unpredictable because it's a national holiday and everything's crazy here on national holidays...that's another reason why we went to Albrook to be able to use the internet. When we got back to the area, we went straight to the house of the S. family where they had this beautiful cake for me. It was really sweet and I felt very loved. Then in the evening I opened my birthday cards and the Christmas package. I decided to save one of the shirts for Christmas...not wear it until Christmas days. The other ones I´m already using because I needed clothes. I felt so loved in the night opening the letters and the package. Thank you so much <3

Tuesday- We had our district reunion where we celebrated my birthday and the birthday of Hermana B. which is also the 4th of November. Afterwards we went to visit some less active members. They really needed the visits  especially one of the sisters...she seemed so sad, but afterwards she seemed more chipper. We went all the way out to Maria Chiquita to be with the P. Family, who invited us to eat at their house because of my birthday. They´re a less active family that we´re working with. The Dad came to church on Sunday..he´s come three Sundays in a row. We really want him to get stronger...strong enough that he won't fall again and that he´ll lift up his whole family. Our ultimate goal is that they can get sealed in the temple. Then we had some other lessons in the evening. One of which was really hard because we came to the conclusion that we can´t visit them anymore. I don´t like it when that happens, but sometimes people just aren't ready. 

Wednesday- We paid a visit to the Relief Society president. We gave her a lesson about the purpose of Relief Society using "Daughters in My Kingdom." I absolutely love that book. I know that it's inspired. We also offered our help with putting together a visiting teaching list...I emphasized that the way Christ ministered among the people was one by one, person by person. I think that visiting teaching will really strengthen this ward. In the evening we had a family home evening with another less active family...we went with our missionary leader and his wife and his kids. It was really great..but the sister didn't come to church on Sunday...but we´ll keep working with them. 

Thursday- We visited more less active members. We shared a DVD from the Book of Mormon presentations with some young men that are less active. We want to encourage them to serve missions and this video talked about the repentance of a young man before he left to serve a mission. In the evening we had our meeting with our missionary leader. 

Friday-We visited some grandparents in the afternoon. They´re really darling. They were a reference from the Mom S. who helped the sister out with her grocery bags one day. They are really old and really cute. He reminds me of Gordon B Hinckley when he was really old...only he looked healthier than this man looks now. I taught one of the sisters piano..still hoping that she´ll be able to take over my job as pianist when I leave. Then we had a really serious talk with one of the S. girls...she had a date for her baptism this weekend but she said that she needs more time. We might have to stop teaching her...it might not be the right time for her...Then in the evening we had our group night in the church. 

Saturday-We visited the friend of a member with the member. It was a really neat lesson. The Spirit was really strong. In the evening we had a service project in the church where we cleaned the whole building...or at least we tried to...all that we had to work with was two mops, two small brooms, a trash can, some rags, and water....so the church still isn't clean but it looks a little bit better. 

Sunday- The bishop's daughter had two little buses from the high school which they used to take us and our investigators, recent converts, and less active members to the temple. There we were able to hear a message and musical numbers by...I think her name is Ginny...something like that....she´s the singer that does the young woman songs....sorry I don´t really remember very well. [Jenny Phillips-- I found out on the mission president's photo blog] She and her husband came here to Panama. It was absolutely beautiful and the Spirit was really strong. Afterwards my S. brother was impatient to be able to walk in the gardens of the temple. His excitement made me feel really happy....he was baptized when I was with Hermana C. The president gave a little tour of the outside of the temple and we took pictures. The Mom S. said that she felt a peace and tranquility that she´s never felt before. The Spirit was strong. It was a really beautiful experience. After the tour, Hermana Carmack came over to me and we were able to talk for a while. She gave me an update on her family. Before she left, she gave me a great hug and told me it was good to see me. That made me feel really happy. It's been hard to not really be able to get to know her, her husband, and their daughter. But even though I don't really know them and they don't really know me I feel their love and I hope they feel mine too. 

Today in the evening we´re going to surprise a less active young woman counselor with a visit to her house with the young women. I hope that it works out! 

I´m happy and doing well. I am hopeful that things will progress here in Colon...slowly but surely. One of the missionaries here said that to activate a family in the church all you need to do is visit them for three weeks and let them know that they´re important....so maybe next week we´ll see more people in the church.

So this is the end of my weekly email! 

Send my love to everyone! 

Yours truly, 

Hermana Hannah