Mother's Day Skype Report

This is Hermana Koehler's mom again. We were blessed to Skype with her for one hour, thirty-nine minutes, and twelve seconds this afternoon. I had a list of questions that I referred to and she answered all of them. It was a little difficult to hear her much of the time. I took a few of pictures.

She said she kept waking up last night. a lot of dogs were barking. Otherwise she's sleeping okay.

They make their own breakfasts and lunches but they often don't have time to go shopping so they often don't eat. It's very hot outside and they have many things to do in a day. They often don't have time to shop on p-day because they do fun activities with their district instead. Tomorrow they are going to the "playa" or "beach." She bought a volleyball and they will be playing with that. Once they went to a mall for their activity and once to a river.

She will be transferred soon. She'll be leaving for Panama City on Wednesday. They will have a big meeting and she will find out where she'll be sent for this transfer.

She plays the piano almost ever Sunday in sacrament meeting. They have a pianist but the pianist travels a lot. Today Hannah was embarrassed when she played "Dear to the Heart of the Shepard" wrong and the whole congregation stopped singing. Their congregation is a branch but the building is very nice, very big, and was very full today. Their chapel is apparently the nicest one in Panama in the nicest area. The place she is living is also very new and nice, probably the nicest place she'll live while on her mission.

We asked about bugs. She said she's seen a lot of little spiders but not big ones. One day a lot of little spiders came out of her shoes when she picked them up to put them on in the morning. She just washed them off in the shower. The biggest bug she has seen is a grasshopper. She trapped it in a glass and carried it outside. She also saw a big cockroach on the bus that kept going back and forth between the isles on the bus. Her companion kept stomping her feet around to try to get the cockroach to run away from them.

We asked if she's had to use her medication. She said she's used almost a full box of peptobismal, some ibuprophen, some Tylenol, bug spray (she prefers the wipes), and some after-insect-bite medication

She hasn't had much time to write in a journal. She's very tired by nighttime. Last night she fell asleep while her fingernails that she'd just painted were drying.

They haven't been able to exercise much because her current companion has knee problems. Her goal is to get to the point before the end of her mission where she can climb a coconut tree and pick one. She says there are mango trees everywhere. People try to tell directions by where the mango trees are. She said, "That doesn't really help because there are a lot of mango trees." She loves mangoes.

Where they are living now she can drink the water, but it's not like that everywhere in the mission. Sometimes they buy Gatorade, but her favorite drink is grapefruit Fresca. She didn't realize we have Fresca here in the U.S. She has a Fresca every day. She said she misses hot water and also cold water. The water is lukewarm. Ice melts in about fifteen minutes so it's not really worth it. It's usually in the 90s and the coolest it's gotten is about 75. Sometimes she sleeps with a blanket so it gets a little cold. They have a small refrigerator with a freezer. Since there's no hot water they never have hot showers. Showers are kind of cold. They are in a drought in the city right now. Everything is really brown, but they are at the very beginning of the rainy season. It has only rained once so far. Part of the city is rationing water right now where they can only use it at certain times of the day-- in the morning.

She's been told the Panama mission is "The hardest mission in Central America." The mission doesn't extend all the way to the east of Panama because apparently there are cannibals that live in the jungle there who "like white people." We're grateful there's no chance she'll be sent to that area.

Most of the people in Panama are Catholic. She said the hardest part is people work on Sunday and don't come to church. Also, they say all religions are good. So they teach a lot about the restoration of the Church and priesthood.

She's learned how to eat meat with a spoon. That's often the only utensil they are given. Sometimes they have a fork. Sometimes a knife. She said she's also learned to eat meat with her hands.

She said she gets a lot of hugs. They kiss on both cheeks there and she has to tell them, "No puedo, son misionaros." "We can't, we're missionaries." Everyone hugs and kisses as a greeting. She said she's heard you need at least twelve hugs a day to be healthy. She said she's going to come back very healthy because she gets a lot of hugs.

I asked about crime. She said it's really peaceful where they are and not a lot of crime.

I asked her if she's seen any little miracles since she's been there. She said she's seen a lot of them. Once they went to visit a family but it was really dark and nobody answered the door. But because they were there they met another family and talked with them. They knew they were in the right place at the right time. She also said her companion told her that rather than trying to find scriptures ahead of time when they're having discussions if she'll just open the scriptures she'll discover she will be at the right place. Once her companion was talking about families and prayers. She had a scripture in mind but wasn't sure where that was. So she did what her companion suggested and just opened her scriptures while she was talking and she ended up being on the exact page for the scripture she'd been thinking of. She said they also recently met a lady who told them, "I've been waiting for you." They've taught this lady three lessons so far.

She understands almost everything people say to her. If she doesn't understand a word she'll write it in a notebook and either look it up in a dictionary or ask her companion what it means. She showed us the notebook with pages full of words.

Her mission president reminds her of her Grandpa Babcock. He is "happy, loving, and always smiling." Another way he reminds her of Grandpa is sometimes he'll say something and his wife will say, "No, it was like this dear..." and she'll help him sort out his stories. He's a short man. He has a really big "A.P" or assistant to the president. He's a big Tongan and reminds her of a security guard. He makes the mission president look small. It's clear she really likes her mission president. Her new mission president will arrive in June. So for a while she'll have two mission presidents.

Hannah seemed very happy, very peaceful, and very loved by the missionaries who came in and out of the room. A sister missionary from Sandy said, "Your daughter spoke all in Spanish today when she gave her talk. She did a good job."

What a blessing Hannah is in our lives!