11th Week in San Librada

I love the scripture that you shared with me. 

[Doctrine and Covenants 84:88  "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."]

I know that we really are guided by God.

 

Something I´m learning here is all we really need is our faith. The world will try to tear us down but as long as we have God we will be strong. We have hope and happiness regardless of what the world takes away from us. And ultimately as long as we´re still here we have things to do, things to learn, and things to be grateful for. 

We had a baptism on Sunday!! Well really the ward had three baptisms...one in each area (we have six missionaries and three areas in our ward). Since the service was right after church there were SO many people there. Little things didn't work out but all in all it was definitely a success. It was an amazingly happy day :) 

The news is that I´m probably going to have changes (aka transfers) the week after next. Nothing is definite but its very likely because I've been here for two transfers already. 

All in all I´m really happy here. We found five families the week before last and this week one of the families came to church. In total we had five investigators in the church on Sunday (from just our area). The church attendants in total was higher then its been the whole 12 weeks that I've been here. 

In other news the theme for sacrament meeting was "protect our church." I don´t want to worry anyone but its definitely worth sharing. Our church building was broken into three times the last week. The people here think that our church has money. So they stole anything and everything that could possibly be of worth. It´s really crazy and really sad that people would steal from a church. So the priesthood has a new responsibility here...they´re starting to send a priesthood holder to the church every night to make sure that its secure. 

It´s definitely been interesting living here in the city (its not the CITY CITY but its a lot closer than Chitre). I've started wondering about where I´ll go next. The members have started giving me things. One of the young women gave me a dress. Its super cute, but definitely not mission appropriate. The bishop gave me a headband with feathers hanging off of it...I dont really know how else to describe it and I can´t upload photos in this internet place. So I've started taking pictures with the members and investigators. I will be sad to leave here if I really do leave. I've been here so long and I've really gotten close to the people and I´m really super familiar with the place. 

So I don´t know what else to say except that I´m safe, I´m happy, and the work is progressing! 

Lots of love!!! 
Hermana Hannah

I forgot to tell you about the pioneer celebration that we had here...I think...haha 

So there was a stake pioneer day celebration held by the primary. Each ward had a presentation. All of the primary kids were dressed up like pioneers. It was insanely cute. I didn't have my camera with me but I´m going to try to get a picture from one of the other missionaries. Pioneer day is fun!

From Hannah on Tuesday

The reality of Grandma and Grandpa going home just hit me this week. I know that everything is according to God's will and everything will work out.

So this has definitely been an interesting week! Last Tuesday I sent a lot of photos of Isle Grande. It was a very beautiful place! The water was the clearest I've ever seen in my whole life. I was talking with one of the sisters about it and I said, "God knows me really well to have sent me here!" or something like that. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity. Things are definitely not always easy. Every day I have to make decisions that could affect the success of my mission...that could affect whether I will be guided to the people that need me or not. I´m learning a lot about obedience and what God wants for us. Last Tuesday I emailed my trainer because I was wondering about how obedience and fun coincide and what we can do. Her advice was, "The mission is going to be the best time of your life! So how do you want to remember it?...You have to learn how to control the things you can, the others are not important...Just find time to do a little bit of everything so that on p-day you are cool." Sometimes it's frustrating when we don't have time to do everything that we have to do on p-day. I really like what she said:

'Just find time to do a little bit of everything so that on P-DAY you are cool. And at times it is ok not to have clothes! you will remember and laugh about it. We cannot do everything in the mission in the way we want, at times we clean the house during the week.... we will not lose the Spirit but you will loose the Spirit if you have an argument with your companion about it.... when I think about Jesus I think, he is a smart guy, He would have come out with some cool and fun way to do the things he needed to do.

Just think about Him. 

And FUN is something we need! OTHERWISE you will be exhausted at certain point! Do not be so hard on yourself! I know you are great and you are just trying to do things right and I admire that about you.... so.. just follow the Spirit it will guide you to choose...... ;) 

Socializing is so needed in the mission because your companions are the ones of your zone, they also need you and maybe in a P-DAY you can help some missionary, what about if you don't go and lost the opportunity to help someone??

Just be guided. Do not be hard on yourself and your companion. The Lord knows your heart... and that it what matter most.. OUR DESIRES!´

She knows me well! Really I want to do what's right and be able to remember my mission as the greatest time of my life. We live and we learn! 

This week we really have been guided to some amazing people that need our help. There are two that really stand out to me...well actually every single person that we had a lesson with this week...but I´ll only share a few. The first one that I'm thinking of contacted us. My companion and I were walking along the road. There was this man that was shoveling dirt in front of his yard. So he called out to us in English asking if we were Mormons. He said that his wife used to go to our church. So we were invited onto his property where we talked to his wife while he finished working. Her daughter married an ex-missionary and now is married in the temple. So Hermana Naranjo and I are planning on helping them become a forever family :) 

The other experience I want to share...we were headed for an appointment when Hermana Naranjo said that she wanted to contact a street...so we decided to try even though by doing so we would be late for our appointment. After we contacted several houses...at the very end of the road...there was a woman outside. We started talking to her about her yard and her plants and started in on a conversation. We discovered that she is a member! She has been inactive for about 20 years or more and now considers herself 100 percent "another religion." She has three kids, the oldest is 21, that have not been baptized. We talked to her about how she knows that the covenants in her church will not help her be with her family for eternity.

I have a different type of experience to share...not so much spiritual...so the day before yesterday, Hermana Naranjo started feeling pain in her lower stomach. So yesterday after a service project she was feeling so bad that she couldn't really walk. We talked with the other Hermanas and decided that it was her appendix. So we called the nurse and asked her about it. She called the Doctor, called us back and said that Hermana Naranjo needed to go to the hospital. So we called a member to cancel dinner, and then she ended up taking us to a health clinic. It was definitely an interesting experience. It was a little scary, and for part of the time I had to be separate from my companion (I had to call from a public phone to contact the nurse and when I got back Hermana Naranjo was with the doctor and we couldn't find each other for a little bit after that). So it turns out that it's not her appendix it's one of her kidneys. So she can't walk as much for the next three days and she has to take medicine for a few weeks. All of this because she doesn't drink enough water! She drinks maybe two bottles a day and we´re walking outside in the heat for most of the day. Future missionaries...when you´re in the field...DRINK WATER!! Your body needs it! We´re glad that it's not worse than it is now. She´s already feeling better and it's only been one day. Hopefully she´ll be back up to speed soon. 

I love you all!!! Thank you for your support :) 

Hermana Hannah

New Mission President's Blog

HERE is the link to Hannah's new mission president's blog. I found these two pictures of her on there. You can see tiny her in the front row wearing a blue shirt and light grey skirt. 

 Here's the other picture.

Another Fun P-day

I`m not sure how much I`ll be able to type today so I`m going to send a lot of photos!! 

So this P-day we went to an island that`s called Isla Grande...or something like that.

Here`s the photos!!

That bus was literally like a roller coaster! We were moving around like crazy. Those types of buses are called "diablo rojo`s"...aka red devils.

So when the pictures are loading I`m going to type!! That`s a good idea right??

So this week was really good. My companion and I were blessed with many many opportunities to teach. On Saturday we had nine lessons in one day!! That should be like a record!! Typically we have 3 to 5 lessons per day.

We are going to have a baptism this month!! We've been teaching the bishop`s nephew for a few weeks now. He`d been going to church but hadn't received any of the lessons. When we started teaching him he already had a really good foundation. He`s 11 years old. 

I`m really grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in this beautiful country to preach the gospel. 

We had a multi-zone conference with President Carmack and his family on Tuesday. He reminds me of Dad! It`s kind of crazy because President Ward reminded me of Grandpa. 

There's a change in the mission handbook! So we can`t use backpacks anymore. But on Tuesday I was using my little bag that has only one strap and I asked President if it was okay and he said yes! So thankfully I don`t have to buy a new bag. 

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to visit the temple grounds on Saturday. We took some investigators to the temple in the cars of a couple members. President Carmack met us there. We walked around the temple with the President as our guide. It was really beautiful. We got there as the sun was starting to go down. The Spirit was so strong! I`m really grateful for this church and that we have the blessings of the temple. Families are forever!!

Another Week in San Librada

I`m kind of worried about money now. Here I have everything I need but it would be nice to be able to buy things for people. There are some cool bags here and the indigenous people here have this cool traditional thing where they sew designs onto cloth using lots of different colored cloth. I don`t remember what it`s called but maybe you can Google it? We have a less active family in our area that is from that culture...I can`t remember what it`s called but maybe you can figure it out? 

That`s so crazy that Michael and Sare are going to move to Texas! I`ll definitely miss them when I get back but I`m also jealous of the warm weather that they`ll have all the time! I`m literally terrified...okay I`m exaggerating...but I`m pretty scared to get back to the Utah/Idaho winters after being here for a year and a half. 

So I have to share something that made me really happy this week. We went to see one of our investigators. She was outside with her daughter. Her daughter is 18 and she has Down Syndrome. She is the cutest girl and she reminds me so much of Alena. I really want to get a picture with her. I told the investigator that I`ll bring photos of my family for the next time that we come. I was reading my setting apart the other day (remember how we copied down what we remembered from it?) and it said that I would relate with people on a personal basis especially when I talk about my family. So that has come true! More then once really. Everyone loves to hear about my family and really I love talking about you guys!! I`m really glad that I have those family photos.

Once again thank you for your spiritual insights!! I wrote down that "Heavenly father loves ordinary people. Look how many of us He created!" [From Sister Warden's family relations Sunday School class.] When you write I always get something out of it :) Thank you for sharing that with me. 

So everything is more than good. I`m so happy here with Hermana Naranjo and the other Hermanas in our house. There are funny things happening all of the time! 

Okay something that I think is kind of funny...to say that you love someone...but not as a boyfriend/girlfriend people say, "Te quiero." To say I love you, love you...as in more than that it`s, "Te amo." So today we bought pizza for lunch and the woman behind the counter asked if we all wanted Sprite and I said, "No yo quiero Naranjo." So "naranja" is the word for orange and "Naranjo" is the name of my companion. So all of the missionaries started laughing because really I said that I love Hermana Naranjo. My companion thought it was hilarious and she said in Spanish, "I already know you love me, you don`t have to say it in front of everyone," or something like that. 

So yeah we`re having a lot of fun and everything is good! I`m really happy :D 

Tomorrow we`re going to the church near the temple to have a big meeting with the new president and like four or five zones. I`m looking forward to that. 

This week I had divisions [splits] one day with an Hermana leader, Hermana Ralon. She`s super awesome. So I went to their area which is called Brizas de Golf...or something like that. The area has more money and we were lied to three times but we had fun! 

So I love youuu!!!! Have a great week :) And yeah...I`ll try to send photos now. :) 

I LOVE YOU!!

Our pizzas...we ate all of that except for two slices. Sick right? 

That`s us in our apartment with all of our clothes and sheets hanging up to dry. 

That`s the little music box I was writing about last time. With a hippo...why not??

That`s Hermana Ralon. Something to remember...God likes it when his children are happy. Sooo taking five minutes to sit on a swing...definitely okay.

So we had P-day in the church anddd there wasn't any water...like the water wasn't working in the chapel...so we were cooking hamburgers without any water to clean up afterwards...but we did the best we could to clean up...can you tell how smokey it is in that room?? Crazy right??

More photos from last P-day 
This P-day we`re going to take it really easy. We already cleaned the house, did laundry, and now we`re going to go shopping and then go back to the house to write letters and sleeeeeeeeeep...and maybe have some girl time...painting our nails??? YESSS! :D

Still in San Librada

Okay so I got a Dear Elder letter with some questions so first I`m going to respond to those and then I`ll reply to this letter. I've decided that I`m going to start with family first with emails so that I`ll be able to really read and write to you! Before I was reading all of the letters before writing my main one here. Switching things up today to see how this works. 

Soooo....questions....

1. Have you been feeling better? Fewer stomach issues? 

So in Chitre I was sick at least once a week with diarrhea and stomach pain. Here I have had the opposite problem...they give us SOOO much rice! So I've had stomach pain here at least once a week. My random flu like symptoms from last week are basically gone now. The people here said that during this season there is a lot of sickness. They said that it`s because of the weather changing. So now I have a cough that comes and goes and a bit of a runny nose every now and again but that's all. 

You`d think that because it`s so hot and humid here it`s miserable when you're sick...that`s true when you have a fever but other than that it`s great because it feels like you`re in bed!! Ha ha not really but it`s not that bad. My body is definitely adjusting to the heat. Yesterday we went to the church in Los Andes for the General Mission conference (which we watched in Spanish) There was air conditioning...I...was...FREEEEEZING! I seriously thought I was going to die. The girls that just got here from Utah were laughing at how cold we were. When we walked out of the chapel and back into the heat we were all like YAY! It seriously felt so much better in the heat. 

2. Now that you have been in Panama what are you eating? 

The members usually give us rice, chicken, and platinos...oh and beans. There`s almost always beans...which isn't too great for me because I've learned here that I don`t like beans....In the apartment I usually eat granola bars and apples. I  try not to eat too much in the casa because the members give us SO much food. 

3. What do you think of your new apartment?

It`s bigger, older, and with more bugs :) 

4. What do you do for exercise?

The other day we went to a little field and played soccer. But usually I've done a 30 min routine that I got off of Pinterest. [Before she left home.]

5. Are you finding the things you need to take care of yourself? 

Yeah they have everything you need here. Today I need to buy tampons which I`m kind of worried about. They have them here they`re just really expensive. 

6. Have you been homesick much?

I've learned that it`s okay to miss my family. Everyone here asks about my family..the missionaries, the members, and the investigators. I`m learning to always carry my photos with me. I think it`s important for people to know that I miss my family but that my family knows that I`m where I`m supposed to be and I`ll see them again soon. 

7. Is the language coming along any easier?

YES!! I understand pretty much everything and I can communicate. I know I understand more than I speak. 

8. Are you able to sleep okay? 

I sleep pretty well. I fall asleep fast. Lately I've been waking up naturally at 5..which has been kind of annoying cause it`s hard for me to fall back asleep for only one more hour. I sleep with my headband over my eyes and my arms over my ears. 

9. Anything you wish you brought but you didn't? 

I wish I brought more colorful skirts and more colorful shirts. I have a lot of black and it`s getting depressing. 

10. Anything you brought with you that you now realize you didn't need? 

All of my books in English. They've been good for my Latin companions to practice their English, but other then that...I`m glad that I brought them, especially my English scriptures, but I rarely use them and now I have to carry them around my whole mission because I want to have them after my mission. So if I could do it all again I wouldn't bother with bringing the whole missionary set in English.

I have a new companion! Hermana Alvarez has been transferred to David. My new companion is Hermana Naranjo from Ecuador! Crazy coincidence...she was in the same stake as Hermana Molina!! And I had already met her before this transfer at a Hermana`s conference. Well I had already seen her...not really met her. Another crazy thing...she was Hermana Ogles trainer!! Small world right? So we've been having a lot of fun together. She`s a really great missionary that really wants to be obedient. She`s also really funny with a great sense of humor. So we`re getting along great!! 

We work hard and come home running down the hill laughing.

The new companion of Hermana Rodas is from Utah. Her name is Hermana Falslev..or something like that. So now we`re 2 and 2!! 

This week I got mail! I was so happy :D IT was so great to read letters from home. I also got a package from a friend in mission prep! It had lots of candy and a little mission box. So at the beginning of our zone meeting I opened the little wooden box and saw that there was a "press here" sticker in the box. I pressed it and nothing happened. So I started laughing because I thought it was a joke. So I handed it to Hermana Naranjo and she pressed it and all of a sudden we heard the music to "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." So there`s a running joke in our apartment where someone will randomly push it and we`ll all start head-jamming to it.

[She sent a lot of pictures this time!]

So we had a ward activity where we did drama performances. We were trying to do the thing where you draw eyes on your chin and turn upside down...it didn't work out too well but it was still funny.

It was my first tamoli...however you spell that...haha. [tamale]

The one up there with Hermana Rodas with a thermometer in her mouth is a picture of us being sickies...well Hermana Rodas and Hermana Alvarez being sick peoples.











Some pictures of "the area"...it`s not really my area but I`m here too! haha

We had a Hermana`s conference. WOOHOO NO ELDERS!! We had a really good meeting and then celebrated an hermana's birthday. We laughed about how we put a tablecloth on the table. Welcome to Relief Society!!

Pictures at the Hermanas Conference!!

MEET HERMANA NARANJO!

For a service project we all lined up along those stairs and moved construction material so that the people all the way up there can build a house. It was hard work!

The next day we were laughing because everyone's back hurt realllllly bad.

After the service the members gave EVERYONE lunch....like lunch lunch...not refreshments..LUNCH. I was helping pass out the food. Towards the end we were passing out these little bowls and I was like ohh good I won't have to eat too much. BUT the last two bowls that she used were HUGEEEEEEE I got a picture I`ll send that too..so I swapped mine with an Elder's when he wasn't looking. He was like "What`s wrong with you?" but my stomach was happy.