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.