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