Hola - Week 9

Dear family,

This computer is telling me that I am spelling everything wrong. I guess it is set to Spanish. I have arrived in Panama just fine and have met my new trainer. His name is Elder Voss. He is from Reno, Nevada. I am in Tocumen I think. We are only approximately 15 minutes from the capital. President Ward and his wife are great people. I really enjoyed my time with them. You will not see a picture of us by the temple. Since we arrived on a Tuesday instead of a Monday, we did not have time. We did take a picture by one of the churches though. I did not interview with him either. He said we would learn along the way. 

We have two investigators. We are trying to get one pair of investigators married right now. Apparently it is expensive and complicated. We had dinner with the bishop last night. Chicken and rice of course. His wife made a really good juice by combining orange and apple juice. The bishop asked me about the gold mines in California, and I started talking about the Book of Mormon thinking he meant the gold plates. I have not felt well since that dinner. I am anticipating some problems.

I wish I had brought my camera. I took some pictures of the house I am staying in. I got lucky for my first apartment they say because it is relatively nice. I took a cold shower last night, but that was just fine because it is super hot here.

It rains constantly here. The first thing I unpacked was my poncho. We have been riding those crazy chicken buses everywhere because they taxis are more expensive. They cost 25 cents.

We get $245 a month on our cards. However we are only allowed to withdraw $100. The rest we can only spend if they accept the card. This is really rare as most places only deal with cash and coin. The biggest store in our area is a chino which is a chinese owned little garage. Inside, I saw pig heads and other meat on hooks. They sell glass bottled beverages and other snacks. They do not accept cards so I doubt we can find anywhere that does. You have to go into the city to find stores that can afford card swipe equipment.

Our area is very poor. Most people are living in cinder block houses or worse. There are dogs and cats everywhere that do not look like they have owners. It is a little scary to walk around after dark. Robberies are rare, but the reported ones are usually at gun point. My companion knows the area very well though and he zigzags us around so we stay in safer areas.

We had my first zone conference today in the church. They talked about using the Book of Mormon in our teaching.

I enjoyed the chance I had to talk with you in the airport. I love you.

Elder Whiting