March 28, 2011 A week of Challenges

I am not going to lie. This week was kind of terrible. I am with Elder Peña (pain yeah) now. Elder Del Angel was taken out of the area for emergency changes to replace an elder in another area. I went into the city to pick up Elder Peña and it has fallen on my shoulders again to teach another elder the area. President Ward told me that I would be teaching him the area for these two weeks and then I would be taken out, but I think I will have to stay here another change. It is very difficult to learn an area including the members, investigators, less active members, bus routes, etc in two weeks. We worked very hard this week and just barely scratched the surface.

Elder Peña is from El Salvador. He has an incredible story. He is the only member in his entire family and a convert of 1 year and 10 months. He has 10 months out on the mission, so that means he was only a member for a year when he left for his mission. Elder Peña always has the biggest grin and he is super positive and encouraging. I really enjoy being with him.

I was bitten by a dog the other day when we went by to visit one of my recent converts. The dog came at me like a bullet and got my leg. It tore my pant leg and broke the skin. The dog was detained and we finished teaching the lesson and left. I went back to the house, washed it off and put some Neosporin on it. I do not think the dog is sick, but I read somewhere that I am supposed to watch it for ten days to see if it gets sick. Days later now, the bite looks pretty good and I don't think I will lose my leg. There is a lady in this area that sews clothes for the missionaries for free, so I will be visiting her today or tomorrow. I am afraid the mission is turning me into a dog hater.

I will not be sending photos for a bit because my camera was stolen this week. Luckily, I have tons of my photos backed up, so I really only lost the most recent ones. I sent home some of the ones that were not backed up yet as well. I do not know what I am going to do yet about obtaining another one or I don't know.

The rest of the week was great though. I am really enjoying talking with Elder Peña and hearing stories from him. I set a baptismal date for one of our investigators for the 10th of April. According to the President, I will be gone by then, but I am still ecstatic that they are getting baptized.

I like that I am always getting more comfortable with the language. I can pretty much understand anyone that talks to me as opposed to people I am used to like members and my companion.

We heard some really loud thunder on Saturday and have had some rain here. The rain makes it hotter because it sends up a hot vapor from the earth and streets. My favorite weather here is overcast without rain and a breeze. Those days are amazing.

Anyways, I enjoy hearing from everyone and hope you all have a good week.

Capacitationes en Tocumen

These pictures were posted by Hermana Ward and then copied to post here. They have been manipulated a bit to put more fill light on the faces.


Practicing with a pretty Hermana.

                                                      I believe this is the district leader.

Relaxing by the pool, after dinner. That nearby pool probably looked very inviting.

21 March 2011 -Capacitationes

I was going to send home some pictures this week, but I am using a really dumpy computer that does not have an accessible USB port.

We had training in the house of the President on Thursday. He came out dressed in tennis shoes, slacks, white shirt, obnoxious tie, bracelets, and a giant belt buckle. It was a really funny visual to get us to think about the importance of our every day appearance. I never really noticed a problem with it before, but now that I am looking around I am noticing a belt buckle or bracelet here and there. President Ward also showed us a really powerful video about reaching your full potential. It was about a football coach that blindfolded a player and made him do a difficult drill called the death crawl. The coach told him to go to the 50 yard line with another player on his back. The coach shouted and encouraged him to the end zone where the player collapsed. He thought he didn't make it to his goal of the 50 yard line, but realizes he made it to the end zone. It is hard to describe. You just have to watch it. As usual, Sister Ward made us a delicious meal. She made these awesome sweet pork tacos. I felt like I was sitting in a Cafe Rio in Utah for a moment.

I had the most interesting conversation with what must be the only Atheist in all of Tocumen. I had almost forgotten the word for atheist in Spanish. He caught me really off guard because we are so accustomed to having at least the common ground of God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible without fail. We really couldn't do anything besides share our own testimonies that God exists. The odd thing was that his wife and one of his sons are members of our church. I could tell the guy reads a lot. He was recounting historical events and scientific experiments. He started telling us the faults of religion and of all these different churches. We finally pointed out that we can only be accountable for our church of its teachings. I have found that a lot in the mission: that people want us to explain why some things are the way they are in other churches. I left the whole experience feeling really sorry for him. We will still visit from time to time and hopefully one day a miracle will happen. I am relieved that we do not go around trying to prove a theory with historical stories or facts. We simply invite others to find out for themselves and teach those that are willing to learn.

Love,

Elder Whiting

March 14, 2011

I have finally decided on my missionary hairstyle. I had been trying different things each day with some gel another missionary left in the house. I will leave you holding your breath in anticipation for pictures. Although I will describe it as a calmed down Donald Trump.

 

I had so much fun reading the emails from Sister Webb and Elder Lindelof. I can relate to many of their experiences. First with Sister Webb, I certainly teach a lot more women than men. Alcohol is a major problem here as well with the men. It is cheaper than water and more abundantly available. We also have a lot of inactive members in our ward. Wow, Elder Lindelof was so funny! I am really glad we do not have inspections on our house. It would utterly fail in the States, but I don't know what they would have to say about the cockroaches in our house or the filth that welcomes their breeding. I love the "miracle finds" he referred to. One reference or someone contacting us like that is worth about 20 contacts we do. I laughed forever when I read his email. Our experiences share more in common than I would have guess. I also enjoy people trying to speak in English to me and have heard some pretty crazy stories from people as well.

 

We are still working with Marcos and Ruben to prepare them for their baptisms. They are both set for the end of this month. I really enjoy working with them since, as I mentioned before,more of our teaching opportunities are with women.

 

Elder Del Angel and I were sick earlier in the week, but we are all better now. I am starting to think the vitamins I am taking are just sugar pills.

 

Schools and Carnivals

Dear Family,

 

School started last Monday for everyone from kindergarten to college. Every school has their own uniform, but for the most part it includes a white dress shirt and dark pants. As you can imagine, they look a lot like missionaries. We keep getting stopped by the police and asked for identification because we get mistaken for students ditching school. Most stores will not let us enter until we explain that we are actually missionaries. It used to be really easy to spot other missionaries when we get together, but now we have to come up with a really specific meeting place. Their school buses are the same ones we ride around (diablo rojos), so they are even more packed. A few smaller yellow airport shuttle looking buses also make their rounds to pick up the younger children.

 

Carnivals also started and lasts until Thursday. I would describe it as a mixture between Lord of the Flies, Spring Break, and Sodom and Gomorrah. During these four days or so anyone can legally throw water on you. They also walk around with eggs and other projectiles to throw. Even with my extensive knowledge of back roads, alleys, and member safe houses, we still get pretty messed up. We do not mind though. The water was actually a welcome refreshment. My area is not too bad. Most of the action takes place in the interior in places like las tablas and Chitre. I think they even take missionaries out of Chitre for the week. Mom and I also took every precaution to get the most waterproof stuff available on the market. I thought it would come in handy for the rain. Who knew. I have not taken that many pictures and the craziness for obvious reasons. The picture I did snap is of a checkpoint set up by a group of kids in Sector Sur (Sector South) to get anyone who passes by. Everyone has this time off of work and school.

 

Dad, I did not know what I was passing by at least four times a week until you gave it a name. I am referring to the Tocumen marsh area. I think you would like it. During the day it is alive with all sorts of birds and at night the noise is deafening with frog croaking. There must be thousands of them. The birds here really do not look that much different from the ones back home and in Utah. Are there any spotted woodpeckers here? I saw a bird going at a telephone pole that sure looked and sounded like one.

 

The Mullens package got here. It was amazing and had exactly what I needed. I am working on a letter to send them, but I would appreciate it if you would let them know it got here safely and that I am thankful for it.

 

Three missionaries are leaving from the ward here this week. They are all very excited. The ward threw them a crazy going away party with music, food, and dancing. We dropped by since our dinner appointment at the same house.

 

Anyways, I hope you have fun with the girls at Disney World. Will you be stopping by the Kennedy Space Center at all? I certainly have good memories from both places. Disney is so fun with little kids.

 

Love,

 

Elder Whiting