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