25 April 2011

This week kicked off with a service project. We cleaned up one the of local schools here by cutting the surrounding grass by weed wacker, bagging the clippings and throwing them away. I thought we would rake all of the waste into a pile and burn it like everyone else does, but we disposed of it responsibly. There was a lot of trash, especially in the front of the school where the students come and go. The school is bilingual and many of the students know English, so they were practicing on me. I am wearing a neutral Milan jersey to avoid the Barcelona vs Real Madrid feud here.

We noticed a lot of traditions here during Holy Week like the burning of incense and restricting the consumption of meat to only fish. Everyone we visited was watching bible stories on t.v. Apparently every channel was running them. On Sunday, we went to the Stake Center to watch the Salt Lake transmission of the birth of Jesus and His resurrection. I do not normally appreciate theater type productions, but this one was interesting. Was there one in English? This one appeared to cast mostly Latin actors and it looked like they were actually speaking Spanish as opposed to a voice over.

I had a really funny experience on Tuesday. We were walking to our district meeting when this homeless guy dressed like disco Moses came walking down the street with a staff and everything. He told us that he was like Jobe and had lost everything. We started talking to him about church when he spotted my companions watch and demanded it. When my companion refused it, he started chasing us for a couple blocks only to stop and continue shouting after us. I have met some really interesting people here. Drunk, homeless guys stop all the time and talk to us. The surprising thing is that most of them speak pretty good English. It is too bad they forget it all when they are sober.

The church is working on starting an EFY program here in Panama starting January. As soon as they found out I participated in EFY in the states, I was recruited to be on the advisory board. I have been going around to all of the ward councils in the stake to talk about my experience in the program.

I have been serving as the ward pianist my ward. I am actually playing on a real piano here as opposed to a keyboard in Tocumen. I never did master the pedal though, so I guess it does not really matter.

I hope everyone has a good week.

18 April 2011

'Home'

Being married and baptized today.

Dear Family,

The highlight of my week was Wednesday when a family in our area was married and baptized in the same day. Their wedding was very simple and quiet, but they were both very happy. The family requested that Elder Hanslan baptize them, so Elder Hanslan came back to this area for the evening to baptize them with his companion Elder Del Angel (my old companion). They were confirmed this last Sunday. The husband is really funny. He loves the Book of Mormon and is already starting into the second half of Alma. They are a wonderful addition into our ward.

As far as I can tell, Easter will not be celebrated here. Instead, I was told it will be a holy week filled with superstitious practices. For example, you cannot leave the house or you will have bad luck forever and stuff like that. I continue to notice the superstition in general here. I have met many people that are absolutely convinced that witches exist. They also have a lot of interesting medical advice for us that we promptly discard. My favorites include not ironing after it rains because you will get chills and waiting an hour before dressing after showers.

Unfortunately, the heat has returned, but at least I do not have to worry about mountains of mud for now. The weather here is so weird. One minute it will be really hot and the sun will be shining, and the next moment it is raining. Then the rain will stop and we get a dose of hot vapor in our faces.

My companion Elder Estrada tells me he is from Guatemala City, the capital. This seems to be very common for the missionaries from Guatemala.

There does not seem to be a scouting program in place here. The most common youth activity here is soccer leagues.

Thank you for all of your letters and emails.

Love,

Elder Whiting

Changes

 Packed and ready to leave Tocumen

Dear Family,

 

You guessed right. I had changes this last Wednesday. I am in Chorrera now. The area is called La Seda, and we live in Tuliweka. My new companion is from Guatemala and was interested to learn I have traveled there. His name is Elder Estrada. We get along just fine, but he is not as big of a talker as my previous companions.

I really like the area I am in right now. There are tons of hills. Next week I am going to send a picture of the hill that makes all of the missionaries cry. Tocumen was a relatively flat area. That is probably why they built the airport there. We have been walking through a lot of mud because it has been raining practically non-stop since I got here. It looks like we have officially entered the rainy season. There is a lot of clay in the mud here so it sticks to our shoes and forms a second sole making our shoes significantly heavier. I never thought I would say this, but we have been freezing this week. The rain is uncharacteristically cold right now and there has not been any sun due to the cloud cover. Usually it is hotter when it rains because it promptly rises as vapor. This area looks and feels more like Costa Rica than Panama.

We share the stake center with two other wards. We meet at 945 in the morning which is an unusual time for me. The ward I am serving in has an attendance of about 110 members. I really like the bishop here. He is a young guy, about 30. He served a mission here in Panama¨when Panamanians were still serving in their own country. He is really organized and has good ideas for us. Our mission leader is only 19 years old and preparing to serve a mission. He taught a really good lesson in the investigator class this last Sunday. There are a lot of enthusiastic young men that are willing to go out with us here.

There is a stronger interest here shown by the people here to learn English. I had five different members walk up to me at church and ask me how to pronounce a certain word or how a certain phrase is formed. I think part of my assignment here in the future will be teaching English classes. Some Elders in the other areas already have classes. Also, no one knows how to play the piano here, so it has been sitting there collecting dust. It looks like I will start playing again.

I hope everyone has a good week.

Love,

 

Elder Whiting

Beginning of April

Dear Family,

 

Conference was a really cool experience. I have discovered what a great missionary tool conference is. At first our investigators would not want to go since I have fallen asleep in just about every conference of my life except in the MTC and this last one. Several of our investigators accepted however and came. They all really liked it and decided to stay for other sessions. I felt really bad for one of our investigators that came up to me afterwards and asked me if it was alright that she does not have a husband because she saw so many families sitting together and eternal marriage was a big theme of the conference. They stuck all of the English speakers in a separate room on Saturday and in a closet office on Sunday. I especially enjoyed the talk the surgeon gave on the necessity of pain for personal growth and the talk on the difference between to be and to do. The attendance was sparse on Saturday, but the stake center overflowed on Sunday. During the Priesthood session I got a little sentimental (likewise during the one in the MTC) since I was not attending it with my father.

 

I had a fun time buying a new camera. There is a little shopping center in our zone called los pueblos that is like a rundown Folsom Outlets. All of the little shops are competing so you can get much better deals than in other locations. It was fun haggling prices. I told one merchant how a guy across the walkway had given me a better deal. The guy exclaimed that he knew the guy and that he would "go to the devil" before he was bested by him. I had to do a lot of walking until I found what I thought was the best deal. They threw in a memory card, case, took off the tax and had the lowest price of everyone. I am really happy with it and think it takes good pictures.

 

We lost power Saturday night when we returned to the house. At first I was worried because I saw that some surrounding houses still had power, and I have seen too many scary movies where the killer cuts the power than runs in and kills everyone. I found my flashlight and went out to check the fuzebox like they do in the scary movies. I observed that none of them were blown and that other houses did not have power. I remembered the story of one of the Favero boys mowing the lawn at night after procrastinating it with a flashlight in each armpit. I employed a similar technique to get ready for bed. Showering was interesting too in the dim light of my flashlight. Everything was manageable though. I did not realize how bad our situation was until I went to turn on my fan for the night and realized that it is run by electricity too! So that was my little adventure. Power was restored the following night. I realized how many things I use require power like my shaver, toothbrush, camera, fan, and lights. I am thankful that I am constantly reminded of the things I take for granted.

 

I still do not know if I am leaving Tocumen. I will find out Tuesday night.

 

The pictures are of me teaching a member how to make brownies with my companion, conference, and zone pictures.

 

Love,

 

Elder Whiting

Elder Whiting and his companion, Elder Pena