24 de Octubre

 

 

 

Dear Family,

We had interviews this week with President Ward. My interview was really short. I was told my companion would probably be leaving at the end of this change, and I would stay in the area to teach the replacement elder.

We had baptisms on Friday and Saturday. They were all confirmed on Sunday. I always like to ask people after their baptisms how they felt coming out of the water because they always have a special experience. I was happy a bunch of members came to support the service and filled the room to the back. Everyone was really happy. All of the people that were baptized were references from members. It just goes to show the value of working with the members. Every missionary that has been here a while knows that contacting turns up very little. My baptism is a fuzzy memory. I just remember being with Andrew Sewell and then changing out of my wet clothes afterwards, and that dad baptized me.

We have been getting a lot of rain. The Sunday before last it rained nonstop and then off and on throughout the whole week.

Have a good week everyone.

Love,

Elder Whiting

October 17, 2011

We enjoyed a lot of success this week in the zone and in our area. We have three baptisms scheduled for this week in our area and a lot more in the zone. We have been running around everywhere trying to track down baptismal clothing and getting it to the areas that need it. We also have to make sure everyone is filling out the proper forms and getting them to us. We have the goal of 18 baptisms for the month of October and are quickly approaching that goal. I appreciate all of the hard workers in the zone.

The church distribution store sent a mobile unit out here and set up shop in the stake center for several days. Orders take forever in the interior, so we took advantage of the opportunity to go buy everything we need. I bought a lot of videos that are good to show people. I was disappointed they did not have any HLJ rings for sale. I had a CTR ring a long time ago, but eventually outgrew it. I never got around to buying one since then. All they had were the cheap little kid ones. I bought one of those Book of Mormon stories comic books that Emery and Campbell read with the intention of giving it to some little kid, but started reading it instead. I thought it was pretty interesting.

I got a call the other day from my trainer Elder Voss. I cannot believe he is dying this change. It will be so weird when he leaves. I have a lot of good memories with him. He was a really good trainer. I am starting to feel so old in the mission. A ton of new people are coming that I do not know, and a lot of my old friends have gone home or are going home within the next few changes. It kind of feels like junior high or even high school as all of the upperclassmen begin to leave. How strange...

Love,

Elder Whiting

 

Elder Whiting answered a few of my questions.  His companion is from Ecuador and they have been able to work well together.

He loves his new area David and the air is very clean being so far from the city.

They have a cook for lunch on Tues. through Sat.  This is common in most areas to try and improve the nutrition as there was way too much starch.

He is happy and healthy and working hard!  We appreciate his service and we have seen many blessings.

Love, Lori

10 October 2011

This week all of the zone leaders had consejos in the house of the president. We reported our accomplishments and talked about new goals. The assistants taught several good lessons. We left Tuesday after district meeting and lunch to undertake the 8 hour bus ride again. We arrived around 10 at night and stayed in the assistant's house. Hna Wards cooking is so good. She had cereal and a baked bread for us to eat for breakfast. For lunch we had boiled potatoes with toppings to put whatever we wanted on them and bbq chicken. I always stuff my face with broccoli and carrots. I never thought I would crave vegetables so much. It was fun to see all of my friends from the mission. Elder Biesinger my comp from the MTC is the new office secretary. He brought us all of the mail for our zone to take back. My package came! Thanks for all the awesome stuff. I got a ton of mail too so thanks. I love it.

 

It has been raining nonstop here. Usually it will rain one day and then we get a break, so I get away with rotating shoes and letting them dry, but now I am not getting the chance. We rigged up a drying station with fans blasting our shoes. Putting them behind the refrigerator also works on some models, but not ours. We have been on foot these last couple days because the front tire on my bike got a flat two times. I decided to buy a new tire since the current one is pretty old. The tire and the tube cannot take any more holes. Luckily we do not have to change or repair the tires. There is a little shop really close to our house that does it for cheap. When it rains here the roads pretty much turn into rivers. Anywhere there is a "t" Two big trenches are dug into where the intersecting road crosses the main road, so I bet we have looked pretty ridiculous getting a running start and leaping over all the flooded areas. A lot of times I do not completely reach the other side and end up splashing into the trenches. This was a good week. A lot of our investigators are taking critical steps by reading the Book of Mormon, accepting baptismal dates, or praying, or all of them. Elder Villacres has taught me about pleading your cause to the Lord with specific, righteous desires and the help you need to accomplish those desires (goals). We have really seen His help this week as we strive to do our best and work hard, He does the rest.

3 Octubre 2011

 

 

Today we are in Boquete for pday. The weather is really nice here. I sent a picture of a family we helped get married and the other two pictures are pictures I took on the way here. It is really relaxing to be here in the cooler climate. I feel weird not sweating.

Now I am going to try to attempt to answer the questions that I remember. Elder Villacres has about 20 months in the mission. I think he became zone leader when he arrived here 3 months ago, so he has the hang of it. My 8 hour bus ride thankfully was not in a diablo rojo. We came up in a tourist bus with air conditioning and everything. I am in Barrio 3A. I think lds.org has a ward search capability to see the boundaries. I am assigned an area about 5 min by taxi from the city center.

Conference was really fun. We were pleased to have five investigators show up. A couple of them have dates to be baptized this month, and we will soon be putting dates with the rest. I watched most of it in English. They stuck us in the kitchen with a dinky fan for all of us and a little tv. People kept coming in asking if we knew where the bathroom was or something else. I tried listening to one talk in Spanish and did just fine too.

I really liked the talk about just looking up. I was really confused by Elder Ballards talk about using the church name. I remember an earlier talk saying it was ok to use Mormon since others are more familiar with the name, and now we are supposed to use the official name? I came away with the impression that when talking about us as a people it is ok to use Mormon, but when talking about the actual church to use the official name, and whenever possible avoid confusion between the other "splinter sects" of the church like polygamists. I do not know. I thought it was strange. Again I missed dad during the Priesthood session. I think that is now three in a row without him, one in college and two on the mission.

There was some worry that there might be a demonstration in front of the chapel, but nothing happened.

This week we helped a couple get married and set the date for another couple to get married. It is fun to be teaching complete families since that does not happen often.

I love you guys. Have a great week.

Elder Whiting

He also mentioned that he and Elder Villacres are living alone in a house. He said it is great except for no water.

Boquette [from our Panama map]- Settled in 1911, the town of Boquete is renowned for its pleasant climate, oranges, and festival of flowers and coffee. The western highlands contain extensive cloud rain forest. A visit includes birdwatching, hiking to waterfalls. It is also at the end of the sorta good roadway. Also to the west of the roadway Volcan Baru and the streams coming down it.