26 de diciembre

Thanks to everyone for waking up early to talk to me. I had such a fun time talking on skype. It is always good to actually see the family and remember part of the reason I am out here. We are always told to keep in mind everything we represent as missionaries (Jesus Christ, the church, our families, etc). Everyone looked great. It is funny and shocking to see how everyone changes after a gap of time, especially the little ones. My companion was always able to skype with his family, so I was able to meet some of them.

 

Christmas Eve was pretty eventful. I talked to the family in the morning on skype. Then we went with the zone to Boquete to sing Christmas hymns to investigators and less active members in the area. We exchanged our secret santa gifts. I got a plunger, toilet paper, chocolates, and cookies. I was like uhh...cool....thanks. I was joking with my companion afterwards that someone must think I am full of crud haha. Then the person heard and said it was just a joke. We all had a good laugh at the gift.

It was raining pretty hard when we first got there, so we were running around. They were really pretty gracious about letting us into their houses to sing even though we were dripping. It was neat to see how grateful everyone was for our visit.

The picture with the rainbow was taken in Boquete after it stopped raining. Christmas Day we were invited to several houses to eat traditional foods such as pork with rice and guandu. I tried to stay up until midnight to see all of the fireworks but fell asleep. I only saw the devastating aftermath of sulfur, cardboard, and paper. Maybe I will make it for New Years. Last year was amazing. My companion was really grateful for the gifts that were sent to him in my packages. He keeps putting on the tie mom sent him and looking at it. He says his "uncle Whiting" sent it to him and loves it.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the awesome letters and packages. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I love you guys.

 

Love,

Elder Whiting

19 de diciembre

 

Tomorrow will complete my first week in Barrio 2 and in the new area. The room we are staying in is VERY tiny. I think I am going to get to know Elder Calderon very well. He is from Nicaragua and has about 18 months in the mission. He came from Tocumen to join me as zone leader here. The shower is super cold! I have no idea why it is so cold. I think it might be on the same line as Boquette or Volcan. I have actually considered not showering haha, but then I feel sticky and gross leading me to reconsider. We made the beds into sketchy bunk beds to give us more space and organized a bit. The owner is a super nice member. She is quick to help us with anything and washes our clothes. I am starting to get used to that. I am going to be bummed out when I have to start doing that again.

 

On Saturday we had our mission party and Stake Christmas Devotional. The mission party was fun. I am glad it is over though because that was a big source of stress for me. President Ward gave us all really cool molas with the new mission logo on it that I will send home. We sang the 12 days of Christmas and watched various talents from my zone, Concepcion, and Bocas. President Ward said something interesting that because the human race creates so many things (airplanes, cars, skyscrapers, sliced bread, etc) wouldn't it make sense that we are all children of a Master Creator? The Stake Christmas Devotional was neat. The stake choir sang, and we listened to some very interesting talks.

 

Merry Christmas everyone and have a great week. I love you guys and look forward to talking to everyone.

 

Love,

Elder Whiting

12 de diciembre

We left Monday night to arrive in Panama Tuesday morning because I had immigrations. That will be the last time I will go through that in my mission because the ID visas last for a year. I was not there very long. I just had to take my picture again and sign my card before they laminated it. They wanted me to go a week earlier, but I called and asked if I could knock everything out in one trip since we also had consejos in Panama this week. The rest of the day Tuesday President Ward gave Elder Mapa permission to visit some of his old areas since he is going home. I attached a couple of pictures from our visit to Tocumen. He was also "born" there. I had so much fun visiting everyone there. It was so strange going back to an area. We also went to San Miguelito and A. Dias. I have never been to those areas, so it was kind of boring for me. Our visits confirmed to me that I definitely want to come back after the mission and take more time to visit all of my areas. Wednesday we had consejos in the mission home. When we picked up mail I saw that I had all of these green letters and was wondering what they were all for. When I started opening all of them up I read that they all made a Christmas tree. I thought that was so funny. I think I am missing one or put it together wrong. It took me a while to figure out how they all fit together. Anyways, thanks to everyone that wrote to me, and thanks Morgan for thinking of that. It was awesome.

 

For Christmas we are going to sing our own version of the 12 days of Christmas. We have already designed some posters to hold up, and now we just have to teach the Latins in own zone how to sing it. I was put in charge of making all of the arrangements for the party in the interior (David, Concepcion, Bocas del Toro, etc). I have been pulling my hair out trying to find someone that can cook for everyone and find somewhere to have it. There is an activity in the stake center that day and our chapel is going to be undergoing construction/remodeling. That is the tough thing about being a zl in David. Since it is central to the other zones the planning for things like zone conference, interviews, and parties falls on our shoulders.

 

We have finalized our divisions with the other companionship in Barrio 2 to learn the areas of each other. This Wednesday I will be moving all of my things over to there house, and they will haul all of there stuff here. It is going to be really hard to leave this area especially since we have like five people that are going to get baptized. We worked super hard there. I always think of the saints when they were crossing the plains how they planted crops knowing they were never going to harvest them, but did it anyways to feed the people that would follow after. What was that? camp far west? winter quarters?

 

I hope everyone has a great week. I still have not found anywhere to skype from here, so this year might be a phone call. I will keep looking though and keep my fingers crossed. Maybe something will turn up in this new area. I love you guys.

 

Love,

Elder Whiting

Consejo de lideres de Zona

Orginally posted by Hna. Ward on the mission blog.

5 de diciembre

Last night I got to see the Christmas devotional. Even though I understood everything, I did not like the voice over translation. It is so much better to actually hear their voices. I really liked the comments of President Monson about the books he reads right before Christmas. I have never read the one about the mansions, but A Christmas Tale has always held a powerful message for me.

Something I do not remember seeing much last year is Christmas trees, but here a lot of people have them along with a nativity. This year I am also seeing more stockings and Christmas lights on the houses (some were already on the house from last year it appears but are now being turned on).

 

Love,

Elder Whiting

 

We also learned that he has been ill during the week and taking Pepto-Bismol. He only 'rested' at home for one hour while ill.
Each of the above pictures appears to show current or recent rainfall.