Church at Playon Chico

Classrooms at the Church. Seminary and English instruction here is also done by the missionaries.

The main meeting area.

Landward and front of the Church

As you can see the building is over the waters of the Caribbean.

Home on the Caribbean

Lunch in the hotel [a rare treat] which is owned by a Kuna man. This is the main tourist lodging.

The Kuna Congress holds their governing meetings here.

The missionaries live here. No one lives on the ground floor and you can see the often noisy dog tied beneath their home.

Cooking.

Home

This is Elder Whiting's hammock. The shower is outside and downstairs. The talented land lady does a good job with all the laundry. The blue tarp inside is to catch some of the rainwater and direct it towards the sides.
Electricity is by solar panel and a car battery, so it is very limited.

Stairs viewed from the second floor room.

Companions having a meal in Panama City at the Hard Rock Cafe I believe.

Toilet and yes that is the Caribbean that is visible below.

Going to San Blas

Small plane for the flight to Playon Chico

Panama City

Playon Chico and the island where Elder Whiting is living. The airport can be seen to the far right. The chapel is just above the end of the bridge on the right side.

Airport - the TSA location is ???

This bridge goes from the mainland to this island and is walked daily by Elder Whiting. Foot traffic only.

Sunset

San Blas

I have been talking a bit with a few of you already, but I want to fill in everyone on how I am doing. My first change on Playon Chico, San Blas has been amazing. I am going to start off answering some questions.

 

How do you wash clothes?

All of the clothes on the island are washed by hand and in buckets. We are very fortunate because the hermana we rent from washes all of our clothes for 10 dollars the whole change. I always laugh because she makes us buy soap too which she uses to wash our clothes in addition to all of the clothes of her entire family. The arrangement is still really nice though. She is so talented. I do not know how she got the inside of my collars white again. They look brand new. Unfortunately, most of the inhabitants on the island cook with fire, so sometimes when our clothes are hanging out to dry the neighbors smoke all around us makes them smell like campfire.

Do tourists come to the Island?

Tourists come to our island all the time. There is a kuna owned hotel really close by (maybe 5 min in boat with a motor) that they all stay at. They come to our island in the evening around 4pm and stay for 1 1/2 to 2 hours touring the island and buying handcrafts. We help the ones that do not speak Spanish sometimes, but they usually have a translator that follows the group around. Most of the tourists come from Europe, the states, and Columbia. They are always curious about us, so it is nice to talk with them.

Are there any stores there to buy any food in?

I have found three main stores on the island so far. They do not really sell very much though. If you are willing to pay for it, they do offer cold juices and sodas. You can buy fresh baked bread pretty much anywhere on the island. Poeple are pretty much constantly making it after 2pm. It is so so good. Other than that they have spam, oatmeal, eggs, butter, and other random things. The longer I am there, the more I find I can buy on the island.

 

We are the only elders that live with a member family on our island. The elders on the other islands live in the church. Timoteo is the dad. Everyone calls him Timo. His wife is called Ibeth. They have three daughters. An older one I have not met but will this change, Ileen (16 years old), and Gebeth (Hey Beth). She is 9 years old. They have two ugly dogs named Mursia and Principe (Prince in English) that bark all the time. After writing this I realise how much I miss them right now. They are really special people. Timo is the second counselor in the branch presidency.

 

Ibeth cooks lunch for us every day. Most days she will make a traditional soup called tulimasi which consists of fish, yucca, and platanos. Other days she will make spam and rice or a spin off of tulimasi with a chicken wing instead of fish. She will also make fried platanos sometimes. They love hot chocolate too which they make with nesquick and powdered milk.

 

Anyways, email me some more questions since I am probably missing a lot. I will send pictures tomorrow. I love you guys.

 

Love,

Elder Whiting.