Well Done, Elder Whiting

These pictures were posted on the Panama mission blog by Sis. Ward. They had dinner with the departing missionaries on Wednesday evening and accompany them to the airport early on Thursday morning.


Last dinner with President and Sister Ward




at the departure counter - Tocumen airport


At the Sacramento airport.
Lots of excitement to see Elder Whiting return from Panama.
Due to some problems leaving San Blas, he only had part of one day in Panama City prior to departure for the United States.

Pam Peterson made this sign, it was hanging over the front door

President Sean Murphy extended a release that evening. He also had a wonderful discussion with Elder Whiting and us.

13 de agosto

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in the confirmation of Josue. Elder Rose said the actual prayer and Horacio also participated. The family of Josue showed up as well. His father has been inactive for many years, and his mom is not a member. It has been nice to see the dad of Josue showing interest again in the church. Both of his parents and his hilarious grandmother actively participated in the lessons while we were teaching Josue.

 

His mother has expressed her desire to be baptized several times but is having trouble feeling like she is ready. We will now begin teaching Josue the new member lessons and continuing to help his family as well.

 

We have been seeing some intense protesting here recently from the kunas and the teachers here. From what I could gather, the teachers have not been getting paid lately, and it is causing problems. They blocked off anyone from crossing the only bridge to the mainland (where the school is). Luckily the protest did not last through Sunday because the church is on the other side too!

 

A group of kids took advantage of the absence of people on the other side to sneak across in a canoe and steal all of the cookies from the school. I got a good laugh out of that.

 

The mom of Ibeth died Saturday, so Ibeth was devastated. They left early this morning heading for Panama and will not be back until Thursday or Friday to visit family and see the burial. My companion and I came to the realization that we will be figuring out how to bucket wash our clothes in her absence. It should not be too hard to do.

 

Note to mom) I am not sure if the package came or not. I will have to check when we get back to the city.

 

I love you. Take care.

 

Elder Whiting

Surprise!

Dear Family,

 

I bet you were not expecting to hear from me on San Blas. I guess it was inevitable that the Internet would arrive to all four corners of the Earth as sure as the gospel. AT&T Cable and Wireless Panama recently installed a fancy, new satellite in front of the police station. You have to have your own computer though, so I have been trying to get someone to lend us their laptop since last Monday. Finally one of the students (President Ultimiños daughter) let us use hers. The Internet is pretty bad and the signal comes and goes, but it works. I am going to try to get one for next Monday, but we will see.

 

Elder Rose and I have been having a great change. Yesterday we baptized Josue Lombardo, a reference from Horacio the second counselor in the presidency. We usually have them on Saturday in order to hold the confirmation on Sunday, but not all of the family was going to be able to make it on that day. Then on Sunday a teenager that has started coming regularly this change came up to me and asked what she needed to do to be baptized! No matter how many times that happens, it always drops my jaw.

 

We started eating with the members on Sundays and sharing a message with them. It has been great to get to know everyone more, and I think it is really strengthening them. When the list was passed around in Relief Society one really humble sister did not have enough food to feed us and her family but signed up anyway. Right before we came over, her brother from another island visited her and brought a big cooler full of fish and four bundles of platanos. She bore her testimony yesterday in church about the blessings of feeding the missionaries. It was really touching. I felt really bad though. When we came up with the idea we emphasized that the purpose was not necessarily the food, but instead about us going into the homes and strengthening the members with a message. I am glad she was blessed though for her faith.

 

Did you get my letters? I sent out some postcards and letters in envelopes about two weeks ago via preferred mail here. I want to make sure they are not just pocketing my money. It was supposed to be "really fast" if I sent them that way.

 

I love you guys. Thanks for all of your letters and emails. The office sent me my airplane ticket via email yikes! What is that doing there? Even if it is real, that almost 9 hrs of combined flying time must be a mistake. haha. Hasta luego.

 

Love,

Elder Whiting