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

March 28, 2011 A week of Challenges

I am not going to lie. This week was kind of terrible. I am with Elder Peña (pain yeah) now. Elder Del Angel was taken out of the area for emergency changes to replace an elder in another area. I went into the city to pick up Elder Peña and it has fallen on my shoulders again to teach another elder the area. President Ward told me that I would be teaching him the area for these two weeks and then I would be taken out, but I think I will have to stay here another change. It is very difficult to learn an area including the members, investigators, less active members, bus routes, etc in two weeks. We worked very hard this week and just barely scratched the surface.

Elder Peña is from El Salvador. He has an incredible story. He is the only member in his entire family and a convert of 1 year and 10 months. He has 10 months out on the mission, so that means he was only a member for a year when he left for his mission. Elder Peña always has the biggest grin and he is super positive and encouraging. I really enjoy being with him.

I was bitten by a dog the other day when we went by to visit one of my recent converts. The dog came at me like a bullet and got my leg. It tore my pant leg and broke the skin. The dog was detained and we finished teaching the lesson and left. I went back to the house, washed it off and put some Neosporin on it. I do not think the dog is sick, but I read somewhere that I am supposed to watch it for ten days to see if it gets sick. Days later now, the bite looks pretty good and I don't think I will lose my leg. There is a lady in this area that sews clothes for the missionaries for free, so I will be visiting her today or tomorrow. I am afraid the mission is turning me into a dog hater.

I will not be sending photos for a bit because my camera was stolen this week. Luckily, I have tons of my photos backed up, so I really only lost the most recent ones. I sent home some of the ones that were not backed up yet as well. I do not know what I am going to do yet about obtaining another one or I don't know.

The rest of the week was great though. I am really enjoying talking with Elder Peña and hearing stories from him. I set a baptismal date for one of our investigators for the 10th of April. According to the President, I will be gone by then, but I am still ecstatic that they are getting baptized.

I like that I am always getting more comfortable with the language. I can pretty much understand anyone that talks to me as opposed to people I am used to like members and my companion.

We heard some really loud thunder on Saturday and have had some rain here. The rain makes it hotter because it sends up a hot vapor from the earth and streets. My favorite weather here is overcast without rain and a breeze. Those days are amazing.

Anyways, I enjoy hearing from everyone and hope you all have a good week.

Capacitationes en Tocumen

These pictures were posted by Hermana Ward and then copied to post here. They have been manipulated a bit to put more fill light on the faces.


Practicing with a pretty Hermana.

                                                      I believe this is the district leader.

Relaxing by the pool, after dinner. That nearby pool probably looked very inviting.

21 March 2011 -Capacitationes

I was going to send home some pictures this week, but I am using a really dumpy computer that does not have an accessible USB port.

We had training in the house of the President on Thursday. He came out dressed in tennis shoes, slacks, white shirt, obnoxious tie, bracelets, and a giant belt buckle. It was a really funny visual to get us to think about the importance of our every day appearance. I never really noticed a problem with it before, but now that I am looking around I am noticing a belt buckle or bracelet here and there. President Ward also showed us a really powerful video about reaching your full potential. It was about a football coach that blindfolded a player and made him do a difficult drill called the death crawl. The coach told him to go to the 50 yard line with another player on his back. The coach shouted and encouraged him to the end zone where the player collapsed. He thought he didn't make it to his goal of the 50 yard line, but realizes he made it to the end zone. It is hard to describe. You just have to watch it. As usual, Sister Ward made us a delicious meal. She made these awesome sweet pork tacos. I felt like I was sitting in a Cafe Rio in Utah for a moment.

I had the most interesting conversation with what must be the only Atheist in all of Tocumen. I had almost forgotten the word for atheist in Spanish. He caught me really off guard because we are so accustomed to having at least the common ground of God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible without fail. We really couldn't do anything besides share our own testimonies that God exists. The odd thing was that his wife and one of his sons are members of our church. I could tell the guy reads a lot. He was recounting historical events and scientific experiments. He started telling us the faults of religion and of all these different churches. We finally pointed out that we can only be accountable for our church of its teachings. I have found that a lot in the mission: that people want us to explain why some things are the way they are in other churches. I left the whole experience feeling really sorry for him. We will still visit from time to time and hopefully one day a miracle will happen. I am relieved that we do not go around trying to prove a theory with historical stories or facts. We simply invite others to find out for themselves and teach those that are willing to learn.

Love,

Elder Whiting

March 14, 2011

I have finally decided on my missionary hairstyle. I had been trying different things each day with some gel another missionary left in the house. I will leave you holding your breath in anticipation for pictures. Although I will describe it as a calmed down Donald Trump.

 

I had so much fun reading the emails from Sister Webb and Elder Lindelof. I can relate to many of their experiences. First with Sister Webb, I certainly teach a lot more women than men. Alcohol is a major problem here as well with the men. It is cheaper than water and more abundantly available. We also have a lot of inactive members in our ward. Wow, Elder Lindelof was so funny! I am really glad we do not have inspections on our house. It would utterly fail in the States, but I don't know what they would have to say about the cockroaches in our house or the filth that welcomes their breeding. I love the "miracle finds" he referred to. One reference or someone contacting us like that is worth about 20 contacts we do. I laughed forever when I read his email. Our experiences share more in common than I would have guess. I also enjoy people trying to speak in English to me and have heard some pretty crazy stories from people as well.

 

We are still working with Marcos and Ruben to prepare them for their baptisms. They are both set for the end of this month. I really enjoy working with them since, as I mentioned before,more of our teaching opportunities are with women.

 

Elder Del Angel and I were sick earlier in the week, but we are all better now. I am starting to think the vitamins I am taking are just sugar pills.

 

Schools and Carnivals

Dear Family,

 

School started last Monday for everyone from kindergarten to college. Every school has their own uniform, but for the most part it includes a white dress shirt and dark pants. As you can imagine, they look a lot like missionaries. We keep getting stopped by the police and asked for identification because we get mistaken for students ditching school. Most stores will not let us enter until we explain that we are actually missionaries. It used to be really easy to spot other missionaries when we get together, but now we have to come up with a really specific meeting place. Their school buses are the same ones we ride around (diablo rojos), so they are even more packed. A few smaller yellow airport shuttle looking buses also make their rounds to pick up the younger children.

 

Carnivals also started and lasts until Thursday. I would describe it as a mixture between Lord of the Flies, Spring Break, and Sodom and Gomorrah. During these four days or so anyone can legally throw water on you. They also walk around with eggs and other projectiles to throw. Even with my extensive knowledge of back roads, alleys, and member safe houses, we still get pretty messed up. We do not mind though. The water was actually a welcome refreshment. My area is not too bad. Most of the action takes place in the interior in places like las tablas and Chitre. I think they even take missionaries out of Chitre for the week. Mom and I also took every precaution to get the most waterproof stuff available on the market. I thought it would come in handy for the rain. Who knew. I have not taken that many pictures and the craziness for obvious reasons. The picture I did snap is of a checkpoint set up by a group of kids in Sector Sur (Sector South) to get anyone who passes by. Everyone has this time off of work and school.

 

Dad, I did not know what I was passing by at least four times a week until you gave it a name. I am referring to the Tocumen marsh area. I think you would like it. During the day it is alive with all sorts of birds and at night the noise is deafening with frog croaking. There must be thousands of them. The birds here really do not look that much different from the ones back home and in Utah. Are there any spotted woodpeckers here? I saw a bird going at a telephone pole that sure looked and sounded like one.

 

The Mullens package got here. It was amazing and had exactly what I needed. I am working on a letter to send them, but I would appreciate it if you would let them know it got here safely and that I am thankful for it.

 

Three missionaries are leaving from the ward here this week. They are all very excited. The ward threw them a crazy going away party with music, food, and dancing. We dropped by since our dinner appointment at the same house.

 

Anyways, I hope you have fun with the girls at Disney World. Will you be stopping by the Kennedy Space Center at all? I certainly have good memories from both places. Disney is so fun with little kids.

 

Love,

 

Elder Whiting

End of February Photos

I believe Elder del Angel is walking on the right side of this photo. It has been raining and you will notice that the missionaries [right and left side] do not have umbrellas while the women do.

Catholic church building with interesting architecture. Again the missionaries are in the rain while women in the photo, visible especially when enlarged, are using umbrellas.

Damp Elder Whiting, probably included this for his mother and sisters. This is not in Tocumen, probably Panama City on a training day.

Best picture in the group. A nicely posed Tropical Kingbird, Lori asked if he could concentrate on posting more of these rather than the others.

28 February 2011 'End of February'

Dear Family,

Changes have come and gone. I am still here in Tocumen with Elder Del Angel. President Ward said he wanted me to stay and see the fruits of my labor. I assume he is referring to the two maybe three baptisms we have lined up for March. I am having a different experience recently because they are both young men about our age as opposed to preparing two young women for baptism. It is fun because I can relate to what they are going through more, and I am excited that they have both expressed desires to serve missions. They are really cool guys. The third and fourth baptisms depend on a marriage certificate as usual. They are neat people. I have enjoyed seeing their transformation from investigating the church to feeling like they are one of us and even defending the church on occasion.

This zone has been flipped upside down. All of my American friends have left including Elder Scrimsher who came with me. I like my new zone leader, Elder Gomez. He trained Elder Polera and is from Boston. He is very personable and has some really good ideas for the zone.

I bought some oatmeal to eat for breakfast. I have been trying all of the different flavors. My favorite so far is apple cinnamon. I have been switching off between cornflakes, toast with (nutella, peanut butter, or jelly) and cornflakes. We don't actually have a toaster, so I actually heat up the bread in a pan. This area is awesome because we have all the rest of our meals filled like I have said before. Other areas have to find other arrangements usually for lunch.

I had a really embarrassing incident yesterday at a baptismal service after church. The aunt of the boy that was being baptized started talking to me after the service. She was mostly talking about her kids. I was only half paying attention because I was tracking the movement of someone else in the room. I responded with the typical "que bien hermana" after she had already moved on to talking about how her husband had died! My companion looked at me like I had just killed someone, so I knew something was wrong. He told me what happened, so I just apologized and chalked it up to me being new here and not understanding her. I learned my lesson though. Other than that, everything else went smoothly. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.

We were drafted into the choir again. Practices are on Sundays before church. Most Sundays we are passing by investigators homes and bringing them to church, so I do not think we will be able to make the practices. I think the practices are just to get the choir somewhere near the tone anyways. My meager talents with the piano are still being called upon as well. All in all I have had a really good week. It kind of makes me nervous that something terrible is coming. It has been a while since the last trial of my faith.

Love,

Elder Whiting

21 February 2011

Dear Family,

 

We have had a busy week here in Tocumen. We set two baptismal dates for March. I do not know if I will be around to see them though. There is a good chance that I will be leaving Tocumen on Wednesday since I am completing my second change here. I would not mind staying. I like my companion, the area, and the members here. I will let you know what happens.

 

Our land lady was getting after us, so we completely cleaned our house. It looks really good. We were going to do it anyways since it flooded the day before. Nothing was damaged, but it was really tough evacuating all of the water. Needless to say the fans were going for a couple days.

 

Thank you for the Valentines Day package. I have already devoured the beef jerky. I had to laugh when I was reading a Christmas banner in late February. I still have not had the chance to listen to the CD.

 

I have collected quite a few things here since arriving. I am currently investigating a way to send some of them home. Packages do not seem to be too expensive sending them from this end.

 

We had interviews recently with the President and his wife. We weren't the only ones being interviewed. There has been talk in the mission about hiring a cook to prepare lunch Tuesday through Saturday. Several companionships already had their cooks. The cook would receive money for the food and their labor would be a service. They are concerned with the health of some of the missionaries. We do not have a problem in our area because we have our meals covered and they meet the required rice to other nutritious food ratio. Apparently other areas are not as fortunate as us. Anyways, interviews were fine. The president just asked me how things are going in my area and how I am adjusting to the mission life. Sister Ward just asked each of us if we had any contraband and how our search for a cook was going. They area good people and always spoil us with fantastic food when they come to visit.

 

One of my friends in the ward died the Wednesday before last at 6am. She had cancer and was ready to leave this world. I had a chance to talk with her before she died. She kept telling me how she felt at peace and knew where she was going. I also went to the viewing since we had a district meeting in the same building. It reminded me of when I saw Grandpa Russell years ago.

 

Love,

 

Elder Whiting

Interviews in Tocumen

A picture taken from the Panama Mission blog - it was posted by President and Hermana Ward

Baptisms

7 February 2011

Dear Family,

Everything turned out OK with the baptisms. You can probably tell from the photos that my face was pretty burned. We had some last minute complications to figure out like bad fits with baptismal clothing, figuring out the font controls, and creating programs that our mission leader flaked out on. We were all very happy to see the families of the converts there. They also came to church to see the confirmations. There are more receptive now and have agreed to take the lessons. The first baptism was performed without any problems, but I performed the second one twice because her toe popped up about the water. The water level was really low, so I had to bring my A game. The baptisms were a very special experience for me and for Melissa Michelle Rodriguez Rojas and Dinette Smith (ehsmeeth haha) Peña. I have been thinking a lot about my own baptism so many years ago.

The assistants came to our area and went on divisions with us. They came and saw the baptisms as well.

Have you guys tried Nutella? I think it was Courtney Hatch that originally told me about it, but I never had the chance to try it until recently. If you have not tried it, go out and get some. The stuff is amazing. I also love crocs. My companion and I have been playing chess at night, so I have rediscovered that love too. He is a worthy opponent, and I rarely win. All my discoveries of the new and rediscoveries of the old on my mission make me wonder if I have been living in a cave and why I forgot them in the first place.

The water is so good right now. We still cannot drink it, but we have pressure, heat, and reliability so I am ecstatic.

Mom, you asked about the food. For the most part, you already know that the diet is rice, beans, and chicken. It is true that they give us a lot of food, but I do not know it is because there is not enough for everyone. It very well could be true that they do not eat for the meal they give us food.

Our eating schedule changed for the month of February and as a result we surprised the family that was giving us food that day. They were just sitting down to dinner when we arrived. I observed the portions they were eating were very meager and did not include chicken. They were very embarrassed and quickly got up and offered us their plates. I cannot describe to you my shame that they offer us their very best and now I know what they really eat like we are too good to eat the same. The shame was compounded when they offered us what they were about to eat, probably going without that night. The situation could be considered a double edged sword. Refusing could mean offending them, but accepting makes it hard to sleep at night. I can also promise you mom that the missionaries serving you have their own challenges.  Give them your best.

I appreciate your emails and support. I love you guys so much.

Elder Whiting

Adios Enero [31 January 2011]

Dear Family,
I am enjoying all of the exciting news from home. Congratulations to Joseph on his mission call. I wish I could have been there to see him open it. I am not even sure what Czech sounds like or how it is constructed.
We have two baptisms scheduled for the 6th of February. They both chose me to perform the ordinances. I have the words memorized for the baptism so now I am just repeating their extremely difficult names over and over in my head. It is not uncommon for some Latins to have four given names. My companion will confirm them on the 7th. This is the happiest I have ever been on the mission. We are both really excited and motivated to work that much harder now.
As a couple of you already know, I had my first zone conference on Wednesday. I had the opportunity to see Elder Voss again and talk with him for a bit. President Ward talked about proving ourselves every day by conforming with the small rules in the mission. He talked about the test God gave to Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son. We mostly practiced extending the baptismal invitation and using the Book of Mormon to answer questions and doubts. I always see how lacking my Spanish is when we all get together and I talk with the elders that have been out here longer. We had a really good hamburger, chip, and fruit dinner following by one of the most delicious pastries I have ever had.
Our water is back on. The pressure is lacking, but we are just happy it's back. We filled up every container in our house just in case it decides to leave again. The news said the water was safe to drink again. After drinking it all day there was a follow up report and officials finding grime, worms, and other contaminates in the water. I will let you know if I die.
My companion has been teaching me how to play dominoes. He plays a variation of chicken foot and taught me an interesting thinking slash math game with them. It is a fun way to relax when we get back at night.
I cannot believe we are entering February. Time is fleeting.
Love,
Elder Whiting

Zone Conference in Panama

January 24, 2011

Dear Family,

We set two baptismal dates this week. They will be my first ones. It is nice to see the fruits of our labor. They have strong testimonies of the gospel and specifically the Book of Mormon. The members are really helpful here. They always want to go out with us and introduce us to their friends. It really helps since contacting is super ineffective. Don't make the missionaries dance around for your references. Just give them to them. It is somewhat of a joke to me when I hear some members say we have to earn their trust before they will give us their references. We are set apart representatives of Jesus Christ that study the gospel every day in preparation to teach. For some that is not enough I guess. For now we have more than we can handle to teach thanks to the reasonable members. 

We were teaching a family the other day when all of a sudden the father grabbed a machete and ran outside. He came back in with a a fruit that looks like a green coconut. They call them pipas . You cut a hole into them and drink the juice out. It was pretty plain tasting but I am told they get sweeter. I have tried so many fruits since getting here. Most I did not know existed. My favorite so far is guyaba. Trying all of the juices here brings me back to vacations in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

All of the missionaries are running out of money this month. I am not sure why because I have almost $20 on my card and $30 in cash that will carry me to the end of the month. 

The mission is really stressing obedience right now. I got an email that said a lot of people will be going home this summer. My zone leader Elder Stoddard from Rocklin, CA, told me that we are the lowest baptising mission in Central America. It may be unfair however to owe it all to disobedience as we also have the most new investigators and investigators going to church. I imagine this is also the hardest mission to marry people from my little experience doing so. Still, they see a lot of room for improvement and there will be a lot of changes. It is frustrating for me to give an accounting for areas that involve the agency of people other than myself such as companionship study and eating dinner at 5 or 9.

I was sorry to hear about Ben. I am glad he was not hurt. Surprisingly, car accidents don't seem to be very common here. For how crazy everyone drives I have not seen one yet. I did see a dead guy in the middle of the road a couple of days ago. There were police everywhere and a huge crowd of people. There is a bar on the side of the street. Apparently the man had gotten drunk and stumbled into the street only to be struck a bus. There was a small blanket draped over him. I may have a future in the CHP. I was good at arriving on the scene, getting lots of information, figuring out what happened.

Anyways, sorry not a lot to write about this week. Just working hard, setting dates. I think I might be developing a water hoarding problem. I will have to look into it. It could just be survival instinct. When I get back home I will be filling up all of our containers with water and bathing with water bottles.

Chao,

Elder Whiting

Photos were included however they are not captioned.

This appears to be the church building with Elder del Angel standing outside. Notice the bars on the windows. Steeple is to the right.

This photo was not captioned. Perhaps a classroom, however the desk at the front suggests that it may be the chapel or multi-use chapel room.

Elder Whiting and an Aaronic priesthood holder.

Any guesses?  Perhaps a bat to the left of the steel pipe. The shadow in the middle of the tree trunk suggests a figure or Christ. The wire coil and rebar on the pipe are interesting.
After Morgan pointed out the central reddish area was a bird......duhhhh....it is probably an Orchard Oriole although the bill looks wrong.

New Companionship

Elder Whiting and his new companion, Elder Del Angel.

 Saying goodbye to Elder Voss

New Years

Elder Whiting is keeping up with the Panamanian tradition to burn a stuffed man on New Years.

Hola

Dear Family,

I am still here in Tocumen. This zone has been turned upside down. Almost every companionship has changes in it. Elder Voss left to Colon and Elder Del Angel came to replace him from Chitre. Elder Del Angel is from Tiajuana Mexico. He said he lives very close to Texas. We are getting along pretty well so far. My Spanish is really improving with him. All of the stories I have heard about Latin companions are being confirmed on a daily basis. Just ask my brothers-in-law. He looked in four different Chinos for a specific hot sauce he likes. He puts it on everything he eats. He told me that awhile back he ate some bad pork and now has problems when he eats it. A member gave us some pork and rice for lunch so I had to eat all of his. I feel really bad for him because he is the only member in his family and his dad does not support his decision to be out here. He says his mom writes him occasionally. I cannot imagine doing this without the full support of your family. I am really lucky.

The water has been back pretty consistently this week with decent pressure. We were told not to drink it though without filtering. We still do though when people give us water. There are lots of sediments in the water. I like to think I am just drinking vitamin water.

The attached pictures are of the stuffed man we burned for new years. It is a Panamanian tradition here. If Brother Howes or Kenney would have seen us they probably would have taken away my Eagle. It was not too bad. Nothing burns here. The guy went up in flames and nothing around him burned. We put fireworks in him so at times he would explode. Also a picture of Elder Voss leaving and Elder Del Angel on his first day.

A lot of responsibility has fallen on me this change. I am the senor companion in every way but title. For at least a couple weeks. The bishop now asks me for teaching forms. I will be directing the work in our area. It was really stressful at first because I would get lost sometimes but now I am getting the hang of it.

I saw something absolutely horrific and traumatic a couple days ago. A group of kids were gathered at the base of a tree and a man was in the top of it shaking it. I could not tell what they were doing until an iguana fell out. The kids swarmed it and started handling it roughly. They eat them here so they were all fighting over it. At least the thing died quickly if not painlessly.

I have noticed a difference in attitude of people here and in the states. Rather than saying three hours for church is really long, most people are surprised we meet for only three hours and only once a week. All of the investigators we bring to church stay all three hours without complaint.

I got my first haircut here at the end of the change. They still use those old fashioned razors that Uncle Gary learned to shave with on his mission to clean up the sideburns and edges. I could not tell what he was doing when he put a shaving cream like substance on my neck. I thought I might be bleeding from a slip up of his archaic razor. For a cut and shave it was only two dollars.

Thanks for all of your letters and emails. I have gotten some questions about email use. I am only allowed to email family but can receive emails from anyone (as long as you are not in my area and female).

Love,

Elder Whiting

End of Change 1

Dear Family,

 

Changes are this Wednesday and everyone is very excited. We have been visiting a lot of our investigators and ward members. There is a pretty good chance I will be getting a new companion since Elder Voss has been here for two changes, but he may stay since he is training. I am almost certain I will stay.

 

I got a package from the Chabras this week. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I saw thin mint girlscout cookies, cadbury chocolates, hand sanitizer, and other unbelievably valuable items. They also included their Christmas card. They have always been good friends and were very supportive of me while I was preparing to leave and continue to support me. Please give them my thanks the next time you see them.

 

I am excited because a lot of our investigators are coming to church now. One of our investigators was concerned about what she would wear to church and put on a fashion show for us. It was just like in the movies where the person comes out two or three times to thumbs down and then finally come out in a good outfit and the people waiting outside the changing room cheer. One of our other investigators was waiting outside his house in a white shirt and tie ready to go to church. He looked better than us. We have not had water for 60 hours and counting, so it has been interesting.

 

I was sad to hear about the Japanese maple being cut down. I will hardly recognize the yard when I get back.

 

A lot of people here ask us for money. We are instructed not to give them any. The situations are always very awkward. It usually begins with some drunk guy staggering up to us and asking us for a quarter. We tell them no and then they try to send us on a guilt trip by saying God bless you in a sarcastic voice. It is a no win situation because if we give them money it causes even bigger problems like them always asking for more or buying more alcohol.

 

I am getting more comfortable with the language now. I can go through the lessons pretty well and have a couple contact approaches worked out. I can also communicate my point pretty well even if I cannot say exactly what I want to. The people here are really good about helping me too.

 

We spend more time than I thought we would getting people married. It is really rare to find couples that are civilly married. They usually just consider themselves married if they have been living together for awhile and have children.

 

We deep cleaned our apartment in the beginning of the week because the land lady said she was going to come by and inspect the house. I do not think our house has been cleaned in more than 6 months. Apparently, the tiles in the shower are white. It looks a lot better now and we felt good afterwards. Cleanliness is close to Godliness right? It is a lot easier to work in the house now.

 

I am always amazed at the sacrifices the members are willing to make for us and how kind and generous they are. Everyone tells us to ask them for anything we may need. Everyone offers us food and something to drink. I really love these people.

 

And I love you guys too.

 

Love,

 

Elder Whiting

 Elder Whiting with his companion and friend from the MTC. They met up at their Christmas party.

 New Year's fireworks

Elder Whiting's apartment

Happy New Year!

Dear Family,

I have mixed feelings about this week. I have learned a lot of lessons the hard way, but New Years was really fun. I took lots of videos of the impressive firework displays we saw. Everyone was blasting their music and lighting off rockets. It felt like we were in a war zone. Everywhere we looked around our house there were fireworks. They have a tradition here in Panama of burning a stuffed scarecrow. I think it has something to do with starting over with new goals. The fireworks lasted for a good hour after midnight and then spaced explosions until the next morning. They have some really fun fireworks here. Mikey and Ben would have some fun here. We spent the evening with Lorna and her family. She is a cool member in our ward. She is going through a tough time right now but hides it well. He husband cheated on her and they are now going through a divorce. We passed by an Evangelical church on our way back to our house. They were burning prayers and blessings. 

Since we reached our baptism goal this year for the mission they allowed our zone to watch Toy Story 3. What a great movie. I really enjoyed it.

Dad, we share a chapel with Cabuya. That is the area of the Hermanas. Starting this year we will begin meeting at 12 rather than 9. I like this better because now we can eat breakfast and do our studies. 

We were really excited that our investigators have started coming to church now that the water crisis is somewhat over. I feel like we can finally move forward now with a lot of them.

I was wondering how much is in my debit account. My pinstripe pants with the cuffs do not fit. I cannot remember if I tried those ones on before leaving. Maybe the rice is to blame but I do not think so since my other pants fit. Anyways the short story is that I want to buy some pants and a USB drive to back up photos and I was not sure how much money is in there.

I am glad you did something for Colins birthday. I was thinking about it on the 1st.

We are starting to see the value of developing strong relationships with the members here. When the members trust us, they feel more comfortable giving us references to teach their friends. Our most positive references and the people that are progressing the most are all references.

We are coming up on changes pretty soon. I am nervous that Elder Voss is going to get switched out because I really like him. He has been here for one change already, so its not too unlikely. At the same time he is training me so maybe he will stay. I am 98 percent sure I will stay here. It is crazy how fast this change has gone by.

There is a sister that is really sick here. She has stomach ulcers and throws up a lot. They are talking about sending her home. She came out here with me.

I love you.

Elder Whiting