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

11 July 2012 - last change

Dear Family,

I am entering my last change of my mission! It all feels so surreal. Today I received my new companion Elder Rose from Arizona. He has about 9 months on the mission. I have heard very good things about him, so I am excited to end my mission working hard with a great elder. We will be heading back to Playon Chico Friday morning at 6 in the morning. Now a little about my last change with Elder Wade.

First of all, we were blessed with five baptisms this last change. All of them were people we found on one of our islands, Ukupa. We had a lot of help from one of the few return missionaries in San Blas named Olo. He was essential because not many of the people in Ukupa speak Spanish, so he tirelessly worked translating for us. The branch president Lazaro was also a big help.

While we were there, several men came back from the jungle having just killed a monkey. After posing it several times, it was skinned cooked, and served to us. I found the meat to be quite tasty actually. We stayed for Sunday to make sure everyone was confirmed properly and both spoke in Sacrament meeting.

This change we had several really bad storms that did quite a bit of damage to the island and piping of the water system. We were without water for four days. It breaks my heart when I see all of the damage done to the homes of the people on the island. We are of course always willing to help with the clean up and repairs. Most of the damage involved roof damage, strong winds blowing parts of the leaf thatching off. The area floods pretty badly too and seeps up through their floors.

We do not have that problem in our tree house we live in, but it was swaying like crazy in the wind.

Thank you for all of your letters, emails, and packages. I really appreciate them, and they do a lot to encourage and motivate me.

Love,

Elder Whiting

San Blas/ukupa in June

The family at Playon Chico that Elder Whiting and companion live with.

On ukupa - they stay at the chapel when visiting this island. Green coconut

This is a trail along the sea coast from ukupa to another island.

Ukupa and families in San Blas

Elder Rose from Arizona, he will be Elder Whiting's companion for his last transfer on the San Blas islands

The family the missionaries live with on Playon Chico. Near the chapel [right side] and the bridge across to their island

Igwa [he is special]
It is apparent in these pictures that Elder Whiting has lost a lot of weight in this area.

A picture with President Ultiminio at his home.

Ukupa from the air when transferring to Playon Chico. It appears that the chapel is near the edge on the left side.
When the missionaries go there they go in a canoe powered by small motor. Lots of ocean salt spray and sun, with an unsteady platform. And no life vests, unlike the more luxurious tour boats that the missionaries saw go by them, leaving them bouncing in the wake.

Ukupa - notice the absence of any electrical connections to this chapel. So it has some solar and batteries for limited lights, etc. Elevated on stilts to prevent/limit termite damage

 

Village on Ukupa

 

Elder Whiting and Elder Wade with 8 year old boys for baptism in the ocean. The missionaries loaned some of their shirts for white clothing.

Chapel interior
The church building was prefab, then moved to the island and erected. It has been kept up and maintained well.

Elder Whiting's hammock, they bring their own when visiting here. This is in a classroom at the chapel where they stayed.

The family at Playon Chico

Ukupa where they eat coconut and lots of mangoes and plantains. Hats and sunglasses are only worn on p-day

 

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.

San Blas Elders

---from the Panama mission blog.