My dear, dear family!
I hope you are all doing wonderfully! Well, I'm adjusting to Panama. I'm understanding more of the language every day. They speak very 'effecient' Spanish here. They drop the endings of the words, and they only stop to take a breath when it's absolutely necessary. Throw a little bit of Jamaican and Chinese in with that and it proves to be quite the challenge, but I'm learning. I may not come home speaking Spanish, but I will come home speaking Panamanian.
I'm really starting to develop a lot for the people here. I can't always understand all that they're saying, but I love them, especially the children. The children are so precious. We're teaching a few families with very young kids. It's interesting to watch their faces as we teach the lessons. I think they recognize the Spirit that is there, especially when we sing the hymns. I love teaching that families can be together forever. It's such a blessing that we have the eternal perspective that we do.
The food here is wonderful, there's just a lot of it. I make sure my companion and I run every morning :) As we were running this morning we got caught in a storm. Luckily, we made it home before it got too bad. The rain is indescribable. It's sometimes a bit painful to be in because it's like someone is throwing buckets of water at you. It's really cool to watch/listen to though. The thunder/lightning storms here in the jungle are magnificent.
This week we contacted some very devout Catholics...lucky us :) Those conversations always end up being comical at the least. They struggle to accept the Restoration. One woman even condemned Hna Rodas and I to hell because of our belief in the Book of Mormon after her 30 minute rant about the Bible. I suppose it was kind of her to let us know, it takes the guesswork out of life haha :) We simply smiled, bore our testimonies, and wished her a happy afternoon. Not everybody is that extreme, but they do enjoy discussing doctrine. We're currently teaching a Catholic woman named Celia. She knos it's true but is afraid to act on her faith. For many of these people, baptism means changing something they've been taught for their entire lives. That can be scary, but when the truth is confirmed upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost, it becomes a causative force that motivates us to align our lives with Christ. Faith is a principle of action, THEN power. Sometimes we mix that sequence up and ask for the power to act. It doesn't usually work that way. The Lord magnifies the efforts that we make in faith--but there must be something there for Him to magnify.
God loves us and always will unconditionally. When we are obedient and exercise our faith, we are changed, not Him. Our eyes and hearts are opened to be able to more fully comprehend His love that was already there.
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