Hola

Hello my dear family! Yet another week here in Panama full of rain, sun, and miracles :) In all honesty, this has been an exhausting week, but I´ve been blessed to see the hands of the Lord in many ways this week as well. This Saturday a man named Artie Aguilar was baptized. To put it simply he is just so good. His faith is so strong and has taught me a lot. It has been clear to see that the adversary has been fighting extremely hard against this baptism because every step we took had interference. I´m physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted from fighting back, but the experience that we were able to have with this dear man has lifted me up spiritually. It´s been such a blessing and it has increased my love for this work and these people even more.

One of the smaller concerns that we had with Artie was that he would have to stop drinking coffee. He told us that he had tried to stop drinking it before, but he always had horrible headaches before. However, this man with incredible faith told us without hesitation, ´´I`ll stop, I´ll really do it´´ He received a priesthood blessing and the elder who gave it to him told him that it was dependent completely on his faith. I had no doubt that it wouldn´t be a problem for him. We visited him slightly before his baptism and he told us that he had no problem leaving coffee. He didn´t have any headaches or anything. Faith is such a powerful and beautiful principle!

Also, Artie loves the Book of Mormon! We had a wonderful experience when we first introduced it. We handed it to him and he simply looked at us with amazement. When we told him that it was his, he didn´t believe us. He just sat there and stared at it with awe for a while. He truly understands that this book is inspired by God, and he couldn´t believe that he could hold it in his hands. It made me think, how often do I take this sacred book for granted?

A few other little things from this week: I tried a Nicarraguan (sp?) dish the other day. It consists of yuka, chicharron (pig skin) and a spicy salad on top and you have to eat it with your hands. It was actually pretty good. Also, a pleasant little panamanian bug decided it was okay to bite me. It´s called a maya....I think. I´ve had a large mark on my leg the entire week. No worries . . . I´ve had it checked and it´s not fatal, merely ugly and extremely irritating.

Well, I don´t have much time this week, but know that I love you all and I love this gospel!

Go Forward with Faith,

Hna Falslev :)