7 Months

How are you all?! This week was a little crazy due to changes, which always involve meetings, hauling around luggage, more meetings, and doing our best to adjust to a new situation. I am still serving in Pedregal, however I have a new companion named Hermana Lopez, from Guatemala. That makes 3 Chapinas and 1 Mexicana for companions :) She actually came in the same group as my previous companion, Hermana Perez, so she has about 4 1/2 months in the mission. I think that we can do a lot of good for our area together. I had a difficult   time believing that I hit my 7 month mark yesterday! Time flies when you´re having fun ;)

It´s been really cool to see a change in the members in the last couple of weeks. A challenge that we have in all of the mission of Panamá is working with the members. In each ward it is our goal to develop a relationship of love and trust with the members, it can be difficult at times. However, I have begun to see a change in some of the members that I thought would never open up. One hermana sat down with me the other day and told me EVERYTHING. She told me that she felt a really special connection with me and that she has a lot of trust in me. I love it when we have opportunities to work with the members like that! That´s when miracles start to happen :)

I studied the principle of fasting recently. I came to this conclusion . . . Our mind and our body give us certain temptations, and by completely avoiding or denying everything our body tells us for a little while and only focusing on what the Spirit tells us, we learn the difference between spiritual promptings and temptation, which in some situations can be hard to discern. Fasting really has little to do with food. We come closer to God when we fast and we recognize His Spirit in our lives even more. I now understand fasting in a whole new light and am looking forward to starting the new year that is coming up with a fast :)

My dear family, I love this gospel and I love you all!

Go Forward With Faith,

Hermana Falslev :)

Happy Mothers Day

Hola mi querida familia! Còmo estàn todos? Another week has passed and yet another change has ended. Hermana Pèrez has changes and I will be staying in Pedregal, Tocumen. I´ll find out who my new companion is on Wednesday. Also, on Sunday all of Panamà celebrated Mother´s Day. It was really strange, because there´s also Christmas decorations everywhere, but hey, that´s just the way it is :) It´s been a good week, lots of lessons learned :) The Lord has a way of teaching us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.

The other day during our studies my companion jumped up from her desk and ran to the other side of our room screaming. A snake-ish/salamander type of creature had crawled onto her bag next to her leg. It was obvious that she wasn´t going to go anywhere near it, so even though I was not looking forward to being near the little monster it became my responsibility to get it out of our room. I found out quickly that it was really fast. I ended up chasing it around our room, pulling every piece of furniture that we have away from the wall. Finally I got it under a cup (our room in total disarray) We sat there for a little while trying to figure out what to do next, my compa advising me from the other room :) I slid a piece of paper under the cup and took it outside. As I went to release it, the little monster slid across my hand and slithered toward me. I screamed and ran. My companion was then bent over, dying of laughter. She says she has no idea how I covered a 10 foot distance with one leap, but crazy things can happen when your filled with adrenaline. There´s the funny story for the week.

Now, I´m beginning to understand a little bit more about my purpose here in Pedregal. There are so many churches here, so many people who preach ´´la palabra´´ There´s always people who are willing to let us in to listen to ´´la palabra de Dios´´ That´s great and all, but it started to bother me a little. I´ve been trying to adjust my teaching so that they understand that I am not here to simply share a pretty message and leave them to continue living their lives. I´m hear to tell them that the gospel has been restored, including the proper authority to baptize, and that they must take the first step of baptism. I am not here to simply share my testimony, I am here, and even more, I have been called, to baptize the children of God. As I´m beginning to understand this concept a little more, I´ve set a goal this change to be much more direct in my lessons. That is kind of a scary idea to me, much easier said than done. However, an elder shared a scripture with me that has changed my mission and become my motivation. 1 John 4:18. I love this scripture and have every intention of applying it in my work here in Panamà.

Well, that´s all for now folks. I love you all dearly! Have a spectacular week :)

Go Foward With Faith!

Hermana Falslev :)

¿Si lo que tù estàs haciendo no tiene consequenc​ias eternas, para què lo estàs haciendo?

 

My dear dear family! I hope all is well! It´s difficult to believe that yet another month has passed! I´m not sure exactly what happened to the month of November and it certainly doesn´t feel like December because the snow I´ve been praying for is yet to arrive ;) Perhaps the Lord is just teaching me patience :)

Well, this has been quite the week. To begin, on Wednesday my comp and I decided to go contacting after lunch. Our first contact . . . well, he actually contacted us. He was a young man named Julian who told us that he had recently converted to Christianity and was super enthusiastic about the Bible. I´m fairly certain that we covered every gospel topic while standing on the side of the road. And the funny thing is that he pretty much did all of the talking, it was difficult to get a word in. But I really enjoyed talking to him. I love the people that we meet here :) Then we decided to explore a new area that neither one of us had ever been in. I really like contacting that way because if I can get a little lost I tend to rely a little more on where the Spirit needs me to go rather than my own intuition :) Not to mention that it usually turns into an adventure haha. Well, we ended up turning down a little road . . . in which we encountered two dogs that I´m convinced were part bear. I was standing next to a door when one of the dogs jumped up against the fence and tried to eat me. In my panic to get away, I ended up leaning against another fence. Seconds later another bear, I mean dog, jumped against that fence and also tried to eat me. Needless to say, I jumped and ended up on the other side of the street. After recovering from my heart attack my comp and I headed to another house, laughing as usual :)

I believe I´ve mentioned that on almost every corner in Panamà there is a little store called a ´chino´ because it is always run by a Chinese family. Well, the ´´chinos´´ are notorious for being difficult to contact and not very receptive. So, our District Leader put a fun little goal for all of us to contact a chino. After my close encounter with the bears we headed to a chino. We began talking to the cashier. She looked as us with a confused look and told us that she doesn´t know any Spanish. We left a pamphlet with her and gave her our biggest smiles. . . .it´s the effort that counts right? About 1 minute after leaving the chino we were got in one of Panamà´s crazy rainstorm. We ran for shelter, but it only takes about 5 seconds to be completely soaked in these rainstorms. We waited it out for a while, but decided that we just needed to face it. I figured that we were already wet, so I decided to play around in the puddles/rivers on the side of the road. I may or may not have started splashing my comp who in return started splashing me as well. No harm done, we were already soaked :)

Now, for the spiritual side of things :) This week our entire zone had a ´´Noche Blanca´´. We all gathered together and had a total of 10 baptisms. President Carmack and his family were even able to attend. It was a beautiful experience. A young girl that we´ve been teaching, named Argelis, was able to be one of those that got baptized. While sitting there, I began to think a lot about the importance of enduring to the end. Baptism is an essential first step to living this gospel, but this gospel is not merely meant to be skimmed, or that is, lived only on the surface. This gospel is meant to become a life-style. We should accept it whole-heartedly and completely into our lives. It is then that it truly begins to enrich our lives and change us. This gospel is in the center of my life, it is a large part of who I am. I pray that each one who takes that essential step of baptism will truly accept this gospel into their lives and be able to see the blessings that their loving Heavenly Father has awaiting them. This is an eternal gospel, with promised and eternal blessings! Are we living for the eternities? I know that I want to live for the eternities because I know without a doubt that I can live with my Heavenly Father and my dear family FOREVER! Let us all make the effort to center our lives around those eternal promises! :)
I miss and love you all dearly!

Go forward with faith!

Hna Falslev :)

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 :)

6 Months

Hello my dear family! I hope you are all doing wonderfully :) Well, earlier this week I hit my six month mark! That seems so crazy to me! That means I´ve already finished a third of my mission, time is flying by so quickly!

I´ve learned a lot this week. I love that each week I feel like a better missionary, like the Lord is refining me more and more. As I learn more about how to teach and how to follow the Spirit I can be a greater blessing in the lives of those that I am serving.

Earlier this week I was reading an old conference talk (I don´t remember which) about the Spirit. The Spirit is so crucial to all that we do, not only as missionaries, but as Children of God with a goal to live with our Heavenly Father for eternity. I was thinking that if we have a goal to live in the sacred presence of God for the eternities, we better take advantage of the small pieces of divinity that we receive here on the earth. We have to become accustomed to having the Spirit with us at all times. We should always strive to have it with us and become comfortable with it because if we are not used to the Spirit I imagine that we will extremely uncomfortable in the sacred presence of a Deity. The Spirit is such a beautiful gift! I like to think of it as a piece of our true divine home that we get to have with us during our temporary existence on the earth. That´s why we feel so comfortable when we have the Spirit - it´s home :)

I believe I´ve already mentioned our investigator named Artie before. He is so good! He truly is just a good man, with a faith that I´ve never seen before. He has a 100% trust in God, he simply doesn´t doubt. He really has taught me a lot and inspires me to be better. Earlier this week, after a lesson, he looked up to the sky and said, ´´Heavenly Father, thank you for putting these angels in my path, I don´t know how to thank you´´ Moments like that are what make every minute of this mission worthwhile :)

I love this gospel with every ounce of my being, and I know without a doubt that it is true. I know my Savior, and I love Him.

I love and miss you all!

Go Forward with Faith!

Hna Falslev :)

No Subject

 My dear family!
 I love you all so much and hope you are all doing well :) It´s been a good week here in Tocumen. It amazes me that I already love the people here so much.
 We´ve been working with a less-active member who went through a difficult time with her family and has since completely cut-off her relations with the church. When we first began meeting with her I got the impression that she had a strong testimony of the gospel, but had become very cynical and closed-off. Each time that we´ve invited her back to church she says no, she´s not ready. We´ve been working to gain her trust and do all that we can to help her. This week we went to visit her. I could instantly see that her demeanor had changed. You might even say that she was looking forward to our visit. After sharing a short message and talking with her for a while, before we had even mentioned church, she said, ´´Hermanas . . . I´m going to go to church this Sunday . . . .I´m going to be there.´´ She seemed much happier and relieved. Like the burden that she had allowed to weigh her down for such a long time had finally been lifted. I´m really hoping to see her in church this Sunday. She´s such a good person, she simply needs to be loved and guided back to the gospel that she already loves. I´ve really enjoyed working with the less-active members in the wards that I´ve served in. They´re always wonderful people, you just have to show them a little bit of love :)
 Also, we´ve been teaching an older man named Artie. He has been battling Alzheimers for almost a year now, which sometimes makes it a little difficult to teach him. He rarely remember the things that we teach him, he even frequently forgets who Joseph Smith is, but he has one of the strongest testimonies that I´ve ever seen. He love the gospel! We´re working toward his baptism this Saturday. It´s just further evidence to me that the gospel of Jesus Christ overcomes the trials of the world.
 On Sunday I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about missionary work. It was a good experience. I spoke about how this work is not only for missionaries, it´s not just missionary work - it´s the work of the salvation of each and every child of God. I spoke about John 21:15-17 in which Christ explains that if we love Him we must ´´feed His sheep´´. We are so blessed to have this gospel in our lives. Each and every person needs to feel the relief and joy that we receive through this gospel. We have what they need. We have to share it. It is our responsibility to share the gospel, it´s what God expects of us. It´s a big work, but it´s the work of the Lord and if each member of the church is doing their part we will see miracles!
 I love this gospel so much! It´s a blessing in my life every day.
 I love and miss you all!
 Go Forward with Faith,
 Hna Falslev :)

CAMBIOS

Querida Familia!

Well, I found out last night that I´m going to have changes. I don´t yet know anything about my new area or my new companion. On Wednesday we make the long bus ride to Cardenas where each of the missionaries who have changes meet and await their fate :) After a short meeting they will tell us where we are going and who our companions are. I know that changes are inspired directly from our Heavenly Father. I recently re-read the talk ´´Come What May and Love It´´ by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. It is such a wonderful talk!! It has really helped me to develop my trust in my Father in Heaven and in His will. I love this talk because as we learn to accept the will of the Lord, we will eventually come to love it. We will understand that God truly has a plan for us and we can trust that it will always be the best for us. In this talk Elder Wirthlin mentions four steps to accepting and loving the will of the Lord. 1)LEARN TO LAUGH Laugther truly changes our perspective. A smile is one of the most powerful tools that we have. As we enter each situation with a smile and a positive attitude our eyes will be opened to the countless blessings that the Lord has for us 2)SEEK FOR THE ETERNAL God´s perspective is much grander than our own. As we widen our view we will gain a greater understanding of the trials and blessings that we are given. God has so much happiness planned for us--not only in this life, but in the eternities as well. 3)UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPENSATION The Lord compensates the faithful. If our eyes are single to the glory of God and we make living this gospel a priority, we will never lack. We will have all that we need....and more. The plan of God promises much more than mere contentment and comfort, we are promised eternal JOY! We will be compensated for any sacrifice that we make to follow the will of the Lord. 4)PUT OUR TRUST IN OUR HEAVENLY FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST If all else fails - TRUST. Trust in our loving Heavenly Father and patiently wait for Him to enlighten our understanding. As we accept the will of the Lord we are demonstrating our love for Him and telling Him that we trust Him. We are imperfect, but the Lord is without fault. We can trust that His will and His plan for us are flawless as well. Trusting can be easier said than done, but I know that all will be well as we exercise our trust in our Beloved Savior.

Well my dear family, I love you all so much. You are each some of the grandest blessings that my Heavenly Father has granted me. Thank you for the support and the examples that you all are. Much love :)

Go Forward With Faith,

Hna Falslev :)

Oh....and HAPPY HALLOWEEN :)