BUENOS DIAS FAMILIA!

Hope you´re all doing well! And I hope Alyssa had a wonderful birthday, sounds like you guys had a lot of fun :)

It´s been a good week here in Panama, full of lots of sun and rain. On Thursday we had a zone meeting and President Carmack came so that we could esach have a interview with him. He is so wonderful and perfect for this calling. After my interview him he offered a prayer. It was a very inspired prayer. I felt like every one of my concerns was mentioned, even if he wasn´t aware of them. When I opened my eyes after the prayer, I looked up to see him crying. Then he explained to me that there are angels guarding my companion and I. He said that maybe she and I can´t see them, but he knows that they´re around us. That was interesting because earlier in the week Hna Rodas and I had mentioned the same thing. There´s a part of our area that is especially dangerous called La Quinta. We have both felt that angels walk with us while in that area.

I walked out of my interview with President Carmack with an overwhelming awareness of the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. I could feel SO strongly of the love that He has for me, like He was next to me. I know that He is aware of me individually, as His daughter. I know that we can each have a very personal relationship with Him if we seek it.

Remember Leandro and Maxima who got baptized about 2 weeks ago? Well we´ve been working with their family, which is huge and they almost all live in our area. They have 8 kids who all have multiple kids. We´re so excited to work with them all because this gospel is specifically meant to bring families back to our Heavenly Father. There is one granddaughter in particular who is interested. Her name is Jazi and she´s 13. She was almost always at Leandro and Maxima´s when we taught the lessons. We found out last week that she came specifically because we were there. She started asking her grandparents when the Hermanas would be there. I would be so happy if we could get their whole family into the church! :)

Also, we have an investigator named Margarita. We met her during my 2nd week here. We taught her a few lessons, but she wasn´t incredibly interested, so we didn´t visit her too often. Last week we were walking by and she told us that she wanted us to start visiting her again. She has changed a lot and seems to really be interested now. We taught her the Restoration again and she really has a desire to know if it´s true. And at the end of our lesson she asked about the after-life. She told us that if we get reincarnated she wants to pray that God changes her into a butterfly, because butterflies are always so happy :) We were more than happy to share with her that you don´t have to be a butterfly to be happy after this life haha :)

Well, we´re about to head off to a place called Cinta Costa near the city, which means we have a long bus ride ahead of us. I´ve seen pictures and it looks really pretty. We´re also going to go to Hard Rock for lunch.....that means I get to eat something other than chicken and rice WHOO HOO! :) I´ve learned to love it, but variety in life is nice :)

Know that I´m happy and doing well. Know that I know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us more than we can comprehend. We´re so blessed to have this gospel in our lives. It provides us with so much joy and direction. Got has a plan of HAPPINESS for each and every one of us. I love you all so much and hope you´re all doing well! I send lots of love your way every day!

Go forward with faith!

Hermana Falslev :)

Photos Aug 2013

Just another week in Panama

How are all of you?! I hope you´ve all had a wonderful week! And . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Alyssa on Friday! I hope it´s a fun day for all of you.

Well, I don´t have much to report this wekk, just another week in Panama. I suppose that merely being in Panama is exciting enough though :) Panama is such a beautiful place. The sky here is always so clear and vivid. Yesterday the sunset was so pretty. The entire sky was a magnificent mix of orange and pink. Then the moon came up and was a brilliant white sliver of white in the midst of it all. The word for sky is the same as the word for heaven in Spanish. I think that´s justified because the sky here truly is heavenly and spectacular.

Also, there´s a group of wild loros, parrots, that has decided to live in a group of trees along our running route, so we get to watch them fly over our heads every morning. It´s really cool, they´re such beautiful birds.

I´ve also had the chance to experience some new food this week. At the beginning of the week, one of our investigators gave us fish...the whole fish--the scales, the bones, the eyes--all of it. Also, yesterday at lunch I sat down to behold a huge bowl of almejas--clams. I´ve never been much of a fan of seafood, but they weren´t too bad. And it was pretty entertaining to watch one of the elders try and eat them. Also, the fruit here is delicious!!! I tried something called a mamòn the other day. It´s a little fruit that has a green cover that you bite softly to break it in half. Then you suck out the fruit in the middle, which is an oddly textured pinkish/clear thing. You chew on that for a while, then spit out the pit in the middle. It´s strange, but really good. I´m also becoming gifted in the art of eating mangos. It´s extremely messy, but that´s part of the fun. Mangos are definitely some of my favorite things to eat here. I also love papaya. Almost every house here sells things called duros. Duros are basically popsicles, but better. They put homemade chicha (fresh fruit juice) in a little plastic bag and freeze it. We found a house that has duros made out of fresh papaya, coconut, or pineapple. Oh Nely, those things are good!!! Hna Rodas and I get one every time we´re in the area. They´re perfect for the middle of the day, when the sun in strong. It´s been especially hot the last couple of days.

Speaking of weather, here´s my funny experience for the week: Last monday we were waiting for the elders to call about changes., so we left to wash our clothes a bit later than usual. When we walked out the door it was really hot and really sunny. About 30 seconds after leaving our house, a huge storm hit. The wind started really strongly, then the buckets of rain followed shortly after. Everybody was running into their houses, then there were the crazy missionaries who had their laundry swung over their shoulders. It´s a 10-15 minute walk to the laundromat, so we were completely drenched by the time we got there. We rung out our skirts as well as we could, then went about washing our already wet clothes. We just sat and laughed at ourselves . . . we do that a lot. And we´re pretty sure Heavenly Father got a good chuckle out of it too :)

I´m loving the memories that I´m making here in Panama, even the simplest ones will remain with me for a lifetime. I´m so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here.

I love and miss you all so much! Hope you´re all happy and healthy and happy :) MUCH LOVE!

Go forward with faith,

Hermana Falslev :)

Bautismo . . . otra vez!

First things first, I hope Chris had a spectacular birthday yesterday! I sent lots of good wishes your way. Also, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to mom and dad tomorrow. I hope you guys have a wonderful day and are able to do something special because being sealed in the temple for eternity truly is something to celebrate. I'm so grateful that we have an eternal family, thank you!

I've finished my first change out in the field. I just found out that I'll be staying in the same area for my next change as well, and with Hermana Rodas again also. I was very pleased to hear that. I feel like there's so much more that we can still do in the are of Santa Librada.

Also, I'm very happy to report that Hna Rodas and I had 3 more baptisms yesterday. Leandro and Maxima, who are now happily married, are also members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! They have plans to enter the temple on August 4th of next year.

Robert Carrazco was also baptized yesterday. Robert is a 28 year old who had a very difficult start in life. In the school that he attended as a child, the children were forced to traffic drugs, with frequent death threats if they didn't. Obviously that doesn't exactly provide a wholesome environment to grow up in. He got involved in a lot of bad things. His brother was baptized about 7 years ago and is actually serving an LDS mission in Nicaragua right now. His mom was baptized about 6 months ago. We visited his mom often, but he was never interested in joining the discussion. One day, about 4 weeks ago, he came into the room holding a hymn book, and sat down, ready for us to begin the lesson. That Sunday, he came to church and he's been to church every Sunday since. About 2 weeks ago, they called me up to the pulpit in the middle of Sacrament meeting. I don't even remember what I said, but I know it was simple. When we went to visit him later that week, he said that I had said something that made him decide to be baptized. We were shocked! To give you a picture of Robert--his hair is longer than mine, he is covered in tattoos, and has more piercings than I can count. We've been working really hard with him, and he was finally baptized on Sunday! Whoo-hoo!

So this week I've been studying 'hope' a lot. I think hope is such an interesting concept. In the world, hope is something abstract, intangible, and uncertain. However, in the gospel, hope is an extremely powerful, positive feeling of CERTAINTY and trust in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The combination of faith, hope, and charity is mentioned frequently in the scriptures. When we have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we have a concrete hope in the promise of exaltation and eternal life with God and our families. Faith and hope are both motivating forces. When we have them, we are inclined to act--or in better terms--to serve, to have charity towards others. When we act on the faith and hope that we have, the Lord blesses us with more. It's a continuous cycle of progress and learning. It's wonderful! Also, everybody has enough faith to start this cycle. It all begins with a sincere desire, that's all the Lord asks. And, if we want more faith, we can ask for it! The Lord will help and bless us.

I love Ether 12>4 which says,''Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with a surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.'' Isn't that a beautiful scripture! It basically sums it all up.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that faith in Jesus Christ and hope through His Atonement are spectacular gifts from God that come through studying and living His word and His gospel. With those principles comes happiness, which is really what this gospel is all about!

I love you all TTHHIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS much *imagine me stretching my arms out as far as I can*

Go forward with faith (and hope and charity)

Hola!

My dear family!

How are all of you?! I can't believe it's almost August. First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chris on Sunday! I hope it's a wonderful wonderful day and that you guys have a good time celebrating. Eat an extra piece of cake for me :)

Last Tuesday we were able to attend a temple session as a zone. It's such a blessing to have a temple that we can attend as missionaries, even if it's not very often. I love the temple SO much! It truly is the House of the Lord. It's a place where we can receive peace, direction, and strength. I encourage you all to take advantage of the fact that you have multiple temples so close to you. It's such a blessing from our Heavenly Father.

Also . . . we had another baptism this week! Raul Carrillo was baptized yesterday afternoon. Raul is a perfect example of someone who was prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel. I'm learning more and more that I am simply an instrument in the hands of the Lord, a vessel to carry the good news. This is His work. He prepares people in His time and then leads us, as His representatives, to them. I wish you could meet all of the wonderful people that I get to interact with everyday. They have such a special place in my heart. I love them so much!

As I've mentioned previously, it rains monsoons here in Panama. In fact, it's pouring right now. Yesterday we had one of the bigger storms I've seen since I've been here. And of course, my compa and I were caught right in the middle of it. Being the brilliant people that we are, we manged to fashion a cover of sorts out of some plastic. That, paired with our umbrellas, kept us relatively dry . . . Until a large truck drove through the river that was forming on the road. You might think it possible to simply avoid the wave of water, but nope. The waves caused when cars drive through the deep water on the roads here are argueably large enough to surf. So, to sum things up, we got drenched. At that point, there's not much you can do except laugh at yourself. So, we had a good laugh and continued on our way.

One of the members in our ward here is Kuna. She grew up in San Blas, some of the islands here, and continues with many of the traditions from the culture there. She's invited us to go to her house today to learn more about it and learn how to make molas. Molas are made of beautiful stitchwork that is specific to San Blas. I'm excited to learn! :)

We are so incredibly blessed to have this gospel in our lives. We get to live with the knowledge that we have a loving Father in Heaven and a Savior. How wonderful is that?! I was studying the Light of Christ this morning. The Light of Christ is just what the words imply: enlightenment, knowledge, and an uplifting, enobline, persevering influence that comes upon mankind because of Jesus Christ (bible dictionary). That's such a beautiful gift. I know that it is through Christ that we are made whole and happy. Living this gospel and putting Christ in the center of our lives provides us with direction, joy, and light. I know my Savior, Jesus Christ lives! I love this gospel, my Savior, and all of you so much!

Go forward with faith!

Hna Falslev :)

BAPTISM!!!

First of all, I apoligize for not writing yesterday. We rearranged our p-day so that we can attend a temple session this afternoon.

This has been a wonderful week. To begin, I had my first baptism on Sunday! We began teaching Maribel my first week here. She's been an extremely positive investigator since the beginning. She has a sincere desire to be baptized. Unfortunately, she has to work out a divorce with a man in Nicaragua and many other complicated details before she can be baptized. But she has a righteous desire and the Lord is helping her. BUT....we were able to baptize her daughter, Miurel. Miurel is a beautiful, shy, sweet 9 year old. I love her so much and it was a very special opportunity to watch her make her first covenant with her Heavenly Father. The joy that brings is difficult to describe.

As if that wasn't enough, we were able to witness a miracle yesterday. We've been planningthe baptism of Leandro Santimateo for quite a while. We've had to push is back multiple times because of difficulties with the marriage papers and such. Also, we were supposed to have a lunch appointment with him and his soon-to-be-wife yesterday at noon, but we didn't get home from our service project until about 5. we called them with the intention of apologizing and cancelling because it was so late and we had other appointments. But when they answered the phone we both felt strongly that we still needed to go visit them. We apologized for our tardiness and explained that we were on our way.

So, Maxima from the beginning has acted indifferent as we teach Leandro and said that she wants nothing to do with the church. She always sat in and listened to the lessons though.We kept praying that she would have a change of heart one day. well, during our lesson about the Plan of Salvation last night, she asked if she could get baptized on the same day as Leandro. We were overwhelmed with surprise and joy. Her heart was changed in what seemed like an instant, but we can look back and see that the Lord was helping her step by step the entire time. There were countless things that we thought were working against this baptism, but those things were actually working towards a greater cause. Goes to show how narrow our view can be. All things were working together for the salvation of one of God's children--one of the 99. The Lord has an eternal perspective. We need only trust in Him and in His timing. My heart is so full of gratitude and joy that Maxima has decided to be bapized. We work with so many people, praying that they will accept the good news of this gospel. Moments like that make all of the hard work worth it. Bien vale la pena....well worth the pain. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to take part in the work of the Lord.His work will go forth to all the world. All He asks is a worthy heart and willing hands. We're bringing the world HIS truth...it's a beautiful thing!

We have a service project every week. It's always something that requires hard manual labor of some sort. I really look forward to them though. There is something so satisfying about getting dirty and working hard. Yesterday I ended up completely covered in mud. It was so fun! Also, the little boys in the family that we were helping were running around and laughing with us. There is nothing better than the laughter of a child. When a child laughs it's with an unrestrained kind of joy, it's pure. Yesterday was a wonderful day.

Oh, let me tell you about the beast I discovered this week. It was the size of my hand and it is exactly like the spiderish thing in Harry Potter 4 when they learn the unforgivable curses. Look for it in the movie because I simply don't know how else to explain it. It was terrifying.

I met a woman yesterday that couldn't believe that I've only been in Panama for 4 weeks. She said that I speak/understand Spanish like I've known it for years. She thought I was from Costa Rica because my accent sounds like a native Spanish speaker, not somebody from Utah. That made my day. I'm beginning to understand pretty much everything. The Lord has helped me so much.

Our stake had a pioneer activity with the primary to celebrate Pioneer Day. They were all dressed up like pioneers and made little handcarts. It wasn' t quite the same, but I felt like I was in Utah for a little while. It was a lot of fun. Also, the primary children here are all fascinated by the idea of snow. They ask me about it all the time. Who knew Utah could be so exciting and interesting?

Well, know that I love you all. I have a testimony of how this gospel blesses families. This gospel is meant for families. I know my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He is my Redeemer as well as my brother and friend. I have a firm testimony of His Infinite Atonement.

I love you all so much!

Go forward with faith,

Hna Falslev :)

2 Months

I want to begin this letter by stating firmly that I detest cockroaches. I've made my peace with most of the other 'creepy-crawlies', with the exception of spiders of course, but cockroaches are wretched creatures that should not exist. They're big, much faster than you'd think, AND they fly. Mother Nature sure has a sense of humor. I encouter a new beast almost every time I enter the bathroom. I'm going to have to start going in there armed with more than just my shampoo and a toothbrush :)

On Saturday mmorning we met as a zone for a service project. We were cleaning up the yard of an investigator -- using machetes of course, because using any other tool would be illogical and silly. We soon discovered that this small yard was infested with frogs, of all sizes. We also found some large spiders, much to my disliking. I never thought I'd say this, but I kind of miss the spiders in Utah.

So, everybody here loves to feel the missionaries. One of our investigators was kind enough to provide us with a second lunch. Guess what she served us....pig tail! That's right, that curly thing on the end of a pig! Note to self -- no, note to everybody -- that is not something that is supposed to be eaten...EVER!

Also, we returned home one night to discover that the other hermanas accidentally locked the keys in the house, meaning that we were locked out of the house. I had quite the adventure climbing over the fence in a skirt to resolve the problem. But, alas, I was triumphant!

If you'd like a small glimpse into my day, watch the scene in 'Up!' when Russell first meets Carl. He's very persistent, he's practically Hna Rodas and me. We ask a lot of the people we see if they need help with anything, usually it requires asking multiple times. Our persistence usually pays off, and we get an opportunity to teach them. Anyway, watch that scene, it's comical how similar it is :)

Since we're out in the sun all day, I've gotten some awesome tan lines. Everybody here still loves to call me 'blancita' though. Although, I think that may be partially because it seems to be physically impossible for anybody here to say my last name.

On Sunday night we had the opportunity to take some of our investigators to see the temple. Leandro and Maxima are preparing to be married (after 50 years of being together) so that Leandro can be baptized. Maxima says that she doesn't want anything to do with the church and tries to act disinterested, but she always listens to the lessons. I think she's warming up to the idea. Leandro is a 77 year old man with a very simple, but very solid testimony.

President Carmack, the new mission president, met us at the temple. He came with his 12 year old daughter, Annie. I like talking to her because she reminds me of Alyssa. President Carmack talked to our investigators about the work that is done in the temple. The Spirit was so strong. I have such a love for the temple, and I know with a surety that it is the House of the Lord. The Panama temple is one ofthe most beautiful places I've ever been. I'd be cool if we could travel there as a family one day.

Well, I've hit the 2 month mark. That means I'm already 1/9 of the way finished. It's hard to believe. I'm learning so much. One of the things I've been thinking about this week is that the natural consequence of obedience and selfless service is power from God--power to do that which I cannot do on my own. There's a lot of things that I can't do on my own, but I know that I can rely wholly upon the Lord to make up the difference, every time.
My dear family, I love you all so much. I hope you're all doing well and know how much your Heavenly Father loves you. I testify with all of my heart that this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, it true. I know that living it invites happiness into our lives. We are happiest when our Savior is in the center of our lives.

I love you all!!

Go forward with faith,

Hermana Falslev :)