"Prayers for island vibes have been answered!!!!!!!!"

Wowowowoow...so we just heard transfers but I'll try to talk about the week before I tell you where I'm going.

Don't remember all the pics I sent but the old house with all the dogs is just one of the many crap houses in Panama Viejo. And it does make me super sad to see all the stray dogs but they're all friends and I'm their friend and they always seem happy. 

The beginning of this week the secretaries moved out and Elders Brown and Duarte, from the area next to ours, moved in because they had to leave their house and haven't found a new one yet. I knew Brown in the MTC and he's from Rancho Cucamonga. 

We also opened an area! Well we absorbed the secretaries area, but they haven't done squat there for years so it's like we're opening it. So we now have Altos de Golf, Coco del Mar, San Francisco, and a tiny little ghetto on the other side called Boca la Caja. That's the only place we expect to have any luck because the rest of our area is super rich houses, hotels, apartments and restaurants. Its kinda like Panama Viejo but slightly sketchier and built around a big steamy vegetable oil factory, literally made out of tin.

About half way through the week I was thinking I might get changed so I super nervously called Franybeck and Carlos to ask if we could baptise Juliette and Jesus. I had been putting it off for a few days but I finally got the courage to do it and she just said you gotta ask them dude. So we went over the next night and Jesus didnt want to at first because he thought it meant he had to serve a mission haha, but we explained and he was down. Juliette got back from a friend's house like halfway through and walked in and sat down and before we said anything she said, the answer is yes, and I want you to baptise me. So I was super stoked. This just shows that being nervous is stupid.

So, on Saturday we had the Kuna baptism which was super stressful. We got up early to go fill the font and we had left the phone at a members house the night before so we had to go find it. We were running around all the houses of the bishopric to find someone to preside but none of them would. I was so mad. Literally their excuse was that there was an activity at the pool, so they would be at the pool. I was like are you serious, the baptism is like 4 hours after that starts. So I was kinda freaking out and called Elder Brinkman, the senior couple, and our ward mission leader to see if we even needed someone from the bishopric to preside. So he said he'd look it up and call me back. And he said that if none of them were available, a zone leader or district leader could preside with permission from president. So I called him and he answered and said it was fine and was stoked that we're on freaking fire this weekend. So we went to the Kuna house to fill out the papers for everything. That was difficult because they had super decrepit birth certificates and everything was weird. Everyone thought Flaco was 9, including his mom, but turns out he's 10...haha. 

So everything was ready so we started calling everyone to see if they could come later and went around to houses and we were expecting it to be packed. But when we went to their house, to bring them there, like all the Kunas bailed. So it was just the mom, Flaco, Camille, and their cousin Nalleli. Got to the church and it was just the Brinkmans, and we waited a while but nobody came so we just started. It was a good baptism but I was super bummed that it was empty. And I told Sister Brinkman that we were expecting more people but she told me we had who we needed, so that made me feel better. 

We baptised the Venezuelan ninos the next day after church. And Franybeck is already a mormon mom, I don't know why she won't just get baptised. She made a bunch of cookies and a little CTR cake and cute little programs. This time the room was loaded. I baptised the two of them and it was really fun. So far I haven't baptised anyone that comes above my shoulders, including Isai, so it's been easy.

After church we went home and I colored Easter eggs with Sharpies by myself. Varguez wasnt into it. Then we went and visited an old Ecuadorian woman from the ward at a rest home who we have family home evening with every once in a while. We walked in and said we had a present for her, then I pulled out a little sacrament cup and she was so excited. Wouldn't stop thanking us. If someone told me they had a present for me and brought me that I'd probably be mad. But she told us she was ready to go and she wanted to go ready. We talked to her about Easter and how lots of iglesias are focusing on the death of Christ instead of his resurrection. Half of Panama Viejo was dressed like Jews on Good Friday, somehow they found horses and were riding those around everywhere, and they even crucified a guy. Had him strung up on a cross for hours hahaaha. But I said that he didn't die so that we could die, he did it so that we could live again like him. The guy they crucified did resurrect that morning but still.

Today for P-day we climbed Cerro Ancon again but with more people. So sick this time, it was full of sloths of ñiques, and I found a cat at the top who I picked up and carried with me for the remainder of our time there. 

Almost forgot to say where I'm going! I heard my comp pick up the phone and start writing down where other people in our district are going and I was on the floor, could not walk, I was so nervous. Then he started laughing and put it on speaker phone. Loma Nueve! and I'm the new district leader there. I almost started crying. Loma Nueve is like 20 minutes from us, and I don't know how to be a district leader. 

But luckily it was a joke! I'm going to freaking Ticantiqui!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prayers for island vibes have been answered!!!!!!!! I am so unrealy stoked right now. I'll be comps with Elder Taylor 1 who used to live with us. 

So I leave for there in a few days, after we go shopping for my food for the next 6 weeks and everything.

I'll probably be able to email again before then, but love you all!!

Elder Green

My favorite food in Panama...Chinese ham-pao

We take the best pictures

Tried to make brownie pancakes

Accidentally melted the drain pipe

"We're Killin' It!"

Hey,

A lot happened this week.

First off, we're no longer teaching Yolanda. She likes us but says she's way too busy right now and her sister doesn't like us coming by. But she said she'd keep reading and praying and call us in a couple weeks.

We met with Renee a couple times and one day he brought a friend! I guess he knew him in Nicaragua and he had just moved here and bumped into him on the street. When we taught him I had just come back from walking out to the little island by our spot. The tide goes like a mile out and theres a big sewage pipe you can walk on out to it and it's like a little rainforest out there. Somehow I was covered in mud from that so hopefully that was a good first impression on his friend who wouldn't answer questions and said he was just there to observe. He didn't seem too interested but we left him with a Restoracion pamphlet and he read through it a couple times. 

Hiked out to this little island

Varguez and I were super bummed one day this week because we thought we werent having much success in the area. It's still really boring. But we realised we have like 7 really good investigators, and considering most areas are like 20 to 30 times the size of ours, we're killin' it. 

St. Patrick's Day was wicked. We started divisions with the zone leaders that night, who live with the assistants, who were starting divisions with some other zone leaders, so there was 8 of us. Leite and I went and found root beer at a super expensive store. Virgils in a bottle was $2 each but cans were diece so we loaded up on those, then bounced. Literally played ping pong for the next like 3 hours before everyone went to bed. But I did not sleep a wink. As I said in my farewell talk, I was very full of root beer. It's a real thing. Then I got up to go to the bathroom and I watched a cockroach follow me back to my bed. Did a little zig zag to throw it off but it still followed. Finally killed it and then I started hearing squeaks everywhere. That house is infested. Then my ingrown toenail was bothering me so I got out my knife and cut half of it off. I dont know, that was a weird night. But the next morning everyone wanted to play soccer so we took a cab across the city to a park. I had not come prepared so I went barefoot and with a borrowed shirt. Played for a bit then ran like two miles, across the city, to take a bus back to the house. 

St. Patrick's Day was as weird as this picture.

Later Leite and I taught a super rich Canadian guy named Paul, who doesn't speak a lick of spanish. Never have I felt the gift of tongues more real than while teaching in english. We started and I was like crap, I don't know this stuff. So I was translating everything in my head, and I could feel my lips forming the words in spanish but english coming out. It was kinda a weird lesson because this guy doesn't really have much of a religious backround and had tons of questions about the cosmos and God. But it was fun. He had a lot of stories too. Like he's been everywhere. Used to live in Glendale too but accidently got addicted to cocaine so me moved to San Fran, then to Seattle, then back to Canada, now he's here. 

We had a lot of meetings this week too. Zone conference earlier in the week, then a priesthood meeting Saturday night. An area 70 guy spoke and showed that over the last five years membership in the Panama stake has gone up 500 but attendance has gone down 100. Kinda sad becuase you can see it. People just don't come to church if they don't want to. Sunday morning was stake conference and Flaco (aka Chino) needed one more week of church attendance before we could baptise him. So Varguez and I got up early and went to the Kuna house to wake them up. We only got him and Nalleli to come but that was probably better because we had to take them on a bus to the city. It was their first time there, they were so stoked. They've never really left their Island or Panama Viejo. But that was super fun. We sat in the back and drew pictures of San Blas the whole time. I also paid attention, but I remember nothing. I think they talked a lot about how every member should be a missionary. 

Taking Flaco and Nalleli to stake conference

So that is my lesson this week! You dont have to be a missionary to share the gospel. Like all you have to do is give the missionaries your friend's address and they won't even know you sent them. Or you could be cool and talk to your friends about it and invite them to things. Or talk to strangers! Talking to people is not that hard.

Only had two mangoes this week. I can control myself. But I did eat like five bananas yesterday. And two raw platanos this morning. 

Is this week Easter? Also what is Good Friday?

Love y'all!

More of the area and the Kuna kids

Also, we got libros!

"So everything's going well."

 Hey!

So this week wasn't as boring. All our appointments fell through again, like literally all of them. But we kinda made some other ones happen.

So we haven't been able to get in touch with our investigator Renee, who we met and taught by the beach the last week, but on like Wednesday, Varguez suggested we go back to that place to see if he was there. So we went and he wasn't so he's like let's bounce. But I was like hold up, there's waves out. I'm gonna sit on this rock and look at them for a while. So we sat there for like twenty minutes until I was ready to go, but then. There were a bunch of fish jumping in the water. So we sat for another twenty minutes throwing rocks at them and what not until we heard a whistle and looked and there was Renee! So stoked. So we taught him again...same place under a little palm tree and it was sick. He called us today and we're gonna meet him there later today.

Panama Vieja Swell

Caught this with my hands

Pic I snuck of Renee

We also have a new investigator named Yolanda. We contacted her out in front of her house and visited her the next day. She told us she believes in everything. Like whatever we're gonna tell her is already true. So we're like okay this is weird, but we taught her and she loves it. Doesn't even need to read the Book of Mormon to know if it's true but we got her to do it anyway. Nice lady.

On Thursday, Franybeck and Carlos invited us to dinner for her birthday. They've had a friend from Venezuela, Ferreino, staying with them for the last 3 months and his family just got here, wife and two kids. So now there's nine of them staying in their tiny two room apartment, until like September. And they invited all their other Venezuelan friends over so there were like 25 of us in there eating tacos and cake. They made me sing happy birthday in english alone. That was embarressing. But then they sang it how they do it in Venezuela which is five minutes as long and involves lots of yelling and banging on tables. I think Venezuelans are crazier than Panamanians. 

Franybeck's Birthday

Oh and one day this week, I nearly died. There are mango trees all over the place, and these people are so impatient they always eat them green. But they've all been ripe lately, and we were sitting under a tree planning who we would visit from our menos activos list and I just kept eating them. Ate like 7. Then, as we were walking around the corner to the bishop's house to wash off in his troft, I saw a beast sized mango under another tree. So I picked it up and like two little parts of it had been eaten by squirrels, but I didnt care, I just cut them off then ate it. But later I was sick. Either because I was so full of mangoes or because I was diseased. And I threw up. Then I felt better but I was near death no doubt. 

Saturday was a good day. We got to the area after dropping off keys at the office Young forgot, and a slightly drunk guy sitting in his car blasting 50´s music out in front of a chino waved us over. He handed us $10 and said to go inside and buy gatorades for ourselves. So wer'e like thanks dude and bought them then bounced. Next 4 appointments fell through so we sat to watch some kids play soccer and we get a call from a guy we quickly contacted on the street two days before. He said he was making lunch and asked if we wanted to come over in like an hour to eat. Best call I've ever recieved. So we went and it was delicious. His name is Verne, and he's from Colombia, moved to Venezuela when he was 18, then to an island off of Ireland for 10 years, back to Venezuela, now Panama for a year, and he's trying to get to Canada. He was stoked about everything we taught him and was super down to read the Libro. His woman, not wife, was not so nice. She basically refused to understand what we said and got mad and left, but very nicely said we were always welcome. Weird, but I think he´ll at least get baptised.

To answer your questions, the bed bugs in my mattress are gone, not the others, my rash is almost gone, companion's still wick, wards doing a little better, still hot as freak every day, and yesterday I got the Kuna kids to church! So everythings going well.

Love you,

Elder Green

"That's from my Pueblo!"

Hey!

So this week was boring again. We set a lot of appointments but almost every single one fell through. They usually do, but we’re still having fun. We’re still teaching Benjamin. He said he really likes talking with us but hasn’t been able to make it to church yet because he’s a welder and usually has to work.

We’ve also been teaching another lady named Berta who’s usually home with her three young granddaughters, who love us. She too really likes us coming by and is trying to get to church.

I was in the office several times this week. Super boring. One day we had to go on splits with Elder Young so he could pay rent on every house in the mission. We had to run all around the city to almost every bank to do that. I hate being in the city, and that I know my way around it.

In the city for bank runs.

On Saturday we went to Torrijos Carter of San Miguelito, my comps old area, because one of his investigators was getting baptized. San Mig is wick, basically the favelas of Panama. Like take the “Nectar” and cover it in houses. And it’s huuuuge. I’m not sure I’d want to go there, though, because it’s even more crowded than where I am now.

We had stake conference, or something like that, yesterday. It was a transmission from the Centro American leaders, and Neil L. Anderson spoke. We were all in the English translation room, which was fun but awk because we had a hard time talking to people. There was a story I really liked from his talk about this kid in the Democratic Republic of Congo who really wanted to go on a mission, but needed a passport, which cost $250. So twice a day he would ride his bike 18 miles on dirt trails to a village that had bananas, and then he’d ride back with them and sell them in his village. And he was so stoked to say after 4 years of that he had enough to buy a passport, and a little extra to save. Made me feel like a fool because I spent the entire summer before I left at the beach or in the mountains.

But that story also made me think about the people here, especially the Nicaraguans. Most of them have only been here about as long as me, and left their families to come work. So they live in little cinderblock homes shared with several families. Their rooms are divided by like a sheet hanging up and they usually don’t even have front doors. Its pretty sketch and probably sucks but for some reason they’re still happy and never complain. I think they’re just thankful to have a job. This also reminds me of a quote from Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. He said something like the easiest thing to do with your life is to make it complicated…and the hardest thing is to simplify it. Like we have all these phones and computers, and what not, that we think we need and when they’re gone we feel lost. We should learn to focus on the important things we already have and be thankful for them, rather than try to fill our lives with more stuff.

I think there’s like three weeks left in this change and then I’m out of here. I shall miss this place indeed but I am hoping for a bigger area far from the city.

Oh and that picture of the Kennedy’s shirt I had. We went to a little thrift shop and there was a very persistent salesman there that was holding up every shirt and asking if I wanted it. It was super annoying and I was kind of ignoring him, then he held up that one and I’m like, “That’s from my pueblo!!” So I bought it for $2 and I’m stoked.

Look what made its way from Woodland Hills to a sketchy thrift shop in Panama.

What we eat almost everyday...chicken, plantains, rice, beans.

Just had a lame zone P-day of playing soccer. Still not into it.

Love you!

Elder Green