Lincoln First Two Weeks in Panama

Lincoln is finally in Panama! Now the super hard part of his mission begins. He's struggled these first few weeks with culture shock and homesickness, but he's pushing through and trying! We have already seen lots of growth!

Wow these weeks have been both the slowest and fastest weeks of my life. Also they have probably been the weeks with the most ups and downs. Panama is amazing and the people here are awesome. They love the Savior so much and it has been so cool to meet so many people.

First Zone Conference!
I had my first zone conference and it was super cool. We had a great training from President about the comfort zone and the growth zone. No growth in the comfort zone añnd not too much comfort in the growth zone. I have definitely been in the growth zone and I am so grateful for all I'm learning. We had pork chops and salad for lunch, which was really good and I met a lot of cool Elders. We had our conference with the Islander elders who are on the San Blas Islands right now. They are so cool and they speak Dulagaya (Kuna.) Elder Owens was Elder Rojases (my companion) old trainer. I talked to him a lot and we got along really well. We had some more talks and presentations, but the really cool thing is that we all have our own phones now! It is so much easier for studies, planning, communication, etc. 

Python Attack

While Elder Rojas and I were waiting at a bus stop, a python decided to cross the highway. When it was crossing the last lane from us a taxi skirted to a stop and tried to run it over. It knicked it so the python tried to bite it. Then the taxi took off, leaving us with a slightly injured and now angry python. It kept coming towards us and came a little faster than i wanted. We were all up on the bench and then the python proceeded to try and climb that bench. At that point, another taxi skirted to a stop and started throwing rocks at it. He looked like he had done it before. Once he had hit a few fatal shots he grabbed a club of a stick off the ground and proceeded to wack the snake and throw its body into the road, scaring many a drivers. Lets just say that snake is no longer with us  but truly a once in a life time experience 

Dulagaya

I honestly dont know how to spell that language but thats the language the Kuna people speak. We have this super faithful family that are recent converts and are also Kuna. They are so fun and they even taught us a little Dulagaya. They speak to each other in that language, but speak to us in Spanish. At first while we were waiting they sounded like they were speaking Spanish, but i couldnt understand anything. I was confused and very worried for the longest time until my companion told me they were not speaking Spanish. That was pretty funny. Hopefully that made sense.

Another First

Again while waiting for a bus, we started talking to a guy washing his taxi. That was our first mistake. He then started talking about how were going to hell and that churches shouldnt require sacrifice, only obedience...   It was a very confusing concept. Obedience... is a sacrifice... He went on for a really long time and I was just praying for a bus to come and save us. Then, miracle, our taxi driver friend came and picked us up and took us to our house free of charge! Prayers really are answered. The moral of the story is God loves everyone, His plan is perfect, and we need to love everyone! Even when its very very hard. Apparently I need to prepare for more experiences like that. 

Panamanian Soccer Player

So a person that we are teaching is so nice and has a cool family. Her testimony is so so strong and she has so many things memorized. She reads the Book of Mormon daily whenever she can and is a fun person to talk to. Her daughter is also married to a player for DC UNITED ... AND ... THE PANAMANIAN NATIONAL TEAM. She called him for us and we got to talk to him, in Spanish, as he was walking to practice. Such a cool experience. He might come to Panamá in October of September and we could meet him... she really got my hopes up when she said that.

A recent convert named Junior just got the priesthood! (The authority of God restored through the prophet Joseph Smith) It was super special and he is going to the temple this September. He is super faithful and a great guy. 

One family we are teaching is super faithful and receptive of our message. They told us they know we are servants of God and that what we teach is true. They are super cool and its always a great lesson when we are with them.

It has been a real rollercoaster out here full of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I have learned so much and am so grateful for everything I have experienced. I really have to rely soley on the Lord and trust in his will and plan for me. With that faith we can do anything! I truly testify that is true and that hard times turn us to the Lord. Love you all! 

Mosiah 2:41

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ^ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are ^bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out ^cfaithful to the end they are received into ^dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

Elder Nelson

Pretty cool place to play soccer.

Panama is beautiful.

Hola y'all!

Wow the past week or so was a roller-coaster! I have definitely have seen the Lord's hand in my life a lot and am so blessed to focus on His gospel.

1am departure time

I had to be at reception for our bus at 1am so there wasn't too much time for sleeping... We said good bye to everyone that was awake and then took our bags and left. Maybe I'll see a few of them after the mission.

One of the Elders going to Panamá accidentally packed his passport in his checked bag so he had to stay back in México. I still don't know if he made it to Panamá yet so if you could please pray for Elder Ratuvukivuki! (from Fiji)

Arrival

After we arrived to the airport we took a bus to the city which is really cool and then ate dinner. We had tacos de pastor which are amazing and then we met our mission President. He is a super cool guy and offered some great advice for new missionaries. 

We had a few presentations from the APs (missionaries assigned to assist the president) then we met our trainers.

My trainer is named Elder Rojas! He is a super cool guy and amazing at soccer. He knows a ton of spanish and is a great missionary. He had been on the mission for about 9 months so he is pretty experienced. (He also makes great quesadillas) we then took an hour plus bus ride and got settled in our house.

¡Panamá!

Wow it is amazing here. Palm trees everywhere and amazing weather. It's super hilly snd I'm still waiting to see a Jaguar, but I've heard most animals are in the mountains so i'll have to wait. Elder Rojas said he still hasnt seen any animales (other than the multitudes of dogs that run around here) so I'll have  The people are amazing and love God so much. We haven't met anyone who's not Christian, so teaching goes really well. The church here is small but strong. There are so many strong members and families striving to be good disciples of Jesus Christ and it's super inspiring. It so cool just to think that I'm in Panamá serving God and His children!

Buena Vista

So Buena Vista is the area that I'm in and it is super cool. It's a little south of Colón and is such a cool place. It's crazy humid here so we'll see how long my white shirts actually stay white. Hopefully I'll get used to that part. Our house doesn't have AC or hot water, but It's still super comfortable and our owners are super nice. We also have a soccer field (la cancha as it's called by the people who actually speak spanish) and it's right by our house. We play soccer for all of our workout times and it is so fun. A lot of locals come and play w us which is super fun. 

The Jungle is called "el campo" here and we are right next to it. Most of the area is very populated, but somedays we go tracting through the Jungle which actually has quite a few receptive people there. We stand at the edge of the property and say "buenas!" and someone comes out to greet us. Most of the people here have been contacted by the missionaries before us so it takes a lot of work to find new people to teach. 

Los Diablos Rojos

For transportation we have these American school buses that the locals have put turbos on and repainted. They always have crazy spanish music playing as well which I can never understand (probably a good thing) and since our area is so large (towns seperated by the jungle) we have to take them to get around. Super fun

Anyway, this week has been so hard, but I am learning to trust in the Lord. I highly recommend reading Mathew 11:28-30 and Ether 12:27 because they have been a great comfortable. I am learning patience and love for things that are hard and am definitely learning to rely on the Lord in all that I do. Keep trusting in God and know that he has a plan! Obviously I know very little spanish and probably understand about 5 percent of what is being said each day. So many prayers have been said and I'm trying my best. A quote that I love is, "I am no where near perfect, but I am perfect at trying." Or something like that. I am learning to give my all to the Lord and he will make way more out of my life than I can.

Sorry for errors and bad grammar. I am now a todler in both languages 

Gracias,

Elder Nelson

Wowza!

Lincoln's bed in his apartment. It's taking some getting used to. They don't have air conditioning and that is super hard to be hot all of the time.

Lincoln's favaorite!

Kuna bracelet he had made in a store.

We know this is so good for Lincoln!