Lincoln Mission August 28-September 4

Que Xopa y'all?

Honestly I couldn't tell you where my money went, but I can tell you that we found a dessert place on the second story of a sketchy building... and its pretty good. We have set a rule though: we can only go on Wednesdays, if we complete a whole day only speaking Spanish. (An "english fast"). I may have already broken that rule...

Be prepared, this is one of my finest essays and it took me the better part of a Diablo Rojo (Red Devil) bus ride to write. Enjoy. And remember that I now have two second languages. Bear (or bare?) with me. 

This week was pretty standard, but none the less amazing!

We had yet another birthday party this Tuesday. It was with the Kuna family (again) and it was so fun! We did a noche de hogar (family home evening) and shared a message about God's perfect plan for us. We then celebrated with cake and ice cream and cheese puffs (these people like their cheese puffs.) At the end of the night we had the amazing opportunity to be a part of a Kuna prayer! We circled up, held hands, and the uncle prayed in dulegaya. It was so cool and I could not make sense of any of it. It sounded like he was making it up as he went. It's crazy that the missionaries on the islands are fluent in this language. Super cool experience. 

Wednesday was the blessed day that we found the dessert place. We went for lunch and were not dissapointed. I got a brownie sunday and it tasted so good. Definitely going to have to control that temptation. We also had our English fast and spoke only Spanish. It was pretty fun and I learned a lot.  

Thursday was our district council and it was super fun. We set some goals and talked about how we can improve. I gave a short lesson on how we can better use technology as we are focused on our purpose as missionaries. After, we did some practices and said a group prayer. We then went to "Hau Hau" which is the chinese restaurant across the street. Lets just say Thursday is always a good day. After lunch we had intercambios (one companionship exchanges companions for a day with a leader to gain more experience and a change of scenery) so I went to Nuevo Mejico with Elder Olsen. He's a super cool guy and a really hard working missionary. We set goals and worked hard to meet them. We had some great lessons and I learned a lot from him.

Friday... I honestly cant remember Friday too well. We did update our rules, so now I can talk only to family members through messenger. We also can't wear mola ties with pictures. A quick or not so quick backround on mola: Mola is the name of the patterns of the kuna people. It is interwoven in their culture. There are a lot of members of the church who are Kuna and love putting mola on ties. They look fantastic. The coolest thing I have ever seen. And the best part is they can sew on images like macaws, logos and whatever you want really. They are the coolest thing ever and so many missionaries have them. Because of the rule change we can't have images on our ties. The good news is that we can wear plain mola ties (just the patterns, no images sewn on) I'm still going to buy as many as physically possible (again, sorry Dad, I can't resist) and save them for after the mission. Another cool thing is that you can get a white temple tie with white mola  Sorry for the monologe (that is definitely spelled wrong) but yeah... sad day. And ANOTHER cool thing you can do with ties is there is a member of the church here who PAINTS ties and they look super cool. They got some cool things down here in Panama. I could write an essay (another essay) about the demon sticks, hammicks, carved oars, embera patterns, sombreros pintados, and more. The culture here is amazing. In conclusion... Panama is the best.

Saturday was yet another chill day of working hard in the work of the Lord. I had a cool spiritual experience as we were testifying about the Restoration of God's New Testament church and the appearance of God the Father and the Son to the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit was so strong and I knew what we were saying was being confirmed by the Holy Ghost. I love these amazing experiences and love working hard to be worthy of them. The mission is an amazing opportunity to learn more about the Savior and spread his gospel to help others come unto Christ and recieve the eternal joy he offers. This truly is an amazing experience! (Even if I am going deaf because the Diable Rojos blast music loud enough to kill an elephant.)

Sundays. Wow, how I love Sundays. One of our friends came to church which is so awesome! We were able to take the sacrament which is such an amazing blessing and opportunity to remember the sacrifice of our Savior and his life here on earth. We can renew our promises with him that we made through baptism and other sacred ordinances. It always helps me feel the spirit so strongly. Sundays when you are prepared to take the sacrament are amazing. Another miracle is that a few inactive members came back to church! A lot of people don't come to church because this is their free day and (or) they really like to sleep. It's always cool to see people choose to come to church rather than sleep in. We had a great rest of the day and some great lesson. We made no-bake cookies and gave them to some friends and members and they LOVED them. It was really hard to get the plate away from them, but luckily in the end we had the perfect amount for everyone. 

Monday P-DAY! We got all our laundry done and Elder Rojas got a haircut. I, however, elected to instead use the five dollars that would have gone towards a haircut for five dollars worth of dessert at the "spot." We'll find out how worth it it was when Elder Olsen gives me a haircut (no experience and has a preference for buzzcuts...) Sorry for the long email, but I'm on a diablo rojo for an hour with lethally loud music blasting and the bass is turned all the way up. And I don't understand it because its in Spanish. Don't get me wrong, I love diablo rojos. They're a crucial part of the culture and super fun. I just also like being able to hear. We're going to the church to play soccer, order Dominos, and shop for groceries. And for dinner tonight we have the hot dog guys (these delightfully pleasant gentlemen who sell hot dogs from 6-12. They might be a little sketchy at times and might even not get an A at a health inspection done by a blind man, but we love them for what's on the inside... and their food is really good if you don't play too much attention .) And we're going to make peach cobbler with chocolate cake mix. I can stop when I want to mom.

Another bit of news is that they are thinking of adding another set of missionaries in Buena Vista! We get to talk with the mission president a lot about it and help them plan what it would look like. If I'm lucky enough I could start a group futher north and open up an area! That would include finding a spot to meet, calling members to positions, and getting enough people to come and hopefully progress it enough to make a branch. It would be cool, and would take a lot of time. Either create a group and stay there for somewhere around a year, or go along living the wonderful life of a servant of the Lord. Sounds like a win win to me.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I've been on this Diablo for a while and the guy sitting next to me might smell like he inhaled a substance of the illegal variety. I'm loving and learning so much as a missionary in the promised land of Panama and love every day. Still ups and downs, anxiety and doubts, stomach aches from too much ice cream, etc., but that all is swallowed up in the love I have for my Savior, the miracles that I see daily, and the people I can bring closer to the Savior. This is a once in a life time experience and I hope I can take advantage of every single precious day in the service of God. The power of prayer is real, God loves you more than we are able to comprehend, and this is Christ's New Testament church restored again on the earth. [I know it and God knows it and I cannot deny it.] Everyone can know these eternal truths by studying, pondering, and praying with real intent and a willingness to accpet God's will! You will recive an answer from a loving God. I have seen it already in my short time as a missionary and it is a sprecial experience. Its just sad when someone tells me that God told them our words are true, but then doesn't have a firm desire to change. Let God mold you into who He needs you to be!

Entonces... if you made it to this part of the email, you most likely skipped ahead. No hard feelings. I love y'all and hope you can strive to strengthen your relationship with God!

Mckay, your emails are hilarious, even if you might have used chat gbt for one of them. Quick shout out to the best second younger brother in the whole entire world! Make sure you vote for him at the next presidential election! I would if I could, he has genious ideas that will change the world! I don't know if he (or anyone) had the will power to read all of this, but in his words "adieu Scott Sterling adieu" (I think that's how you spell it out. I couldn't sound it out, so just try your best.)

Ciao,

Future AP (just kidding dad) 

Best missionary in the world (only kind of just kidding dad)

Elder Nelson

(The one the Panamanians think is the grandson of the prophet President Nelson. I won't correct them. I now have the respect of all the members here. Sorry mom I tried to correct it, but my Spanish failed me.)

P. S. If you have any advice for overcoming an addiction to sugar, let me know. For a friend...