8th Grade Six Flags Field Trip

McKay's 8th grade went to Six Flags for one of their field trips this year. McKa had a blast!

Lincoln Mission April 9-15 2024

 Another P day, another email from yours truly. It's only been a few days since my last one, but much has happened. It's been crazy. I'm loving life and understanding that God's plan is perfect.

 

Almirante

My new area is called Almirante in the Changuinola zone. We're on the port of Bocas Del Toro and one of the largest tourist islands is right next to where we work (technically it's in my area, just we probably won't be able to go there... we'll see.) It's always fun to see some fellow gringos now and then. A small part of our area is well off, but the majority is really poor. Most live in wooden houses on stilts over swamp water. We walk through mazes of sidewalk to find the people to teach, and most live in one of those small wooden houses with 2 or 3 other families. It's very humbling to see. Yet somehow, they're happy and are able to see the good in life. They're very accepting of the gospel and are always willing to give us a chance. I'm so glad that we can help them find a greater joy in this life through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that His true church is on the earth today.

 

Elder Hulme

Elder Hulme is my new comp and he's awesome. He's a gringo so I love being able to speak in English again. He's from Cali and is an awesome guy. He has one more transfer on the mission than I do, so it's been really fun. We're getting along really well and already have some plans to change all of Changuinola.

 

Canoe

Every Sunday here we get to take a canoe to an island where some recent converts live. A 12 year old boy named Pablo takes us over and is an absolute GOAT (greatest of all time.) He's hilarious, has a super strong testimony, handles the canoe like a champ, and is out #1 best friend. He also says I somehow look like Joseph Smith and so bow he calls me "José Smith." I'll allow it. He's literally the best. Him and his dad make a lot of sacrifices to come to church and are faithful. He also might take us to a cool spot with crystal clear water for a future p day. W.

 

Friends

We found a lady named Dalisbeth who is awesome. She read a pamphlet and came back with amazing questions, watched general conference, and is asking us when we can come back. She's currently on date to get baptized on May 4th if all goes well. She loves to learn about it. We also have Kaylianis who is the best friend of one of the girls in our branch. She's on date to be baptized soon if her mom gives us permission to do it. She comes to church every week and pays good attention during the lessons. Freddy and Yaneth also are on date to be baptized around the 27th. They're reading the Book of Mormon and are really interested. They believe it's true and are progressing really well. The only problem is they live on the island, so we need to confirm with them that they're willing to make the trip to church every week to take the sacrament. It's a key part to baptism, and we want them to be able to endure to the end.

 

Our boy Santiago

We have a recent convert whose job is to climb palm trees and take down the coconuts and pipas (apparently there's a difference between pipa and coconut, but I'm gringo so I could be lying.) He's an awesome dude and knows every tree in our area like it's a friend. He has agreed to turn me into a palm tree climbing machine (only up to 10 ft of course.) He makes it look easy, but I quickly learned that it's not. Especially in a white shirt, tie, and pants. He also gives us pipa water for free. An absolute dawg. Now we just got to get him to come to church on a regular basis.

 

Chiquita

So basically, Chiquita is the banana company in Changuinola and it's HUGE. In the port there's always one of its massive cargo ships loaded with straight bananas. Nothing else. It's our goal to get on that ship. Billions of bananas. In one of the other areas they live on a banana farm and see carts of bananas being carried from the farms to the shipping containers. They also get woken up by a crop duster every morning which is unfortunate. It's astounding how many bananas are produced here. In Empalme, they drop off all the bananas that aren't fit for the US and you can get 100+ free bananas if you're quick enough. So many banana farms. A real Changuinola experience.

 

Nobes

The tribe in this part of Panamá is called the nobes. They live in Ngöbe Buglé in the middle of the jungle, but also are all over Changuinola. They have a cool culture with their own type of "mola" kind of similar to what the Kuna’s do. Their dialect is way different than Dulegaya and super interesting. Coin dere. A lot of the people that we're teaching are Nobe and they're awesome. They're known to be a harder to teach people, but in our area they're different from the ones in finca 30 or in the jungle. It's also difficult culture because they have a church called the "Mama Tatda" which is horrible. Meaning if you convert to another religion, they'll crucify you, and for some reason there's a lot of them. There's a girl in another area who goes to our church every week, wants to get baptized, but can't because her mom said if she did, she would crucify her. It's kind of sickening. They are some pretty wack stories of what happens in the jungle and why we don't have missionaries there. It's definitely a challenge because a lot of people who want to, be a part of God's church can't, because they're scared of what their parents would do.

 

Spiritual thought 

Throughout this week, I've seen the importance of families. They're an essential part of God's plan. We're supposed to be united and support each other. Obviously, every situation is different, but we need to be able to overcome small squabbles and differences of opinion to see the bigger picture. We really need to "think celestial." We can't let any wedge be driven between us. And it's hard, but that's why we have Christ. I invite you to learn today sorry, to have compassion, to have patience, and to really try to love and have a strong relationship with your family. With that blessing, life will be easier. I know that to be true both from my experience in Panamá and from my experience with my own family. This is crucial.

 

I'm loving my time in Almirante. It has a great mix of adventure and ability to do God's work. I know God is putting me where I can have the greatest impact and where I can see the most growth. La vida es buena. Life goes on. 

 

An bemar sabe

Elder Nelson

 

 

Palmer Mission April 9-15 2024

Yeah, so it's been like 2 weeks that I haven't sent an email and I'm sorry to say that nothing interesting has happened these last couple weeks, other than me going to Good Airs (Buenos Aires) and staying inside due to my comp being sick so let's get into a bit of it.

BA BABY

Yeah so Elder Esmond and I flew to Buenos Aires to get his passport again since he lost it so here's the run down

•1st Airplane in 2 years

•Met Porteño Victor (Marcos, a non member taxi driver that knows everything about the church)

•Went to the temple and did an epic temple session, best moment of my mission and most spiritual, my testimony grew a ton

•Ate Blood Sausage

•Was in a 4 star hotel and ordered KFC

•Went to the US Embassy and pretended I was a CIA agent and it worked

•Ate Hard Rock Cafe in the BA airport

•Flew home

Epic vacation

DENGUE

So I got a new comp named Elder Lewis and he is the best. Like ive had dope companions these last few transfers. We were grinding and made a ton of goals and then boom, he got Dengue...an Argentine Mosquito disease that kills people so we've had our momentoum stopped and I also got sick and yeah its been rough but hey somehow we'll get through

I loved Conference, it was amazing and talked so much about temples. I love the temple, I have never felt so much love and peace in there. Jesus is at the center of it all.

Also, walked through water up to our knees in the streets cuz it rained so much and it was full of sewer water and yeah it was sooo nasty. And we walked through it all day. And then in BA gave a comfort blessing to a dude who found out his mom died 10 minutes before so God put us in her path, miracle

Love yall, Elder Nelson (Palmer)

Hunter Church Prom 2024

Hunter was determined not to go to church prom, but his friend Delaney had a non-member friend that went to seminary some times and she wanted to go with Hunter, so they set it up. He met her the day of the dance. Good thing she was fun...

Goofy boys. 

Putting on the boutonniere was a group effort

Hunter had a great time!