Portobelo and apostasy!

Hola everyone,

   I have A LOT of stuff to tell you guys and soo little time... so lets get started!

1. Can you say APOSTASY!!! Okay now that we got that out of the way.. So this week we experienced so good ol apostasy! So here in our area we have this church that have a Cristo Negro AKA Black Christ. But let me tell you guys a little about what goes on the 21st of October here in our area every year. So this has been going on all week leading up to the 21st. So they have this huge event that takes place at the church and some people walk the 53 milies from the city of Panama all the way here to our area in Portobelo.. Others walk 22 miles from a part in our area called Sabanitas, and many crawl the last mile on there hands and knees to worship this black Christ. WHY??? You ask... Well.... So they do this to atone from all the crimes that these people have commited in there lives. Most of these people that are making this walk are criminal from various parts of the world. There are many stories related to the criminals participating in this festival day which has resulted in designating the Black Christ as the "patron saint of criminals."`So they make this walk to recieve forgivness from their sins. They believe that if they make the walk they will have this forgivness but not only that.. they also believe that they can ask for things like drugs and this Black Christ will give it to them. I really dont understand it but hey thats apostasy for you, its never easy to understand. 

So my comp and I had a dinner the night that everyone and there dogs AND CHILDREN!! YES CHILDREN were making this walk to this Black Christ. The dinner was close to our house so we decided to walk home instead of paying for a bus with money we didnt have. So to let you guys know, people are selling hamburgers and soda and all kinds of stuff to this people that are walking because, well its 53 miles. As we are walking home people are trying to give us water and cheering us on and we are just like WHAT?? NO!! We teach the truth haha... It was pretty funny but we talked to a ton of people and invited them to church. Fun stuff...

2. So we were waiting for the bus to go to one of our investigators house when this really scary guy came up to us and started to talk to us... Now normaly my comp gets all the stares because well... shes white and looks different from anyone here haha... But not this time. This guy was staring me down and kept calling me pretty and all this stuff. It was like AWKWARD!! Haha... but we ended up teaching him a lesson with his brother and the Elders this week and they want to be baptized. Dont worry guys... we only teach them with other members or the Elders. Fun guy!

3. So we also had this really powerful lesson with one of out investigators named Xenia. She is about 80 years old and we have been teaching her for a long time but she has never accepted a baptism date UNTIL NOW!! She said yes to being baptized and we were sooo happy. We told her that we would pass by her house on Sunday in the morning so we can go to church with her and she said yes. So we went by on Sunday and what happened?? She said she didnt want to go to church.... like ever. It was really sad but when we went to church we have 5 other investigators at church so that helped our spirits a little bit. 

4. I have also had some very spiritual experiences this week that I cant really share with you guys but I just want you to know that this gospel is sooo true! I cant express to you guys how much joy I have in my life because of the gospel! We are all soo blessed and we need to always remember that! I have never been so happier in all my life! This gospel is true and I know that Christ lives!! 

I love you guys and hope that you all have a wonderful week!! 

Con amor

Hermana Patrick

SmashBurger!! :)

So this week was filled with fun adventures...

So my companion had to go to the hospital to give some samples of blood and stuff for the gastritis that she has to make sure that she doesnt have anything worse. The Elders also had to go to the doctor because one of the Elders hands got broken so they went with us... So at the end of this longggg day we are in the lab to give the blood and stuff and this white guy walks in. So Elder Roney the new Elder in our ward looks at me and says "do you think he speaks English or Spanish." After about 5 mins of talking about it we just decide that Elder Rodrigez the Elder from Guatemala that speak NO English to talk to the guy. He walks up to him and ask him if he spoke Spanish. The guys looks at Elder Rodrigez and is like "umm no." So he trys to talk to him in the VERY LITTLE ENGLISH that he knows and the guy is just looking at him like WHAT??? So them Elder Rodrigez looks at me and says "ayudame por favor," which means help me please... So we all laughed and I jumped in and found out that he was from France and said that he spoke English... which I think was a lie because he didnt really understand what we were saying. We asked him for his name and he was just like WHY?? Then we explained that we were missionaries and tried to give him a card and he was not having it. He was a little rude but hey... asi es la mision. It was very interesting.. After he left we just all laughed really hard. So yeah that happened..

Also this week was changes week... My comp and I stayed the same but Elders Roney from Utah, and Garcia from Honduras are new to the area. They are both really sweet and hard working Elders!! :) So Elders Garcia and Gonzalez had lunch with us the other day and when they came it was pouring outside. We only had two umbrellas so we all had to share. We got sooooo wet!! When we got to our lunch we were all super wet and then after lunch it was still raining. So we walked in the rain some more to go to the church for a Zone Meeting that we had. When we got to the church they had all the fans on and it was sooooo cold. YES COLD IN PANAMA!! WHO KNEW!! So yeah now im sick! But get this... it wasnt just one day in the rain it was 3. So yesterday at our dinner with the Elders at a members house I had a really high fever. The Sister that we were eating with gave me some meds to make the fever go down so that helped a lot. We went home and I got some sleep and now I feel a little better but still a little blah!! I think tomorrow should be fine though. 

Today we played soccer again today in the nice heat of Panama and then after that we beat the Elders in Basketball!! Thats always fun!! :) 

So yeah that was pretty much my week... Oh and did I mention that they have a SmashBurger here in Panama?? Well they do and me and my comp went last week. It was soooo good. We also got to go to Taco Bell!! It was the best thing ever!! :D 

Well I love you guys and miss you tons #seeyouin9 Wow only 9 weeks!! How fast the time has gone!! Well love you guys!! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Patrick

                     Me and my comp were really excited to not have changes that we ate candy and took a no changes picture! :)

                                                             Us with Ilian

                             Us at the hospital... Elders Rodrigez and Roney and my comp and I

                                                    Smash Burger!!

                                                      Smash Burger selfi

                                                       Me and Elder Garcia

Smile!!

Hey everyone!!

   So this was a very spiritual week for me.. We didnt really do anything again this week because my companion is still really sick. We will be going to the doctor again on Thursday but this time to see someone that knows what they are talking about haha. 

So this week, lets see.... We stayed in the house but on Saturday we had stake conference and Elder Alonzo came to speak. He is such a powerful speaker. So some of the things I liked that he said was that we have family members who are going to not a good place.... Just like that! He said that if we had 5 kids and had to choose who would go to the Celestial Kingdom but only half of them would we pick. Would we be able to choose which kid is better or would it be hard?? Of course it would be hard! They are your family.. He says that we need to do everything we can to make sure that we can all make it back the the Celestial Kingdom as a family and not just one or two people in the family. I dont know about you guys but I want that for everyone in my family not just a few. So we need to do all we can to not judge and just help. 

Then on Sunday we continued with Stake Conference.. Elder Alonzo spoke again on Sunday along with our mission president and his wife. Something else really stuck out to me that Elder Alonzo said. He was talking about the sabbath day and was asking us questions. He asked what we were going to be doing after church.. Go home, take off the tie and skirts and sit infront of the TV. Or go to the store to go shop for things that we should have gotten on Saturday. Then he said that when he and his grandkids would get home from church they would run in eat and he would ask his grandkids if they wanted to watch the TV. His grandkids would say to him "grandpa, its Sunday we cant watch TV." Then he would be like yeah we can... So they would all sit infront of the tv and stare at the black screen.... They would "watch tv" haha... I thought that was funny!! If you dont Im sorry haha..

Something else that I loved that he said was that some people say they pay tithing and that they dont recieve any blessings so they just stop paying.. Others say that they cant pay tithing because money is just low and God understands. Others say that they cant come to church because they have to work or because or this and that but that God knows so its okay. They call the Bishop and tell him they cant teach the class or give to talk because of this and that and they Bishop says its okay so everythings good. Then what he said to this made me really think... THE BISHOP DOESNT JUSTIFY YOU!! If you arent doing what you are supposed to them its on you. You have to be 100% obedient to recieve blessings... not 95% or 99%.. 

We have the gospel in our lives so that we can be happy. The world lives mad and sad and angry but the members of the church should be happy. We have this joy in our lives. We have the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that He lives!! SMILE!!! Be happy... not all sad and angry all the time. :) 

Well I love you guys!! I hope and pray that you have a great week!! See you guys in like 9 weeks :O CRAZY!!!! haha

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Patrick

                                             Carol at her baptism!

                                                                     Elder Salvador and I

                                                           

                                                       me and my comp on the bus

General Conference and Carol :)

Hola todos,

 Bueno this week was a bit lazy... My comp still is sick so we have been in the house for the whole week. But she is starting to feel better now so this week we will be back to work. 

But on the bright side we did have 2 people enter into the waters of baptism this week. It was Carol and her son. Carol just got married and now she is baptized. She is making so many great changes in her life. 

Well this week was my last General Conference as a missionary. For some reason I feel like the talks hit me more as a missionary then they have ever before. I really liked all the talks that were givin by everyone and the call of the 3 new apostles. We watched it in Spanish and for some reason I get a lot more out of the talks then I ever had before. 

Well guys I love you and hope yall have a great week. I have noticed that my emails are getting shorter and shorter as my mission comes to an end but I promise that next weeks email will be better haha. I love you guys!!

Hermana Patrick

                                                         Hadid After being baptized :)

                                              Carol walking out after being Bpatized!!! :)

All 3 of them together! The Brother in Law of Carol (His name is Leonardo Antonio Diaz!! Almost Grandpas name!!)) Carol and Hadid all clean and new!!!