Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Last one!

Hola,

   Well I dont even know where to start. Its been a long 18 months and now its coming to an end. Haha I remember my very first day in the mission and I couldnt even speak Spanish para nada!! Y ahora.. mírame! JAJA. Well guys I just wanted to tell you guys a few things a learned on the mission and along with that my testimony. 

So if there is one thing that I have learned on my mission it is that Christ lives!! He loves each and everyone of us! We are all his children and we can return back to live with him. I cannot even write my testimony because there is no words to describe what the mission has done to my life. I have learned that we need to share the gospel with EVERYONE... Ive even tried that with the dogs on the streets here in Panamá... not so much the same but you guys get the point. I love this gospel and for the way it has changed my life. Im a new person!! I have learned the importance of the scriptures. They arent just there to sit around and look nice a my desk but to read and to learn and grow! To help me become more like Christ!! He was perfect and I want to try my best to be like him. I learned that the first hour of church is SO important. We get to remember our savior Jesus Christ! Who dont want to do that?? I would hope and pray that everyone does. 

This gospel is here so that we can all have happiness in our lives! So I have learned that I always need to have a smile on my face. I have to show everyone else that Im happy and when they see that they will want to know why Im so happy. We can share the gospel with just one little smile. We can changes someones life with just one little smile! Here on the mission I have helped our Heavenly Father change the lives of many of his children. It has been my honor to do that and I wouldnt change these last 18 months for anything!! I have learned to pray and know when my prayers are answered. I have recieved my own testimony of the gospel and know that I will have a happy life if I try to be more like Christ everyday. Heavenly Father knows and loves each and every one of us. He knows how many hairs I have on my head! What more could you ask for!!??

I have meet some VERY humble families here in Panamá!! They have touched and changed my life forever and I will never forget them. Speaking of these people I would like to share something about one of these families. So there is this family here in my area and they are so amazing! Theres a mom, dad and 2 kids. Kids are 8 and 2 years old. So this family is just the best... like I said. They have been through some really hard times and are trying to move into a house a little bigger then the one they have now. There house now is about 5 yards long and they are moving into one that is about 8 yards. As you guys can see not much with two kids. But you know what?? They are the happiest family I have ever met in my life. They come to church every Sunday with the same clothes they had on the last week and they just have the biggest smile on their faces! We go to there house every Saturday to help them with the construction of there new house so they can move into it. They have there 8 year old boy with a really bad heart condition and their 2 year old daughter just broke her leg after falling of the bed that all 4 of the sleep in. And you guys wanna know something else? They never complain. They always have this huge smile on their faces! I didnt get it... How could this family be sooo happy with so so little. So I asked them and you wanna know what the mother said to me... she said "Patrick, I have the gospel and my family. What else do I need?" Wow!! Can you say that something just smacked me in my face! I realized that I have the same thing she has but I just am sad or angry. I can smile and be happy just as she is! She is a great example of Christ to me!

Guys I dont know what else to say. These past 18 months have changed my life. From living on an island to wonderful food. I have learned sooo much! These were the best 18 months!! Im so thankful to everyone that has helped me along my path and just wanted to say that I love you all and will see you on Saturday haha. This gospel is wonderful and I love everything about it! The church has been restored on the Earth today and we have a prophet!! Thomas S. Monson!! We can all find happiness and joy through the gospel. Just open your eyes and its there!! :) 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Patrick

                                                     last sunday in church

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Alexis is coming HOME

If you would like to welcome Alexis "Hermana Patrick" home you are more than welcome to come to the airport on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 5:31pm Houston George Bush Airport

Lexi welcome back talk is on December 27, 2015 at 9am at the Klien stake center

Take Gods Hand!!!

Hola everyone!!!
   So sorry for not writing yesterday... The internet place was closed. That seems to be happening a lot more nowadays. But today it was also closed so we are using a laptop. Its mothers day here in Panamá!

 So this week has been full of wonderful things. I met a new sister missionary and the first thing she told me was that she read my blog and she knew who I was.... So thats cool!! Im like Panamá mission famous over here. Thanks mom!! :)
So this week we had our Christmas Conference with our mission President and his wife. It was amazing.. Afterwards we got to watch a movie... Im not really sure what the name of it was but all I know is that it was really good and everyone was crying the whole movie.
My new companion is awesome... Shes soo funny and we just have a little to much fun together. People look at us like we are crazy in the street but then we talk to them and they are like "ohhh thats why they are sooo happy." So share the gospel with all folks!! They need to know why you are happy!!
This week I learned this "God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
This is sooo true.. A lot of the time we think we need to be perfect but we dont. Heavenly Father is just waiting for us to take his hand that has been there the whole time!
This week we walked and walked and walked and walked.... Then we thought about some missionaries in the world that have bikes and cars and wished we were them. Then we talked about that for about an hour... My companion goes home in March so she just keeps asking me what Im going to do when I get home and Im just like dejame en paz woman!! haha.. Translation... leave me alone woman! Then I have an Elder here in my area that keeps counting the days down for me. He send a text everyday and says "hey Hermana Patrick solo falta 11 dias" and Im just like "si yo se." To be quite honest I am very excited to come home but at the same time very nervous. Hopefully everyone still likes me haha. I cant even speak my English good anymore. The Americans are always like dude what are you saying, that has no meaning. So I just say everything in Spanish. Just typing this email to you guys I have to think very hard haha. SAD!!
Well guys next week is my last pday in the mission. We are going to enjoy it with my Zone here in Colon and eat some last min. rice and chicken before I go home.
I love you guys and hope that you have a wonderful week. See you guys in like 11 days!! :)
Oh happy mothers day... I know its not mothers day in the states but it is here in Panamá so HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM haha
Con mucho amor,

Hermana Patrick
                                                     mission shoes!! woohoo!!
  Some kids that we taught on the side of the street that wanted to learn about the gospel! Good kids!

                                                   Me and my comps name tags!

                                                                     my area
                                                      me and Elder Meren!!


                                                        cool girls

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Tupacs back Tupacs back!!!! :D jaja

Hola everyone!!! 

     Well I hope everything is going great in the wonderful place we call Texas!!!! :) Well guys this week has been super crazy and filled with some more tears!! This last week was changes week and guess who had changes??? Thats right ME!! Me and Hermana Garcia cried for a while before packing her things and sending her to another part of the city. Its really sad because I only have less then three weeks left in the mission and we were really thinking that we werent going to have changes. But I guess you guys are probably wondering why the subjuct of this email is "Tupacs back." If you werent wondering that..... still going to tell you! 

So my new comps name is Hermana Tubac... haha... So when she called me to tell me that she was my new comp. I asked what her name was and she told me but I thought she said Tupac... So yeah thats what happened there. She is super cool. She is from Guatemala and has 14 months in the mission!! We get along great! Shes helping me brush up my Spanish skills as well before I go home so thats helpful. But yesterday she told me that I talked like a Latina so thats always great to hear!! 

The hard part is is that I have to teach her the area in less then 2 weeks before I go home. She is a little nervous and so am I but I think we can pull it off. She remembers things really fast so that helps. We have been doing a lot of walking to try and get her to remember everything and my body is just shuting down! Everything hurts haha... Everyone keeps asking me what the first thing Im going to do when I get home is... Sleep is what I say haha. But yeah these next couple of days are going to be nice and walkie!!! But a wise Elder once told me... "sometimes we have ketchup and sometimes we dont." I dont know about you guys but thats super funny!! Well I guess you think anything is funny when you hear it in English nowadays!! haha. 

Well we had something really cool happen this week. My comp and I were walking down the street when these 2 little girls stopped us. They were 10 and 12 years old. They told us that they wanted to listen to what we had to say about Christ. We talked to them for about 10 mins what all of a sudden they wanted us to sing to them. So we sang a hymn with them and afterwards they took us to there families house to meet everyone. No one was home except for the 14 year old sister so we sang another hymn and invited them to church on Sunday. Afterwards the little girls were trying to take us to everyones house to sing and share a message. It was wonderful to see such young children have the desires to share and listen to the gospel! Such sweet little girls!!

Well guys pictures to come.. its been a while!! I love you all and thanks so much for all the emails!! See yall in like 19 days haha!!

Con mucho amor

Hermana Patrick


                                                                     temple trip
 
                                                       Elder Roney climbing a tree haha




                                                        my new comp and I