Training!!

Hola everyone,

       So this week has just been all over the place. My companion Hermana Bennett left to go home last week and I got a call about a few days before she left to tell me that I would be training someone. I was not very excited when they told me that it was someone from the states. I thought for sure that I was going to have a Latina companion next and that my Spanish would improve a ton. I went to go pick up my companion for the mission presidents house and I had no clue who she was going to be. President said that he still needed to pray about it. As the other trainers and I sat waiting for our new companions I was anxious to see where my MTC companions where going to go. Everyone dream in the mission is to serve on Blas, which are the islands. I have wanted to go since I have been out. While wait I got a call from Hermana Hall, my MTC comp. Guess where she was going??? BLAS!! I was soo happy for her but at the same time a little jealous. I didn't really want to be training and do the thing the Lord wanted me to be doing. When I got my new comp. we both realized that we both only speak a little bit of Spanish. We both new that this change in going to be hard. I have never prayed so much in my life. I now understand why I am training. Its not for her but for me. I am learning so much from my new comp. Her name is Hermana Smith. She is from Utah! We have both decided that thing change was going to be the best in the mission. We have been working really hard and are going to do great things. We both speak enough Spanish that we can teach a very good lesson. Im so excited to see what this change has in store for us. Well not enough time this week but here are some pictures that have been long over due. Love you alll and have a great week!!

-Hermana Patrick

                                                   Some of the Elders in my Zone 

                                 My old MTC comapnions got to see each other last week while my old companion was saying by to all her areas. This is us on a bus

                                               This is my new companion

                                           We got to go to the temple on Saturday!!

                                       

Feliz dia de la madre!!!

Well guys yesterday was mothers day here in Panama. So happy mothers day everyone!!! Hope it was awesome haha..

Well this week has been killer hard for me. Lets just start off with that for some reason for the past week Ive had diarrhea. Not really sure why but its happening haha. But all better now. 

This week we also only had 50 people at church which is super low. It was really sad but this next week we are going to work hard so that EVERYONE is there. 

Along with all of this I got told at least 5 or 6 times that I dont know how to speak spanish and when my companion leaves its going to be really hard. So that has been really hard. I also got called the B word by some guys on the street the other day. It was actually quite impressive, they spoke English very well. 

Hard week but I will push through and keep getting better. So today while on the bus with my companion that leaves tomorrow I got a phone call from the Elders. They called to tell me that I needed to be at the mission presidents house at 10 am tomorrow morning. I was so confused.. But they later told me that I needed to go to a trainers meeting because I will be getting a new companion tomorrow in which she is brand new to the mission and I will be training her. The first words from my mouth were "wait your joking right, I cant train." After they assured me that it was not a joke they then told me they think it is an American from the states that doesnt speak any Spanish. The whole two hour bus ride I was super worried and thinking... how can I do this? Two people that dont speak spanish very well. I called Hermanas Hall and Anderson (my MTC comps) and I really loved something they told me. They said that Heavenly Father trust me so much that he gave me one of his children to watch over and train this early in the mission. I now am starting to prep for my new companion. I want to give her the best first companion ever and have her really enjoy the mission. Keep us in your prayers because we are really gonna need it. Teaching lessons is going to be rather hard but Im super excited for all thats in store. Pictures to come next week when I see her tomorrow. 

This week we went on a visit with the Elders to give a blessing to a really sick little girl. Her family is really poor and they live in this place where there are like 20 other family that are poor as well. They feed them what they can and let the sleep but there is nothing really more that they have other then each other. There beds were cardboard boxes and like 2 pair of clothes. After the blessing of the little girl the family asked when we were going to come back to visit them. We are going back on friday and Im super excited. We are going to do everything we can to bring Christmas to this family this year. They have 3 kids and are very sweet. They are not members but I think with time they will see that the gospel will bless them a ton!! Im super excited about this family. We will see what happens. 

Well guys something that I really have been trying to apply in my life lately is the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. On this mission I have really come to learn what it means for ME! I am so greatful for the gospel and for the many blessings it has brought me in my life. Well I love you all and miss you tons.. Christmas is coming soon. Send me letters :) haha. Love you guys! 

xoxo

-Hermana Patrick

WONDERFUL WEEK!!

Hola, How was thanksgiving/black friday shopping?? I hope super awesome!!!

        Well everyone I had my first baptism on Saturday. It was amazing!! After Britany came up from the water she said, "I feel different". It was a great experience and I will never forget it. My companion and I sang Britany a special song in English, she loved it. We also had tons of people show up for the baptism as well, which is super uncommon because our branch never comes to activities. We worked so hard to get everyone there and everything turned out great. It was such a special night for the family. They just remind me so much of how my family was before we were members. The mom was the only member in the family but now her kid is baptized. We are going to start working really hard with the dad so that he can do the same. This family is great and I see wonderful things happening for them in the future.

Well this week is the last full week I have with my companion. She is headed home back to Idaho on the 10th of December. It has been great having her as a comp and trainer and also super hard at times. I have had days were I think that I get to go home as well because she is leaving. haha its hard but Im glad that I have the comfort of the Holy Ghost to help me. It has really been a life saver.

With all the super awesome things this week there were also some really hard times. As most people know (people who read the emails) I have been having a really hard time with my district leader. Things seem better some days but other days they just get worse. So this week my district leader decided it would be good to do some things in the district that not everyone was on the same page with. We were all upset and just talking really bad about are DL. I was so upset that I talk to the mission president about it when we saw him at a conference we had this past week. I just went to president and told him all the problems that the DL had and not anything about me. Hermana Patrick was perfect right??? NO! but thats what was going through my head. I didnt need to change anything about myself he just needed to fix HIM not me. Well after several minutes of complaning to my mission president he tells me that he will take care of the problem but not until I prayed about it. He saw that I really have been trying to fix the problem but I didnt take it to the Lord. So that night I got down on my knees and prayed. I prayed to know what the Lord wanted me to do. As I studied Preach my Gospel I was ready something that never stuck out to me before. PRIDE! The whole time I was thinking that it was just the DL that needed to change and not me. President came to Santiago yesterday and before he talked to the DL I went in and told him what I had learned. That I wasnt trusting who the Lord put in charge and was being pridful. I wrote a three page paper on what I learned and showed it to mission President. He loved that I had changed and he wants me to teach the stuff I wrote in the next district meeting so that our district will get tons better. He then talked to the DL and now we all see that we have tons of work to do. Today we have gotten along so well and Im sure there will be many other days like these.

Sometimes we many not understand why the Lord sends us things and we many just want to give up, but we need to figure out what we can do to endure to the end. I love a quote that I read the other day. It says somthing like this...."All the bad things that happen in your life, happen for a reason, it gives you the chance to apply the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ". It is sooo true. When we just forget about ourselves and loose the pride we become so much more like christ. This is what I will be teaching my district on Tuesday. The mission so far has just taught me so much about myself that I would have never figured out on my own. They say that you come out for 18 months or 2 years to serve others and help others but at the same time you are helping yourself. I am becoming a person I thought I would never be. The past 4 almost 5 months have changed my life. I love the mission and I love the work!!

I miss you all and love you tons. Have a great week!! It begining to look a lot like Christmas.... not here in Panama but its okay haha. Have a wonderful week!

-Hermana Patrick

Hola everyone!!

Hola, So this week we were just a little bit of everywhere. Lets just start off with something that I am looking forward to this coming Saturday. I have my first baptism this Saturday! Im sooo excited. This is the 11 year old girl that basically asked us to baptize her. Her mom was a less active but has now gotten off the less active list because she has been coming to church every week. This family is sooo amazing. Every time we come to teach Brittney (who is the little girl we are baptizing) more and more people join in with us. Cousins, Aunts, uncles, you name it. Now two other people in the family have dates to be baptized. Its amazing to see how the work is moving forward here in my area. This family reminds me so much of my family back in the day. haha. We use sooo many object lesson with this family because they have a 2 year old son who is wild. So we have fun things to do and all the kids and even adults love them. Every Saturday at the church we have an activity in which we play futbol (soccer). At the activity this week we had tons of investigators attend. It was super cool. The work is just moving on forward.

Also we have been teaching this guy name Luis for a couple of weeks now. He has been an investigator for like 6 years now. Anyways, we have a baptism date set for him but we have tons of work to do before he can be baptized. He is super awesome and his lessons are the best... not only because he speaks English haha. He is super awesome.. Oh and guess what?? I haven't had rootbeer in like 3 or 4 months and at his house you can find rootbeer lol... His house is just really American. I love it.

Another exciting event that is taking place this week is going to the temple. The cool thing about it is I think Brittneys mom will be coming and right when we get back we have her daughters baptism. It will be a special day for her family.

I would just like to leave a scripture with you all this week, its something that my mission has been studying alot. Its in D&C Seccion 4, 1. "He aqui, una obra maravillosa esta a punto de aparecer entre los hijos de los hombres. 2. Por tanto, oh vosotros que os embarcais en el servicio de Dios, mirad que le servais con todo vuestro corazon, alma, mente y fuerza, para que aparezcais sin culpa ante Dios en el ultimo dia. 3. De modo que, si teneis deseos de servir a Dios, sois llamados a la obra. 4. Pues he aqui, el campo blanco esta ya para la siega, y he aqui, quien mete su hoz con su fuerza atesora para si, de modo que no perece, sino que trae salvacion a su alma. 5. Y fe, esperanza, caridad y amor, con la mira puesta unicamente en la gloria de Dios, lo califican para la obra. 6. Tened presente la fe, la virtud, el conocimiento, la templanza, la paciencia, la bondad fraternal, piedad, caridad, humildaddiligencia.

7. Pedid, y recibireis, llamad, y se os abrira. Amen.

I really like vs. 2 because it says, see that you serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength. So I've been trying to do that in my work her in Santiago.

Well nothing to crazy this week... Oh for p-day today we got to go on a boat with our district. It was super cool. Pictures coming soon!! Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Happy Black Friday shopping!! :) 

                                        This is Luis. Hes the investigator I was talking about. He let us hold his bird

  Me and Elder Castillo

                                         on the boat

                                          I was trying to take a picture and then the dog just walked right up.

                                          My Companion and I

                                          More on the boat

                                          Me and Elder Nysetvold my District leader.

                                        My district on the Boat today for p-day

BEST WEEK THUS FAR!!

So this week in the mission has been one of the best weeks for me!! So there was this guy that came to church all of a sudden about 2 weeks ago. We went to his house after church and found out that he has been an investigator for a couple of years. He said that he wasnt ready to get baptized but that he liked the missionaries. He basically loved to hear the world of God but wasnt willing to make the changes in his life and follow Jesus Christ. So we set up another appointment with him to come back and speak with him. During weekly planning my companion and I thought really hard about what we should teach him when we went back to his house. Oh awesome thing I forgot to say is that he speaks English. His name is Luis and he lived in the states for like 20 25 years so he speaks English really well. So I was really excited to look up scriptures to share in English for once. Anyways, My comp. and I prayed about what to teach. Afterwards we realized that if he wasnt going to follow Christ and make changes in his life then we werent going to continue to work with him. After all our purpose is to invite others to come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospél through faith in Jesus Christ and his attonement, repentence, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. When we got to his house on Wednesday he was talking about how he was saved and recieved the holy ghost. My comp. talked to him for a little while when all of a sudden I felt this really strong prompting to just open my mouth and say something. When I did I just testified of Gods love for him and how my family has been blessed from the gospel. He just started to cry. I then told him that he can recieve these same blessings by following Jesus Christ and being baptized on the 6th of December. He said YES!! He just cried and knew that he needed to do it. Before he was just very selfish and wanted nothing to do with baptism. Now he knows its something that he needs in his life. The spirit was just really strong and we got out of there ASAP to keep the spirit in his home. After the lesson my comp and I had no words. We were so excited and felt the spirit so strong. He tesified the this man and told him what he needed to do. This was the best moment of my mission thus far. I love the mission and hope to help this guy change his life.

Well with all the wonderful things that the mission brings it also has some rough moments. So this week we went to the house of some investigators of ours. They are a really sweet family the only problem is is that they are adventist and think that the sabbeth day is on Saturday. So we were having a really hard time getting them to church. Also everytime we go to there house they give us books from there church and tell us to read them. Well this week they took it a little to far. They told us that my comp and I needed to pray and found out what day the sabbeth day is on and what church is true. So I guess you can say we were being taught a lesson from them. So we dropped them as investigators and maybe one day they will be ready to here the missionaries and see that this gospel is true. Very sad but I know that they will one day know the truth.

Well No crazy dogs this week. They all loved us and stayed locked up for the week. haha. Well you guys Yo se que Jesucristo es mi salvador y que el Libro de mormon es la palabra de Dios. Al comprender que Dios es su Padre, que el lo ama, usted sabe la importancia que tienen sus deciones durante esta vida. Dios tienen un plan para nosotros. Besitos por todos!! Lots of love

-Hermana Patrick

P.S it says... I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Once you understand that God is your father, that he loves you, you will know the importance of the desisions you make during this life. God has a plan for us. Kisses for all. lots of love.

                                               The Elders and I were matching lol

The little girl in the blue is getting baptized on the 29th of this month. She is an investigator of ours. Also the boy in the yellow shirt on the 6th of december. This is at there house

                        Hes 6 years old but will be baptized when he is 8. He is soo excited

                                        He is a future missionary lol

                                Some of my district doing the duck face lol just for gwen

                                              Me and Elder Maravilla

                                                     Me and Elder Casillo

                                                        Elder Hoeft and I

Okay this is for the family.. Me and Elder Castillo singing Nearer my god to the in spanish. We are going to sing on Sunday at church together so we were practicing. 

                                      Okay did I mention that Elder Casillo is famous in his country.. He was a singer before the mission. He had a stage name though lol.. Anyways, Here is him singing just for the Patrick family. At the end he says that the patricks are the best lol

Power of Prayer

This week has been hard for me. So for about 3 or 4 weeks I have been planning this activity for my branch. Everytime we have an activity at the church no one ever shows up because of whatever reason. The last activity we had only 3 people from the branch showed up. So Hermana Patrick being Hermana Patrick thought... What can the missionaries do to make members and less actives come to activities. Well if you know me Im all for having fun when you make an activity. So while watching one of the district videos I had an idea pop in my head. We were going to do something for the family. Here in Panama mothers day is the 8th of December. So Saturday the 6th of December I planned an activity for mothers day. I had been working on it for weeks and thinking about what we could do to get anyone and everyone there. So here in Panama the people like to party. So why not have a big party with a wáter balloon fight, bobbing for apples, 3 legged races, just dance wii, a cake walk and many other activitys. I thought about how I could tie in the góspel with all these different activities. For example the 3 legged race I was going to put up a sign that had the proclamation to the family on there and talk about how the mother and father needed to work together to raise the family and get to the other side. For every game I tied in the góspel somehow and everything was coming together. I decided that it was time to take my idea to my distirct and the district leader so the we could get it approved by the Branch President and start working to make this activity awesome!! As I took my idea to everyone everyone loved it. They were all willing to work as hard as they could to get members involved and less actives at the activity. All but one person...............................My district leader. He didnt like my idea and said that it would be to much work and that it was imposible. He told me that I needed to plan something else and to rethink everything. He also said that no one ever comes to activities and that we would never be able to get people there and involved. If you know me this really hurt my feelings. I planned really hard for this and thought it would be a great way to get everyone together. So me being a bad missionary, I got an attitude with my District leader and we stopped talking. I took my idea to the Branch pres. and he loved it so we are going to do the activity anyways. But while this was all happening I started to have negative feelings about my DL and I really wanted to do my best to love everyone. I read in PMG about christlike attributes and I said sorry to my DL and now everything is cool. But I really had a hard time with this because I was being of the world and not of Christ like I should be. I got on my knees and asked Heavenly Father to help me with the trail and he did. Now Im doing great. It just goes to show how loving God is and how willing he is to help you when things get hard.

So if you remember last weeks email you will remember about how I said we were going to invite a little girl to be baptized this week. We had a whole lesson planned out and when we showed up to her house she looked at us and said "Can you please baptize me"? My comp. and I looked at her and said YES. This little girl is such a great example of doing what the Lord says without being selfish. She knew the right thing to do and instead of waiting around for someone else to do something she just did it. So now my comp and I have a date set for the 29th of this month to baptize her. I cant wait. She is a special child of God.

So this week my comp and I sat down and made a goal to follow every single rule in the hand book. We knew it was going to be hard but we knew that if we did, the Lord would bless us 100 fold. So the day we set the goal we went to teach a lesson to the little girl who is getting baptized on the 29th. Her 12 year old cousin came in the room and started to listen to what we were saying. The little girl stopped the lesson and asked how old you had to be to be baptized. We told her 8 years old. She then said so if your 12 can you be baptized? We said yes.... She then looked at her cousin and said "you want to be baptized right"? The little boy said yes and she said "do you want to be baptized in the Mormon church"? the boy again said yes... and so there you have it. We are going to set a goal with him for the 6th of December and see how it Works. The lord really does bless you if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Well thats all for this week guys. Hope you all have a great week. Love you all and miss you tons but Im busy saving souls out here in Panama.

-Love always Hermana Patrick

                      This is San Blas. The island.. This is someones house and this is the mola that they made. They can make it on ties and on other things as well. All the Elders have mola ties its so cool. You can ever find someone to make the tie say Panama on them

These are some kuna and the mola they made. Just go on google and type in mola ties panama and you will see all the mola stuff and the kuna people. 

Happy birthday to me..jaja

Hola everyone,

       So this week Santiago has been in panga! On the first of November they have a day where all the crazy parties start. Then the next day, the second is a day where everyone goes and visits the graves of there loved ones who have passed away. So the attendence at church this week was super low. The next day was another celebration thing but honestly I have no clue what they were celebrating. They just had these parade things in the street. EVERYTHING was closed and no one was in there house. My comps. birthday was yesterday so we changed our p'day to yesterday instead of Monday. Anyways, my comps. birthday just so happenes to be the day of Panamas flag day so again everything was closed. Today is another holiday but not so crazy so things are starting to open back up.

So while Panama was busy partying we (missionaries) were busy working. My comp. and I were on our way to visit a less active and an investigator and were out waiting for the bus to pass when all of a sudden this really drunk guy came up to us. He couldnt walk straight and was asking us where he could find a bar close by. haha... I think he had one to many drinks. I just laughed the whole time and my comp. was trying to get him to back up. The guy wouldnt get away and started getting closer to my comp. So this really nice guy next to us (also waiting for the bus) comes up to the guy and tells him to back off. The guy finally goes away and is walking down the side walk and is going left..... then right....then left.... then right. haha it was pretty funny.

This week has been a week of crazyness but also the work of the lord. So this week we had three investigators at church!! Thats the most since Ive been here. WOOHOO!! We are going to set fechas with them this week (baptism dates). My companion had a goal the make sure at least one came to church so we got up early and got dressed and left the house. We took a taxi to there house and when we got there they were not prepared for church. In fact I dont think they had plans to come. There faces when we walked through the door were priceless. But lets just say they got dressed and came to church. When we got there we also had an investigator come with her mom who is a less active! We are going to visit her today and ask her to be baptized. When my comp and I were about to leave church we had one of the Elders walk up to us and tell us that we had a reference from our area here. He is not a member but has had the missionary lessons before and he felt bad about something he did so he came to church. After church we went to his house with the Elders only to find out that he speaks english. He lived in the states for 9 years for work and learned english. So we are going to visit him again tomorrow and see how he is. Im so excited because we get to prepare a lesson in english haha. So as you can see we have been busy and the work of the Lord is moving along here in Santiago.

So you ready for some dog stories? So this week we were walking to go to a dinner when all of a sudden this huge black dog jumped at us. Its bark sounded like death and I was scared for my life. Good thing the dog was behind a fence because we would have been dead. Well we thought we were off the hook until we turn around and the dog is over the fence. It starts to come for us and we just ran. It bits my comp in the foot and shes down. I look back and my comp. is yelling run Patrick run................................................................................................................................................. Well if you are still reading this the story is made up haha. Well atleast the part about the dog being over the gate and biting my comp. It just sounded alot better the other way.

Well this week I told the Elders it was my birthday as a joke and they thought I serious. So I got free cake haha. After the cake I told them it was a joke and they laughed so all was well. haha.

Well thats all for this week. We have some work to be doing today. Love you all and miss you tons.

-Hermana Patrick

                                This is a cool go cart that I saw. thought gregory might like it.

This is just were some of the nice house are at.

                      This is the video of me smashing her face. lol

                    My comp holding a bird that a member had.

                               My comp got a flag for her birthday. The two guys in the picture are an                                         investigator and a less active

                                 Small birthday party for my comp.

                      Me smashing the cake in her face