San Blas!!

Hola everyone,

      How is everything going in the United States?? I hope all is well because we have plenty of people that want to come to the states haha. They always ask my companion and I to take them with us when we leave haha. So sorry mom, if I come back home with 5 new Kuna kids thats why.

So this week has been very very very interesting. So let me just start off by saying that my companion and I are going to be the best members of the church when we get home. We now see how important the members are to the missionaries. Here on the Island it is very hard to get things running. So let me just break everything down for you guys.....

(warning... you may be overwhelmed). So we have our branch. We have a branch president that doesnt have any counselors, so it is just him.

There is no young womans class or young mens. No teacher for primary.

Well there is but she doesnt come to church. Basically we have very few classes and very few people that come to church. So yesterday we had our branch president come and knock on our door a 6 in the morning to tell us that he couldnt direct sacrament meeting because he had to go to work. He also told us that the other guy that could take his place had to work as well. We ran around the whole island looking for someone to direct the meeting. We had no luck. Finally the branch president said we were just going to have church at 7pm. Who has church at 7pm??? We do haha... So thats what happend. So we had 1 hour of church yesterday. We also ran around the island looking for someone to give a talk as well but no one wanted to do it so my comp. and I had to give the talks.

Here on the island its A LOT different then anything I have ever seen before. They are soooooo into their culture that church comes 2nd or 3rd to them. The men have this thing called Congreso (congress) that they have to go to about 4 times a week. They meet in the huge stick house and they have these 3 guys called the silas. They sit in their hammocks and talk about the problems that they island is having. So basically these 3 guys are in charge of the whole island and all the people. So anyways, they sing and pray and talk about what everyone needs to do to make the island better. The woman dont go but if they would like they are allowed to sit it. The men here have FULL control.

So me and my companion went a couple days ago. It was all in Kuna so we didnt understand much but we had a guy translate it in Spanish for us so we could understand. They said that there are people on other islands drinking horse blood because there is no water on there island. Which we are also running low on water as well. So here we all get our water from the river and if it dosnt rain for a while then the water in the river starts to go down. So that is whats happening right now. Anyways, they talked about that and about how the men need to work harder and what not. It was really interesting. So the people here on the island think that that is there church. They put that before anything else. Its really hard to help them when they dont want help.

The kids here have babies really really young. Im talking 14 years old. If you are a girl and you have a baby they shave your head in congreso and the girl and boy have to get married. So we know this girl that is 14 and is having a baby and he husband is 21 years old.

So they shaved her head and now shes married. Sad but thats what they do hear.

We had an Hermano tell us that he doesnt care and that he believes in God so he will be saved...... I dont think thats how it works but we tried as best as we could to help him. One day he will know that truth.

I am just very great for the church this week. Here on the island is a lot different from how the church is in the states. I am sooooo greatful for EVERYTHING that we have in the states. I think sometimes we dont realize how good we have it. I know I didnt. But I am also great for all the experiences  that I am having here. I am learning and growing alot.

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

Sorry for all the grammer and spelling mistakes. No time to fix them haha.

Love

Hna. Patrick