Stranded! :)

Nuagambi!! 

   Havent said that in a while... Im miss San Blas..... But this week was a pretty hard week for my companion and I. Well for some reason we were both very upset this week. Lets just start off with a wonderful thing that happened to us this week.

1. So our area is HUGE! We were in one part of our area this week thats about an hour away and had to take the bus like always. So we went to that part of our area to visit an investigator that we have there. On the way back we took a bus.... not just any bus... the cursed bus. So the first time we took this bus the guy that was driving was drinking with his buddies and was driving like a mad man. The second time we took this bus we were on the bus for 3 hours because of an accident. Now third times the charm right?? So this week would be time number three. So we got on the bus and everything was fine... well until the guy kept grinding the gear shift. He just kept taking the stick and jerking it everywhere and the bus would make really bad sounds. Now I dont know much about cars or buses, nor do I know how to drive a stick shifts but I know one thing.... He wasnt doing it right. So after about 1000 times of this guy jerking the stick around the bus just broke. Yes the bus just broke. So we stayed on the bus with everyone else until after about 20 mins. the guys came out and told us to get off the bus because they couldnt fix it. So there we were.... all just on the side of the road without a bus. So let me just give some backround really quick, because we were in a part of our area that is so far away the last bus leaves at 6pm. So there we were 5:15 stranded on the side of the road. So we started to walk because well everyone else did as well. But one by one people had family members that came to get them and things like that. So after 45 mins of walking the bus passes by... Without us. We were trying to run after it but they just honked the horn and drove off. So yeah.... we had no ride. We started to call members with cars but no one could come and pick us up. If we kept walking we would have gotten home until about 12 in the morning. So when the bus passed by we were screaming because we were so mad. The only thing that was around us were trees and cows. We were in the middle of the country with no one and nothing in sight. So my companion... being soooo mad.. flipped off the bus driver as he passed by. Shh dont tell her I told you guys or she will get mad haha. I thought it was pretty funny but afterwards she was crying because she did that. Dont worry everyone she has repented... So yeah we just kept walking and walking and walking and walking........... Until we couldnt take it anymore. We just stuck our thumbs up and decided to hitch hike. So the black truck passed by and we were like well fine then, dont pick us up. But then they stopped in the middle of the street and started to back up... Then we almost passed out because we thought we were going to die. But this really nice guy and his family got out of the car and asked us where we were going. We told them and they said they were going the same way. So we road in the back of the truck with them and all was good. It was pretty fun. They were soo nice! So yeah that happened..

2. So also this week my companion and I were pretty sick. We both had fevers and it was just not fun. Times like those in the mission is when everyone wants their moms haha. But it was only for about 2 days so not too bad.

3. so this week we started an English class every Friday at 6pm. So we got to the chaple and guess who showed up????........No one!!! Woohooo!!! So yeah that was sad

4. Then this week we had an activity at the church with all the members and only 3 families showed up. That was sad... But we had sooooo much fun. They are so great. 

So during all these events this week I was pretty down. I just kept thinking about how I wanted to go home and was just like poor me all week. It was pretty hard but then something hit me that changed my attitude towards this week. Which leads me to point 5.

5. So José got baptized this week. He is our 30 year old guy that we have been teaching for a while. He turned my week all around. He got baptized yesterday and when I saw him in his white outfit I wanted to cry. He is the reason why I am hear. We are to help people come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel... through faith in Jesus Christ and baptism. We helped him do that. After he was baptized he got up to share his testimony with everyone. It was short but powerful. He said "Im a new man." And he is sooo right he is now a new person. He has the chance to be clean and start fresh. He was such a great example to me this week. He was soooo ready to get baptized. Pictures to be included.

So that was about it this week. I miss yall so much. I hope you are all loving school and having fun. Kane started his senior year, my cousin started college, and Gregory is in 3rd grade. Oh how the time just goes! I miss you all and will see you soon!! :) 

with lots of love,

Hermana Patrick

xoxo

P.S. Remember when I said that I was gonna send pictures??? Yeah well for some reason I have a virus soooo, I cant. Maybe next time haha. Love yall.

Hollalujah... Amen?? :)

Hola everyone,

   So this past week was a week I will never forget. So many different things happened so lets get started. 

1. So we were in a lesson with one of our investigators and she told us that she didnt have enough time to read the things we gave her because she was soooo busy. So as we talked to her about the importance of scripture study we told her to just open up the Book of Mormon and read the first scripture that her eyes see. So se did and it was Jacob 6:7-9 which says......

7 "For behold, after ye have been nourished by the goodword of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?

 8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?

 9 Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guiltbefore the bar of God?"

After she read this she looked up at us and was like "wow Hermanas, I need to do what Im supposed to do otherwise I will be cast into the fire". We were just like Ha yeahhhhh..... So that was a great lesson with her. But she still didnt come to church on Sunday :( 

2. So my companion and I were walking down the street when these 6 drunk guys started to yell at us. They live kinda by our house and they yell at us every time we walk by, but we never talk to them. So this week we talked to them. We walked up to them (sitting infront of a bar) and started to talk with them about the gospel. We gave them some pamphlets about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to church. Then all the guys that were sitting around started to come up and they all wanted pamphlets. So we gave like 20 out to everyone that wanted one. We taught them all a quick lesson and then said a prayer... yes a prayer infront of the bar haha. We asked one of the guys to pray but he said he couldnt because he had been drinking so he made me say it. As I did I prayed for all of them and their families and said Amen. They thanked us and ever since then they respect us ALOT more. When we walk by instead of them yelling and saying bad things, they just say hi. Good guys... I hope one day they come to church.

3. Also this week we got rained on in the Ghetto with the Elders. We have one part of our area that we arent allowed to go to if the Elders arent with us because its a red zone. Seeing as 3 people have died in the last week I see why. But we only go to that area once a week or once every 2 weeks. One, because its far away and two, its crazy haha. So we were visiting one of our investigators in that area that is getting baptized soon. But on the way out of the lesson it was pouring down raining. The Elders, my companion and I just started to run. There was lighting and thunder everywhere and there was no bus. So we waited and waited and waited and waited until a bus came. Great times.... we were all soaking wet haha.

4. So this week was a contacting week because ALL of our appointments fell through. So we stopped at this house and this older lady came out. We started to talk to her about the gospel and the whole time she kept saying AMEN! No joke she was like Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.... to everything we said. If we said we liked pizza she was like Amen. Then she was like Hollalujah!!! So we talked to her for a bit then said a prayer... She said the prayer and was like Hollalujah and Amen the whole time. We didnt know when to say Amen so we just waited until she stopped talking. It was quite fun!! :) Then we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her we would come back the next day to talk with her more about the Gospel. So we came back the next day and she told us she didnt want to learn anymore because she didnt like the Book of Mormon. She said she had the Bible and she didnt need another one that was different. So my companion just bore her testimony to her and I gave the lady 2 Nephi Chapter 29 to read. Then we left her house. If you dont know what 2 Nephi Chapter 29 says go read it.... its amazing. Im sure that lady read it and was like WHAT haha. 

5. So also this week we went contacting with this kid and his mother. We told the kid that it was his turn to contact and so he walked up to these 3 guys that were sitting outside. He walks up and says, "Hola, Bueno... We are inviting people to church.... you know.... over there... and yeah... we wanted to know if you guys wanted to come?....." The guys said "Yeah sure where and what time?" and the the kid says "I dont know.... like.... over there.... at like 9 or something... At Nuevo colon... you guys gonna come?" Then they laugh and say yeah haha. Funny kid. He was really nervous, but hes going to be a great missionary some day. 

6. So the last thing I wish to write about... so we were in this one part of our area thats about an hour and a half away. There was this drunk guy that came up to us and was like hi. We were like ummm okay... then he started to offer us a beer. We told him no and he was like why? Then we told him we were missionaries and we teach people about God. Then he was like "I used to be a pastor you know.." (as he is falling over because he is soooo drunk). Then we took out a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and he didnt want it. He kept trying to give it back to us but we just kept giving it to him. Finally we gave it to him and ran away. He just stayed there in the street and was looking at the pamphlet and walked away. WITH THE PAMPHLET haha... it was great. Hopefully he will change and go to church. 

So yeah that was my week. Full of fun things. I have been reading in the Book of Mormon and Im in Jacob right now. The Book of Mormon is really changing my life. You have no idea!! I cant even tell you guys how important this book is. You have to really read it and study it for yourselves. It will change your lives!!! I love this church and Im greatful for the Gospel in my life. See you guys soon. Oh and P.S. I got my flight plans everyone!! I will be coming home December 19th at 5:31pm... Times just going by so so fast. Well I love yall. Have a GREAT week!! 

With love,

Hermana Patrick

New Family!!

Hola,

  So I gave food to a homeless man this week. My comp and I were walking down the set of stairs to get to the other side of the street when we saw a homeless guy sleeping. We went to our dinner that we had and then we bought some Mcdonalds. We went to were he was laying at and tried to get his attention but he was sleeping. So we left it next to the carboard box that he was sleeping in. I hope he got to eat it, :) 

So this week was the most amazing part of my mission! Well for now haha.... So my comp and I were looking through the area book when we noticed that not one missionary ever worked in a part of our very large area. So we decided that we were going to go contact so people in that area and see who we could find. So we get in one a bus and realized that we are on the wrong one so we get off. Then we wait for another to come by but it was SO HOT and after about 15 mins we couldnt take it anymore. So we took a taxi instead. The taxi driver had taken us to the first house in the area and we thanked him. We said a quick prayer and walked up to the door. A little boy that was 10 years old answered. We asked if his parents were home and he said yes. He ran inside and got his mom. His mom came to the window and said "digame" which is like talk to me in English. So we told her that we were missionaries and sharing a message about Christ. We asked her if we could share a message. She looked for a minute and then said yes. She let us in a gave us a glass of cold water. Then, like a mother, told us that we needed to stay out of the sun because we were really red. She took our glasses and then we all sat down and started to share a message about the restoration of the gospel. We told her that the same church that Christ established while here on the Earth was the same church that we have today. She really liked the message and then told us to wait. She went back to her room and came out with a really old copy of a Liahone. She asked if our church was the one that made it. We told her yes and she started to say how she loved it and that she always wanted to come to our church. So we invited her to church on Sunday and she accepted. She said that her husband would love the church as well. So we left the house VERY happy and the family with a fress copy of the Book of Mormon. We knew that Heavenly Father answered our prayer. So on Friday we were around that area and decided to stop by the her house..... by the way her name is Elisabeth. So we stopped by and she was outside with her 10 year old son planting things. We asked if we could help and we talked to her for a while. Then we all sat down at the table and she tells my comp and I that she read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and really liked it. We talked for about 10 more mins and the her husband came home from work. We met him and  he was super awesome and nice. His name is William. He also speaks English!! So hes even cooler haha. He said that he wanted to go to church so that we would see him there. Their whole family took us home and we told them we would see them Sunday. So Sunday came around in which I had to give a talk at church. I told a story about my dad and everyone laughed.... sorry dad haha.... Anyways, so after the first 20 mins they didnt show up, but right in the middle of the song they came in. The whole time in church they talked about eternal marriage and it was great! After church we went a visited the family, we asked them how they liked church and they both said they loved it. After the lesson that we had with them in which they both said they believed that Jose Smith was a prophet, they looked at their watch and said "oh no, we are late". They were on their way to a activity at the church that we were having that night. They are the best. So we plan to see them again next Sunday! I just love them soooo much. 

So yeah this week we also had Jose come to church. He gets off of work at 5 in the morning and goes to church at 9am. He wants to be baptized sooo bad. Hes the best. So in the coming weeks we plan to have his baptism at well! :) 

So this week has just been great we are working hard. I love you all and miss you soooo sooooo much!! See you soon!! 

Oh and happy 13 months in the mission to me!! I hit 13 months yesterday. How fast time goes! 

Remember to pray always!!!

Hermana Patrick

So the pictures are DQ that we got with the Elders, The picture with the Kids (the one in the yellow green shirt is the Elisabeth and Williams son), and the kid thats sitting in the chair is a kid that is in the hospital. The Elders and us went to see him today. He is in our ward. 

Michelle Got Baptized!!! :) Demons.... say what???

Hola, 

    What a woderful adventure this week has been. :) I have so many things to tell you guys so lets get started.

So this week we were walking down the street going to an appointment when m comp stops and says "oh hey hermana". She was talking to this lady that was standing on the other side of the street. We walked up to her and my comp said that her and her last comp were trying to visit her but couldnt find her house. (so just fyi, here in Panama when you ask someone where they live they all say, over there with all the houses). So yeah problem. Anyways we told her that we wanted to come and visit her on Tuesday and she said it was okay. We got the best directions that we could and the came back to her house on Tuesday. So my companions last comp and her contacted this lady in the street before and told her they would come back but could never find her house. So anyways, we get to her house and they clean up really fast and let us in. We walked in and the whole house smelled like pee. It was gross, but we sat down and started to talk to this family. There was the mom and she had 4 daughters. So after getting to know them for a little bit we asked them if they attended a different church. The mom says yes and said they were all baptized in that church as well. Of course the Catholic church... So we asked them if they ever went to our church and they said yes but were never baptized. So we asked if they would like to sing a hymn and afterwards say a prayer. She said yes and so we picked a hymn. Number 41 to be exacted. Im not sure what that is in English so your gonna have to look it up. So as we are singing one of the daughters runs into the room and comes back with a hymn book. One from our church, my comp and I start laughing during the hymn but calm down and finish the song. After the song we ask the lady where she got a hymn book from. She then tells us that she got it from the other missionaries that used to come to her house. Then she says that 3 of her daughters were baptized in our church. We were sooooooo confused. She had just told us that they werent baptized. The youngest daughter is 8 so she wasnt baptized at the time because she was to young. So then we ask her again if she was baptized like her daughters in our church she says no like 5 times and says she was baptized in a different church. So we were like okay cool. So we ask her if we could say a prayer and she said yes and then we asked who she would like to say the prayer. She asked one of her daughters but they were all very angry. When I finish the story you guys will know why. So after the daughters said no the mom said she would say the prayer. So as she is saying the prayer she asked Heavenly Father to help her with her sickness that she has. She said Amen and then we talked a little more. My comp asked her what her sickness was so that we could try and help her out. She then said something that I will never forget. Demons............. I knew the word in Spanish but I thought I was hearing wrong. I looked at my comp and she was like I dont think its that either. So we ask her what the word means and she says "you know, like the devil...demons". So first off this lady was already a liitle strange so my comp is trying sooo hard not to die. I jump in and tell her that the Elders can help her and give her a blessing and bless her house as well. She says okay and we go on with the lesson. Then after all this she tells us that she is a member and was baptized in our church..... We were like dude, what the heck haha. So we toughted them a lesson and told them we would come back this Tuesday with the Elders. We left the house and were just like...... okayyyyy... So we went back to our house and looked in the Area book for the name of the lady and her daughters. Sure enough she was there. She was baptized 2 years ago but was never confirmed. So the rule is is that you have 6 months to be confirmed a member of the church to make your baptism valid. So since it has been 2 years the whole family has to be baptized again. So we will be working with this family and gettin them baptized. Fun times!!!!

So in other news... My comp got proposed to. He said he was gonna go to the states with her and marry her. What a weird guy. 

Not done yet.... So we were walking down the street and this guy sees us and just about dies. He said that he was praying to god to send him angles to help him and then we came down the street. He said he wanted to talk to us but not at the moment. Then he told us we were God. Then he left.... So hopfully we see him again haha. 

So my comp had to go to the hospital this week. Im not sure what it is but I think im like bad luck or something. My last two comps had to go to the hospital. But my comp is doing better after some sleep and meds. Pictures to come... 

So the BEST PART OF THE EMAIL!!! We had a baptism this week. Michelle got baptized. The 21 year old that I told you guys about last week got baptized yesterday. She is soo soo amazing. I love her. She has such a great testimony and knows that this is the true church. She makes my testimony so much stronger. She wants to be married in the temple and raise her children in the gospel. Shes so great. 

Well guys thats all for now. As you can see, Colon has tons of adventures. I love you all and hope yall have a wonderful week. I know without a doubt that this gospel is true and that we have a loving Father. I love yall and will see you soon!!

With love,

Hermana Patrick

So the pictures are... my comp and I on top of a mountain thing..... our zone sitting on the bench haha..... Michelle at her baptism.... My comp was playing with my hair and made it all big and told me to go outside like that.... and my comp in the hospital. 

Pictures

Colon!!!

Hola buenas tardes,

   

    Pues this week has been sooo great! I had changes and I am no longer a San Blas sister. They actually took out all the sisters on Blas and now there are all Elders. We are really running low on sister missionaries here on Panama so we have had to close a lot of sister areas. So my comp,Hermana Anderson and I were the last sister missionaries on Blas. Kinda cool. 5 months on an island was the best but I was glad for changes. 

Now I have a new companion Hermana Garcia and also a new area. I am now in the area of Colon which by the way is the best ever. We live in the ghetto haha.. Here in colon is where we take the diablo rojos which in English would be red devil. They are buses that play really loud music and they have lights and crazy people. Its a school bus on steroids to say the least. Its so AMAZING! The people here are great. There are a ton of black people and they all speak spanish, which I thought was very weird but cool at the same time. My companion is Hermana Garcia and she is from Cali. Although her name sounds latin she is not. Her Grandmother was from cuba so thats where she gets her last name from. Hermana Garcia is awesome!! We get along great, she is pretty much me but different haha. So yeah shes great. 

So we have already had soooo many experiences this week...

1.  So here we are walking down the street contacting some houses when all of a sudden this guy from across the street starts to yell out... "Aye Barbie" and we are just really what?? So he just kept yelling it tell we looked at him. We walked across the street and he said that he wants to learn more about our church and wants us to come to his house right at that second. We could tell that he had been drinking so we told him that we would come back another day and he refused to tell us where he lived. Which I thought was strange being as he contacted us haha. So he walks us to the end of the street to where we meet his friend by the name of verde. Which if you know Spanish that means green. So his friends name is green (yes like the color) and he tells him that we are gonna come to his house. Then he asked my comp if she could come alone. My comp looked at me... now lets take a step back for a second. My comp only has 2 changes in the mission. This is her third and she is still learning spanish.... So back to the story. My comp looks at me as if she couldnt believe what she heard. She thought it was the Spanish but when she looked at me and saw my face she knew that thats what he had asked. So we explained that we have rules as missionaries and that we have to stay together all the time and he was like "its cool my grandma will be home". My comp and I looked at each other and started to laugh so hard. The guy then kept trying to flirt with my comp so me... being Hermana Patrick and all, asked him if he had a wife and kids. He said yes. Then I asked him why he was trying to flirt with my comp if he had a wife and kids. 9 kids by the way... He then said "look at my hand, do you see a ring? NO, So its okay". Then he said, "my wife doesnt have to know what I do". We were so sad but laughed because he was really drunk and couldnt even stand up. We then talk to him about eternal families and he didnt really want to listen. He just flirting with my comp. Then in the middle of me talk he puts his finger up to my face and tells me to hush. He then asked my comp if she was married. My comp looked at me and I shouted YES! haha. Then he walked away. So that was really fun! Actually really funny!! 

2. We had the BEST lesson ever!! So we have an investigator named Jose. He is this really tall black guy and his mom reminds me of my grandma Carol. She is soo soo sweet. She is a member but Jose is not. Jose is about 25 years old. His picture will be in the email. But we thought him about the restoration of the Gospel and he loved it. He will be baptized in the coming week but we have to finish teaching him the lessons. The problem with that is is that he lives in the ghetto ghetto so the Elders have to come with us to the lessons because we cant go by ourselves. But he is the best. Speaking of him, his mom just called and she wanted me to say hi to everyone so Hi haha. 

3. We had another great lesson with Michell. She is 21 and amazing. We were teaching her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end of the lesson we asked if she wanted to be baptized by someone who hold the preisthood and she said "clearly I want to!!!!!" It was amazing. So she will actually be baptized this Sunday. She great!

So yeah that was all. I am also starting the Book of Mormon again but this time I am studying it so much better. I have tons of things marked and have learned many new things. It is really such a great book. My testimony is growing so much and I feel like such a different person. I know that Heavenly Father really does love each and everyone of us. The more I teach that to people the more I understand. I really love being a missionary. The work is great and so is Panama. (they beat USA in soccer the other day, that was sad but cool haha). I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!! Oh and make sure to take advantage of priesthood blessings. That was one thing I wish I would have done before the mission. They are amazing!! 

With love,

Hna. Patrick 

The pictures are of a diablo rojo and Jose and his family. As there is a picture with my new comp and I. She is the one on the left. The white one haha

American Food

Hola everyone,

    So this week has just gone by soo fast. I feel like when your in the city the mission just flies but when your on the islands its sooo slow haha. 

Well this week was fun... We are still in the city with the sisters here and there area is amazing. I got to go to church in almost ALL english. It was like a ward from the states. In this area there are tons of Americans because they all work in the embassy and things like that. So not everyone but a lot of people speak English here. It has been great to be here for the past week.

So church was amazing and not only that but the members here are from the states or are married to someone from the states so they all cook American food. IT IS AMAZING!! I have had sooo much food this week that I think I gained like 20 pounds haha. Which is good because everyone says I lost wait on San Blas. 

So fun things for this week...

1. We met a crazy black lady this week. She was AMAZING haha.. So we were contacting everyone and no one would let us in or take are cards. They all told us that they didnt want to listen and same old things that people tell you when they dont want to listen. So we knocked on this ladies door and she didnt want to listen so she told us to go talk to her neighbor. So we did. We knocked on the door and she swung it open and starts talking really ghetto spanish to us. She asked us where we were from and when she found out what church we went to she yelled "oh their Mormons" to the people inside the house. She asked is where we were from and then I told her the states. She asked where we lived at in the city and we told her. Then she said "so you walked all the way hear?" and we said yes, then she was like come in!! So we came in and she was like you have a few mins to tell me about what the Mormons are and thats it. She didnt want to read anything she just wanted to know why are church was sooo different then the others. So we explained the Restoration of the Gospel to her in 5 mins. We told her that we had apostles and prophets that still walk the earth today. She liked the message but then went to tell us about 20 other churchs and how they all believe in God so they are all good. We just explained that we are the only true church today and she understod that. So she gave us some juice which Im not really sure if it was tea or not. We asked and she just said juice but Im not to sure about that.. Anyways, we had a great lesson with her and right when we were about to leave she gave us $10. We told her that we couldnt take the money but she got really mad and yelled at us so we took the money and are going to put it in the fast offerings at church. Great time!!

2. We saw an alligator this week. Super cool.

3. My comp and I talk in Kuna to each other. Its great haha..

Well my faith has just been growing and growing so much here on the mission. Im sooo greatful for this 18 months that I have to learn and grow. I love you all and miss you sooo much. We are going to go each American food right now and speak in English with some members right now. Have a great week everyone. Oh and happy late Birthday to my mom!! Love you mom!!!

Love always,

Hna. Patrick