June 10, 2014

June 10, 2014

We can't believe how fast the time is going! We left home a month ago today (date wise)!

Jim is doing good at being able to read in Spanish. He's also beginning to understand some things and trying to speak Spanish. One of the major problems is that so many here want to practice their English.

We spoke in church this past Sunday. Our ward is quite unique. They do half of Sacrament meeting in Spanish and half in English. This made it easy for us. A new sister missionary, to the ward, spoke first. She spoke quite long so Jim and I had to altar our talks. I spoke next and gave my talk in Spanish. Jim was the last speaker and he spoke in English. 

I meant to mention that there's a couple here from Sweden who have come to adopt two children. The boy is 8 and his little sister is 3. What a blessing for all of them! The mother mentioned that the first time they took the children shopping the little girl was excited and ran from thing to thing asking if she could have everything. Apparently it was the first time the little girl had ever been out of the orphanage. I asked them on Sunday how things are going and I was told that they are all adjusting very well. The father's parents came from Sweden too and were at church this past Sunday. Not only do these children have a family now, but they will grow up in the church and will be thus blessed!

Yesterday was P Day, so after shopping for groceries we went for a drive on the Causeway. When they were digging boulders out of the canal they had to find a place to put them, so they decided to use them to connect the mainland with three islands that were offshore. It's a beautiful drive! There are also some very nice looking restaurants and hotels. There is a pathway that runs along the shoreline of the causeway. I told Jim we should take a taxi out there some day and go for a walk. 

President and Sister Boren also took us shopping to an artesian market yesterday. The Kuna Indians here do beautiful work called molas. There are a few Kuna women who belong to the church so I'm looking forward to one day getting a couple of molas made. Hermana Bjornason was shopping for something to send to her mother with one of the daughters of a family in our ward. This girl is a caregiver to Hermana Bjornason's mother who lives in an assisted living centre in Utah. What a small world!

While we were shopping at the artesian mall Jim had a conversation with one of the vendors. She asked him where he was from and when he said Canada she asked if he was a missionary. He told her he was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she responded that it's good to meet some else who loves Jesus as much as she does. She attends another denomination, but at least she's had at least a first contact now with the church. 

The Kuna Indians, yes they call them Indians, are from an island off the Caribbean side of Panama called San Blas. It is apparently still quite primitive. Hopefully we'll get out that way some day. 

The 6th of June marked 38 years ago that my companion and I were able to see the most prepared family be baptized. The children of the sons who were baptized are now serving missions. What a blessing this family have been in my life!!!

Lorraine Doig shared Lister's sister's letter with us this past week. She's serving in the Philippines on a Perpetual Education mission. She was telling about how grateful people are for the help the church provides for them to be able to improve their situations. The Bullock's are doing Humanitarian work in West Africa and are currently overseeing several boreholes to enable communities to have access to clean water. This past Saturday a couple with 2 small children were sealed to each other in the temple for time and eternity. The church blesses the lives of many people in a variety of different ways! The Church is true and is the Lord's Kingdom on the Earth!