It was yet another great week here in Panamá and the time really is flyingggg by! I cant believe it is Monday already! I still love my companion and my ward and our friends we are teaching. Everyone here is very kind and more or less patient with my Spanish. I still do not quite have a personality in Spanish haha, so sometimes I worry people just think I am a boring girl trying to speak about Christ, but little by little! Hermana Anderson reminded me "you only have to learn Spanish once". So once I do, I will never again have to be confused about how to talk about basketball or the time I lost both my toenails or how to express my slight fear of dogs.
This week was first time I have been sick on my mission. And first time sick without my mom, actually. I had not been feeling very good and then was given so much food from members we visited (literally not lying, having a gag reflex thinking about the food I ate, another muddy buddies experience iykyk). Then Saturday night we got back around 9:30 and I am just sick but get it all out and feel a lot better. Still not feeling 100%, but good enough to smile and be a missionary!
This week I learned a lot about what charity really is! I have always thought about how charity is unconditional love -- but i have really internalized this. Loving unconditionally is loving without limit, loving when people disappoint you, loving without expectations, loving without demanding something of someone else. It's loving without letting people's choices affect how you feel about them and treating them all the same. I cannot even begin to imagine how Christ always had this love. Because it is so easy to let our love slip when it is not necessarily returned or upheld by the recipient (pardon the 48582 spelling errors but it changes almost everything to Spanish). So I am really learning this trait right now on the mission!
Miracle Wednesday:
It all began as we were walking to visit a member of the church. Suddenly, a dulce truck drives by, pulls over and offers us FREE treats! We had always talked about buying some but for FREE. WOW!! So i had some yummy churros and thought fondly of my brothers and Drake and Josh! Then we are sitting on the curb in the hot Panama sun and a lady yells out from her door "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING IN THE SUN. GET IN MY HOUSE!!!". So we begin teaching her in her house, and we are like THIS IS GOLDEN! Her and her daughter are very receptive too! Then when we are going home at the end of the day we want some pineapple. We have our taxi driver take us to some fruit stands but they are all out. We get in our house, pineappleless, and are reviewing our day when the SAME taxi driver comes back with THREE pineapples and gifts them to us. We love nice people!!!
We are progressing more in our teachings! Some people accepted to be baptized but first have to get married since they are living with their partner who is basically their spouse. There is a lot of paper work and medical exams to be married in Panama, so most people just live with their partner but refer to them as their spouse. We always ask people "are you guys married or married MARRIED???" So we are helping them with that process.
Update on the Spanish: i understand quite a bit but i am sure i still sound like i have garbage in my mouth haha. One day i will learn to pronounce with my clarity, but for now, it is still a learning process. Someone totally roasted me for it the other day and i just laughed it off, because what else can ya do!? But i was reading a scripture and he is like "yeah no i don't understand at all". It just made me laugh.
Panamá things:
Duros (Panamanian popsicle made simply by freezing fruit juice in a cup)
Chicheme (Panamanian drink made from sweet corn, condensed milk, coconut milk, and cinnamon)
Panamanians complaining about the heat they are accustomed to and always telling me to use my umbrellas
Sweetened condensed milk in every dessert
Everything melting de una vez (at once) and not being able to eat anything frozen slowly
Scary dogs that are luckily on leashes most the time
Crocs!! Everyone wears them here so I gave in a bought some lilac colored ones
Rice and chicken and chicken and rice
Men with long nails all over the place!
Música tipa de Panama sounds like Minions singing in the background hahahaha
Only ever using cold hard Cash and people giving me the most exasperated look when I give them anything larger than a $5 bill
Zone Conference at La Chorerra (taken from the mission Facebook page)
Our Chorrera zone
Back from (left to right): Elder Campbell, Elder Weaver, Elder de Leon, Elder Vasquez, Elder Sanchez, Elder Whiting, Elder Monterosso, Elder Johnson, Elder Rejon, Elder del Valle, Elder Jensen, and Elder Lopez
Front: Hermana Lopez, me, Hermana Anderson, Hermana Forsberg, President Forsberg, Hermana Gamez, Hermana Morales, Hermana Guarin
Pretty pink skies
Batidos!!
New road we had never walked on above Villa del Carmens
Jehovah Witness Friend on the bus who wanted a picture
Pretty flowers in Villas del Carmen
Time for a treat break from a little car that always passes by in the neighborhood with bread and pastries and chicheme
On the bus back from pday with all of our groceries and a quick stop at the chichimito to get some passionfruit juice, our favorite
Subway on p-day in Costa Verde with all of the other hermanas in our district!
Moments before disaster hah. I threw up that night after eating too much throughout the day because members had (kindly) given us too much food and treats that one cannot refuse out of politeness
Parades for Dia de los niños. They have huge floats, costumes, and involve all the school children
A fruit I cannot eat anymore because I later threw it up that night, mamachinos
Dinner at Hermana Gloria's house on Friday night. We have to walk up a huge hill to get there everytime
Noche de Hogar en las Praderas at Hermana Katiuska's house
Holding up a "1" for one year of Hermana Anderson breaking up with her boyfriend
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