Hey hey!!
Another week in Panama down! Next week I hit six months in the mission, and I won't be able to believe it. I have loved being a missionary and being in Panama. It has been a blessing to share with everyone how Christ wants to have a covenant relationship with everyone of us. Hermana Christensen and I have been working really hard to be exactly obedient to bring miracles into this area. We have the goal, with the help of God, to help 7 people be baptized in the one living and true church! We currently have 8 people with a baptismal date, all but two that we put last week. We are searching for more and more people who need Christ in their life, and who doesn't? We have had miracles fall from the sky, and it is a testament that God is God of miracles --- big and small.
Hermana Christensen has been pretty sick with chills, fever, bad stomach problems, sleeping all the time, and just overall exhaustion. We thought she might have dengue fever, so we got her tested this morning in a clinic. But, the results came back negative, so she must have come down with the worst case of a fever ever. So please pray for her!
Panama has also been going through a tough time right now. There have been protests over this one mine in Penonome. The government wants to keep it open to make money, but the people want it closed because it pollutes the country a lot. So, the people have rallied together with protests, which have caused lots of streets to close, and transportation to be abysmally worse. We haven't left our neighborhood this week because we don't know if there would be a sure way to get back. Also, the protests has given gangs more chances to vandalize, rob, and have shoot outs since the police are preoccupied. So overall, not the best situation. I feel safe, so I am not really stressed. And the work goes on with video calls when we need to be in the house earlier at night!
I think the best moment of the week is when we took our friend, Magela, to visit her dad, Andres. Magela was going to be baptized this Sunday, but the date got postponed with the protests and all that. Anyways, she is rock solid and amazing, and her kids were members before her. But, she did not get baptized when they did because she wasn't married. She kept going to church, but with time, they stopped going, except for the oldest son, who referred her to us a month ago. This just shows God's time is perfect because now she is married, and her decision to be baptized is bringing her kids back into activity. Anyways, now her dad is interested and she came to a lesson with us to him. At the end we wanted to conclude with a prayer, and she took the lead and taught him how to do it and was like "ok repeat after me" and told him "yeah if you want to be baptized, you have to take these classes from the missionaries and read your scriptures and pray". I love to see the change the gospel has in people's lives and to see people converted to the Lord!
Our neighbor has some chickens that we prayed for and they improved in their health... and when we asked how they were he said "oh bastante bien"
Teaching online zoom lessons
Our frog friend
The literal most ratchet smelling dog
Our whatsapp profile picture in case you were wondering
Mmmmm we love Panamanian food
Every morning we try to figure out our water situation and our house owners are really nice and try to help us, but alas the water situation has not been solved
Poor hermana christensen has been really sick these past few days and we were contacting but then she fell asleep
Church online with all the protests
Walking in the streets because there is no transport because of protests
Elevator ride to get tested for dengue fever
Getting hermana Christensen tested for dengue fever
Getting tested for dengue fever
When hna christensen is confused about this women having a period
Elders shaving each other's beards during a zoom call
We love creepy stalkers
