Katie's Mission Blog: March 12, 2024-March 18, 2024-Week 45-David

Hey!! (this is long because honestly I only expect limited people to read this @ my mom and this counts as my journaling because I am behind).

Time to recount all the weekly happenings and shennangians! This week was really good and things are starting to pick up here in Lassonde, as well as the heat! I swear at least 10 times a day, people yell out at us "y tú paragua? Y tú sombrero?"...literally without fail!! The sun is SO strong and it feels like noon day 24/7.

We were able to put 3 people on baptismal date this week -- and all were just literally God sent. I have to come to learn over and over again that really the miracles come after ALL we can do (2 Nephi 25:23) and after the trial of our faith (Ether 12:6). God is stapeling that in my mind. We are teaching two cute girls, Kimberly and Zira. They are neighbors of a super faithful member, who quite honestly is so cute and reminds me of my aunt Marsha with her gentle and docile nature. But, one night we were teaching them and the grandma comes out, sees the Book of Mormon, and is like "I hate your church because this book only talks about Joseph Smith" and WOW! It really stings when people say things like this, but the member, Eyda, she comes back and testifies with her simple and soft testimony to the contrary that this is another testament of Jesus Christ! I have learned time and again that the people here in Panama know God and their Savior, and know the cost of their discipleship, and are more than willing to pay it. I forever hope that I can be like them and be bold in what I believe. Sometimes I think that my Spanish and English personalities are SO different. I hope that I can keep all the things I love about "my Spanish version" -- my positivity, boldness, animo (sou), energy, happiness, and faith mindset forever! Our other friend is Reinel. He was a contact we had on the street who we started teaching and then he came to stake conference and does all his reading assignments. I am so excited to see the many miracles the Lord has waiting for me and Hna Rhodes in Lassonde! I firmly believe that we just have to have the faith to find. If we show the Lord we have faith -- including thinking positively, making big plans, and doing everything in our power -- He cannot hold back the miracles, but will overflow our lives with them.

The saddest part of the week happened when we found this less active family, the Jovane's. They are very kind people who left the church because they weren't doing the small and simple things -- reading the scriptures, praying, and actively partaking of the sacrament. Primary answers that are drilled in our heads for a reason. We are practically begging them to come to church and take the sacrament -- but all the while they forgot what that is, what the Book of Mormon is, but the hermano seems to remember (because he said it 5 times) that he was elders quorom president and that he thinks that the law of tithing is evil. It was so sad. I was in tears, just thinking how easy it is to fall away, to choose to not have the eternal joy the gospel brings. In these moments, I think of the Savior, how openly He is inviting us, and how many excuses we make, how we ignore Him, and choose our own way. I know His way is the only way to true and lasting happiness!

We have been doing a lot of things with the Hermanas as if lately, and will be doing a lot of exchanges in this upcoming week to help them with their areas and with their animoooo!! So we will have a lot of travels and early mornings and late nights. This week, we traveled to Volcan and we left in the pitch black of the morning at 4 to get there at 6:30 to do their CPEC (just to help them in their planning and in their companionship)! But it was SO cold! 66 degrees!! I was shivering so badly. We checked the weather and where we live at the same time it was 80. I will not be able to survive winter in Spokane or Utah when I come home. But, it is always a joy to be with the hermanas and to serve them. Any assignment or calling in the church I think is a refining experience to make us more like the Savior and help us see what matters most. He cared for others one by one, and so should we.

Some funny turn of events happened this week. As I mentioned earlier, everyone always says we need to wear hats and carry our umbrellas to protect us from the sun. Very nicely this week, some members gave us some hats. See attached pictures below. All I can say is I feel like Sherlock Holmes and that I should be in a band. Enough on that. Then, this same day, we go to a less active persons house, but there are only really old people there. They let us in and we assume they are her very aged, sick parents. They keep saying "hola estoy enfermo" and we are like, well let's sing a song and go. Then, one of their daughters who we hadn't met before, walks into where we are sitting in the backyard, bewildered and confused that we are there. I ask her her name and then she's like "well the better question is WHO ARE YOU??". It took me so off guard, but she had every right to ask me haha. We worked it all out but she was very thrown off how we had gotten into her house. Needless to say, weird things happen every day.

Everyday I am happier and happier to be a missionary! I know that we have a Savior who lives and loves us, and that His Atonement is within our reach, even our very thought. I know that He speaks with us -- because He speaks to me every day, guiding me to be better and know how to lift where I stand, overcome my faults and errors, and any setback that may come. He wipes away every tear and makes a blank slate for every bad day. As Elder Holland says best, "But when such difficult moments come to us, I testify that there is one thing which will never, ever fail us. One thing alone will stand the test of all time, of all tribulation, all trouble, and all transgression. One thing only never faileth—and that is the pure love of Christ".

White board with our goals on it