April 23, 2012

hey mom!

dang michael`s going to korea! that`s so nuts! what are the chances that all four of us are speaking different languages! that`s dang sweet though! i`m pumped for them! with the jazz though, for their sake, i kinda hope they don`t make it to the playoffs. by now it`s probably better just to try and get a good draft pick, but maybe playing a couple playoff games will be good for such a young team, who knows? that`s weird too that there`ll be an elder cottrell. maybe i`ll train him! :) actually i just talked to elder clarke, and he said that another kid from af is coming down to panamà sometime soon too, after graduation anyway, and he said he met another girl here in the mission from af, so we`re just gonna own the mission!

so, i guess i should tell you what happened this  week ......................................................................................................................i had changes! thank goodness! man i was so ready to leave! when we got the phone call and they said i was leaving i was so pumped! so i got the name "el padre," which is just to know where to put your bags when you get to the bus station, so i packed almost all my stuff that night, and got up at about 5:30 to finish packing, cause we had to leave at about 7:30, and it`s a little slower to pack than you`d think! so anyway we leave to panamà city, and put my bags with everyone else that had el padre, and then everyone just kinda chills for an hour or so. i ran into a couple kids from my mtc district, namely elder clarke like i mentioned, and that was the first time i saw him. it was a ton of fun. we talked forever about how the first few months have gone and all the crazy things that have happened. changes are really exciting cause no one knows where to go, so it`s fun. so we take a bus to the church in panamà city, where president talks to us for a bit, and then we watch a movie and it tells where everyone is going, then the people that are "dying" or are done with their missions share their testimonies. so i was just waiting for el padre to show up, and it finally did, and so now, i`m in the province "chiriqui," the city "david," and my area is called "bolìvar."

so, i`ll start with my comp. his name is elder livesay, and he`s from california. he`s another gringo, which is both good and bad. so he`s got about 8 months, and his spanish is fairly solid. but it`s a little harder with 2 gringos cause we can`t really ask eachother spanish questions as much. we have  been speaking spanish all day together though, cause we both decided we`ll need to work a little more since we don`t have latino companions. he`s a cool guy though, he did water polo through high school, he`s a little quiet, but as the last couple days have gone on we`ve talked more. it`s just a lot more fun with another gringo. to be honest, i think i`ve had more "success" these last few days with him than i have my first 2 changes. i don`t know if it`s the area, me, my comp, or what, but things have been really good. it`s actually a lot harder, because he actually lets me teach, so i`m having to actually think about things. plus i can`t really zone out at all cause i don`t have a latino companion that can just take control of everything. so it`s been really good, i`m having to focus more in lessons, so i do a lot better. we were teaching this one guy the other day, and he said you can`t know anything unless you`ve seen it with your own eyes. basically all of his arguments were bogus, but whatever. afterward my comp was like "man you must have had a good dad and step-dad (your trainer and your comp afterward) cause you did a ton of things like perfectly." and then later that night we were talking to some members, and one of the hermanas didn`t believe me that i only had 3 months out here, or that i didn`t speak spanish before my mission, cause she said my spanish was too good. i got that sunday too, all of the teachers and priests were wondering how i learned so fast and how i understood so much. i just love it here haha. but basically i attribute all of my learning to being obedient. i wouldn`t say i`ve worked the hardest at learning spanish, i think i could be doing more, but i`m where i`m at because i`m being obedient, and the Lord is helping me. it feels good to finally feel like i`m progressing.

a little about the church down here. so my last building was just a house with like one room. everyone met in the same room for relief society, priesthood, sunday school, everything. just the primary got a different room, all 5 of them. here is a different story though. it`s actually a chapel, with classrooms and a kitchen and offices and everything. i wouldn`t say it`s quite as big as chapels back home, but it`s big. we had 91 people at church yesterday, which for me is a lot, cause i`ve only ever seen 25-30 here. there`s a pretty big "cancha," or soccer/basketball court. so this place is just great. people here are just in general a lot nicer, all of the members are already good friends with me. i just like it a lot more. me and my comp are teaching way better lessons, we`ve already set 2 fechas, or baptismal dates, which i don`t know if that`s a lot, but from what i`ve been a part of it is. so i`m just super pumped to be here. i was talking to elders hawks and clarke, who were in my mtc district, and they both have had a pretty easy start to the mission. they`ve had good houses, good comps, baptisms, everything. i on the other hand, would say it`s been a little rough. but i think i`m being blessed for enduring it, and it`s great. but both of them were saying they know they`ve got tough times ahead since they`ve had it so easy at the start, and president always tells me that buena vista will be my hardes area in my mission, so i`m hopeful for the future.

the area here is a lot more civilized too. there`s actually streets, houses that are in blocks, supermarkets, there`s like no garbage in the streets. really just everything here is an improvement. i really think this is gonna be an awesome change. i was a little worried to have a gringo companion, but he actually wants to work and is obedient and so things are good. that`s really all i can say right now, things are just good right now. it`s hard, cause i actually have to work, but i feel good at night and i`m gonna learn a lot faster.

i think that`s about it though. really it`s just good here, like i`ve said a million times already haha, so i`m happy. i don`t have really any interesting stories, but i`m sure something`ll happen this week. anyway i better run. thanks for everything, i always love reading letters and hearing about the little things. i hope my letters aren`t too scattered or anything, but yeah thanks a ton. i hope everyone is doing well, and i`ll talk to you next week!

much love,
elder paskett