May 28, 2012

hey mom!

man sounds like it was a pretty busy week! sounds like the air show was cool, but sorry you´re not getting any sympathy from me with the rain haha. we`ve been getting some nasty storms down here, just about every day at 4 it rains, it`s a lot of fun...:) i`m glad things are going so well though. i actually had a fairly interesting week too.

so monday we went to this place called boquete, and it`s a really cool place. it`s like a little city in like a bowl  with "mountains" on each side. it`s really cool cause it`s all just super green and then you can just see the little houses on the bottom, it`s a good site. and so we went there and did a little hike to a waterfall, and it was kinda disappointing cause we walked for like an hour and it ended up being just this tiny little thing, but oh well, it was cool to walk through the little rain forest. plus the temperature is a lot lower than the rest of panamà so it was nice.

tuesday and wednesday were pretty normal, nothing really exciting happened those days, but the zone leaders told me that i would have to go to panamà on thursday to get my card thing that says i live here and am legal. and so, being like 8 hours away from the city, we had to take the bus at midnight to get there by 8 30 in the morning on thursday. that was a little miserable. the buses are nice, it was this huge double decker thing, but it wasn`t very comfortable to sleep on so it was a long ride. so we get there, and just as my luck would have it, they had spelled my name wrong. so we were walking all around this building trying to get someone to fix it, but for some reason they were like 2 days behind, so they couldn`t do it. so i had to go home without the card, and i have to go back either this wednesday or the next to try and get it again. so basically we just went to panamà and back for no reason, it was great.

so friday was more or less normal too, we didn`t get back to the house until midnight so it was another short night. but we went to lunch on friday, and we eat with the zone leaders, and they asked if we could go to puerto armuelles on saturday. it`s like 3 hours away, but they said they needed 2 elders to go with them so we said sure. so we had to get up at 5 saturday morning to take some more buses to travel to puerto armuelles. we get there, and appearantely they have like a million members, but none of them go to church anymore, so they called in like 14 elders to come in and go talk to every house and see if they had moved or died or go to another church. so me and my comp went with the relief society president and just went looking for people all day. most of them had moved and didn`t live there anymore. a lot of them no one knew who they were, and a couple went to a different church, so that was a long day. but we did a lot of work and that should help out a little bit there.

here`s where it gets really cool though. so friday we went to teach this lady, and her daughter was there, and she was super interested in everything we said, and really wanted to read the Book of Mormon, so we were pretty pumped about that. and so we left her with a BOM to read, and we left. on saturday, we went to mcdonald`s after all the member searching we did, and she just happened to show up right behind us. so we were just talking and whatnot, when she pulled out the BOM and said like hey thanks for the book, you can have it back now. and i was all bummed cause i thought she was golden too, but we were just like oh no it`s yours, it was a gift, we want you to have it. and she just got all embarrassed and started laughing, and her boyfriend was there too, and he pulls out this huge spiral bound notebook, and opens it up, and they had photocopied every page in the Book of Mormon! it was probably the coolest thing i`ve seen! she paid 23 bucks for it though so i felt kinda bad haha. but we were way pumped about that, and she said she really wanted to go to church so we were excited.

so now it`s sunday, and she does come to church, and it was probably one of the best sundays i`ve had here. sacrament meeting was really good, and afterward she said she felt like crying during the last hymn, and that night when we talked to her she said it just felt different, and she didn`t feel like she did in other churches where she can`t wait til it gets over. it was so cool! so we had a super good lesson with her and her boyfriend and sister, and we put fechas for all of them! i don`t know why, but they`re all just super interested! she already knows it`s all true, she just wants to learn a little more. we really have done nothing, but they`re just prepared and ready to hear all of this. so i`m really hopeful for her and her boyfriend and sister. we have changes this week though, and i doubt that i`ll go, but i do hope i stay, cause i really want to help them!

so yeah it was a really interesting week,  but it ended up being super good. i`m pumped to go back and teach them more, and just see them progress. things are just really good right now! it`s nice for a change. but i think that`s about it, so i better run. thanks a ton for the emails and the support and everything! i hope everyone has a good last week of school!

much love,

elder paskett

May 21, 2012

hey mom!

yeah sorry i should probably do some explaining when i send pictures home. but yeah it can look fairly cool here but it´s actually really hot, the sand would just scorch your feet, especially since it was like black sand. i`m not sure why there weren`t any people. it was kind of a long way from most of the civilization, but there were bars and shacks and stuff so i´m sure people go there, maybe just cause it was a monday and no one goes on mondays? the family i was with was back in my last area. that family, the mom and most of the kids, cooked us food almost every day, and they were just a cool family. i hope to go back there one last time before i leave so i can actually talk to them, cause i knew no spanish those first few weeks! i do remember the canal in washington, but yeah the one here is just bigger. it`s actually not really all that cool, it`s just cool to say "the panamá canal" haha.

that`s nuts brother (now bishop) beeson took over for dad! i never would have guessed! it seems like i`ve already been gone forever, i hardly remember anything! but he`ll be great, he sent me a little letter a few weeks ago, he`s a good guy. and congrats to dad! i`m sure that would be a bitter sweet parting, he probably will go crazy with all this free time! even when i have like half an hour on a pday to do nothing i don`t know what to do!

but i should probably tell you about my week. it was actually really good, and then a few not so fun things. so i`ve told you a little about joselyn i think, we`ve been teaching her trying to set up a baptism. and so tuesday we had a visit with her in the church, and the only thing we hadn`t taught her was tithing, so we had the financial secretary there, and he`s an RM of about a year? and so it was way good. he was able to answer a lot of her little questions, things that i didn`t know exactly where the money goes and stuff, but anyway it was way good. she still wasn`t sure about getting baptized that weekend, but we still just encouraged her to pray and think about it. she said she`d call us wednesday night and tell us for sure.

so now it`s wednesday, and that was the day i turned 6 months old in the mission! it`s crazy to think i`ve already been gone 6 months! 6 months is a long time, a quarter of the way there! it really was just a normal day, but we went to dinner a little early so i could burn a tie, and we bought some ice cream and had a little mini party. it was a lot of fun. the tie was actually really hard to burn though. it mostly just melted and turned to plastic, but it would never really catch fire. i`ll have to try and send some pictures home right after this. but anyway we went back home and were waiting for her to call us, and it got to like 9 45 and she still hadn`t called, so we just decided to call her. i didn`t talk to her, but she said she was gonna call, and my comp was just like it`s no big deal, and he asked her, and she said she wanted to get baptized on friday! so we were way pumped, it was really soon, we hadn`t planned anything, but we couldn`t tell her not to get baptized haha. so anyway we planned the next day, just set up a little program with speakers and hymns and whatnot, and then went out trying to invite people to come see it.

we spent a lot of time thursday and friday trying to invite investigators and members to the baptism, but for some reason like no one was home. it was kinda frustrating. a few people did say they would go, and we just tried to tell everyone so we had decent hopes that someone would come. so it`s friday night now, and we had it scheduled to start at 6, but it was just pouring outside, and so no one really showed up til like 7 15, so we started a little late but it`s all good. of course no investigators showed up, and not too many members, but all the ones we had in lessons with her came so it was good support. and so it went by smoothly, she gave a good testimony of how she came to know the church and how when she went to this last conference she just knew it was true, so it was way cool. i know the numbers aren`t a big deal, but it was a good first baptism. i gave her one of the "HLJ" rings and she was pretty pumped. she wore it to church the next day and we confirmed her and it was great! we were really blessed to be able to teach her and everything. she was already prepared and accepted everything, it was good to finally see a fruit of all this hard work.

but the rainy season has finally started. it had been a little off and on, but now we`re getting some huge storms. i can`t believe how much water comes down. there are like rivers in the streets it`s so bad. i`m gonna need to buy an umbrella cause we just get soaked! we did have one other little cool experience though if i can tell it real fast. so there`s this ex-missionary in the ward, and he had to come home for medical reasons. he`s a super cool kid, but for some reason has just been having a rough time lately. he`s been having family trouble, and health issues, and just a ton of things have been going wrong. we went over to his house to invite him to a lesson, and he ended up just telling us all the things that are going wrong in his life. it was hard to listen to. i wanted to help but i don`t really know how. he talked for like 15 minutes, and we just listened. my comp shared a couple things, and then i shared a quick story. i talked about how my first few weeks were just horrible. i told him how i wanted to go on my mission to a foreign, cold, english speaking place, but i didn`t really get that. and then getting here and not understanding anyone, having a rough time with the food, the climate, everything, it was just hard, and i didn`t know why i was being tested like that. but i told him when trev sent me Mosiah 23:21-22, and that scripture has just become my favorite. i told him i don`t know everything he`s going through, but i went through hard times, and i still am, but i can understand people now, i don`t loathe the food anymore, and it`s hot but i`m getting used to it. it takes some time, and we don`t understand sometimes why the Lord tries us in such hard ways, but if we put our confidence and trust in Him, He`ll lift us up. it was just a super spiritual moment. i haven`t seen him since, but i hope he`s doing better. he`s a good guy, i hope he gets through it.

but that`s pretty much my week. it was a lot of work, but there were a lot of good moments that helped a lot. i`ve said it a million times, things are still hard, but it`s fulfilling and i´m learning a lot. we have changes next week, and i`m hearing all kinds of rumors. my district leader said there`s a chance i`ll be training, my zone leader said i might stay with my comp, who knows? we`ll see how this week goes, hopefully we can find some more cool people to teach! i hope everyone else at home is doing great! thanks for everthing! talk to you next week!

much love,

elder paskett

May 14, 2012

hey mom!

yeah i`m afraid i don`t really have much to say haha. but it was good to talk to everyone! it looks like everyone is doing awesome! it was a little hard to hang up, and then i was just super trunky after haha, but i`m still doing good. we`re going to the beach here pretty quick so that should be fun. i`ll just keep plugging along doing what i can. i appreciate the emails and prayers and everything! have a great week!

much love,

elder paskett

May 7, 2012

hey mom!

well firstly i should start with calling. so president is really relaxed about calling, and he lets us use skype. so i don`t know if you want to do that, but you can just make a quick account and i`m sure i can make one up real quick too, or if you want to make me one and give me the username and password and all that information so i can just sign in that would work too. so we have church at 9 here, which is 8 where you are? and we get done at 12 obviously, and i think you`re an hour back now, so that would be 11 your time. i don`t know when you guys have church, but i would assume right after church would be the best for me at least. but we only get to call twice a year so i`m sure i can during the day too. actually what we`re gonna do is call saturday night, just from a payphone nearby, probably at about 8 your time, and we can set up a real time. i probably should have mentioned this earlier but i never really know what day it is anymore haha. so basically just expect a call on saturday night and we can set something up then?

as far as looking up mr. estrada, it`s not a big deal. i just thought i`d check and see, but that is a little crazy!

and with the food, i really do hate platanos, they`re super disgusting, but for some reason everyone loves them. mangos i can stand, but they`re like a pest down here. they really start coming in may, and there`ll just be thousands. people just give us bags cause they`re everywhere. the other day some lady gave us crackers with homemade mango jam, and it was pretty good. sure mangos aren`t my favorite, but i can tolerate them. the few tamales i`ve had, they`re gross too haha. i`ve mastered the missionary "chew-swig-swallow" technique though so i can put a lot of stuff down that way :) but yeah i do like patacones, probably just cause they`re fried and don`t taste like platanos, they kinda just taste like chips, so they`re pretty good. i like to say "guacala" which just means "gross," because there are lots of gross things down here haha.

and with the dvd`s, you may want to talk to whitney, cause she`s been asking me what i would want in a package cause she wants to send one, so maybe you can chat with her a bit. and we do have dvd players, so just some exercise i could do in the morning with some yoga would be good. actually, i`ve come to like this pen i bought in the mtc, it`s a pilot g-tec C4, i don`t know if you could find some of those, but they`re good. also, i`ve been trying to look for scripture covers, but i haven`t found any that are separate. so i have the bible and the triple in spanish, but right now they just chill in a plastic bag, but some more sturdy covers would be nice. i maybe should give you the dimensions, but we can talk a little on sunday :)

but anyway, a couple of cool things happened this week. so the zone leaders gave us a reference the other day, and had no information other than her name and number, and that she just wanted to be baptized. so we were thinking she`d just be like a 9 year old girl, and it would be no big deal. so we called her, but she didn`t answer so we left a message. she called back that night, and told us she was 20 years old, and wanted to meet with us. she said she didn`t want her parents to know she was talking with us, so we set up to meet her at the church and have a lesson there. we also thought it would be good to bring some members along, so we talked to an RM that got back like 8 months ago and his sister too, who is about the same age as the other girl, jocelin is her name. so it was us, 2 members, and jocelin, and we just had a super sweet lesson in the church. she already knew like everything, she had been to mormon.org, but just had a few little questions. but it was just a good lesson, it flowed well, she had good questions and answers, and it was just good. so we left her a book of mormon, and she came to church yesterday and she had been reading, and she`s just craving more information. it`s fun to see. i`ve never seen anyone progress down here, so it`s fun. i`m a little worried with her parents, i don`t know what they`re gonna do, but we set a baptismal date so we`ll see how these next few weeks go.

but things are going pretty well down here. me and my companion are getting along, we teach fairly well together. we`re still both a little young, he`s got like 8 months, but things could be worse. we have our good days and bad days with teaching and contacting and whatnot. like yesterday was just not good. for some reason no one would let us in their house, we contacted all day, and on top of that the rainy season has started, and so it rained for like 6 hours yesterday, which makes for a long wet day. but overall things aren`t bad. actually, one week from wednesday i have 6 months in the mission, so i`m way pumped about that! i get to burn a tie here pretty soon! haha but i don`t know what else to say, i figure it will just be easier to talk on the phone in a few days haha.

actually, a couple weird things have been happening too. i`m hearing all kinds of music from the states, but it`s none of the popular stuff. like we`ve passed by this bar a few times, and i swear all i hear playing from there is 80`s music. like i heard africa by toto, and it was just weird. then someone was jamming out to owl city, someone else to michelle branch and bon jovi. i don`t know why but it`s kinda funny :)

but that`s about it. not too much has happened. we actually changed pday to tomorrow because today is a holiday, and we wanted to go paintballing but we didn`t think it would be open, but president says we have to write on monday, so we just won`t write tomorrow i guess. so i hope some good things happen this week. and i hope everyone at home is doing awesome as well! i`ll talk to you on saturday, and then on sunday as well! have a great week!

much love,

elder paskett