June 4, 2012

hey mom!

it is crazy it`s already june! that last change really did just go by so fast! time isn`t quite as slow as i thought it would be :) i`m creeping up on 7 months here pretty quick, which is a super long time! it`s good though, we`re working hard so it helps the time move faster. i guess i`ll start with info on changes...

so me and my comp ended up staying together. so it`s me and elder livesay for 6 more weeks. which is good, i mean we work pretty well together and have been meeting all kinds of cool people and are pretty good friends, but i like to meet new people and see different ways to teach and whatnot, and i like to move around, but now that we`re comps again it means that i`ll have to be here for at least one more change, cause i`ll have to teach the next guy the area since elder livesay has already been here 2 changes. he actually got called as district leader too, so i guess that`s a little exciting for him at least. what i`m guessing, and i have no idea, but i kinda have a feeling i`ll be training next change, cause president likes to have the younger guys change, so i mean who knows, but that`s just a guess. and if i do change, usually the "dad" stays with the "kid" for 2 changes, and so there would be a chance that i`m here for 2 more changes, which is way too long for me, but that`s still 6 weeks out so it`s too early to tell.

with money, they actually use american money down here. well they have their own money, called "balboas," but it`s only coins. they have pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters, 50 cent pieces and a dollar, but no paper money. so they just use our paper money and our coinage. which makes it easy, there`s no changing or anything. you just go to an atm, just like any atm in the states, and it just gives you cash. the mission gives us 100 bucks the first of every month, and 70 on the 15th, which is usually enough, but like just a while ago when i went to panamà i had to pull out a little extra, cause it was like 40 bucks just to get there and back, and it was close to the end of the month so i didn`t have much. and the pday before i spent a little too much just cause we went sightseeing which costed a little, but usually the money they give us is sufficient.

not much really happened this week. the girl that copied the book of mormon, sabrina, and her mom and sister and boyfriend came to church yesterday, and they said they really liked it. the other week we started the "piedra misional," which is just a rock with the intent of having someone have a missionary moment during the week. so we gave it out sunday, and told them that we want them to share a scripture with someone, or invite someone to church, or something to do some missionary work, and they were all pretty excited about it. so we gave one to the men and the women, and the guy we gave it too didn`t come to church yesterday, so we`ll have to see with that one, but the one with the women said she had a good experience. i don`t know what it is just cause she shared it in relief society, but when she asked who wanted it next, our investigator sabrina wanted it. so after the third hour she comes out with the rock and me and my comp were like so shocked. it`s super cool though, we just keep saying she`s already a member haha, cause she`s just solid! we had a baptismal date for this coming sunday, and it was with the other 3 that came to church yesterday, but right now they`re all on different levels. sabrina knows it`s all true already. the sister daphne is super interested and just loves learning, the boyfriend francis says it all makes sense and he likes it, and the mom says she`s basically just looking for God, but she hasn`t read the book of mormon or anything. so they`re all on different levels spiritually, but we want them to all get baptized the same day. we have a visit with them on tuesday and our baptism we just had is coming too, so it should be a good lesson, and we`ll see what they all say on tuesday.

it`s actually been a little off and on with the rain lately. it never goes more than 2 days without raining, but we haven`t had any super bad storms for awhile. but i`m pretty sure it`s rainy season for 8 months of the year, and then dry for the other 4, so it probably can only get worse from here on out. and i`m not sure if it gets worse in other areas, but at least where i`m at right now it hasn`t been too bad. i finally bought my first umbrella, just a little cheap one, cause it`s not very fun to just be soaked all day. but all in all it hasn`t been too bad.

well sorry this isn`t a very exciting email. not much really happened at all. that`s super cool that adri is coming home though. it`ll be fun to have someone to talk to in spanish, since everyone else is learning like russian! anyway i hope everyone has a great week, thanks for everything, talk to you next week!

much love,

elder paskett