May 27, 2013

hey mom!

 

sounds like it was a pretty eventful week! yeah can`t say that i seem to remember this "mole" honestly haha. but oh well, i guess as long as she`s happy that`s the most important thing, but that seems like a strange graduation present haha. usually everyone wants like an ipad or laptop or something haha. i don`t know if i ever really got asked that, but you guys have done enough by now that it`s not a big deal, with all my watches and just helping out with the mision in general, it`s all good. yeah the whole garbage system down here just isn`t really organized or dependent. sometimes the garbage trucks just don`t come by for awhile. and there aren`t a lot of garbage cans in public places, like parks and stuff, so everyone just throws it on the ground. there aren`t garbage buckets like everyone has in the states and the garbage comes by with the hook thing and gets it. it`s more like some houses have like a little metal box in the front of their house, and everyone puts the garbage in plastic bags. but the dogs get into the bags and eat the left over food and then the food gets blown around or carried by water, so it`s kinda gross.

 

things went pretty well this week. i`m really liking it actually. we had interviews with president. i talked with hna ward a little about school, she said there`s no rush with signing up, i still have til october, so we`ll see how it goes. president goes home this change, and then we`ll have a new one. i officially told them i want to go home october 24th, so i now have less then 5 months haha. but we are just working hard and should have a lot of success. we`re really trying to work with members cause that`s the best and easiest way to have success. sometimes it means we have to walk a little extra, and maybe waste a little bit of time, but it means that we have more quality lessons with members and it`s more probable that people get baptized. and then the members see that we actually want to work and are working so they trust us and give us references and it all just runs smoother. we should have 3 baptisms this weekend so we`re pretty pumped.

 

we got a reference from some other missionaries this week and so we went by, and it ended up being super cool. the guy works in a hotel around here and the owners are mormon as well as a lot of the workers, and they leave books of mormon in the rooms and everything, so he`s just surrounded by mormons all the time, and i guess he ran into some missionaries and gave them his info and everything and we went and saw him. he said he`s really impressed with the little that he`s seen from the Church, or more how the members act. he didn`t know a lot about the doctrine and what not, but he liked what he had seen. we talked about the gospel and baptism and invited him and he accepted it really well and wants to learn more. we`re gonna go see him tonight so we`ll see how it goes, but he seems positive.

 

we`ve been working a ton with less actives too, and the church is super full. well we meet in a house, but it gets so full that people have to sit outside and everything. we had 131 this week, which is a lot. they`re building a chapel right now, but they say it won`t be done til the end of the year. they really need it though, cause if more baptisms come they just won`t fit.

how my testimony has changed? someone else actually asked me more or less the same thing this week. i think the two things i`ve come to appreciate the most on the mission are the book of mormon and the plan of salvation. i`ve realized that the commandments really keep us happy, that when we do what God asks then we really are happy, like how it says "if you keep the commandments then you`ll prosper in the land" or something to that effect some 50 times in the book of mormon, and it`s true. the importance of the sabbath day and keeping it holy, how much it helps the family. how drugs and alcohol really do destroy the family. i`ve come to realize a lot of things and it makes me really realize that this church is true, and perfect. i`m thankful for all the light and knowledge God has given us, and know that he wants to bless us, we just have to put forth the effort and do what he has asked. i didn`t know any of this 2 years ago, but all the things they teach you at primary, really are true if you just put it to the test. and i know it.

well, we`re excited for this week. we`re gonna work hard to have 3 baptisms, and see if we can`t find a few more along the way. things are going good, no complaints. i hope everyone is also happy at home, and has a good week wrapping up school and everything! have a great week! thanks!

much love,

elder paskett

May 20, 2013

hey mom!

yeah don`t worry about the time thing on mother`s day. it was my last call so it was no big deal. i did talk to them about the internet and they said they just pay 20 a month for unlimited, so that was fine too. they`re a good family. as far as school goes, i`m not sure when i can get on to do it. i don`t know if i should just waste half a pday to do it or do it in the morning or something, but i`ll see if i can`t start it this week. and my card says it expires 7/13, my debit card, if it were my atm card it wouldn`t be a big deal, and i mean i guess i can just sack out money if it does expire and i can`t replace it, but i don`t know how big of a hassle it is to get a new one after it expires. it seems like just mailing the one when it comes is the best thing to do. i was also gonna see if you could somehow find another one of those bite-out quarters, cause i lost the one emily sent me awhile ago, but it`s such a great trick that i want another haha. so you wouldn`t have to send another package, but maybe just an envelope with the card and the quarter? that would be much appreciated :)

as far as the weather goes, it finally has started to rain down here. funny enough, i think it only rained like once in my last area, but it`s rained every day here now. i don`t know if it`s raining in the whole country, but it seems like the rain has finally come. i`ve seen little clips about the news and they showed somewhere in the city how some parts actually got a little flooded. it was more cause the people here just throw their garbage right on the street, so the water collects it and takes it away and then it just makes a big huge pile of garbage where the water should run out. they showed a shot of what seemed like a million plastic bottles just blocking the hole where the water goes. it`s kinda gross, it`s kind of a dirty country, garbage wise anyway, but what can ya do?

well, so i did get changed. i am now near this place called tocumen, and it`s like right by the airport, so like every 5 minutes big huge international planes go by, and it`s super loud. we`re close enough that you can like actually see and read what company the plane comes from and everything haha, it`s crazy. my companion is elder menchù from guatemala, from a place called totonicapan or something like that, i don`t know if that`s familiar to dad, i think it`s by quetzaltenango, the map you sent me forever ago has guatemala on the back and my comp showed me where. he`s actually a super chill guy. he`s super short, and actually really crazy, but we get along well. he`s still a little young, i think this is his 4th change or something, but he`s a work horse. this is his first area, and he already has like 20 baptisms, and in the last 3 months has had like 14 or something. this zone is actually one of the best baptizing zones. cool little story, i thought i was staying in my last area right? and it being a kind of dead area, or  not a lot of baptisms anyway, on mother`s day actually i fasted that i would be able to have success and have a baptism, and so who knows what the future has, but i think my fast has been answered. we set 4 fechas already, and i really think we could have a ton of baptisms. my very first day here we went to meet a few people, and we stopped by a member`s house, and after talking for a bit he said that when the year started he put a personal baptism goal. he said he wanted like 7 or 8 in the year, but already has like 11! so he`s just like super pumped and always wants to help us and talks to everyone about the church and gives us references and leaves with us and everything! he`s super cool! but even the rest of the branch is pretty suportive too. they`re always helping us out, and like i already feel good with the members. i`ve never been in an area like this, and it`s tough, cause we really have to work hard, but i`m excited. i was a little bit upset i had changes, cause i feel like i`m just getting bounced around and don`t have a purpose, but it turned out being a good change and i think we`ll do good. i`m pumped :)

we`ve been seeing a lot of less actives too, and just like reading the scriptures with them and stuff, and i really enjoy that too. i love just reading with people. it helps me learn the scriptures and learn new things, and so it`s nice. that`s kinda what we want to do this change. basically only work with members and less actives, and try not to contact a lot, just trying to reactivate the less actives to help the attendance at church and then getting references from them, and then being good friends with the members so they give us references. it seems like it`s worked lately here so we don`t want to change a lot.

well, i think that more or less sums it up. i`m super tired cause we`re working super hard, but it`s good. i like my comp, the area has no hills so i`m excited about that too haha, so things are going well. thanks for finding a few things out for me, and thanks for all you do. i hope you have an awesome week!

much love,

elder paskett

May 5, 2013

hey mom!

yeah i´m pretty sure they don´t do any cinco de mayo things down here, although there is like a plaza thing down here named that, but there´s no big parties that i know of haha. and yeah i´m feeling better now, i´m not sick anymore, but that one got me pretty good! i think i lost a lot of weight, well ok not a lost, but i felt really skinny after cause i basically just didn´t eat anything for 2 days but kept working, so after i felt pretty skinny haha. i´m a little surprised i haven´t lost any weight this change though, what with the hills and everything, but i´ve seemed to just maintain. oh well, i still have like 6 months so i don´t have to have a perfect body quite yet :) about talking, probably what i´ll do is just call on saturday night and we´ll for sure set up everything. to be completely honest i don´t know at what time. i don´t know what time it is where you´re at either, so i guess just more or less be prepared at like night. we generally eat dinner at like 7 or 8, so i don´t know if it´ll be before or after that, but i guess we´ll see :) i talked to some people yesterday about using their computers, so that shouldn´t be a problem, so yeah on like saturday we´ll make sure we´re all good :) that´s cool for mathew too! now there´ll be more people i can speak spanish with! right now it´s only like adri right? and michael almost has a year about now too huh? so that means those 2 are gonna miss each other for awhile! changes are coming up too, they´re the 15th, so just this week and it´s over, then only 4 changes left! but i´m not counting don´t worry! :)

well, to be honest this week was really really quiet. since we changed pday, you already know what happened up until tuesday. wednesday was a normal day, not a lot really happened. thursday something more or less exciting happened though. so they called us like tuesday and said that we had an appointment with the mexican embassy on thursday at 9 in the morning, so wednesday night we decided it would be better to just sleep in the house of the assistants cause it´s closer and then we wouldn´t have to get up at like 4 to be able to travel from where we are to get there on time. so we left our house at like 9 to go to the ap´s house and ended up getting there at about 11ish. they at least have ac in this one room, so for a night i got to sleep with ac so that was cool haha. but we got up, did a few things before this cita, then went to the embassy. there we waited and stuff while they had my comp and a few others fill out forms and get interviews and things like that, and finally we left at about 1ish. i guess they ended up giving my comp a leaving date of the 29th of may, cause this isn´t his mission, he´s supposed to be in mexico, but is just now getting his visa. so that´s exciting i guess, this has been a rough change, and honestly he just needs to go to his mission, but now i´m worried cause it wouldn´t make a lot of sense to take him out of this area for only 2 weeks and then ship him off to mexico, and so it makes more sense to just leave him here with me, but honestly that would be so hard. i need a change. i need someone who just wants to work super hard, cause as of right now we basically have nothing and the area is more or less dead, so we need to do some hard work to breathe some life into it, and so i need someone who actually wants to do that. i guess the attendance on sunday is a lot lower now than what it was like 5 or 6 months ago, and they´re trying to get enough people to consistently come so they can actually build a church, so i want to help with that too. we did have a baptism, but it seems like we need to help out with some less active people a lot too. i don´t know, it´s tough. there´s just so much to do and not enough time to do it! i like this area, the members are pretty cool, but it´s tough, they´re kinda "flojos" haha, they just don´t want to work a lot. oh well, hopefully this week we can actually find some positive people and have some success. not that it´s anything i´ve done, but my district is doing super well. i think they have like 12 baptismal dates between the 2 companionships. not that every person that has a fecha gets baptized, but they´re working and doing well, so that´s good at least :)

and yeah the baptism we had went pretty well. it´s tough though cause our little "chapel" or warehouse doesn´t have a baptismal font so we had to go to another church to do it, which means that none of our members showed up, only the second counselor. but it all went well. there was one other baptism from another area, and it was a pretty good service i thought. baptisms always just make all the work you did worth it, or all they things you put up with. he´s a cool kid and already has a good testimony and all his friends are members too, so he should stay active. but yeah like i said i kinda want to work a little more with the less actives right now just to try and help out the attendance.

but, i think that more or less sums it up. really not exciting, and we´ll just be talking in a week anyway so if there´s anything else i´ll just tell you there haha. good luck with the babies, i hope everything is good with them. and i hope this week goes well, and then we´ll talk to you soon!

much love,

elder paskett

April 30, 2013

hey mom!

yeah sorry we changed our pday to today! thanks for the recipes though! i`m gonna give them to the lady that gives us lunch on sunday and see if we can`t try to make em! i imagine we`ll be able to do the cinnamon rolls, but the bread down here just isn`t good. honestly i don`t think yeast exists down here, but they have some other sort of thing to help the bread rise. i don`t know if it`s the same thing, or if it`s different, but even the bread you would buy from the store just isn`t real bread. you`ll probably laugh at this, but now i understand why you guys always got after me for liking that cheap bread while you all always ate the granny bread haha, cause the bread down here is garbage! haha but even the cheap bread that i liked was better than this stuff! that`s super cool with the babies too! it`s good to know that everything has gone well! maybe it`s just me, but i`m not a big fan of just born babies, cause you can`t do anything with them! so i`ll give them 6 months and so by then they`ll be a little more mature :) and yes mother`s day is coming up, which means that yes we will be talking, and yes i will be using skype. probably this week i`ll start talking with the members and see who has a computer and stuff and who could let us use it. officially we`re not supposed to use member`s computers, but seeing as it`s sunday and using them would be free with a member, i`m gonna do it haha. plus this is officially my last call! the next time i see you and you see me will be in the airport! crazy huh?

i just saw elder clarke and we talked for a little (we changed our pday so we could go to the temple today, cause it`s closed on mondays, and elder clarke just happened to go to) it`s really a ton of fun to talk with him. we`re so set on being companions so it has to happen haha. if everything plays out right it will, cause i know i`m not going up this change, going up to zl i mean, and he says he`s gonna be with his comp for one more change, and then he`ll leave. i know i`m gonna stay here in san vicente cause my comp already has 2 1/2 changes here, and president knows all the problems that have gone on, and on thursday my comp has a meeting with the mexican embassy about his visa, cause his mission is actually there but he hasn`t gotten his visa yet, so my comp will leave this change, i`ll teach the area to the next elder, then i`ll go up with elder clarke! it may sound a little far fetched, but it could happen! haha i really hope it does though cause i really think we would work well together. i don`t really want to "sub" (prounounced "soob" haha cause "subir" is "to go up") but i do just want a comp that both wants to work and knows how. i feel like i`ve had a mission just full of people that don`t want to work. maybe it`s just me, maybe i`ve just failed the test too many times, i don`t know why, but now i just want to work and work and not worry about my comp. it`s hard even being dl and just having to deal with a few people, so i imagine that zl is gonna be even worse, and then like bishop a ton worse, but i`d rather worry about that. now i`ve gotten just the tiniest little glimpse of how dad must have felt with everything being bishop :)

this week was a little interesting. me and my comp had another little run in about obedience. nothing too exciting there. we did a lot of service this week, just like digging and moving dirt and stuff. the most exciting thing happened on thursday, well started thursday anyway. so we went to this lady`s house to chop a tree down, and so we did it and everything was fine. friday comes, and we do divisions with the zone leaders. so i come back to my area with one of the zl`s and we eat and go to visit our baptism. everything was fine, but then i started feeling really sick. i almost decided to go home, but we kept going on. we walked a bit to our next appointment, and we had to cut through some forest, but then i felt really sick and couldn`t hold it, so, i kinda had to crouch over a log and...yeah haha. then had to use some leaves to clean myself up and it was great haha. we tried going to the next cita, but she wasn`t there and i wasn`t feeling any better, so we decided to go back to the house. good thing too, cause about 5 minutes later i just barfed super bad. long story short, i ended up barfing like 5 times in a 3 hour interval, it was a lot of throw up! haha, plus with some diarrhea it was just great! saturday was bad cause we had to go do some baptisma interviews so i was walking all day but still felt like throwing up and had diarrhea but couldn`t do anything, sunday was bad too cause i just didn`t eat anything all weekend! i was super sick! we`re pretty sure it was the water they gave us at the service cause 3 others that went had the same thing. it was pretty bad. i`m like 99% right now, so i`m good, but it was an interesting weekend :)

and yeah about our investigator, everything is super good. he`s actually getting baptized tonight, so today will have been a good day, going to the temple for pday, and then a baptism at night :) he`s super ready and really wants to do it. president is excited too cause there hasn`t been a baptism here for like 5 months, so that`s good, we`re pretty pumped :)

and i think that about sums it up. it was a fairly quiet week with a few splashes of exciting here and there haha. things are good though. struggles as always, but i`m content. i`m happy that everything is always good at home. good luck with the babies. i hope you have a fun first week with them and everything goes well! have an awesome week!

much love,

elder paskett

April 22, 2013

hey mom!

wow that`s super awesome with the babies! congrats lyce and chip! she did send me all the goods so i´m pumped! that really is super cool! i´ve told a lot of people around here that she was pregnant with twins and stuff, and everyone says that it was cool. actually, there is a girl in the ward here that is EXACTLY like lyce, like her way of being, her mannerisms and things like that, even kinda looks the same if you squint your eyes and turn your head :) she`s super cool though so it`s good :) i actually laughed out loud when i read that the doctor put his whole arm in up to his elbow, that`s just a picture that`s funny to think about haha. but that is awesome that everything went well! not that it`s anything i`ve done, but i know the Lord takes care of His missionaries and His missionaries` families :) that`s good news with grandpa too, really it`s awesome knowing that everything is going so well with everyone!

i see elder smith every once in awhile. i didn`t really know him before the mission, like i knew who he was and i knew of him, but i don`t think i had ever talked to him. it`s fun though, with him and elder clarke being from the same city. it`s cool to chat about a few things. elder smith said not too long ago that another girl just got her call to panamà too, i don`t know her, maybe karissa does, i think her name is like something that starts with a d, then her last name falslev? something like that? i don`t know, but it`s gonna be cool having 4 kids from af again, cause like a year ago a sister named hermana fannin went home and she was from af, so we just basically own the mission! :) i don`t know if you ever talk to elder clarke`s mom, i know she`s part of like some missionaries mom website or something and has met up with a lot of the parents of the elders here, i don`t know if that`s something you`d be interested in, and maybe you already know, but just fyi :)

things are still interesting with my comp. he's just really different and i don't really know how to get along with him. honestly it's a little tough with all the younger missionaries coming in, cause honestly a lot of them are just not very mature, they come in and they're still kids. that's how i feel with my comp right now. he just doesn't know how to act in a lot of situations, and i'm trying to teach him and help him and stuff, but it doesn't seem to be working. the area is pretty big and hilly, and it's fine. i've walked so much in my mission by now that i don't really mind anymore haha. my comp has mentioned that, he really doesn't like the hills, and it's not like i enjoy them, but i don't really care anymore. i feel like i'm in pretty good shape, but i could still stand to lose a couple pounds haha. the weather is starting to get bad again. we've come back to the rainy season, so that means rain for the rest of my mission...:) i've been pretty lucky though i think, i haven't seen a lot of rain in my mission. i guess 6 months more of it won't be too bad haha.

things are a little slow right now too. we really only have one real solid investigator, although someone brought 2 relatives to church yesterday and they seem pretty positive. that's always the best. i love it when members just take their own iniciative and talk to people about the church. it seems like people are always so much more receptive when a member does something first. but the guy that we're really teaching right now is jorge. he's super cool. he's 19, lives alone with his dad, and really just loves the gospel. when we're teaching he just always says the right things and gives perfect answers and really just loves it all. he'll tell us about how his aunts and uncles or other people will tell him that they see like a difference in him now, and that he's just happier and has something about him that's different. obviously it's from accepting and living the gospel. it's so nice to have someone that just accepts everything you say and then does it. he's super pumped to get baptized, so i'm happy for that :)

that about sums it up though. it was a really quiet week. i was gonna ask you though for a few recipes. the lady that gives us lunch on sunday is always asking us what food we miss or things that we want her to cook, and i've been dying for some good cinnamon rolls haha. i'm sure it won't be the same, i mean no one can beat mom's cinnamon rolls :) but i want to see if she'll try. also muddy buddies, although i don't think chex exists around here, but i'm sure we can look. so maybe if you could share those recipes with me that would be great :) but i think that's about it. congrats again to lyce and chip, i wish them the best of luck :) and i hope everyone has an awesome week!

much love,

elder paskett