July 29, 2013

hey mom!

wow that just shocked me when you said school was in a couple of weeks! summer is like gone already! time is just going by so fast it´s crazy! it´ll be fun to kinda live with everyone again too. i guess lyce won´t be there, but we´ll almost be complete. i can´t imagine having my own room though, after 2 years of not sharing a room i think it´d be better if me and karissa shared :) i didn´t even realize it was the 24th until like 7 that night. then we were all sad cause we didn´t get to party or anything haha, but oh well. i´m at the point now where i can say "well i won´t have to miss that again" so next year :) and happy birthday dad! i´m sad i´m missing the big 5O, you guys have to have a big party! that only happens once your whole life! i still have one birthday out here too, but it´s all good haha.

well let´s see, one super cool thing happened this week. so i got a call from elder clarke the other day, and he had some super good news for me. so if you remember betty, the thing with her was that she was in my area in tocumen during the week, but lived in another area on the weekend but would go to church in elder clarke´s area on sunday, so it was super complicated haha, but she got baptized and he said she´s still super solid and just loves everything so that was awesome. but it gets better, almost always when we would teach her in tocumen her grandson would be there, he had like 13 years and would usually listen and she would always say these kinda things really interest him, but seeing as i left i lost communication and everything with him. but elder clarke called me and said that he was getting baptized this last weekend! and the parents were really receptive too and it just looked really good! so cool! it´s so awesome to see how just one contact one day can have so many effects. like i look back and that day was just not very fruitful i guess you could say, but we had one good contact, and it was just her moment and she loved it, and now her grandson is baptized and who knows if later the family will too. super cool.

while we were talking though, elder clarke and i, he asked me something that´s just kept me thinking ever since. we were talking about home and stuff and how i only have like 3 months left, and he asked me if i felt like i had learned everything i was supposed to, and it just kinda hit me. i don´t know if i have. and so now i´m really starting to question again if i should extend or not. i feel like i´ve grown up a lot, but is it everything i needed to? is there something more i need to learn? i don´t know, i´m thinking about it. i decided this week i want to try to make a list of things i was supposed to learn or need to learn, and see if i´ve learned them or if i can in 3 months or if need another change. i don´t know if i can still change it, but i think i need to think about it some more still.

as far as things here are going, it´s fine i guess. to be completely honest, i kinda want a new comp though. we have changes next week, and supposedly president carmack doesn´t want to leave people as zl or in the office for as long, and my comp has 3 changes, so who knows. but he´s just kinda a little dead, he goes home next change, and we´re just not working the way i would like to. i want to go out with a bang and really leave my mark on this ward, and i thought as a zl i would have a good comp who would want to do the same, but it hasn´t really been like that. i don´t know if i can really point out something really good we´ve done this change. elder clarke also has 3 changes as zl, and he said he told the assistants that he wants to die not as a zl, so i don´t know what´s gonna happen, but i´m hoping i get someone who wants to work next week.

so not really a lot of news, a bit of a slow week, and this is the last week of the change so we´ll see how it goes. i hope everyone is well at home, and i hope you all have a great week! thanks so much for all the prayers and support! you guys are the best!

much love,

elder paskett

July 22, 2013

hey mom!

wow sounds like you guys had an awesome week! i like hearing all the baby news. i`m not too sad i`m missing all the time while they`re little and can`t do anything haha, but i`m pumped to see them soon. after two years of not really being able to play with kids it`ll be fun to play with them again. and i am excited to talk with all the cousins. i still think it`s so cool how we all got sent different places. i would like to write them and see how they`re doing but time doesn`t really allow. i`ll probably try after though. i haven`t written karissa back yet but i enjoy the pictures she sends. and the ones lyce just sent too. i`m not sure which is which, but the picture that was on top with their eyes all crossed was really funny haha. i would send more pictures, but my card still has a virus. i can see all the pictures on the card, but when i try it on the computer it says there`s nothing. i`ve been trying to figure it out, but again, don`t have too much time, so you may just have to wait to see them all :)

this week overall was pretty quiet. we did divisions a few times, trying to get to know the zone and see if we can`t help out, and we had a good day on wednesday i think it was. i went to the other area, and so we went around getting to know their investigators. i don`t know why, but i almost prefer working in other people`s areas. i just love going in and trying to help their investigators and just trying to help in general. i mean i love working with my investigators too, but it`s just different. so i met this family, familia mendoza, and they were so cool. i guess the missionaries had contacted them like two weeks ago, and they invited them to this activity we had the coming friday, and they went. so i actually met them like 2 weeks ago, so it was cool to see them again. we had such a good lesson. it was hard though. we invited them to be baptized, and like i knew the Spirit was there, and it`s not like they were like fighting it, but they just couldn`t quite say yes. they kept saying how they would never ever let missionaries come to their door, but for some reason they let those 2 in, and i know it`s for something. they went to a baptism on saturday too, so i really hope they can get baptized some day too. 

we also started something kinda cool this week. some guy stopped us on the street awhile back and said that he was like a principal of a school around our house. he explained that every year the missionaries come to the school and teach the kids an lds hymn in english, and then they sing it in our church at this big event where the governor comes and all these important people and the mission president and i guess it`s a big deal. so we started that this week, and we`re teaching them battle hymn of the republic. it`s a lot of fun. it`s a bilingual school, and they actually speak a surprisingly amount of english. there were a few that could like full on talk to us, so they pick it up super fast. the performance is for the other month, and it should be a good chance to get people to know the church and share a few things and maybe get some investigators, so it`s cool :)

as far as the whole zl thing goes, it`s fine i guess, but i kinda wish i was just junior comp again haha. it would just be so nice to only focus on my investigators and not have to be watching for all the problems in the zone and running errands for them. i mentioned that to someone and they just reassured me that this will really prepare me for what comes after though. and it`s true, i know there`s a lot of things i have to learn, and it will help, but at the same time i just want to work with my investigators haha. it`s good though. my area is a little quiet, but we`re trying.  i was gonna ask you for a favor though, could you send me ostler`s address? i`ve been wanting to send isaac something small, but i can`t seem to find their address. other than that things are good. working, learning, trying to help everyone. this week should hopefully be a little more quiet, as far as like errand running and stuff. i`m glad everyone is well. not that i`m counting or anything, but not to long ago i broke 100 days left haha. but don`t worry, i`m not trunky or anything, but it`s getting close! :) hope everyone has an amazing week!

much love,

elder paskett

July 15, 2013

hey mom!

as far as a package goes, i really don`t need anything. don`t worry about the socks, really i`m so close to being done that it just doesn`t matter anymore haha. really all i wanted was just my card and the little magic trick, basically other than that i`m fine. that is a crazy story from trev though! super cool though too. i`m glad everything turned out well! i heard parker was going home soon too, it`s crazy to think that my group is starting to come back now. i think parker was one of the firsts. it`ll be fun to talk to him and see all the differences in our missions. i`m still holding on to the thought that me and elder clarke will be comps haha, i know i say that like every week, but it still could happen! :)

things are fine around here. i`m still not a hundred percent sure of what i`m supposed to do as zl, my comp isn`t really helping me very much, so i`m kinda just learning on the job. i`m just super worried that the zone won`t have any success and that will partly be my fault. not completely for sure, but i`m supposed to animate and make sure everyone is doing what they`re supposed to, so if the zone has no success, , it`s like i didn`t have any success and kinda failed. so it`s a bit of a carga, however you say that in english haha. i`m really forgetting english, there`s so many words that i just don`t know how to say anymore haha, it`s crazy. i get people telling me all the time that they think i`m from like argentina or some latin country, not too many say i`m from the states, cause not to brag but i speak fairly well haha. it`s taken me two years, but something that i never thought i would be able to do, God has now made it a strength for me, so it`s awesome. 

things are ok with my comp. he has a bit of a strong personality, and is kinda really set in his ways, so i`ve kinda taken a backseat cause i`m too afraid of making him mad. i`ve tried suggesting a few things but he never really likes it, or sometimes gets like offended or mad, so i don`t know. something i`ve had to learn the hard way on my mission is patience. i`ve seen that God has prepared me through my whole mission. it kinda seems like for me personally God has always been trying to build my patience. i was not patient at all before the mission. i`ve become a lot more passive, not to say i`m a pushover, but i`m not as bad as i was haha. 

i`m worried we won`t have any baptisms this month either, but i really want some. it`s interesting though cause i think the focus of the mission has kinda changed. we had zone conference this week with president, and to me it seemed that before the focus was purely on baptisms, just baptizing and that`s like it, but it seems like president carmack has really been pushing to just doing the best we can, putting our best effort, making sure the Lord is happy with me and what i do before just baptizing. he`s cited Mosiah 4:27 a lot, and i really think that i personally matter more to president carmack than i did to president ward. like i love president ward, he really was a good man and did a lot for this mission, but i always kinda felt like i didn`t matter much personally to him. i don`t know, maybe i`m wrong, but i`ve just felt a change. 

this was a fairly quiet week though. we had zone conference, and then just a lot of running errands for the zone and everything so it was a quiet week. this week should be normal though. we`re gonna be doing a lot of divisions with everyone so hopefully that`ll spark everyone. i`m hoping we can have a good week so we can have some success this  month. as always i`m happy that everyone is well at home. i`m excited to see how different the house will be when i get back haha. i hope as well that week is just great for you, and we`ll talk to you next week!

much love,

July 8, 2013

hey mom!

wow i don`t even know where to begin! haha sounds like quite the week! i guess that`s kinda cool with trev though, not gonna lie haha. so everything ended up fine it sounds like? just tell him he`s gotta save some of that for me when i get back, cause i wanna get lost in the wild too haha. i`m sorry the 4th wasn`t exactly the best, we had a fun little 4th of july party down here too...haha, i`ll tell you more later. 

well, let`s start with a good story from this week. so as you know i had told you a little about betty, a lady that i met in my last area. well on saturday she got baptized, and i got permision from president to go to the area to baptize her. it was so awesome. afterward she shared just the simplest, bonito in spanish, pretty i guess in english, but that just sounds weird haha, but it was great. she was crying and shaking and was just so happy she couldn`t even control it. it`s like how the Spirit was so strong it just like sucked the strength out of her body. it really made me realize how God prepares people`s hearts, cause she really was just so prepared from the beginning. it was just super cool and i`m so glad i was able to be a part of it :)

so yeah i`m back in chorrera. i was only here about 4 months ago, so it`s a little crazy, but it`s fun. today i went and had lunch with my old cook, and she is just an awesome lady so that was a lot of fun. i see people from my old ward all the time and it`s fun to talk with them. things are fine with elder harr. just like with every companion there are good things and things you kinda got to adjust to, but things are fine, no problems. to be honest things aren`t going quite as well as i thought it would as a zl, but i`m still learning so we`ll see how the next few weeks go.

and yeah i was able to meet president carmack this last week, and i really have no doubt that he`s supposed to be here right now. we had such a good meeting with him on wednesday, his spanish is like almost perfect, and he`s super smart and successful and i just really think the mission will see some great things with him. they did have a son just leave to the mtc, and a son that just got back from japan as well. they have a 12 year old daughter that will be with them here, she`s learning spanish and i think chinese too, so that`s cool haha. he`s just a good man, so it`s good.

so you kinda want stuff on how members help with the work, or their role kinda? more or less? well basically, i would say members are just everything. like it`s true, us as missionaries we can just go contact and knock doors all day, or go see less actives and stuff, but really if the members don`t get involved the work won`t really go anywhere. looking back on my baptisms, i`ve had baptisms from contacting and from references too, and i`ve made i don`t know how many contacts, and only a few have gotten baptized, but almost every reference i`ve gotten from a member gets baptized. when a member is there in a lesson, it just makes all the difference. it offers a support system, and if only the investigator goes to church at the beginning just cause they know someone, for me that`s ok. at least they`re in church and the have the chance to feel the Spirit and can later obtain a testimony. it`s frustrating when members don`t really want to help, mostly just cause it means we have to work extra hard for not as many results. if members can just become relaxed and open their mouths and share the blessings they have with other people, missionary work becomes a lot easier and has a lot more results and success. i hope that more or less kinda answers your question haha, good luck! :)

so things are good. doing our best to work hard and keep the zone animated and just doing everything, so i`m a little tired, but it`s good :) we actually have another meeting with president carmack on wednesday, but this time with the zone, so that should be good. i hope you also have a great week, thanks for everything you do :)

much love,

elder paskett

July 1, 2013

hey mom!

yeah it is super crazy that it`s already july! today we were talking about that and time is just going by super fast! as far as seasons changing, i think the dry season ends in like february or around there, so we`re officially in the wet season now. we`ve had a couple of good storms these last few days, but i haven`t seen too much rain this season. at least when i started my mission i thought i would see rain like every day all day, so it`s not too bad. thanks for going to the high school, but dang on my end i`ve been slacking. i`m just super busy and don`t really have a lot of time to think about it. i`m still on the essay part, but i haven`t really done anything yet. i don`t know. one of these days i`ll just need to sit down and do it i guess. but it sounds like it was a good week! lots of stuff going on! i`ve realized i`m so bad about writing when there are like birthdays and stuff, sorry! i always remember in the week, but then monday comes along and i`m here and i`m just trying to remember what happened in the week so i just forget about things like that, i`m sorry! i do remember though, even if i don`t write it :)

well, about the change. so, i ended up coming back to chorrera! weird huh? but i`m a zone leader now, so at least in a different area, but i`ve already seen a ton of people i know. it`s really pretty weird. i really didn`t know what to think when i saw my name up there with chorrera. like i was excited cause i really loved chorrera, but then a little disappointed cause i wasn`t with elder clarke...haha but it`s good. my comp is elder harr and he`s actually from cedar hills. it sounds like it`s a little more out there than jen, but he went to lone peak and everything so that`s cool i guess haha. he`s chill enough, we get along. it`s good to have a comp that both wants to work and knows how to. i was a little surprised with how the ward is though. i always thought that the zl`s area would be like the best and they would have a ton of investigators and a ton of people going to church and it just worked perfectly, but it was kinda the opposite. we don`t really have any investigators right now, a rather small amount of people came to church, and the members just don`t really support us at all. now who knows if it`s just cause of the elders that have been here or whatever the reason may be, but it`s not what i expected. my comp says he`s kinda frustrated cause they`ve tried everything they can think of to get the members involved but they just won`t, so he doesn`t have as strong of a desire to work with them. but i want to just try something different, i want to leave a mark here, i want people to look back and think "wow remember when elder paskett was here?" haha ya know? i really want to help. we`re gonna just need to do something different to get the members involved cause they`re the key, so we`ll see how this week goes i guess.

the zone seems good too. i don`t know everyone, but that i know of we don`t have any "poncheros" so everyone should work. they for some reason wanted to put a goal of 33 baptisms this month, which is kinda really high, but that`s what they wanted. so now us as zl`s we have to do everything to make sure we get that goal. i really think it`ll be possible, we`ll have to change things and not do the same things we`ve been doing, and we`ll have to work super hard, but it`d be awesome if we could do that.

so on wednesday president ward said bye to everyone, and it was a little sad. he really was a good man, and he did so much to help the mission. they arranged for the whole mission to come, even those way out in the boondocks like 12 hours away so it was cool. he left this morning, and president carmack came on saturday. we still haven`t seen him, but since i`m zl now i get to go to the meetings with him like the first week of every month, so on wednesday we have a meeting with him so i`ll meet him there. president ward of course only had good things to say about him. says he`s super loving, humble, and knows spanish even better than him, so i`m sure it`ll be good.

we also had a cool little experience on saturday, well i thought so anyway. so we went to see this less active family, that more or less is going to church, but hit and miss. and their daughter is 8 so they wanted to know a little about baptism. we went in and talked to them for a bit, we talked about temples and families, and then i decided to share a scripture in D&C 68:25-28, and it was just perfect. it`s a little bit of a strong scripture, but it was so good and the Spirit was so strong. i know it was just testifying to their hearts that it was true, and sure enough they both came to church the next day and it was just awesome. after the lesson they both shared how grateful they were for the visit and it really helped, and that for me is just the best, when someone says thanks for what we shared. we`ll go by later this week, but they`re a super cool family :)

and i think that more or less sums it up. i think it was a good change, and we should have some good success. i`m excited. a little nervous too cause i`m not exactly sure what i`m doing, so i hope i do good, but i`m sure it`ll be fine. i`m glad everyone is well at home, and i hope this week is just awesome!

much love,

elder paskett