Hey all!
Thanks so much for your letters of support an warm fuzzies :) Speaking of warm fuzzies, that's sweet that the Latvian (I think?) YSAs gave you a jar of warm fuzzies. You two are doing big things over there in cold eastern europe to heat up the culture. I think Latinos would die living there because everyone is so much more reserved and defensive and cold....
My new companion is Hermana Ruiz and is from Guatemala. I sort of wanted a North American and sort of not just because it'd be fun to have culture in common for once but it'd also be hard because she wouldn't speak any spanish. Monday night and Tuesday night while we waited for our companions my old companion from Volcan, Hermana Garcia, and another awesome hermana from Costa Rica (Hermana Matarita) stayed with me in my area. It was so good to be together again and even more fun because Hermana Garcia served in this area about 6 months ago so she got to see some of her converts and a few members.
Our companions got here Tuesday night and we got paired up Wednesday afternoon. I feel weird being in the Big Kids Club, and all the sudden I feel a hundred times more stressed out. I feel a lot more personally responsible for everything that's happening (or not happening) in our area, and I feel so inadequate sometimes. But the awesome part is that I don't have to do it alone--God knows more than I do, and I know that if I trust in Him things will be ok.Thanks for your kind words Dad, your letters always inspire me :)
This week we've found quite a few new people who are really positive and who don't have any big impediments (like having to get marrie first or stop smoking). wahoo!! We're teaching three couples who are learning and growing but who still need to get married and the boyfriends don't want to, even after they have 6 kids and 13 years together. I know, it doesn't make sense. But they're reading and praying together and it's awesome seeing how they're starting to show little acts of faith.
Ahh I feel stressed out because I don't know how much time I have left and I can't organize my thoughts well.
This week is Holy Week so lots of people have school and work off and leave to go on vacation. Since yesterday was Palm Sunday we saw a couple different processions in the street of people with their palm leaves walking and singing with a little kids in a toga riding on a donkey. It was pretty cool actually. My compañera told me that in Guatemala they make carpets of flowers and block off some of the roads during all of Holy week and I'm wondering if they do it here too.
Welp I think I'm out of time so I better go. Love you all!
Love, Hermana Dance
I'm studying Chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel about the Book of Mormon and I found this verse:
2 Nefi 33:10 it's so easy, if we really believe in Christ, we're going to believe in the Book of Mormon.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
I didn't proofread! Loves!
Hey all,
Misión Panamá has upgraded to letters to the president over the interwebs-wahoo! I type way faster than I can write so I can finish it faster and have un poquito mas tiempo para escribirles. :)
Oh yeah, our house was going to catch on fire because the whole hill behind our house was covered in flames when we finished eating lunch. The house filled with ashes and smoke and we freaked out a little bit getting our stuff to leave but said a prayer first and in a couple minutes the fire chilled out and moved further away. God loves us :)
We have a baptism on Saturday! His name is Miguel and he´s around 65 years old. His kids got baptized when they were little and I guess he didn't even know. Now they're all inactive and don't really want anything to do with the church but he is reading the Book of Mormon and Prinicipios del Evangelio for hours everyday. He's ready and hopes to be an example to his family so his kids come back and his granddaughters grow up in a different environment, with the gospel in their lives.
San Miguelito is sweet. It's a struggle sometimes because the area is so big that we waste an hour, sometimes an hour and a half going from one appointment to another because of traffic, waiting for different buses and chibas, and walking. But we've made it a goal this week to find a new family every day and so far we've met the goal. We have several new families with lots of potential.
Being in San Miguelito I've learned a new math equation: Quality of life and openness to the gospel are inversely related; where x is equal to the quality of life in terms of the amount of material posessions and y is equal to the softness of the heart or openness to the gospel, as x increases, y decreases, creating a line with a slope of -1/2.
*gloik!* (that's a nerd noise...)
But seriously, the more things we have, the more comfortable we are and the less need we feel to trust in God. We begin to "lean unto our own understanding" and "trust in the arm of flesh." (not sure about the references on that, one is in Isaiah I think...)
There's a reason why Mormon points out that every time the Nephite civilization fell, it began with rich clothes, material possessions, and pride. Cuidado!
Wow, Carson is going to Zimbabwe!! That's so nuts, and awesome! Maybe he'll get to play with baby lions!! Tengo celos....Send him my congrats.
Welp I'm out of time but I love you all and I'm grateful for all the letters, updates, and support. You're in my thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Hermana Dance
P.S. Dad, good to know I'm not a lost sheep anymore, haha. I didn't even know they'd lost my records.
Misión Panamá has upgraded to letters to the president over the interwebs-wahoo! I type way faster than I can write so I can finish it faster and have un poquito mas tiempo para escribirles. :)
Oh yeah, our house was going to catch on fire because the whole hill behind our house was covered in flames when we finished eating lunch. The house filled with ashes and smoke and we freaked out a little bit getting our stuff to leave but said a prayer first and in a couple minutes the fire chilled out and moved further away. God loves us :)
We have a baptism on Saturday! His name is Miguel and he´s around 65 years old. His kids got baptized when they were little and I guess he didn't even know. Now they're all inactive and don't really want anything to do with the church but he is reading the Book of Mormon and Prinicipios del Evangelio for hours everyday. He's ready and hopes to be an example to his family so his kids come back and his granddaughters grow up in a different environment, with the gospel in their lives.
San Miguelito is sweet. It's a struggle sometimes because the area is so big that we waste an hour, sometimes an hour and a half going from one appointment to another because of traffic, waiting for different buses and chibas, and walking. But we've made it a goal this week to find a new family every day and so far we've met the goal. We have several new families with lots of potential.
Being in San Miguelito I've learned a new math equation: Quality of life and openness to the gospel are inversely related; where x is equal to the quality of life in terms of the amount of material posessions and y is equal to the softness of the heart or openness to the gospel, as x increases, y decreases, creating a line with a slope of -1/2.
*gloik!* (that's a nerd noise...)
But seriously, the more things we have, the more comfortable we are and the less need we feel to trust in God. We begin to "lean unto our own understanding" and "trust in the arm of flesh." (not sure about the references on that, one is in Isaiah I think...)
There's a reason why Mormon points out that every time the Nephite civilization fell, it began with rich clothes, material possessions, and pride. Cuidado!
Wow, Carson is going to Zimbabwe!! That's so nuts, and awesome! Maybe he'll get to play with baby lions!! Tengo celos....Send him my congrats.
Welp I'm out of time but I love you all and I'm grateful for all the letters, updates, and support. You're in my thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Hermana Dance
P.S. Dad, good to know I'm not a lost sheep anymore, haha. I didn't even know they'd lost my records.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Hey family,
Sorry I don't have lots of time today, I've been trying to format something because my companion and I are going to sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on her last Sunday. Eek!
Life is good, busy, hot and sweaty (ewww) but filled with tender mercies and spiritual experiences.
Two quick thoughts I had during chuch yesterday. How can we be member missionaries? Almost always people say "our example." This is true, but I feel like too often it's used as a cop-out to not do anything. Yes, people see our example and notice we're different, but just seeing our example usually isn't going to help them to ACT. It's our example coupled with opening our mouths and sharing what we know. It doesn't mean we have to shove the gospel in their faces, but I'm sure if we pray about it we can find ways to speak up about the church and not just do missionary work by "example."
Ahh no time. Love you all, sorry I'll write more next week!
Love, Hermana Dance
Lucas 9: 33 the first sentence. This is what I think whenever I have a spiritual experience after I've had doubts about if I made the right choice to come on a mission.
Sorry I don't have lots of time today, I've been trying to format something because my companion and I are going to sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on her last Sunday. Eek!
Life is good, busy, hot and sweaty (ewww) but filled with tender mercies and spiritual experiences.
Two quick thoughts I had during chuch yesterday. How can we be member missionaries? Almost always people say "our example." This is true, but I feel like too often it's used as a cop-out to not do anything. Yes, people see our example and notice we're different, but just seeing our example usually isn't going to help them to ACT. It's our example coupled with opening our mouths and sharing what we know. It doesn't mean we have to shove the gospel in their faces, but I'm sure if we pray about it we can find ways to speak up about the church and not just do missionary work by "example."
Ahh no time. Love you all, sorry I'll write more next week!
Love, Hermana Dance
Lucas 9: 33 the first sentence. This is what I think whenever I have a spiritual experience after I've had doubts about if I made the right choice to come on a mission.
Monday, March 1, 2010
I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord
Que sopa familia?!
So the day after I wrote you last week I had Emergency Transfers!
Weeeeooooo Weeeeooooo Beep beep beep beeep *flashing lights and sirens* !!!!!
Haha so yup I got pulled out of my trio and dropped into San Miguelito, the richest and biggest area in the mission. I got changed because my new companion was training but her companion decided to go home... sad to hear but it happens...
I'm with Hermana Davila, an awesome missionary from Nicaragua who finishes her mission in this transfer so I have three weeks to learn an area the size of Eden Prairie. Eek!!
This area is pretty much Eden Prairie, Panama style. It's commercial and residential and filled with huge super nice houses. Actually, they're probably lower or middle class sized houses in the U.S. but here they are huuuuuge and incredibly nice. It's really weird going from Volcan to Tocumen to San Miguelito. Everything keeps getting bigger and nicer.
There are a couple "poor areas" in San Miguelito, but even these have houses way bigger and way nicer than anything I say in Volcan (besides the houses of foreigners). I feel more comfortable when we go to these areas because there are more trees and the people are more like the people I met in Volcan. I feel intimidated contacting rich house and doctors, lawyers, etc. Every area is so different!
Mom, your experience speaking on Sunday sounds awesome. I always pray that our family will be happy and well and have spiritual experiences to it's nice to hear my prayers are being answered :)
Oh yeah, and Wednesday we went to the temple! Here we only get to go to the temple when we baptize a family and since I was super far away from the city when we baptized familia Pinedo, Presidente Madrigal told me that once I got changed closer to the city I'd be able to go. We went super early Wednesday morning, in the 8:00 session. When we go there it was still dark outside and we had lots of extra time so we took pictures and walked around outside. It was amazing. Just stepping onto the grounds I felt a giant wave of peacefulness wash over me. We felt so happy inside and didn't want to leave the celestial room :) Being there really takes away every little stress and worry I have and just lets me feel peaceful and feel the spirit.
Later that day when I was thinking about how much I love the temple and I realized that God has begun to answer my prayers from nine months ago. My roommate, Sarah Motley was working at the temple and she always talked about how much she loves the temple every time she got home and I remember I started praying that I'd be able to love the temple like she does. And now nine months later I feel like I can say I love the temple the same way she said it.
Welp, I'm out of time again. I'm going to try to send you pictures now in the last 3 mintues so hopefully they go through. Love you all and thanks so much for your support and prayers and letters.
Love,
Hermana Dance
So the day after I wrote you last week I had Emergency Transfers!
Weeeeooooo Weeeeooooo Beep beep beep beeep *flashing lights and sirens* !!!!!
Haha so yup I got pulled out of my trio and dropped into San Miguelito, the richest and biggest area in the mission. I got changed because my new companion was training but her companion decided to go home... sad to hear but it happens...
I'm with Hermana Davila, an awesome missionary from Nicaragua who finishes her mission in this transfer so I have three weeks to learn an area the size of Eden Prairie. Eek!!
This area is pretty much Eden Prairie, Panama style. It's commercial and residential and filled with huge super nice houses. Actually, they're probably lower or middle class sized houses in the U.S. but here they are huuuuuge and incredibly nice. It's really weird going from Volcan to Tocumen to San Miguelito. Everything keeps getting bigger and nicer.
There are a couple "poor areas" in San Miguelito, but even these have houses way bigger and way nicer than anything I say in Volcan (besides the houses of foreigners). I feel more comfortable when we go to these areas because there are more trees and the people are more like the people I met in Volcan. I feel intimidated contacting rich house and doctors, lawyers, etc. Every area is so different!
Mom, your experience speaking on Sunday sounds awesome. I always pray that our family will be happy and well and have spiritual experiences to it's nice to hear my prayers are being answered :)
Oh yeah, and Wednesday we went to the temple! Here we only get to go to the temple when we baptize a family and since I was super far away from the city when we baptized familia Pinedo, Presidente Madrigal told me that once I got changed closer to the city I'd be able to go. We went super early Wednesday morning, in the 8:00 session. When we go there it was still dark outside and we had lots of extra time so we took pictures and walked around outside. It was amazing. Just stepping onto the grounds I felt a giant wave of peacefulness wash over me. We felt so happy inside and didn't want to leave the celestial room :) Being there really takes away every little stress and worry I have and just lets me feel peaceful and feel the spirit.
Later that day when I was thinking about how much I love the temple and I realized that God has begun to answer my prayers from nine months ago. My roommate, Sarah Motley was working at the temple and she always talked about how much she loves the temple every time she got home and I remember I started praying that I'd be able to love the temple like she does. And now nine months later I feel like I can say I love the temple the same way she said it.
Welp, I'm out of time again. I'm going to try to send you pictures now in the last 3 mintues so hopefully they go through. Love you all and thanks so much for your support and prayers and letters.
Love,
Hermana Dance
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