My Adventure as a Missionary for our Savior (in Panama): August 2016

Well.. I think I can safely say that this is the beginning of the end. It doesnt feel like ive made it this far, but I have. Im going to finish strong. Im going to work as hard as I can. Im going to pass the finish line sprinting.

My companion is Elder Duron. He is a brand new missionary, I went to go pick him up from "greenie" orientation on tuesday. Hes 26 years old, finished his degree in computer engineering, and worked for 2 years before deciding to come on a mission. Hes a really great kid. He has a desire to work, and a desire to be obedient. This past week we have been "hechando fuego" or in english... Throwing fire? Burning it up? something like that. Basically, we are working really hard.

Lets go over the week...

Tuesday- I went to go pick up Elder Duron at 12 at presidents house. We are 8 or 9 trainers... All the trainers have like 4, or 5, or 6 months. When I walked in, everybody asked how much time I have. uhhh... 23 months. and all the sudden attention focused on me. Why does me leaving attract so much attention? for that reason I try to lie most of the time xD

We left after orientation to come home at like 7. So we didnt do anything that night... we went home and ate dinner, and unpacked a bit.

Wednesday- The fire ignites. We started working well, in the morning. We got stuck in a zone meeting at 3pm, but the zls got there at 4 (they called me and asked me to start their meeting for them xD here i am thinking i didnt have responsibilities like that anymore) and it ended super late. .... so... restart for thursday.

Thursday- yesterday was like when you first light a match, it hasnt quite lit all the way, and you have to let it catch better. Today is the day that it actually got well lit xD

a kid named leo came out to work with us in the afternoon, to show us a few things in the area, and helped us out a TON. great kid :) He showed us a few positive investigators that I didnt know about.

Friday- We didnt get to work a ton in our area, but we worked hard. We showed the hnas again the part of the area that used to be ours. at the end of the night, fulfilling revelation from Jeffrey R Holland (He always says that its the LAST house, the LAST contact, that is the golden family) and we visited our recent convert. her 2 children (22 and 28 years) were there and are BOTH super interested in getting baptized. theyve seen a real difference in their mother in the last few months since she met the missionaries. They both accepted baptismal dates for the 20th.

Saturday- Well... funny story... Our food list says "flia Castillo" so I called family Castillo in the phone... the live in another ward and we had to take a taxi. But... apparently that wasnt the family. They just recieved a phone call from missionaries and agreed to give us food xD so.. it was kind of awkward but it turned out ok :)

Sunday- Sundays are always great days. We fasted :) Sunday we were all over the plcace... the Lord blessed us a TON with rides from members :) we were headed home at 9 from dinner, and hoped that we could find a taxi in the back of a neighborhood thats really far out, and Hno Balsas was basically waiting for us in his truck XD what luck :) well... not luck.. it was a blessing :)

Monday- well... we have a good day ahead. We had a teenage girl call and ask us for a lbessing because she has some kind of test today that she probably didnt study for xD sadly, ex nihilo creation doesnt exist :) even for God. but we have a good day of Deep House Cleaning ahead of us, and a family home evening.

Im so so so thankful for the oportunities that my Father In HEaven has given me. I wouldnt trade the last 2 years for anything. Ive learned so much... but I still fault a lot :) a month is enough time to do a lot of work :) its a lot of time. Still a lot of room to grow.

I love yall! talk to you next week, and ill see you soon

alright sooo... first things first. Today we received changes :) MY last change in the mission :) IM GOING TO BE A FATHER. Im going to train a brand new missionary :) Idont know who or where hes from or even his name. I wont meet him until tomorrow. But the name of Elder Bradburn will live on! haha :)

alright.. well.. jumping into my last week with my current comp... Sorry i havent been writing the last few weeks. Im getting tired and writing emails takes a lot of energy xD

Monday- we spent the day painting our bishops hou8se :) It was super fun. they also let us use their washer and dryer to wash our clothes :) they are such a cool family.

that night we went to Luizs house, and we found out hes living with his girlfriend :/ so we will see how that goes. We are going to teach him again tonight and talk about the law of chastity.

Tuesday- me and Elder Miller did a combined District Meeting... it wasnt planned, but we had our meetings in the same building, and we happened to have the same message prepared for our districts. Afterwards, we went with Hna Olvera and Hna Velasquez so they could show us a part of our area that changed (the area boundaries recently changed)

wednesday- we kind of just explored and contacted the new part of our area :)

Thursday- My comps foot started to really bother him, so we couldnt really work. We just went out to a few important appointments, and to show aliaga and langi their new area.

Friday- because of foot pain, no work

saturday- All day service :) cool but lame :P We finished at 3 (we helped a member as a zone to cut their super super tall grass with machetes.) and after we had ward mission correlation. and made goodbye tacos for hna Olvera.

Sunday- Pte. Current came to speak in sacrament :) it was cool. In church they did a special missionary work activity in 3rd hour... Guess who was in charge?? THE MISSIOARIES. When did they tell us?? during the opening hymn for 3rd hour... ofi... and in front of our mission president xD dang members.... oh well :) Between the 4 of us we made it work :)

Monday- today... we hiked cerro Cabra as a zone :) it was super fun :) I love hiking :) I miss it a ton... going backpacking and stuff. soon ill be able to do it a ton again :)

anyways.. thats my week... next week i can report to you on my son :) yall have a great week! Love yall!