New Theocratic School Member

This is Avela (don't know if that really how you spell her name) she is a new publisher and she is new to the Theocratic Ministry School.  She has been a publisher for a couple of months now but this is her first talk on the school.  She was very excited about it because she wants to be a Witness.  She was able to do her talk with her teacher Kris.  Kris told me that as they got to the second scripture she realized that Avela didn't have any notes she thought that she had forgot them so Kris said she got super nervous for Avela but Avela continued on through the talk and did the whole talk perfectly.  After Kris asked Avela where were her notes and she said that she had memorized the whole talk so she didn't need the notes.  Avela is making rapid progress and has the goal of getting baptized soon.  The interesting thing is that it was her sister that started studying first not her now she has progressed more then her sister.  She broke up with her boyfriend of 4 years because he was tell her to not go to meeting and not to study and Avela wants to progress so she broke up with him.  She is doing great I am sure she will be getting baptized at one of the future assemblies.

House Guest

On Thursday we had the priveledge of having a 4 year old girl from hall named Naomi spend the day at our house while her mom was at the doctor.  She is a very active little girl that has a lot of personality.  All day long she followed Kris around helping her do different things around the house.  Here are some pictures of her day. 

Time to dance. The couch arm covers worked great for dancing.



  

Naomi showing off all of the jewlery she has on.

Opps she forgot so show off the bracelet.

Time to wash dish.  When you are that young it is actually fun to wash  dishes.

Pretending to be sleeping fighting the tiredness.

At last actually asleep.  All of that dog washing, cooking, dancing, dish washing and playing finally tired her out and we have meeting tonight so now hopefully she will be awake for meeting.

She was a great house guest.  She had prepared an answer for the meeting and knew up until the microphone got to her mouth then she forgot it.  She tried at least.  She wanted to come home with Kris and spend the night after meeting but her mom said no and so she started crying.  She really had a good time.

Over the River Through the Jungle we Go.

Yesterday was a interesting adventure in service.  I had the priveledge of going down a steep hill and then over a river and up a steep hill to get to 4 house that were in the territory today.  Since it is rainy season now the path was a little slick but not to bad because it had been drying out all morning long and yesterday was a really hot day so things dried fast.


Me getting ready to go down the hill and cross the river.



The river from the top of the hill.  The water was nice and cool and refreshing as we went through it.

This is my partner Annie.  She has a study over this river so she makes this trip often but she says sometimes she can't make it across when the water is really high from the rain.  She is a pioneer and a very hard work, she went to school to be a doctor but when it was time for her to get a job she decided that she would rather give herself to Jehovah fully and pioneer.  Her dad is a doctor and an elder in our hall and is a regular auxillary pioneer and her mom is pioneer.  There family is big help in the hall and they are all very hard workers.

After we finish this section of the territory we ended up going to another area that was down a long dirt road that normally the people have to walk out to and it takes about 30 or 40 mins to walk it.  We drove in my car and gave the few house that were there invitations to the convention it was really pretty there so here are a few pictures.

 

English District Convention

This past Friday through Sunday was the English District Convention here in Panama.  I was able to go all 3 days of it and I throughly enjoyed it.  It was nice to see some of the people that I met last year when I was here with my sister and brother-in-law.  Also here in Panama the culture is very friendly so it was nice getting to met new people some who came from the states and some that are from Panama.  The Assembly Hall where the Convention was at is outdoors so you are exposed to the element which meant that I was sweating almost the whole weekend.  On Sunday it cooler down for about 1 1/2 hours and rained a little bit and before that there was lots of lightening and thunder but it wasn't to loud so it wasn't  to distracting.  Here are a few pictures of the Convention and people I met and were able to reunite with. 

The Assembly Hall here is out side so here is view from the back of the Assembly Hall.



View from my seat. Mountains and trees and forest. Very pretty.

2 Really nice sister I met that are from Oregon that I found out I had talked to last year over the phone before they came to panama because they are friends with some one that knows my sister.  Funny how small the witness world is.

Me and a nice sister name Christina that I met that is from New Orleans here serving in David for 2 mths.

In the middle is a couple (Naomi and Chris Greer) from Seattle with a newly baptized brother that is in Changinola but was living in Wentachee for years and his little nephew on the other side.



3 were Baptized.  The brother that gave the talk is missionary originally from Spain he is now serving in one of the indigenous langauages and when I talked to him he said that he feels more fluent in indigenous language.



The brother being interviewed was in New Orleans helping with the disaster relief there for I think over a year and now works here on the building commitee.  There was resently some flooding here in the lower part if Panama so he helped organize that.

This is Br Marshall he partake and you can tell because he give some excellent talks that are very deep was glad that he gave like 3 or 4 talks.

This is the McDouwls.  They are a missionary couple orginanally from LA that have been here for 20 years.  He gave a excellent talk on sunday he is one of those brother that when he gives a talk you want to say Amen.  He had lots of great examples and little saying, one was that we should be like the oak tree that does move in the went but the palm tree that moves with the wind and doesn't break easily.  He even moved his body as he was saying it.  Great speaker wished he would have given more talks.

This is Amy I met her last year she a faithful older sister from Colon that thought me and Lesley were just so cute so I had to get a picture with her this year.  She says hi to you Lesley and that you need to come back.

The Sunday drama.  They are special pioneer couple that was in Almirante where me and Lesley and Dustin were last year but are now in Colon.  She was interviewed about over coming trials.  It was a great interview.  She talked about how she was in service and saw another sister get hit by a big 18 wheeler truck right in front of her and how she is over coming it and that at first she didn't want to pray or read the bible because she was so traumatized but little by little started praying again and was able to cope with her feelings of guilt for having asked the sister to come in service with her that day.  They are a awesome couple that truely relys on Jehovah and doing there most for him.

This Chris Greer him and his wife which a picture of them is below are serving on Isla Colon in Bocas English.  He is holding up there gilead application that they just got they are excited to fill it out.



This is Chris and Naomi Greer from Seattle great hard working pioneer couple.



The other view from my seat.  So pretty but so HHHOOOOTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of sweating and fanning.



Living in Panama

The name of the area that I am currently living in is called El Nance de San Carlos.  One of the things that I am having to adjust to is that we do not always have water.  In this area we have water every day from 4am to 9pm.  You would think of that is pretty good which it is but when are not use to it, it takes some getting use to.  I never realized that not being able to use the bathroom after 9pm would be hard but then i realized that I drink alot of water at night which can be problematic.  So now I have been trying to make sure to stop drinking water around 7pm  and try to make sure I go one last time at about 855pm.  I learned that cities clock must run fast because the last 2 nights when I went to the bathroom at 855pm the water was already cut off which is not a problem to flush the toliet because you have one flush but then you can't wash your hands so I had to come up with back up plan because not washing your hand after using the bathroom is just gross, above you will see my back up hand washing.  Also sometime there will be a day with no water so the couple I live with always has a bucket that is the shower for back up water to use the bathroom with and shower.
Since the couples house that I am living at right now has lots of chickens some times they get bold and decide to come inside which is rather annoying.  At least they are all nice chickens and they won't peck you but there is 2 of the blacks ones that are always coming in.  One day i took it out of the house over 10 times it was driving me crazy.  It is hot to close the door so it is just something you have to deal with.

Unwanted house guest.

Rainy Service

It is now raining season here in Panama which is nice because that means that it is cool outside but that also means that is more humid and going in service in the rain and mud.  Today was the first time that I have been out when it was raining.  One other morning it was raining in June but it was raining so hard that service was cancelled.  It wasn't to bad at first this morning it just reminded me of being in service in Seattle but warmer but then it started down pouring but that was ok because we had just about finished up service for the morning.  The territory that we worked in today is down a dirt road so coming back the road was bad but all 3 cars made it out just fine with alittle bit of fish tailing where the mud was really deep.

At last not using our umbrellas for the sun.

Muddy road.

Kingdom Hall

Here is the outside of our Kingdom Hall.

Here is the inside of our kingdom hall.  It can fit i think around over 100 but as of now we only have a little less then 40 publishers and 6 of them are new since I have been here.

This is our Elder body. We have as you can see 3 elders.  The one on the right is a regular auxillary pioneer and is a doctor for work so he is involved in the hospital liason commitee, the one in the middle is the one husband of the couple that I live with he is our newest elder I think he as been a elder a little over a year and he is a pioneer and went to MTS when he was younger and the brother on the left is the secertary and school overseer.

Back In Panama

I have been living in Panama for the last 5 months but I did not do a blog for those months but I have decided now to give it a go and see how it goes. I arrived back in San Carlos, Panama on Thursday August 11, 2011.  It is wonderful to be back but at the same time sad because I will miss seeing friends and family on a daily basis but I think that sacrifice is well worth it and I know that my family and friends understand.  Thank you everyone for being so supportive and not making this any harder on me then it already is.  I am currently staying with a couple in my congregations named Kris and Elvis until the little house that I will be moving in is done so here is a few photos of where I am currently living.


This is the house that I am leaving in until the house I will be moving to is finished.




This is jockey he is one of the couple that I live with dogs he is really nice, loving and funny.



This is the room that I am currently living in.

This is the other half of the room that I am in it is pretty big I like it and feel very comfortable here.

These are a few of the residents that live on the property. The chick is like 2 weeks old you know when it 6am because they are ready to be feed so they make alot of noise.



This is the back of the house.  It is a big mango that the couple loves to sit under when it is hot because it is much cooler out there then in the house.





This will be my one bedroom house in a couple of weeks.  It was originally a studio that had a bathroom outside but they decide to turn it into a one bedroom house so they have connected the bathroom to the studio.  The bedroom is huge.  I am very excited about it, when it is done I will post pictures of it.