The Nanny

We had some puppy's come visit one day before they went off to there permanent homes.  One was going to a sister in my hall and the other was going so someone else.  There are already 2 dogs where I live.  In the first picture is Marty and he was the babysitter of the new puppies.  He instantly started smelling them and licking them.  He really liked the puppies and instantly became a great dad for the day.  Marty sleeps in the front of my neighbors house on the porch so he when we were going to my place he decide that he didn't want the puppies to wonder off so he made them stay on the porch also.  When they tried to get down and explore he gently moved them by putting his mouth around there necks and showing them where they could stay.  By the end of the day he had them trained and they just stayed on the porch.  He was very sad when they left to go there home.  He would be a great dad.

Marty the nanny.

The puppies always curious checking everything out.





The little brown on in the front went to a sister in my hall she is super happy to have him and he now has a great life.  They named him Beko after some soccor player and he has his one little house outside and tons of toys.  Before that the people that had the puppies didn't take care of them so they had tons of fleas on them but now his well taken care of.  Like proverbs says God's people take care of there animals.



The frog that tried to sneak in!

One evening I was sitting in my room talking to my niece on Skype and I looked at the widow and this is what I saw.

Yup a frog.  He managed to stick his head in the window because I didn't have the window all the ways closed so I took a broom and encouraged him to take his head out of my house.  He listened and took his head out of my house but then he just hung out on the window.  He climbed to the top of the window and stayed there for like an hour then disappeared.  That is the first time that I saw a frog around my house and first time I saw one climbing a window.  In my opinion he was kind of cute so he didn't really bother me I just didn't want him to come inside and start hopping around.  I also have a toad that likes to sneak in under my front door and go in living room and look for bugs.  I am always chasing him out because I don't like the presents that he leaves behind for me. :(  I prefer the frog over the toad.  We will see if the frog comes back again.

Chicken Enchiladas Lunch

I had some people over to my hall over after meeting for lunch.  I had planned to have 11 people over but 16 people ended up coming.  I was nervous to have all of these people over but it went great.  I made chicken enchiladas and everyone liked them, lots of Panamanians seem to like Mexican foods.

This is Jockey our security guard.  Only those with a invite could come, serious business.



The Food, Chicken Enchiladas, Black Bean, Onion Rice, and Salad.  I had to rearrange the furniture in my house since there so many people so we put the table in the middle of the living room.



Kris, Kelly and Yaris.  Kelly and Yaris on the right came with me right after meeting to help getting everything ready, I was very thankful for there help.

Me, Luz, Kelly, Kris, Yaris.

Armando and Gilberto

Me giving out food and making sure everyone had drinks.

Elvis, Kris, Anne

Elvis and Benigno, the food critics.  They are both very good cooks so I was happy when they told me that they liked the enchiladas.

Marty came after we ate to see if anything good fell on the floor but he couldn't find anything so he took a nap until Elvis saw him and made him leave.

Xenia and Luz, content to have food.

Some added guess.  I forgot there names they were visiting Kris and Elvis and since I had enough food I told them they could come over to.  They have on other son but he wasn't feeling good so he was on the couch, they were very nice and add alot to a great spiritual conversation before we ate.

It was a lot of work to make the enchiladas but I was happy to do and show my appreciation to our elders, all 3 were there, and to just enjoy a good time together.  I made to much food so for the next week me and my neighbors Kris and Elvis countinued to eat chicken enchiladas which was fine by Elvis because he really liked them.  From what I have observed many people here have ovens but they only really use the stove top to cook so they don't really eat cassoroles or things like that so enchiladas was something different for them.  My goal is to try to have everyone from the hall over little by little so hopefully this will be the first of many more meals in my house.

My New Washing Machine

Since I moved into my new place I had to buy a washing machine so I opted for a cheap washer so my washing machine is only semi automatic so the first time I used it was experience.  It was funny because Kris the wife of the couple I rent from was helping me figure it out but they have a fully automatic washing machine so she didn't know how to us it either so we figured it out together.  You would think since I am living in a Spanish speaking country that they words on the washing machine and the directions on how to use it would be in Spanish but they are all in English.  I find to so weird because if was Panamanian and trying figure it out I don't know what I would have done.  Any who this is my new washer.  On one side you wash and rinse the cloths and on the other side it spins them to wring them out.  It actually works really well and once I wring them out they are surprisingly dry so here is the process to wash.

Washing Machine

Spinner side

Spinner side.  It is rather small on this side.  The other side can hold alot of clothes so I had to split my load up in to 2 parts when I was wring it out because the spinning side is so small.



Washing and rising compartment.



This chicken decide to watch me as I was washing.  It was rather annoyed with me because she was trying to lay an egg so she got annoyed with me being in there so I had to have Kris come take her out like 3 times while I was trying to wash.

Final Step hang out laundry to dry.

This process is rather time consuming but necessary.  It normally takes me almost a whole morning to get all of my clothes washed and out to dry.  It is funny when I am in washing I put off washing because I thought of it as a time consuming task and now it takes way longer and I am much better at staying on top of it, it has become part of my weekly routine.  If I wait more then a week the clothes seem to really pile up.  With it being so hot here you seem to change clothes more and go through things alot more.  Hope you find this little glimpse in to everyday life interesting.

Jehovah takes care of his Sheep

On Tuesday morning after we finish door to door service I was going to go with another sister on a couple of her studies but on the first study that we were on I got stung by a bee like insect.  The bug had been flying around me but I thought I had finally got it away from me only to realize that it had landed on my side under my arm.  When I put my arm down I crushed the bug and it stung me. :(  I instantly lifted up my arm and found the bug sticking out of my arm.  I pulled it out of my arm quickly.  The sister giving the study had a water bottle that she had froze so she gave me that to put on it and we continued the study.  I was going to try to continue in service but the bee sting was starting to swell so I decide that it would be best if I went home and iced it and took some benadryl.  It is better now but still swollen and bothers me some when I move my arm around a ton.  Under your arm is a very sensitive area and a annoying area because you can't sit regular if you don't want your under arm touching anything.  Today in service we were suppose to be going to one of our far out country territories so I decided that I was not going to go because I knew today would be alot of walking and that it would bother my arm and it is already hot at 7am so between the heat and the walking I thought it would be bad for my arm.  I was awakened this morning by the sister that lives next door telling me that Br/Dr Batista one of our elders that is a doctor was going to be stopping by in a few minutes to see how I was doing to I should get dressed.  So I hurried and changed.  About 5 minutes later he was here and wanted to see how my arm was to make sure that it wasn't getting infected or anything and he had written a prescription for me to get to help my arm get better and to help with the inflammation.  It is great to have a doctor/shepard in the hall that is always watching over us spiritually and physically.  When I moved here I got rid of my health insurance and now I have better quality service and for free.  I can truly say that Jehovah's way is always the best way ever time.   Jehovah truly takes care of his sheep.

My New Place and First House Guest

I am officially in my new house.  It is a one bedroom.  The bedroom is huge!  The couple I rent from us to have a small little studio apartment that they rent out that had a bathroom out side that you walked to but now they remodeled it and connected the bathroom and the front room and put in a kitchen.  Where the kitchen and family room are is what use to be the studio apartment and the bedroom is distance that separated the studio from the bathroom.  It turned out to be a nice place.  There are still a few things to be done like finish painting, putting title in the front room and put more title in the bathroom, put screens on the windows and they want to put in a drop ceiling but it is ready to be live in for now and as they get more money they will finish that stuff up.  It has a nice high ceiling which is great because it help keeps it cool but it is also a little noisier when it rains because I here the rain hitting the zinc roof but it doesn't bother me much.

My New couch and chairs.

My Refrigerator, dining room table, and washer which is not outside.

The Kitchen

Bedroom, and dresser. This is just one corner of my room.

Bathroom

My first house Guest.  Kris and Kelly came over one day after we had gone on some studies together and we made lunch together.

Kelly taking a break from cooking relaxin on my new couch.

Time for lunch.

Nail time.  Kris did Kelly's nails after lunch.

Once I finish getting everything organized and make it a little nicer i will put new pictures up to show how my place looks with all of stuff in it.  A sister in the hall is going to help me paint and get curtains which I think will make it look really homey.  It is strange for me to realize that I now have more things here in Panama then in Washington.

Fun at the Beach

It was nice this last Friday and Sunday evening I went to the Beach with some friends from the congregation the water was perfect on sunday it was bath tube water warm.  Hope you enjoy some pictures of our beach times.

We went to a beach called RioMar which means River and Ocean.  There is a river that meets up with the ocean and when the tide is low you can walk across to a pretty beach but on Friday the tide was high as you can see so we couldn't cross so we went to a different part of the beach.

This Kris with her mom and sister. Kris is in the middle.

So since we couldn't be in the area we wanted we came to a different part of the beach.

There was very little sandy area but on the rock there was a cool dug out part that you could sit in while the wave came up around you.

Kris Loves the beach and knows how to swim but she likes to us a life jacket sometimes.  She didn't get in the water this day so she was mainly watching so her mom started calling her Baywatch.

Kris and her baby Jockey.  Her dogs love the beach.

Sunday late afternoon we went to the beach again.  Since I love the beach I was happy to be going again.  We went back to the same beach RioMar but this time the tide was out so we could easily pass the river and get to the side that we wanted to be on.

Kris and Jockey enjoying the River.

This is Kelly a sister in my hall and her sister in law and her 3 sons.  The sister in law isn't a witness but she and the kids are studying.  Both of there husband work together so they are together alot.  The kids were so excited to be at the beach again.

Elvis and the youngest boy.  The little boy is a little scaried of the water but with Elvis's help he had a great time as you can see.  Elvis is great with kids and since the boys dad works alot I am sure they enjoyed being around another male.

Oh Yeah Oh Yeah the water was perfect we all really enjoyed it.

The boys wanted one last dip in the river as we were leaving.  The tide had come up some so Elvis had to help little Ronald get across.

A great time at the beach is always so relaxing.  I am truely spoiled by the warm water here in Panama.