Monday, March 18, 2013

Todo Cul Tranquilito

Woppin Mo!
    
     That is an example of the Jamaican English that they speak here in Colon and in other parts of Panama, it means "What happened" just really poorly pronounced. And Mo is the short form of mopri, that is the weird form of primo that they call everyone here, pretty much they all mean buddy. Panamanians and especially people here in Colon uses a form of Spanglish, for example everyone here says, estoy full (i´m full) or estas ready? (are you ready) but then they say it really fast and cut off letters so it turns out to be ´ta redy which is sometimes hard to understand because they talk like that all the time with all the words, but it´s fun. 
     
     So as for the week, the week went really well. We were able to find alot of new and positive people and put fechas  with them, and we work with the branch alot too. The downer came on Sunday when no one came to church. Also these two weeks were kinda tough because my comp has been really sick and just got over it around Thursday so that slowed him down a little. He couldn´t really talk at all but he´s good now. 
     
      The D________s are still stuck on the decision to get baptized. We had a good talk with them about the differences between this church and the church where they used to go in the DR;  with A_____s, the mom, she´s all on board with the LDS Church about how things should be done. R___ her sister doesn't agreed and prefers her other church. G____s, the daughter of A_____s, likes the church but doesn´t want to get baptized unless her mom gets baptized. The differences that we talked about are how Mormons sing and worship Christ. They came from an evangelical church that dances and sings and R____ feels that that is how you should worship. We explained how we Mormons worship with reverence and peace so that the Spirit can be there too and that dancing and the other things is mostly adrenaline and the spirit of the world. But to keep it kind of  light, we explained that any way that one worships Christ is good as long as you are worshiping Him, but there is a good way, a better way and the best way. And we know that our way is the best way.  We plan on taking the whole family to the temple this Sunday and we´re trying to work it out so that the temple and mission president are there and that we can enter in the waiting room of the temple with them so that they they really feel the Spirit really strong, and they can get the spiritual confirmation that they are waiting for, because i have no doubt that if it happens like we want it to, with two spiritual giants there, and being inside the temple, there is no way they won´t feel the Spirit if they are looking for it. 
     
     We got this reference on this family called, the family B____e with 6 people. It was a cool story because when i got there i asked them how they got to know the church and how we got their number. The dad explained how there is this guy at his work who is Mormon and that he gave his co-worker his number to give to the missionaries, and that he wanted to get to know more about the church because before, this friend of his wasn´t a member and they had some marriage problems, same with R____B_____ and his wife. But R____ noticed that over time the friend starting to seem happier and that his marriage improved and everything was way better than ever. He asked what the difference was, and the friend said that he joined the LDS Church and that that has made all the difference in his life and marriage, and that he is happier now than he has ever been before. And now we are now teaching them and we put a fecha for 4 of them for the 30th of March. The other two weren´t home to get taught, and the dad was really sick on Sunday so he didn´t go to church. It was a real testimony builder of the power of a good example. This friend of his didn´t know that R_____ was watching but he was and because of this good LDS example, he made a difference without even opening his mouth. Now we have an appointment with the family and this friend and wife are going to come with us to the next appointment. 
     
     S_____, one of the ladies that we are getting married, is almost done with the process;  she did the medical stuff and now we´re just waiting on the results to turn them in to get the marriage date. The other lady, Y_____a, couldn´t go to the appointment so she has to wait 15 more days for another appointment and she started working again so that makes it really tough because her job is as a full time mom working in the S____ house. 
     
      The shy girl is so amazingly shy it´s not funny. When we go there to teach she doesn´t say a word. So we brought with us another young woman to help us out so that she would talk a little and guess what... she didn´t say a word to her either! But we were able to put a fecha using head nods so hopefully she gets baptized this Saturday or the next. The interview should be interesting, ha ha. 
     
      The P___ F____ family is still chilling because the mom N____ still hasn´t had her baby and she can´t leave the house, so we are just visiting them every once in a while to keep them going until it all works out.
     
      The K_____s who we put fechas with haven´t gone to church yet because they went some where else both Sundays and we haven´t been able to find them in their house at night so that fecha might be falling if we aren´t able to get in contact with them soon. We even bring our K___a buddy to help but they are never home. 
     
      Those are all the fechas and positive investigators i can think of right now. We have more people that we need to visit more to see how they progress but overall things are going well except that no one comes to church. We even have a bus that is free for investigators but they still don´t go, that´s the frustrating part,  but President Ward told me how the miracles come after the test of our faith, so i´m hoping this is the test of faith and that soon we see the fruits. 
     
     My knee is doing fine, sometimes after walking alot it hurts, or if we have to climb a mountain or something to get to a house it aches a little but overall it´s good. When i do my exercises it feels stronger and pretty sturdy. I use my brace when we play sports but it kinda feels like it doesn´t fit as well as it did, either my leg shrunk or grew, not sure. The only thing i kinda want is another Frisbee because my Frisbee broke again, but don´t worry about it, we don´t play that much - it´s not that important. Other than that i think i´m good. I wanna see a picture of Brittany and mike´s new car,  ha ha. 

     Things here are going great, i love Colon, it is my favorite area by far, lots of cool experiences, hard work, and a fun atmosphere here too. The testimony of this week is the power of a good example like i said above. I remember from my job in the Logo Shop and here in the mission i have seen countless times when a good example from a member of the Church has helped someone join or at least respect the Church more. People always seem to know that we are members of the Church or by our actions and examples they figure it out, because they notice a difference in the way we Mormons act,  and that difference comes from living the gospel and the blessings associated with that. We can´t talk and share the gospel with everyone we see, but we can be a good example to everyone, and everywhere we go, and i know that it makes a difference. I know that this is the true Church and that Jesus Christ lives and is the head of the Church leading it through His servants here on earth. I love you guys so much and I'm super grateful for all the support and love you give me. Take care and be safe! Love you!
Con Amor,
Elder Pfister

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