Todo Cul!!

Q´ Xopa Mo!

     Ofi, this week was a pretty good one. We had changes and now i feel weird because i don´t have a latino comp by my side, i´m with a gringo! I´ve had a latino comp for the last year so this is a big change. My comp is Andrew Collier from Riverton, Utah and he has 11 months in the mission. He is huge, 6´ 5¨ and 250ish lbs so now I have a giant to protect me in the mean streets haha. He´s cool and chill so it should be a good change. Perez, my old comp, is now comps with Elder Mayo who was my roommate in the MTC, and they are both crazy, so that should be interesting.  Elder Atuake my MTC comp, is now in San Blas Islands, so you probably won´t be hearing from him for 6 weeks and he won´t get any packages or letters just so ya know. But he was pumped to get sent out there, i´m still hoping to go but we´ll see.

  

    As far as investigators go, the D________s had a cool experience. So on Wednesday we took one of them (R____) to seminary and she enjoyed it,  but on the way back we were talking and i asked her when she was going to get baptized, and she said as soon as God confirms her prayers.  So I asked how she was going to get that confirmation and she said by praying and reading the Bible. So i told her that if she wanted a response about the Book of Mormon she has to read the Book of Mormon, and I left her with a bunch of homework to do. And while we were sitting and talking i was showing her my favorite scriptures, and my comp said that while we were reading she was on the verge of crying because she felt the power of the Book of Mormon. We went back there the next day and i didn´t even ask if she and her family had finished the assignment, because for most people it takes them a whole week to read one chapter in the BOM. But we were  talking about other things and she told me that they studied and i asked what had they studied, and it turns out that they sang hymns, prayed, read the upcoming lesson for the investigator class in gospel principles, and they looked up every scripture, and read the chapters i left for them in the Book of Mormon- and then finished with prayer again. And the best part is that they did it all by themselves without a member or a missionary helping them along. And even better, they said that they loved what they studied and they were super happy about everything. Sounds just like Family home evening, right? Just missing a game and refreshments haha and they aren´t even members.... yet. Anyway it was all great and we were going to put a fecha with them but then the husband found out that his brother had been murdered back in Brasil so that killed the mood with them, but we have an appointment to meet them this Tuesday.

   

    We are getting close to getting two more couples married and baptized, and we have appointments for the medical papers this week and then we just gotta turn it all in and wait for the date that the officials give us. I´m now a pro in marrying people here, the people in the court place even recognize me now haha. The fam p___ f___ are still going slow but the mom is going to hospital this week to give birth to her baby and then after a week or so of rest i think she´ll be coming to church with us again and she´ll be baptized i think. The branch has a little party planned for her for the baby birth and stuff so they are really supporting her. 

   

    Well it´s really weird to think about a new mission president coming here but President Ward and his wife are almost done and soon it´ll be a new gringo President. I wonder how well the incoming Pres kept up his Spanish. I remember that the apostle Christofferson had amazing Spanish, and that most the other gringo General Authorities that came also had really good Spanish. They must get a lot of practice traveling and visiting people.

   

    Well, my sunburn peeled off on my neck, it was really painful the first two days with my shirt collar rubbing it but now it´s good. I´m super tan right now because the sun is really strong here and we walk alot in the sun but it looks funny because i have a really bad tan line from my watch and my shirt sleeves. Some people say i look latin now except for my eyes haha. Sometimes i miss the cold so much i stick my head in the freezer and pretend I'm back at home,  hahaha. 

    So this last change was probably my favorite change of the mission but i hope to make this next one even better. The plan is the branch will have us work some in this upscale neighborhood to try to baptize a few families so that they can split the branch and have two branches, because the chapel is really far away from the poorer neighborhoods so that keeps lots of people from coming - so they want to make a branch that takes in the richer neighborhoods and then make a new one in the poorer area,  and I'm sure that the less-well off branch will soon be a ward because there are alot of people there. It´s an interesting plan but we´re going along with it. 

   

    The best part of this week was definitely the D______s and their experience with the power of the Book of Mormon. I´ve had lots of times when people just read a little bit of it, then they feel the power of the book, and they realize it is true, so it´s super book in reality, haha. 

    Take care everyone and it´s good to hear everything is good and everyone is doing well. Enjoy the snow for me and I´ll enjoy the heat for you guys! Take care and i love you!

Elder Pfister

Cambios, Cambios...

Que xopa,
     Well, this week was a normal week and kind of a slow one because it was the last full week before changes (cambios/transfers), we have changes tomorrow and my companion Elder Perez is leaving so I´ll be getting a new one tomorrow. We were able to baptize one person this week, but the D_____s weren´t ready yet they said, but they said that in March they´ll be ready they think.
    So the cool thing i wanted to tell you is about E___'s baptism last week, and what he told me afterwards. His baptism was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary in terms of talks or what we did. After we got done changing into our dry clothes, he starting talking to me and he said, ¨I feel super clean, it feels great to be baptized! When you dunked me i felt like I went up to heaven and while i was there, i saw another person standing there and it was God and He was smiling and super happy for what i had done, and then when you pulled me out of the water, i got pulled out of heaven and i fell back to earth but with a good feeling that i knew i did the right thing. Man, i feel this burning inside of me, it´s like a flame inside of me, it feels so good.¨  That´s what he said to me and it made me super happy to see and hear how much his baptism affected him and how special it was to him. What a great spiritual experience.  Sometimes as missionaries I feel that we lose the special feeling of a baptism because we baptize alot of people, and for us it´s another soul brought into the Kingdom of God, but for that individual, it´s one of the best days of their life, and the way he described it made me feel and remember how special it is.
     The rest of our investigators are slowly progressing, we had 5 investigators in the sacrament meeting yesterday, and we are marrying 3 couples to be able to baptize the wives. This week we didn´t really find more people because my comp was saying goodbye to many people, and finishing up his final wishes in our area.
     This p-day we went to this island and chilled on the beach all day, so i´m super burned, but it was way fun, but now i´m super drained so i´m going to keep it short this week but things are going good here, i´m excited and nervous for changes as normal. This change the last 9 weeks with Elder Perez has been one of the best in my mission. Take care and remember that I love you!
 Elder Pfister

Que Onda

Q´ Onda

    So this was a pretty good week for us. We had one baptism and we´re hoping for four this weekend. There aren´t alot of new things to tell you about because right now we´re trying to help our near fechas arrive at the finish line to be baptized so we have been working with them alot, and not so much looking for new people, but this week and next week we´re going to hit it hard looking for new people to teach. We are also working hard getting people married which is a pain but it´s worth it because once we get them married, we have some couples that will be baptized. This upcoming week should be interesting because it´s carnivales (Carnival) so i´m not even sure if they´ll let us work because Colon is a crazy area normally and who knows how it´ll be during carnivales when everyone is drunk and partying haha. 

    We baptized E___ on Saturday and it went great. The branch here is also gaining in strength and we think our work is helping.  When i got here the asistencia (attendance) was around 50 people every week and now we´re getting 70 to 80 people every week with lots of menos activos coming back to church - and with our investigators. One thing that helped is that the members have noticed that we are working so they have more confidence in us to give us references and they are more inspired to work and do their calling so everything is getting better here. 

    One interesting experience that we saw yesterday with the carnivales... These men dressed in devil outfits were dancing up and down the street with some people playing music for them and then this really large lady that was drunk started dancing with them and one of the devils pulled out a whip and whipped her and she went running away fast but then 5 minutes later she came back and they did it again. Apparently it´s a game they play during carnivales, the people dress like devils and dance in the street and people get in between them and dance too, but the catch is that when someone gets between the devils, they start to whip them with a real whip, it looks like it hurts too. It was super funny to be honest, that and the other crazy things they do during this time. I´m kinda nervous that while we´re working this week they are going soak us or whip us or something haha, should be interesting. I really wish i could get some video of the craziness, but i don´t usually carry my camera because it isn't safe to do so, haha. 

  

    We finally finished getting one couple married, well almost. This Friday is the wedding date and this Saturday is their baptism. It´s a Kuna couple that we are marrying and then the wife is going to get baptized,  as her husband is already a member. We are also helping 3 other couples to get married, but we´re just starting the marriage process for them, so hopefully we´ll be finishing in 2 weeks and then we´ll have 3 sure baptisms and maybe 2 more if things go well. Also this weekend we´re hoping that the D________s will get baptized but i´m not sure if it´ll happen... pray for them!  We are going to take them all to the temple to teach about eternal families, and we think that´ll be the key to baptizing them, but we have to do it this week because the temple is going to close for a few weeks after this week so we´re kinda rushed. 

     I haven´t gotten any packages yet, but Atuake is closer to Panama city than me so it´s easier for him to get them so no worries. I´ll let you know if he needs anything else and i was also thinking about just gifting my comps shoes to him. I´m going to send you some stuff before the end of this change, like some Christmas presents and my camera cards haha just so ya know, soon you´ll get some stuff in the mail. 

 

    I´m glad to hear that baby Porter is doing good and that he is pretty well behaved because there are alot of really misbehaving kids here who sometimes drive me crazy and i´m glad my sobrino isn´t like that, haha.

  

   Question... Have they announced who the new mission presidents are and do you know who will be Panama´s next president?

   Well that´s what´s going on here with me, remind me to describe how my baptism felt on Saturday i just remembered but i´m out of time....So i'll tell you next week.  Glad to hear everything´s going good for you guys, take care and enjoy life! Love you!

Love,
Elder Pfister

¡Que tengas un buen día!

Bueno!!

   Well this week was a good one for us! We had a baptism of this girl who´s family just recently got reactivated in the church, and we had 7 investigators in sacrament meeting two weeks in a row, which is not a normal thing here in Panama  - so we´re pumped about that! We are going to have two baptisms this Saturday, E___ and A____, two young men from the C_______ which is the community center place. They are both going to be baptized, and then the branch is going to the temple on the next Monday, so we´re hoping that they can get permission to go there after the baptism, so that they can have a super spiritual weekend with their baptisms, and then a trip to the temple. Also we´re teaching and hoping that N___, our most recent convert, can also make it to the temple with the branch. The temple will be a great experience for them if they can go because just being by in the temple you can feel the Spirit and have a peace within you that you can´t get anywhere else. I know because this p-day we went there, and that´s why i´m writing on Tuesday. The D_______s came to church also, and really enjoyed it so we´re hoping to be able to baptize them the16 of febrero if all goes well. 

    

Again, sorry, i don´t have much time because I downloaded some new music and spent most my time doing that... :)   ha ha but i´m trying to get the important things in here in the few minutes that I have left. 

 

The debit card works, you´ll notice that i spent some money, i bought new shoes for me and my comp but he´s going to pay me back. Hush puppies again and super comfy. I sent you the mission video of me and Elder Perez, so i hope you got it.   Elder Atuake is right  - my go home date is the 24th, but i don´t want to talk about that yet...

 

Mom, Hermana Ward said it´s important that you check to see if my scholarships are declined until January and not just august  because i think we just delayed them until august.

 

Question - where did you guys live in Brazil again? We´re teaching a braseleño.

 

That high school in Mexico City that´s going to be the new MTC is where my companion Elder Perez went to school, so he´s sad that they are closing it because he said that it helped him out alot to gain a testimony and stay in the church. 

 

Well as usual i´ll try to write more next week! Take care and i love you lots!

Love,

Elder Pfister

Fechas!

Buena Buena!

   Well, this was a good week for us! We only had one baptism but it was a good one and we´re going to have another one this Saturday. We baptized C_______ or Nino as we call him. It was cool because we went to his house this week to see if he wanted to get baptized this week, and before we even said anything he told us, "I decided i want to be baptized, i want to be baptized this Saturday." It was a great baptism because we did it with other missionaries and overall we baptized 9 people as a zone, including one elderly man who is missing a leg and is in a wheel chair; it was difficult to baptize him but he was crying because he was so happy. We plan on sending Nino to the temple with the ward this next Monday so he can do baptisms. 

    

    So we found a potential gold mine of baptisms, as we contacted this lady who works for this community home where they put children who´s parents don´t want them. She works there as a mom and she used to go to church along with her kids, and they all came to church with us this week, nine of them, and she said she wants to be baptized, and E_____ a 15 year old young man also wants to baptized soon. There are 2 others that are of age that i think will be baptized. E____ was super emotional about how much he wants to be baptized, and how much he wants to help other people. He´s a really cool guy. 

   

   The family P___F____,  including J___ ,N___ , Y___ and V____, are slowly progressing towards baptism. The problem is that she is pregnant and she is often not feeling well enough to attend Church on Sunday, but we did take her to the baptism and she said she liked it and she really wanted to see how the LDS do it. N___ is super ready to be baptized, she even said in a lesson that she would be baptized outside in the pool that very second she´s so ready, but she wants it to be a family thing and they aren't all ready.  We hope they´ll be baptized this month.

   

    The lady E___ R___, who accepted the fecha after reading some of the Book of Mormon, wasn´t home either time we went to visit her which was a downer, but we talked to her daughter and left her something to read before we meet again. We also put some other random fechas during the week with some other people we taught, so we´ll see how they progress. We have the goal to baptize 5 this month but to be honest we have like 15 people  that could be baptized in the next 6 weeks or so.  

  

    We have this family that we call the D______s, the dad is a member but less active. We have taught them and the daughter really wants to be baptized and the mom has shown a little interest, but the problem is that they are well off financially and they seem to not be in rush at all to do things because they already feel super blessed. 

   So Elder Christofferson (the apostle) came to talk to us as a mission. It was really special because just from the way he talks and the spirit he projects, one can tell he is an apostle of God and a special witness of the Savior.  He and others gave us a few talks on the mission work, and then Elder Christofferson answered questions that we had about the work here in Panama.  And yeah i got to shake his hand and talk a little with him and the others with him. 

   The mission video the Elder 'Atuake told you about is just a video the AP´s did about Elder Perez and I. I will forward it to you.   It´s embarrassing and not that cool that´s why i didn´t mention it,  haha.

   It´s great to see that the baby Porter is doing good. Wow Mike, what a video- and what a tradition, the drinking of the first urine hahaha very nice!   He looks super cute and chubby. Are you feeling good Britt? And is your stomach still big? Giving birth is weird. 

    Well as normal for this change i´m loving it and i´m doing great, so no worries! Take care and i love you!

Love,

Elder Pfister

Ofi Mo,

    Well, i don`t even know where to start because we`ve had a lot of things happen with our investigators.  So in the last two weeks we`ve found some really positive people and a few of them have accepted baptismal dates and we plan on putting quite a few more dates with people this week. The most positive is a family of 4, N___ is the mom, J___ the dad and two kids. We were contacting in this neighborhood and we decided to go to the end of the street to look at some houses that collapsed from all the flooding, and from there we decided to start contacting and we were going to contact the people in this one house, but the lady was dead asleep on the couch so we passed it by, but then my comp said "no we have to contact this house, i don`t care if she`s asleep." So we contacted them and they are super positive. We taught them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and then on next appointment we put a fecha (baptismal date) with them for the 26th of January. They have been able to come to some activities and they really enjoyed them. 

    

Also our first week together, Elder Perez and I found this other family and taught them and it was ok, they said we could come back and teach some more, but we got busy and couldn`t make it to the next appointment and we kinda forgot about them for a week, then while we were planning one day i remembered them, and we decided to go see how they were doing. We got there and they were busy, but we put another appointment together, and this time we showed up and we were able to teach them. We got there and there was a new person there who is super into religion and goes to bible study all the time, and after some initial discussion, when we started teaching about the restoration, she went completely quiet and just sat there listening intently. We finished teaching and asked if they would like a Book of Mormon to read, and everyone said they wanted their own personal one, even the 12 year old kid wanted one haha. It was cool because many times people just fight you on everything you say, but they accepted everything we said and they want us to come back to explain more. The family consists on the grandma E_____, the niece Q_____, the nephew, and the daughter M____. Plus they all have other family members that we hope to be able to teach.

    

So while on divisions with the ZL`s we contacted this one lady but she didn`t have time to listen, so we just left a pamphlet and said we would come back in a few days. I went back with my normal comp and we asked for the lady, but her daughter came out and said that she was busy cleaning and didn`t want us to help  her, so we asked the daughter if she knew who we were and we started teaching her. Turns out she is married and has a family of 4, but that she left her church because it didn`t seem like the type of church that would lead her to salvation, and she is super interested in the Book of Mormon,  We have another appointment with her this week and i think we`re going to challenge her to be baptized too. He name is V____, she`s cool and super positive.

    

Sadly one of our fechas, M_____, who came to church and everything, is now in the hospital because they have to operate on her because she has some messed up ____ and she needs surgery so we don`t know how long she`s going to be there, but we plan on visiting her with some members to see how she`s doing. 

    

We have one investigator, N___ is his name, who is definitely going to get baptized. We taught him once and he came to church once and then he went out and bought a white shirt and tie and is calling himself a Mormon already. He came to church again yesterday, and we asked him how our church compared to the others he had visited, and he said that our church was like a real church where you can receive eternal life. He really likes the church and is making some friends.

   

So Elder Perez and I randomly decided that we wanted to have a group night, so that all our investigators that couldn't come to church could come and meet members and have a good experience in the church. We planned the group night for this past Thursday. It went pretty well, none of the investigators we had in mind could come, but we had some other investigators there and quite a few members and it was fun. We mixed some messages in with some games to help them understand, and then we made cookies (made by me and delicious) and some Tang (made by my comp and nasty, haha) but it was a good time. 

Well, you wanted me to share more about my comp... He is super tight!  He works hard, is obedient and just a way chill cool guy. We get along super good and that`s super lucky because this change is a really long one because of the mission office modified changes during Christmas time. This change is 9 weeks long, the MTC all over again. I`m teaching him English even though he already knows some but it`s fun. I`m loving this change so much, we`re working hard and having a good time. Things are going really well, so now if i can baptize some of these positive investigators that`ll make it even better. 

By the way i got the camera card and my debit card so you can activate it, it is safely in my hands now, haha. Thanks for the pictures and letters, i`ll send back my camera card loaded with photos and cool videos, like my one year shirt burning and the tire-throwing Olympics on video where i almost hit Elder Brown, haha. 

  

New Years Eve was pretty cool here. It was on p-day so as a zone we went to the beach to hang out and we built a sand castle and made a doll thing like all the Panamanians do, and we put the doll in the sand castle and we blew it up with fireworks inside of it, it was sweet. Then that evening, Elder Perez and I went to the store and we pigged out on snacks, and we went to this high bridge to watch the fireworks at midnight. For New Years Day we went to the branch president's house for breakfast and after that it was a normal work day. 

So the random questions, to dry my wet laundry, here i hang my clothes up inside the house and put the fan on them, plus it`s so hot in our house they dry even without the fan. And i don`t have any health problems right now, all is good. 

That's all i got for you this week, i hope it made up for a super short letter last week. One thing i`m learning here is the power of sharing your testimony because with everyone we have been sharing our testimony, but not in a shy way, but in a way that they realize that we have the authority of the Savior, and we know without a doubt it is true, and lots of times that`s all that is needed to help someone, the nudge from a strong testimony. I love you guys and i miss you. Brit, i hope everything goes well and that the baby comes out fast, painless, and super healthy! I`m prayin for ya!

Love,

Elder Pfister

Sorry...very short letter

Hola family,

    Well i got cut short on time today because of the holiday here. In 1999 when the US owned the Panama Canal, the Americans didn`t allowed the Panamanians to put their flag up, so some people protested and ripped down the American flag and put up the Panama flag - and apparently the US soldiers shot and killed some, so it is a national holiday here, so everything is closing up early.

    Just writing to let ya know i`m doing great, we didn`t have any investigators in church on Sunday, but we have 5 baptismal dates planned, and we plan on putting 8 more dates with various people this week;  so the work is cruising along here, it`s great.

  Take care and i love you!

Elder Pfister