Week #13 in Panama!

Hello!! 

Okay so I have quite a bit to write about today. First of all, some members here are going to cook us Thanksgiving dinner for next week!! Im really excited about that because Im a little nervous for how Ill feel on the holidays. Itll really help to do something special for them. Im going to make a libbys pumpkin pie and bring it because they dont eat pumpkin anything here haha I bet theyll hate it, but thats okay more for me! Also funny thing, they have black friday here too. They actually call it black friday, in english and everything. I know our ZLs wanted to ask president if we could move our P day next week to friday so we could go to Panama and shop but I have a feeling theres not a very good chance thatll happen haha. Mom I hope you and Whit are planning on going and shopping!! Black friday is the greatest. 

So let me tell you a little about whats been happening in the work this week. We have been leaving a lot with Hna G., the recent convert who just got sealed to her family a few weeks ago and she has introduced us to sooo many of her friends and theyre so positive!! We have had some really awesome lessons this week. One of them was with A., who visited with the missionaries before but nothing ever came from it. We visited her twice this past week and yesterday she came to church with Hna G.!! So that was awesome. M. also came yesterday so his fecha is still good for December 6th! We just have to get him off coffee haha but we taught him the Word of Wisdom this past week, too, and he seemed really receptive to it. Hes receptive to everything, really, hes just so prepared. We are really excited about him and A. both. We are anxious to see what happens the next three weeks of this change! 

So Thursday and Friday we were having lots of trouble with the water and power in the city. Both kept going out. For a while, most of Friday, we were without power AND water. We were out working so we didnt know it until we went to a members house late in the afternoon and they told us. I knew something was different because EVERYONE was outside hanging out. I loved it. I told my comp how the power going out is the greatest because everyone is forced to spend time together because theres no tv or internet hahaa. Its so true. I told her the story, as best I could in Spanish, about the ice storm that took the power out for so long and how we hung out talking in the living room by candle light for most of the night. I have some awesome memories with the family when the power was out! So we had a noche de hogar that night and when we got there the power was still out, but I had ran home and got my flashlight so we were able to see with that. My comp had been asking me before what we were going to teach if there was no power and I remembered that I just read a story in a liahona about a little boy asking his parents if they could have FHE (family home evening) in the dark and they did and used a flashlight to teach a lesson on the light that the gospel brings into our lives. So we taught that same lesson and I think it went pretty well. It was fun. I dont mind when the power is out, but Im not a big fan of showering with bottled water when the water is out!

Ive learned a little about cutting and cooking with raw vegetables this past week. I always used canned at home, so I had to learn. I thought I knew how to cook a little until I came hear and tried to help them cook latino food and looked like I had never cooked a single thing in my life haha. But Im learning!

I made banana bread for a baptism the elders had on Saturday!! It turned out weird, I thought, but everyone loved it. I think only because its something different haha. It was fun to bake something again though. I miss that!!

Okay well thats about it for this week. Its been a full one! Im excited to see what this next week brings. I love and miss you all lots!!! Enjoy Nana and Papa for these next couple of weeks!!

Love, 

Hna Anderson

Week #12 in Panama!

Hola mis amores!!

Soooo the first thing Im going to share is something that I realized last monday but forgot to tell you all. So Last monday was my first p-day with my comp and when we were doing laundry she told me my soap isnt good for cleaning, it only makes my clothes smell good. So I got a little frustrated and was like nooo Ive been using this for ten weeks and my clothes have been clean. Come to find out, she was right. Id been using fabric softener to clean my clothes the entire time Id been in Panama. How embarrassing and how gross right? My clothes never smelled bad, so I think it still cleaned them but obviously not as well as actual laundry detergent haha. I couldnt read the label, it was in spanish. Ahhh my little confusing spanish life. =)

Ohhh I wanted to tell Corson that I downloaded that talk and put it on my mp3 and have listened to it many times this past week. Its SUPER good. I love it. Hes funny. Im learning a lot every time I listen to it.

So this week I squeezed lemons, a lot of lemons, to make real lemonade. It was lots of fun. Ill send pictures. I did it with the grandkids of our mama sanchez. People here always serve us real lemonade but this was the first time I helped make it. So many things Im learning to make for you guys when I get home!

So we are still working a lot with M. and M. They're so awesome and love learning about the gospel. They had to go to Bocas for a funeral this past weekend and we taught them a couple of hours before they had to leave and we left them the word of wisdom folleto to read before our next lesson and manuel was like Okay Im going to go put this in my bag right now so I can read it on the bus to bocas! Hes the greatest. We have really high hopes for them. Just gotta help them understand the sabbath and the importance of attending church, but theyll get there!

So my comp woke up super sick on Wednesday and we had to go to Colon to the emergency doctor place. She had an infection in her throat. Super rough. We stayed home wednesday thursday and friday, doctors orders. It was good because she got better, but needless to say I was a little antsy by day three. I was a much happier camper on Saturday when we got to go out and teach! Haha I learned that teaching is what brings me the most happiness and peace here.

I had my first interview with the president yesterday since my first day in Panama. Hes so great!! And I really enjoyed getting to know him a little better. We are so blessed to have such a fantastic president!

Okayy well thats about it for this week! Looking forward to the coming week! Love and miss you all lots!!

Hna Anderson

Week #11 in Panama!

Hello!!

I have a lot to tell this week! First of all, I have a new comp! Her name is Hna C., Shes from Ecuador and she speaks absolutely NO english. My mission just got a whole lot trickier haha. Shes super great though because shes so patient with me and my Spanish. I have to ask her to repeat herself a lot if she talks to quickly for me to catch what she said and shes so good about doing it. Shes super sweet, but shes also super direct. Shes more direct than me even haha. I like it though because shes all business so I think we are going to have a lot of success together. Its a little tougher now, but its soooo good for me because not only am I going to improve so much with my spanish, but I know shes going to teach me so much about patience and the work. Shes really smart. Its going to be a challenge, But I can already tell that its going to be well worth it. 

We can actually communicate pretty well. Better than I thought we would be able to. Im seeing the gift of tounges in action SO much with her. Especially in the lessons. Since Ive already been here for 10 weeks and shes new to the area, Ive had to take the lead quite a bit in the lessons and when we are talking to members because she doesnt know anyone very well yet and doesnt really know their situations yet. Its super interesting listening to myself try and explain things and situations with my very small spanish vocabulary. I sound a bit like I child Im sure, but Im learning. And the important thing is that I CAN do it! Spanish is super cool and Im so blessed to be learning it. I cant wait to learn more and to really master it, no matter how hard it is. Because I know that some day, I WILL know spanish. 

I was a tad trunky on Friday night because of Halloween because you guys know how much I love that holiday! Our dinner got cancelled that night so my comp and I decided to go to McDonalds to celebrate halloween! I hadnt eaten chocolate for over a month because its bad for my skin, but that night I needed a TREAT, so I got myself a hersheys kisses mcflurry =) it was delicious and so worth it! It was a pretty good halloween for the mission haha. I enjoyed it.

We cant seem to get our investigators to understand that they have to come to church to get baptized haha. We had four people accept fechas this week, but two of them already fell because they didnt come to church. So we are going to try and explain that again haha. Panamanians are so great. I love them and their quirky ways. One of the members in our ward who we went to the temple with last change to help her understand sealing and feel more comfortable in the temple told us this week and she wants to get sealed in January!! Im so happy about that and am really hope it happens. Thats such a big step for her. Her husband is ready, but she just wants to be sure so we are helping with that.

This work is so cool and the results are like nothing else. The mission isnt easy, but no one ever said it would be. Its teaching me so much and I wouldnt trade it for anything. I love you all and miss you all so much!!!!

Hna Anderson