Week #44 in Panama!

Hey! I ran out of time, but this week was a full an eventful week so
I'll just share a few things that we did!
-There wasnt water on the island because there wasnt enough pressure
in the pipes to get it to the houses, so some men opened the pipe and
gave ten buckets of water to everyone, which was great, except they
made us go last because they think we have too much money as it is as
gringas hahaa it was really funny. So we just jumped in and helped
them fill everyone elses buckets until we were the last ones there and
THEN we got our water hahaa good times on the island. ULTIMAS! =)
-We took a member to a lesson with us and she clipped her toenails the
whole time. It was so funny. I love kunas.
-We found chocolate muffins and coke on the island again, yummy!
-We had a really cool family home evening with the branch president
and a ton of jovenes that was lots of fun.
-We had to sit for an hour by our water tank and fill it up with a
hose that had water coming out of it very slowly. Water problems. But
now we will have water for so long because the tank is full! woohoo!
-We had 70 people in church yesterday which is A LOT for this island,
and our two investigators with fechas both came. It was great.

That about sums up our week. It was a good one. I hope you all had an
awesome week last week and that this next one is even better! Love and
miss you all tons!

Hna Anderson

Week #43 in Panama!

Hey!

I hope you all have had an awesome week. Happy Fathers day to all of
the fathers!!! You are all such great dads and Im so grateful to have
you all in my life! I hope it was a great Fathers Day for all of you!

So my first week on Carti Tupile has been a pretty good one. It wasnt
easy saying goodbye to Ustupu and all of the people there that I have
come to love so much, but when we were leaving, I felt good about it
knowing that it was the Lords plan. The night before we left our
neighbors threw me a farewell type thing (in spanish its a despedida)
that was really fun. They all put on their kuna clothes and I put on
mine and we took pictures. Then we played games and ate patacones. It
was great. So Kunas like to wear pure gold. Its like the only jewerly
they wear. So the business that our neighbors have is that they have
all of this really expensive gold jewerly that they rent out to people
to take pictures in. So that night of my despedida they put this huge
pure gold necklace on me for pictures. It was super cool. Im going to
try and send you guys some pictures.

So when we got to Carti, Hna C. was here waiting for us. She was my
second comp in Panama remember? Shes been out here on Carti since she
left Colon in December after being my comp. She was P.'s comp here
last change. Shes going home this Friday so shes been on the island
with us still in a trio this past week. Since I knew her from before
and I obviously knew Patrick, we all had a lot of fun together. We
laughed a lot. She left to go to the city yesterday though so now we
are in a normal companionship again.

P. and I are going to kick butt together. Its hard because this
island is pretty stressful, but since we have a really solid
friendship to work off of, we are going to be able to handle it and
even have a lot of success, we know it! We are excited for what is to
come and anxious to start off our first full week of work here.

Thats about all thats been happening here! I hope you all have a great
week this coming week! Love and miss you all!

Hna Anderson

Week #42 in Panama!

Hi everyone!
So this has been quite the week for me. I had VERY unexpected changes.
They are also very bittersweet. I was actually changed out of my
island. Since we have VERY few hermanas in the mission right now, a
lot of hermana areas have been changed to elders or closed entirely,
and unfortunately, my island was one that got changed to elders this
past week. So that was very hard news for me to hear, especially
because I LOVE my island and I absolutely love the people there. So
the sweet part of the news was the my new comp would be Hna P.,
one of my comps from the MTC and one of my best friends in the
mission. That was good news. However, it also meant that I would be
getting changed to go work on her island with her. So Im still in San
Blas, but Im now going to be working on Carti Tupile, which if you all
remember, is the island where I had to wash my hair in the rain water
because they have no water. But Ive been reassured that there is now
running water on the island because the pipe system has been fixed. So
that was really good to hear. Its going to be a very big change from
Ustupu as far as the living circumstances and the people and the
branch, but I know that this is the Lords will and that Hna P.
and I are going to work hard to really make some much needed changes
on that island. I feel a lot better about it now than I did when I had
first heard changes. I know that it is going to be good. Hna P.
and I are actually on Ustupu right now still, because we are showing
the new elders around and teaching them the area. That hasnt been the
easiest thing for me to do, because Im very protective of this area
and the people here, but I really do trust these elders and I know
they are going to do a good job here. I didnt realize how much of my
heart I had given to these people until I was told that I had to leave
and not come back. Its really breaking my heart and is the hardest
thing Ive had to do on my mission up to this point, but I know that
they will be in good hands and that the Lord has other things for us
to do in Carti Tupile. I know that these people will all continue to
progress and grow in the gospel here, with the help of the elders. We
are now the only two hermanas left on San Blas because the two other
islands that had hermanas have now been switched to elders so thats
pretty cool that we are the last ones. Anyway, thats whats been
happening this past week! Its been pretty crazy but I know in my heart
that everything has its purpose and that all will be well! I love you
all so much and I hope you have a great week!!
Hna Anderson

Week #41 in Panama!

Hi!!

So much has happened within the past few days. We got to the city on Saturday. Its been kind off strange for me to be here after having been out there for almost three months. It messes with your head a little bit remembering what this life in the city is like hahaa. It'll be good for me to get back to the island I think, Im not ready to be in the city again yet, thats for sure. Anyway, we had our baptisms on Saturday night! It was perfect. D., D., and G. were all baptized and confirmed by President Carmack, and pretty much their entire extended family was there to see it. Hna M., a hermana from the ward there, and I all sung I Stand All Amazed in Kuna. It was pretty cool. D.'s husband also came in from the island to be there for the baptism. He is VERY Baptist, D. wants him to take the discussions so bad. So after the baptism he told us that he's actually already been baptized into the church, when he was little. He had forgotten. That happens a lot on the island. So that was crazy. We are going to look for the records, and double check, but if thats true than this just turned into a reactivation effort. We know that someday, possibly in as soon as one year, they will all enter into the temple and be sealed together. They are all so amazing!

Then yesterday we went to Arraijan to visit M.'s old area and have her say goodbye to everyone out there. It was cool, I really liked the members there and they fed us SO well. It was heavenly. I also really liked going to Spanish church again. We as the missionaries can't really receive a ton of spiritual nourishment from church in Kuna haha. Then last night we went back to C. in the city to stay with the hermanas there and also because M. will be saying goodbye to everyone here, too, since she also served here. We received permission from the APs to write at a members house, too, so Im writing right now from a gringos house and Im writing on a HUGE apple desktop. Its amazing. Such a change to our san blast computer. Im going to get to send pictures, so that'll be great! Expect a lot! 

Tomorrow we find out changes. I am SO nervous because your comp on Blas is so critical. They're literally all you have out there, so Im just hoping and praying that my new comp and I make a good fit! I know that if its difficult, though, its just because the Lord needs me to learn something from it! Changes are nerve-racking!! 

Thats about it for last week. It has been crazy! I love and miss you all and I hope you all have a great week!!

Hna Anderson