Week #66 in Panama!

Hi!

So guess what...I had changes!!

Im writing you from Ustupu, the first island I was on when I went to
San Blas. I was sent out here with Hna McGowan to teach her the island
before I go home and she gets a new comp in two weeks. Im super happy
to be here again because I was SO sad when they pulled us off so
unexpectedly and put the elders on. But now the hermanas are BACK, and
we are very happy about that. Hna McGowan is actually one of my really
good friends from the mish so I was really happy when they told me
that she would be the one coming out here with me.

Im going to miss Angel and Abigails wedding and baptisms on Wednesday,
but thats okay because the important thing is that they are going to
do it! Im so happy and so excited for them.

Well Im out of time, but know that Im healthy, happy, and excited for
this last past of my 18 months in Panama in my FAVORITE PLACE in the
entire country, USTUPU.

Love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Hna Anderson

Week #65 in Panama!

Soo Angel and Abigail put their wedding date at the Tribunal on Friday! They are going to get married on December 2nd and baptized that same day. We are so excited!! only just a over a week left and they will finally be members! We took them to the temple last night so they could see it in person before getting baptized. They loved it. We were the only ones out there last night so it was soo quiet. It was perfect! We taught them a lesson on the benches in front of the temple about the Priesthood which was also really great. Angeli, their little girl, loved it as well! It was so perfect for them to be able to go there.

Roberto is still MIA, which is sad. But we know that eventually he will come back, which just dont know when. But we will continue to pass by his house to see if he has returned yet. 

Its changes week this week again! I cant believe how fast that went. Its gotten faster and faster every change. We are really anxious to find out what is going to happen. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all on Thursday!! I hope its a great one for everyone and that you all eat A LOT of good Thanksgivingy food for me. I love you all!!!

Hna Anderson

Week #64 in Panama!

Hi!

So after 16 months of being in Panama, I finally went to see the Canal today! hahaa. I had seen it from afar many times, but had never actually been. Im glad we went. It was lots of fun. And before that we went to the temple which was great as usual. It has been a really good P-day. 

This past week was also a really good one. Roberto left to go take care of a farm far away, randomly, so that was bad news that we received yesterday since we had his baptism scheduled for this saturday. But we are praying that he comes back soon. Angel and Abigail got the medical exams done yesterday to keep going on their marriage process, so that was great! We will have a fecha for the wedding and baptism this friday. We are really excited, and so are they. 

Sorry for the short email, but Im about out of time. I hope you all have a great week this week! Love and miss you all tons!! 

Hna Anderson

Week #63 in Panama!

Hi all,

Well we are no longer in a trio =(. They found a mini missionary for Hna Garcia so she wont be finishing the change out with us like we thought. It was sooo much fun having her with us though! We laughed a lot. We were sad to see her good, but at the same time we knew it would be much better that way for our areas. She went with her mini on Saturday night. Hna McCormick and I did a very thorough weekly planning yesterday and have a very busy week ahead of us, but its going to be great. We are really excited to be able to focus 100% on our area. 

Roberto came to church yesterday and is still progressing. We had planned on him getting baptized this saturday, the 14th, but we decided to move it to next saturday because we still have quite a bit left to teach him and we dont want to rush it. We both feel a lot better about having it that day. We are excited for that day to come!

Next week we should be finishing the papers for Angel and Abigail to be able to get married so they can finally get baptized! We are praying that they will have time slots available for the ceremony before I have to go home! We have heard that in some other parts of the country they are having to set dates in January already, so we are really praying that that isnt the case here! Prayers for that please!

Today the whole mission was invited to Panama to see a movie called freetown and President Carmack put on for us. They set a goal for us to get 2400 new investigators in 4 weeks as a mission and we did is so we got to watch the movie. It was a really cool movie. You guys should watch it! It was a little too thrilling for us though, too much stimulation for people who havent seen movies in over a year hahaa. It was fun though. 

Well I hope you all have a great week this week!! Love you and miss you all!!

Hna Anderson

Week #62 in Panama!

Hi!!

I hope you all had a fantastic halloween! I cant wait to be in the states for it again next year. =) Although, we made the best of it here! Luis Remice was baptized on Halloween night, so that was a great way to spend the evening! His parents have really come back into full activity and just have a wonderful spirit about them. We are so grateful to have been a part of their reactivation and to also have been able to teach Luis and see him get baptized. The baptism was beautiful. We made banana bread for it! Everyone LOVED it. I told them all that it is my nanas recepie! =) Well I said abuela because nana is like nanny in spanish. It was fun. That morning while we made the banana bread, we also made pumpkin pancakes and today we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I love having a gringa comp who understands the need for pumpkin at this time of year! hahaa

Yesterday Angel and Abigail came to church together again. They loved it. Then we taught them last night and they said they want their 3 year old Angeli to serve a mission. They arent even baptized yet and they are already talking about her mission! They are the best.

We are still in a trio, but we are enjoying it. Lots of work, but so much fun. Vale la pena!!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!!

Week #61 in Panama!

Hi! I hope you all had a great week!

I am currently in my first trio since the MTC. Its Hna McCormick, me, and another hermana from our zone named Hna Garcia. Shes from Guatemala. Shes with us because her companion went home for health reasons and they havent been able to find her a mini missionary yet, and since the mission has 59 hermanas, theres no other trio in the mission. But we are having lots of fun and secretly hoping that she stays with us all change. =) It works out great too because I sleep in my hammock so we have the extra bed. Its a little bit more work because we are covering both our area and hers, so we do one day here, one day there and divisions with members when we can. Yesterday for church I stayed in our ward with a member and the two of them went to the Los Altos branch, which is Hna Garcias area. It worked out well except I have been battling a nasty cold and yesterday was a rough day with that. Im also not a fan of not being with my companion, especially at church haha. But it worked out because I was able to be there for our investigators that came to church and they were able to be there for hers, which is whats important. Roberto came to church, which made his 3rd assistencia. We are going to keep his fecha for the 14th of November, though, because he needs some more time with the lessons than we would normally take with investigators because he sometimes struggles remembering what we taught. But he will get there! Luisito will be getting baptized on Satuday! =D He is a little boy of a menos activo family who have reactivated and we have been teaching him so that he could be baptized and its finally happening! We are going to have a baptism on Halloween! Woohoo! Angel and Abigail didnt come to church yesterday, but Abigail called after church to let us know why, so that was good. They didnt just not go to not go at least! This is definitely going to be a BUSY change! Especially if we do end up staying in the trio. Im loving it.

Well I hope you all have a GREAT week! I love and miss you all tons!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN this saturday! I hope you all have so much fun. Halloween is THE BEST! Ill look forward to pics on Monday. =)

Hna Anderson

Week #60 in Panama!

Hi!!

So this past week has been incredible. My new comp is Hna McCormick. Shes from Washington DC. She has 14 months in the mish. She actually flew to Panama with us because she was in the MTC with us. But she was only there for two weeks since she knew some spanish before, which is why she has less time in the mish. Shes great though, so obedient and so excited about the work. We are going to be super successful together.

This past week we have really seen a ton of progress with Angel and Abigail. They are our golden family. There was an activity at the church on Saturday night for couples in the ward. It was like a dance. They both went and had a ton of fun and got to know so many members. It was soo great that they went. And then the both bailed on work on Sunday to be able to go to church and they LOVED it and all of the members were SO welcoming to them. Roberto also came to church along with Luis and his family. Luis is a 9 year old little boy of a menos activo family who is also our investigator. It was a great day at church for us. The members are sooo excited for the work recently and are helping us with visits and giving us references. Its amazing. We had 3 members go with us to Angel and Abigails house last night and we had a GREAT lesson. The next step with them is to get them married because they want to be baptized ASAP so the wedding will be next and then the baptism! =)

I am so incredibly happy and so excited to see everything that this change brings. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!

Hna Anderson