Another week in Chorrera

Hey Fam,

I dunno if you got those pictures I tried to send to you last week, but if I need to do it again, let me know!

Things here in Chorrera are very different from Arraijan. The members still insist on feeding us mountains of food at each meal and I´m pretty sure they´re going to kill me. I made the mistake of offering some of my fries to my companion (in what I thought was a loving and thoughtless gesture) and her response was to glare at me and tell me that I need to eat all of the food the members gave us because this food was sacred. So every morning I am running laps in our small backyard to work off the sacred food. There´s a finely trodden path in the grass which I run while repeating, ¨I won´t get fat! I won´t get fat!``` It´s funny. I promise.

I don´t have much to report in the way of investigators because this area is mostly less actives or inactives, so we´re doing a lot of reactivating. But the people are good and I feel lucky to serve in this area.

Many of you have asked me if my companion has smiled yet and I am happy to say that yes, in fact, she seems to like me somewhat. It sort of depends on the day. One day she´s telling me that she´ll name her future daughter allison and she´s sharing her latina secrets for washing clothes and other things (which I´ve sworn not to divulge, sorry) and then the next day she´s thoroughly annoyed with me for not understanding something she said or for trying to be exactly obedient. In fact, if you ask hna. Chevez to describe her companion, she´ll say ¨Tall and obedient.¨ I´ll take it, I guess. Oh what an adventure every day is here...still collecting material for that novel I´m going to write :).

Most of all, though, I hope you all know that even though things might get rough and I still feel like I don´t know what´s going on half of the time, one thing never changes and that´s my testimony. I´m grateful to have that rock in my life. The church is true! Nothing will ever change that. what a comfort, eh?

Gotta go write my letter to the president now. It´s his last transfer! Pobrecito.

Love you all very much.

Al

Getting caught up with the Hermana

(All right, all right, I missed posting the past couple of weeks because I have the really good excuse of starting a new job. So sorry this is so delayed!)

We got to talk to the little missionary on Mothers Day which was wonderful. She wasn't able to call until late in the evening as she was at a member's home having dinner (oh the joys of eating). She sounded very good but was struggling just a little bit with her new companion from Nicaragua.

Allison is a "follow the letter of the law" type of gal; if the rule is laid out for her, she will not deviate from it (which is why she is such a great missionary). However, her companion is more of a "some rules are more like suggestions" type of person. Al is learning how to cope with that adjustment. :)

Her new companion is also a bit on the somber side and Allison has been working to get her to crack a smile. In fact, she shared with us a funny little story over the phone how her companion said to her one day, "Hermana Brewster, there are two types of people in this world." Before she could continue, Al quipped, "Those who like Neal Diamond and those who don't?" Needless to say, her comp didn't really get it. But we sure did! We all laughed out loud because it appears she has not lost her sense of humor. Whew!

She sent us a few pics from her last days in the MTC...which seems so long ago now. Also, her release date is scheduled for June 28--which means she's only a little over a year away from coming home. Whoa...

New area, new companion...same me :)

Hola mi querida familia,

I´m writing to you all from my new area as of today, Chorrera. I got the call last night that I was being transferred (actually came as a bit of a surprise) and now I have a companion from Nicaragua, Hna. Chevez. She´s...she´s going to teach me a lot :). My goal for the end of this day is to get her to crack a smile. She was actually Hna. Kennedy´s trainer (my friend from the mtc). I hear she´s a great teacher, so I´m sure I´ll learn a lot. And my Spanish should be pretty much pro at the end of these 6 weeks, so hey, lots to look forward too!

Oh man, this past week, my last week in Arraijan, was pretty neat. Since we completed our goal as a zone for April, we got to go to the temple! Ahh!!! That was one of the most beautiful, awesome experiences of the mission so far. I know I keep teasing you with promises of these pictures I´ve supposedly taken, but I promise you will all eventually get to see for yourselves how pretty this place is. I´ve decided I love the temple more than I even realized. There was a senior couple from Utah serving in there and the sister was so sweet. She´s like 70 years old and she was doing her best to speak Spanish with her cute little old woman smile...I found it pretty inspiring. It makes me want to work all the harder at mastering this language.

If I had more time I´d tell you all about our Jehovah´s Witness friend who gave my companion her hat, our many Evangelical encounters, the service project at Heriberto´s house (the Panamanian Morgan Freeman--pretty sure I´ve mentioned him before) and the awesome last Sunday we had--8 INVESTIGATORS showed up! It was pretty phenomenal. And of course I get moved out of the area...ah well. Such is the life. The souls in Chorrera are just as precious, right?

So I´m still a little shell-shocked trying to adjust to the new area, the new comp and pretty much everything else, but I promise you my spirits are high and I´m looking forward to seeing what the Lord´s got in store for me for the next 6 weeks. But keep the prayers comin´...just in case :).

Happy Birthday to Katie yesterday, Happy blessing of little Taylor Lynne Demcak and Happy Kristina´s wedding this week! Keep sending those photos and I promise one day I will return the favor. (I am a missionary and I cannot lie.)

love you all and looking forward to chatting with you on Mom´s Day!

love,

Al