If we ever meet again, it will be Zion to meeeee....(legacy)

I ate cow foot this weekend.
I had to tell you all first thing because this was quite a traumatic experience for me and it´s best that I get it off my chest right from the get go. A lady in our ward has been wanting to have us over for ¨pata de vaca¨ for quite some time and seeing as this is our last weekend of this transfer, we decided we couldn´t refuse the offer any longer. I believe I mentioned something about mondongo in my last letter (stomach of a cow) and how horrible that was. Yeah, it´s got nothin´on the cow´s foot. Let me just say that right now. I told my companion that I need a diagram of a cow so that I can point out what I consider acceptable to ingest.
I know I spend a lot of time talking about food in my letters but that´s the culture here: food. Who has it, what are they cooking and how much of it have you eaten? That is the regular topic of conversation. And occasionally we get around to the Gospel :) (that was a joke).
I hope you all enjoyed your Pioneer Day weekend. I got to speak in church again yesterday on the subject of (you guessed it) missionary work, but I related it to the pioneers and the duty we have to leave behind a legacy worthy of emulation for our posterity (i didn´t use those words exactly. the spanish vocab´s still a little limited.). We have a serious problem with inactivity in my area so I challenged the members to be courageous and bear testimony of the things they know to be true, even if they ¨don´t have time¨ to do anything else. I hope someone listened. That´s always my hope.
Well, we´re going to find out tonight if I stay here in David or if once again I´ll be shipped to some different area, but my comp´s been here for 6 months, so I think we know the outcome. But I´ve said that before. We´ll see! A donde me mandes, iré, Señor.
There´s a whole lot of work to do here, so I´m hoping and praying I get to stay and keep going with it. I love this place and I´m grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to serve here.
Glad to hear the surgery went well, Ben! Anyone else have news?
Well I´m off! I´ll write more in August :) (WHOA.)
love you all,
Hna. Brewster

(someday she will send us pics of her actually IN Panama...)

Sopresas!

Hola Familia Mía,
I´m going to try something new here and write to you all BEFORE I read your emails, thus ensuring that all of the interesting/fascinating details I have to compart will be shared :). We´ll see how this goes.
I can´t believe it but we are already in our last week of this transfer. I´m not even going to try to guess at what´s going to happen next transfer as far as where I´ll be and who my companion will be because so far I´ve been thrown some pretty crazy curveballs. That´s one thing I´m learning from the mission--expect the unexpected. For example, we´ve been struggling to get members and converts to church this transfer (let alone investigators) but yesterday we had a rather pleasant surprise. Our assistance climbed dramatically, most of our recent converts showed up AND we had FOUR investigators show up on their own for the full three hour block, including the familia Jimenez (the Australian man with his Mexican wife--remember them?) and the husband of one of our recent converts. Every Sunday the missionaries are supposed to get up at 5 a.m. for what´s called ëscuadrones¨, which is where we go around and pick up investigators or other less active members for church with the help of people in our ward. (We haven´t seen much success with this but we´re hoping it catches on.) Yesterday morning we called one of our converts, Luis, to see if he still wanted us to pick him up for church. We were pretty bummed when he told us he was sick and couldn´t make it. Apparently our invitation to church works like a curse for people because something always happens to them--they get sick, something in their house breaks or there´s some sort of other emergency. Anywho...we ended up making the long walk to church by ourselves like always. After a disappointing morning, you can imagine how happy we were to find 4 investigators in the chapel! Ít´s little things like that that make your day here. That´s what I´m learning more than anything, really. I may not see grand changes within 6 weeks but little by little people are changing their lives for the better. We may even see some baptisms in the next transfer. I just hope I get to stay here! Seriously, I love the people here. (In my next email, remind me to tell you about la familia Leon-Carrera and Hermana Manuela. They´re some special investigators of ours.)
As for me, I promise you I´m a long way off from perfection but I´m learning to have patience with myself--and even have some fun in the process :). (Last p'day we played soccer in the rain for about 2 hours and got SOAKED. It was awesome. Enjoyed every minute of it.) My health´s been pretty good with the minor exception of what seems to be a small case of food poisoning this past weekend. I´m pretty sure the culprit was something called ¨mondongo¨which, I have recently learned, is the stomach of a cow. Eating that is something akin to eating a cooked rubber ducky...with fur. It is every bit as disgusting as it sounds. But when the members sit down in front of you and watch you eat every bite, what can you do? Luckily that bit of fun only lasted for a day...back to normal now! I actually missed plain old rice and chicken after that.
So that´s my report for now. Next week I should have even better things to say.
love you all and keep prayin!
love,
Hna. Brewster

Is anybody theeerrrre? Does anybody caaaaaaarrre?

Hi Family!
Couldn´t resist using a line from 1776 as my subject for this email seeing as it´s the season and all. Also, I hope it serves as a hint to those of you who may be slightly behind in your correspondence...not gonna mention names..you know who you are ,).
Speaking of correspondence, this week I got a flood of mail from fam and friends that dates back to MARCH. WHOA. That explains why I haven´t heard from a few people, I guess. I loved getting the ward newsletter especially. Good to hear what´s going on with everyone back in good ol´ NC 6th. Mom and Dad, please thank Lene for that one! Just to be clear, here´s the address that people should use when they send me letters:

Hermana Allison Brewster
Mision Panama
Carrasquilla, Entrega General A.P. 0834
Panama, Republica de Panama

That should clear up some of the confusion and ensure that I still have friends when I get home :).
So this was a pretty significant week. I had my last interview with President Madrigal before he returns home to Mexico with his wife this week. Even though he was only my president for 3 months, I learned so much from him and he said some really nice things during our interview. He´s a really good man. President and Sister Ward will arrive this week and I´ll meet them for the first time next week at our Zone Conference. It´s going to be weird having
an American President! I´m sure he´ll be great, though, and I´m looking forward to meeting him and his wife.
Last Tuesday was my comp´s birthday and we celebrated by having both lunch and dinner with a few ward members. My contribution was a cake, a birthday card and a Snickers bar (because she´s obsessed with them). It was lots of fun! I´m actually hoping I get to be here for a few more transfers so I´ll get to spend my bday here with these ward members. They really are special. But if this pattern of transfers continues, I´ll have been in 3 different places by that time. Ahhh! I wish I could just get used to one thing.
We´ve officially hit ¨winter time¨¨ in Panama, which means that it´s scorching hot in the morning and from noon onward we´re hit with a veritable flood. Right now it´s coming down pretty hard. I´m thinking the tiny umbrella I purchased won´t be sufficient because last night I was literally wringing out water from my skirt. Crazy weather!
I had a pretty interesting experience this week. there´s a family we´re teaching named la Familia Jimenez-Garcia. The wife is from Mexico and the husband is from Australia and they have a litle 4 year old who´s fluent in both Spanish and English. The parents speak Spanish and English too, but John, the Dad, mostly speaks English. I met them for the first time a few nights ago and I absolutely loved John´s Aussie Spanish :). Unfortunately I can´t imitate it here, but I will one day. Anywho, we dropped by their house to talk to them and possibly see about setting a baptismal date because theyve been investigating the church for a while. John´s read the Book of Mormon several times and I was really impressed with his knowledge of historical facts that back up what happened in the Book of Mormon. He and his wife insisted on taking us to dinner and we spent much of the time talking about his experiences with missionaries, the Book of Mormon and the church--mostly in English. The funny thing was it was now my turn to play the role of interpreter because I had to relay what was being said to my companion who looked a little perplexed by our conversation. We weren´t able to set a date yet but we´ve got an FHE planned with them tonight and I´m hoping that goes well. So far they are our most positive investigators. I´m praying for good things.
On a different note, I´ve run into a few backpackers this week from the U.S. They told me they were traveling around staying in hostels...sounds so familiar to me...hard to believe that was my life a year ago! Funny how things change, eh? Maybe I´ll do thatnext summer again ;)
All right, fam. Have fun at the cabin this week! Love you all and Happy 4th.
love,
Hna. Brewster
P.S. CONGRATS to Lara!

My first week in DAH-BEED

Hey Fam!

Greetings from the very beautiful area that is David, Panama (pronounced ¨Dah-BEED¨). Seriously, I can´t believe how gorgeous it is here! Right now I´m in a touristy place called Boquete and it´s the craziest thing but I feel like I´m back in Germany...everything is green, it´s COLD (very very rare here...feeling weird...) and there are mountains with Europeanish houses. It´s crazy! I´ll snap some photos for you. (My area´s called Lassonde, but we´re here in Boquete for P-day.)
Anyway, I´m loving my new area and my companion´s awesome. She´s trying to learn English from me and I´m trying to work on my accent with her. We have lots of fun going back and forth with different things to say. It feels good to be laughing so much again. I sort of missed that in my last change. Our zone is great--there are tons of gringos including my friend from the MTC, Hna. Ochs! I´m feeling very at home here.

In the way of events back home, let me just wish a happy late father´s day to Dad (I hear you wore the tie to church--did the bishop get mad? ,)), happy birthday to Ethan last week and happy birthday to Logan this week! I´m thinking of you all, don´t worry.

As far as the work goes here, the hardest thing we have to deal with is time management because our area is HUGE and Panamanians really love to talk, so we don´t get as many lessons in as I´d like, but I´m ealing with it. I´m just glad that the people are kind and receptive for the most part. We´ve got one investigator, 20 year old Edilka, who really wants to get baptized but she´s having problems with her family about that because they are pure 7th day adventists. It´s rough. We´re praying for her, though. Keep a good thought.

I said the hardest thing we had to deal with was time management but I should also mention that the world cup has proved to be a bit of an inconvenience as well. The whole world is watching soccer! (Except for me...which is REALLY difficult, by the way...but 1 Cor. 10:13 helps me with that one :) ). I think by the end of July things will have calmed down a bit.

I love my new ward and I´m hoping that I get a chance to be here longer than just 6 weeks because so far I´ve just been moved all over the place. The Hermanas I came with have only had 1 or 2 areas and companions at the most and I´ve had FOUR. I feel like a shoe that doesn´t fit...hopefully I fit here! I wouldn´t mind staying here for a while. We´re far away from the rest of the missionaries, so it´s likely they won´t move me for a while. But then I´ve learned I can never predict anything here, so who knows?

Hope you´re all doing well. Love you!

Hna. Brewster

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