Monday, January 19, 2015

Just another week in. . .paradise?

Dear Family,

It is so hot here. One minute its raining, the next the sun is beating down. I got sunburned for the first time. Aparently this is normal until March or so, then its just straight rain... yeah, I love Panama, but really, I do, the wheather is just kind of bipolar.

Yall are going to have to forgive me, today was pretty packed and I totally forgot my planner! I am going to try my best to remember everything that happened this week, but I will just apologize right now... because I doubt it will have much of an order.

First, So our area is pretty slow right now, but we do have a couple who decided to get married and we have been working on their papers.. 2 days ago Hermano Abrego (the soon to be husband) called us and told us he wanted to be married and baptized before we have transfers... Transfers are the 3 of Feb... so we are going to get them married this week and baptized the next, but its twice as difficult because Hermano Abrego works for the police and will be gone this Wednesday to next Wednesday... yeah... we have asked them what they remember from the missionary lessons and they dont really remember much, so to be safe we have to teach everything over again.. we will be seeing them every-other day this next week to try to have them ready for baptism... normally I would say that it isnt good to rush through all this, but they have been together for 12 years, have 3 children, and have been taught for awhile.. they both have a super strong testimony and have been through trials but they are definitely ready for this. Hermano Abrego is trying to learn English too so its always fun to talk to him. 

This Saturday was.. well, scarring. So, we were walking to a Less Active members house to have a Family Home Evening and this young man stopped us and started talking to us. He asked us about the church and we were having a great discussion and about to get his information when we hear this woman scream, we were right next to the street and we turned to the sound just in time to see a car hit a man right in front of us... It was terrifying. I dont really want to share the details, but I will just say I cant get the image out of my head.. luckily we were right in front of a police station so they were able to get him to the hospital really fast, but I have no idea if he is okay or not. After the young man left and we werent able to talk to him more, my companion seemed fine and I asked her how she could be so calm about everything and she just said, oh it happens all the time.. WHAT? Yeah, we are never walking on the street ever again. 

So yesterday was so awesome! Church was great and after we had a less active member come with us to all our lessons and it was super awesome. We had awesome lessons yesterday. Anyways, we dropped off our member and were headed to the bus stop because we had to catch a bus to El Silencio for a dinner appointment, when a man stopped us who was on a bike and so obviously drunk... he wouldnt leave us alone. First he asked for a pamplet, which we gave him, then he told my companion she needed to repent, then the rest I couldnt understand. We couldnt get away from him, but we figured if we could get to the bus we would be able to escape so we got him to walk with us and then, what a miracle we ran into the same young man from the day before! He helped us out and got us to the bus stop, by that time we were soaked from the rain, and this man who was drunk, either 70 or 25 years old (he told us both), had three wives, and lived in two different directions, still wouldnt leave us alone. So this young man leaves, comes back with a police officer, and got us a taxi, but after all was said and done we still dont have his information! Crazy, but I have a feeling we will run into him again.

Okay so from the time I decided to go on a mission I have had struggle after struggle, but I knew that the Lord had a plan for me. Yall know all the crazy things that have happened and all the hoops I have had to jump through... well, this last Tuesday, we had the APs (presidents asistants) come down and they pulled me aside and told me the following: I am illegal in this country.The FBI lost my FBI Clearance, I didnt actually recieve clearance to enter the country, and no one has any idea how I was able to get into the country, but somehow I did. Now they have to redue my FBI Clearance and President Carmack is trying to figure out a way to keep me in the country and get me legal at the same time.. I am sure everything will be fine, but they told me that it is possible that I will have to leave the country for a day and then re-enter so that they can be sure all my papers are in order... yeah, who knows what will happen, but I just thought I would let yall know. Always a rollercoaster.

I know we had some awesome lessons this week... but it is a struggle to remember specifics. We had an amazing lesson about patience. How patience is not only something we should have, but something we should understand. God can see the past, present, and future. We can only see the present. There are times when our Heavenly Father is asking us to bear with patience our afflictions because He knows the future and how our trials will help us later on. Alma 34: 40-41. Patience isnt solely an attribute for the present, it is long-lasting. I am learning that everyday.

I love yall so much and I hope you have a great week! You are always in my prayers and my heart.

Love, Hermana Eardley

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