Great news fam!
I´m reading 2 Nephi right now...Isaiah chapters...and i´m actually enjoying it! Haha normally it´s a sleeper, but in the footnotes in 2 Nephi 12 it says that the reader should compare it with the bible. Makes it interesting. Other than that breakthrough, this week has been really great! I visited probably the gnarliest area i´ve been in in my time here in Panama. It´s called Samaria, in San Miguelito. In EVERY lesson we taught that day...either someone in the family had been killed recently, or someone was in jail. It was a big wake up call to how safe the areas we live in really are. One of the coolest guys we met was Victor. It was one of those "where to go now" moments. We were just walking on a sidewalk and we saw Victor in his front door reading a book. We asked him what he was reading and it was some book about communication with spirits in the afterlife. Obviously a good conversation-starter. We discovered that his mom had died just a few days earlier and that he was looking for answers. He had TONS of questions so we let the Book of Mormon do its job. We had him read in 2 Nephi 2. Without us saying anything, he would read a verse, ponder for a minute, and then he would start to explain it to himself, and then us, and then his wife. He repeated the process with several verses, each time asking another question that we answered with another verse in the chapter. I had never seen anyone so thrilled about the plan of salvation and the clear message that the Book of Mormon delivers with respect to that plan. We´ll see if he progresses!
At night we went to visit one of their investigators but she wasn´t there so we started to talk to her friend, an older lady named Gloria who has been a member for about 20 years. She seems really bitter because one of her sons was killed by maliantes (gangsters) and her other son ran away from home 2 months ago and is lost in drugs. NOTHING that we said seemed to help. The scriptures we shared, our testimonies, nothing got through. I asked her if she believes in God and she said simply, "sometimes". We left the lesson feeling a little defeated and I felt like the time we had spent there wasn´t really going to change anything. The next day we were going back to San Miguelito because President Ward had interviews with the zone and we wanted to film them to make a video for transfers. We went there in bus (but we had to take two buses). We got up on the second bus and, sure enough, there was Gloria, heading to her house in Samaria. She was talking to someone so I didn´t sit by her right away, but when the spot next to her was free I went and sat by her. I don´t really remember everything I said. I just remember that I showed her a picture of my family and promised her that going to the temple would bring her happiness and answers. I remember seeing her smile and that was probably one of the sweetest smiles I´ve seen in a long time. As I got off the bus I felt like she had felt something good that she hadn´t felt when we were in the lesson with her. I felt like she had felt God´s spirit and that she felt happy.
Those were some great experiences of the week. And yesterday was the baptism! Olinda was super nervous because she´s afraid of water...but everything went well. Janeth asked me to baptize her, which was definitely an honor for me. She really has changed because of the Gospel. The best lesson i´ve ever had with Elder Ortega was with Janeth this week. We were at her work (a beauty salon) teaching her about tithing. She got kind of emocional...she lives in humble cimcumstances...and i remember how good I felt when she started talking about gratitude. She said that she´s grateful for everything she has. I wrote down one thing she said, "estás en el piso, pero tienes un techo"...you´re on the floor, but you´ve got a roof. Even if they don´t have a bed to sleep on, they have a roof to cover them. It really helped me to recognize the blessings that God gives me daily. We have food, shelter, clothing, really everything we need. Not everyone here gets to eat three meals a day.
That reminds me of another experience that we had in Samaria. We got there in the morning and the elders there didn´t have time to advise the sister that they eat lunch with that four of us would be eating there. When we got there...she was kind of surprised. But she looked at the pot the she had made rice in and realized that she had made way too much for just two missionaries. Without even knowing that four of us were going to be there, she prepared more than enough food for all of us to eat. Small miracles are the best ones, no?
I love you all family! There are still people to help here in Panama for these next couple of weeks...i´ll do my best to get home exhausted :)
Thanks for everything!
Elder Henrie
Dad!
Thanks for the message about the scriptures..that will be nice for you to teach the book of mormon next year. You learn a lot by teaching others. Sometimes I forget about the small and simple things and get to focused on things that seem like a big deal but really aren´t going to help me progress. I had a good talk with president ward this week. I have always had certain things on my mind about forgiveness and president ward just seems to know exactly what to say to help me feel good. Even though sometimes he tells me something I already know, it just seems to come from the Spirit and I can really understand it.
The same happens with what you and mom teach me. The simple things that I´ve learned from my family have really pushed me to do better on the mission. The phrase "keep the faith" is pretty well engraved in my mind now and i´m doing my best to do so.
Love you dad, hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Henrie
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