{MiSSioN AccOMpLiSHeD}

Dearest Henrie family,

I have loved the mission Panamà! It has been the greatest experience of my life. I`ve worked and I`ve obeyed. I love the people. I love the culture. I feel Panamanian. Haha I`ll miss being a missionary but I`m excited for everything! The experiences I`ve had really have changed me.

I have been having good experiences up until now and I hope they continue. I feel at peace with God. Before coming out into the mission I worried about a lot of things, but I feel like now I can acheive whatever goal I set to myself. Thank you. Thank you all for helping me serve! I love you.
Mission accomplished.
Elder Henrie

Hi mom,

Well, i guess that`s it! Haha I`m really excited for everything...super excited to see all of you! This week has been incredible. I don`t think i`ve worked so hard in my life. On Wednesday night we decided to just work thorugh dinner until nine...we were by a the member`s house that was going to give us dinner at 8 30 and i asked them if I could use the bathroom. He asked if we were going to eat but we told him we were going to work another half hour. After a few rejections we found Marielis. She just lost her grandma, has lost of family problems, and her husband left her alone to raise her child. She accepted a baptismal date the next day with her mom and they`re doing great! a GREAT experience for the last week of the mission...

And saturday afternoon we prayed that someone would give us food, we were going to the bus stop and we stopped to sing a hymn to a member family at about 8 45 pm...the sister there asked us if we had eaten dinner! That was definitely a prayer answered.

Just one of thousands of experiences that I`ll treasure forever. I`m going to miss Panamà. Hopefully I will be able to return someday to walk the streets I contacted, if not, I`ll at least take a lot of memories with me.

haha i guess I kind of am inactive in that singles ward...I haven`t gone for 2 years! Tell `em I`m doing well ;)

You`ve told me to keep the faith mom, I have. It`s been tough and I`ve loved every minute!
Love,
Your son

Marshman,
I love you little bro! It`s kind of ironic that you can date girls right now and I still can`t hahaha Marsh you`re a great example to me. I`m glad you`re happy in your life and preparing for the mish. I am soooo happy now! Obey God, try and make others happy, and you`ll be happy!

The church is true. The most important thing I`ve really learned...well, that i`ve really felt...on the mission is that the Atonement is real. Christ came to the earth and suffered for us. He came and lived and taught us how we can have peace. I know that He is the perfect example. He`s been a good brother to me here on the mission, just like you, J-Dub, and James. And of course, Lib has been a great sister.
I love you man! ¡Hasta pronto!
Elder Bro

{100 PerCeNT WoRTH iT!}}

Henries,

I´m happy :) there is a promise in Preach my Gospel from the first presidency that says that as we serve as missionaries, we will experience more happiness than we have ever felt before. It´s true! Yesterday Janeth and Olinda were confirmed members of the Church. Janeth brought a Columbian friend to church and is already immersed in the ward with all the members (especially the columbian members). Olinda seems so much more peaceful. She was so nervous before her baptism but now she seems so happy.

On saturday we interviewed a family that had just left the temple from receiving their endowments. My companion had baptized them about a year back. It was a beautiful interview and they expressed a lot of gratitude to the missionaries. This has been a cool project for me...interviewing recent converts about their feelings towards the church. They usually say similar things about the missionaries that taught them, they talk about their faces, their love, they way they act...it makes me realize how much people really are watching our every move.

It´s tough to know that I´ll longer be a full time missionary in a few days...but I am SO happy that I made the decision to serve the Lord for two years. I didn´t know how hard it would be. I had NO idea! Haha every single tough day has made me stronger. Every fallen baptismal date, investigators standing us up, climbing hills, getting lost and sweating until 9 pm has been 100 percent WORTH it!

We are going to Chorrera today to pick up my reemplacement...while we´re there we´re going to interview the Remice family! Today hasn´t really been a preparation day haha we´ve had to do a lot of emergency changes because there were a few missionaries who messed up this week...oops. That makes four emergency changes this change...interesting.

I am now a happy person. I´m a happy missionary. I´m in love with Panama...not looking forward to freezing cold weather. Now I feel cold here at night just because I´m not sweating. And I hate the air conditioning in the mission office already haha.

It´s been a fantastic week! I love you all and I´m SUPER excited to see you soon!

Mucho love,

Elder Henrie

{i'LL Do My BeST tO CoME HomE ExhAUsteD}

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

{This Week Has BeeN CrAZY!}

Hello fam!

This week we did divisions in my old area, La Cabima! I worked with a missionary named Elder Girón from Perú. It was a great experience. When we were walking on the streets there, I remembered something my MTC teacher, brother Crapo, said about how the streets that we walk on in the mission will be sacred to us. I saw investigators that I had taught, people on the street that I recognized, and I saw a lot of the members. We got there tuesday in the morning to a funeral that we didn´t know about. A little girl (the niece of one of our recent converts) had passed away the week before. She was only five years old. A really cute girl named Molly that I remember playing with when we visited that members house. It was pretty sad.

After that we went to work. One of the best experiences I had there was seeing a lady that we had taught there. Her name is Mary Canto, her son is Anel. Her husband had passed away while I was serving there so we had a reunion in her neighbor´s house to share a message. We also gave her a blessing of comfort. Turns out that about a month ago she got baptized! And her 17 year old son, Anel, is now preparing to serve a mission (when I was there, he was about to graduate from the catechesis for his first communion in the Catholic Church). She gave us dinner and told me about the blessing that we had given her. She said that since that time she had felt much more peaceful and now she seems SO much happier than when I last saw her! It was a miracle to me to see the change that has occurred in her life. She´s a great person.

I also saw Juan Carlos Estrada (another convert from La Cabima) on saturday in his work. He works in our area in a security systems place. He seems to be struggling a bit because he is working so much, but I was so happy to see him. I hope he can get things straightened out to be able to go to church.

I was working on saturday with Elder Jarquín, from Nicaragua. This is his first change as a zone leader and he´s doing a great job. I learned a lot from him and we had a good experience getting SOAKED in a huge rainstorm. Haha on sunday all of the missionaries went to church with wet shoes! That night we taught Janet again. She´s amazing! We taught the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. She really understood that we must obey these laws out of love for God, not just because they are "rules". She is going to be a great member in the church...God has prepared her for it! This Sunday she and Olinda will both be getting baptized. I´m really excited for them. The members have been making them feel really welcome in the church. Our ward is really great!

This week has been so crazy! We´ve had stuff to do day and night here...but I am really enjoying it. I am trying to focus on the most important things here in the mission. I am really excited for these next few weeks! I know that there are lots of good experiences waiting for me. One thing that we are doing this change is interviewing a bunch of recent converts about their conversion and making a short movie for the mission...we are going to interview Janet the day of her baptism! I think that will be a spiritual moment for her.

Well family, I love you all! Thank you for all the love!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

6:49 pm eh? haha it still doesn´t really feel like the mission is coming to a close. I feel like I am just going to have changes again and go to a different area. New companion, new people, new ward, etc. Lately I´ve been thinking about my priorities...ever since Elder Ian Ardern gave his talk about Time in this life, it´s made me think about the importance of getting priorities set. Thinking about it, the top priority is simply living the Gospel, after that all the other priorities just fall into place, seeing as how everything else that is important in life really just has to do with living God´s plan to the fullest. One of the scriptures that I liked most this week is in Nefi 5. Nefi and his people, after building a temple, being industrious, and working with their hands, are described as living "after the manner of happiness." (2 Nefi 5:27) It is such a simple scripture but it describes the result of understanding and living God´s laws.

That´s really the path that I want to follow for the rest of my life. I know it´s going to be tough, but I´ve been sweating and walking in the rain for 23 months, so I think I can do it :)

I love you mom! Thanks for taking care of our family!

I love you,

Elder Henrie

{I aM EnJoyING iT A LoT}

Hey mom!

Sorry about the pictures...my camera card has a virus so i can´t use it in the office computers...they all got infected a couple of weeks ago and sister ward just fixed them all. So hopefully we´ll have time to go to some internet place to send pictures...if not, just know that that´s why i haven´t sent any :)

Conference was AWESOME! I read a talk message by Elder Uctdorf about preparing for conference and it talked about preparing questions to receive revelation during conference. All of the questions that I had written down were answered! When Elder Scott started the conference...I felt a really peaceful feeling that everything that would be said was true and that it came from God. I was still waiting for an answer to one of my questions when Elder Cook stood up in the last session...his talk answered very clearly what I had been thinking about.

During conference sessions on Sunday sister ward invited Janet and her two kids to go eat lunch at her house...it turned into a big group of missionaries and investigators and I think it was a really good experience. (and the food was delicious) We met with Janet this week and she told us that she believes everything we teach and that she wished she would have found the church earlier in her life! She´s pretty much ready for baptism. She has honestly been one of the best investigators that I´ve had. And her twin kids are incredible. Their names are Ángel David and Sara...really cute kids and they love church!

Tracting time in our own area changes every week. We try to do divisions at least twice a week and a lot of times we do the office stuff at hours that don´t interfere with our work schedule. We are able to work in our own area about as much as other missionaries if we plan our time well...like Elder Ardern said, we have to be masters of time. I liked that talk a lot and I feel like it helps me understand that there really is time to do everything that God wants us to do.

Honestly I have no idea about school...it would be good to know how far in advance you have to sign up. If you do register me, sign me up for the football team...looks like they´re doing well :)

Thanks for teaching me what I have needed to know here in Panama. I am enjoying it a lot and I feel like God is pleased with the changes that so many people have made here in Panama! I am excited to see more changes and have more experiences with the Spirit. I hope all is well and that Dad can get feeling better. I´ll be sure to pray for him!

Mucho love,

Elder Henrie

{TheY ArE SupER ExciTED AbOuT MissIONaRY WoRK}

Henries!

Week 1 of a new change. We are teaching a really cool columbian lady named Janet...she´s a reference from Sister Ward...she accepted a baptismal date for the 15 of october! She´s so awesome...today we visited her and she asked what she needed to do to get prepared for baptism. We also have an investigator named Olinda who will be baptized on the 15th as well.

We are looking for a family that can progress this change. Sorry it´s so late writing to you all. We had to move some missionaries today and then we went to teach some appointments and came to the office to do the number reports of the week. So it´s been kind of a crazy day.

The mission is going so well. I feel like it´s all coming together. Everything i´ve been needing to learn in these years here on the mission is coming together. I feel really great and peaceful about everything. I LOVE our investigators and our area! They are so incredible. Unfortunately we don´t get to know the members as well because there is less time for activities and service in our own area but I really love the members in our ward. They are super excited about missionary work.

I am really excited for Will! He´s going to have a great time on his mission!

I love you all!

Elder Henrie

ps i´m sorry it´s so short...I promise i´ll give a more full report next week on everything that´s going on...but we need to go home now haha

{ThE PlAN oF SaLVaTioN}

Fam!

We´ve finished week six of the change, meaning this week starts a new change. I´m excited for this change...general conference, we have some possible good baptisms, and Elder Ortega and I will be comps for six more weeks. This past week four missionaries were sent home. We went to the airport to take two of them, and one of the missionaries there, that i´ve known since my second area, came up to me and just started sobbing. He felt terrible and uncertain about everything that was going to happen. I read this morning something that Joseph Smith said about hell, that the suffering of the wicked is knowing that they won´t obtain the glory that they could have otherwise enjoyed. I think that is what happens sometimes to missionaries. Sometimes they lose sight of their potential and don´t obtain the blessings that God wants them to have.

But the mission looks really good now and we´re ready for changes. The missionaries really are working hard and we are seeing lots of success in the mission. I love it here! The panamanians are awesome. We had a talent show in our ward last week and the members did some really funny acts. One of the members, from Mexico, worked in the circus several years ago, so he had some really funny talents. He had a "knife throwing" act that had everyone laughing. It was a really good night.

Yesterday morning we went to look for investigators for church, but unfortunately there was no water in the city so none of our investigators could shower and they really didn´t want to go to church like that. But I did! :) It was a good day in church...Elder Laidler´s last day. It´s crazy that he´s going home already. He´s been a good missionary here.

Well family I love you a lot! GO UTES!

Elder Henrie

Hey mom,

Sounds like there´s been some tough situations. I´m really excited for Jeremy! Korea! That´s going to be a very interesting mission. I feel like this time the changes in the mission have been much easier...maybe it´s just because i´m getting used to the organization of everything. President told me that this is what happens every time, by the time the elders in the office get the hang of things, he has to kick them out and bring new ones in haha. But I guess that´s how life is.

I´ve been really interested this week in studying the plan of salvation. I´m not sure what but I´ve come up with lots of questions in my studies. I feel like having questions is always good to learn. And I really do keep learning. The problem can be that sometimes we don´t have much time to study but I fit it in wherever I can. I really don´t doubt. I have no doubts about the plan of salvation. Every day I understand it better. Before the mission I always thought of it as God´s way of comforting us and giving us hope for the next life. But it´s really a lot more than that. In God´s plan we learn who we really are and who we have to become. And He shows us how to do it.

I´m grateful for the Gospel. I hope that more people here can accept it. Kenny is doing really well. He has to be my all time favorite investigator. He has so many good questions and really wants to do what God wants.

I love you mom!

Elder Henrie

{ThE ChuRCh iS TruE!}

Henries!

I can´t say that it´s been the easiest week of the mission. I have had A LOT of good experiences this week with the priesthood power...but unfortunately there were some very bad decisions made by some of the missionaries here. Last night we were talking to an elder about what is going to happen. He had made some mistakes here in the mission and is really scared. It´s just hard to see President Ward show so much confidence in his missionaries and then seeing them let him down. I am grateful for the rules on the mission. I´ve come to realize why we need to obey. It´s not just because we have to, or even because we want to. It´s to become more like Christ, to develop the characteristics that we´ll be needing after the mission. I read Isaiah 48:10 this week: "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." The mission that God gives us here really does refine us if we take advantage of it. I feel like I am still being changed by the experiences that I am having daily here on the mission.

This last Tuesday, we went to Chorrera and did divisions in the area of Barrio Centro (my old area) to see how Elder Portillo (the District Leader) was doing. I went with him and we started contacting in a little neighborhood by the church. The second house that we contacted let us in. Turns out the lady inside, hermana Vergara, is a member. And I recognized her from when I had been in the ward. She seemed really surprised that we were there and asked us who had called us to send us there. We just explained that we were contacting and felt like we needed to be in that area. It wasn´t some huge sensation...just seemed like the right place. She told us that she had been really sick and needed a blessing. She had been thinking about it that morning and was hoping that she could talk to the missionaries. Her son, who has the priesthood, lives in San Miguelito and couldn´t be there. We gave her a blessing that was really special to me. I don´t know what will happen but I felt like she would be ok and be able to heal. After the blessing we taught a guy that was visiting her from Tocumen and then continued on our search.

The next house we went to was a lady named Lesbia. She told us that she had not been feeling well because she had fallen earlier on the street and was having knee troubles. When we talked about the priesthood, she asked us if we could give her a blessing. I felt like we were guided to visit those people who were in need of a blessing from the priesthood. It really was a great experience for me and I think it really helped Elder Portillo.

One more awesome experience. We are teaching this guy named Kenny, he´s from Peru, probably one of the most sincere guys that I´ve met, but he doesn´t progress. He lives with a family of recent converts so we teach him with them every now and then. He´s always had doubts about the Book of Mormon and its origin. When we got there on Wednesday, my companion asked him if he knew the story of the people of Israel. I thought it was kind of an odd question haha but that´s how the lesson started. We said a prayer and my companion began explaining the story. I figured I would just go along with it because he had to have some sort of point. We talked about the twelve tribes and their dispersion...and how Christ came to visit the lost sheep here in the Americas. My companion showed kenny a little piece of paper that had a list of scriptures that he had studied about the topic. Kenny was reading it and saw a question written on the bottom of the paper: "Where does the Book of Mormon come from?"...he looked at it, pondering for a moment and then looked up at us. It was obvious that he had felt the Spirit very strong during the lesson. He said, "this is the question that i´ve had ever since this book came into my hands." He finally understood it! He almost didn´t come to church yesterday because of work, but it rained really hard and he couldn´t work. So he went to church instead :) I LOVE this guy! I wish you could meet him. He´s an incredible person and has so many good questions. I guess what I learned was to stick with your companion in the lessons, because the Spirit really does guide this work. I asked him afterward what had made him go in that direction, and he simply replied, "it´s what I felt"

So those are a couple of the experiences that I was able to have this week. I am happy here in Panama. After what happened this week in the mission I thought about the scripture "wickedness never was happiness". I wondered what was it that made people so unhappy in their sins. From my studies I concluded that with each sin, we become less like our Father in Heaven and in a state contrary to his. "They are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness" (Alma 41:11)

I love you all! Be happy because the church is true!

Elder Henrie

Hey dad!

Quick note...Jotam will hopefully go on a mission in one year with his brother Wilfredo. This Saturday i´m going to the temple to see Ceferino Castillo receive his endownment to go on a mission! I´m really excited for him.

This week i´ve been reading a bit about the kingdom of israel. It has helped me understand what we are really doing here as missionaries, gathering the house of israel. Wow, lots of interesting history. I understand why you have loved studying the old testament. Thanks for teaching me to love the scriptures!

Love you dad!

Elder Henrie

{TheY...LooKeD GUAPOS!}

Henries!

I finished the Book of Mormon a couple of days ago! It was a good experience. I had never realized how many times Moroni "exhorts" us to act in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon. I learned a lot. From Elder Martino´s visit to Panama I decided that this time around studying the Book of Mormon I want to focus on what I can learn about the Atonement and how I can apply it in everything I do. I have lots of questions about it and I think it will be good to look for the answers.

Sunday was a little tough...our investigators didn´t show up to church. But we´re planning on working more with members this week and trying to get a family to church this sunday. Hopefully we´ll receive that blessing. Things are going great in the mission. The mission has made a lot of progress in baptisms and I feel like the converts are stronger than ever. It was sooo neat to see so many young men and women at the dental brigade to be able to go on their missions. On Tuesday morning we were in a bus going to the brigade...and we saw two young, long-haired guys walking to the church. Jotam and Wilfredo! We picked them up and headed to the church. One of the first things that they found out was that to have the free dental care done, they would have to cut their hair. It was a tough decision for them...they´ve had long hair since as long as they can remember. They were also thinking a lot about their mom and their decision to serve a mission. It was hard for them to decide because their mom isn´t really all for them going on missions. And Jotam says it´s hard because he wants to go to the same mission as his brother (they´re really close brothers).

So, they ended up deciding to do it. They both cut their hair and looked GUAPOS! It was super cool and probably one of the best experiences for me in the whole brigade. All the dentists complimented them and they were probably the two most famous young men there by the end of everything. haha what an experience. And Jotam bore a powerful testimony in church yesterday about the love he has felt from the members and how grateful he is to be a member of the church.

We also had a few good finding experiences this week. Last night we found a kid from Bocas del Toro named Roberto who had lots of questions about the Plan of Salvation. He believes in reincarnation so it was an interesting conversation.

I love you all a ton! I´ve been praying for you!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

I love the mission! I am happy and...tired haha. The weeks are going by really fast. Changes are coming up pretty soon which means that there´s a lot to do. That´s crazy that Marsh has his first date comin up! It should be fun for him. If he needs help renting a bus tell him that we´re professionals in that here in Panama City. One of the bus drivers of the brigade group is called Edilberto...he´s a really cool guy and i´m hoping the missionaries in his area can teach him.

I was talking to a member yesterday about having a family sealed in the temple. It is a super rare blessing if you think about the percentage of people on the earth today that have been able to go to the temple. I´m grateful for having a family sealed in the temple. It has helped me understand the importance of goals and priorities. That has definitely been a strength that I have learned here in the mission, the importance of goal setting. It´s good to know that everything I learn here will be applicable throughout my life.

Oh, quick thing...THANK YOU for the cookies! Dr. Roundy and his wife are really good people. He fixed my messed up tooth for me so now it doesn´t look as ugly. And everyone there really enjoyed the cookies...they told me to thank you and that you did an excellent job! I felt pretty spoiled with home made cookies ;)

I love you mom! Thanks for everything. I hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Henrie

{ThEy ArE GreAT ExaMPleS tO Me}

Hola familia!

So it´s really late and we still have to send the mission number reports to the church website. But I feel like all of you are more important than that right now. I need to share one of the best experiences of the week. Starting saturday...Elder Robinson, an elder in Alcalde Diaz, had an accident in a service project so his companion was with me yesterday in the afternoon. We were contacting in a nice neighborhood looking for a family to teach. We had prayed to have success there and I felt the need to look in an area that we had never been in before. We saw a young guy with his security work uniform on an decided to talk to him and a guy he was standing with. The kids name is Eladio. He told me he was from Almirante, in Bocas del Toro. He said that he had talked to missionaries before, and with a couple of questions we found out that he actually had a baptismal date but he had to leave Almirante to find work. He has been here in the city for a while.

I asked him about the missionaries that he knew...if he knew an Elder Stoddard, one of the missionaries in our district in Bocas. He said YES! That HE was the one who had taught him! Elder Stoddard had told me a really long story about a kid named Eladio Molina who was going to be baptized but had to go away to an island for several months. Elder Stoddard was way excited about this kid and said to know that he had suddenly left to go to that island. It was a really good experience for me to know that God does guide us. To know that this really is His work. I am glad to form part of it. It is a demanding work. President Ward said in zone conference last week that Panama is "not for sissys!"

Speaking of zone conference, Elder Martino from the area presidency came to a mission tour this week. We had a meeting with him and President last Monday night about mission needs. It was a very spiritual week with him and built my testimony to see him and his wife working and testifying. Sister Martino is helping out in the dental brigade so I still see her every day. Also, the area president, Presidente Falabella, was their today. There are so many amazing leaders in the church and it builds my faith listening to their testimonies of Christ and watching them share the Gospel with everyone. They are great examples for me.

Thank you all for your support! I love you a TON!!!

Elder Henrie

Querida mom,

What a week eh? First point...people avoid breaking their toes by being born with smaller toes haha sorry that´s a bit mean. Yeah I met Dr. Roundy! Really a nice guy! And we´re all enjoying the cookies in the ´dental office´ in the chapel in San Miguelito. I liked the note you sent with them so thanks a lot. We´ve done a lot this week. Saturday night the dental brigade started. So we´re there helping to translate during the day. I saw some people from my first area...El Empalme. Ceferino Castillo was there! He´s going on a mission soon! He wants to go to El Salvador I´m excited for him. Jotam should be going with his brother Wilfredo tomorrow. Wilfredo blessed the sacrament yesterday and did a really good job. Church was great! Sister Ward brought her hair dresser to church (she´s from Columbia and wants to know more about the church). And we had an investigator there named Olinda who wants a book of mormon.

Last night we were contacting in a tough area. NOBODY wanted to listen to us. NOBODY. It was kind of interesting. Elder Ortega was wondering if we weren´t in the right spot. But I told my him that we were GOING to find a family before going home. We had prayed specifically for that blessing after dinner and we had worked for it all day without ONE lesson. We kept walking and everyone was either catholic or asleep. Finally we got to a house that rejected us and then President Ward called with some bad news about some missionaries in Bocas del Toro...as my comp was talking to him we saw a girl pull up in her car in the neighbor´s house and her dad came out to help her with some things. I felt like it was them...the family that we wanted...la familia Jaen. We went up and just had barely started talking to them when the dad said "sure come on in! Let me get you some lemonade it´s kind of hot inside." Wow...we sang Family´s can be together forever and started talking about families. I told them how deeply I love my family and why. We then started asking if they had heard about the book of mormon. They had lots of questions and the spirit was just strong in their home. We didn´t even have to ask if we could say a closing prayer, because the father said we should end with a prayer! We put an appointment for wednesday and he said that his wife would also be there to listen to the message. Pray for them! Our goal is to get them to church!

I love you mom...thanks for your encouragement. This week has been a little tough. Sometimes I feel like I have to be absolutely perfect...and looking back at things I know I´m not. But it´s good to know that we can repent...and to know that I´m trying as hard as I can to work and obey what God wants me to do. The mission is good. I feel peaceful still. I need to keep trying harder. I think maybe it´s hard because being in the office I have a hard time finding the hours needed to really study the scriptures. Example...we left early this morning and until now I´m writing you. Well...I love you. Thank you!

Elder Henrie

{ThaNK You FoR TeaCHinG Me NoT tO DouBT}

Fam!

This week has been a week of WORK! We went to San Isidro on tuesday (about 15 minutes from the city) to visit that zone and we went on divisions with the zone leaders there. On Friday we did divisions in Alcalde Diaz, area of Las Lajas. I had been there on divisions before when I was a zone leader there...really great area. The branch president there is from Ohio and is a really humble leader. And in our own area we´ve been working a lot to take advantage of the little amount of time that we have. We found some great people, a Chiricano named Cristian who came to church yesterday, a Comlumbian lady named Judy who accepted a baptismal date for the 17 of september, and a young girl named Olinda who contacted us in a building called Chucunaque. President Ward went to our ward yesterday and bore a powerful testimony in the investigator´s class. I hope that his testimony helps the investigators who were there to be baptized. Olinda wants to know about baptism, so we went there with Jotam (he left with us in the afternoon yesterday). He is a NATURAL missionary. He just starts talking with people about the church and answers their questions about what he felt and why he chose to be baptized. It was great to see him bearing his testimony. He will be going to the "denal brigade" here in Panama to get all his dental work done for the mission. The Elders Quorum president told him that it would be good for him to go...and that way, if he decides to go on a mission, he will already have that paperwork. His brother, Wilfredo, is also going to go! I´ll be there to help with translating, so I guess I´ll get to meet Dr. Roundy.

Wow, felicidades to Quinton! That´s great that he´s married! I hope it was a good experience. It´s strange to think of all the changes that happen in two years haha.

Dad, thanks for the letter...it was pretty inspiring. I like thinking about the letters that Paul wrote. He always expresses love and exhorts the members that he had served to keep the commandments. It reminds me of the importance of sending letters to the people I have met. I saw Juan Carlos Estrada the other day...he works in our area. I was SO happy to see him! I had been thinking about him a lot in this past month and had felt the need to write him. So, seeing him just pushed me to doing it. I sent him a letter that will hopefully help him. One time I saw Luis Peralta in Chorrera and he showed me a letter I had written him that he kept in his wallet. I think that little boost helps a lot of people to keep moving. The letters that you all write me definitely do that for me!

This week has been very rewarding! Elder Ortega works HARD...and he pushes a lot to just keep going and not waste time...I really respect him a lot. And he has an incredible capacity of remembering scriptures and using them to help people find answers to their questions. I´m glad to have such a good comp in my last area. And Elder Laidler is still in our house which makes things really fun. Being companions with someone just makes you good friends because you go through a lot on the mission.

I love you all! The church is true! I´m heading towards the end of the Book of Mormon again and it´s been teaching me a ton!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

Yesterday we visited a lady named Monika...she´s a recent convert and her husband was there as well. I think her husband hates us haha he´s jewish and doesn´t really understand our religion yet. But Monika was having a tough time and was worried about what is going to happen with her kids in the future. I shared with her about how you and I would always talk in the mornings before I left for work. I talked about your testimony and the impact that it´s had on me. Then we shared some scriptures about how the mothers of the stripling warriors had taught them not to doubt. Thank you for teaching me not to doubt...I love you!

Your son

{wE've Had A LitTLe MoRe tiMe tO WoRk}

Alright y´all!

This week has been nuts. Week of changes...meaning zero sleep. Elder Poli went home on Thursday morning. It was good seeing such a good friend finish his mission so strong. I was thinking today about when I lived with him, Elder Stoddard, and Elder Monroy in Alcalde Diaz...had to be the most obedient house i´ve ever lived in. And we had a ton of fun with them. I´ll definitely miss those that left this change. Yesterday we didn´t go to our sacrament meeting because we were asked to speak on missionary work in San Miguelito. That was a nice opporunity and I feel like the wards there are really excited and the missionaries are doing great things.

Unfortunately we didn´t have investigators in church yesterday...we´re still fighting for that. But I had some good experiences with a new elder named Elder Slater in Guadalupe. He got here last week and we did divisions with them because my comp had been in that area before and he wanted them to know some investigators. We got rejected a lot during the day and then it started raining. Kind of jokingly I told elder Slater that we had to be rejected all day before God would guide us to a family. And that is how it went down :) all day we didn´t really have any success. We had found a really cool guy Adán that was willing to listen to us. Then, along comes his brother before leaving to work. "hey guys what are you reading?"..."the book of mormon"..."yeah?..." and then he went off. He started talking about how the bible contains all truth and there´s no need for another book, and that the only prophets that God called had written everything that needed to be written in the bible. Before he could get to far we just stopped him and testified about the book of mormon. A nice testimony moment but we didn´t get the chance to teach Adán.

Later on we decided to go to one more street. The last street we went in to contact we found an awesome family! There were about seven young men living there...and they all had lots of good questions. It was fun to be with a new missionary and watch him try so hard to speak the language.

Learning a language is tough. I still pray for the gift of tongues to really try to make better my accent. I notice that when i do pray for that gift people tell me that I speak well...and when I don´t they sometimes say "what?" or i´ll make mistakes when I get tired haha it´s an interesting process.

I´ve been excited because we´ve had a little more time to work this week. We were contacting in these two buildings called Chucunaque...old, run-down, 15 story buildings that DON´T have elevators. It´s fun hiking up those stairs. But there definitely are a lot of good people there. We found a good family a couple days ago and we´re going to meet with them this Tuesday, the Martinez family. They have family members who are members of the church and they know a little bit about the BofM. Good fam.

I love you all! The church is super true! I´m learning a ton here in the office. It´s been a huge blessing to learn how to be organized...more or less, and to learn how to plan better. And i´m almost done with the Book of Mormon again! I have learned lots of new things about studying this time around.

Mucho love,

Elder Henrie

ps dad i reread my goals like you said i should...that really helped me realize that i am doing what I felt like i needed to do. It´s good to remind yourself of goals and I felt really good with the goals i had put and the ones that I have now :)

Dear mom,

Yeah Stan Harding! Really nice guy. We have met quite a few folks from the US that come to visit. I really like that aspect of our ward. There are people from Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Venezuela, and of course, Panama. Really diverse ward. I hope little James is happy and chubby. I have been praying for him and for all of you. I am grateful for a good family. It´s pretty rare to have a good family here in Panama. It´s not easy. In our area there are some places full of crime...and it´s sad to see little innocent kids running around in places like that knowing what they are being taught by those around them.

The mission is great mom! I learned this week that I need to be content with the assignments that God gives me. I think I would have liked to finish in an area fully focused on that area and those investigators...but I read in Alma 29 and that helped me recognize what are the things that I really should desire.

I love you mom!

Elder Henrie

{I WaS AbLE tO Go tO ThE SeALiNG}

Henrie´s!!

So this week has been extremely incredible! On Saturday I was able to go to the sealing of the Salinas family with elder Chévez. He came in to see them and it was probably one of the most spiritual experiences i´ve had on the mission. When we were in the sealing room Cathy was crying because she was so happy. Tomás seemed a little nervous beforehand but I think he is usually like that. It was like that they day of his baptism as well. The spirit was incredibly strong and I felt like I had finally seen their process ´completed´. Now they just need to live faithful :) I loved seeing them their...it felt like seeing my family after such a long time without seeing them. It was pretty sad that they didn´t have any family members there…because they are the only members of the church. And the Santiago branch couldn´t come because of a lack of money to get into the city. So the Salinas family thanked us and said that we were their family anyway. I was SOOOO happy to see them sealed! Wow…

Other than that we are now teaching a kid named Dani in our area, he is really good friends with Jotam. Jotam and Wilfredo received the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday so we want Jotam to baptize Dani. He didn´t come to church on Sunday and we´re not sure why but he should progress. He´s already read some of the book of mormon and has lots of great questions. I actually went with Elder Dangerfield and Elder Gómez to teach him. It´s pretty cool to teach with your MTC comp again J

This week has been insane! My new companion is Elder Ortega, from Guatemala. He´s a stud! A really good missionary with lots of desires to go to work. And that is definitely needed here in the office. This week is the week of changes so I haven´t slept at all and i´m not planning on getting much sleep this week…last change sometimes we slept from about 2 am to 6 am. Good stuff!

It has been a very good, spiritual week. Dad, I liked what you said about cheerfulness. I was talking to my companion earlier about how much more patient the mission has made me. I feel like God has helped me to develop that attribute a lot more than it was before the mission.

I am really happy to be hearing about my nephew and THANK YOU for the awesome photos. He´s a good lookin´ little baby eh? Amazing how much things are changing in the Henrie clan! I hope that little James stays healthy and happy. And I pray for y´all every day!

Mucho love from down south!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

Happy anniversary! late...haha but still. I forgot...sorry. No excuses. I hope marshall being ordained as a priest was a good experience. Wilfredo and Jotam were also ordained priests. Wilfredo is very mature and really ready to learn in the church. And Jotam loves soccer haha they are great kids!

Mom I love you and I hope this week is the best week you´ve had this year so far! I don´t even know how we are in August right now. I feel like it´s still June! Love you a ton mom i´m praying for you!

Muuuucho amor,

Your Son

{It'S AlL WoRTH It}

~Me doing sixteen thousand birthday pushups on top of the office building! Ofi!~

Hey fam!

Wow....I think the only think I can express right now is gratitude. I´m an uncle! How cool is that! I honestly am so happy that James is doing well. We fasted for him on Friday night through Saturday and also a few other things that we needed help with. I have seen miracles and many blessings this week. Looking back on things right now I have seen many fruits of the labor that I have been doing for the past months. Eric Sera just baptized a friend, Ceferino is still getting ready for a mission, the Salinas family gets sealed this Saturday (they changed the date so I could go), Tomás Chávez from Alcalde Diaz is the President of the young men´s quorum, José Remice has the Melquisedek priesthood and his wife is the secretary to the relief society, Valentina and Chelita are still doing well, and Jotam and Wilfredo got baptized on Saturday! And I´m praying that other converts and reactivated members are doing well.

Both of the parents of Jotam and Wilfredo came and felt a peace. They were confirmed yesterday and are excited about the church. Will is going on a mission, I´ve got a new baby nephew who is a STUD, I´m learning a ton every day here. An Elder just called to thank me for helping him through some rough times on the mission. I feel like God is honestly pouring out blessings into my life. And I know it´s because of obedience and prayer. Even with so many trials and hard moments that I´m faced with, I´m no longer afraid of it. I feel like anyway who misses this opportunity is missing the best thing that i´ve ever done.

I was talking to Elder Poli about it yesterday...because he´s about to come home. I´ve never heard him sound so peaceful and happy. We just talked about converts, memorable lessons and moments, life, wow. I´m proud of him. He just kept saying how glad he is that he has done what God wants him to do. He talked about the love that he felt for everyone in all of his areas. That really is what the mission does. I know I´ve got a lot to do...I have a lot of disappointments to face and hard work to go through, but it´s all worth it. Because it brings more joy that I´ve ever felt before. John Bytheway said that there´s a difference between happiness and peace. I think I understand that difference.

I love you all. Pray for Dani, the familia Pérez, and Edwin and Rosa if you would :) pray them to church and baptism!

Elder Henrie

ps this month the Panama mission baptized more than we´ve ever baptized before! Sweet! We´re thinking that it´s about 140 confirmations, but we´re waiting for a few numbers still. What a miracle!

Felicidades mom!

You´re a grandma! I am super happy about little James! He looks healthy and strong. Quick story. We started a fast on Friday night coming back from David (David is on the other side of the country, we went for a training meeting). We had stopped in Santiago, my town, to eat McDonalds. After McD´s we started the fast and about an hour later, around 10 pm, Elder Dangerfield called saying that Jotam was set for baptism and that he wanted to be baptized with his brother! God had immediately answered our fast and everything went well in the baptismal service. At first their mom didn´t want to come to support them but my comp called her to talk her into it. She didn´t sit by her husband because of the problems in the family but she did feel peace. She looked genuinely happy for the baptism of her sons. We told her yesterday that they were going to receive the authority to baptize and that they could baptize her someday ;)

Mom I love you. Thanks for teaching me. Our family is truly blessed. I have witnessed so many good things in the mission. I feel happy! I feel sooooo good about everything. It´s such a blessing to get here and I feel such an urgency to get things done. I also am trying to slow down in those important moments to really take in what God wants me to see...like the talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave in the last general conference.

Today I read about the importance of the scriptures from Elder Christofferson´s talk from the may conference of last year I believe. And then I really tried to study the scriptures after, not just read them. I liked a scripture in Mormon 9 that talks about if we are happy now, we will be restored to happiness after the resurrection. So let´s keep this happiness forever!

Gotta go! I love you!

Elder Henrie

this letter is specifically for Marsh man!

Hermanito!

Dude I can´t believe you´re turning sixteen! I love you bro. You´ve been an awesome example for the family. For real I feel like you´ve been really strong through the trials and I know you´re gonna be an awesome uncle to little James. Do everything you can to be happy starting another year of life. That´s what life is all about. Everything we do should be focused on our own happiness and the happiness of those around us. Make good choices in high school and don´t drive too crazy :) I learned my lesson already haha

It´s really a sacred experience to be here on a mission and I hope you feel good about the decision to go. I feel like I had good preparation but it definitely could have been better, aka don´t sluff seminary too much, it actually helps on the mission. Remember the good times in life. I´ve got lots of good memories with you. I remember once a nice bike race we had coming back from the library when dad got some flat tires! Haha i can´t remember who won but that´s not important.

Tomorrow eat lots of cake for me...I´ll be thinking about ya!

Love you little bro...right now it´s time to go to pick up my new companion in Chorrera. His name´s Elder Ortega from Guatemala. Really awesome missionary!

Take care hermanito! ¡Feliz cumpleaños y que cumplas muchos más! ¡Te quiero mucho!

Elder Henrie...el guapo de la familia

ps the photo is me doing sixteen thousand birthday pushups on top of the office building! Ofi!

{The MemBerS aRE SuppORTING Us a ToN!}

Me and Elder Laidler after a good run this morning. That´s the bridge...it was about a 5K

In the office...the first presidency has sent DVD players for each companionship for training purposes. Hmm could be a dangerous idea. Maybe the missionaries will get to see Transformers after all haha

Familia Pérez

Familia Pérez in the temple...President took us with them last Monday night it was awesome!

Dad!

I´m glad you´re paying for your vacation time haha it always makes it worth it. But i´d rather work hard first...and then take time off. I should have given you that tip three weeks ago :) Crazy that J Dub and Jess, and the whole world, is still waiting for the baby to be born! Tell James to hurry up. We´re all anxious.

So changes are coming up soon I think. August 10, the day that the Salinas family is getting sealed! President Ward went to Chitré to do interviews and told me that they were going to have their interview. I can´t believe how fast this change is going. Last night my comp put a more solid baptismal date with Wilfredo jr. Him and his bro, Jotam (2 Nephi 17:1, his name´s in the book of mormon), will be getting baptized on saturday. The parents aren´t married...Wilfredo told us he was married but his "wife" clarified that little detail. I´m pretty sad about him and his situation. I hope the baptism of his children will awaken a desire to set things right. I love this ward that I´m in. The members are supporting us A TON! And yesterday they told us that they were happy with what we are doing in the ward. It´s always good to know that you are appreciated because sometimes it feels like things aren´t progressing like you´d like to see.

Well I love you all! Can´t believe Marsh is hitting sixteen soon! Tell him to avoid curbs and oncoming traffic. And think about buying him a radar detector. That would have saved you some bucks when I was driving :)

Con amor,

Elder Henrie

Mom!

The baby´s STILL not here! I´m STILL not an uncle?! Dang i´ve been waiting all week because that´s some pretty exciting news! Ahh...oh well. Next week for sure! Ok on to the questions before I forget...

1. the acoustic amp (Ibanez, brown) has a broken speaker I believe. I´ll just say that it´s better to ask forgiveness than permission :) just don´t tell me when you "unload" it.

2. Sizes...shoes: 43-44 if you´re in England still...in the states i believe i´m 11-11.5. Jeans i´d say a 32-34, shirts large because i have huge guns, and garments i just wear small bottoms because they run big, and a medium tall top...the round neck. Ties: Long. Belt: black. Nametag: yes. Oh and i´m pretty sure we threw out most of my clothes before the mission no worries :) i was planning on wearing my mission clothes anyway

3. Note to Libby: Querida hermanita Libby, this week I have an assignment for you. I want you to do everything you can this week to help mom and dad get ready for school. Do one act of service each day. I´ll be waiting for a report next monday on what you´ve done :) it´ll be fun. I´ll do the same with my companions and we´ll see who did the coolest act of service. Love you sis! Take care of Jamescito for me :)

I love you mom. Thank you. I wish you could meet the Pérez family. They are struggling a lot right now but the two sons are going to get baptized on Saturday. I´m really sad that it´s not going to be the whole family but it should be good for the parents to see their sons take this decision.

Mucho love,

Elder Henrie

{So, ReLeASE DatE}

Henries!

So, release date. I´m almost positive that my plane going home will be early morning the first thursday of november. November third i believe :) Can´t believe that the baby still has been born! What´s going on?? Yesterday we saw a lady going into the hospital to have her baby haha pretty intense experience. I´m excited for you J Dub and Jessi. We went to the hospital yesterday because Elder Morris, my last companion, got HIT BY A CAR! It was insane. He was just really sore but didn´t break anything. His companion, Elder Cobba, broke his wrist and had a gnarley goose egg on his forehead. It was pretty fun though because he´s such a happy laid back missionary that we were just messing around with him in the hospital. Just glad nothing too serious happened. I guess they were at an intersection and a car t boned a big truck and the truck hit them and sent Elder Morris flying and threw Elder Cobba into a wall. We gave Elder Cobba a blessing and when president got there we left. Kind of a crazy story that i´m sure they will be happy to tell to there families!

This week was great! Thursday night we went to the airport to pick up Hermana Ward with the entire zone of Tocumen. It was really great...we had a banner for her and a bunch of roses. She seemed a little sad to have left her family...again, but it is good to have her back in the mission. I think it would be hard for President to do things alone here. I really admire them as a couple...they are super happy and really keep the attitude of the mission super high.

Ooh...I have a great story about this kid named Dani. We took some senior missionaries, the Harrop´s. to visit the familia Perez with us, and there was this kid named Dani. He´s 18, really smart, skater, and has a tough family situation. I started to talk to him about my own family and showed him a picture of us. He told me that he admired how optimistic I was about life and that he wanted to feel that way. He said that he really wants to believe in God and have a happy family. So I asked him some questions to help him think about his relationship with God and shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon. It was good to just see a sort of light click in his mind as we were talking. Honestly it was one of the best conversations I´ve had on the mission. I felt super grateful for the Spirit and for the chance to talk to this kid that really needed help in that moment. I love him a lot. The familia Perez came to church yesterday! Well, everyone but the mom. The husband is set on his decision to get baptized but the mom is taking more time. Usually it´s the other way around.

That reminds me of an experience we had yesterday. As we were waiting outside the hospital we saw an ambulance pull up and they took out an older lady who had had a stroke or something. We saw her daughter come out crying and looking really worried. I saw the grandson inside and he looked scared and sad and I wanted to talk to him. Right as we were leaving we saw the whole family sitting outside on the curb. So we went up and started talking to them. We just sat down with them and showed them love more than anything. I really feel like it´s not what we say that helps people, but what they can feel from us. They seemed a lot more calm after we had said a prayer and gotten up to leave. They are a good family and will be a good reference for the missionaries in Arraiján.

There are lots of other stories to tell...I have had lots of good experiences with Elder Laidler. He´s an awesome missionary. This morning we got up to go run across El Puente de las Américas, a bridge over the Panama Canal. Elder Dangerfield and his comp, elder Gomez came with us. Yes, I live with Elder Dangerfield, my MTC comp! I think I forgot to tell you that.

Well fam, I love you all. I am really happy in this area. The people are humble and happy. I feel like they are family. There´s this lady named Iris that calls me her son, and she cooks AWESOME food and gives us TONS of references. I love the members here. As we were driving back from the bridge this morning, I realized how grateful I am to be in Panama. It really has become a home to me. Matt Palmer wrote me and said he wants to go back to Japan haha. I´m worried that I will feel the same way about Panama. I know I´ll feel the same way.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Henrie

ps the familia Salinas gets sealed soon!!! I can´t WAIT! And José Remice already has the Melchisedek priesthood (I have NO idea how to spell that anymore, is that right?) and he and his wife are enjoying their callings. I also heard that Ceferino, from Bocas del Toro, is getting ready to serve a mission! The work is worth it :)

{It iS ACtuALLy ReaLLy ExciTiNG}

Familia!

Soooo...false alarm with the baby, girls camp, bobsledding, and marsh is driving?? wow. I want to tell you all about some experiences that we´ve had in the past couple of days. I´m pretty sure I told you about Wilfredo, the guy that we contacted in a Subway. He came to church yesterday with his two kids...Wilfredo jr. and Jotam! I was way excited to have them come. And there was another couple that was there, Rosa and Edwin Acosta. Rosa and Edwin have to get married but they are doing really well and they were happy to be in church yesterday. Edwin and Rosa want to get baptized. They´ll just have to overcome some obstacles, but Rosa is really helping Edwin to stop drinking and focus on their family. They are pretty worried about their money situation, but I told them about the Salinas family in Santiago (who are getting sealed on the 10 of August!).

And then, last night Wilfredo came outside after we had left and told us to wait because he wanted to tell us something. He started into this long story about how he had been in love with a girl a very long time ago, and how she left to the States, but came back a year ago and they came into contact. He ended up meeting up with her in David and they had been talking and even going out to lunch, etc. All this while he´s married with two kids, as well as this girl he is seeing. The didn´t go any farther than that he said but I don´t think he really understands the seriousness of it all. He said that he loved her a lot. We asked him if he loved his wife and he didn´t seem to excited about it. He said he just loves her as a companion and as the mother of his kids, but he needs to develop that love for her. It was a very intense situation. We told him that he had to go inside and tell his wife that he loves her before going to sleep, but obviously we know what we need to focus on with him now...saving his relationship with his wife and helping him understand that he CAN´T cheat on her...

We really felt good about everything. That he feels a desire to be with his family and be a good father. It´s just sad to see people wasting their lives focused on the things that cannot bring happiness. I feel really good about the work we are doing. This past week we had a training meeting in the Chitré zone. We were working on what we were going to teach them until about 3 30 the night before the meeting (let´s just say that there´s usually not a ton of time to sit down and prepare these things). And then we got up at 5 30 am so we could drive out to Penenomé with President. It was about a 2 hour drive. So I was a little tired while we taught but I felt like it was a spiritual meeting. I taught about asking inspired questions to your investigators.

That´s what this change is going to be like...we´ll have two capacitation meetings each week with the zones in the mission to go over teaching principles and talk about the state of the mission. It is actually really exciting. The day to day work here is honestly always different. Sometimes we´re helping missionaries move out of their houses into other areas...because no one else has a truck to do it, or taking missionaries to the hospital at 11 pm. Jeez there´s this missionary named Elder Saavedra that had to get to the hospital as fast as possible a couple of days ago because he wasn´t really breathing and he had severe pain in his kidneys. I was honestly scared while we were driving there...but when we got there, turns out he was fine. But he had tons of tests and a 3,600 dollar stay. Haha it was fun...but i don´t think he´s happy about all the tests they had to do...kidney tests...I´ll let you use your imagination.

Anyway, back to Wilfredo. I felt as we were talking to him that Christ really did suffer for what he was going through and that he could make things right if he really wants to. He just has to repent.

I love the people in our area. Sure wish we had more time to teach them but I like the routine here.

Love you all!

Elder Henrie