{ReaDy To WorK HaRD}

Hola fam!

This week has been really awesome! We had a stake activity (put on by the missionaries) on Friday night. We had a game night and later a drama put on by the missionaries. It turned out really well! I was worried because it was supposed to start at 6 00 and at 6 NOBODY was there! haha but we knew that everyone was thinking 6 00 panamanian time which is usually half an hour to an hour late. It turned into a great night and there were lots of people there. The stake president and our Bishop really liked it. So that was definitely a good experience. Jose Remice showed up yesterday with a white shirt and tie on! He was lookin guapo! Unfortunately he couldn`t receive the Aaronic Priesthood because we had a combined class the third hour in church. But next week we`re good to go....

I can`t remember if it was this week or last week that we gave their son a blessing and i don`t remember if i already told you about it...but yeah Luisito was sick with a fever and Oderays asked us to give him a blessing. After the blessing she was crying and the next morning Luis was up and ready to go...he was kind of mad because his mom didn`t let him go to school! That was a good experience with the priesthood.

Ok there was a HUGE spider in our house on tuesday night. Spiders honestly don`t bother me but i`m pretty sure this one was on steroids! We took some photos and then killed in and roasted in our back patio! I`ll send a picture :)

I think i`ll be staying here in Barrio 1 for this next change and Elder Valenzuela will leave. I honestly feel great about this change. I feel like i realized that i needed to be a leader here to learn how to really care about the other missionaries. I have learned that the example we give is important and i feel like i can improve in that area. I really do love the missionaries here in this zone. They have taught me a LOT!

I love you all and i hope this week goes great for you! My goal for these last months is to go home every night feeling exhausted...lots of work work and work. Love you!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

I was having a tough time last week but i feel reanimated and ready to work hard this change that`s coming. I feel good about the relationship that we have with the bishop and our leaders...our stake president has given us a few good references to work with.

Sounds like you`re super busy with summer stuff :) i`m glad. It`s always better when there`s something productive to do.

Yes...changes this week. It should be interesting to see what happens to the zone because about half of the missionaries will have changes. I feel ready for more time here in Chorrera. I love the members (and our neighbor cooks the best food that i`ve had in Panama) and the recent converts and investigators are great. Yesterday half of our recent converts came to church. It`s sad to say that that`s the best we`ve ever seen in the ward so far but i felt really happy about it!

Love you mom!

ps here`s the awesome spider

{It WaS GreAT To hEAR YouR VoiCeS}

Hey guys!

Things are good! (since sunday) it was great to hear your voices! Can`t believe marsh man sounds like an old man already. But really the only thing to write about today is the experience we had in the temple today...we had planned to go in a rented bus but he called last night telling us that he couldn`t go. So we had to call everyone really late and then some people didn`t show up this morning but it all worked out. I had a good experience there and it really gave me the desire to go to work. I feel blessed to be here learning so much still. I really am excited about these months that are coming. I hope i get to train again within the next couple changes. I think that would be a good experience.

The members here really are incredible. We are going to visit the familia Remice on thursday night. Unfortunately right now none of our investigators are really progressing. It can be frustrating but more than anything i just want to leave Chorrera knowing that I worked hard. The people all have their agency and we have to respect that.

I love you all thanks for your support. Pray for me this week! I need it.

Mucho love,
Elder Henrie

ps sorry the emails short...i have been trying to load photos but this computer doesn`t want to read my card

Hey mom!

It was really great to hear your voice! A lot has happened this weekend that was really needed to get me going again. Like you said there are some tough moments...but this weekend our bishop gave us a blessing, I talked to my family, and we went to the temple! The temple was awesome today! I felt that i need to finish everything that i`ve started...i felt peaceful and like God wants me to make sacrifices in these coming months. I opened up the Book of Mormon in the temple and it opened to the exact chapter that i`m reading in my studies. Alma 62. I feel like it was what i needed to read. I liked Moroni`s excitement when he found out that Pahoran was still faithful and that he hadn`t been a traitor. I realized that i need to keep being faithful and not change track now.The assistants told me that next change might be tough because of the changes but president told them i would be able to handle it. Whatever comes to Chorrera i feel ready to serve and happy to be here. It`s a huge blessing!

Yesterday was good...we met with an investigator named Ozman...he isn`t really progressing but he wants to get baptized haha but it would probably be good if he went to church first don`t ya think?

Thanks for everything mom i love you!I

Elder Henrie

{A ReaLLy GooD MomENT For TheM}

Well...

Two marriages, three baptisms and confirmations, zone conference, and lots of work! It has been a gnarley week...we`ve had tons to do and really haven`t had a break. So we`re going to a sweet lake today in my old area...Barrio Centro. It should be sweet. The baptism went great! We went early in the morning to fill the font and went back at 6 30 to make sure all was ready, and the font was EMPTY! Oh man what a joke...we had shut it but apparently it has a slow leak, how convenient. So we were trying to fill up the font..during the baptismal service which made lots of noise, and we ended up baptizing them in shallow water. haha luckily Valentina and Oderays are really short, but José was a little more difficult. i baptized Valentina and Oderays´ brother came to baptize her and her husband. It ended up being a really good moment for them. And the confirmation yesterday went really well. the members were really happy for them and received them well.

On Thursday at zone conference i saw the sister missionaries who are in Santiago and they told me that the familia Salinas are going to the temple to be sealed on August 2! Haha happy birthday marsh! I am so excited. Elder Chevez was also their and we`re planning on going to their sealing! I`m really happy for them. I could see the familia Remice getting sealed in a year as well. They seem really interested in the temple! Things are definitely moving in the area. the members are excited and really willing to help us. That´s why all the missionaries want to come to Chorrera. It`s one of the stronger stakes in Panama and everyone helps out with missionary work.

Ok..Mothers Day! First off...happy mother`s day mom! I`m really excited to talk to all of you. It`s scares me that this will be the last phone call home because i feel like there is so much to do still! But i know that i just have to keep giving it everything i`ve got to finish happy and content. I think I will have to call around 6 00 pm Panama time because we have church in the morning and y`all have it in the afternoon. Not sure about Skype because it`s sunday and the internet might be closed. I`ll try to see if we can skype from a member`s house if one of them has a camera. If not i`ll just be calling by phone. But either way i`m excited to hear from you. I really do love you all. i always talk about you to my friends here in Panama. Its funny because whenever i see members from old areas they always ask me how my little sister is doing haha Libby`s a star in panama!

I honestly feel blessed to be a missionary. I`m glad that God has given me the strength to do what i know i need to do as a missionary. He`s given me so many good examples that I am able to use as a missionary to get better. I have so many good experiences every week that it`s hard to share them all but just know that i`m loving it...it`s much different than i had expected :)

Les amo!! hasta el domingo!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

i had to tell you about zone conference this week. we bought a hamster to use as an example in our teaching...to teach a point about fear. We asked the missionaries who was afraid of mice and than called one of them to stick their hand in the box with the ´mouse´ inside haha it was super funny. And then we pulled out the cute little hamster. The pet store was kind of surprised when we brought back the hamster telling them we didn`t want it anymore. Needless to say they didn`t give us our money back haha. it was great.

i love you mom!

enjoy the photos. I hope you like the pants i wore to baptize valentina. Jose was making fun of me in the bathroom because they are so short! Oh and i tried to eat the hamster but he ended up getting away...but the photos take forever to load and i`m out of time..

{It"S GoNNa Be CRaZY!}

Wow,

Monday night comes along and we were excited for a sweet family home evening with the family Remice. We got there and sensed something a little tense. We sang and prayed...and all of a sudden it all came falling down. Oderays and José started arguing about tons of things that were going on in their family. I realized why it had taken so long to do their marriage papers. God wanted us to help them with their problems first. Oderays had some problems with José taking one of their neighbors (female) to work in the city...and he was mad about a bunch of other things. It was a very tough moment for me. A very tough lesson. We tried to calm them down and just started talking about simple things...about their family, service, etc. We tried to leave the spirit there and leave them to talk it out. They`ve been together for a long time now and Oderays said they`ve always had these problems. We went back the next day to see how it went and they were still mad. So we committed them to serve each other every day. It was really cool because we were able to just teach them principles that we have learned as missionaries...listening to the whole story without talking first, serving your companion every day, praying together, really simple things. The Gospel really is simple...but like dad said in his email...studying the Gospel and living it is the best way to take care of problems, whatever kind.

So Friday night we visited them with President Ward and had a REALLY spiritual lesson about the Family, a Proclamation to the World. The next day they both went to the city to just walk around the temple and enjoy the spirit that there is there. We`re really excited and feeling like they are moving forward. I have never worried so much about a family in my whole mission. I pray for them constantly..even if i`m just blessing the coco krispies in the morning. They really are incredible and i love them soooo much!

I love you all a lot! I wish I had time to write everything I want to tell you...but one of the things to remember as a teacher is that speaking less is more haha president always says that. The church really is true. I don`t doubt in God`s plan for His children. I love Panama and the Panamanians. I feel like they deserve to have the Gospel. And fear can`t hold us back from sharing it. Honestly I feel like i have needed them more than they have needed me. I realize that I have changed a lot on the mission. I have learned patience, faith, love, humility, wow....so many different things that i needed before the mission. Now it`s all about being constant and trying to put them into pratice.

Mucho LOVE!

Elder Henrrrrry

Mom!

Happy Easter!

I`m really excited for this coming week. we`ve got two marriages, three baptisms, and a zone conference to get ready! It`s gonna be crazy! I don`t even have time to think. Sounds like Marsh man`s gettin buff eh? Tell him that it really doesn`t matter because everyone gets fat on their missions haha no just kidding i`m still stronger than him.

Thanks for everything mom...looks like i need to write a letter to Bishop Brewster now if you`ll do me the favor of sending it to him thanks :)

{I'M JuST PraYINg ThaT mY ShoEs LaST}

Hello family!

This week was great! I feel dead tired haha and it`s nice to be resting today...we are seeing lots of success in the zone and our area is doing great!. We found some great people to teach this week. Last nice we had a pretty sad experience. There is an ex bishop in our ward from russia, Bishop Glebov, and he wanted us to visit his wife because she`s been inactive for quite a while. She`s become confused because of things she read on the internet about the church and has eventually turned cold against the church. We were talking to her last night with her husband and she started to tell us about all the things that were `wrong` with the church. The only thing we could do was testify that the Book of Mormon is true and that by reading it and praying she could clear up her own doubts. She refused to read it. She told us that we would never remember her, talk about just being another number on the quotas that we have, and asked us not to talk about her in our meetings with the members. It made me really sad. I feel like her husband is struggling a lot to raise a good family. He has three little girls and the oldest just turned 8. Tough situation. But the experience really did strengthen my testimony in God`s plan and the importance of agency. We can`t force anything on anyone. I read the other day in the BoM that we are our own judges in the sense that we choose to be happy or miserable...Alma 41ish. She kept saying she felt peace but you could just feel it and see it in her eyes that she was confused and wanted to feel real peace. We had a similar experience with a member that just got out of prision. He had left to another church while he was in prision and it showed in his eyes that he truly wasn`t happy. Really tough moments...when all you want is for people to understand eternal families.

Bueno...on the other hand we did have some great experiences. My comp and I read a talk that the assistants sent us about the importance of challenging people to baptism...so in just about every lesson we`ve been inviting people to be baptized. It`s really been cool to see how people recognize our message when we explain to them our purpose. Several accepted the invitation gladly but we need to fight to get them to church. The Remice Ibarra family is doing good...we are going to turn in the LAST marriage paper today! And then they`ll give us a date for their marriage! Sweet!

I love you all fam! I hope AZ is great! Enjoy the heat because i`m enjoying it here in La Chorrera! I am pretty sure `winter` is coming up soon here in Panama...winter meaning slightly cooler and lots of rain haha it should be good though. I`m just praying my shoes last :) oh and i lost my wallet this week! But luckily it just had my driver`s lisence, copy of my passport, carnet, credit card from home and from the mission, thirty bucks, temple recommend, and photos. Buuuut, one of the missionaries in our zone called last night saying that he found my wallet in a taxi! I was pretty happy!

The church is true!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

Hey mom! Have a great week in AZ! Tell dad to hit a few slices for me on the golf course. Yesterday i gave a talk in church about why we do missionary work, based on a talk by Elder Oaks from the Liahona of September 2009...the talk really just teaches about baptism and the authority that permits us to go to the Celestial Kingdom. There is no other church or organization that can do that. He said that he appreciates the work of other ministries that convert bad people into good people...but that that does not permit them to enter the celestial kingdom. It`s a celestial work and only we can do it! It went well.

good luck with the heat in AZ! Luis Peralta just wrote me a letter from Alcalde Diaz telling me about his baptism and how i had helped him in that decision. It`s good to here that the work you do in one area keeps having an effect after you leave.

Mucho amore,

Elder Henrie

ps here`s the letter Luis Peralta sent me (he`s learning english and speaks pretty well) :)

Hi my frend, I really hope you are ok , I writhe for said take the baptism the 19 of the last month and you help me so much in me decision and give me the confidence I needed, thanks for everything I miss you and love you, be strong, take care, god bless you

{We KePT WalKInG}

Fam!

Ok...lots of cool experiences this week. Thanks for your emails! Dad when you wrote about becoming like a child it made me think about an experience i had yesterday at a member`s house eating lunch. One of the member`s friends was there and her daughter, with a handfull of grapes, came over to say hi (a two year old little girl, really cute) I reached out to shake her hand and instead of shaking my hand i just felt half of a soggy grape in my hand. Haha she thought i was asking for food and was more than willing to share. Elder Valenzuela and I were talking about it after...and how innocent children are, and how willing they are to give of themselves.

The other day we were going to visit another area to meet a baptismal date, and we were running late. Luckily there are lots of awesome taxi driver`s here haha one of them pulled up and told us to get in. He`s a member from a different area, Ivan. He had given us a free ride before and he took us again. Normally it would cost about two bucks to get to the area we were going to (that`s a lot by the way) and he told us not to worry about it. We were thinking he was a less active member. When we stopped he asked us to give him a blessing right there in the taxi. So we did...and i`m not even really sure what it was that he needed. I just remember telling him to take care of his family. And we saw him at church on Sunday! It was really cool...

Ok...another experience. Yesterday was pretty tough. Sunday night`s can always be hard after a week of work and all the appointments are falling...but we kept walking. The last appointment we had was kind of one of those that we weren`t sure about...an hermana named Cuti and her fam. She answered the door and her husband came up and invited us in. Super nice family! They started telling us that they had been having lots of family problems and really needed help. They said that they had almost gotten divorced in the past...several times. It was really cool to just listen to them and understand how quickly the people put their trust in us as missionaries. I dont know if i`ll ever have that blessing so strong after the mission. So many people we teach trust us with their problems and their needs. It was great to share the plan of salvation with them and talk about how family prayer could help change them.

We have a family home evening tomorrow night with the Remice family in a member`s house! Should be great! I feel good about this change! The zone is working super hard and inviting EVERYONE to come unto Christ! There are 36 people right now with baptismal dates in our zone! I haven`t seen that in a zone before in my mission and i feel blessed to be with such hard working missionaries now! The entire zone is solid! President Ward took out a few missionaries that were struggling here in Chorrera and sent us some really strong ones.

I love you all! Thanks for your support! Pray for the Remice family and for Valentina! Love you!

Elder Henrie

Hey mom!

I`m happy in the mission...I feel focused. And i know that God will bless me if i`m dilligent and obedient. I feel like the way i look at things has changed. I was reading about pride the other day and i right that a part of pride is putting more importance in that which comes from the world than that which comes from God. I`m learning to put more importance in Godly things. I love the mission! Rain, sun, all of it. It`s been pouring like crazy this week...and every time it starts raining me and Elder Valenzuela smile at each other and go for it!

Too bad Libby is sick...tell her to get better :) I love you mom and i hope that all goes well on the homefront. Until next week!

thats amore,

Elder Henrie

{TeaCHing TheM ThE WoRD oF WisDOM}

Henries!

So it was pretty fun going to the Remice family`s house and teaching them the word of wisdom the time after we had broken it in their house haha [Tanner innocently drank tea, because the box said "All Natural", and he thought it was herb tea--- see last week] but they accepted and are really excited! They came to Sunday afternoon conference...and Hermana Valentina came to sunday morning`s session. It was really cool. I loved the messages that were spoken. Elder Holland is always my favorite. I think Elder Eyring knew that everyone was waiting for his name, and when he said Elder Holland would be last he gave a little smirk. haha but his words are very powerful. I thought a lot about President Monson`s words about having to cancel sealings. That would be so sad. After so much work to make it to the temple...only to be canceled.

This week has been incredible in the zone! Last month was super low with the baptisms...but this week the zone has been putting baptism dates like crazy! We`re really learning to `invite others to come unto Christ` by helping them get prepared for baptism. We`ve been doing divisions a lot this week...more than i`ve ever done in one week. We went to four different areas to either get to know investigators or put baptismal dates with progressing investigators. It`s been really great. I`ve been kind of exhausted, so general conference was a nice break to rest and learn from the prophet and the apostles.

Unfortunately some of the missionaries have had some difficulties in these past weeks. President called last night and took one of them out this morning. He`s probably going to be sent home. It`s sad to see so many missionaries with so much potential that don`t understand the blessings they are receiving. It`s like the story that Elder Uchtdorf shared about the guy that took a trip, saving all his money until the very end when he found out that everything was included with the ticket...I learned in conference, when the choir sung `I`m trying to be like Jesus`, that i need to put for the effort to love every single one of the missionaries. I had told the missionary that left this morning that he wasn`t going to be happy if he kept acting like that. His comp is one of the strongest missionaries in the zone and i look up to him a lot. His name`s Elder Alley...he`s a super powerful missionary with a great spirit.

I love you all fam! I hope we can all put into practice what we`ve learned in conference. Priesthood session wasn`t quite the same...but it`s super enjoyable to be with a bunch of missionaries and humble members who want to learn. I feel like i`m learning how to learn being here with them. Panama is great! I LOVE this area! I really hope they don`t change us this week! Elder Valenzuela is a great comp and he pushes the work a lot here.

Mucho love,

Elder Henrie

{LovE You ALL!}

Queridísima familia mía,

This week has been great! The change has been going by too fast...and i feel like there`s not enough time to do everything. But that is a good feeling. The familia Remice Ibarra is officially progressing! They gave us the information we need to start taking out there papers for marriage. And Valentina has medical examens with her future husband this wednesday. Sunday was great...Valentina, José, and Oderais came to church. It makes me so happy when people take that step every week. Getting people to church can be one of the toughest commitments sometimes.

I`ve been thinking a lot this week. I feel like we`re giving it everything in this area and honestly i know i´ll end here without regrets. It`s been good to get to know the other missionaries here in Chorrera. So many have so many different things going on in their families. And it`s sad to see that some can`t support it and end up missing out on big blessings here in the mission.

I hope all is well there. I`ve thought about James this past week. We were at a members house a few days ago and they had just barely had a baby boy named Thiago. He has super dark hair and when I saw the way his mom was holding him it make me wonder what it was like for mom holding James. I feel really grateful for the knowledge of eternal families. It is the greatest blessing that there is and i love teaching people about it.

Today we`re going to go to a sweet place called the Chorro...supposedly there`s a cool waterfall so we`ll take some pictures.

Ohhh...this week we had a funny experience. We were teaching the Remice Ibarra fam and they offered us natural tea after the lesson...ok sounds good. I saw the box and it said ´te negro´...black tea. I was pretty sure that wasn`t ok. But the box said natural...so i drank it. I figured it would be good to ask president ward just to know what i should be teaching people. The first thing he said about it was that we shouldn`t drink black tea, green tea, iced tea, etc. Haha so i told him he`d have to forgive me for breaking the word of wisdom. He simply replied, ´well Elder, it`s better to ask for forgiveness than permission` and started laughing. haha but now i`ll be sure to pay closer attention.

Well love you all! Send my love to James and a happy birthday to lib! I need to write her now...permiso.

Love,

Elder Henrie

Mom!

Thanks for the letter! This week was awesome! We`re having lots of success and i feel happy in my area. I hope to stay here next change with Elder Valenzuela...he`s a great comp.

Could you do me a favor and pass this message to Lib? (I guess she can read it now)

Dear Libster,

I can`t BELIEVE it`s your birthday again! You`re six years old already!! I hope you`re not growing to fast while i`m gone haha i want to wish you a very happy birthday and tell you that I love you a lot. Make sure you take advantage of your birthday to get lots of cool toys! I am super happy to have you as a little sister. I have so many good memories with my little sister, mei :) Have lots of fun on your b day and eat lots of junk food!!

I love you!

Elder Henrie

{We FouND An INCrediBlE FaMilY}

What`s up fam?!

Man lots of news this week eh?! I can`t believe Matt`s home already...i found out last night (Elder Johnson told me). Honestly I wasn`t too worried because I know God protects His missionaries haha. That`s super hard with everything going on in Japan. I`m sure it would be difficult to see so much damage in a country you have served in for so long. This week has been awesome! We are working on getting Valentina and Rodrigo Castro married so Valentina can be baptized! She`s super awesome and she`s starting to gain a testimony.

We found an INCREDIBLE family last week! They were a reference from some elders in our zone. They are called the Remice Ibarra family...not married but we`re going to talk about that tonight. Oderais, the wife, was invited to church by her brother in law in San Miguelito and she and her husband, José, really liked the meeting. We`ve been visiting them and they both have prayed already about Joseph Smith...Jose said that he felt relieved when he prayed. And Oderais said she had a really peaceful feeling come over her. We`ll be working on them and Valentina for the 16 of April! They are such incredible people!

I`m really excited about the work here in our area. Unfortunately our zone is suffering a bit but things will pick up in April. I`m super excited for conference too! My second conference that i will see in the zone of La Chorrera.

We went to the temple today (that`s why i didn`t write yesterday, we changed p day) and it was a much needed experience. I had a few things on my mind and i feel good about everything now. One of my goals for this year of the mission is forget completely about myself. I feel the need to focus more on the people then myself. I learned something in church this Sunday. I was frustrated with the way some of the missionaries were acting in the zone...and the teacher in priesthood class said something that caught me. He said that every single missionary, no matter who they are, is a special person. I know that as missionaries we have so much potencial and it`s said to see it wasted by some who just don`t want to leave behind the old life.

We`re working hard! I`m tired and I feel good about the work that we are getting done here. I feel like at last we are starting to see the fruits of hard work and obedience.

I love you guys! I talk about you with all the investigators. Last night I talked about the great example I have for a Dad to a new family that we found. I know you have all taught me what i need to do on the mission and i`m trying to put it into practice. I`m happy...really. I am starting to understand so many things in a way that I never thought of before coming to Panama.

Mucho amor,

Elder Henrie

Hey mom!

Yeah crazy that it`s my birthday already! I remember last year just sitting in the house in El Empalme feeling weird on the morning of my birthday. Elder Poli made french toast that day haha. Things are really good in our area! I love it! I would like to be here with Elder Valenzuela for another change to see a few baptisms...

Thanks for everything mom. Tell Matt Palmer I love him if you get the chance. I`d love to know how he`s doing! Still can`t BELIEVE that he`s home already!

Well mom i love ya!

Elder Henrie

{It'S TouGH buT I LoVE iT!}

Hey fam!

Crazy week. I heard about the earthquake in Japan and was just worried about Matt over there. But i wasn`t too worried because i know God protects His missionaries. It`s good to know that they are all alright, but i`m sure the Palmer`s were going crazy! Matt finishes up his mish this month! It`s crazy how fast it has gone.

This was a really good week! We had about 16 people that told us they were going to go to church on Sunday. Well...none of them came haha. It was kind of just funny in the morning as we were walking around to pick people up. I told my comp that it was like the apostles at the start of the apostasy...one by one they were killed. But we got to church with a few less actives (cool story about that, hopefully i`ll remember to tell it while i`m writing) and i was just praying that someone would show up to church. This lady named Valentina showed up with her husband (member) and her kids! It was really cool! We`re excited for her and hoping she will progress. She`s a really humble woman and said she wants to get baptized. We just have to make sure she`s married.

So, the last active story. We were going to an appointment saturday night and we were pretty excited for the appointment (with Elizabeth and Abraham) but we saw an old couple sitting on their porch. I felt the small prompting to talk to them and so we headed over to contact them. Turns out the sister (Hermana Ortiz) is an inactive member and her husband is not a member. We went into their house and found out that she didn`t go to church because of a conflict with another member (classic story eh?) so we talked about forgiveness and invited her to church. Before agreeing to go to church...she asked us why we had stopped. She said that if we told her why we had stopped that she would go to church. We told her simply that we felt the need to talk to her because that`s what the Spirit said. She said the closing prayer and thanked God for sending us to her house. The next day, Sunday, there she was at church! It was a really great experience. We`ll see if we can start teaching her husband, Elias.

We also had a crazy experience at our house. One morning i was by the back door and i thought i heard something fall on the back patio. I went outside and there was a HUGE iguana in our backyard! It was gnarley! We think it fell in and it didn`t really have a way to get out. But one of our neighbors caught her and we`re pretty sure that they had a nice little barbecue hahaha. Oh and we saw a sloth yesterday on the telephone line...they call them ´lazy bears` in spanish. They move soooooo slow it was almost boring to watch it! But i`ll try and send some pictures of the iguana :)

Well fam i love you! Thanks for all your support. We had some tough situations with missionaries this week but everythings picking up. life is good in the mission. my companion is great and the work is moving. It`s tough but i love it!

Mucho love,

Elder Henrie

{I ReaLLY Do LovE TeaCHiNg PeOplE}

Family!

Yes, Elder Valenzuela is from Peru...but everyone thinks he`s from Venezuela because of his name. He`s a super awesome missionary! And we`re both zone leaders here in Chorrera. We came into the mission on the same day, so we`ll be leaving together (obviously). He`s got a good spirit and we`ve been working really hard. It makes me feel kinda bad that Matt`s had some tough, lazy missionaries. We`ve got a couple of those in our zone. We went to Panama City twice this week for meetings but this coming week should be more or less normal. Panama is currently celebrating `Carnavales`...the most wicked party that there is on the western hemisphere. What a disater. Elder Valenzuela and I were walking on the street the other day and this drunk guy came walking up to us, stopped for a moment, and then just started puking in the street! What a sight! He was heaving super hard...i guess that`s what we call `true happiness`. Yeah it`s pretty nasty here...but we`ve kept out of any dangerous spots and we`ve avoided the water (the tradition during this time is soak people on the street with buckets of water).

This week we`ve had some really great experiences this week. We`re working a lot with the familia Serrano (a member family that I worked a lot with in Santiago!) They are an incredible family and they are giving us lots of references! We talk Hermana Serrano`s neice, Elizabeth, and her son, Abraham. We`re probably going to invite them to be baptized when we go visit them on Wednesday. Elizabeth read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and said afterwards that she really had a strong desire to keep reading. She said she felt really peaceful when she reads it. The problem is her mom...she`s super catholic and critisizes her for investigating the church. She`s a really great investigator though.

Yesterday we had a really good experience as well. We were working in the afternoon and it was SUPER hot! Nobody really seemed that interested but we met this guy who was reading the paper outside of his house, Hermano Abrego. He let us in even though he said he was Catholic and had his own views (we had to insist a little bit ;))...and we invited his family, his wife and two daughters, to listen. The paid a lot of attention during the lesson and when we described the First Vision the spirit was really strong. the mom said she would have questions for us on Friday when we return! Awesome family!

I`m reading right now in Alma, and this morning I read about when Ammon was teaching Lamoni. Noticed that he really teaches him according to his needs and he serves him to gain his confidence. Hopefully i`ll be able to improve teaching to get to be more like him. I really do love teaching people. It`s super fun! I wish I had more time to be here in the mission with these great people but God only gives us two years here...but he knows what`s best! We`ve been working hard these past few days...i`ve been getting home completely dead and it`s a great feeling! Saturday we fasted but we realized that we didn`t have lunch on Sunday, oops. So we ended up eating corn flakes and gatorade in the house to break the fast. But all in all it`s been a great week.

I love you all! Send Matt Jackson my love and tell him to keep pushing. The standard of the mission panama is `Forever Strong`! The church is true!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

I hope trek planning is going well. Honestly I don`t have any good ideas for it. If you want it to be really tough...you can have them all be missionaries for three days! Haha...wow you`re right i do put `haha` like every line on the emails eh? Oh well...mom my companion is a stud! He`s super obedient and hard working. This morning was super funny. We woke up super tired (as usual) at 6 30...and he`s like `6 30 already?! I`ve been waiting forever!! Let`s do our exercises!!` He`s great.

Tell Bry hello for me...and if he misses his mission, let him know that Panama is the world`s best mission so he doesn`t really know what he missed out on haha!

Love you mom!!

Elder Henrie

{i'Ve GoT a Lot TO dO}

Henrie`s!!

Well it was a really great week! I got transferred from Alcalde Diaz...and they sent me right back to La Chorrera!!! Sawweet! I`m not in the same area as i was before, if that answers your question mom, but i`m really close. And i already got to go to my old area to do a baptismal interview on Friday! I saw a lot of the people there that i had taught and some of the old ward members. It was cool to see Ricaute, a young guy that we had taught that got baptized when i left. But it was kinda tough to see his brother Luis, he was also going to get baptized but when i had emergency changes from Barrio Centro he got drunk and he`s still having problems with the word of wisdom. He looks a lot more sad than he was when i left.

But i love the new area, it`s called Barrio 1. My comp is Elder Valenzuela de Perú. He`s a really good missionary and we`re excited to work here in a stake! In fact, the stake president, Presidente Ruiz, lives basically right next to us. And the members are great. They`ve already asked us when they can leave with us to visit references that they have and everything. It`s really different being in a stake than a district.

That`s weird to hear that Marsh is already well into school...today the kids enter school in Panama. It`s kind of a crazy day. my comp only has three weeks in the area so he really doesn`t know where anything is and me...much less. But we`ll have a good time figuring stuff out. Mom, with respect to your questions, I think we have 190 missionaries (meaning 95 areas), 13 zones, 21 missionaries in our zone, and a partridge in a pear tree. I don`t think it`s common for a missionary to go back to the same area but i know it happens every now and then in special cases.

We haven`t had too many crazy things happen yet in Barrio 1. Our zone is pretty good. The majority of the missionaries understand their purpose in the mission. I feel like i get to understand that purpose more and more as the time goes by. I heard from a lot of return missionaries that once you finally figure out what the mission really is and you have the experience you need to be a good teacher and do what you need to do...you have to leave. I`ve only got eight more months here in Panama and i`ve got a lot to do. I love the Panamanians. They are like my family! I told this family yesterday that their daughter Rose reminds me of Lib. She`s five, going on six, and loaded with energy! haha

Dad i really liked the letter you wrote me, especially this quote:

´´Too often we go through life with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the horn, anxious to let others know when they have erred in some way.``

Very true. I`ve noticed that I do that as a missionary. I think i focus sometimes on other missionary`s weaknesses without really looking at the small things that i need to work on to be 100 percent obedient and hard working. I think i really am starting to understand obedience better in the mission. You can just keep the rules because they`re rules. You have to do it because you love God and the people and because you really want them to feel the spirit that we have so that they can make covenants with God.

I love you all! Any news on my nephew wolfgang?? I hope you`re all well! The mission for the week has set this goal...olvídese! (Forget yourself) and i really want to work on that. That`s what the mission is about!

I love you...the church is true. Keep the commandments and God will bless you, and me. thank you for everything you do!

Mucho love,
Elder Henrie

Hey mom!

Wow that`s great that Steve`s out on the mission again! He`s going to have so many great experiences! Marsh drove yesterday?? In panama that would have been a SUPER steep ticket. I talked to a kid who drove when he was fifteen and he had to pay several hundred dollars haha ooops. But the driving age here is 18...that would be lame. But I think it`s also legal to drink when you`re 18. Sweet...here`s a car, and a beer...good luck.

Ok sidetracked. Well mom I pray that you`re doing well. I`m not sure if you all hide any tough things that happen in the family because it seems like your always doing well.. But i know you will all be passing through trials while i`m here in panama and i hope you have the strength to get through them. The trials i`ve had in the mission have been intense at times and really i`ve had moments when prayer is the only option left. But it works :)

I love you mom!

Elder Henrie