{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

{I SmiLeD ReaLLy BiG}

Hey fam!

Happy fourth of july! And dad...Happy birthday! Can´t believe you´re so old already haha. Just kidding. So this week has been super busy but we´ve been able to have some really good experiences. We had changes on Wednesday...meaning we´ve been going to bed around 12 and waking up at about 4 or 5 each day...there are people to pick up at the airport, people going home that we have to take to the airport, lost bags, buses to call and pay, meetings to prepare for, training the new trainers, haha the list goes on. A lot of really good missionaries went home this change. Elder Derek Johnson left, and also Elder Cook...one of my favorite missionaries. Elder Poli goes home after this change...really sad about that. So I think things will calm down a little more. This week we will be going to Chitré to have training meetings with that zone of missionaries. And we have a zone leaders council on Wednesday. I think we will try to do divisions about three times a week and try to work in our own area at night time.

Last Saturday we had a sweet experience in Subway. We took some missionaries out to their lunch appointment after helping some other elders move, and then went to buy Subway. This guy came up to us and started talking to us about how his mom is a member in David...so we asked him where he lived and if the missionaries could visit him. Turns out he lives in our area, right next to the church. We visited him that same night and was a really positive guy. He has read a ton of the book of mormon! And he really wants to know if it´s true. We´ll see how he progresses. He´s name is Wilfredo and his son is also named Wilfredo. They are really nice guys!

Today I went to get my license...and when I went to take the photo i made a goofy face to see if I could get away with it. About ten minutes later they called me up and told me I had to do it again. So I smiled really big so they would take it with the hole under my tooth haha and then they made me do it AGAIN! But the third try is the charm :) and i talked to a really cool guy named Abel in line...so it all worked out.

The office is sweet! I love the members and I love the city! I´ll try and get some cool photos for you all because there are really cool things to see here and lots of great people. It is cool because you go from super rich areas to super poor areas in about five minutes. One of the more dangerous parts of our area is called Viejo Veranillo...and the people there are super humble and really nice.

That´s pretty much my week so far. Dad I hope you have an awesome birthday. I´m thinking about you a lot. I feel like i´ve been trying to develop a lot of characteristics that i noticed in you before i came out here...like not criticizing anyone, working really hard, and being happy around everyone. The mission is great! It´s hard, but we have sacred experiences all the time. I think that God really is blessing us in the little time we have in our area. He knows that we don´t have a lot of time in our area so He guides us to really prepared people.

I love you all! Mom have fun with the girls! The church is true!

Elder Henrie

{PanaMa CiTy iS ReaLLy CooL!}

FAM!

Ok before I forget...sorry about the credit card charges, but yes, they are correct. I had all my cash with me when I got to Panama city...and it got stolen. I left my bag in the church and someone managed to borrow my cash :) I almost feel like i´m sinning every time I use the credit card...it´s way too easy. But I won´t be getting money until the first of the month, so I hope you´ll be able to forgive some credit card usage. And what makes it slightly more difficult is that we don´t really eat with the members here because we´re in the office.

there was something else that I needed to tell you but I forgot so whatever. Sounds like Europe was awesome! This past week has been hectic. I have been trying to get a driver´s license and we´ve been getting ready for changes. Last night we were in the office until about 11 30 trying to get stuff ready and we´ve been running around today getting stuff ready. There is so much to do in the mission that I never really nocticed before being here in the office. Its really cool to see and it should be a great few changes. My companion is Elder Laider, from Cali. He´s an incredible missionary. He´s had lots of trials in his fam but he is one of the most solid missionaries I´ve met. I´m really excited to work with him.

This last week we´ve hardly had time to work in our area. But we did teach these two really cool columbian guys named David and Odenis. They accepted a baptismal date but they didn´t come to church on Sunday because of work. They seem really humble and Christlike. I´m excited to see them progress.

I love you all a ton and hope that this week is great!

Elder Henrie

Mom!

I´m really excited for this assignment...and probably more nervous than anything. But it should be a great time. That´s really sad about Megan. I remember it being a long fight and I hope that Scott is alright. Send them my love. I remember that about him helping our family when James past away. I remember sitting outside that night talking to him on the front porch...really consoling me about things.

Hey so this week part of that tooth that I have came off. I think because there is no root it just has been kind of not doing anything. But yeah I was brushing my teeth and the back half of it came off. Hmmm. I´ll try to get to a dentist this week but I don´t know how much I trust panama dentists.

Panama City is really cool! I love being in the city! And its my first time here. Really different from all the other areas that I´ve had on the mission. It´s actually much cleaner and the people are really cool. I LOVE the members here. We live pretty close to the coast so we have been running there in the mornings. It has been good. And being assistant takes up a lot more time than I would have imagined. I hope that we have lots of opportunities to do divisions with the missionaries this change.

I love you mom! Pray for me! I´m super tired haha :)

Mucho amor,

Elder Henrie

{I ProMise I'lL WorK HaRD}

Family!

Well chelita got baptized! It was really cool. Oderays Remice gave a message at the service, a VERY short message haha, but a message. things are good. Things are also changing. President called last night and it looks like i`m leaving Chorrera to go to the office of the mission. I`m pretty nervous but that`s ok...i think things will be alright. I`ll probably be in there until the end of my mission because i only have three changes left.

Sounds like London slash Paris has been really cool. I really liked my European History class, well not really, but it would be neat to see all those sites. So yesterday for church we got up at five thirty to get ready and go to an area to look for investigators. Ok about 10 people that committed to go, only Ivan Pinto went haha sweet. It was a little discouraging but i really think at least one of the families that said they would go will go next week. Too bad I won`t be there to see Ivan get baptized. I feel really good about this area. Sad that I wont really be able to say goodbye to anyone because I`m leaving suddenly but i feel like God has let me see miracles here in Barrio 1. One of the biggest miracles was seeing the familia Remice get married and baptized. That was super difficult but really rewarding. I pray that they will be able to get sealed one day as an eternal family.

I feel the need to promise you all as a family that I am going to give it my all these last changes. I am going to do everything possible, whatever it takes, to help God`s children come unto Christ. I won`t waste the Lord`s time. There are many things I could have done better in all of my areas but I feel like I`m doing my best. I am definitely nervous about being assitant to the president but just pray that I`ll be able to handle it. I was honestly thinking that this change they would just put me in an area and let me focus on that but i`m grateful for this opportunity to serve. I love you all. I PROMISE that i`ll work hard and LOVE IT!!!

Con mucho love,

Elder Henrie