{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