Panamapresley

This is a picture of the backyard. We have 2 giant Mango trees out back, and 2 more giant trees in the front yard. Plus lots of room! Don will be helping build a small house under that tree with some members for a very poor family.

This is our pizeta, a very small pool, not much for doing any swimming, but great as a baptismal font!

Our first baptism happened Saturday. The young woman in the white dress was baptized, and it all gets to happen at our house!

Don was asked to help put up a screen barrier to keep out the frogs. They would like to get into the pool!

And when tired, there is a wonderful hammock waiting to rest in!

Lynda loves her Laundry Room! Washer and Dryer, and lots of space.

the front of our house. There are two dogs we get to have as watch dogs. Monte is in the picture, and Bobby is under the garage, not in the picture. Bobby is an Alaskan Huskie, and not as nice as Monte.

This is our Sunday School Class for English Speaking. Frank is on the left, Tina and Richard Swalm on the Right, and Willie in the back. Great group and we hope to make it larger. 

Well, after 2 weeks as missionaries we are unpacked and actually doing missionary work. Baptism last night in our "pool". Yesterday Hermana Braum taught her Sat. morning seminary class in our living room. This home has been consecrated to the Lord's work. The members, especially Hrmna Braum spent many days scrubbing to make it livable, it is beautiful. We felt blessed before we visited 2 member's homes tonight. The Braum's took us with them. The first visit was to the Primary Pres' home. They live in a modest home way back away from the street.The walk to their home was a pathway through the jungle and over a creek.  We stayed there for about an hour inviting the Dad to come back to church. Don helped me understand for awhile but when the spirit filled the room there was no need for translation. It was amazing!! Then I thought that we would go home and cook dinner. WRONG! Let me tell you about the Braum's. They are a couple who have in everyway consecrated their lives to the Lord's church. He was Craig Ward's counselor, pretty sure he will be Pres. Carmack's. They have 2 cars, which is unheard of here. They both pick up kids for early morning seminary and she teaches, as well as Sat. class for kids in this area. She is the YW president. She has boundless energy. They took lots of people home after church including us and then they went home and cooked lunch for the Sister missionaries, and then picked us up to visit families. Julie would love her, she carries a cannon camera with a zoom lense around her neck and makes us stop every 10 minutes to take pictures. Okay, so the second family is our neighbor. He is probably a mile in back through the jungle, yes I said jungle! We could only drive so far, I usually wear hiking shoes for these kind of adventures, but nope, the old birkenstocks worked fine, in a skirt, I might add :). Back into the jungle to visit this humble family who live in a tin shed, cooking over an open fire and washing clothes on boards in the stream. They also drink from the stream and wash themselves. The mom died in childbirth about 5 yrs ago. So I count 4 children. The father offered me a chair, I sat down, didn't matter if it was clean or not. One of the sons was given a blessing because he was sick. We brought his sister back, gave her some advil, a bag of apples, and once again counted our many blessings. It truly was a remarkable day.