A Shocking experience!

I wish I had pictures for the "shocking" experience at our house last Friday night, but it was dark, late, and wet. We were about to have a family home evening with the Sister Missionaries and the Montezuma family at our home, including enchilada dinner and a video. While waiting for the Sisters to arrive, I heard a yelp outside, and went to see that the Missionaries were standing outside our gate, looking very scared. One of the Sisters, Sister Vroom, had tried to open the gate, and had gotten an strong electric shock when she touched it, Being wet and standing in the rain did not help. The other Sister missionary, Sister Herrete, was waving her arms and saying "don't touch the fence!". I took her umbrella, which fortunately was plastic, and opened the gate, all the while with sparks jumping from the gate. She was ok, but really shook up, to say the least. I looked about the fence, the wires from the power pole above, and could not see anything. Plus, I had been going out the gate all day earlier with no such problems. It was about 7:30 pm. A couple of the boys of the Montezuma family had a great time with their machete, touching the fence and seeing the blue sparks jump on the blade! We called the electric company, telling them it was an emergency, as I had seminary students coming the next morning, and that we couldn't get out, nor anyone come in. I couldn't believe it when they got here by 9 pm. Unfortunately, a frog had touched the gate, and was stiff on the fence, electrocuted it seemed. I tried to kick it off, but it was frozen on the electric fence. The worker saw that and backed off, not wanting to touch the gate. Well, they went to the electric box, which is a cement box surrounding a metal liner in front of the house, not at all protected from the elements. Apparently, some tape had been used to hold a couple of wires together, and the rain had soften the tape over time and had fallen off that evening. The wires touched the metal liner, the liner was touching the gate, and the gate was electrified from the power pole!! Luckily, Sister Vroom was not hurt, but the frog wasn't as lucky. Thank heavens that Sister Vroom was not hurt, but also had the shock that probably protected our seminary students, or me, the next morning, as I would have never known. By the way, after the fence was back to normal, the seemingly electrocuted frog moved off the fence and jumped over to the corner of the yard. I am sure that he must have been thinking "Whew, what a night!"

Diiner after the shocking experience. Sister Vroom is the American with the big smile. She looks just fine, and we are glad. The other is Sister Herrete, little Albert at the end, Moises, Mariella, and Isodoro. Their Dad was supposed to come, but was late from work, and decided to stay home and rest. We enjoyed Lynda's enchiladas, refried beans, corn, and quesadillas. The Montezuma kids had never had enchiladas, and the Sister missionaries were very happy! Great job, Hermana Presley!

Busy times, a Seventy, and Panama City

 It has been busy these past 10 days. Last week, with just a day's notice, we were asked by the mission president, President Carmack, if we could provide breakfast for a special conference meeting with Elder Ochoa, a member of the 2nd Quorum of Seventy, and 55 missionaries. Since we are on call 24 hours a day, we jumped into action, along with the help of our sister missionaries and our Ward Mission Leader and prepared some good food. Below is Elder Ochoa with Ramil, our ward mission leader, who is also preparing to go on a mission soon. Elder Ochoa will be speaking in the Sunday afternoon session of this coming October General Conference. He and his wife are wonderful people and we had the opportunity to speak at length with them.

Outside our front door is this beautiful Orchid plant. When it blooms, the orchids only last about a day, and they are spectacular. We had to get a picture and share this with you.

On the other hand, this is the "main" water line in front of our house. It is a 3/4 inch pvc pipe that runs on top of the ground for miles and is supposed to bring water to the homes from the city. Well, it is a challenge to say the least to have consistent water. These lines are brittle, and break everywhere, with water squirting out into the grass and jungle. Even visiting the city water services doesn't get them out to fix it. So, with some trusting electrical tape, I wrapped up the holes and cracked pipe and did my best to fix the leaks....for now. I wonder how many of these are happening. No wonder it is hard to get water into the house. 

This week we had to drive to Panama City, about a 7 hour drive. We had to go to the US Embassy and the Minister of Relations to get some paperwork done so we could get Panamanian driver's licenses. It is quite an ordeal here to do this. Not only do they have to certify our current CA license, but then you have to pay 50 dollars for each of the notary signatures at the Embassy, then drive across town to the Ministry and pay $10 dollars and wait 3 hours for their certification of the Embassy seal! The drive, the gas, and the hotel stay is also part of our expense to do this. But if we don't within 90 days of being in the country, we could be put in jail if we drive without the Panamanian license. So,it is worth it! Hmmmm, maybe the US should take note about some of our "visitors"....

Join us as we travel to Panama City. We drive along the Panamerican Highway, which is not the "highway" you would imagine. The first 200 miles is a two lane road through beautiful jungle, small towns, and countryside, and not well maintained. But as well get to the second half, it opens to a modern type freeway.

When we get to Panama City, my blood pressure goes up as we hit traffic and driving habits that are frightening, to say the least. Road signs and directions are confusing, and you have to watch 4 directions at the same time, as cabs, buses, and cars all fight for the same space, with little courtesy, other than horns honking to let you know they are coming at a fast speed. by the way, if you look closely in the background, you will see some familiar Golden Arches! This is a view from our Hotel Window

We stayed in a brand new, 1 month old, very modern TRYP Hotel, by Wyndham. It actually had carpet on the floor, the first time in 3 months we have felt carpet under our feet! Lynda got a chance to catch up on some reading and relax for a few moments in between going to and fro in the city. The great thing about this hotel is that it is only 5 minutes from the Panama Temple, and backs into one of the largest malls in the world, the Allbrook Mall.

On top of the hotel is a large swimming pool. The lounge chairs are sitting in about two inches of water, so you can relax and stay cool.The other part of the pool is deep for swimming. You can see downtown Panama behind me. I do my best to stay out of that crazy place. It makes New York and LA seem easy in comparison.

Well, we hope you are enjoying sharing our mission with us through the blog. We are enjoying serving here, learning the culture, and loving the people. It is an experience, or rather, an adventure, like no other. We miss family and friends every day, but know that we are doing good works, and are grateful to be able to do this together. Don't forget to write us once and a while!! dpresley90712@yahoo.com is our email.
Chao for now!

Boquete Branch Talent Show

 Thanks to the sister missionaries who organized a branch talent show, here are just a few of the pictures and activities. When these things go on, there is a tendancy to take a few tooooooo many pictures. I hope this gives a good taste of what we enjoyed.

First, we were asked to open the show singing. We decided to sing "If you could read my mind", since that is what we sang 42 years ago as we began dating. Ahhhhh

Hermana Presley with a couple of members enjoying the show

Some other members of the branch, including our branch president in the foreground

Batman had the nerve to attach a missionary!

it wasn't pretty

But we ended Super Friends!

the full time missionary team in Boquete, Hermana Vroom, Hermana Herrete, and the Presley team!

our master of ceremonies is also one of those who works on cruise ships and does those crazy towel animals. What a fun talent to share!

A missionary play of the talents. I was the talent giver!

Our youth dancing in their poodle skirts made by Hermana Presley

The dance youth group of the branch

the poodle skirts. The girls were so excited to have these for their own. No one in Boquete, and maybe Panama have these.

2 months with friends and beach paradise

We have now been in Panama for two months. We are still getting to know alot of things about the country, people, and places. But it is a wonderful place to serve a mission. I thought it would be great to share with you some of the friends and fun we are experiencing here in Boquete this past week.

This is Frank Sciaca. He is an American who is from New York. Lynda especially enjoys talking to him, as they share alot of common "personality". He is a good member of the church, and we have had dinner at his home a few times. He is great!

One day we decided to try Plantanos, those oversized looking bananas that are in abundance here. We liked it so much that Lynda decided to fry some, then put the pieces into a vanilla cake and bake it. It was wonderful, and we shared it with several members, who thought it was a great invention!

The youth are on vacation this week, so the branch decided to take them to the beach, about an hour away. As a member of the branch presidency, I just "had" to go and support them ;-). After driving on the main highway for about half an hour, we turned off and started the second half hour on a jungle road of rocks, mud, hills, and valleys. Good thing I have a 4 wheel drive! I have never driven to the beach like this!!

Where are we? This is the beach? And they said it was a private beach. I was a bit worried.....

Never judge a book by it's cover, they say. It was as if we came into paradise. There were cabanas with hammocks, tables and chairs, and no one else on the beach but us. The water is incredibly warm and calm (and salty), and the beach was clean and beautiful. Tourists would never know about this place.

The members had us wear some traditional beach hats, and we just couldn't resist. 

Lynda at the beach, with Sister Bram in the background, the seminary teacher, and the cabana site.

My bathing beauty!

some of the youth of our branch. They are a great group of young people, and we just love them. They are all at our house at least weekly.

Yep, there are Monos (monkeys) in the jungle trees all around us. They love to yell and make a lot of noise.

I had to get into the water as well and do my part in carrying them on my shoulders. That's me with my back to the picture with Anna on my shoulders.

The youth tried hard to include me in their shoulder walking. I've got to say that I felt my age the next day!

This is the Montezuma family.We especially love these kids. They are pure Panamanian, and live in very poor circumstances. We are building that house out back for them. On the way back from the beach, I asked if they had ever been to a Subway, and they had never even heard of such. I knew there was one on our way home, so Lynda and I treated them to their first experience. (there is only one Subway in all of David, none in Boquete). It was so fun to see them select their food. They were overwhelmed! They never get to eat like this.

Have you ever seen a 5 year old like Albert enjoy a sandwich so much! He also ate two big hamburgers for lunch at the beach, and finished off this 6" ham sandwich, cookie, and soda (refilled as well). Where does he put it all?