I can't believe it has been since December that I have added to the Blog. Shame on me, but it has been busy, working with the members, getting a young man ready for a mission, and trying to tie up a lot of work before we leave. Can you believe we are just 6 weeks away from leaving this beautiful country and the adventure we have shared. Wow! I have attached some more pictures to share some more of what is going on here in Boquete, Panama.
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| Welcome to a beautiful summer Boquete, Panama morning. Several mornings a week we go out our front gate to walk the dogs and and have the Volcano Baru welcome us. We have to walk on the main highway into town, and as you can see, it is a very crowded highway! Lynda is ahead walking Monte, one of the dogs. |
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It is interesting how, in just a few hours, the sky can change and and form beautiful clouds and mists around the volcano and the area. Since it is pretty hot here, usually around 95 each day, the mist and clouds are a welcome change to cool us off.
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We had a great branch Chrismas party, and we were able to continue one of our favorite traditions by singing O Holy Night . We were able to find the song in Spanish, so we sang it in both languages. It was a wonderful experience.
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Hermana Presley and Hermana Sanjur, our primary presidency, led the primary children in the Christmas story. They all did so well, and were so very cute in their costumes that Lynda made.
Here is another picture of the Primary. Hermana Sanjur is alongside Hermana Presley in the back of the group.
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We had some babies born in the branch the last couple of months. The Nez family, an american family who are members here, had their second child at 11:30 pm New Year's Eve. This was the first baby born to a family that was sealed in the temple in this branch. We had to be on call to take care of Abby and get them to the hospital down the mountain in David, 40 minutes away.
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A month later, the Marcusi family had number 7 child, Levi. This is a picture of Dad, Mom on the right, and the oldest child Brinelda, and ONLY girl of the now 7 children. Brinelda was really hoping for a sister, but she is such a great sister to all those boys. This ngobe family lives in very humble circumstances, and we are always glad to help when we can. Here we just got home from the hospital down in David. Mom and baby were there just one day before coming home. It was a real challenge to get her to the hospital on time, since they live in a difficult area. But all is well, and mom and baby are healthy. Great experiences!
It can and will never be any different. Nana Presley is always there to comfort and love the little children. These two are Ruth and Randy Montezuma, who live in the house I helped build the first part of our mission. They are beautiful children, and so independent. Still, they find lots of joy sitting on Nana's lap. I think it helps Hermana Presley with the homesickness for her grandchildren as well...what do you think?
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I think all know from previous posts that we have a special family, the Montezuma family, who live on our property in the house that was built. One of our greatest joys has been to help Isidoro prepare for his mission this past 12 months. He has received his call to serve in Nicaragu, Managua North mission, and will leave next week, Feb 18th. Here we are as he came out of the temple. We admit that is just like sending one of our own children on a mission. While this has been one of our final purposes of our mission here, we also realize that, unlike our own children leaving for a mission and returning to us, we may not see Isidoro again in this life time. What sweet sorrow....it is hard. |
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We have enjoyed missionary talks together. When Isidoro has had questions, we had a very comfortable place to chat, along with Monte the dog.
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During our trip to Panama City and going to the temple, we had an evening free and took Isidoro bowling for the first time in his life. By first time, I mean he had never seen bowling before, and only thought is was an electronic game. He did very well for his first ever time, and bowled a high of 74! It was a lot of fun, with a lot of laughs.
Isidoro is now ready to go. He wanted to wear the plaque, so I loaned him mine for a moment so we would have a picture of what he will look like next week. Boy, we will miss him, and wish him all the blessings of heaven as he leaves to serve his Heavenly Father and the people of Nicaragua.
Being in Boquete as senior missionaries is a blessing. We have been here our entire mission, and see many of the young and wonderful missionaries come and go with cambios (transfers). This is Sister Pula, from Washington state. She is also Samoan, which made it just a little more special for me, being that I had been the bishop of our young adult ward in Long Beach, and was primarily polynesian. Sister Pula served here for 7 months, a long time for a missionary. She went home last week, and before going, we had to have a picture with the island shakla. The only problem, as you can see, is that I cannot do a complete hand sign on my right hand, since I lost my little finger last year in that car accident. We got a good laugh on that. We will miss you, Hermana Pula.
Summer can't be the same without baseball, and I was able to go see a minor league game down in David. It was a good time, and I was able to take Isidoro, his brother Osbaldo, and Anna, Osbaldo's wife with me. They had never seen a game in person, so it was even better. For $3, we could sit wherever we wanted, on some hard concrete benches. We sat 4 rows up, right behind home plate. Unfortunately, our local team lost, but it was still a great place to spend a summer evening.
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One of the more local customs during the summer is burning leaves that fall in the yards, or the high grasses along the roads and farms in the area. We participate as well, and just wanted to show all that we are really a part of the Boquete community, doing our share in the local ways. This is just a couple of days of leaves raked and piled up in our backyard that mainly come from the 3 mango trees in the back yard. You can see one of the trees in the very back of the yard over the house that we built for the Montezuma family. We are going to miss so much of the lifestyle we have become accustomed to here. But we will be so very happy to be with family and friends again.
See you soon!! We leave Panama on March 31st, then travel to all the homes of our children to visit and will be home in Long Beach on April 11th! |
