Elder Jayden Hamblin: October 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017

Week 76 (October 30th, 2017)

This week was solid. Working hard, conferencing hard, no baptisms but my comp and I did have 3 confirmations on Sunday, as well as the elders we share the branch with had 4, so in total we had 7 in one sacrament meeting and it was so sweet!! We got to cancel the intermediate hymn!! I also had the opportunity to confirm all 3 of them. I couldn't believe how different that all of the blessings were, definitely guided by the spirit to say specific things in each blessing, it was great!!

This week we had a service project, we picked up garbage on the beach. Which means that I got to go to the beach!! I've never been there before but I got to go!! We picked up garbage for only an hour and it began raining so we went back to the church for lunch and played a little soccer in the mud.

This week I had a pretty great string of baptismal interviews. They were in the same house but they were great. The first one was a guy whose parents are members, but they went inactive when he was young so he never got baptized. His name is Nefi, or in English that would be Nephi. So that was just really cool to meet and interview someone named Nefi. Then his little cousin went next. They brought her over and set her on the stool and in Spanish said, "this is anna, shes 8, she doesn't speak Spanish." And they left. So this little girl is from the islands in panama where they speak a different language, lucky for me, and her I guess, I have been learning this language for like 4 weeks. So I got to do this entire baptismal interview in a language that I barely speak, It actually went really well! She passed and will be baptized tomorrow! Learning a third language is so much easier than learning a second. I think I have just learned how to learn a language is all. I maybe study this language 3 hours a week. Its called Dulegaya, or Kuna. Its what I've been writing the subjects of my emails in for the past 6 weeks or so. and no it is not similar to Spanish. Completely different.

Also this week i was able to smoke the skin of that alligator from forever ago. It didn't turn out so great tho, but pictures are still attached. It smells so bad!!!!

Anyway i hope all is good! Happy Halloween! That doesn't really exist here. Although i will be dressing up as an LDS missionary for the second year in a row, hopefully that doesn't become a third!! Love and miss you all!!

Elder Hamblin

P.S. GO DODGERS!!!!!

Monday, October 23, 2017

Week 75 (October 23, 2017)

So we had our 2 baptisms!!!! It was great!! On Saturday at 5 they were baptized, then were able to attend our stake conference on Sunday. Their mom is now one of our next baptismal candidates as well as the kid who lives across the street from them. He's 11, and has listened to every lesson we have taught to the two that were just baptized. He attended their baptism as well as stake conference and we are planning his baptism for sometime this week.

This week as I mentioned we had stake conference, it was great to go and listen to our stake leaders, as well. It was funny to look at our ward out in the city. We come from one of the poorer parts of panama and the city is the rich people but every time I'm in the city I just thank the lord that I was sent to Veracruz to teach the humble people that are prepared to hear the gospel.

Also this week we went to do some service with the other elders and the guy asked us if we knew how to climb a coconut tree and bet the fruit, so me being adventurous said yes, and well climbing a coconut tree is freaking hard!! I didn't get more than halfway up the tree, and I started on the roof of the house!!!

Also this week we were teaching in a really poor part of the area and we got to a house with a bunch of kids, so we called on everyone that we could. We ended up having 17 people in the lesson, most were kids. Picture attached. We taught the Word of Wisdom and all of them payed attention and committed to give up drinking coffee. It was cool to teach so many people!!

I think thats it for the week!! Its been a great one and im looking forward to the next!! Hope all is great at home!!!

Elder Hamblin

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Week 74 (October 16, 2017)

Alright so this week was really quite slow. Everything fell through. A baptism, people coming to church, progressing investigators, and even our P-day. So I think this is a great time to humble ourselves and go to the lord to help us in our work, which is what I intend to do. To be honest this week I feel like I lacked a little but of diligence, but I plan on refocusing everything and maybe changing up the routine a little bit to be more efficient.

Also today has been especially difficult to speak English and I have no idea why, I am struggling so hard just to type this email...

As for positive things from the week, we found a new investigator that will be baptized with his sister, who had her baptism fall through last week.

We had a good P-day, we planned on hiking the mountain again but people bailed on us so we ended up just cooking pancakes at the church and playing volleyball. Not a ton of people in panama really know how to cook so when I do it here I feel like a master chef, even just cooking simple things in the house with my comp like fish and any dish that is Latino. I feel like I am slowly just becoming more and more Latino. Well I take that back, more like the Kunas that live here that anything, I love eating their food and talking to them The Kunas are the natives in panama, and we have lots of them in our area.

Also this week I have started to notice a great improvement in the Spanish of my companion, he acts like he doesn't know anything but he is so much better than I was when I had his amount of time in the mission. He is really learning and picking up on things so fast, its fun to watch!

I think that's it for the week. Hope all is well!!

Monday, October 9, 2017

Week 73 (October 10, 2017)

Alright what a week we had. Found some nuevos, taught some people we already had, dropped a whole lot of people that weren't willing to progress (always sad but has to be done to make room for the people who will progress) Had a confirmation and had 2 baptisms.

This week I made banana pancakes. They sounded good and went great, all the way until I flipped them over and back and turns out all of the bananas just stick to the pan. SO then i changed ideas and made some banana juice called maddun. Basically I just boiled some bananas for a few minutes on a stove I made and drank it. It was bomb!!!

Also this week it was raining one day really hard. We were walking to an appointment and the roads had basically become rivers and so rather than walking in the road I went for the sidewalk and well turns out the sidewalk was just a 4 foot ditch. After i fell in rather than getting out I told my comp to take a picture and although its a little blurry its better than nothing. I hand washed the pants, shirt and shoes that night, and wore all 3 of them the very next day. No harm no foul ehh?

Lately I have really been treating my companion to the panama life, and more than that the life of Verecruz. We eat lots of fish, I cooked a shark on Friday, we sleep in hammocks, we drink weird panama drinks, or sometimes things the natives make. I love training so much. My comp is such a great missionary he always reminds me how I can be more Christlike and i always look at him and wonder if I was ever that young and innocent, I hope I was and at the same time I hope I wasn't haha.

Anyway i think that's it for the week!! Hopefully i have more to write about next week as well as some more pictures. Love and miss you all!!

Elder Hamblin

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Week 72 (October 2, 2017)

Alright so like I mentioned last week I am training. He's a gringo, fresh out of gringolandia and doesn't speak a whole lot of Spanish but is learning quickly. We do lots of language study and I really try to push him to speak in lessons, its pretty fun to just look over and wait for him to talk, he is so wide eyed to the whole thing I really enjoy it.

So we had conference, I watched the entire thing in Spanish, English wasn't an option this time, which was a struggle watching my comp sit through it. He didn't understand a thing. So we are going to watch it in English and then I will send all of my thoughts home on it. As for the priesthood session we bought a 3 gallon bucket of ice cream to share. Pics to follow.

As for adventures this week we kind of kept it low key. Nothing crazy really. I've kind of just been teaching my comp what the panama life is all about between eating fish, getting a little sun burnt, putting baptismal dates, we had 2 for the week but they both fell. We ate liver, drank some weird panama drinks, and I taught him all of the weird panama words we didn't get taught in the MTC.

Other than that I think that's it. Hope all is well!!

Elder Hamblin

*That's my comp when he fell asleep during personal study, I worked him hard the day before.