Week 94 (March 05, 2018)

This week was another solid week. We started out pretty well finding some sweet new families to teach on Tuesday, but then they went on vacation so we couldn't teach them the rest of the week. But one of them was way awesome! We were walking around trying to find new people to teach and weren't finding anything. So we decided to say a prayer and ask for guidance. So we prayed and after the prayer we thought about what door to know on. My comp said something and I just looked at him and said, "we need to knock on this pink house in front of us." So we knocked and a lady came out and let us in and we blessed the family and the woman cried and the spirit was strong and we put return appointment. When we went back we talked for a minute and the lady mentioned to us that she talked to her son about the visit we had. (side note, her son is very catholic, they have an entire wall in their tiny house dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus AKA divino niño.) So the lady said that her son asked why she let us in. The lady said she is receptive to all religions even the Jehovah Witness, but every time someone comes in she talks to them outside on the street. Nobody ever gets let in the house. But she let us in. And then she felt the spirit and she knew that we weren't just any church, we were something special. She also accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson. But then they went out of town so we lost contact for the week. But they get home tomorrow so we will see. 

On Saturday we had a baptism. We finally baptized the head of the house of the kids. The grandpa got baptized!! It was crazy awesome! He has been reading his Book of Mormon and learning all about the plan of salvation, I think he has read the pamphlet like 7 times. So he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Now there are 9 in the family that are members and still a few to work with. This family is awesome!!!! Just this morning my comp and I woke up at 5 am to go help 2 of the youth in the family get to seminary. We showed up at 5:30 and they both were awake, showered, dressed, and ready to leave. They are way more dedicated than I ever was!!! Its been great to see them progress and learn an change. 

Also this week we had a zone conference. As a mission we have been baptizing a lot of people. Now the mission president says we need to slow down on the baptizing of people, and focus on the baptizing of complete families. So we have really put a focus on in the area of how we can find families that have non members, and how we can find, teach, and baptizing parents with their children. Its a drastic change but it needed to happen if we want to grow the church here in panama. 

Anyway I think that is it for the week. Hope all is well back home, its been cold here lately as well. And by cold its still hot I'm just accustomed to the heat. Love you all!! 

Elder Hamblin