Hi Family!
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| There are literally no words to describe this week! |
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| History Repeats Itself...this is Elder Doxey's Grandpa Call in San Blas in 1953!! He was serving as a Military Chaplain in the Canal Zone. He and Ladd Black were the first Caucasians to be given permission from Chief Iguandipipi to stay the night on the San Blas Islands. |
Question: Are you teaching anyone new this week on Ukupseni Island?
Elder Doxey: Yes! This week we found a 57 year old man named Otis. He is receptive, speaks Spanish and Dule Gaya and we were able to teach him enough to set a baptismal date with him. His wife is Kuna and speaks no Spanish, only Dule Gaya. The do not have kids, but they do have a lot of family in Loma Coba which was my first area—so it was good to talk to him about that. He knew a lot of my friends there. He is one to pray for.
Question: Anyone else progressing?
Elder Doxey: There is some great news from Irgandi to share. Yesterday a girl we were teaching (named Shaleen) was baptized! She is 10 years old, and really likes the branch. Her mom has a disease and can’t walk, but she (her mom) really wanted to come to the baptism. So, the baptism was held right outside Shaleen’s hut in the ocean. This way her mom could be there. I am pretty happy about Shaleen because Elder Yapias and I started teaching her a few weeks ago.
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| Re-purposing a Fallen Hut |
Elder Doxey: That hut fell down a long, long time ago. For service, we helped make it a usable space again, and sorted all the re-usable bamboo sticks, and long logs to re-build the roof. It was basically a “destroy this broken down thing, sort and stack” project. It felt good to work hard for people.
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| Elder Moss and Elder Doxey |
Elder Doxey: Really well. We have been organizing Family Home Evenings on any day of the week with many families, and showing them the new Christ Child Video. They L-O-V-E it! It is literally like “a premiere” for them. It is nice because they understand it, even though there are not a lot of words spoken in their language.
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| A Family Home Evening #1 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #2 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #3 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #4 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #5 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #5 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #6 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
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| A Family Home Evening #7 ... the "Premiere" of The Christ Child Video |
They all gather around and love to see that Christ Child video. It is a really nice way to leave them feeling the Spirit.
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| The Bridge to Ukupseni...Elder Moss & Elder Doxey |
(NOTE: At this point President Garrett jumped on the Google Hangouts call with Elder Doxey! He said he is doing great and working hard. He loved to hear Julia grill Elder Doxey on the differences between Irgandi and Playon Chico, Spanish and more—super, super fun!)
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| Elder Doxey & Pte. Garrett |
Question: Last week you said you would be traveling to Panama City soon for a big Christmas meeting with most of the mission. How did that go?
Elder Doxey: Actually, it has been amazing to be in Panama City for a short time, to say the least—on several levels. There is so much to explain …
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| Screen shot from our Google Hangouts call |
Getting Here
You will not believe this, but I will try to describe a few amazing experiences. So, the San Blas Zone is the farthest away from the mission office.
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| Half of the San Blas Zone, All in One Place |
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| 7 of the 365 San Blas Islands |
We are far, far out from normal Panama City mission life. For this Christmas Mission Conference, all missionaries are gathering in Panama City. The conference itself is split into two sessions, over two days. The first group has their conference session today, and the second group (mine) is tomorrow. We have been assigned to sing hymns in Dule Gaya, and of course Spanish.
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| Beautiful! |
Gathering up the zone, and seeing each other was no small feat. The plan was for all of us to travel together, so we all gathered at our hut in Playon Chico first. The Elders from Irgandi had to take a 35 min small boat ride to Playon Chico, and the Elders from Ustupu took a 1 hour bigger boat ride to Playon Chico. We all spent the night in Elder Moss and my hut, and left the next morning at 7 am sharp.
The original plan was to have some kind of transportation there on shore to drive us 3 hours through the jungle and into Panama City. Something fell through with that though, and the six of us were told to catch a small plane at the Ukupseni airstrip and fly to Panama City! Expensive travel, but worth it b/c we saved so much time.
Let’s just say missionaries flying around Panama is very, VERY rare. In fact, I only know of a few other times this has happened in recent history (once when the APs had to fly to a small place near the Panama /Costa Rica border, and another time when President Garrett had to go to an obscure place with few roads). So, we knew this was something special.
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| Screen shot from Elder Doxey's video inside the plane |
(NOTE: That runway was built in 1942-ish because it was anticipated that the Japanese would be coming after the Panama Canal and want to bomb it. We think it is the same runway that Elder Doxey’s Grandpa Call landed on in the early 1950s as a chaplain teaching the San Blas Kunas.)
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| Ukupseni Airstrip |
I had an amazing seat right behind the pilot and could see everything he was seeing. I literally took pictures the whole time, and was thinking of John Denver singing, “I’m leaving, on a jet plane…” Ha Ha!
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| My Area, Ukupseni Island (aka Playon Chico) |
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| Barges on the East Side of Panama, Ready to Go Through the Locks |
I can’t really describe what it was like to just be able to turn your head one way and see the Gulf of Mexico, and then another way and see the Pacific Ocean. It was so, so beautiful! We flew right up to the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. There was a huge lineup of cargo ships spread across the beautiful blue ocean.
You could see all the shades of blue, green, deep areas, shallow areas, it was so beautiful! We followed the canal right into Panama City. We pretty well crisscrossed (diagonally) the most civilized areas of Panama, all in an hour flight.
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| Panama is so beautiful! |
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| From San Blas to Big Modern Panama City |
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| The Canal |
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| Bridge of the Americas |
We flew right over the Bridge of the Americas (which spans the canal) and right down to Albrook. I thought we would be landing at the Tocumen International Airport, but we flew to Albrook (the former Air Force Base) where Grandpa Call was stationed—we practically flew right over it, and then landed there in a private, executive airport.
Panama is “Getting Smaller”
One of the first things I did when I got to Panama City was to get a $4 haircut. It felt so good! People wise, it has been really interesting. After we arrived here, I was literally walking down the street and I saw this guy that looked really familiar to me.
As I got closer I realized it was my friend Orlando, a 50 year old from Loma Coba, where I taught him 8 months ago! What are the chances of running into him? He is a construction worker and is on a job in Panama City. We talked and he totally remembered me! I literally remember teaching him in Loma Coba like it was yesterday. I asked how he is doing and he said he is doing great. It was good to run into him!
What We Are Doing Here Right Now
Tomorrow is our session of the Mission Conference, so we are excited for that. One thing we are working through right now is actually a bit of a waiting period before we go back out to San Blas.
Elder Moss (my comp) is getting what we call “emergency transferred” back to Panama City to fill a spot there, so it is likely that I will be going back to Playon Chico with a new companion. So, the office here in Panama City is sorting through all that.
We are here in the mission office in Panama City. President and Sister Garrett are here, the APs, Finance Clerks, Zone Leaders coming and going. It is a busy, busy place. The Internet connection is faster than I’ve ever had in Panama, so I am uploading a ton of pictures and getting all that organized for P-day.
Another issue is our food supply in San Blas. After the conference tomorrow, our Zone is going out to buy our food for the next 3 to 6 months. So, we are in full-scale food planning and food budgeting mode right now.
We have to be prepared to be out there that long because it is well known that in the winter the sea gets rough. It was already rough for the Ustupu and Irgandi Elders to get to Playon Chico. We can only imagine what it will be like in January, February and March. We basically have to plan for nobody able to get to us. This also means it is likely that I will be on Playon Chico for at least three changes...which is a VERY welcome thing!
The mission is going great. I can't believe how fast time is flying. I love it here. I love serving and seeing people progress. I fully realize this is our Father in Heaven's work.
Much love,
Elder Doxey
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