Rafael + Online Leadership Training | Burns | Goodbye Ukupa Leaders Lasimini & Lazaro | Leaving Irgandi | ZL & Ustupu
What a week!
Question: What was so amazing about this week?
Elder Doxey: Last Saturday we spent almost the full day helping the 5 youth we were asked to have ready to attend SOY (like EFY) in Panama City.
It was around that time that I learned of several changes were going to happen soon in the San Blas Zone---one of them was that I would be going from Irgandi Island to Ustupu Island to be a Zone Leader of the San Blas Zone with Elder Richins (who has been in Ustupu for 4 weeks and was my District Leader in San Miguelito, near Panama City). More later on that.
Before sunrise, we had to wake up at 4 am to make sure the Irgandi youth were picked up safely by the panga (bigger boat), and on their way. That panga was making the rounds to other islands, picking up the youth so they could meet up with ground transport and go into Panama City.
So there we were in the dark with Irgandi youth, waiting for the panga to arrive. Finally, we saw the boat on the horizon, but the waves were too big for it to come closer to the Irgandi shoreline. The boat captain circled a bit, but the sea was rough. We were all wishing the sea could calm down, but also did not want them to get hung up on the reef and become shipwrecked. So, they had to just keep going and never could land to pick up our youth! Frustrating. Better safe than sorry I guess. After all that prep, our Irgandi youth will have to wait until next time.
We had church in the Irgandi branch like normal at 9 am.
Corndogs Explode, We Burn
Last Monday on our P-day, Elder Gutke and I had a little cooking accident in Irgandi over our open cooking fire, and unfortunately we both got burned. We were craving corn dogs, so we decided to get some masa, wrap it around some salchicha (like a greasy hotdog) and deep fry it over our fire.
That turned out to be a pretty dumb thing to do, because the hotdog heated up very quickly and then exploded, shooting scalding hot salchicha and grease all over our hands and arms. Painful!
Our good first-aid kits (with burn cream and aloe vera) are with all of our missionary “city gear” (shoes, luggage, most clothes) back in Panama City, so there we were with grease burns and no medicine, no ice, no way to stop the burn, no medical clinic to get relief from the burning.
We emailed the mission nurse some pictures of our burns, and were told to go to Ukupseni Island (Playon Chico), because they have a hospital there. I really didn’t want to do that, (because it is so far) and I thought I could just go into the forest and find an aloe vera plant that would probably be better than what they give me at the hospital.
In the end, we decided the best thing to do would be to get a panga (bigger boat) and go out to Ukupseni to get the burns treated more professionally. When we got there, all they had was a Neosporin-like burn cream. It would have been better to just find an aloe vera plant and cut into it!
Leaving Irgandi
When it came time to leave Irgandi later I have to say I was not too sad, because I know as Zone Leader I will be back there a lot. There is so much movement in San Blas. We get around, and people get around.
When it was time to go, the seas were still rough. We knew because of the rough seas we would not be able to easily get a panga that could take us to Zone Changes meeting point (Ukupseni Island) by the appointed time (and to wait for new companions, etc.) The sea is rough near Irgandi because we do not have outlying islands offshore that break down the big waves—we just get them full strength.
We knew we literally could be waiting for days, and even miss changes. So, we decided to pack up and hike to another point where we knew a panga could safely pick us up, and then have just a 10 minute boat ride to Ukupseni.
Soon enough, we had our 50 lb. rice sacks over our shoulders, and heading on to the trail through the jungle, to a point on the shore where a panga could pick us up. Our burns from last Monday were still killing our hands and arms. We hiked in that jungle for two hours straight, in sandals. Very hard hike, but it was safer than being on rough seas.
Question: Did you have your machete with you?
Elder Doxey: No. It is against the rules to walk around with machetes as missionaries, (we can use them for service, but not just walk around with them like we’re packing a weapon). I did have my good Esse knife with me though.
We came across 2 ft. deep mud, trees with 3-inch thorns on them. Elder Gutke’s sandals broke. Tough hike, but we made it, caught a panga and here we are on Ukupseni Island, getting ready to go to Ustupu Island.
NOTE: The same airstrip that Elder Doxey’s Grandpa Call landed on in 1952 is still there on Ustupu (built in 1942 b/c of threats of attacks on the Panama Canal). It is the closest island to Ailigandi, where Elder Doxey’s Grandpa Call taught Chief Iguandipipi in 1952. Ustupu is a significantly populated, urban-ish island in the San Blas archipelago. The District President lives there, there is a branch president and more. It is one of the most civilized of all San Blas islands.
We are calling you from Ukupseni Island (Playon Chico) right now. I am here with Elder Hadley, who will be going to Nargana! Like I said, getting here was crazy.
Question: What do you know about Ustupu?
Elder Doxey: I know they have a large outdoor basketball court near the branch building, and that Ustupu is a very large island…complete with electricity and plumbing in many places, stores, and more.
Question: What do you know about being a Zone Leader?
Elder Doxey: I know we have 12 missionaries in the zone, four are sisters. I think one of the best things I’ve learned from past Zone Leaders is that we were trusted, and given permission to do what we need to do.
As Zone Leader for the San Blas Zone, it is likely that I will be getting around to all the islands where we have missionaries. I have already been to all of them except Ustupu Island (Carti-Tupile Island, Nargana Island, Ticantiqui Island, Irgandi/Ukupa Island, Ukupseni [Playon Chico] Island).
About a day ago I had an all mission conference, which we attended over the Internet. Elder Brian Taylor and Elder Texiera (General Authorities) did the training. The leadership conference was in the early morning, then we had another conference with missionaries in the afternoon, and then with members in the evening.
The cool thing is that Rafael (in Irgandi) got to watch it with us over the satellite internet connection. One of the key things that was talked about is about helping people set dates, keep commitments and be baptized. I am sure we will be doing a lot more teaching on Ustupu rather than just running the church.
Question: What is the plan once Elder Richins arrives? What is your first job to handle?
Elder Doxey: Tomorrow (Tuesday) Elder Richins and I will head out to Panama City to purchase food for the zone, then we will be traveling (by panga) to the islands where we have missionaries to drop off their food rations for the next three months or so.
Question: Grammie has an idea that you should try to fellowship people by teaching them what you like to cook.
Elder Doxey: The Kunas would take a hard pass on that…they want to preserve their culture, we tried to teach them to cook, and now they make fun of our cooking because we burned our hands!
Word in Irgandi spreads fast because they are all family. After we burned our hands we had all kinds of people coming up to us in the village and asking if we were ok. They totally watch us, and know what we are about.
Question: Who are the men you are with in that picture?
Elder Doxey: That is Lasimini and his son Lazaro in Ukupa. Lasimini is the branch president, and his son is the secretary. He is the guy that caught the barracuda with his fishing line and hands last week on his cayuco.
Question: How are the saltines and milk tasting?
Elder Doxey: Oh, that was a luxury meal we splurged on, so we had to take a picture of it. A store bought meal like that will last us two days on Ukupa. It’s just an amazing lunch.
Gotta go. Much love.
Elder Doxey
 | |
|
Elder Doxey: Last Saturday we spent almost the full day helping the 5 youth we were asked to have ready to attend SOY (like EFY) in Panama City.
It was around that time that I learned of several changes were going to happen soon in the San Blas Zone---one of them was that I would be going from Irgandi Island to Ustupu Island to be a Zone Leader of the San Blas Zone with Elder Richins (who has been in Ustupu for 4 weeks and was my District Leader in San Miguelito, near Panama City). More later on that.
Before sunrise, we had to wake up at 4 am to make sure the Irgandi youth were picked up safely by the panga (bigger boat), and on their way. That panga was making the rounds to other islands, picking up the youth so they could meet up with ground transport and go into Panama City.
 |
| Rough seas |
So there we were in the dark with Irgandi youth, waiting for the panga to arrive. Finally, we saw the boat on the horizon, but the waves were too big for it to come closer to the Irgandi shoreline. The boat captain circled a bit, but the sea was rough. We were all wishing the sea could calm down, but also did not want them to get hung up on the reef and become shipwrecked. So, they had to just keep going and never could land to pick up our youth! Frustrating. Better safe than sorry I guess. After all that prep, our Irgandi youth will have to wait until next time.
We had church in the Irgandi branch like normal at 9 am.
Corndogs Explode, We Burn
Last Monday on our P-day, Elder Gutke and I had a little cooking accident in Irgandi over our open cooking fire, and unfortunately we both got burned. We were craving corn dogs, so we decided to get some masa, wrap it around some salchicha (like a greasy hotdog) and deep fry it over our fire.
That turned out to be a pretty dumb thing to do, because the hotdog heated up very quickly and then exploded, shooting scalding hot salchicha and grease all over our hands and arms. Painful!
Our good first-aid kits (with burn cream and aloe vera) are with all of our missionary “city gear” (shoes, luggage, most clothes) back in Panama City, so there we were with grease burns and no medicine, no ice, no way to stop the burn, no medical clinic to get relief from the burning.
We emailed the mission nurse some pictures of our burns, and were told to go to Ukupseni Island (Playon Chico), because they have a hospital there. I really didn’t want to do that, (because it is so far) and I thought I could just go into the forest and find an aloe vera plant that would probably be better than what they give me at the hospital.
In the end, we decided the best thing to do would be to get a panga (bigger boat) and go out to Ukupseni to get the burns treated more professionally. When we got there, all they had was a Neosporin-like burn cream. It would have been better to just find an aloe vera plant and cut into it!
Leaving Irgandi
When it came time to leave Irgandi later I have to say I was not too sad, because I know as Zone Leader I will be back there a lot. There is so much movement in San Blas. We get around, and people get around.
When it was time to go, the seas were still rough. We knew because of the rough seas we would not be able to easily get a panga that could take us to Zone Changes meeting point (Ukupseni Island) by the appointed time (and to wait for new companions, etc.) The sea is rough near Irgandi because we do not have outlying islands offshore that break down the big waves—we just get them full strength.
We knew we literally could be waiting for days, and even miss changes. So, we decided to pack up and hike to another point where we knew a panga could safely pick us up, and then have just a 10 minute boat ride to Ukupseni.
 |
| Gotta Keep 'Em Fresh, Yet Under Control |
Soon enough, we had our 50 lb. rice sacks over our shoulders, and heading on to the trail through the jungle, to a point on the shore where a panga could pick us up. Our burns from last Monday were still killing our hands and arms. We hiked in that jungle for two hours straight, in sandals. Very hard hike, but it was safer than being on rough seas.
 |
| (Google Images) |
Elder Doxey: No. It is against the rules to walk around with machetes as missionaries, (we can use them for service, but not just walk around with them like we’re packing a weapon). I did have my good Esse knife with me though.
We came across 2 ft. deep mud, trees with 3-inch thorns on them. Elder Gutke’s sandals broke. Tough hike, but we made it, caught a panga and here we are on Ukupseni Island, getting ready to go to Ustupu Island.
NOTE: The same airstrip that Elder Doxey’s Grandpa Call landed on in 1952 is still there on Ustupu (built in 1942 b/c of threats of attacks on the Panama Canal). It is the closest island to Ailigandi, where Elder Doxey’s Grandpa Call taught Chief Iguandipipi in 1952. Ustupu is a significantly populated, urban-ish island in the San Blas archipelago. The District President lives there, there is a branch president and more. It is one of the most civilized of all San Blas islands.
We are calling you from Ukupseni Island (Playon Chico) right now. I am here with Elder Hadley, who will be going to Nargana! Like I said, getting here was crazy.
 |
| Ukupseni Art (Playon Chico) Island |
Question: What do you know about Ustupu?
Elder Doxey: I know they have a large outdoor basketball court near the branch building, and that Ustupu is a very large island…complete with electricity and plumbing in many places, stores, and more.
Question: What do you know about being a Zone Leader?
Elder Doxey: I know we have 12 missionaries in the zone, four are sisters. I think one of the best things I’ve learned from past Zone Leaders is that we were trusted, and given permission to do what we need to do.
As Zone Leader for the San Blas Zone, it is likely that I will be getting around to all the islands where we have missionaries. I have already been to all of them except Ustupu Island (Carti-Tupile Island, Nargana Island, Ticantiqui Island, Irgandi/Ukupa Island, Ukupseni [Playon Chico] Island).
About a day ago I had an all mission conference, which we attended over the Internet. Elder Brian Taylor and Elder Texiera (General Authorities) did the training. The leadership conference was in the early morning, then we had another conference with missionaries in the afternoon, and then with members in the evening.
The cool thing is that Rafael (in Irgandi) got to watch it with us over the satellite internet connection. One of the key things that was talked about is about helping people set dates, keep commitments and be baptized. I am sure we will be doing a lot more teaching on Ustupu rather than just running the church.
Question: What is the plan once Elder Richins arrives? What is your first job to handle?
Elder Doxey: Tomorrow (Tuesday) Elder Richins and I will head out to Panama City to purchase food for the zone, then we will be traveling (by panga) to the islands where we have missionaries to drop off their food rations for the next three months or so.
Question: Grammie has an idea that you should try to fellowship people by teaching them what you like to cook.
Elder Doxey: The Kunas would take a hard pass on that…they want to preserve their culture, we tried to teach them to cook, and now they make fun of our cooking because we burned our hands!
Word in Irgandi spreads fast because they are all family. After we burned our hands we had all kinds of people coming up to us in the village and asking if we were ok. They totally watch us, and know what we are about.
 |
| Lasimini (Ukupa Branch President), Elder Doxey and Lasimini's Son Lazaro (Ukupa Branch Secretary) |
Question: Who are the men you are with in that picture?
Elder Doxey: That is Lasimini and his son Lazaro in Ukupa. Lasimini is the branch president, and his son is the secretary. He is the guy that caught the barracuda with his fishing line and hands last week on his cayuco.
 |
| De Lujo |
Question: How are the saltines and milk tasting?
Elder Doxey: Oh, that was a luxury meal we splurged on, so we had to take a picture of it. A store bought meal like that will last us two days on Ukupa. It’s just an amazing lunch.
Gotta go. Much love.
Elder Doxey
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