Safely Home from Panama | Cherished Memories

I'm home now, and this will be the last post about Panama. Looking back at my time there, hindsight is 20/20 and there are many special memories...

Question: Tell me about some of the most memorable people you met in Panama, and what made them more memorable than others. 
Answer: There were lots of memorable people. Some of the most memorable are those I either learned a lot from, those that I introduced the gospel to, or those that I really developed a relationship with because I was with them a lot.

Elder Doxey, Marlon Santos, and Elder Sosa

Marlon Santos: My first convert baptism.

Nicanoir Padilla: An older fellow who lived in very humble circumstances.

My Comp in Some Humidity

Ismael: Really struggled with getting to the point of accepting a baptismal commitment. He had been going to church for two years, knew everyone in the branch, finally got married and was able to be baptized.

Luigi: From San Miguelito, a dad who was a great guy.

Christian in Irgandi: Christian was our “right hand man” and the most active priest-age boy in the branch. He was a big help to us in many ways, especially with fellowshipping and socializing with people in Irgandi.

Youth with Another Octopus...for Dinner

Rafael in Irgandi: A 67 year old man who was my first counselor when I was the Branch President in Irgandi. He spoke Spanish and also Dule Gaya, and was the main church leader in the area (outside of Christian the 16 year old, and the missionaries. We worked with him a lot to prepare to be the Branch President one day.


The Youth in Irgandi: One of the most fun parts of being in Irgandi so long is to see the kids grow, attend church, watch the Book of Mormon videos, sing and more.

Question: Where were your companions from? Are there any in particular that stand out to you?Answer: I had more than 10 companions, over a period of 10 different area changes. They were from Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia, Texas and Utah.

Attitude Problem

One Elder I highly respected and learned a lot from was Elder Hanks. He was a really good example, and I was fortunate to work with him when he was in his last change in the mission. He had been in the San Blas Zone for about 5 months before I worked with him, so I asked him a lot about San Blas. He was very obedient, worked hard, had fun and really knew the doctrine. 

Our Hut 

Question: Of all the mission prep you did before your mission, what helped the most? 
Answer: Well, I took two years of Spanish in high school, so that helped some. I think what really helped was studying Preach My Gospel.

One of the locals making dinner (gutting a deer)

In hindsight, the MTC is a really important place to get your Spanish grammar down—don’t try to speak fast in the MTC—just get the grammar down. I had a lot of help with Spanish from my first companions, who were all native Spanish speakers. I was shocked when they turned the discussion over to me, almost right after I arrived. So, in that first companionship, I really studied hard. I would say phrases over and over (like 100x) until it started to flow.

One thing that really helped me as I was in daily study in the mission was listening to General Conference talks about Missionary Work and Sacrifice, (especially from Elder Holland). I listened to them in English and then Spanish.

A Special Kuna Family

Question: What is some of the best advice you got about missionary work? 
Answer: From President Current (my first president)… “Think of something in your past life that made you really happy, figure out WHY it was so happy and rewarding, and then change that topic into the topic of missionary work. It usually is the discipline and obedience that makes things great.”

Happy Times

Question: What might be considered the “hardest” part of missionary work? 
Answer: Companions with weird or disobedient habits, that are actually distracting to the work at hand. For example, thinking too much about irrelevant things, being messy or sloppy “just because you can” was annoying. I never thought I would have difficulty with things like this. I never thought it would bother me, but it was something I had to deal with.

Colombians buying up all the cocos and plantains the Kunas will sell them

One example that comes to mind is a missionary who felt like things we needed to do (go on divisions, go teach, go find) were “optional”…that if he didn’t want to do it, he didn’t need to do it. He would say, “No, I don’t want to do that.” Eventually this Elder was sent home, but it was hard to work with him on that. Another missionary had a personal policy to never talk to kids, and would say “we’re here to baptize adults” which was the ideal of course, but not very loving or good to kids around.

Magnificent

Doubly Magnificent

Or, we had one missionary who was afraid to ask people to make commitments…she just wanted to wait for the ideal moment to present itself, and would wait and wait, and wait as if some “magic moment” would come. I shared parts of Preach My Gospel to try to help her get over this. Also, when you get your weaknesses exposed it is hard—this is something really important to understand as you go out on a mission.

The View from Our "Bathroom"... the Irgandi Branch has a Red Roof in the Palms (top left)

The key is to always, always remember that the person pointing out your weaknesses is really trying to help you, even though they are tactless in doing it (cutting you off in mid-sentence, correcting every little thing I was not perfect with, etc.)

Playon Chico Branch Building

Question: Did anything stress you out in your mission? 
Answer: Yes. Lots of things, like normal. What I learned is that you can only worry about what is in your control. A mission can be mentally exhausting—you invite someone to church 7x and they say they are going to be there, and reassure you that they really will be there…but then they don’t show up. Another cause for stress is part of anything that is measured, and trying to improve. Measurement of goals reached or stretched for, met or not met can be tricky conversations.

Outside the Irgandi Branch Building

Question: On the topic of mental health, what is it that makes things mentally challenging? 
Answer: For me, it was being on Irgandi for 6 months, seeing three companions come and go, and then being on another nearby island for another 2 months. While I was there, I visited the same 43 huts about 70 times. Then there was the need to walk down the coast and across a river to the Ukupa part of our area. It was a hard hike. I think what “saved me” mentally is to take a step back, and change my perspective by realizing where I was, where I was going, and what I was doing. So many other missionaries are in more challenging circumstances.

Kunas eat a lot of octopus

Question: Any accidents or danger? 
Answer: I was never in the hospital, but I did get burned once when the corndogs we made were dropped in heated oil over an open fire we were cooking on. The corndogs exploded and blasted hot grease all over us. Painful. There were several times when we were in deep water on the boats that the waves were just intense.

I did have to swim once (with a lifejacket on of course) when a cayuco we were in got hit by a big wave (pretty close to shore) and swamped it. It wasn’t really that bad, we just got out and walked on to shore.

Big Storm

Once there was a very dangerous storm that slammed into Irgandi at full strength. In Irgandi, we had no outlying islands or big reefs to break down the big waves, so we just got destroyed in a big storm. Trees were down, houses wrecked, flooding all over. Literally, it was like that hurricane on "Other Side of Heaven."

Question: What is one thing your mom taught you that you found to be really helpful? 
Answer: Well, she taught me how to play the piano, and I never played the piano in Panama. Ha Ha. She also taught me what I needed to know about cooking. I had no idea I would be cooking my own dinner every night, like we did. Seriously though, she taught me the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon.

Question: How would you summarize the types of food you ate?
Answer: A mission is not about what food you eat. We ate normal food, Dule Masi -- often rice, coconut milk, with some kind of wild game food (Toucan, Puma, Sea Snails, Lobster, Blue Fin Tuna, Wild Boar, Monkey, Iguana, Octopus, Crab, Sea Fish, Chicken) that the locals caught. The type of food we ate was typical of the local people.

I'll Never Forget 

Question: What is next in your missionary plans?

Answer: I’m choosing to keep my original end date. I hope Covid-19 will be controlled somehow soon so the Church can call me for another year. If Covid-19 is not under control by this Fall, (or early Winter) it may be that no missionaries are reassigned, or we all are. It’s too early to tell. So, I’m basically a released missionary that is “on call.” Until I am called again, I am going to try to take some Book of Mormon classes at BYU Idaho, the Spanish CLEP test, and more.