Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 26 (Bienvenidos a San Felix)

Buenas!!! Wow, what a crazy week! But, it was super good! Let's just say San Felix is a completely different world!

This week started off with me saying goodbye to all my friends in Samaria. Said, Rosemary, and Angela were all really sad. They were crying, and they all gave me a hug.

Then, early the next day, Elder Buhler and I took all my stuff to Albrook. There we met up with all the missionaries who were being transferred. From there I took a nice 8 hour bus ride to David. It was actually pretty fun. It was one of those super nice fancy buses, so it was a comfy ride. And I got to sit next to my friend Elder Richards. We just talked a lot, and we both slept the majority of the ride. Good times!

Once we got to David, I took a 1.5 hour bus ride to San Felix. It was a lot of travel!

Lots of people bash on San Felix, but I really don't know why. Sure we don't have water. And sure the electricity randomly turns off. But, I actually really, really love it here. It's super tranquilo, and feels kind of like I'm camping. It is just a really big area where there's not much around. It's a mix of jungle, forest, and mountain. Like I said, it feels like I'm camping. This is pretty amazing because camping is one of my favorite things to do. Not to mention that it is absolutely beautiful here, especially the stars. Wow! How breathtaking! My favorite is when the power goes out, because you can see absolutely everything. Truly, what a blessing!

My first day here we went around with a member and established seminary and institute here. It was so cool. We also ate dinner at La Familia Hohosh one day. They are pretty cool. Basically this old american guy and his Columbian wife moved to Las Lajas which is in our area. They are super funny. They also make really tasty food.

Saturdays are really fun here too. A little background on me - I really love hiking and enjoy nature. Saturday is what we call Mountain Day. Basically we take a bus to Oma. Then we walk through the jungle to go teach some people. Then we head over to "The Start." It is where we start mountain day. Hence the name "The Start." We literally just hike straight up a mountain. It's the steepest thing. But as I said, I love to hike. Apparently to hike half way takes missionaries about 30 minutes, and for our friend William who hikes it everyday it usually takes 20 minutes. I did it in10 minutes. Unfortunately, when we got to the top, the people we were going to visit were headed down the mountain, so we turned around. But in 2 weeks I'll get some really cool pics for y'all. So, we turned around to go down. We linked arms with each other, and literally ran down the mountain. A dog started chasing us and nearly killed us. Afterwards, my knees and feet were killing me, but it was way fun! Haha! Also, I don't recommend hiking in the jungle and on the mountain in church shoes.

We also celebrated Moroni's birthday (One of the jungle kids). We helped the members cook, and we just had a fun time with them. I was in charge of entertaining the children. Kids have such a wild imagination. They all pretended like I was a giant fish trying to eat them. So I just chased them around for a solid hour and a half. The Nobe culture is pretty cool. And the jungle kids are absolutely crazy. But I love them all.

Then there was Sunday. We had 23 people show, including us! This is actually crazy for San Felix! We also had 3 investigators show up!!! Elder Benitez and I are practically the Bishopric here! We preside and direct the meetings. And we also bless and pass the sacrament. We take care of everything here!

Also my new comp Elder Benitez is pretty awesome. He is from Ecuador and he speaks fluent English! Sometimes it's really funny to hear him say words in his Latino accent. He is super fun, and we work well together. Hopefully, I'll actually learn Spanish now!

Overall, I am in love with San Felix. The food is not great here and there is no water. It's a bit rough for sure, and the work is really slow. But, I love the people here, I love how peaceful it is, I love how beautiful it is, and I just love it all so much. So, this is my spiritual thought for the day. There is a lot of bad in this world today. But, we always have the choice on what we focus on. If we focus on the bad, then everything will be miserable. But, if we focus on the good, and on the beauty and blessings around us, that's when we find happiness. That's when we find hope. That's when we find God's hand in all. So, I ask you all to just take a step outside. Take a breath of fresh air. Look around you at a beautiful world. And remember, that God created all of that for you!!!

I love you all so much!! I'm always grateful for the support I have from all of you. Sorry for the very long email. Please pray for San Felix! Pray that we can get this place moving! And also, that we can get some baptisms here!

Love you all!

-Elder Lutze