Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 35 (Road Trip)

Buenas!!

What a fantastic week! A great week for sure always starts with Pday. I haven't really talked about my Pdays here in the Zone David, but sometimes they are super fun! And other times they are way boring. But this week was fun! We went to Boquete as a district, did a little hike to a waterfall, enjoyed the weather, and then ate at a restaurant called Sugar and Spice. They have all sorts of desserts there! It's awesome!

We, of course, had lots of great lessons this week! Jefri is super excited to be baptized! He just needs to come to church... And, of course, we taught Dawn in Tole on Wednesday! That day I also got notice that I had to go to Panama City for migrations.

So, the next day, after District Counsel, I had intercambios with the Zone Leaders. We worked all day to be sure, so I was nice and gross before the trip.

Then me and my boy Elder Richards had intercambios and were off to the city. Bro trip! And, of course, it can't be a road trip without snacks! It was a honestly a really fun time. Also, I beat my record of traveling. I traveled a total of 24 hours in the span of 2 days. I don't recommend it.

Migrations was super fun though! I got to see a lot of friends there. We all had to get new pictures for our citizen cards. And being the mature missionaries we are, we all decided to make stupid faces. Oh, how we succeeded. I laughed my head off at the pictures for about 5 minutes straight. They were absolutely golden. Let’s just say the migration guards are gonna be real confused every time they look at my card.

After traveling all through the night, then all through the day and into the night, I finally arrived home for some very needed rest because the next day was mountain day. This mountain day far exceeded in fun and joy than any other mountain day I've had. It was absolutely amazing.

Here’s the story. We headed up all the way to Oma. My friend William wanted to show us a shortcut to get to Briguni so we don't have to hike straight up for 45 minutes. We get there, and start exploring La Comarca (the Mountain is called La Comarca). It was super pretty! We walked for a bit, then accidentally interrupted a funeral. Kinda awkward. But, we kept going. Well, then the rain started. And by that I mean, it was as if we were standing under a waterfall which then meant that the mountain was flooding. So we were walking/running/trying not to slip down the mountain! We were all laughing our heads off! It was literally so much fun! We were so muddy!! The best part was that at the very bottom the whole walk way was flooded which saved all of our lives! The very last part of the mountain is super super steep, meaning we had no choice but to literally run. And the flooded base ended up catching all of us from falling. The whole experience reminded me of the movie Emperor’s New Groove.

"Let me guess, theres a big waterfall"

"Yep"

"Sharp Rocks at the bottom?"

"Most likely"

"Bring it on... BOOOOYAHAHA"

I love mountain day so much! There is no experience quite like it. We kept joking that we all got baptized again.

Speaking of baptism...

Dawn had her baptism this week! I'm so, so happy for her! It was super special! We had the service on Sunday. After we all went to church, La Familia Carreira gave us sandwiches and chicha (basically juice). It was a super good day! And her grandma came to the baptism, and church! So we are gonna start teaching her! The Lord truly works miracles!

This week’s spiritual thought is from Come Follow Me. Come Follow Me is actually the most lit thing ever, you should all read it. But, I loved when it was talking about sitting at the feet of the Holy One ~ Spending time with the Lord. There are lots of reasons that this is an amazing concept. One of those reasons has to do with our purpose in this life. Each of us are sons and daughters of God, meaning we have the potential to be Gods ourselves. To become perfect. That is our purpose. To become like God. Well I'm pretty sure none of us have done that, or even know how to do that. I can barely tie my shoelaces for crying out loud. But there was one who was perfect and accomplished it. That’s right folks, Jesus. Wouldn't it make sense that the only way to achieve something so big is by learning how to do it first? By following an example? The only way we can achieve perfection is by spending time with Christ. He truly is the Master. The teacher. If we spend time with Him, He will teach us all things. He will help us in all things. I invite you all to reflect on your lives and reflect on how much time you spend with the Holy One of Israel. Then I would invite you all to start spending more time with Him. I promise that you will feel a difference in your lives.

I love you all so much! Thank you for the prayers for San Felix! Please pray specifically for Jefri that he can come to church! I pray often for you all! Until Next Week!

-Elder Lutze