Semana 49

Elder Lutze, 

We love you and we’re praying for you and your area! Busy week like always… Hannah and I did sneak in 2 movies Barbie and the Sound of Freedom. Hoping to see the new MI soon. 

Dad worked in SG and I worked here. I love it when I can see God’s hand in my life… prompting to get my phone and potential answer to my prayer in the temple on Friday. Enjoyed a Cubby sandwich on Friday. Renters weren’t too happy about the noise… stomping and yelling… we got our management company involved… the tenants wanted us to pay for a hotel and food Nope not doing that… electrician in, framing done, working on central vac and HVAC… tree removal in September…

Cleaned the filter numerous times this week for the sprinklers!!! Crazy. Steph and kids here tmr for reunion at end of the week… need your testimony you can write it too?

Helped Natalie move in to her new apt… at least there’s a pic of Christ and a message on the wall about faith… definite upgrade! Thank you for praying for her!

Thought on Acts 13:3

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “Saul and Barnabas were called by prophecy and were either ordained or set apart or both by the laying on of hands” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:120). The laying on of hands by priesthood leaders to set people apart for callings is a long-established practice in both the ancient and modern Church (see Deuteronomy 34:9; D&C 36:1–2; Articles of Faith 1:5).

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) explained that being set apart is of great importance today, just as it was in the ancient Church:

“The setting apart is an established practice in the Church and men and women are ‘set apart’ to special responsibility, in ecclesiastical, quorum, and auxiliary positions. …

“To some folk the setting apart seems a perfunctory act while others anticipate it eagerly, absorb every word of it, and let their lives be lifted thereby.

“The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance. …

“In my experience there have been numerous people who like Saul … have, through the setting apart, received ‘largeness of heart,’ extended influence, increased wisdom, enlarged vision, and new powers” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1958, 

I love these thoughts on being set apart and I’ve always loved these blessings. When I was set apart in the Stake RS presIdency, Sis Crandall wrote down what was said and it all came to pass!! Such a cool experience!!

Love you!

Mom

Semana 48 (101 Grave Building)

Buenas!!

This was quite the interesting week, I'll tell ya that much! Definitely not how I thought it would go, but here we are!

The week started off well with an amazing Pday! We went to a place called "Pozo Azul.'' It was absolutely stunning! The only downside is we aren't allowed to swim...

Tuesday was a very strange day all around. We had to wake up at 11:45, meaning we got a whole 1.5 hours of sleep! Then we were off to the city! Elder Keck had to go get his migration card. We got back to our area later in the day to do some normal work. But then we received a call from Prezzy Arrocha to go to a member's house with him. Apparently the member had died the day before, so we were going over to give our condolences to the family. We sang some hymns, and we bore our testimonies.

Little did I know that we would be roped into a lot more than a visit! The next day Elder Keck and I were asked to go to the funeral, in which we obliged. We thought it would be fairly short, but we were wrong. It was indeed the opposite. We actually ended up going on a bus 2 hours up the mountain! No complaints here tho, because it was super pretty! We got to the site, and there were people still constructing the grave. Yes, they build the graves here. They are just cement boxes. To help pass the time in a reverent manner, the 4 of us that were members, sang hymns! It was a very spiritual time. They finished building the grave, and then they had me dedicate it! I had never done that before, let alone in Spanish, but it was pretty neat! Then we had another 2 hours to go back down!

The next day I thought my week could finally go back to what we had planned! Well, I was wrong. We went on exchanges, and I was with Elder Moran. We had a fun time! We taught a guy (the most Evangelico person I've met) who was most definitely 'high out of his mind' when we got there. The man's name was Phineas. We were talking, well listening to him talk, all about the gospel. I learned that Mormons don't believe in God and that Elder Moran and I don't have the spirit because we don't speak in tongues. (Even tho we both literally know two languages.) Phineas on the other hand does speak in tongues! It sounded a bit like gibberish, but I'm sure that it was the spirit talking through Phineas! Luckily for me and Elder Moran, Phineas decided to close with a prayer, and during this moment he put his hands on our heads blessing us with this great gift! I am happy to say, I can now speak gibberish! 

Also that same night we went to a noche de grupo with the family of the deceased man. We weren't aware that we were the ones who had to prepare a message tho! It was a good spiritual time! Then we found out that we would be having the noche de grupo every night until this coming Friday. Not sure how we were the ones that got put in charge of this, but so far we have taught many lessons and watched many videos!

Lots more happened this week, but the highlight was the baptism of Yasmina! Whooooo!! It was such a special day! She was so, so excited! And she gave one of the sweetest testimonies I've heard! It was just such a happy day!

For my spiritual thought I wanted to use the example of the Liahona. The Liahona would give direction to Lehi and his family according to their faith. As I was thinking about that, later in the week I read D&C 109:7 which says

"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith."

I ended up combining that scripture and the Liahona because God still gives us tools to guide and direct us! They are the best books and words of wisdom - scriptures, words of prophets, etc. But these tools only work to guide us according to our faith and diligence we put into them.

To compare further we can use the example of electric tools. The tools are there to help us, and to make things easier for us. But, they require a power source to function. Just as electricity powers the tools of man, faith and diligence powers the tools of God. Think about it.

I love you all! I hope you are all doing great! Keep praying for my people! Until next time!

- E. Lutze

E. Lutze's Drawing

License Plate - Thanks to God!

Pozo Azul

Yasmina's Baptism

Semana 48

Dear Elder Lutze,

I hope all is well for you, your investigators, and your companion. 

Just boring stuff here… work, yard work-flower beds, fertilize, treat for insects and snails. We cleaned out the filter for the sprinklers 3 times this week. I need to do some replanting this fall. Dad and Rachael are in SG working on some more framing. The electrician ️comes this week and hopefully HVAC and then it will be dry wall time… maybe September? We shall see?!

Best part of the week visiting with my Emotional Resiliency group on Wednesday and Kathy on Friday. I also enjoyed the temple twice-once with the youth and once on my own for initiatories. I love listening to the promises and blessings we receive. We have a loving and generous Heavenly Father! 

My thought for the week… is how short this life really is and what we do with it determines the eternities!!! Kind of like the mission… So, keep working hard! Keep doing the best you know how!

Love,

Mom

Semana 47 (Where's Otto?)

Buenas!!

We started off this lovely week doing some service! We raked lots of leaves and debris! Then the family fed us an insane amount of chicken! And by that I mean, I literally ate almost an entire chicken by myself! 

We also had Zone Conference in La Chorrera this week! It was super fun! Not much really happened. But it was fun to see and talk to lots of my friends! We also ate Subway! However, it was a wee bit sad because both my fathers (trainers) gave their final testimonies. To think in a single transfer, I am to become an orphan... but we got Chicheme after and all was good! Chicheme is basically sweet corn milk that is what I consider to be the "Nectar of the Gods".

Thursday was a wild day! We went to go find our friend Obdulia, and we had no clue where she lived. But we hopped on a bus, and away we went into the unknown. By pure miracles sent from heaven, she lives in our area by less than a mile, AND there on the bus we took, it just so happened that her nephew was there. Thus we arrived safely to wherever we were! Many prayers from Obdulia and us were answered. We taught her a good lesson, and she shared her whole life story. There is a lot to share about that, but I will just tell you all that God truly prepares his people! Obdulia is a complete miracle!

That same day we met a man named Otto. He was a very strange man, who liked to say even stranger things. He was attempting to talk in English, and I'm fairly certain I heard correctly, but from what I understood is that Elder Keck and I are "Multi-cultural hating Nazi's whom perform incest in such a way that we are in fact communistic Amish people." We tried leaving, but he just followed us. While he tried speaking more English to us, I decided to trip up his stride. I turned to Elder Keck and started speaking in Chinese. I would love to say I'm cool and know Chinese, but I was indeed speaking gibberish. However, it seemed to do the trick. Otto was so confused and slightly scared that he went away. He didn't go terribly far, and kept staring us down. But, as we were waiting for our bus we looked back to where he had been, and he vanished. My comp merrily turned to me and said "It's not where's Waldo, but where's Otto." Safe to say that if you ever see a Spaniard man wearing a striped red shirt, you found him

Friday there was a huge party! Food, cake, dancing, and a piñata! It was a really fun time!   

Saturday there was also another big party! More food, cake, and dancing! 

Sunday was just the good old day of rest. We had church, taught Yasmina, then had church again, and taught more lessons. It was a good day! Even better was the fact that Yasmina wanted to move her baptismal date forward! So she will be getting baptized even sooner!! Whooo!!

My thought for you all today is that God prepares a way! The scriptures say this all the time, but I add my testimony to it! God is perfect, and thus His plan is perfect! We just need to have the faith and humility to align ourselves with it, and then we see miracles!

I love you all so much! Have a fantastic week! Keep praying for my people! Until next week!

- E. Lutze

Lunch with the Hermanas

E. Lutze almost ate an entire chicken

My Anime One Piece Monkey D. Luffy Birthday Pinata

I'll be an orphan soon!!!

Subway for Zone Conference

Zone Conference Party Bus?

Zone Conference in Chorrera

Semana 47

Dear Elder Lutze,

I hope you had an amazing birthday! I can’t believe my baby is 20. We got a new roof for your birthday! Happy Birthday to us!

Rachael is working hard on her CRNA applications.

Hannah had her kidney stone obliterated. Foster was accepted early to IKOM but declined for a number of reasons. They are looking at West Virginia pretty seriously. Diver and Hunter are busy but so much fun!

Natalie found a new apartment and is working within a budget. Was your mind blown on Friday when she got on our phone call with you? I would send her the invite each week. She can make the choice. 

I worked a lot at home and at work! Prepping now for the family reunion and my trip with the girls. Dad and I went to the temple on Saturday to do sealings and guess who was in our session with us…. The Condies (Brooklyn’s parents). So cool to see them and share that experience!

My thought for this week is around what the sealer talked about. He spoke of how the altar is in the center of the room which represents Jesus Christ and how He should be the center of our lives. He then went on about how Jesus Christ is the healer and that every time we come to the temple we can be healed. He invited us to pray and ask after attending ’In what way was I healed?’

So grateful for your excellent service as a missionary and the many blessings we all receive from it! Keep working hard!

Love,

Mom

Semana 46 (Be a Wheat, Eat Your Oats!)

From Mom: E. Lutze's birthday is this Friday, July 14th! Please flood his email with Birthday Wishes!

Buenas!!

What a fantastic week as always! I was indeed very sick, but that just made it all the more interesting! It was mostly interesting because I could barely speak, and my comp can't speak Spanish 

But we made it through!

We worked a lot in Antón as always! Not much new in that sense.

Wednesday Sister Swift, the member from Africa, took us and the sister missionaries to lunch! It was very expensive and very delicious! 

That same day we also went to teach Humberto. He's a member, but we go teach him and his wife every once in a while. There are some people I could sit with and just talk to forever, and Humberto is definitely one of those people! We were just relaxing in his rocking chairs talking about The wheat and Tares, and that essentially we all choose to be either a wheat or a tare.

Then I took it even further with Elder Keck by saying "Ya know Elder... you are what you eat, and I eat my oats. Therefore I am indeed a Wheat and not a Tare." #GetBigForGod Eat your midnight oats folks 

Thursday was fun! A bit of a waste seeing as we went to Chitré for Zone Council. But it was fun to see everyone from the Zone! We also had pizza, and we got Cinnabon! 

That same day the Hermanas had intercambios, so the whole bus ride we all got to talk with Hermana Drew which was hype! But, then we were in a car crash-a truck hit the absolutely massive bus we were in. Not sure how the truck driver didn't see the bus... so that wasted more time. By the time we got back, we had 1 lesson and went to dinner. So it was just a double intercambios because we were with the Hermanas the entire day 

Saturday it rained, and the members were too afraid of it. So our planned day of visiting inactive members with the members was a bust. But we did have a Noche De Hogar with Jasmina and la familia Farías!

Then good ol' Sunday pulled up. District Conference!! It is the same thing as a ward conference, but we are a district. So many people were there!! And we were working hard on getting members from the group to go, and they all came!! It was so awesome! And the picture of them all makes me smile so much!! :)

Then to put a little cherry on top of that day, we taught Obdulia at the church. AND we put her on date to be baptized! I asked her "If you knew the Book of Mormon was true, what would you do?" 

Then her fire response was "I know this Book is true, it just makes sense" 

Anyways, my spiritual thought for the week has to do with when Jesus asks Peter "lovest thou me?" Now, this chapter has a lot of spiritual insights. But one that came to mind is that Christ had put a lot of time and effort into shaping these Apostles into "fishers of men." He didn't do all that just to have them go back to their old ways and habits. Christ has shown He has the power to catch boats full of fish. He doesn't need us for that. What He needs from us is our love. And from our love comes loyalty and discipleship. And with discipleship, we are to feed His sheep. Christ has put lots of time and effort into all of us, not for us to go back to our old ways, but so we can better love Him, and so we can feed His sheep.

I love you all so much! Keep praying for my people! Especially Jasmina, Obdulia, Alcibiades, and Lucia!! Until Next Time!

- Elder Lutze

Cool Drawing of La Zona Chitre (E. Lutze is in the middle)

La Zona Chitre

Zone Council and Cinnabon

E. Lutze & E. Keck with Las Hermanas

The Bus

The Truck

Lunch with Hna. Swift

District Conference