Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 50 (THIS IS NOT A DRILL!)

Buenas!!

What a fantastic week! We had some good lessons with some people I feel are very positive! We are hoping to be able to return soon to all of them, and continue to guide them on this great journey!

Random things of the week for y'all! We ate an insane amount of rice. Played some chess. And thought waaaaaaaay too much about the premortal life and after life. However, these are all things that made the week very enjoyable!

Then Saturday rolled around which was exciting because Obdulia got baptized!! All was good until we went to get the keys to the church to prepare everything. Well, it turned out that the lady who had the keys left for another part of Panama, and she had taken the keys! Well, no biggy because Presidente Arrocha has keys! Well, he was also really far away. After many, many phone calls I was able to find someone with keys to get in the church! Elder Keck and I ran for about 20 minutes, got the keys, then ran back to the church. By this time it was 12:45, and the baptism started at 1. We cleaned the font, and started filling it. By a miracle, the font filled up in 30 minutes! It usually takes at least 2 hours! We started a little late, but it was such a special moment! And Obdulia was so happy! What an amazing day of miracles!

Ok folks, get your popcorn because here is where the real story begins...

Sunday was a great day! After church in Anton, Elder Keck and I went to do our planning in the church at Penonome as always. We arrived at the church just as Presidente Arrocha was leaving. He left, locked up the gates, and we went into the office to plan. The office is completely sealed and no one can see inside of it. We were alone and having a good planning session. Suddenly the fire alarm goes off! My first thought was, "it can't be a fire because we are alone. It will probably turn off in a second." Well, about 5 seconds later we heard a door close. Elder Keck and I looked at each other realizing we weren't alone... Maybe it was just a member cooking something in the kitchen? We left the office to go check. Elder Keck walked down the hall, as I checked the kitchen. The kitchen was empty, so I left to go back towards Elder Keck. He was signaling for me to come quickly. The fire alarm had been pulled, and in front of the alarm there was a closet. Well, it just so happened that someone was staring at us from the closet window. Inside was Oliver... he isn't a member, but we had seen him in the church after it was over at 11. This meant Oliver had been hiding there for 6 hours, waiting for something or someone. To give background, Oliver is a man who has a crush on one of the sister missionaries. Mentally he is not always quite there and he is a bit of a stalker. We don't know why he was there or why he pulled the alarm, but we are fairly certain he was waiting for the sister missionaries. He knew people were alone in the office, but he didn't know who. So, most likely he pulled the alarm and hid in the closet to draw people out, or more specifically to possibly draw out the sisters. Now most of this is speculation. But, I'm glad it was Elder Keck and I at the church. Safe to say that I lived in a horror movie for a hot second there... Luckily nothing happened to us, but it was one of the creepiest things that has happened in my life

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed the story! Life is good! Working hard! Love you all so much! Keep praying for my people! Until Next Week!

- E. Lutze