Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 60 (Star Fruit! Eclipse? Axes)

Buenas!!!

This week and a half was super good! But also super sad. I don't remember a whole ton, but I'll hit the highlights!

We had a Multi-Zone Conference with Elder Giuffra of the Seventy! It was a super awesome experience! He gave some great advice to us all, and helped us really see our calling as missionaries! Then I got to have an interview with him which was also really cool! Only about 4 of us were selected.

We had a service project on Saturday which was really fun! I got to put my raking abilities to use! This was funny because it's technically fall, but Panama only has two seasons and the leaves don't fall. What happened is that there were a bunch of people mowing the grass with weed wackers (they don't have lawn mowers), and we were in charge of raking the grass to clean it up. Fun times!

I had some good food this week! Ate with the family Farias which meant delicious Peruvian food! Tacos. Lots of desserts for some reason. Dulce de Leche is absolutely the bomb!

I tried Star Fruit for the first time! IT'S SOOOOO GOOOD! Definitely my new favorite fruit. Not only because it tastes good, but it looks cool too!

Coconut water

Apparently there was an eclipse? I was outside the entire day, and I didn't seem to notice a thing

We had a zone council which is different from the Zone conference. It was fun to see all my friends!

Then this week there were a lot of goodbyes. It was really sad! I said goodbye to lots of the members and my friends. I said bye to Hermana Fernandez which was sad too. She and I had arrived in Penonomé together, and she really felt like a sister to me. But she's on her way back to Perú! In total I had about 6 months in this area/branch, so everyone felt like family. Goodbyes are for sure hard, but that's how you know there was love and joy!

I am very excited for the transfers tho! I'm going to La Zona Arraiján! I'll be in Vista Alegre 2! I have some fun assignments this transfer, and I'm looking forward to working hard!

For the spiritual thought, I was thinking a lot about a story.

Two men are in a competition to see who can cut down more trees in a day. At 6 in the morning they began chopping away! The first man kept chopping and chopping, and never took a single break. But, he always saw the second man walking away to take breaks for about 10 minutes or so. The first man thought to himself

"He has taken so many breaks, there's no possible way he can beat me. I've been chopping trees all day without letting up!"

The day finally ended! Both stopped chopping, and it was time to count the trees. To the surprise of the first man, the second man had cut down many more trees than he had!

"How is it possible?" the first man questioned.

"I chopped all day long while you took many breaks throughout the day! What were you doing?"

The second man responded, "Oh, I was going to sharpen my axe."

This story has a lot of applications to our lives! But I personally like to think of the Spirit. The Spirit helps us to do many things. It helps us "cut trees." But we can't just cut and cut and cut without end. We must sharpen our axes. Or we must do more to have the Spirit with us! To put it very simply, the Spirit literally is a part of the Godhead. It's very very powerful. We can't simply do nothing, and then think that we can receive its power in our lives. We have to work for it. We have to want it more than anything else. We have to care like blazes! God will always bless us. But we are the ones who choose to sharpen our axes or not.

It's hard to explain the whole thought process of it all. But just think about it! Then think of what you can do better to more fully enjoy the power of the Spirit in your lives! You gotta want it!

Love you all! The church is true! Please pray for my people! The people of Vista Alegre 2! Until Next week!

- E. Lutze