Semana 92 (The Little Mountains)

Buenas!!

Transfers are always a crazy time! We got to Albrook at 4 in the morning! But, it was really fun to see all the missionaries! I then met up with my new comp Elder Rojas, and we were off to our area!

Well we got to the house. It's literally a dungeon. One tiny window. I miss the sunlight in my house. But that's ok! I say that mostly because we are moving on Wednesday:) 

The area is super fun! It's called Las Mañanitas for a reason! The Little Mountains! There are a ton of hills everywhere! It's awesome!!!

Church was super awesome too! Especially the class taught by a member who is a 'maliante' but not. A 'maliante' is basically a gang man. It was the funniest class of my life! But it was also very spiritual!

Then we went to choir practice. I must say, Panama singing is quite interesting.

Then we had a 3 hour meeting that was actually supposed to be 30 minutes. It was really good! Lots of people from the Stake were supposed to come, but only us missionaries showed up. But that's kind of how it goes here.

Highlight from the meeting was when the Stake President referred to the stake and said, "We are gonna fatten her up until her pants don't fit!"

My thought for the day has to do with changes. My last zone/area to this zone and area is a BIG change. And sometimes that can be a little stressful. But something I've come to learn is that we tend to overcomplicate things. So, in the wise words, from the movie "What about Bob?" ~ "Baby Steps." Keep things simple, and take one baby step at a time. God truly does delight in simplicity! So if we trust in Him, and do one thing at a time, He will help us figure out the big picture!

I love you all! I hope everyone is doing well! Please keep praying for me and my zone! Apologies if I haven't written to some of you in a while! Stay safe! Until Next Week!

- E. Lutze

E. Rojas & E. Lutze ~ Zone Leaders in Las Mañanitas

Las Mañanitas

Meeting with all the Missionaries and the Stake President

Semana 92

Dear Elder Lutze,

I hope you’re loving your new area and companion! Another amazing opportunity to help all you come in contact with while in Panama!!!  

I pray you had no huge dog encounters this week ! And no bats and no snakes!!! And no…. 

Life here is the usual busy! I’ve officially reclaimed the basement! Your bedroom is yours again! It’s nice to have the space back but also sad and quiet without the McBrides in the basement!

Also working on the yard… constant battle to prune, weed, and trim it into submission!

My talk went well today. I’ll share it with you for my spiritual thought. Constantly praying for your success! 18 weeks to go so make them count! No regrets!

Love,

Mom 

Who is Jesus Christ to Me?

 

Because we are here on the earth, we all chose to follow Heavenly Father’s plan and His Son Jesus Christ. And in this, our limited time on earth, we each have the opportunity to choose Jesu Christ again. It is in this daily opportunity to choose Him again that we find Him. And when we find Him, we come to know Him. We learn from John that to know Jesus Christ is to have eternal life. When we know Him, we will desire to, and eventually become like Him and obtain eternal life. Truly wise men and women still seek Him. So how and where have I found Jesus Christ in my journey that He has become, over my lifetime, my best friend, my light, my joy, and my song. He truly leads me along. How have I come to know Him in this way?

 

In 2012, we participated in my family’s family reunion. One of the items from that reunion that I still display in our home today is a tile with these words in the middle… “Lest we forget and lose our testimony…” and around the sides of the tile are 8 important items to not forget. They are

 

Temple

Church leaders

Family

Prayer

Scriptures

Holy Ghost

Covenants

Christ

 

Woven through all 8 items is personal revelation that continues to build my knowledge of Jesus Christ and who He is for me. I want to speak to you today, of how I have found Him and have come to know Him through these 8 areas.

 

Temple – While my children were teenagers, I often prayed to have a better understanding of charity and to have it more fully in my life. Be careful what you pray for! As our children left and went off to college, one of our daughters left the gospel path. I prayed relentlessly to know what to do and the answer that continued to come each time. “My job is to heal her. Your job is to love her.” This has been one of my greatest trials – to still love her as Christ does, to see her as He does, while she’s making poor choices. I knew I needed more strength to handle this trial and for me the answer was to increase my temple attendance. I love the temple and wept at the veil the verry first time I went back after COVID. As I continue to attend on a weekly basis, I see more clearly my Heavenly Father’s and His Son’s love for all of us. Truly the ordinances we participate in are gifts of love! Like Brother Gale said last week… His arms are open. Jesus Christ is calling to each one of us to come and be still, so we can come to know Him in the temple.

 

Church Leaders – Our Prophet and Quorum of the Twelve – There is a special feeling in our home on Conference weekend. All are welcome, and we’ve often had those that have left the church still come and join us. The truth these 15 men speak is incredibly important to help keep us on the covenant path. Conference weekend is one of my opportunities to see if my will, thoughts, and desires are still aligned with their teachings and in turn with the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ. A pivotal point for me on aligning myself with the leaders of the church came on my mission. Our mission president asked us to stop using our monthly money for certain things like picture development. (Yes, there were no digital pictures. We had to pay to see our pictures.) I’m so grateful I made the choice to obey in a seemingly small way.  I’ve noticed with every choice to obey or align my will with our church leaders; I’ve come to better understand the incredible example of our Savior’s humble obedience to the Father in all things.

 

Family – My siblings and I enjoy a family call on a monthly basis. I love these calls. We talk of our successes and setbacks. Listening to the unique trials they are each dealing with in their own families and how they confront them with faith, bolsters my faith to stay on the covenant path and follow my Savior’s example. Jesus Christ is truly in the details of our lives. Part of my family is a group of close friends. We meet on a monthly basis. It was initially a group focused on emotional resilience and came about from repeated persistence from the Spirit to form a group after our daughter left the path. Today, almost two years later, we continue to meet. We support each other with no judgment. It is a safe space. They truly are my sisters. They are each incredible examples to me of what we can overcome when we move forward with faith in Christ.

 

Prayer – And I’ll add personal revelation here. This is still an area I’m working to improve. What I have learned is that when I’m diligent in my prayers, I draw closer to my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I find Him in prayer and have come to know His love and kindness. I’ve already shared one example. I’d like to share a couple more.  In 2011, I was asked to apply for a new job within the ICU to educate the nurses. This job would require me to go back to work full-time with a young family at home. I prayed earnestly to know the Lord’s will and surprisingly received the answer to proceed and that I would eventually understand why. I applied and was offered the job. Eight years later, in 2019, I found out the ‘why.’ Second story - My brother Brent, his wife Amy, and their two daughters were on their way from Heber to St. George when they were involved in a major sandstorm car and semi-truck pile up on I-15. There were numerous fatalities that day and yet they all walked away without serious injury. As soon as we received the news, our family fell to our knees in gratitude. I’ve never felt the power of prayer like I did that day when it was simply a prayer of gratitude. The third experience occurred in January 2023. My husband and I flew to Colorado Springs to help in the difficult task to put my mother-in-law in memory care. Through fasting prior to arriving and continuous prayer while there, we saw the Lord’s hand in the miracle of getting her into the facility without a fight. I testify that our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ are always ready to listen and to help. They want to be involved in the details of our lives.

 

Scriptures – I’ve come to truly love the scriptures. This love started in my childhood but was solidified on my mission. We are rewarded with great knowledge of our Savior, as we immerse ourselves in the scriptures. An important part of this knowledge is learning that we will receive answers to our questions through scripture study. One of my first experiences with this came while reading my scriptures and pondering on whether I should serve a mission. I was reading in Ether 2:25 when I realized that the ‘light’ I needed to get through the ‘great deep of life or the waves, winds, and floods’ was a mission. However, I continued to struggle with the decision and was reading a few days later in D&C 108:2 in which I was told to ‘resist no more my voice.’ At that time, it felt like a very difficult decision, I was almost 25, a college graduate, had worked for 2 1/2 years and just bought a new car. Another meaningful experience with the scriptures, occurred last Fall. I was late to the game in accepting the challenge by our Stake President to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I started reading right after our October Stake Conference and amazingly finished on Christmas Day. I’ve read the Book of Mormon many times but never that quickly. I know it was due to the speed of the read that I was able to see and feel so clearly the overarching message of love from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon.

 

Holy Ghost – As our constant companion because of the covenants we made at baptism and renew each Sunday as we partake of the Sacrament, we receive extra opportunities to receive personal guidance in this life. What an amazing blessing! My most recent experience was two weeks ago as we moved Foster and Hannah’s family to Texas. I woke up Sunday morning (5 days before leaving) and felt impressed to change our plans and take both cars. I mentioned it to Frederick. We came home from church, and I told him I felt impressed to ask our nephew, Caleb, to help us drive. Frederick had had the same impression. Within an hour Caleb agreed to join our road trip and his return plane ticket was purchased. Because of the very specific guidance from the Holy Ghost in this situation and other times in my life, I know the Savior knows me personally and is involved in guiding me home. (On a side note – I don’t think I had another twenty-hour drive to Texas in me. I didn’t know that at the time, but the Lord knew it.)

 

Covenants – Making and keeping covenants is another way I have found the Savior and come to know Him. I’m so grateful He only requires our faithfulness in this, not our perfection. I’ve mentioned this previously but wanted to share again how different my weeks are when I partake of the Sacrament. Many of you know I’ve worked as a nurse for the last 35 years. This required, for many years, working every other weekend and thus missing Sunday meetings and most importantly the Sacrament. My life was seriously changed when we were allowed to participate in the Sacrament at work. These weeks were no longer different than any other week. Watching a worthy priesthood holder kneel on a cold, hard hospital floor just to ensure I alone received the Sacrament, impressed upon me the very personal nature of the Savior’s Atonement. Through this experience, I’ve come to truly value the Sacrament and the few minutes I have each week to ponder my covenants and progress in becoming more like my Savior.

 

Christ – He is everywhere, if we are looking for Him. I recently traveled to Eastern Europe and was amazed once again how our Savior Jesus Christ is in and through ALL things… through centuries of building and rebuilding, artwork, sculpture, and in a way even in Islamic mosques. A few years ago, when I was in the Stake RS Presidency, we gave a challenge to the women of our Stake to memorize ‘The Living Christ.’ I felt like I couldn’t extend this invitation if I wasn’t willing do it myself. So, I went to work memorizing it in my car as I drove back and forth from the hospital in Provo. This experience forever changed my feelings and thoughts of my Savior. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve cried as I’ve repeated the words of this beautiful document that testifies of Christ. This quiet time brought Him more intentionally into my life. He truly is ‘the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.”

 

One of my favorite stories of Christ’s ministry on the earth is His interaction with the woman with an issue of blood. This story intertwined with Jairus and the imminent death of his 12-year-old daughter is found in three of the four gospels. Both stories show two different people acting in faith - Jairus coming to Jesus to bring Him to heal his daughter and the woman with the 12-year issue of blood reaching out to touch just the border of Christ’s garment in order to be healed. He knew immediately someone in the press of people had purposely touched Him. She came forward when He asked, “Who touched me?” This is our Savior. He is one on one, acting with intention to teach her that her faith had made here whole. “… and when He saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” Jesus Christ loves each one of us like this! We are His sons and His daughters.

 

In a small book entitled, ‘The Gift of Knowing Him” Elder Renlund relates the Christmas story as told by his father and Simeon’s part in that story. Simeon was told by the Holy Ghost that he would not die until he’d seen the Lord. He was then led by the Spirit to the temple where he indeed held Jesus and testified of who He was. Truly Simeon was blessed with the GIFT of KNOWING His Savior. E. Renlund urges, “… ask your Heavenly Father for the spiritual gift of knowing of the living reality of the Savior of the world. As you do, you can know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He atoned for your sins. This knowledge is better and longer lasting than any gift that ‘Santa’ could ever bring you, because it can transform you. You will learn that the Savior loves to restore what you cannot restore, heal wounds you cannot heal, fix what has been irreparably broken, compensate for any unfairness you have experienced and permanently mend even shattered hearts.”

 

Brothers and sisters, I’ve shared some of my personal experiences with the Savior today, some of the oil in my lamp, in the hope that you will spend time reflecting this week on your experiences with our Savior, Jesus Christ and write them down. We must never forget, or we will lose our testimony. I testify of Him and His infinite love for each one of us. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Semana 91 (Farewell Banana Land!)

Buenas!!

This week was SO good! But fair warning, this is gonna be a long one!

*Leadership conference last week was super good! Very spiritual! The 12 hour bus rides are always fun too! Elder Ence and I played battleship with paper. It was awesome! Then we got home at 7:30 in the morning.

*Did a CPEC which was fun! We got a 'Makdonald's' breakfast together!

*Did two exchanges. One with Elder Hulme, and the other with Elder Vasquez. It was a really good time! I had a lot of fun with both of them, and they both are really good missionaries!

*I created a Bible Bashing monster. By that I mean, I taught a 12 year girl how to prove our church right, and every other church wrong by using the Bible. She then laughed like a maniac saying how she was going to destroy her friend.

*Almost got killed by a massive dog. We were walking and heard someone say, "Careful with the dog!"

Dog? What dog? We then saw a long line, and attached to the line there was a chain. The chain could move across the line. We then saw a HUGE dog attached to the chain. Well the dog started sprinting towards us, and we turned to run as fast as we could! The only problem was the fact that when I turned around, there was a child right in front of me! So naturally, instead of trampling the kid over, I picked him up and sprinted far away from the dog. It was pretty scary!

*We had Branch conference this week! We also sang in the choir! You would never guess what we sang "JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM"!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!

*I killed a snake outside our house with a rock! We weren't sure if it was poisonous.

*Arellys, Luis, and Yorlenis got baptized!!! I'm so happy for them!! Especially Yorlenis! I met her on my first day here. And I said to my companion, "She is going to get baptized." It took a while, but God really changed her heart! There were a lot of miracles!

Arellys is also kind of a big lady. So we found a massive dress for her! It was so awesome! I may or may not have tried it on, then danced to music in it. But you guys will never know...

Story time

Exchanges - Elder Ence met an old guy who said he was a member, and wanted to come to church. The next day we saw him again. Then he disappeared.

The next week we were assigned to mark down where every member lived, and we were given a list of names. There were 3 names we didn't recognize. Well, one day we were walking, and we were prompted to go visit this one member point on our map. There we saw 3 people. A guy, his daughter, and someone in the hammock. We asked "Is Dionisio here?"

Right then an old man popped up from the hammock. It was the old guy from the week before and his name is Dionisio! We then proceeded to teach him and his neighbors. But Dionisio was very confused. He was saying God and Jesus are the same person, and they don't have bodies.

We pulled out every scripture possible to show him that God and Jesus are different, and they both have bodies. But he wasn't having it. So I said "Hermano, do you believe that God answers prayers? Because we are going to ask God what He thinks."

We said the prayer and left. The next day we came back, explained the Restoration, gave him a Book of Mormon, and left.

The next day we came back. He said the funniest/best prayer ever! "Thank you for Nephi, son of Lehi who married the daughters of Samuel. No no no. Adán. Sí sí. No no. Samuel. No no Ismael. Thank you for the Book of Nephi which ya know, its not that bad."

Then we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. And at the end, he said "Ok, I know now that God and Jesus are different. And Jesus has a body. But I'm still not quite sure about God."

Progress people! Prayer and scriptures work wonders! The second half of this miracle is that we are teaching his neighbor Nidia. She is progressing so well! She is going to get baptized on the 8th! She is so, so awesome, and a big miracle!

I hope you all can learn something from these stories. God is a God of miracles. And He truly changes hearts. In the beginning of my time here, this was an area that no one wanted to be in. But now it's one of the areas that everyone wants to go to. People used to not be receptive. But now people's hearts are being softened. It's becoming a branch. Miracles are flowing, and it's all thanks to God hastening His work! I'm so grateful for the chance to be an instrument in His hands

Sadly, my time has come to leave the area. I'm extremely sad. I may have cried a few times. Goodbyes are the pits. The familia Morales became like a family to me. We all cried together. I'm just grateful that God has helped me to come to absolutely love the people in this area. I'm going to miss them all a lot!

Now I'm going to Tocumen! My new area is called Las Mañanitas! My new comp is Elder Rojas.

Wish me luck! Keep praying for me, my people here in La Esperanza. My new people in Las Mañanitas. And of course please pray for my new zone. Love you all lots! Until Next Week!

- E. Lutze

Awesome Ties

Dancing in a Dress

E. Ence, Nidia, Yorlenis,  Luis, E. Lutze

E. Ence, Yorlenis, Luis, E. Lutze

E. Lutze, Yorlenis, E. Ence

Yes, I'm in a dress!

Leadership Conference

The Snake

Semana 91

Dear Elder Lutze,

We continue to pray  for you, your companion, and your area! We’re so excited your group will soon be a branch! Truly God is a God of miracles!!! 

Life here is busy! How did I do it when all you kids were home? Dad and I stayed in Fort Worth and helped until our flight  Tuesday evening. Rachael picked us up from the airport! I then worked like crazy Wednesday to Friday at work and then all day yesterday in the yard. So much to do!!! Dad and I did squeeze in a play and the next night takeout and a movie. I’ve also been working on Rachael’s and my trip to Washington DC, a family vacation, and numerous other odds and ends!!!

I’ve been asked to speak next Sunday about ‘Who’s my Jesus?’ I’ll have to send my talk. In preparation for it I was reading ‘The Gift of Knowing Him’ by E. Renlund. He states “ You can know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that He atoned for your sins. This knowledge is better and longer lasting than any gift that Santa could ever bring you, because it can transform you. You will learn that the Savior loves to restore what you cannot restore, heal wounds you cannot heal, fix what has been irreparably broken, compensate for any unfairness you’ve experienced and permanently mend even shattered hearts.”

I love you! 

Mom

Semana 90 (Banana Fever)

Buenas!!

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms! Moms are absolutely amazing! And I'm especially grateful for my mother! She has done more for me than anyone else ever will! Besides Jesus, of course.

This week was good! We had our Zone Conference which was really fun! Super spiritual!

On the way back home one of the Elders 'lost his dinner.' By that I mean that the bus is super fast through a ton of switchbacks. So if you don't have a strong stomach, anything you ate before the ride is coming right back up! It's kind of like a roller coaster.

Had exchanges with the APs. That was super fun! My dear friend Elder Tarbet is finishing his mission. My last exchange I'll ever have with him.

Ismael, our recent convert, decided to follow us around for the day. He is a funny kid! He kept saying that he wants me to be his dad. He also told us a story of how he and a kid at school made a bet of who Mormon was. And Ismael walked away with 5 dollars 

Friday Elder Ence was really sick, so we had to stay home.

Saturday he was still really sick, so we stayed home again.

Those two days were tough! I was so bored! My body was agitated from not walking around outside. One might say I quite literally went Bananas. I also realized how much I love being outside and in the sun! I did finish two books tho! 

Sunday we had church. We were really praying for some miracles here, because we didn't work for two days in a row. And God certainly answered our prayers! 6 of our friends came to church! There were also over 50 people at church! The little house was packed! It was so full that we literally had people outside!

It was pretty funny too, because the day we had a ton of people, there was no electricity. This meant that everyone was sweating buckets! But who cares! It was awesome! 

Now for the really exciting news! Drum roll please! **

Las 30 is becoming a branch!!!! LETS GOOOOO!! I'm so excited! The papers have already been submitted to Salt Lake City! Pretty soon this group will be a branch! And its new name will be "La Esperanza." So cool! God really is hastening His work!

As for my spiritual thought, I want to talk about the influence of mothers. Because they really are amazing! In the Book of Mormon, one of my favorite stories is of the Stripling Warriors. How did they receive so much strength? Here is what we read:

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

I love that so much! They were so influenced by their mothers, that it caused them to have an extreme amount of faith in the Lord. So much faith, that even though they had never fought in their lives, the Lord delivered them in their battles. I just want to say Amen and Hallelujah for mothers!! There is no greater faith that exists than the faith of our mothers!

Love y'all lots! Keep praying for my Zone and my people! Until Next Week!

- E. Lutze

APs and ZLs

E. Tarbet & E. Lutze

Mission Leaders

Sis. Forsberg, E. Lutze & E. Martin

Zone Conference