Semana 37 (Farewell San Felix!)

 Buenas!!

What an amazing last week of the transfer! This week we had Zone Conference! This means that Pday was a Super Pday! Basically the other zone (Changinola) came to our zone and we had a big massive Pday together. It was so lit! We played basketball, soccer, spikeball, and volleyball. I got to see lots of my friends, and the Latinos made Mexican food for everyone! Y'all missed out that's for sure.

The next day we had Zone Conference. I love Zone conference so much! Friends, food, and lots of revelation! They also asked me to sing at the last minute... But it was a super good day! Panama had the goal of 150 baptisms in the month of April. Then they changed the goal to 186. Well, in the month of April, we had 142 baptisms! We may not have reached the goal, but 142 souls saved is a huge miracle! This truly is the Lord's work!

The next day we had intercambios. It was good! Nothing too exciting happened.

But, the next day was amazing! We had dinner with La Familia HoHosh. They knew it was the last week of the transfer, and boy oh boy did they spoil us. They fed us roast beef, potatoes and gravy, a smoothie of mango and pineapple. Wow, it was good! The most American Meal I've had here in Panama. Then they also took us to the beach! So so so pretty!! Sadly we aren't allowed to swim... but it was still so much fun! Got to feel the breeze, smell the fresh air, enjoy the sunset, and be with HoHosh. 10/10 for sure!

Mountain day was good as always! La Familia Sanchez wanted to do stuff with us before the transfers ended. So, we just spent some good quality time with them. We talked, listened to music, ate food, and just had a good ol' party. It was lots of fun! Honestly, all the members here are kinda just like family to us.

Well, Sunday pulled up and we had a super good testimony meeting! The Bishop came for the second time in all of my 3 months here. After church, we went to do the sacrament in the jungle. And that was super good! Everyone refused to say bye to me because they think and want me to stay for at least another 6 months. But, I said bye to my friend William and we both started crying a bit. We were not 100% sure if I would be leaving or not, but the answer was most likely yes. Then Sunday night it was confirmed.

I'm headed off to Penonomé B, Chitre! I'm super excited! My new comp is Elder Garrett! Not sure what the area is like or what Elder Garrett is like. But, I'm excited for a new adventure! I love and will miss San Félix a lot. I am so grateful for my time there. Wish me luck in my new area!

I don't have much time, so the thought will be quick. In the Zone Conference, President said lots of missionaries are sad. He drew a picture of arrows pointing in at a sad person and then arrows pointing away from a happy person. This is to say that when we focus on ourselves we are sad and when we focus on others we are happy. Now it's not a bad thing to focus on ourselves a bit. But ultimately when we focus on others and helping them, we don't see our own problems as harshly, and we are happy. We don't make things worse by focusing in on our problems I should say. Well this reminded of a BYU speech that talks about Christ's ability to turn outward. No matter what the circumstance, Christ turned outward in love towards others. He suffered intensely in the Garden of Gethsemane, then literally healed a dude's ear. He always was focused on others in love. This is a short explanation of this, sorry. But, ultimately I believe that if Christ was perfect that would mean that He had a perfect joy. That He was perfectly happy. And the same is promised to us if we follow His example. So turn outward people! Think of others and help others and I promise you'll be happier!

Love you all! Have a great week! Pray for me lots! And my new area!! Penonomé B!! Until next week!

- E. Lutze

The BEST American Meal in Panama!

E. Fabian & E. Lutze - San Felix

E. Lutze & E. Fabian with Flia Hohosh

San Felix 

Missionary on a Beach

E. Lutze as a Lifeguard (Isn't that what missionaries do?)

E. Lutze - Panama, Panama City Mission

E. Lutze smolder

Yea, I'm transferring from San Felix to Penonomé B!

I'm so excited! I can't hide it!

Semana 36 (Lift One Another)

Buenas!!

I hope you are all doing very well! And, I hope you all had a great week!

I'll start off with Pday. Elder Fabian and I went to La Frontera which is the border between Panama and Costa Rica. Honestly, there wasn't much to do there. But hey, I've been to Costa Rica now! We did check out some cool stores there, but it was more of a nice relaxing day!

This week was pretty normal. Lots of lessons and lots of travel. Well, we did walk a ton this week. Tuesday we didn't have money so we had to walk to Las Lajas which took about 1.5 hours. Super far! Then on Wednesday we went to Tole, but we didn't know that the buses stopped coming at 4:30. So we walked a little over an hour from Tole to the big main road. There we waited 2 hours for a bus to pass by to take us to San Felix. 

But we got to see a lot of Tole! It's super pretty there! And we had a lot of fun with La Familia Carreira! Ate food, taught a lesson, and played some Monopoly Deal!

And of course, we had good old Mountain Day on Saturday! I got bored of hiking to Briguni. So I asked my good friend Wiliam where else we could go. He told me "I know a member that lives by Rio Santiago." I had no idea where that was. But it sounded like fun! So we left at 11. We literally walked through the jungle for an hour and a half. I believe through Aguacate. I don't remember, I was completely lost. But it was so lit! Climbed and descended several massive mountains. Crossed some rivers. Went in every direction possible. I'm not sure how William remembers where to go to get anywhere in La Comarca, but eventually we got to the family. We had a good lesson with them. Then we hiked another hour and a half to return. It was so exhausting! When we got to Guabo I literally fell asleep while sitting! But seriously, such an amazing experience! I love Mountain Day!

Well that's about all that happened this week. Jefri didn't come to church... but he's gonna do it! He is seriously so amazing, and understands everything so well! He always asks us how he can share the gospel. Satan for sure is working hard on him. So pray lots for Jefri!

As far as the spiritual thought, one learns a lot while walking through a jungle. First of all is the fact that you need a guide. You can aimlessly walk around hoping to get where you want to go, but trust me, you will get lost in the matter of 10 minutes. So if you really want to get to your destination, well you gotta follow the guide. The person who has been where you want to go, and who knows the paths to get there. Then you gotta have complete trust that they are taking you there. We walked 1.5 hours blindly following William. Let's just say that if we got lost, or if we lost William, we were never getting out! But, we also had complete trust that he knew where he was going. That teaches us to stay close to the guide, and to trust in the guide. Well, I'm sure you can all guess where this is going. But Jesus is our guide in life! He has been where we need to go, and He knows the paths to get there! All we have to do is stay close to Him, and have complete trust in Him! It is as simple as following Him where He leads you. And if you don't know where that is, or how to follow Him I should say that prayer and the scriptures are a great place to start!

The second thing one learns while walking through the Jungle is that every single person is a child of God. That everyone matters to Him. And that they should matter to us. Many of us are very blessed to have churches, temples, transportation, etc. Getting to church is a pretty simple task of driving 5 minutes. Well the people here aren't so fortunate, especially those we visit on Mountain Day. Getting to church is almost near impossible for most. If I'm being honest, I've thought to myself before "why do I completely exhaust myself to teach people that won't ever come to church?" Well, it's like I said above, everyone matters to God. Everyone is a child of God. I may not be able to get these people to church. But I can still lift them up higher than they were before! I can still love them! Give them hope! Truly the people we visit make Mountain Day worth it. Anything we do to help a child of God in any way, even if it be the smallest way possible, it is worth it.

I encourage all of you to develop a closer relationship with Christ, and to follow Him more closely. I also encourage you to give thanks to God for all the blessings you have. And lastly, I plead with you all to love the children of God. To lift them up a little bit higher. Everyone is in need of a little love.

Thank you for all your prayers! Please continue to pray for my people, and especially for Jefri! I love you all! I hope you have an amazing week!

- Elder Lutze 

Welcome to the Rich Coast

Costa Rica

La Comarca

Sleep Sitting after Mountain Day

Tolé

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

Dawn's Baptism

La Comarca

E. Fabian & E. Lutze Mountain Day

Road Trip Snacks

Waterfall Hike

Semana 33 (Coca Cola and Messy Hands)

 Buenas!!

What a great week!! There is no greater thing than working, that's for sure!

Tuesday was a super good day! The ZL's came in the morning to see if we were up and about. They exercised with us, and planned with us, and then they left. We also taught Gina and Valeria who I have high hopes for! However, the highlight was definitely dinner. La Familia Hohosh took us out to eat at a Fonda. We asked what the limit of price was, and they said there wasn't one. I probably ate 7 empanadas, a couple of Hojaldras, and some puerco. It may have been the best moment of my life.

Last Wednesday we found a lot of people on a street I had never been to. Well, we came back Wednesday, and now we call this street "Miracle Street." We found so many amazing people! We have high hopes for a lot of them too! Especially Israel, but we'll get to him.

I accidentally smacked a frog too hard and killed it...

No water and no light is a bad combination. Bucket showers in the dark are scary.

When you don't have weights, build your own! And pray the strange neighbor lady doesn't rob you of them... again!

Mountain day was great - for pictures and exercise at least! We climbed up the mountain and no one was there. Then we went to Guabo, and no one was there either. Good exercise though! And on the bright side, we got back and our neighbors were having a massive party! They played music and everyone was drinking, but we weren't invited. They gave us food! It was dang good! They also offered us alcohol! That makes sense... give the missionaries of God alcohol.

Two pretty big miracles happened this week! I'll start with Israel.

My comp has an addiction to Coca Cola, and I have an addiction to bread. (Great duo, I know!) Well, on Wednesday last week, a family gave us Duros which are like otter pops, but a lot better. Anyways, my hands were a mess and my comp wanted Coca Cola. So we went to the closest chino about half a mile from where we were. We became somewhat friends with the owner, gave him a folleto, and left. Well, the next Wednesday comes, so I put him on the schedule. Duros, messy hands, a coca cola need, and there we were again at the chino. Well, it turned out that Israel had read the folleto, and he started asking us all these amazing questions. We have had two super spiritual visits with Israel now, and I have such high hopes for him! So please pray for him!

The second miracle was church. First of all, we had 27 people there! Crazy! All of Guabo, and the mountain people came. In the morning while we were preparing everything, a man drove up to the church and walked in. I thought he was from Las Lomas and was here on assignment. Well, it just so happens that this man is an inactive member of 5 years. He brought his whole family. One of his daughters is not baptized and neither is his niece. My mind was blown in every way possible. Alexander (the man) simply didn't know there was a church close to his home, Tole. But he knows now! So, not only will he reactivate and become a strong member of our group, but we are also now teaching his daughter and niece!

Thank you for all your prayers! They truly are bringing miracles to San Felix! I love you all so much! The restoration continues!

As for the spiritual thought, I just want to give my testimony because it's Easter. I know with all my heart that Christ lives. I know He suffered every single pain and affliction. He suffered more than we can even comprehend. How painful it must have been, that a man who had never once asked for anything for himself, asked to have this painful burden removed from Him. How painful it must have been, after being completely betrayed, mocked, and all alone, that He even cried the words "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" How painful, and yet so loving, it is to know that He did it for us. What joy and peace it brings me to know that I can be forgiven, I can become better, I can receive strength, I can be resurrected, and that I can do all things. I love my Lord. There truly is no other master. I encourage you all to learn more about the Savior's Atonement. The more you learn about it, the more joy and peace you will have in your life. I bear witness of all these things, in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder Lutze

E. Fabian & E. Lutze Mountain Day

E. Lutze has fallen and can't get up

E. Lutze's homemade weights

Semana 32 (The Magical Land of Boquete)

Buenas!!

This week started off strong with an intercambio with my good friend Elder Richards! We were both awaiting our new companions, so we headed off to his area Boquete. That place is the promised land! We got there, and it was the first time I've been cold in Panama! It felt so good! The next day I also took a hot shower for the first time in Panama! I was mind blown! Not only did they have water, but they had hot water! Boquete is so beautiful! Imagine springtime 24/7, and that is what it is. It is never hot, and there is always a nice breeze blowing. I think I might be in love...

Then on Tuesday I got my new comp Elder Fabian! He is a super cool guy! We get along really well actually. It's nice that he doesn't speak English so I can practice Spanish too! He is a super friendly guy, especially with the people here! He loves anime and soccer too! Which may be why we get along so well, jaja. He may not be the most obedient, but at least we are working.

Well kind of working. I'm not gonna count this week. Elder Fabian was sick on Friday so we stayed home all day. I cleaned the entire house and studied all day. It was nice to get some of that stuff done, but not working is literally the worst. It's so boring! 

Then we had GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! It was awesome! Elder Fabian decided to sleep, so I got to watch it in English which was nice! It's so nice to hear the voice of the prophet and apostles. We also weren't able to work much during conference, which was lame. But yay to conference! We for sure will get to work a lot more this week which I'm excited for!

Also, shoutout to Greg for having a dope wife! (If ya know, ya know!)

Overall life is good! The mission is the best! It's fun to learn, work, and grow! It definitely is spiritually, emotionally, and physically stretching, but that's what makes it fun. All challenges are opportunities! Even if we fail, and fail, and fail again, just keep going! Just like Carl B. Cook said in this conference, just keep going, and exercise faith! The biggest obstacles bring the richest blessings!

Thanks for reading my pre-spiritual tangent there. Here's the actual spiritual thought. We know that Christ is infinitely loving, powerful, and I would imagine that He is infinitely happy. We have the amazing opportunity to use His atonement everyday to repent, to change, and to essentially become like Christ. As true disciples who follow Christ, the more we follow Him the more we become like Him. The thought is this: That the more Christ-like we become the more power we have, the more love we have, and the more joy we have in our lives. The more we sacrifice of ourselves to be like Jesus, the more we truly have. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. For His love that He has for me and all of you. I know that He is the Savior of the world. And I know that we can overcome the world through Him.

I love you all! Please pray for my comp! Pray that we can work hard here in San Felix and find God's lost sheep! You all are always in my prayers! Until next week!

- E. Lutze

The Magical Land of Boquete

E. Lutze & E. Fabian in San Felix

Semana 31 (The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round)

Buenas! What a great and very exhausting week! It was the last week of the transfer! Time is literally flying! I can't believe that another transfer has gone by! I am staying in San Felix for another transfer! My comp is going to the islands! And my new comp is Elder Fabian. He is a really cool guy! A bit apostate in the mish, but we are gonna change that! Haha!  I'm super excited for this next transfer!

The reason this week was exhausting was because of bus rides! Hence the title. In total this week I took the bus 14 times! Those that have been on a bus with me know that I can't stay awake for more than 5 minutes. So missionary work combined with strange sleep on a countless number of buses with hours of travel seemed to take its toll. Not just on me physically, but financially too! I am broke now with another week until we get money. It wasn't bad though. I honestly enjoy bus rides a lot!

We had exchanges this week which was fun! I was with Elder Arrazola. He is a beast! Super fun time.

We went to Remedios for my first time! It was pretty cool! There are lots of people to teach there. The question is how many will be able to even come to church. They live a wee bit far, and don't have a lot of money.

I am now illegal in Panama. Everyone in my group went to migrations but me. So I'm hiding out here in San Felix.

La Familia HoHosh gave me rootbeer! That was for sure the biggest highlight of my week! I didn't think it existed here, but it does! I haven't had it since I left home. I forgot how good root beer is!

This week I also ate shark for the first time! Not gonna lie, it's pretty good! Much better than cow feet and chicken feet! But sharks don't have feet, so of course it was better.

Mountain day was great exercise as always! I don't think I've ever sweated more than when I'm climbing that beast in proselytizing clothes. This week we had the added feature of smoke from fires. We were coughing most of the way up, but that was just more cardio for us!

Sunday was Stake Conference! So the HoHosh family took us to David in their car. It was nice, until they got pulled over for speeding! Haha! The officer was like "where are you going? And we said "church" He asked "which church?" We responded "La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días." He saw that we were missionaries in the back, and so he decided to let us go free because we were going to church. Only in Panama my friends, only in Panama. Dios Primero!

This week's thought is that this gospel is for everyone! I literally climb a mountain in the middle of nowhere to teach members of this church! Panama is also a place of all sorts of people. The diversity I saw in Stake Conference was crazy! Everyone is different. But this religion brings us all together. God knows all of us personally, and His gospel is perfect for everyone.

Love you all! Thank you for all your prayers! Please pray a lot for this area and for my new comp, Elder Fabian! We are definitely gonna need them. Have a great week everyone!

- Elder Lutze

E. Benitez & E. Lutze with their mini bananas

Missionary Look in Panama during COVID

Proof that root beer really does exist in Panama!

Super Zona David!

The Misty Mountain!

Semana 22 (Cat in Carcel)

This week was super good! The area is a bit slow, but we be working like crazy! Especially with the members.

We had a zone conference this week which was super good! Literally just free revelation. It's always fun to see other missionaries. All the focus was on just working with members. So the mission Panamá is gonna be going crazy! (It already is!)

We got some fun opportunities to serve. which we don't get very often here which is lame. I love service and it's always super fun!

Something really cool happened this week when we did a cosecha. We prayed for guidance and revelation for where to go and who to find. Elder Buhler thought of a blue house with a mom and a kid. I thought of the number 6. So we set off. The last house we found in the most random place was blue, had a mom and her kid, and had 6 identical mariposas (butterflies) on the wall. It was crazy!!

Hermana Bapp always puts her cat in 'carcel' when we eat at her home. It's pretty funny - "Cat in carcel." Hermana Bapp is literally crazy! I love her so much. She just shows up to church with random children. We don't know who they are or where they come from.

I also finished another book and started another one. The one I'm reading now is the biography of President Oaks. It's so good! That man worked!!

Other cool things would be that a young boy named Diego went to 'SOY' which is 'FSY' in Panama. By the last day he said, "I want to be baptized." He was baptized this week which was super spiritual!! 

We saw a massive trash pile which was a bit sad. It's also kinda funny because it looks like a river of trash!

I went on an intercambios with Elder Fabián this week! He's Latino. Super cool. We had a lot of fun, but we did not work at all. I went over to their area and just followed him around. The Elderes there are a bit apostate. It was fun, but no work occurred. A random dog followed us the entire day, literally waiting for us everywhere.

Speaking of intercambios, I went on one during our last transfer and I found these people with Elder Wutckee in Don Bosco. They got baptized this week too! It's so crazy how the Lord works and how His timing works!! I was really happy to be even a small part of that baptism.

My spiritual thought has to do with what happened to Diego. The missionaries initially never could get him to listen or be baptized. He was only baptized because of the friends he met at SOY. Missionaries are good and all, but truly the best conversions I ever see are through others - the members. Every single person has the opportunity to be a missionary at any moment - with a plaque or without one. The Lord truly is counting on every single one of us. This work is so important. I truly testify that each and every one of you can make THE difference in another's life. We have been given great knowledge, but that also means we have been given a great responsibility. If you even have the slightest desire, then let it grow, and let the Lord work in your life. Better yet, let the Lord work through your life to help others. That is where true joy comes from. I promise you will receive so many blessings.

I love you all! Thanks for all the support! Now go work hard! I'm praying for all of you! Panamá is the best mission! I love it here so much! And I love the people so much too! Even when they are insane!

-Elder Lutze

Hermana Babb's Cat in Carcel

E. Buhler & E. Lutze Zone Conference

Zone Conference

E. Buhler & E. Lutze Service

Look familiar fellow Ecuadorian HEFY?

E. Fabian & E. Lutze

Random Dog that Followed Us Everywhere

E. Wutckee's Baptisms

River of Trash