Semana 43 (A Death, Baptisms, and My Posterity Begins!)

Buenas!!

This week was absolutely amazing! A bit long because PDay wasn't till Wednesday. I also have been banished to Aguadulce for the time being because Elder Garrett is going home. But, I'm with the boys and it's a great day!

There was a lot that went on this week aside from work. Thursday we had a district council which was good! We threw a "Feliz Muerte" (Happy Death) party for the 3 Elders that are going home. They will be dearly missed! But the party was super fun!

This week we were going to meet up with a family at McDonalds. We got in the taxi and said "Vamos a McDonalds". The taxi driver was very confused and asked "Donde?" My comp then just said loudly "MAKDONALDS"! Essentially if you don't say things in a Latino way people are very lost. This was especially funny because the same exact thing occurred to the Elderes of Aguadulce last week.

ANTON GOT APPROVED TO BE A GROUP!!! It is now official. And we have made history. A lot of work has gone into this group, and now it is ready to start taking off! I'm super excited for Anton! The group now also has a podium, a sacrament table, and chairs! Elder Garrett and I helped move everything into the meeting home which is literally just a members house. But this is a crazy big deal!

We went and tried some Colombian dessert. Wow! It was literally the best thing I've ever tasted! There's a pic below to make you all jealous.

Then Saturday rolled around. Baptism day! We had 3 baptisms that day! Trino, Idelka, and Alexandra! Alexandra was the first baptism of the newly established Anton group! I was so happy for all 3 of them! Such a great day!

It got even better on Sunday! Idelka brought her sister and some friends to her baptism. Then they also came to church! Idelka was literally showing them around and also teaching them about the Book of Mormon! So amazing! Then Elder Garrett and I wanted to teach Sunday School to the youth. Prezzy Arrocha was fine with it. So we started to teach the Plan of Salvation. But then Prezzy was a bit mad and was like "Elders, you have to follow the Come Follow Me lessons. You can't just teach your own thing. Do you even read Come Follow Me?"

I just said to him "Of course I read Come Follow Me. This week literally talks about The Atonement of Christ."

It was a pretty lucky coincidence. But we had a great lesson! Our investigators also loved it! I even put my drawing skills to the test on the whiteboard. It's not the best drawing, but it was fun!

Then Monday we had another District Council. Then the branch had a huge party for Elder Garrett! There was food and we also did Karaoke! Super fun! It was kinda weird though because we were all saying goodbye to Elder Garrett. Literally didn't even feel real.

I officially said bye to Elder Garrett on Tuesday. It was pretty sad saying goodbye. I've always had to say bye to comps, but this time it was different. We had become great friends and have had some of the funnest discussions. We had good times and I'm not sure when I'll see him again, but someday I'm sure we'll meet again!

We also got transfer news this week! Obviously I'll be staying in Penonomé with a new comp. But little did I know that I would receive a call saying that I'd be training! I'm gonna be a dad! I'm not sure who I'll be training, but I'll find out tomorrow! And so my posterity begins. Funny enough, my trainer is also training, and he is in my district. So it is literally me, my son, my father, my brother. Which means Elder Bray's two sons and grandson! So crazy! Wish me lots of luck and pray for me! I need it.

Apologies, but no spiritual thought today. But I promise one for next week! Keep praying for my people of Penonomé and Antón! And of course mi hijo. Love you all! Until next week!

- E. Lutze

Alexandra's Baptism

Idelka's Baptism

Trino's Baptism

Podium for the Anton Group

E. Lutze's Plan of Salvation Drawing

Death Day

Elderes & Hnas of Penonome

The Colombian Dessert Are you jealous?

Semana 42 (I am... Spider Man!)

Buenas!!

This week started off with a fantastic Pday! This member in our ward let us come to her private resort and chill at her house and beach. We had tons of snacks and played a lot of volleyball! It was sooooo nice! Hermana Swift is the coolest! She is this white lady from Zimbobway (Not sure how to spell it, but that's how it sounds). She has the coolest Australian accent because she lived there for a bit too! You meet some of the most random people in Panama.

We went to teach the family Salazar, and while we were waiting for everyone to come, I got really tired of all the stupid flies flying around. They didn't have a fly swatter, but I still managed to kill 27 of them. I kinda felt like Spider-Man.

We had exchanges this week. I went to Aguadulce with Elder Moran. He's pretty dope. He is waiting for a visa to go to Brazil, as everyone who goes to Brazil does. Not much really happened. But it's a 4 man house so at night we played Monopoly! That was pretty dang fun!

Saturday we had a mission activity with the ward. It was basically just our sports activity. But we got to play a ton of soccer and volleyball which was fun!

Sunday we gave talks in church. Sang in church. Then we went to Anton and gave talks there. But it was good! I definitely wrote my talk last minute, but it turned out fine. We also met a white guy named Richard! He just casually pulled up to the group in Anton. He is from Oregon. He is a member and lives in Panama City. It was pretty fun to talk to him! Old people just have endless amounts of stories to tell.

The biggest highlight of this week is definitely Alexandra and Ide. Wow, they are so elect. We taught Alexandra the commandments, and her biggest hurdle was the commandment to not bear false witness or lie. She doesn't even have a problem with that. She just knows she's not perfect like the rest of us. We laughed pretty hard at that. As far as Ide, she was a reference from a different place in Panama. She wants to get baptized so badly. They both came to church this week! They loved it so much! It was really fun to see all the young women together, because our recent convert was showing them around and they all became friends super quickly. It was just a happy moment. And they are completely ready to be baptized on Saturday! So pray for them!

I had kind of a strange thought this week. I was thinking about the premortal life and worlds and things like that. The thought then popped into my mind "Of all the worlds and of all the time periods I could have been born in, I'm so happy and lucky to be in the one where my family and friends exist." We aren't here by chance! God knows us, and we are here for a reason! I love all of you! Keep praying for my people!

-Elder Lutze

Resort Beach 

Resort Entrance

Resort Pond

Resort Pools

Semana 41 (Life is Good!)

Buenas!!

This week was fantastic! As always. Monday was a super fun pday! We went biking at the beach. And today we are going to an even better beach! Life is good my friends.

One of the highlights of this week would be Thursday. We held our district council meeting in the morning. After going through all the missionary things it became lunch time. We sent two Elders to get pizza while the rest of us waited and played ping pong. It was so much fun! Happy to say that I won every single match. The pizza was good too! Then the Senior Missionaries, the Barkers, went out to work with us for the day! They literally just drove us around everywhere. But it was fun to talk to them and get to know them! They are so amazing!

A bunch of children were giving me cereal! Big win. And they also loved to touch my hair, especially during the prayer. Jaja!

It was a pretty funny moment when a member asked me if I ate like a Tongan because I absolutely devoured all of the lasagna.

Another funny moment was that the baptism font drain broke, so Elder Garrett had to take a little swim. Luckily it was right before we were playing soccer at our sporting event. This event is always so much fun! We played soccer, jammed out to music, and played more soccer! So so fun!

In terms of work this week, things were super good! We were able to teach all our people on date! We also put another girl on date to be baptized! Her name is Ide. Super elect! We have really high hopes for the 17th! Currently we have 4 people that are planning on being baptized that day, so please please please pray for them! And all the people we are teaching!

I listened to a bunch of different speeches this week. All super amazing! But there was one in particular that I liked more. It would take too long to share about it, so I'll just share the poem he mentioned.

"There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."

I love this poem so much. In fact, I memorized it and recite it a lot in my head. The purpose of our life essentially is to become like God himself. I'm nowhere even close to that, and I definitely need a lot of help. We also know that God's grace is sufficient AFTER all we can do. So keep that poem in mind and do all you can to reach your goals! Then God's grace will see you through!

Love you all so much! Keep praying for my people!! Until next week!

- Elder Lutze

E. Garrett fixing the baptismal font drain

Obedient missionaries enjoying the water from afar

We love the beach!

Penonomé

Semana 40 (I Love to See the Temple!)

Buenas!

Two Pdays within 4 days! That's what I like to call a win!

Monday was very strange without Pday. All the things we planned fell through. Monday is the sacred preparation day for a reason I guess.

Tuesday the Zone Leaders came to do a "Cpec"! Not really sure how you spell that one. Basically they just came to make sure that we were up on time and doing the things we need to be doing. It was pretty fun! We all just worked out together. Well, the Zone leaders only worked out for 7 minutes, but it was a good morning!

Wednesday we went to the baptism of La Hermana Daira! She is super cool! So that was fun! Elder Garrett and I also cleaned the chapel. We just jammed out to the Youth Album and cleaned like crazy!

Thursday we had Zone Conference! It was so fun to see everyone! And the spirit was very strong! I'm also happy to know that my reputation lives on in Samaria! The Elders were asking "Who the freak started doing magic!?" Then my trainer Elder Bray pointed at me. To clarify, I wasn't the one who started it. However, I was asked enough to do it that I learned, and then it got worse. The Elders of Samaria proceeded to say one of the funniest things I've ever heard which was, and I quote, "You wrecked our lives." You are welcome future Elders of Samaria!

Then we got to Pday #1 which was Friday! We had Pday on Friday because we went to the temple! My first time going in like 8 months! It was literally the most amazing experience! The temple is so beautiful, and the spirit is even more beautiful. The session was in Spanish which was a bit of a bummer. I understood all of it which was cool! But, I always enjoy spiritual learning in my own language. It was also very cool to see how much I've grown spiritually since the start of my mission! The temple was seriously so amazing, peaceful, joyful, and every good thing possible. Be grateful for them! And go often! So many people don't have that blessing!

Saturday we had a church service activity, and also the sports activity! Proud to say I destroyed in soccer. I literally dribbled 4 guys, and then proceeded to score. All the Latinos call me some strange name. I'm pretty sure it's just a soccer player that's gringo but is good. I love soccer so much!

Sunday was also amazing! The Barkers, who are Senior Missionaries here from Arizona, came to church with us! They usually do, but they had to go back to the states for a wedding. But that just means they brought things back from the states. Reeses and nerds. Oh how I miss crappy American junk food. We also taught a girl named Alexandra and put her on date to be baptized, so that was hype!

The spiritual thought is obviously about the temple. I know that temples are the house of God. I know that temples are where we can feel the spirit the strongest. To feel peace, comfort, and love. I know that going to the temple frequently can change who we are and draw us closer to Christ. That temples themselves are apart from the world, and can in turn help us become apart from the world too. Temples have so much significance to them, and I could testify and talk about them all day, but there is no replacing personal experience. If you have any desire to feel peace, joy, comfort, love, to be better, to change, or anything of the sort, I strongly encourage you to go to the temple frequently. It will change your lives forever, I promise. I love the temples with all my heart, and I wish I had the opportunity to go more here on my mission. But since I can't, each of you has to make it up for me! So the goal for

is to go at least twice in this next month of June! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and love! Please keep praying for my people! Until Next week!

-Elder Lutze

Hna Daira's Baptism

E. Lutze with President and Sister Forsberg

District at the Panama City Temple

E. Lutze at the temple (Did your pants shrink?)

Zone Conference

Semana 39 (11 Days of Work, Work, Work!)

Buenas!

Well my Pday got moved to Friday (today) because we are going to the temple! 11 days without a Pday is a wee bit brutal, but hey going to the temple is a huge win in my book. I have been wanting to go for so long!

This email will all be about last week, and I will write another one on Monday about what happened this week.

Pday was super dope! We went with the District to the Zoo. Saw lots of cool animals. We almost got an alligator to eat a chicken! But it wasn't super hungry I guess. 

Tuesday we taught the family Caceres. They are all members except for one daughter. We have been wanting to put her on date, but there are always a million kids running around so it's hard to teach. I told Elder Garrett I was good at distracting kids and he didn't think it was possible with these kids. Oh how I proved him wrong. Elder Garrett taught Alicia a lesson/put her on date to baptized, all while I distracted 8 kids in the corner. Elder Garrett was baffled because the kids were completely silent the whole time which has never happened. He asked me what I did and I just told him "I bribed the kids by saying you would buy them cookies." It was pretty funny. Team work makes the dream work.

This week we put 5 people on date to be baptized in June! Trino, Alicia, Leisy, Gabriel, and Milka. We are super excited for all of them! It's gonna be tough for lots of them, but they are all so amazing! So please pray lots for them!

We had intercambios this week! It was good! I went with Elder Paz to Aguadulce. Penonome is ten times better, but Aguadulce is still pretty cool. They have a four man house tho which was fun! We all just talked and laughed. We had some good lessons and contacts. But we also had this awful lesson where the people were mad at the fact that we need recommends to enter the temple. We explained it very simply to them, but they just refused to hear anything else and were just bashing on us and the church. Kinda really sucked, and I just wanted to yell at them because they had 0 logic and were making no sense. But, I just smiled the whole time, waited for them to stop arguing, explained very clearly the Doctrine of Christ, used a fire analogy, and felt the spirit very strongly. They didn't really say too much after that. I wish them the best of luck! This gospel is true and temples are dope!

This whole week we, as a zone, had a competition of contacting! It was kinda dumb because there are much better ways to find people, but our pride took over. To sum it up quickly Elder Garrett and I contacted 100 people in a single day. We ended the week with contacting over 300 people.

Then we had Sunday which was amazing! We had District Conference. All of the members in Chitré met together for church! It is just stake conference, but we aren't a stake yet. But our mission President was there, and he spoke! So that was cool! And it's always fun to see my friends! 

Overall it was a super good week! Lots of work!

We are super busy today so no spiritual thought sorry! But I will definitely write one on Monday! Love you all! Thanks for all the prayers! Keep praying for my people! Until Monday!

- Elder Lutze

The Zoo

This is for you Foster!

District Conference

 

Semana 38 (Promised Land of Penonomé)

 Buenas!!!

What an amazing week! At 11:30 Monday night we were off to Albrook where all the transfer missionaries meet. Somehow, not sure how, I sat next to my guy Elder Richards on the bus! We came to David together, and we went to migrations together, and then we left David together. It was fun to see all the missionaries in Albrook!

Then me and my new comp Elder Garrett were off to Penonomé! Wow, there is a lot to say about my new area. I absolutely love it!

First of all, the house is nice. It's bigger than San Felix, and it has water which means nice. Taking showers is a wonderful luxury that I once again have access to.

The work in the area is also amazing! We work in Penonomé and Antón. We share a branch with the Hermanas which is dope too. We literally just see them and do stuff with them all the time.  Penonomé is a branch, and Antón is a group that just started last week. So, we have a lot of work to do! There are lots of recent converts, lots of members, and lots of baptisms! It's amazing. There are also lots of people who like to flirt with us - Chapter 14 do be coming in clutch.

We also get a ton of member meals...it's really awesome! I'm definitely gonna get fat in this area. The members are super awesome here!

My new comp, Elder Garrett, definitely didn't help with all the food this week. He is super cool! We have quite a bit in common and we already have a good friendship! He is also 'dying' this transfer. He has in total a year in this area. Crazy. This week was his birthday! Wow! The members went crazy. I'll just go by the days.

Saturday was his actual birthday. We went to a service project for a big chunk of the day. Then we got dressed and went to a baptism which was lit! After the baptism, we played soccer because we play soccer with the youth on Saturdays. Also super lit! Then the members threw a huge party for Elder Garrett! Literally, it was a ward party. Pizza, cake, pinata, soda, music, etc. They went hard!

Then we had Sunday. First of all, the branch is huge! So, church was amazing! Then we went to Antón for church and that was also good! A good group is starting! After church, we went to eat with the hermanas with members. They gave us arroz con pollo, tamales, and cake. I ate two massive plates of arroz con pollo and two pieces of cake with ice cream. This was still all for Elder Garrett's birthday. Well, we helped the members move some things; then we had to go to a different member's house. There, we also celebrated Elder Garrett's birthday with MORE arroz con pollo, MORE cake, MORE ice cream.

Ladies and gentlemen it was a wild, and amazing two days of basically extra Pdays. I was not kidding when I said I would be getting fat in this area. Now, there's a lot more to talk about, but that will have to wait till next week cause we are going to the zoo!

My spiritual thought has to do with 4 Nephi. I don't remember the scripture exactly but it says something along the lines of  "There never was a happier people." That's a pretty powerful statement! I took some time pondering why they were so happy and there are many reasons. That happiness is also easily available for us. The people heard Christ, and listened to Him. They had God in their hearts and the words of the gospel. Thus meaning that they lived by it. They were happy for many other reasons, but one reason I'm sure of is that they were grateful to God for what they had. Gratitude is so, so powerful. President Russell M. Nelson said that "Over my nine and a half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and long-lasting spiritual prescription." It heals our souls. It brings us happiness and helps us realize how much God loves us. I wish I could rant to y'all more, but I guess you're just gonna have to test it! Go a whole week of writing down everything you are grateful for everyday! See if you see a difference.

Love y'all! Pray for my people of Penonomé and Antón!! Until next week!

Saturday Service

E. Lutze & E. Garrett - Chapter 14?

Saturday Baptism

E. Garrett's Branch Birthday Party

E. Lutze & E. Garrett with Las Hermanas