Semana 79 (Make 'Em Laugh!)

Buenas!!!

Lots happened this week, so let's get into it!

*We FINALLY got permission from Abby's dad to baptize her! Huge miracle! She'll get baptized on the 16th of March!

*The Women in Panama are crazy. One was cat calling and saying things like "Oh my gosh, I'm a sinner just by looking! You're so beautiful! You're so pretty!"

It's scary out here folks...

*Ate Sopa de Pata de Vaca.... (Cow Hoof Soup). Yea, it's as bad as it sounds. Super fatty meat that looked more like jello, and there's hair everywhere. Lovely.

*Story Time! We pull up to a house to contact. But, then we recognize someone we've met - Larry. Larry is a Testigo De Jehova. Well it turns out the other 3 people there were also Testigos. So we start talking to them, and ask if we can share what we believe. They agreed, but refused to let us say a prayer. We start teaching, and then 4 more Testigos arrive, and then 4 more walk out of the house. We were surrounded!!! Even though our legs were shaking a bit, we taught with Power and Authority! We got them thinking hard on things. We were making good progress, but then the mother testigo walked out and started bashing us. Everything went into flames, and they refused to let us read a single verse in the Book of Mormon. While the opposition was strong, it only made our testimonies grow stronger!

*Story Time 2! Went 'finding' in the morning, and we both had the impression to go to this one place. Found Boris. Put Boris on date to be baptized. MIRACLE! Came back, he didn't remember anything...not even his baptismal date. Decided to try one more time. He remembered EVERYTHING! Even his baptismal date! Has 0 problems with the word of wisdom and law of chastity. Believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Wants to read the Book of Mormon and go to church. My guy is lit! He cant see super well, and he is a bit old, but he is such an awesome investigator!

*Story Time 3!! (Didn't see that one comin' did ya?) We were in an area where we had already contacted everyone. No one wanted anything to do with us, so we decided to leave. But there was one last street we hadn't gone to. So we decided to go. I said jokingly to Elder Clark, "I feel like every missionary has that one story, where it's always the last floor and the last door. Where's my story?"

Well, sure enough, the last street, and the last house, we met Guillermo. He stopped everything he was doing to listen. And we had a super good lesson with him! Accepted a baptismal date too! He's awesome! 

*Ok, ok I'll stop...after this one. Story Time 4!

This girl Gabriela wants to get baptized. We started teaching her. She wants her missionary brother to baptize her when he gets home. Well, her mom tells us some bad news. That the brother isn't coming to Panama, but is going to Ecuador. But Gabriela doesn't know. So this 12 year old girl, whose only dream is to see her brother and have him baptize her, was gonna get her heart broken. Which could potentially have led to her not wanting to get baptized.

We had the impression to go over with some members. We talked about Christ's Atonement and how he can help us at any moment. The spirit was really strong. Then we had to break the news to her. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen! This girl literally just started breaking down completely right in front of us. We could just see her dreams being crushed. Now the members helped a ton! Very inspired to bring them. But it still wasn't enough. I was just praying to know what to do, and I had the thought, "Make her laugh."

Make her laugh? How? I suck at making people laugh! Sure I'm a clown sometimes, but when it comes to intentionally making someone laugh I am the pits at that! So I'm racking my brain on what to do. Literally felt like that one scene in Monsters Inc where Sully tells Mike to make Boo laugh, but he doesn't know how. So what was the best solution? Make a fool of himself. The thought had popped in my head "Do Magic."

Great! Magic! that will make her laugh for sure... But! It was all I had! One simple dumb coin trick. I ended up doing it, and everyone was just so confused. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but the trick caused a chain of events to occur. I definitely made a fool of myself. But, one thing led to another and EVERYONE was laughing their heads off! I genuinely have no clue what happened, but with the laughter the mood was cleared completely! Everyone was happy, and Gabriela set her own baptismal date for the 26th! God is good!

*Had 5 of our friends come to church on Sunday! All of whom have a baptismal date for the 16th!! Hype!

*Anyways. Transfers are here! I'm going to Banana Land! It's called "La Finca 30." I've got a 12 hour bus ride to Changuinola ahead of me! I say Banana Land because it's where they grow all the Bananas! It's also a Bro Zone, meaning that it's all Elders! Should be interesting! I'm so excited! It will be so fun!

I'm sure sad to leave Vista Alegre 2! Even though there weren't any baptisms here in my time, I'm really happy I could help a lot of people! Even some that will get baptized soon! That's the beauty of missionary work. You give your all, and in the end, it's all the same God and the same work! Doesn't matter where you go or what happens!

Love you all! Wish me luck in Banana Land! Pray for me, my new area, and my new zone! Until Next Week!

- E. Lutze

Another Delicious Meal

E. Clark & E. Lutze Vista Alegre 2

The Dog

Leaving for Changuinola

Our Zone - E. Clark & E. Lutze

Shaking paws with the Dog

We LOVE Missionary Work!

Sunrise or Sunset?

The Race is ON!!!

We LOVE Missionary Work - Morning and Evening!

Semana 78 (Andamos Flo)

Buenas!!!

Started the week off strong with an intercambio! Two really new missionaries came to my area with me. Elder Carrillo y Elder Dawson! It was really interesting. But it was a good day! Saw some big miracles! Funny moment happened when  our member talked to them for 30 minutes straight. Then just to torture the missionaries more, I told her "Hey, Elder Carrillo wants to know how you met your husband." She just laughed crazily, and off she went telling another 15 minute story! I was trying so hard to keep myself from laughing.

We also saw the Soul Traveling man again! He walked into the restaurant and started talking to me. He reminds me of Oogway from Kung Fu Panda, especially when he said, "There are no accidents." He taught me a chakra of how to summon the master. It goes like this, "Youuuuuuuuuu." As I was trying to keep a straight face, I simply asked "Are you here to buy food?" He said, "No." At this moment, I realized he saw us inside and only came in to talk. But, "There are no accidents." Right?

The next day we did another intercambio! Basically a whole bunch of problems went down this week, so we were trying to help everyone out. I had a good time here in Vista Alegre with Elder Nelson! We contacted sooooo many people! It was a lot of fun!

Elder Clark and I saw a sloth!!! It was taking what we call "The Freeway." By that I mean it was just on the power lines, inching its way towards Panama City. Have you ever seen a sloth on a power line before? It was awesome!!! It was going so fast too! For a sloth that is. We call it "The Freeway" because there is literally nothing stopping the sloth from doing its thing.

Saw a bunch of kids unload a car full of beer... it was insane. There were at least 40 - 12 packs. I have never seen so much alcohol in my life...

According to our friend Steven - "Andamos Flo."

Did a CPEC! Gotta love the good old CPEC! It was a good time tho! Our bodies suffered after, but hey, more blessings, am I right?

Almost ruined someone's relationship, whoops. We contacted a lady and her significant other. We then texted said lady. The response was "This is her boyfriend."

So we respond saying, "Oh, hey Moises! How are you?"

We then got a message saying, "Who is Moises?!"

"Oh sorry, what is your name then?"

"Excuse me, Imma ask again. Who is Moises!?"

The bottom line is don't cheat because one way or another it will get exposed. And what could be more embarrassing than getting accidentally exposed by two white missionaries?

We did a "Milla Extra" as a zone for Baptism invitations! In the end, we invited 56 people to be baptized! That's awesome!!! It was really cool to see all the miracles!

Spiritual Thought

I heard Thomas Monson say something along the lines of "If we treat others as they are, they will always be that way. But if we treat them as they could be, we can change their hearts/lives."

I love that! If we are to help others become better people, we have to see them as God sees them! We have to see the potential they have! In terms of mission work, if we want to help people truly be converted, we have to treat them in a way where we see their potential. We have to envision it for the people we love and teach. Think about it!

Anyways. Love you all lots! Have a great week! Pray for my zone and my people! Also please, please, please, pray for Diego!!! Until Next Week!

-E. Lutze

Mom note - I will be gone the next 3 Mondays. So more letters to come after March 12th. 

Screenshot - Caught Cheating

E. Lutze spots the sloth

Garden Art

Pray for Diego

So cool! A Sloth on a power line!

Yes, it's moving... faster than I thought?!

Semana 77 (Satan's Birthday)

Buenas!

Fantastic week as always! Always some ups and downs! But the ups are always the best part :)

A member moved in to the ward, and it turns out her husband isn't a member! Well, he is kinda. He is a "Dry Member." In other words, he does everything members do, knows everything, and has a ton of time in the church! He just isn't baptized/is waiting for something, not sure what. He doesn't even know what he is waiting for. This week we have had some super, super direct, but insanely spiritual lessons with him! Some of the strongest times I have felt the spirit on my mission! So, so good! Alex and his wife, Kitza are super awesome! And their house is amazing!

This guy named Orlando was trying really hard to argue with us. It was kinda funny, because we calmly answered everything he threw at us by using the Book of Mormon and the example Jesus Christ has set for us. He eventually gave up and didn't know what to do so he just said, "It's all about interpretation!" Which didn't quite make sense cause we told him about 20 times that he just needs to ask God! But, any time we said that, he just hid behind the same response.

We met a guy who "Soul Travels." Awesome! I don't even know what that is! But, apparently when the master comes, you have to accept him as the master, and he will teach you how to do it! Sounds a bit demonic to me. But they got a bible called the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad. Not sure what that is, but yea 

Painted a school for service!

Met a dude. Next day somehow ended up at his house. His mom yelled at us for 5 minutes telling us that we don't believe in Jesus. We left kinda laughing to ourselves. Then we saw the guy in the park, so we taught him! It was pretty cool how it all played out honestly! If he wasn't at the park, there was no way we were gonna be able to teach him.

Met a guy who believes in Aliens! That was an interesting conversation...

Met an inactive member named Mohammad Ali.

'Whoppin' mi fren?' is my new favorite term! It's completely broken English to say "What's happening my friend!?"

We started and finished a puzzle.

Made muffins where the instructions just say "add water." They taste so good!

Intercambios with the APs! I went with Elder Rejon to the city! Well, first we were in the car with President Forsberg (mission president) for about 2 hours. For some reason the road was blocked off, and his phone was trying to take him in all sorts of random directions. It was fun! We went in about 10 circles. It was hilarious!

Elder Rejon and I had a great day! One of the people we taught, Rolando, made the funniest comment of my life. "It was Adan y Eva, not Adan y Esteven!" It sounds funnier in Spanish. Had some other amazing lessons as well! Also, the AP house is soooooo nice! 

As far as the title goes, right now in Panama there is a thing called Carnival! People sometimes call it "Satan's Birthday or the Devil's Birthday." Why, you ask? Well, everything that occurs is of the devil! Lots of beer. Like. A lot. Just a ridiculous amount. Not even just for drinking, but literally to just spray people with it. And then there is also not a lot of clothes! So everyone and their dog packed up to head to the party! Crazy!

For Pday we also went bowling! I didn't think I could get worse than I was before, but I seemed to prove myself wrong 

Spiritual Thought

A problem that Elder Clark and I addressed very recently is that of complaining. More specifically about others. It gets very old, very quickly. It is something that only causes anger, as well as contention!

I bring this up because I love what our prophet, as well as the scriptures, have to say. They don't only say that we shouldn't complain about others. But, they also say that in EVERY conversation we should uplift others! That if there be anything lovely, virtuous, or of good report, that should be our standard of talking! It can be a hard thing to do at times, but the rewards are worth it! We will feel happy. Others will feel happy. And we will be able to see others in a new light!

So my invitation to you is that you become more conscious of what you say! Words have a big impact for good or bad. Let it be good! So next time you catch yourself about to say something bad about another person, stop, and say something nice about them instead! Jesus never said anything bad about a person, ever. So, we being imperfect are never justified in doing so.

Love you all! Apologize for a bit of a long email. Keep praying for my people and my zone! Until Next Time!

- E. Lutze

Bowling Alley

Chinese Food

Cool Truck

Making Muffins - Just ADD water!

Nice Dog Bed

Puzzle Time

Painting the School

Panama City

Panama, Oh Panama!

Semana 76 (Save My Shoes!)

Buenas!!!

Crazy busy week, but so good!

We started off by doing a CPEC in Loma Coba on Tuesday! It was fun! We were super tired after though. But, we gave ourselves some good motivation, and saw some big miracles for the work!

Had an intercambios the next day! I was with Elder Canastuj. The first thing he told me was "Gringo, I was obligated to come on the mission. I don't want to be here." He already has 20 months on the mission, so that was a bit sad. All in all, it was quite the interesting time with him.

We got to eat with la familia Vallarino! My Sensei (Presidente Vallarino) was just dropping knowledge upon us. It was a really fun time!

We had our Zone conference this week as well! It was fun to see a lot of friends! Elder Clark and I also got to give a training to all the missionaries which was super fun!

2 of my recent converts, Juan and Angela, are preparing to go to the temple and get endowed! I'm so, so, so excited for them! And there is a possible chance that I can go with them! Crazy how time flies!

We did a 2ND CPEC! We woke up early a lot this week... but that's ok! Who needs sleep right? It was a good time though! We also got to do some baptismal interviews for the Elders.

Huge miracle on Sunday! I have never really had a big testimony/experience with fasting. But this week we decided to use all the faith we had! We started our fast on Saturday, we were expecting a miracle, and we were running around doing as much as we could to help God make the miracle happen!

Well, Sunday rolled around, and we had a few friends at church which was good! But, after church, we were able to go to a lesson with Diego and his mom!

The story behind Diego is that before he had a -10 interest in the church, but thanks to a spiritual experience at an "EFY", he got really interested! So we had been teaching him a bit here and there, the problem being mostly his parents.

Well, we were still fasting, and man did we feel weak. But we shared about Christ's life, and about his love. And the spirit was so strong! We asked Diego's mom if she would be willing to support Diego in any decision he made. She said yes! We then asked Diego if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ, and be baptized. He said yes! It was a huge miracle! Super amazing! We are so excited for him!

My spiritual thought goes hand in hand with this experience. Last week I talked about a simple pattern of trials of our faith, demonstration of faith, and the miracle/conversion!

For me, the trial of faith was fasting - to have an experience with fasting/miracles. The demonstration was experimenting upon the word for myself. To test it myself. And to work hard. In the end, God truly blessed us with a miracle! And my own conversion/testimony of fasting has grown!

It all starts with a desire. The desire then moves us to act! To test and try the things of God! And through our trials and our actions/testing God's word, we truly see miracles!

What is so great about this is that there is only one way to find out. For you to try it out yourself!

Love you all! Keep praying for my people! And my zone! And for my shoes, so the shoe guy can repair them! They have a nice air-conditioning system! (Pic below)

Until Next Week!!

- E. Lutze

E. Lutze & E. Clark teaching at the Zone Conference

Please pray for E. Lutze's shoes

Mmm... no one's home?!

On our way to or from Zone Conference

Always sharing the Book of Mormon

Meeting up with friends at the Zone Conference

Zone Conference Meal

Our Zone with President & Sister Forsberg

Semana 75 (WE AIN'T HAD NOTHIN' BUT MAGGOTY BREAD FOR 3 STINKIN' DAYS)

For those who have seen and love Lord of the Rings, I'm sure you will appreciate my email title.

Buenas!!

Pdays in Arraijan have kinda been boring, so Elder Clark and I have been trying to spruce things up a bit! Let me just say, 'Chair Soccer' was a big hit! Everyone was going absolutely insane!!!

Tuesday we had our Leadership Conference! So, we woke up really early, and had a good/spiritual time! Got to see a lot of friends, and got to learn a lot! I may have also broken someone's tie.... but it wasn't exactly my fault. Basically they were trying to do an example, and they tied my legs together with a tie, and in the end I accidentally broke it... woops!

Then we had an intercambios! I went with Elder Bailey to Caceres. It was super fun! We didn't have a phone with the internet the whole time, so we were just kinda blind. But, the Spirit sure helped us out! They said they were having problems with contacting people, so we made a goal. We contacted literally EVERYONE. It was really fun! Then their member Abraham was really weird and started driving us to random places. It was really dumb. But, that's a whole different story.

The next day we had our Zone Council! It was super good! One of the leaders in Arraijan came to speak to us... for 2 HOURS! Insane amount. It was really good though! Presidente is actually a good friend of mine! He is kinda like my sensei you could say. At any moment he will just decide to talk to you for an hour about the revelation he is receiving for you. It's quite interesting.

Anyways. Then we had another intercambio that day. I was with Elder Tanner here in Vista Alegre! He is young in the mission, but he is a beast! It was a super fun time!

A member was just walking around showing his garments to the entire world. Then he hugged us and kissed us on the forehead! Awesome!

Then we went to this mission prep meeting. It was cool! We got to help hype up some people for missions! And we talked about technology to try and help them! It was super awesome! Then we got a call from Presidente Vallarino to listen to him speak for an hour! Jajaja!!!

As far as the title goes, here is where the story comes in. Whenever a member cancels their meal with us, they always make us go to Damaris. The thing about Damaris is that her food makes me sick. Well, 6 people canceled their meals this week which meant that we ate with Damaris 6 times. It would have been fine except for the fact that every once in a while we would find maggots in our food.

Hence the "WE AIN'T HAD NOTHIN BUT MAGGOTY BREAD FOR 3 (6) STINKIN DAYS." 

But in the end, we were hungry. And both me and Elder Clark thinking "It Could Be Worse," we ate it anyways.

Spiritual Thought

I was thinking a lot about faith this week. And conversion. In the end there is a bit of a 3 step process. The trial of faith, the demonstration/action, and the miracle. We see this all over in the Book of Mormon. Someone has a problem, they show faith by asking and acting, and then comes the miracle. Well it's the same for conversion. Trial of faith, demonstration of faith, and the conversion or the conviction. I ended up making a mathematical example for this. To clarify, I'm not saying that God uses a math equation like this to bless us with miracles, but it is easier to understand with the example.

Trial of faith x Action = Miracle/Conversion

We will always, always, ALWAYS have problems or trials of faith in our lives. It is unavoidable. We can't control that. But, what we can control is our actions.

So let's say we receive a trial that is really hard. It's number 10. But what happens if our effort/actions is only a level of 1?

10 x 1 = 10.

The miracle or conversion isn't very high. But what happens if our action is a level of 10?

10 x 10 = 100.

Suddenly we get a lot more! But what if we decide to do nothing, and don't act or demonstrate any faith?

10 x 0 = 0.

God can't work any miracle if we don't have faith. The concept is simple. What is harder is to put it into practice. But I know that our trials are opportunities to grow, ONLY if we remain faithful through our actions, doing all we can so that God can bless us with miracles and conversion. Hopefully this all made sense.

Thanks for all the prayers! Please continue praying for my people and my zone! Love y'all! Until Next Time!

- E. Lutze

E. Lutze & E. Tanner or E. Bailey on Intercambios

Leadership Conference with President and Sister Forsberg

E. Lutze & E. Clark

Zone Council with our Books of Mormon

A Hungry Dog?

Yep, there are maggots in our food!

A doll for the dog?