Norma Y Los Niños

Well it's been a pretty dang good week here in El Progreso! Things are picking up and we have quite a few friends who are interested in learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Norma is a girl that is a part of a less active family that we are teaching. She's 18 years old and she's way cool. She is trying to learn English and I'm trying to learn Spanish haha so we're helping each other out, it's super fun. She is the niece of Elsa and the cousin of David. Elsa and David are members but they hadn't come to church since before the pandemic so we have been working with them, and they came to church last week! David is 15 years old and he's the funniest dude. He's always smiling, I love it. Anyways, We have been working with Norma since my 3rd week here and she accepted our invitation to be baptized on Christmas Day! I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas... It looks like we'll be having a white Christmas here in El Progreso after all

So this week we focused on less active families trying to encourage them to come to church. We had a couple lessons with different families and 2 of them came to church! Luckily we have the best branch in the country so all the members were surrounding them and welcoming them with love. It is the best feeling to see that happen, especially because it gives us Elder Putt and I a chance to talk to other people. Last sunday, this sister turned around and said that she wants her son Aaron to be baptized. So that was crazy cool haha. They were a less active family too but they are coming back. Aaron is 10 years old and he is a stud. His date for baptism is December 4th! His little brother is 8 and we are teaching him as well. We're gonna plan to have them get baptized on the same day which will be the coolest thing ever. 

Thursday, we had Zone Conference in Panama City which was so sick. We were there basically all day. I actually learned quite a bit which was cool because it's all in Spanish and I didn't understand anything from the last Zone Conference. So I guess the language is coming along a little bit which is a nice feeling. After Conference, we went to Albrook which is a huge mall that is right by the metro. Walking in the mall was the best because it had Christmas decorations up and it reminded me of the states, I felt like I was home for a little bit. 

Yesterday, we walked A TON and we walked  for 30 min to our lunch appointment after church to find out that they weren't home so then we walked all the way back to try and find before teaching one of our lessons. That was pretty tough because I was starving and just exhausted but it was a good day overall. I know that it was a good week of grinding because I was beat. We ran into those kids again so I showed them a few more tricks and they were loving it. We're still trying to find a way to have lessons with them and their families because they're not insanely interested.

Life is good here in the field despite all the challenges because I know that as long as we pour our heart and soul into the work, God will be happy. Shoot me an email, I wanna hear from you guys! 

Cuidate,

Elder Felt

PICS

1: We're always eating at bus stops 

2: The Kids

3: Bought a hammock yesterday for $10 from this man on the street

4&5: Something I know you all want to see, the Panama Canal