Our Last Month--June 2015

Panama has been an adventure for sure but there are so many things about it I won't miss. 

I won't miss dead animals in the street. Derek, you and Dillon are our animal experts. What is this?! I am just grateful I found it outside of my house and not in my kitchen. Yuk!

I won't miss bats in the church. You remember our bat incident. This was quite an interesting adventure with having bats for a few days. I love how the Physical Facilities people said they "took care of the situation". What does that mean exactly?!

I won't miss how they do things around here. This is part of the Panamerican Hiway between here and David. Are they really not going to move the telephone pole and just leave it in a pile of dirt in the middle of the road. That is probably not a good idea.

I won't miss babies having babies. It is so common here. Here are Saskia and Christian (both 16) with their baby Dylan. We haven't met Saskia's younger sister Larisa's baby. She is 14. How will sweet babies ever make it?

I will miss the unique nature of this foreign land around us. I don't want this in my house but I am willing to take pictures of it as it posses for me. 

I will miss the romance of the countryside that sometimes looks like a tropical rain forest and other times looks like an African desert.

 I will miss the unique beauty of the nature. This little crab looks like someone took a paint brush and painted his back. He lives on a deserted island. Who is even supposed to enjoy his beauty?

I will miss making new things. Their food here is nothing I will ever long for when I go home but I am willing to try almost anything. These empanadas I made were way better than anything I ever bought off the street. I will also miss what a big deal they thought my chocolate chip cookies were. No one at home ever thought I was amazing!

 I will miss how these people love to celebrate everything and are always willing to have a party. They have magnificent floats for the minutest of festivals and have holidays for almost anything people can come up with.

I will miss finding the remains of a float just hanging around on the street days after the parade is over. This thing is totally made of Styrofoam and could be knocked over with a strong wind.

I will miss  Dad's favorite trees. Since it never gets cold here the blossoms on all the flowering trees and shrubs last forever---I mean months and months. It is so beautiful.

I will miss being surrounded by a tropical paradise with beautiful beaches,   Usually the beaches are deserted or visited only by tourists. I guess they would rather just sit on their porches which they do everyday and all evening.

I will miss the Hermanas.  We almost always loved working with the missionaries. Here are the four Hermanas we have here currently. From left to right we have Hermana Ramerez (Guatemala) Hermana Hendley (Provo), Hermana Martinez (Texas) and Hermana Toki (Tonga) It is a little strange to see these brown faces struggle with Spanish. They are good girls though and hard workers.

I will miss baptisms. You never get sick of baptisms. These two young girls are sisters Belkis and Briselda. They are Gnobi Indians. They were baptized three weeks ago.

And, of course,  I will miss the children. You never get sick of the babies. The people have such beautiful children here. The people are not hard to love. I will miss the people.