Panama 4th month

 May 23, 2014

     We are doing fine in Panama. We have a house and a car and air conditioning. All is well.

This is a man in Las Trancas boiling down sugar cane. When they get it down to a paste consistency they call it honey but it doesn't taste at all like what the bees make---bee-lieve me!

Here you can see the fire he is cooking over on an already scorchingly hot day.  I can only imagine how many hours it would take to get it to the consistency he needs it.

Dad wanted you to see this. I don't know if you can tell it is a fence but it is with 5 strings of barbed wire on it. You see this all the time. We don't know if they actually use the trees as fenceposts or they use posts and then they sprout. Probably some of both. Anyway, every couple of years they have to trim their fences--no joke.

This is your Dad working, on the left, with Charles at English class. He is this poor little guy who lives in a metal shack with a dirt floor in the middle of no where. Once we saw Charles early in the morning in the center of town looking lost and  alone. I told Dad he had probably been there all night. Dad offered him some money for the bus and he was out of there. I only wish Dad would have given him more money. He probably hadn't eaten either. He is a poor soul but he does really well in English class and he seems to love your Dad.

This is a picture of our district when they came to breakfast and had district meeting at our house. They are all really good missionaries and we are going to be sick when Elder Johnson, our district and zone leader, goes home next month. He is great!

These are our Hermanas whom we love. They are all tiny girls but they eat like men. We had them over for lunch the other day when we were waiting for President Carmack and interviews and they each had 2 sandwiches and chips and fruit and everything piled high. I mean the first time through they each made themselves 2 sandwiches.  I can understand sticking stuff in their bags for later but they can really eat!

This is at Marisol's baptism. It was the sister's baptism but Dad got to perform the ordinance. She is a single mother, a really nice person. Her little guy is 4 yr old Juan Luis.                                     

Here is your Dad as the "Pied Piper" at the branch party blowing up all the little kids' balloons.

Here is my little Alejandra (The brown Cheyenne as we call her) I would readily adopt her as my granddaughter but at this point she is not having it. She only kind of likes me. I think she is darling. She has great big dimples and black eyes that are full of fire. She drives her mother crazy in church. I would help but I am trying to play the keyboard.

Me and Sister Molino. This is why I don't ever put pictures of me on the blog. I always look like a drowned rat

This was an attraction at the Mall in Panama City. They put the kid in the ball and fill it with air and then put it on the pool. The kids love it and they don't even get wet!

This is a picture of my feet so you can see how brown they are compared to my toes. This means I am a hard worker or at least a "hot" worker!

Dad and his favorite kind of tree. He thinks they look like something out of Africa.

The little plant starts I made for all the women on Mother's Day.

We went to the beach for P-day. It is about 20 min from here--maybe less.

Here is your Dad trying to walk to the Philippines. He says it is a straight shot across.

                          

Eat your hearts out--Justin and Kelsey with your Ft. Worth bull run. These Brahmas were just running wild through the streets of Guarare yesterday. They got out of somewhere.

Moises and Elvis Prado who are brothers, are 2 of my piano students. They both played at the church talent show this past week and did respectable jobs for 3 months of lessons.

This is David at the lesson we taught him this morning. He is holding onto the banana flower. It is kind of like a weight that helps them hang down for picking. It is pretty but uneatable. We will baptize David if we can just talk him into getting married.