Monday April 7, 2014
Some of you have said it was about time to post another blog so I have gathered some pictures I think you may find interesting and pictures of our house. Hope you like them.

A tree not far from our house that is loaded with coconuts. A lot of times they just let them fall and rot and then they burn them.

This is obviously a dead frog smashed on the road. Dad's shoe shows you how big it is. We see these dead and smashed all the time. I have yet to see a live one.

This is the Chitre Zone. We met today for Zone conference and then the whole zone went to the fair. With Dad and me there are 7 North Americans amongst the 26 of us.

 

At the fair. Dad and his dream tractor.

Brahmas at the fair. These boys are kids from school with their uniforms on on a field trip and just wanted to be in the picture.

Heather, this one is for you. This guy is making snow cones. He has this huge block of ice that he shaves off for every snowcone, then he covers them with flavoring that must be sugarless because then he puts on Sweetened Condensed milk on the top. It's pretty good actually.

Dad wanted you to see these spotted cows almost like an Appaloosalease notice the long ears.

Wares at the fair. The guy at the saddle shop said he made the saddles he had for sale.

They were actually making some of the furniture they were selling at the fair. Some guy had just finished spraying the finish on the chair.

Look carefully. This was in the agricultural section of the fair. These are watermelons they are growing  on vertical poles. As the watermelon grows they put them in little nets and secure them to wires on the vines. Wild!

Dad wanted you to see this. All of these cows are for sale. They all have halters on their heads and can be lead to where they will be seen to sell. Dad took this picture so it is a little hard to see but there is a man in a hammock beyond the spotted calf that is "living " there, watching over his cattle until their new owner leads them away.

This is the pool that belongs to our subdivision. It very rarely has someone in it. We always cut through there on the way to the bus stop because it saves us some time. This is Dad talking to Edwardo, who is the grounds keeper (taking a little dip) he begged us to go swimming with him. It was Sunday afternoon on our way home from Conference.

This darling little thing is my washing machine. I love it because it keeps me out of the laundromat!

This is where I hang my clothes, in this bedroom.They are still working on the fence in the back yard. When it is finished there is a nice clothes line I can use out there.

Guest room: Ready, waiting and air conditioned!

New dining Room table and 6 chairs

living room

tiny but workable kitchen

Both of the bathrooms are just this size but they are clean and there are 2!

Our new desk and printer

This is our room. Clean and cool.

This is a bunch of our missionaries eating at the fair and Dad with our neighbor who owns a restaurant and had a booth at the fair. Our hermanas are the really cute  ones you can see starting at Dad and working to the right. We love our Hermanas.  That is it for now. We are doing great and loving Panama though I was a little jealous to see all of the flowers blooming on Temple Square. I love the Spring and I am in a place that is eternally Summer!

Thank you Presleys part 2

If I were smarter I would know how to fix this so it would all fit on one blog but we learn line upon line right? Three months ago I couldn't even make a blog so here is the end of our story-

This is us with Izador who is a Ngobie Indian who live in a house behind the Presleys with his family.  Elder Presley built the house almost alone since he has been on his mission. Izzy is planning on serving a mission but he has to finish high school first. He should be done by now but had to quit to help support his family. You can see what a nice home the Presleys live in and they are wonderful to do so much for this poor but wonderful family that live behind them.

Dad on a scary walking bridge. We actually crossed this bridge to visit some branch members that live across this bridge and up the hill behind it. It makes Home Teaching a little difficult especially after dark!

Dad from the bridge another day showing off the scenery  and the shrouded volcano in the distance.

Dad and I in Boquete at a beautiful golf course and resort called Villa Escondida. (Hidden Villa), It was gorgeous!

This was also at the golf course. We thought you would get a kick out of us hugging by the heart. I don't know why this picture is so deceptive. This hill is really steep and we just about fell over just trying to get a picture here.

We we are back home again with the aftermath of Carnaval. Here they were revamping some of the floats to re-parade them the next weekend for Canavalita. So glad it is all over, finally.

I told you there was trash everywhere. There were piles like this everywhere and you can imagine with heat like we have what these piles smelled like. There is still a lot of trash everywhere you go but at least they are getting the piles taken care of.

We love all of these unique, little blossoms that you would never see in North America. The other day we saw some red ones just like these. They are so gorgeous.

Ok Cassidy are your sunsets more beautiful than this?  Show us what you got!

Thank you Presleys Part 1

Since I last posted we took a bus to David for our Mission Conference with Elder Amado and then went on to Boquete to spend 5 nights with the Presleys. during carnaval. It was quite an adventure because we had all of this luggage for a week and we had to catch a bus from Las Tablas to Chitre, then from Chitre to Santiago then Stantiago to David. We got a taxi to a hotel in downtown David and spent the night there then the Presleys picked us up the next morning and took us to the mission conference. It was a good conference--(I think it was good, it was all in Spanish) Elder Amado spoke for 5 1/2 hours without any notes. The missionaries all around us were writing like crazy though. They have lots of notes. The Presleys took really good care of us and showed us around their mission world  which is really quite different than ours.

This was town square in David about 6 pm when all the high school kids get out of school. Everyone wears uniforms--sometimes different uniforms from different schools but they all know what they are going to wear each day. The elementary kids go to school in the early morning and get out at lunch time then the older kids go about 2 and get out at 6. It is a horrible schedule and they don't use the same schools so I have no idea why they do it. But once I can speak Spanish I am going to find out!

Here are some Ngobi Indians that are real prevalent in this area. They are not the San Blas Indians who are smaller but they are very easy to spot even if they don't have their bright dresses on because they all look a like--seriously.

I thought you would like this one. This panaderia is one and only one of places we found to have our Dare for the night.

This is Elder Carlos Amado who was so deferential to us because Dad had been his son's mission president. While he was teaching he asked Dad questions 2 or 3 times and even told a couple of stories his son had told him. about our mission.  Who knows if they were even true.

I had to add these for you crafty girls. This is the chapel you are looking at and there were 2 arrangements of these flowers on either side of the podium. They must have been some RS activity because they were made from 2 liter pop bottles. I tired to take a picture looking down into the bouquet because you can actually see the lids and the inside of the original bottles, but the picture doesn't show anything. They are kind of clever but seemed way out of place in the chapel. They reminded me a lot of something that would have been part of the set of Willy Wonka--but then they would have to be made out of chocolate I guess.

 

This is part of the open air market in Boquete. I never see any really great deals at these markets. They seem to have lots of little kids back packs, coloring books and underwear--tons of little girls panties--who knows why.

This is Dad and me in the Plaza in Boquete right next to the open air market. Can you tell we are North Americans?

Another Ngobi Indian family. in Boquete.  Even the little girls wear their native dresses out in public. I liked this picture because the father looked like a young man. So many times there will be very young girls married to very old men--yuk!

We saw these beautiful trees all over in this area. Some were pink and others were white. The weird thing about the tree is there is no other foliage on it. There is not 1 green leaf anywhere just great big blossoms. The Presleys said during the rainy season the blossoms go away and the tree is just green.

Here are some other flowering trees were thought were beautiful but the Presleys said they are noxious weeds that grow everywhere and you can't get rid of them. They have thorns all over them that are about 3xs longer than the thorns on a rose.  It's their way of saying, "Don't mess with me!"

Here are Dad and I and Sister Presley at a vegetable market in Volcan near the base of the volcano. This huge bag of vegetables costs $5 and has everything in it from potatoes and carrots to beets and cabbage. We didn't try to climb the volcano. You can drive to the base but then it takes young Elders about 6 hours to get to the top. We probably would have died on the way.

Again, Dad and I in Volcan showing off the beautiful foliage.

Villa Escondida in Volcan, Panama. We were going to have lunch here but it was too expensive so we just used the bathrooms instead.

Again, Villa Escondida and some of their beautiful gardens. It is a total tourist trap and wouldn't you love to be trapped there.

Here we are with Don and Linda Presley from California. They were wonderful to take care of us for so long.We had a great trip  thanks to them.

Hotel Don Jesus

Here is some fruit our friend Carlo gave us from his place. The oranges around here are always this color. They are real juicy but they are impossible to peel and full of seeds. I call them amarillos because they are not orange. He also gave us grapefruit, limes, star fruit, guava and mangos. Not all of them were as good as you might think. No one really takes care of their fruit trees around here or tries to improve their production or anything. Once they produce something you just pick the ones that are ripe and sell them on the street.

This is our Chitre district. The Elders (Johnson and Espinosa) are actually the Zone leaders but since they are the only Elders in this district they are also the District Leaders. We took this picture because this week was transfers and we were afraid of losing of our District. Luckily All of the Las Tablas people remained in tact. I really like our  hermanas. I like them so much sometimes I even forget they don't speak a word of English. I will rattle off something in English and they will look at me like I am some sort of an alien. I guess I am. Ha!

I wanted to show you a little bit of our church. This was once the Primary room but lately we have been having investigators class and Relief Society in here. This picture really makes it look better than it is. I don't know how long the paintings have been on the walls but it is old and scratched up. The chairs all need to be scrubbed and the windows are those little slat windows that you wind open and closed with bars on the outside of them. If there was a fire and you needed to get out of this room but you couldn't use the door you would just die--unless someone could knock a hole through the wall. The walls are all pretty thin.

This is one of the 2 bathrooms in the church and this picture makes it look way better than it is. First of all the door doesn't lock and of course there is no hot water (that is a given) and the shower has never been used or cleaned since the church bought the building. I shouldn't complain because it does have water, soap, paper towels and toilet paper that flushes!

This is our chapel. Sorry I didn't get the picture before everyone put most of the chairs away but you get the idea, I'm sure. The room holds about 45 people and just above what you can see in the picture there are 3 oscillating fans on each side of the room. Also the door to the outside and the bus stop and the street are just in back of this man where I am standing taking the picture. Without the fans going and the door open it would be unbearable to be in the room with 45 people in attendance. With the door open it is pretty noisy with buses and taxis and cars and people coming and going.

You guessed it--this is where I sit for Sacrament and play this lovely keyboard. It kind of matches my piano skills. There is not room in the chapel room for this little table, keyboard and me so I am in a little adjacent room where extra people can sit if there is an overflow. You can actually see the speaker from here but not the congregation, This table you see in the left hand corner is the sacrament table.

This is the plaza in the center of town. I wish you could see the giant scaffolding they have put up all around 3 sides of the plaza getting ready for Carnaval. Dad is standing by stairs that go up about 3 stories. I do kind of wish I could be here to see all of the festivities but the closer it gets and the crazier the traffic and crowds and street closing and loud amps everywhere--I'm glad we are leaving in the morning.

More and more of the streets are beginning to look like this. Everyone is trying to sell their wares but most of it is a lot of junk. However I did buy a pair of sandals the other day I quite like. They charged me $10. If my skin had been a little darker I probably could have gotten them for $5. I am working on the darker skin but it is coming very slowly.

This is the small veranda outside of our hotel room at the Hotel Don Jesus. You can see a little of the pool down below. Unfortunately we never spent any time at all out here because it was just too uncomfortably hot and humid. Once we got home we were dieing for air conditioning. The hotels around here have no air conditioning in their lobbies or their common areas. They must think we are just crazy that we can't live without it. They also must wonder why no one uses their really nice common areas and verandas.

Here is Dad poking his head through a papaya tree as we walked back from a lesson we taught this afternoon. He thought he was so cool being in the picture but then he had to ask what they were. Still haven't tasted your Cherimoya Joel, but they do say they grow them here.   Tomorrow we are off to David for a mission conference with Elder Amado. He is the father of our Elder Andres Amado that came to our mission. I'm sure he will want to meet us for that very fact. Ha. Then we will go to Boquete with the Presleys who are the only other Sr. Proselyting Couple in the mission. We have never met them but they have been "assigned" to take care of us during Carnaval. We will be there 5 nights which is longer than we like to stay with our kids. Is should be interesting.  So long, love you all, Mom