Samuel

Thus is a little boy I teach English to.  He is 7 years old.  He loves to see the videos on the website (www.jw.org) and when the songs come on (even in english)  he'll start to sing.  In these pictures we are dancing and talking about the words in the songs.  And in the other one we had just read a bible story and colored a picture of Caleb from the website.  He said it looks like him except for his glasses so now every picture we color of Caleb he adds blue glasses to. 

Flooding

These pictures don't really do it justice but it was really bad.  One day I was at home sick.  I was watching movies in the spare room when my parents came home around 4 or 5 (somehow they always get long service days when I'm sick :-[  what's up with that?  ) anyways they come in and start saying it was flooding. I come out to see our living room, kitchen and back porch are all flooded ankle deep which I would have noticed it I hadn't planted myself in front of the computer with a blanket and hot chocolate for the day.  But I have no regrets since if I had caught it what would I have done without a phone? It had been absolutely pouring solid rain for a while (making it seriously hard to hear my movie)   but I never considered the possibility of it coming in the house. As it turns out the water was coming into the back porch from the super flooded backyard.  We swept and vacuumed and a brother and sister came to help.  The brother and dad put up a little wall out of sandbags.  But the next day it poured again and dad dug a trench to keep the rain that was still coming in a bit help.  It was all so crazy.  Thankfully the only thing that might have been hurt by the water was the sewing machine which we haven't tried yet to see if it broke.  The laundry room flooded really bad since our house (like most here)  isn't completely level. So once we put the dehumidifier on for the floor and washed ridiculous amounts of laundry (using the dryer at a brother and sister house) everything was normal again.  Here are some pictures.  This was after we got some of the water out though.

Great Minds Think Alike

This is Tina she recently moved here with her husband and two kids. You'll be seeing more pictures of them soon.  One day when we met the service group we realized we matched! We both had on blue Jersey dresses! And it didn't help our hair was very similar color.  

Party

One of the things I miss about the states is the changing of the seasons.  And I absolutely love fall.  So around the time fall started for all of you in the states I decided to have a fall party.  I crocheted colored leaves, made apple cider, and everyone brought a favorite fall treat.  It was so much fun.  We also had an accessory exchange, all the sisters brought jewelry, scarfs, bags, whatever accessories they no longer needed and put them on a table (which eventually became two tables since everyone brought so much).  Then we all took turns picking something we wanted. It was a lot of fun! And it was so funny to see everyone getting so into the exchange.

  Afterwards Cooper and Kaia asked everyone if they wanted to play the telephone charades game.  Which to my surprise everyone did.  How you play is you separate everyone into two teams one team goes into one room and the others stay.  Both teams come up with little skits ours that day were shopping and going to get a terrible hair job. The skits are a about 3 minutes long. Then the team in the main room pick one person to act out the skit.  They practice and then call one person from the other team into watch the skit.  They see it once then without questions or comments they call another person from their team in to watch them do the skit.  This continues until everyone on the team in the other room has done the skit.  And the last person must guess what they saw.  Then the original actor redoes it and you see how much it changed.  It is super funny and great for big groups.  I laugh harder at this game than any other.  I hope this explanation made sense so you can try it. 

At the end I think everyone had a great time, some even asked what I'm doing for winter! I just smiled and said I'm already planning. :-)

Service Finds

While out in service we found this makeshift workout bench mom thought was great.

This was from when we first visited here. This car was a brother and sister's that let us use it for the 6 weeks they were in the states. We were on our way to Volcan one day for a service meeting, the back road that connected Volcan to Boquete was still being built. We were about to go up a super steep hill (and for those of you that have taken this road before you know that this road is pure hills) suddenly all at once we got two flat tires and the clutch stopped working. When mom started to change the tire a group of Panamanians pulled over to help us. When they were done we offered them money ,they refused, but they took literature.

 

 

Alyvia

Here is a video I found of Alyvia practicing piano. She practiced this song so much I can barely stand to listen to it now (and this was over a year and a half ago) but she did get really good at it!

Pioneer School 2013

Mom was super excited to go to the pioneer school! And this year Boquete got to host it. I never realized how much work went into making the school go smoothly! By the end of the last day we crashed and slept...a lot. But it was worth it, it was all so much fun! Dad was running everyday back and forth from the school, and since we had both instructors and their wives staying with us I got permission to go to lunch 8 out of 10 days! Which was awesome! I got to be known as the girl that took pictures of everything and everyone, so I'm pretty sure some avoided me.

 I especially enjoyed picture day! As you can see the picture turned out great, everyone was colorful and bright. It was a huge class! There were 41 students, which is the biggest class I've heard of. But there was so much experience, I felt like I learned so much from just being around so many experienced brothers and sisters. There were 5 COs and sub-COs and 9 special pioneers. Many in the class were there for their third time and for one couple it was their forth! And there were a ton that had over 20 years I full time service.  It was amazing! I really enjoyed every minute I was able to be there. As soon as I'd walk into the hall I could feel the joy and it seriously rubbed off, I don't think I ever stopped smiling. Jehovah's people really are happy people and the ones in this class have really felt the joy his service brings.

All in all I think I was encouraged just as much as the class was, I really felt apart of the school. I got to know so many new friends and got closer to ones I'd known since we got here 3 and a half years ago (can you believe its been that long?). At the end of the two weeks even though we were all tired, I felt refreshed and grateful to have the privilege of being apart of such a wonderful organization. For anyone who has not been able to help with a Pioneer School Class, go volunteer right now! Even if your congregation only gets to help with one lunch, make the most out of that hour you have with the class. One (of the many) things I learned during this time was that if you put yourself out there, Jehovah will use you, and when you get to be used by Jehovah this only brings joy and satisfaction. Serving him really is the best way we can use our lives.

Here's a picture at one of the meetings when our family came to visit, in this picture mom is with her two sister.

Desperate

You know what they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. That's an understatement in this case. This is a sister that lives in Volcan, originally from Australia. There is no question of what she misses most from home, a bathtub. She would seriously do anything for a bath, anything? anything! Finally she got a bath tub but since the bathroom was too small, she had to put it outside...yet as you can see a bathtub, inside or out, made her happy.

Almirante

This is a great picture depicting what preaching is like on the other side of the mountain, in the Bocas Province. Here Uncle Dustin is talking to one of his calls. Many people in that province speak English because of their Jamaican decent. When you are over there it feels like you're in a different country, they have different customs, houses, food. That is one thing that is so nice about Panama is the verity you can see in just one small country. There's verity in landscape: you have the white sand Carribean beaches, to mountain farm land, to bustling city where you forget you're in a third world country, to wooden house and never ending banana fields where you feel like you might be in Jamaica, the list never ends, but pretty much wherever you go you can find ones receptive to the good news. One thing that is nice about the Bocas area or specifically Almirante (where this picture is taken) is that its a very laid back area, many are at home and you are never in lack of people to talk to, even in the English field. . 

Dad

I have other pictures from this assembly. But I thought I'd share this with you first. This is Dad's first non-symposium part on an assembly. It was at this past one day assembly "Safeguard Your Conscience", he gave the part for youths.

Monkeys

While out in service one day Alyvia stopped by the animal rescue place. Here she is playing with one of the monkeys in the cages, there are also
3 mischevious ones that are free.

Group Picture

This was a really big day in service. This is almost everyone, and it was such a nice day out, everyone got out their cameras to take pictures.

No sheep...just goats

We saw this goat in service at a house with a spectacular view. Just in case you are as corny as my dad is here is his pun: we tried to preach to him but he's obviously a goat. It took me second to get it too.

Edilia

The other day I accompanied a sister on one of her calls at a Ngöbe camp. While she was talking to her study a young girl walked up who recognized me. She was one of the kids we used to teach at the elementary school in that same area. I got out the Listen to God brochure and started a study with her. She's very sweet and remembers everything we taught her out of the God's Friend brochure 2 years ago. Its so enjoyable to see her learning and reasoning on the scriptures. Every time I come different girls sit in to listen. Here you can see us sitting on planks of wood at the front of the camp just finishing up the study. Next to me is Edilia, the girl I study with. The girl holding the baby I believe is her sister, she only speaks Ngöbere so Edilia translated parts of the study for her. Then at the end is another relative of hers. Its so nice to see how easy to grasp the Listen to God brochure is, it has been great to use in our territory.

More Beach Pictures

Chasing Seagulls 

Not all these Brothers and Sisters are from our congregation there were also
many from Bugaba, about an hour and a half away. They are in a
English group that is growing every day. 

My brightly painted toes

Here is a group picture at a going away party for Paul and Sylvia while we were in the states. The Liston's are on the far left.

Fruit

This is a fruit called mamón chino ("Chinese Sucker") it also known as Rambutan. They are one of the best fruits for you, not to mention they are delicious. They come in huge bundles and you can peel of the skin and suck the jelly outside off the seed. Here are some pictures.

Here is a sister in the congregation, Carla with a Mamon Chino with
 the top peeled off ready to eat.  

Here Dave (Carla's Husband is buying some off the back of a truck. You can
 see in his hand a bundle you can buy with about 50 fruits for a dollar. 

Here is a Truck piled high with fruit with Mamon Chinos on top. 

Here is a Momon Chino Tree on the side of the road. 

Coffee Tour

A year ago I went on a coffee tour. It was really fun. But I must say the best part was the fact I got to roast my own coffee. Here is a picture of me doing it I found today.

Trips to David

This is a hat we found at a random store on the square. We laughed
 really hard when we found it. How long did it take for you to notice?

At Rey we found these awesome carts, which luckily LeAnn was able to
 fit into. It was really fun pushing her around in it.

And here we are in Princemart, Alyvia pushing us around on
 the pallet cart we got for the trampoline.

Here we have the trampoline!

On the way home we had to squish into one seat
 because the trampoline took up the rest, but it was worth it.

Toucans Again

A family from Almirante came to stay with us last weekend so we took them to see the toucans. WE all decided to meet out in service at 10:30 since we were in different car groups but it was really fun. They loved seeing the toucans.



 

 

They have grown a lot and love papaya!

They were super friendly. This is Amara the oldest of the family.

This is Coral who serves in Spanish outside of Santiago. Her and her husband
 came up and visited for a couple of days she loved seeing
the lettuce and the birds. And in the background is Macaiah the
youngest of the family he didn't want to leave and I
 think he fed the Toucans until they couldn't eat anymore.

Trampoline!!!

WE GOT A TRAMPOLINE!!!! I am so excited. I've missed our trampoline in the states. Alyvia and I went to David with the Moores and came back with a trampoline (that was an adventure in itself so I will post about that next). Here are pictures of us putting up the trampoline.

Only in Panama do you get a trampoline kit where one of the
 bars is the wrong shape.

Here Dad is beating the bar into the right shape.

And Mom and I here are showing off our strength pulling the springs into
place. Sadly even after both of us tried we didn't get it in and so
Dad had to pull it in for us, which took him all of 10 seconds.

Pineapple

Here is a pineapple plant in our backyard. They take 2 years to grow but all you have to do is put the top you cut off in the ground and a plant will grow.

Bananas

Here is Alyvia with a bunch of bananas that Dad found out in service. Needless to say when they ripened we ate a lot of bananas!