Sing-a-longs and the hand of the Lord

On Wednesday when we arrived at Lizardo Smith's for his lesson we were greeted with Hank Williams and "I can't help it if I'm still in love with you"!!   His grandfather, from the indigenous tribe of Kuna was visiting. He'd learned to like Country Western while working in the Canal Zone as a youth.   He planned to sing in the Baptist church on Sunday.  We discovered that he knew some of our hymns, and he played the harmonica, so we had a great time together.  You never know the treats in store for you while serving a mission,

Ximena, who was baptized hurriedly because she had a date for a Caesarian section in two weeks, surprised us all and had the baby a week early.  Here is Jesus in the hospital with Angel.  She is beautiful.  I hold her and pretend it's one of ours that I'm missing out on.

Thursday in Penonome it was late and we were leaving the church.  I decided I needed to use the restroom before our drive home.  I ran in and this is what I found.  I tried to get closer but he just swam backwards and disappeared from view.  His nose going out of sight is a fun memory.  I don't know how he got there.  The bishop in our home ward talked about rats in the toilet.  This was much more fun to find.  We've gotten a lot of mileage out of sharing it.

These "grasshoppers" were on the gwandu plants in the garden of one of our students.  Rod put the pen so you could see the size.  I'd hate to have them in my garden.

Clearer.

Ever since I came here I have been looking for Cherimoyas, or custard apples.  My mom has talked about them all my life.  When we were teaching last week, one of my student's moms gave me these two.  They weren't wonderful to me, unfortunately.  They are filled with hard black seeds and the texture was a bit grainy.  Rod says he likes his fruit easier.  Still, it was a fun experience.
Another woman gave us a fruit that smelled like passion fruit and had the same shape but a different skin.  The car smelled heavenly and I was so excited all the way home, but when I opened it, it wasn't passion fruit and wasn't even wonderful.

 

These buzzards were tearing up garbage outside our apartment.  I only managed to catch one of the three.  They are everywhere here in Panama.  

Last Tuesday I decided that I was definitely going to contact Emma.  While we were talking with family, she called me!  We agreed that the hand of the Lord is in our friendship.  We agreed that I'd come to her business about 5.  As we prepared to go, I decided I needed to prepare a small card to leave with her.  Rod had been talking about giving her the reference for the "Pearl of great price" in the New Testament.  I'd been holding off, but decided this was the time.  

We arrived, and while she was cutting my hair she told me that the last two weeks had been difficult.  Robbers had broken into her home and stolen all her jewelry.  I questioned if it had been very expensive, and she said, no, but nice.  Then she said "I have decided that I won't replace it. Now I am just going to search for the "Pearl of great price".  I gave her my card and we left.  We have an appointment today if she didn't have to go to Panama, so we'll see.  She is a lovely, Christ directed person.  It's a pleasure to know her.

Friday we had 3 cancellations, our last three, which allowed us to come home early from Las Tablas, 60 miles away.  I'd awakened one morning feeling that I needed to copy Elder Uchdorf's "Road to Damascus" talk and take it to a home around the corner where we'd seen a family together one day.  We decided to take the opportunity to visit and found, not the family we saw, but a couple about our age caring for a 92 year old mother (my mom's age).  We gave them a restoration pamphlet and the talk and visited a few minutes.  Then I asked if they liked to sing and offered to come back and sing with the grandma.  The wife wanted to do it right then, so we went home for the guitar and had a nice sing along.   Irma, the wife, said she had visited the church with her baby when he was small, but she currently attends the baptist church.  We took photos, and Rod made a return visit appointment for Tuesday.  I like this kind of missionary work too. The gospel is true.  The Savior must watch us and shake his head some days, though.