New Area!

Hola Familia,

Well, I am in a new area. This place is called Cátiva in the Zone of Colón. I am now a Zone Leader and will be here like this until hte end of my mission. It was sort of a big surprise because I wasn't expecting this at all. Bur my new companion is a cool guy named Elder Harmer. He is from South Jordan, Utah. He is probably going to be the hardest working companion I will have had, and it will definitely be much easier for me to get up on time because he is very obedient.

In this area we have some pretty interesting people. There are a lot of Kuna people in certain parts, and several members that are as well. We have an investigator, husband of a member, who had lived in New York for I think 10 years, so we get to teach him in English (tiene plata).

On Saturday we went to a place called La Feria where there was a stake and community clean up project where we basically went around picking up a lot of garbage. I encountered some smells that I think are among the worst I ever have smelled, and some areas with black waters made me wonder if ever anyone had cleaned up there before.... But the difference made at the end was surprising. I didn't get any photos, but it was cool.

Oh yeah, before I left I told E. Pac that my new area would have a super dirty house, and it came true. we spent the rest of the first day here cleaning up, and it turns out that I think I am really going to like this place. I have my hammock back up and am sleeping in it again.

I think that that might be all for now. I hope all goes well. I didn't give Hna. Ochs the letter I wrote, but basically the ties I sent are recuerdos that you guys can use if you want, I will probably reclaim most of them when I get back. This computer does not have an Sd slot so probably I wont be able to send any photos this week. I will try to find a way to do so next week...

Love,

Elder Niendorf

hello!

Hola Familia,

I hope all is going well. Yesterday was another good Sunday. We had 135 attendence. About a month ago were were only reaching 80. Also, we had the last confirmation of the person who had had her baby. Tuesday we did go to the temple, and afterwards we went to Causeway. That's about it for this week.

These are my last two days here in my area. I have taken pictures with some of them, and I will miss them. But there are only 12 weeks left, so I will be able to communicate with most of them by Facebook pretty soon anyway.

So my time as a district leader has been good. I will probably find out mednesday how my mission will end depending on where they send me. I also have to print off some stuff for some people so this is about all I will send for this week. Next week should have some more news.

Well, until next week..

Love,

Elder Niendorf

August!

Hola Familia, This has been a pretty good week for me. Tuesday we were pretty busy with several visits. We got to see the sister and her newborn baby (she didn't get confirmed yet because she is still feeling ill). That was pretty cool, since the last time I got to know a pregnant woman before and after birth was mom with Josh and I don't have much memory of that. Also, I did my first confirmation in the mission when I confirmed her son, and it was a pretty intense experience in the sense that I actually felt a bit dizzy afterwards... I did Divisions with an area in my district called Kuna Nega, which has mostly people of that indigenous group the Kunas. I was with an Elder Cerrato (who is just like Joshua, speaks English and is form Honduras...) that also served in San Blas and had learned more Kuna than me. I did 4 baptismal interviews, and in our Zone of 16 missionaries we got 14 baptisms in total for the month of July. Why hasn't Josh written to me in forever? Time doesn't fly unless I don't think about, so I try not to dwell on the 3 months that remain. Saturday was pretty hectic because we decided to do an activity after the baptism to celebrate all the recent baptisms. We went to the Centro Comercial Los Andes to pick up the cake, soda, and ice cream, but we forgot that it was the end of the month where everyone receives their money and goes shopping, so it was hard to get a taxi back to my area (busses were all too full to take back a cake and stuff) so I saw a member from La Paz my area of over a year ago, so since my current area is pretty close to that one I got to chat with her and see how everything was going there. That was pretty cool. Then were got back and did the baptism, which went very smoothly. Yesterday we had 124 people in church! The highest in all my 4 months here. 6 out of 9 recent converts showed up, and several less active people we have been visiting (including one that we have been visiting since my first week in the area) So I felt a lot of joy yesterday for all that. It was great. Today is district meeting, internet, and washing clothes because tomorrow we are going to the temple as a Zone and then to Causeway (a place I went to last year in La Paz, with bicycles along the place la Cinta Costera, very pretty). Next Wednesday is transfers so the Monday after that I will tell you guys what my last area is in my penultimate transfer. That's all for now, love you guys, until next week, Elder Niendorf

July 25th: End of July

Hola Familia,

Just to let you know, this month has passed by super fast. This computer doesn't read my memory for photos. Ummm, yeah so I read your emails, I hear mom already got my intinerary I sent you. I don't believe it though...It feels like only a dream that this mission will end.

This went by super fast. There wasn't too much that stuck out to me this week, just that we had two baptisms and zero confirmations. The mother who is preganant felt stomach discomfort, so maybe they will get comfirmed this coming sunday or maybe the baby willl come first...And again very few member arrived, only 5 apart from the baptizing family.

I did divisions again, this time to do another baptismal interview. It was my favorite one so far with a 14 year old boy. He was definitely ready, so the conversation went great.

My companion and I get along very well, very few times do we have little arguments, but I think that comes with being with the same person for 3 months straight. I also am learning a bit more guitar.

Oh, I almost forgot that we did a killer service, carrying up building material up a hill of about 83 steps. 8 missionaries and 3 members arrived to help. I enjoyed the physical challenge, and we also helped to mix the cement when the bishop arrive later. Next week there should be more photos.

Until next week...

Love,

Elder Niendorf

July 18th: Servicio

Hola Familia,

This Saturday there was a service where we waere taking dirt from a mountain to make room for a house. In sacrament meeting we had the three people with baptismal dates for july arrive. Arisel, who has a son to be baptized with her this coming saturday (if she doesn't give birth first), she arrived late, so we were getting pretty nervous. But the other is the son of a less active family who is 9, and the three (mom, daughter and son) arrived, so we were pretty happy yesteday.

We had divisions with the zone leaders, and that was fun. we had some good experiences, like teaching a father-in-training (he just seemed to talk about everything in general, we didn't get to share much doctrine). With my zl, we also found another kitten, cold in the rain. we took it back to hte house to bathe it and give it food. This is my second kitten, since sunday elder pac and I had found one and had kept it as well, for 4 days! It was fun and )I will include photos as well (i don't remember if i mentioned the kitten last week.)

Concerning time, I have 3 minutes left, so I will finish organizing music again (my folder get very diaorganized) but until next week...

Love,

Elder Niendorf

July 11th: Pday Again...

Hola Familia,

Well, this week was interesting in a few things. As you might see the rain came, at first pretty hard and in a next photo you see the river that formed outside of our house. At one point the rain suddenly began leaking a lot onto my bed and we had to put pots and containers and rush to move off the extra stuffs I had on my bed. This week we also crossed a small river. A member had a reference for us, so we decided to take off our sockes and shoes to take the shortcut to get there with her from her house...

Saturday we had again service where we helped the family on the hill move more dirt, and I had a good time because I was actually able to do some of the digging. At one point I threw a javelin-like tool at the wall and some of the dirt caved in, it was pretty cool.

Our investigator who WAS going to get baptized this coming Saturday didn't come to church, so we are going to have to move it back a week. She still feels a bit unsure, but I think everything will work out alright. Concerning English Classes, only one student showed up again, so this coming week may be the last week....

With a family that we are teaching, the baby was super happy when we were teaching, and started biting everything, his dad, the couch, a book, my comp. and it was pretty funny. Sunday we adopted a stray kitten, as seen in the photo. We plan on cleaning her up a bit and trying to find a home. Se llama Liana.

Love you tons,

Elder Niendorf

No Habia Cambios

Hola Familia!

I am still here in Torrijos Carter, in the Zone of San Isirdro with Elder Pac, which I think was just perfect. Here, there really aren't towns. The general name for all this area would beSan Miguelito, the same as where I was over a year ago. To get to Allbrook, the terminal or central hub for all the buses in the country, it takes about an hour, but this area basically melts into to city. I really like this area.

We had a baptism! Sonia Robinson in the photo. I baptized her, and yesterday my companion confirmed her. The member that was going to do it left this weekend because a family member died, so we missionaries were the only others that she knows well...Oh, the Mission President had to come to do the baptismal interview, and took a picture for the blog. But it was a new experience, because we found out during the baptism that she has fear of water. She started panicking, which made me nervous, but after we started singing hymns, she relaxed enough to do the baptism; we had to do it kneeling, but after everything she said it was an 'experiencia bonita' and she shared her testimony yesterday!

Anyways, love you all tons.

Love,

Elder Niendorf