September 12th: Next Wednesday is changes...

Hola Familia,

I hope all is going well. We have had an interesting week. We got three baptisms, one the husband of a member, and another couple that we got married also got batpized. This computer is pretty wack, so I don't know if I will be able to send any photos of the baptism. But I had never been so nervous before a baptism. Everything went very well, I baptized the Hno. Franco, the new husband. My comp. baptized the husband of the member (a big guy), and the new wife's brother, a 19 year old recent convert, baptized her. Oh, also I did my second confirmation in my life, the husband of the member had asked that I do it. I love my life, so many new experiences.

So their marriage was quite an ordeal, there were so many problems that came up that we almost thought that it had failed. At the very end, the judge who is a member said that we HAD to show up before 5 pm and it was 5:01 when we saw the husband near the building (he had just gotten off work at 430 and the bus wasn't going to leave, so he walked.) We rushed upstairs and everything turned out well.

The only bad news is that one of our most positive families had some members in our last lesson. But the dad, who was into the message, told us last night that he needs time to think due to some commentaries he had received that he wouldn't tell us about... Other than that we don't really have anyone positive progressing right now. I still have my journal updated up to every day.

My area is called Cativá, in the zone/province of Colón. We had some problems with missionaries, so President Ward came out to try and sort everythign out...But me and my companion Elder Harmer are loving our ward and the work here. We are probably going to have to focus on finding new people this week though, some investigators seem to just slip through our fingers and there's nothing we can do about it...
Joshua never writes me but I still love him.

Love you tons,
Elder Niendorf

September 6th: Hoy es P-Day

Hola Familia, I hope all is going well. I think I forgot to tell you guys last week that this week we were going to the temple, so yesterday was a normal work day and today is pday (as you can tell). So this internet here in the city works super well, so I think I was able to eliminate the virus and have now uploaded photos. Hna. Ochs, Elder James B. Martino with my companion in the Consejos with the other Zone Leaders at President's house, my last companion, and A Nice Sunset photo. Apparently one of my converts last year is on a mini mission in Santiago, Veraguas, another province. They had sone a project here in Panama that they had done in Centro America. It was called Sonrisas para Panama. She went to that and in preparing to go on a mission in 2 years. There were 0 baptisms Saturday, but 3 of them were just moved to this week, one for sure and 2 if the marriage goes well. The other one is going to have to wait until she goes to church more...But we are super excited because the one for sure (if tomorrow's interview goes well) will probably be a future bishop, he is well off, and had lived in Brooklyn for maybe 10 years... We have several other investigator, some more interesting that others. One, the father of a family came to church and apparently cried during fast and testimony meeting. Another asked us a weird question that made us laugh about the law of moses and touching the Book of Mormon. I will share more as they progress, but I am really loving this area, I can hardly believe that there are only 2 weeks left in this transfer.... Anyways I will continue organizing the flash drive and SD memory that is now clean... Love you all tons, oh, and early HAPPY Birthday DAD! Thanks for being a great example and helping me reach where I am now. Love, Elder Niendorf

August 29th: 22 Months!

Hola Familia,

This week has been really good, and this month has passed by faster than any other on the mission so far. Yesterday I completed 22 months, and in about a month is General Conference.
Saturday was a baptism of a young Kuna girl of 15. She would probably get a long well with Joshua....just kidding. I cannot send photos AGAIN because this stikin computer also doesnt want to read my card...hopefully this is not due to the virus on it...

Zone Conference was Thursday, and it was super good because Elder James B. Martino and his wife came. They talked a lot about obedience and getting investigators taught in the houses of the members, giving the statistic that 2 of every 3 here in latino america that are taught in members' houses get baptized. So we are looking forward to helping all the misisonaries progress in getting more baptisms with the help of members. Consejos, or mission counsel, was held the day after in the mission home, and Elder Martino was awesome in that too. I got a picture with him that I will try to send whenever it is that I find a decent computer here in Colón....

I can't really think of much else to write, the rest of the week was pretty much the same. just a few problems in the Zone are causing a bit of stress. The rain will be coming more and more rapidly soon, in the last week it has only rained a bit a couple of times...no new news; the next week we should have 4 baptisms, the next Saturday...
Well, that's all folks.

Love,
Elder Niendorf

August 22nd: New Week!

Hola Familia,

It sounds like everything is going great with all of you. I am glad to hear about what is going on with you guys. Here as a Zone Leader there really aren't too many changes as a missionary. There are just more responsibilities. I like the fact that I don't really have to worry about district meeting as much in the sense of having to teach every week, and this week we have Zone Conference with an area 70, E. Martino. As Zone Leaders we are also going to have mission counsel with him the day after. My companion E. Harmer has about 3 months less than me in the mission, and he is a pretty good leader, and I am learning a lot from him. He is my 5th American companion.

Anyway, we have had a pretty good work week. We have found about 5 families, a few of which seem pretty positive. This saturday we have a baptism with a Kuna girl, 15 yrs old. There is a sector of my area that is full of the Kuna indigious people. Another family is from the 'waymi'? indiginous group... There is a lot of ánimo in the ward to help the ward grow, and hopefully everyone will be able to apply that desire and convert it into work.
I had a question: Normally, how much does it cost to buy garments in the US? here it is 1 dollar a piece...

Well, there are more problems with my USBs, but it looks like things can be cleared up, I will just spend a bit of time right now in that. I will try to send another email with some photos. Remember that I am always praying for you guys, and hope that everyone is happy.

Love,
Elder Niendorf

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