Dear All -
Yes, late again, but this time I am going to claim slightly extenuating circumstances.
It all started a little over two weeks ago when I sent a group email to the kids saying that Delkys' birthday was coming up, and I was soliciting ideas for a gift for her. Pretty quickly a steak dinner and some house plants were offered up as ideas. Then one of the girls suggested I should fly them here to pick out the plants for Mom. For some reason that really struck me. The more I thought about it the better it seemed. So I looked at flight prices, and asked them if they would be willing to come. They immediately jumped at the suggestion. After a little thought I opened the offer to all four of our daughters. They all agreed to come. So Thursday evening Jandel and Ashley flew in from Utah together, then early Friday morning I drove to the airport and picked up Rebecca and Sarah, who did not fly together, but got in close to the same time. Then I drove back home, walked into the apartment, and told Delkys there was someone to see her. Much laughter, tears of happiness, and general mayhem followed. I thought I had videoed the greeting, but it turns out I was out of sync with the "record" button on my phone, so I made a nice video of the phone going back into my pocket.
There was a sealing on Friday in English of a couple from the United States that I had promised to perform, but other than that the other members of the presidency conspired to allow us to have time together as a family. In fact, this is a week of patriotic holidays here in Panama, so the temple was closed Thursday, and was only open Friday and Saturday mornings, so we didn't skip too much work. We saw different sites in Panama, ate lots, stayed up talking until late each night, and generally had a wonderful time. Today was largely consumed with good-byes and trips to the airport, although since Rebecca had a fairly late flight we drove over to Colon again to visit the fort/castle there.
Saturday morning we decided to go to an endowment session at the temple together. It turns out that there were no workers available to receive sisters in English, so the shift coordinator asked me if I could receive all the girls at the veil. Curiously, I couldn't identify the first voice, until I realized it was a sister from our ward who speaks no Spanish. But as I received each of the girls and thought about the promises upon my posterity I was deeply moved by the experience. I have tried as much as possible to avoid letting the temple ordinances become routine, but when performing them with my family members they take on even more significance.
Earlier last week Delkys and I went to Gamboa Resort, which is set where the Chagres river meets Gatun Lake, which actually forms the bulk of the Panama Canal. There we took a boat ride to visit Gatun lake and some of the islands there. The scenery was beautiful.
There are certain places that these boats always visit and the monkeys know that if they wait long enough they will get goodies.
It was a fun trip.
Yesterday I was asked to address the District Conference in the San Blas Islands, which is where the Guna Yala Indians live. My talk was via Zoom, so I didn't have to travel, but it was a really unfulfilling experience to speak when all I could see was my own face on the screen. I was still grateful for the opportunity to bear testimony of the temple and the Savior's presence there, but I am not a fan of addressing a group via Zoom when I cannot see anyone.
After a somewhat crazy weekend it is back to our normal routine tomorrow. We already miss having everyone here, but perhaps we also have a renewed appreciation for family. We love and pray for all of you.
John and Delkys
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