Missionary Email #19

 Dear All -

Aside from the fact that I did not use my time wisely yesterday there is really no reason why I missed writing.  There's probably a lesson in there for me somewhere if I could just figure out what it is.

Last Monday we decided to climb Cerro Ancon (Ancon Hill).  I believe it is the highest point in Panama City, and it certainly overlooks all the main parts of the city.  It's not quite the same as climbing 14ers in Colorado, since there is a paved road all the way, and the elevation at the top is only 600 feet, but it was still very fun.  You start off with a bunch of stairs, and I thought if the whole climb was going to be like that it was going to be a challenge.

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However, the stairs soon gave way to the road, and the rest of the climb was easier.  The entire hill is covered in heavy jungle, but occasionally there would be a break in the greenery and we could see parts of the city.

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As you can see, the day was cloudy and we thought it would rain on us, but the rain never came, and the clouds kept the temperature in the bearable range.  From the top we could see lots of the city, including (if you look carefully enough) the temple.

On the way back down we came upon a group of monkeys next to the road.  They were picking fruit off the tree and eating it.  They were a little wary of us, but not too concerned.

At the temple I sometimes forget that our attendance is still recovering from COVID.  I am reminded when someone who attends will ​say it's the first time they have been in two years.  We are praying that as time goes by more and more people will reestablish the habit of attending regularly.

On Friday we had two young couples get sealed on our shift.  It is always exciting to see couples getting sealed, but it also caused me to think about what it meant that they were there in the temple.  In order to get to that point they had already lived lives of righteousness and made the necessary choices.  I was grateful as I talked with them to recognize their commitment.

Saturday the sealer who would have been on the shift was sick and was unable to attend, so I ended up covering three sealing sessions.  It was the first time I have worked full sessions, and the experience was very impactful.  The words of the sealing are so profound and uplifting.  Memorizing the ordinances in Spanish makes some of the words stand out more to me as I consider why they were chosen for the translation.  I appreciate the opportunity to perform these sacred ordinances.

Yesterday I got to watch Daniel and Ashley's ward's Primary program.  As I was sitting on my couch with the phone in my hand I thought about the technological wonders that allowed me to see my grandson's say their parts even though I am thousands of miles away.  When they got to the end of the program I thought "Ah, now is when the bishop stands up and gives his closing remarks!"  Sure enough, there was Daniel.  I felt very proud of him as he offered some heartfelt observations.

It is hard to describe all the joy we are feeling as we fulfil this mission, but I hope some of it comes through.  This is indeed a wonderful opportunity, and I am very grateful for it.

Love,

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #18

 Dear All -

Another week has gone by with amazing speed, although I thought that this week lasted a little better than some have. In the midst of all that is going on the service in the temple is a continual blessing in our lives.  I was talking with President Garcia last night, and we commented on how freely the Lord blesses us.  Even after all the Plan of Salvation and the gift of his Son, he also blesses us with joy, love, and personal revelation.

I know I have commented before, but one of the joys of serving in the temple presidency is the opportunity to interview and set apart new temple workers.  A couple came in Friday evening who live 10 hours away from the temple.  They figured they could make the trip once a month and work Saturday mornings.  I felt such joy as I set them apart in their callings.  When we were done they asked "Can we start tomorrow?"  Then yesterday morning a younger sister came in for an interview.  She still has small children at home, but she is anxious to serve, so she too wanted to work on Saturday mornings.  I set her apart, and then she asked "Where do I go to now?"  She started serving immediately.  Such dedication is an inspiration to me.

Something else a little more sobering has been helping Delkys collect the names for the prayer roll, since she can't go in to collect from the brothers' locker room.  As I open the box and discover a huge stack of names I am always struck with the thought of how many people there are with special needs for whom we are asked to pray.  I think of the counsel President Eyring received about treating everyone "as if they are in deep trouble and you'll be right over half the time," and I can certainly see the truth of that.

We did take time earlier in the week to go to Amador Causeway with the Rodriguez's.  Whenever we go I see families riding in the pedal carts, and have always thought it looks like fun.  So we decided to rent one for an hour.  Delkys contributed this picture.

I discovered that the cart is pretty heavy and does not pedal very easily, but we still had fun riding up and down the causeway.  Of course, "up" and "down" are relative terms since the whole causeway is at sea level, but that was a good thing, because even riding up any incline at all was a challenge.  As we were riding this hawk stopped right next to the walkway.  Again Delkys snapped the picture.

A couple of days ago we went to a bank close by to take care of an errand, so while Delkys was inside I walked around a little.  There was a park-like area behind the bank, so I wandered over to see what it looked like, and discovered there was a canal running through it.  I then noticed this guy sunning himself on the opposite side of the canal.

He was a little over three feet long from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.

As long as everyone was talking about the extremely hot summer in the States I had little trouble thinking about the weather there, but now that things are truly turning to autumn I find myself longing for the cooler mornings.  However, I think I am getting somewhat acclimated to the climate here, so I'm really doing pretty well.  We hope you are enjoying the weather and all else in life.

Love,

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #17

 Dear All -

Although we don't usually have temple meetings on Sunday we did just finish up with a training session for all the shift coordinators.  Given that they all attend the temple on the days they are able it was impossible to find another time during the week for a training meeting, so we did it today.  In the process of today's meeting we discovered that the internal lights in the temple are programmed to turn off Sundays, and there was no obvious way to turn them on.  After calling the temple facilities manager I was able to find the secret switch on an electrical panel in a facilities room which overrode the programming.  It is so exciting to learn about the secrets of the temple!  Oh, yes - one other secret about that particular room that I learned a couple of weeks ago is that the door closes by itself, and the same key that opened it from the outside apparently does not open it from the inside.  So today when I went in I was careful to prop the door open.  I made two pans of brownies as part of the refreshments, and they all disappeared in a matter of minutes after the meeting was over.

This week we had a group of saints from Guyana come to the temple.  It turns out that those who attend the temple from Guyana usually go to a temple in Brazil, but their area presidency decided they would try sending them to Panama this time.  There were three couples who came to receive their endowments and to be sealed.  They also had a senior missionary couple with them.  Like the saints from Jamaica, they speak English, but no Spanish, so Delkys and I ended up helping them with a number of things.  In particular I got to perform all three sealings, which was a wonderful experience.  They were so grateful to be at the temple and we all had a marvelous time together.

Today was stake conference for our stake.  There were three choirs that sang; a Primary chorus, a choir of Kuna women, and then a more traditional choir.  I enjoyed all three of them, but I was particularly struck by the Kuna sisters.  The Kuna indians are from some islands off the coast of Panama, and although legally part of Panama, they are very autonomous, and maintain their own language and customs.  These sisters all live here close to Panama City, but they were all dressed in their traditional clothing.  They sang the hymn "How Great Thou Art", alternating verses between Kuna and Spanish.  In all honesty they had little sense for the melody, but they sang with great enthusiasm and spirit, and the meaning of the words came through just fine.  I found their performance to be very uplifting.

As is customary, at the end of the week we are very close to exhausted.  It has been a great week and a lot has gone on, but it does take somewhat out of us.  Next week we will be working mornings again, which means we have to get up earlier, just to add to the challenge.  But we are having a wonderful time, learning lots, and are grateful for this opportunity to serve here.  Thank you for your love and support.

Love,

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #16

 Dear All -

Wow, change my Sunday schedule a little, and it's hard to get the email written.  That said, I loved General Conference.  The messages were definitely timely and meaningful for me.  Each time a speaker mentioned the temple I could look over my left shoulder at the temple, which was also pretty nice.

Speaking of which, I have been reflecting on the value of having our apartment overlook the temple.  Besides the beauty of the view it is a real blessing to look out the window the last time at night and see the temple, and when I get up in the morning the first thing I see out the window is the temple.  We are obviously centering our lives around the temple anyway, but just the visual reinforcement is precious.  Of course, what I really see is all that the temple represents in terms of our relationship to Jesus Christ and his gospel.

Saturday I had changed my clothes and was preparing to walk out of the temple when I saw three young men talking with the temple recorder.  They were casually dressed, but said they were from Ecuador and had come to the temple in the hopes of participating in some ordinances.  All the workers from the morning shift had left, and the recorder suggested they could wait an hour or so until the afternoon shift showed up, but I asked if he would be willing to stay a little longer and he and I could do some initiatory ordinances with them.  He agreed, and we spent a half an hour or so doing initiatories.  After they left I thought about what a special experience that had been.  We emphasize so much making sure that all who enter in the temple - workers and patrons - have a positive experience and it was nice to be able to make that happen.

Since I mentioned temple views, I'll share this one.  It is hard for me to get an exact sense of scale, but that vulture sitting on Moroni's trumpet is pretty big.

Last Monday we went to Price Smart to do some larger-scale shopping.  Price Smart sells Member's Mark products, so I assume they are affiliated with Costco.  Although we found a lot of good items, I was very disappointed that they didn't have the big tubs of ice cream.  So when we followed up with a visit to the grocery store around the corner from here I went to look at their ice cream.  I discovered that all of their ice cream was melting.  So we are having to struggle through on just the ice cream that I had on hand.  Hopefully today we can find some.

So even if I am late getting the email out, we are doing fine, and the Church is true.  We love you and enjoy hearing from you.

Love,

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #15

 Dear All -

Last Monday we went for a walk on an urban trail along the ocean front.  It has some beautiful views of the city, and there were lots of joggers/bikers/walkers.

There were a number of cats that just seemed to sit along the sea-wall, but we also saw an old friend - or maybe the relative of some old friends.

It was a relatively cool evening, and there was a nice breeze, so we didn't get too overheated.

The work in the temple this week has been a bit challenging because there have not been a lot of workers.  On one shift there were a total of five brothers, and three of them were new workers.  On the other hand we have been calling and setting apart quite a number of workers, so I am hopeful we will soon be better staffed.  The members are attending in larger numbers, which is greatly appreciated.  As the Lord calls more people to the temple more and more of them will also want to serve as workers.

Last week I called and set apart a mother and daughter as temple workers.  The daughter will be leaving on a mission in December, and the mother decided she would like to work alongside her daughter.  As I set the mother apart I was amazed at the flood of tender love that the Lord poured out through me.  I know my words were not adequate to express all the things I felt, but I trust the Spirit was able to make them clear to that dear sister.

There is a brother here who is in charge of the patron lodging, and he also works in the temple.  His name is Alberto, but as I was looking at the "Open" sign on the front of the building I realized that "Abierto" is also very close to his name.  So I call him Hermano Abierto, and he calls me Hermano Leyendo (reading).  He is a retired police officer, and rather gruff at times, but this week I have gotten to see how deep is his love for the temple and temple work.  On one of the days we were so short of workers the shift coordinator called him to see if he would officiate on the session - in 10 minutes - and he was immediately there.  We may not have lots of workers, but we have very good workers.

Hope things are going well for you.

Love,

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #14

 Dear All -

This week we worked mornings at the temple, so we got to get up earlier in the day than perhaps I am used to.  On the plus side, it is a really nice experience to be first in the temple and go around turning things on.  The temple is a place of peace, but more so when the two of us are the only ones there.

Wednesday morning I couldn't open the lock box which holds information I needed to share in the training meeting, so I was a little flustered as we started the meeting.  I told the workers I would start the training video, and then I would excuse myself for a few minutes to go deal with another problem (the lock box).  As I left the room I heard the two opening sentences of the training video, and I was reflecting on how powerful and sweet they are - a great introduction to the video.  About 5 seconds into my reflection I suddenly realized "Those words were in English!"  I'm not sure how the room audio got flipped, but I suddenly had two things I needed to deal with.  Delkys said she was quite happy watching the video, and did not immediately realize why people were getting agitated.

When all was said and done the problem with the lock-box was that it needed a new battery.

Monday we went to a hotel in Gamboa, which is only a few miles from here.  It is where the Chagras River, which provides all the water for operating the canal locks, joins the Panama Canal.    As we pulled into the parking lot we saw this iguana.  His body was about nine inches long, and his tail twice that.  He kept an eye on me as I got closer, but he wasn't too concerned.

We took a nature walk at the resort there.  They had a building dedicated to orchids, but unfortunately most of them were not in bloom.  This particular orchid is called "Espiritu Santo" (Holy Ghost) because the central petal is supposed to look like a dove.  It is Panama's national flower, and also a motif that is used in some of the furnishings in the temple.

We also went by an enclosure that had frogs in it.  I did not understand how tiny these little frogs are.  In about the middle of the picture below you can see the bright green and black frog.  These frogs are highly poisonous in the wild, but it turns out they are poisonous only because of the bugs they eat.  In captivity apparently they eat a more benign diet, and they are not poisonous at all.  There were also some bright red frogs, but they were even tinier.

Incidentally, in the course of taking all these pictures I discovered that my camera has an optical zoom, which I had never known.  Unfortunately, taking pictures with the zoom only accentuates how badly my hands shake, so it didn't help me much on this outing.

We also got to see some sloths.  After reflecting on the resting positions they find comfortable I have concluded that they may well be related to Charlie, our dog.

Last week we had a rather unfortunate moment in the temple where some patrons were very upset by the actions of some of the workers.  Unfortunately I didn't find out about it until after the patrons had left, so I was left feeling rather distressed that this had happened and I didn't even get a chance to talk with the patrons to help them know that is not how things are supposed to go in the temple.  I sat down and thought about things for a few minutes, then needed to go deal with yet another (less disruptive) problem.  As I was feeling rather distressed myself I thought of two things.  First of all, it was not good for me to wander through the temple looking upset and anxious.  I need to reflect the Lord's peace, love, and joy no matter what is happening there.  Second, if Christ truly paid for all of my sins, weaknesses, and sorrows then he had already dealt with that situation, and so instead of trying to carry the weight of it myself I needed to trust in him and not be upset.  I thought of the angel telling Alma as he left Ammonihah the first time to lift up his head and rejoice when he was feeling weighed down, and I was able to improve my attitude and my semblance.

Oh, yes, one other area of progress.  I think I have managed to erase the reaction to look for my father every time someone says "President Reading."

This week we will be working afternoons again.  On the one hand we get to sleep in, on the other we end up staying pretty late at the temple some days.  Still, it is a huge blessing to serve there and be in the temple almost every day, and I am very grateful to the Lord for this opportunity.

Love,

President and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #13

 Dear All -

Delkys pointed out that we don't have many pictures from this week.  That is probably because we haven't gone out much.  I did take one picture of the temple, but I can't get it to transfer from my phone to my computer.  Anyway, I knew the clouds weren't really what I wanted, but then I noticed a large vulture sitting on Moroni's trumpet.  He was happy there, but may have detracted from the spirituality of the picture.

President Garcia has decided that we will have one shift all week, so last week they had the morning, Delkys and I had the afternoon, and the Rodriguez's didn't have an assigned shift.  Since Sister Rodriguez is recovering from cataract surgery President Rodriguez just helped out wherever he could.  I expect this week Delkys and I will get the joy of opening the temple in the morning, so we will be popping out of bed a little earlier than we have been used to.

Part of the good news for this week was that we were able to make masks optional for the workers.  In most meetings when I announced that one or two workers would quietly slide off their masks, but yesterday I think all the brother workers took theirs off.  I discovered that no one looks like I expected them to.  Since I have only known everybody with masks on I had unknowingly formed a picture of what the rest of their faces looked like.  One brother I had recognized because of his perfectly bald head, which should have looked about the same without a mask, but when I saw him I didn't even realize who he was.  Anyway, no masks required.

Many of our workers and patrons depend on buses to get to the temple, and some live quite a distance away.  Consequently they have to get up at atrocious times to get to the temple on time.  It really makes me appreciate their dedication and love for the temple.  It also makes me appreciate my stroll across the parking lot to get to the temple.  One of the things I have learned since starting in the presidency is why temple presidency members always express appreciation for the workers in training meetings.  My gratitude for them and their work grows hugely with each passing day.  One evening I was watching a group of brethren as they worked and felt that my heart might burst with joy from seeing their humble dedication to their callings.

Yesterday afternoon there were several things that did not go smoothly in the temple.  We have a meeting with the coordinators at the end of each shift to review the work, and we spent a lot of time discussing what had gone wrong, and how we may be able to address it differently in the future.  At the end of the meeting I realized we had spent a lot of time concentrating on problems, so I said "We might also consider the number of things that went right today!  There were hundreds of those."  And it is true that we should not just look at the problems.  I can quickly start beating myself up if I spend too much time on what went wrong.

The Lord has been quietly blessing us through this work.  We find greater insights in the scriptures, and a greater closeness to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have felt the love of the other members of the presidency, as well as of the workers and the patrons.  I thought about two comments from the Temple Leadership training - one matron had over a thousand sister temple workers in her temple, another matron commented that since their temple is smaller she has been able to get to know many of the regular patrons.  Although I am still struggling to get names right, I am certainly recognizing more and more people.  Certainly one of the blessings of temple work is that it is always done one person at a time, so it is easy to concentrate on individuals.

So perhaps not much to share, but I just want you to know that we are doing well and loving our work here.

Love,

President and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys