Dear All -
We survived the second week of the maintenance shutdown, and shortly will get to return to the temple. Of course, we will serve for two days in our accustomed roles, then on Thursday we begin our new adventure.
Probably the biggest news from this week is that we managed to get our Panamanian driver's licenses. We had heard horror stories, but aside from being somewhat convoluted and having to spend lots of time waiting it wasn't really that hard. We first had to take the driving test. It turned out to be a rather simple little excursion around a fenced-off area of a muddy parking lot. Then we had to report to another area for the paperwork, followed by a hearing test, and finally a written test. Of course, both of those were computerized, and they turned out to be pretty easy. Then we paid a fee, and within another 15 minutes we had our licenses. I have skipped over lots of stretches of waiting, of course.
Also yesterday we moved into a new apartment. I was never completely clear on why we were moving, but we now have a different view out our window. Before we overlooked the cemetery, now this is our view out the front window:
I just went over to the window and snapped that, and not until I looked at the picture here did I realize how artfully the clouds cooperated. The other advantage to this new view is that the weather tends to move in from this side, so we can see what is coming instead of what is leaving.
When I was a boy I saw an advertisement for sensitive plants, which would move when you touched the leaves. I ordered some seeds and grew some plants, and was completely fascinated by them. I hadn't thought about them in years, but Delkys noticed a patch of them growing in the cemetery. I'm not very good at doing something while filming, but I did get things to work more or less:
We've also seen streams of ants in the cemetery carrying pieces of leaves. This week we came upon a group actually doing the work. I thought it was very interesting to watch:
With the end of the maintenance shutdown people are coming back to the temple. Since we were the only ones here in the building for two weeks it is kind of nice to have people around again.
This week I have been reading about the Nephites shortly before the coming of Christ. They had successfully held off two Lamanite invasions in a row, but the third one had very different results - the Lamanites were successful in conquering most of the Nephite lands. What was the difference? The Nephites had become wicked and depended on their own strength. As a consequence the Lord withdrew his protective power, and they were truly left to their own strength.
I have often thought that, like the Nephites, I live in the midst of so many blessings that if I am not careful it is easy just to believe that this is how life should be. As someone once said, "Fish discover water last." If I ignore the giver of the water in which I swim I am being very ungrateful, and someday might be subject to discovering just how hard life without water is!
Well, I hear thunder rumbling, and the view has changed to this:
We may be in for "a little" more rain. Hope your day, sunny or rainy, is going well!
Love,
Elder and Sister Reading
aka
John and Delkys
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