Missionary Email #6

 Dear All:

Earlier this week Delkys and I had an interview with Elder Godoy of the Seventy, who called us to be assistant to the matron and second counsellor in the incoming temple presidency of the Panama City, Panama temple.  This is a very humbling and awe-inspiring experience.  It vastly changes the nature of our service here, and opens up many opportunities for learning and growth.  We will begin service with the new presidency September 1.  This call by itself does not change the term of our mission, so we are in the process of seeing how we go about requesting an extension to our mission since we would like to serve in this position for as long as possible.  This has also caused me serious reflection on my spiritual state and how well I am doing at living the gospel.  I feel the weight of responsibility very heavily, and am anxious to give the best service that I can.  I had previously gotten to know the incoming president and his wife, Brother and Sister Garcia, but not until this week had I met the first counsellor and his wife, Brother and Sister Rodriguez.

This has been a week of many happenings in our family as well.  A cousin of Nate's (Jandel's husband) passed away earlier this week, then Doyle, Jeanne's (my sister) husband passed away.  Finally, Ashley and Daniel announced that she is expecting their fourth child, which is very exciting news.  Life keeps moving along, whether we are ready or not.

The demonstrations in the city and country here have continued.  There have been some improvements, in that those blocking the roads have let some trucks through to deliver supplies, but there has been little improvement in the negotiations between the unions and the government, and some sporadic violence has been reported.  We continue to pray for a positive resolution to the situation.  Delkys and I still have not been affected directly, but many people have had trouble traveling to the temple, and people who live here in the apartments have reported getting stuck while they were out running errands and roads have gotten closed.

We had a tropical wave move through on Wednesday.  It looks like a tropical wave is a distinct phenomenon from tropical storms.  Delkys and I had been at the temple, and came outside to walk home only to discover that the rain was coming down so hard that even with an umbrella we got pretty wet on our way across the parking lot.  We had some wind here, but in other parts of the city there was widespread damage from very high winds, with trees down, roofs gone, and windows blown out of buildings.  It was a pretty impressive storm.  I would guess we got two inches of rain in less than an hour.

With the unrest we have not gone out much, and so I have done as poorly as ever on remembering to take pictures.  However, we did get a nice shot of a spider that lives right next to the gate leading into the temple.

He (she? It's so hard to tell) is about two inches across with the legs, although it (there you go) seems to be growing somewhat rapidly.  I had not realized there is another similar spider just to the right of this one until after I took the picture, so he/she/it didn't make it into the shot.

All in all, things are going well.  We are enjoying the service we are currently giving in the temple, and we are excited about the new calling.

Love,

Elder and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys