Missionary Email #1

 Dear All -

This is not only the introductory email from Panama, it is also a chance to see if I have correct emails all the way around.  Feel free to let me know if you would rather not receive my emails, or if there is a different address which you would prefer I use.

We got to Panama with a minimum of problems a week and a half ago.  Of course, we discovered once we got here that we had no food in the apartment, so the first order of business was to get some staples laid in.  I got ice cream, milk, and chocolate chips, and thought I was doing fine, but Delkys seemed to feel that was not enough.  Going shopping is a little more cumbersome than we are used to since we don't have a car.  Uber has been getting a lot of business from us.  We may yet end up getting a car.

We are living in an apartment on the temple property here in Panama City.  To get to the temple is just a few more steps than it was from where I parked my car at the Denver temple, so it is very nice.  Although we have attended the temple as patrons and have volunteered in the baptistry, for some reason we are not able to start as ordinance workers until the formal start date of our mission, which is 25 June.  So we have one more week of taking care of other things before we fully start.  The schedule that the temple president has laid out for us includes working Tuesday through Saturday at least part of each day, but there is also free time every day at some point.  It will be a lot of work, but we are looking forward to it immensely.

We have gone to visit Delkys' family several times.  When we go there we typically catch an Uber down to Albrook Mall, which is a big mall close by us here, and there we catch the light rail out to San Miguelito, then we walk the last half mile to her mother's house.  Again, a little more cumbersome than we are used to, but not too bad.  Her mother just turned 96, but is doing quite well.

Panama is in its rainy season, so we are getting rain almost every day.  Sometimes the rain comes down so hard that it looks like fog.  People comment on how cool it is after the rain, but I assure you that "cool" is a relative term.  I am hoping I will get acclimated to the heat, but living in air conditioning as we do I may never acclimate.

This is the view out our window.  There is a cemetary, which is nice and peaceful except that some of the Chinese funerals involve fire crackers.  Other than that it is very quiet.  There is jungle most of the way around the temple and the cemetary.  It is tempting to wander into the temple and see what it's like, but so far I haven't done it.  Yes, I have insect repellant.

Incidentally, the church building is also just across the parking lot from us, so we can walk to church in just a couple of minutes.

After all that there is not a lot to tell you about our daily activities.  We are thrilled to be here, and anxious to get started with our assignment, and in the meantime enjoying reading scriptures and other books, and getting our apartment to look like home.

Love,

Elder and Sister Reading

AKA

John and Delkys

Mission Call

 After a long wait (mainly due to COVID) we have received a mission call.  We will be serving in the Panama City, Panama temple as ordinance workers.  We are to start there 25 June 2022, and are currently signed up to serve for one year.  This is an exciting opportunity, and we are looking forward to it.  I will try to update this blog in addition to sending out a weekly email.

Checking In

 I have thought about this blog from time to time, but obviously I don't do much about it.  However, I thought I would at least mention that I am still alive.  I continue teaching for BYU-I, and that takes some of my time each day.  I have been building a cage to cover our strawberries so that we have to share less of them with the squirrels.  There is a bathroom remodel on hold while Delkys decides if she likes the vanity we bought.  So overall not much exciting happening, but life continues to go well.

Mountains, Gandalf, Mountains!

Last Monday my son took the day off work and we climbed Mount Princeton.  That is the 9th 14er for me, and it was a good day spent together.  Here's a little look at what much of the trail was like:

(That is Jack above me)  Yeah, sometimes trail-finding was a little hit-or-miss.  However, the views from on top were pretty spectacular.

On the way back down we got snowed on for about half an hour.  The temperature was in the 50's, and it definitely wasn't snowing hard enough to stick, but it made me very nervous.  The upper part of the trail follows a ridge line, and I was afraid of lightning, so I voted to stay below the ridge line.  Unfortunately that meant we were on very loose rock.  At one point a whole bunch of rocks shifted under my feet, causing me to take several stumbling steps forward before I caught my balance by falling against a different rock.  No, I will not show you the bruise on my shoulder.  But on the second stumbling step one of my (brand new) poles got stuck between two rocks, and...

Oh well.  It was a great day overall.

Random Gripe and Observations

Maybe you have to be an engineer to be bothered by this, but this is a sign in the open area near here:

It establishes a general rule: "Faster users yield to slower users".  That is fine, engineers approve of rules.  Then it lists some specific rules.  Are these examples?  Special cases?  They don't create a hierarchy, and the last one violates the general rule!  Aauurrgghh!  Yes, it is tough to be an engineer.

On a happier note, here is a picture I snapped close by the last one:

You may need to view this full-size to see it, but just above the middle of the picture you can see that one branch of the cottonwood tree has yellow leaves on it!  It is still August, but at least some leaves are starting to change color!  I may yet survive another summer.

Yesterday I taught a lesson to the Elders' Quorum in our ward.  About half-way into the lesson a brother raised his hand and said he wanted to hijack my class for three minutes.  I raised my watch, pushed a button as if starting the stop watch, and said "Go!".  He actually had a very good topic, which occupied something close to three minutes.  When he was done I said I wanted to un-hijack my class, but he thought it should be re-hijack.  I am not sure we ever settled that.

The Midnight Visitor

So, we have been having problems with a raccoon getting into the dog food at nights.  I try to remember to close the side door to the garage at nights, but I am not 100% faithful.  A neighbor loaned me a live trap some time ago, but the raccoon was able to open the back of the trap and escape.  Nevertheless, I left food in the trap just because.  Well, Saturday morning I went outside and discovered:

Now, this little (!) guy was not necessarily friendly.  I had the idea of trying to push him back into the trap, so I grabbed the broom you can see to the left of the door frame and poked at him.  It now has teeth marks on the end of it.  Just moments after I shot this picture the raccoon managed to pull himself completely out of the trap and ran off.

Just for reference, this is what the trap looks like "after":

He actually managed to break some spot-welds and some clips that were holding the mesh on the front of the trap.  I have no idea how long he was there before I found him, but I suspect this will not discourage him from future midnight forays into my dog food.

Life Is Stranger than Life

So here I am, anxiously watching the lawn, willing it to grow, so that I will need to go cut it...

Wait a minute!  Is this John Reading, who hates yard work of every form, and who has never in his life wanted to mow the lawn?  Yes, it is, but as usual, there is an additional detail that makes the story make sense.

Last Friday the lawn was ridiculously long, so I went out and mowed it and it all looked nice and pretty.  However, on Saturday while I was at Home Depot I decided to buy a new electric lawn mower.  Self-propelled, no less.  So now I have a beautiful new toy with no reason to use it until the lawn gets a little longer.  Life is so tough.  I believe the technical term for this is "First-World Problems".

Incidentally, I bought the old mower in Southern California, so it is at least 21 years old, and probably a few years older than that.  Although various pieces have fallen off over the years it still works just fine.  I feel a little bad for having bought a new one when the old one still works, but I suppose I will survive.