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

Missionary Email #5

 Yesterday as I was changing clothes after our shift, I thought "And just like that, the week is over!"  We are so busy from Wednesday through Saturday, but it certainly seems to fly by quickly.

Things I wish I had brought along (even if they don't fit into the 50 lbs / suitcase category):

  Dishwasher

  Stand mixer

  Disposal

Maybe that's all.  They seem to cluster around the kitchen.  Oh well.

Since I read international news I know that the situation here in Panama is not making much of a splash.  For the last week and a half there have been wide-spread demonstrations against the government, mainly centering around the high cost of living and low wages.  The protesters have blocked all of the highways between cities, and most of the major roads here in the city are also blocked.  Food distribution is heavily affected, with no fresh vegetables available in the grocery stores.  We are pretty well stocked up on food for the moment.  We are also grateful that so far the demonstrations have been peaceful.  However, attendance at the temple has suffered badly, as workers and patrons have a hard time getting there.  On one of the shifts this week we had five brother workers and four sisters (our shifts are usually pretty small, but not that small).  Anyway, other than that we are largely unaffected, and we are praying that there will soon be a peaceful resolution to the problems.

Friday afternoon we went out to buy groceries.  It is about a half-mile walk down to the bus stop, and just as we left the temple the rain started to pour down.  We had umbrellas, but the rain was pretty intense, so we took shelter under the entrance to the cemetery next door.  As we were waiting there was a car coming out of the cemetery, so we decided to move on so the car could get out.  However, the car stopped, and the driver called something to Delkys.  When Delkys went to talk to her she discovered it was her niece whom she hadn't seen in several years!  The niece said she thought we were workers from the cemetery, but when she got closer she thought "That looks like my Aunt Delkys, but Aunt Delkys lives in the United States!"  So they got caught up with each other, and she gave us a ride to the supermarket.

Our ward choir sang in Sacrament meeting today.  There are about 15 of us that have gotten together to sing, and we managed to get through "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" pretty well.  The choir director wants to start on Christmas music next.  Most of the choir members have little experience singing, and we need to leave lots of time for rehearsals.

I have been thinking a lot about my own spiritual welfare lately.  This mission is quite a different experience from my proselyting mission when I was 19, but I still want it to be a time of spiritual growth and improvement.  Two words keep coming to mind as I contemplate this: "holy" and "pure".  Those are not adjectives that I am comfortable applying to myself, yet it seems if I am to grow to be more like the Savior then they should be applicable to me.  As I think about all the work to be done to get myself to that point, I am grateful that it is not solely dependent on my efforts, but that I can count on - in fact, must count on - the support of the Lord Jesus Christ.  On my own becoming pure and holy may seem impossible, but he specializes in doing the impossible, and I have great hope in him.

I have not taken many pictures this week, but here is one to remind me of why we are here:

We are doing fine, and having a great time.  We miss all of you, but are grateful to be serving the Lord.

Love,

Elder and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #4

 First I owe a special thanks to all those who took the time to establish that the strange creatures we saw last week are coatis (along with a few other related names).  It turns out that they are supposed to be friendly, intelligent, and playful, and make excellent pets.

The government has announced that as of tomorrow, Jul 11, masks will no longer be required in most settings.  The temple president has asked temple workers to keep wearing them, and they are required on the train or in buses, but at least in church and in stores we won't have to wear them any more.  That is a welcome development.

One important thing we learned this week is that you can indeed order a pizza and have it delivered here.  Unfortunately Papa John's pizza here is not quite the same quality as Papa John's in the United States.  But I guess we can investigate a few more places.

We have also been learning to get around more by bus.  We still think we will eventually buy a car, but for right now we are depending on public transportation to get around.  The main bus terminal for all of Panama is just a couple of miles away from us here, so although we have to walk almost half a mile to get to the closest bus here, once we have done that we have easy access to any bus in the city, or really in the whole country.  Much to our delight we discovered that the bus runs out to Amador Causeway - a long causeway next to the entrance to the canal which runs out to several islands.  It is a beautiful place to stroll, enjoy the ocean, and even find a couple of flowers.

Saturday I was asked to run the baptistry at the temple as the brother who usually does it is out of town.  We had several youths who were coming to the temple for the first time, and they were so excited to be there.  I got to the temple an hour ahead of their scheduled time, but they were already there waiting.  Seeing that makes me realize how important the temple is to them.  While I was getting things set up for them a sister arrived two hours early for an endowment session.  I remember when the temples were closed down for Covid I suddenly realized that, although I thought I had been appreciating the temple, I really wasn't appreciating it enough.  Being in the temple (almost) every day is certainly a blessing, but I need to remember not to take it for granted; rather, I always need to appreciate it as a sacred opportunity.

Delkys and I spoke in church today.  Delkys spoke about the love of God, especially how it is shown in the Plan of Salvation and the gift of his Son.  I spoke about choosing to make the Savior central in our lives.  Delkys pointed out that after speaking at least most people in the ward now know that we are not just here on vacation, but are serving as missionaries.

Love,

Elder and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #3

 Dear All -

We just spent a delightful evening visiting with the next temple president and his wife.  They are currently temple workers three weeks each month, so we have been getting to know them.  They are very good people, as you might expect.  They have some delightful stories to share about previous temple missionaries, some of which are good object lessons for us.

Monday we went to a large produce market fairly close to here.  I was impressed with some of the variety of things available.  For instance, would you like a papaya?

Or maybe an ear of corn?

I was also impressed with the mountainous stacks of garlic, but I didn't get a good picture of those.  There were also pineapples, bananas, lettuce, celery, and many more.  There are a number of things that I don't recognize, but apparently are staples here.  The prices were good and we bought a lot of stuff.

The work in the temple continues apace.  In many ways the activity at the temple is still recovering from the pandemic, so we are seeing a little more activity with each week.  We had a group from Chiriqui (7 hours away by bus) here, and we were helping in the baptistry.  I was trying to figure out who could help with what assignment, so I asked a young man in the group if he was an elder.  He kind of laughed, and admitted that he was the bishop.  I thought Daniel was a young bishop!  Turns out he is Bishop Lezcano, which is Sister Reading's maiden name, so they are making plans to figure out how they are related.

I know I comment about the rain every week, but the rainfall can be very impressive.  There have been at least two days when it hasn't rained at all.  We went out to eat lunch on Monday in an open-air restaurant that is on a causeway running out to some islands at the mouth of the canal.  As we were sitting there I saw a distant hill disappear behind the rain, then the entire city-scape disappeared, then I watched as the masts of the boats anchored closer by disappeared.  When the rain finally arrived it was very intense.  The temperature dropped to about 71 and the wind was pretty strong, and I thought we were going to freeze some of the patrons in the restaurant.

After church today we went to visit Brother Estribi, who was the branch president when Sister Reading was baptized.  He had a stroke several years ago, but looked much better than he did the last time we saw him.  On the way back we passed a gang of critters that were raiding garbage cans close to the road.  I don't remember what they are called, they look kind of like a cross between a raccoon and a monkey.  I didn't get a good picture of the whole group, but there were at least 30 of them.

Wednesday through Saturday we feel like we are pretty much on the run keeping up with temple assignments; then Sunday hits and it feels like forever until we get to go back to the temple.  We are doing really well, and learning to fit in with the work here.  The work in the temple has a completely different pace than in Denver, but we are adapting and learning.  We think of all of you often and miss you, but we are loving the work here.

Love,

Elder and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys

Missionary Email #2

 Whatever the issue was that was keeping us from starting in the temple early got resolved before Wednesday, so we actually started our service on Wednesday.  Except for Tuesday night baptistry assignments (of which there was not one last week) we worked a full week.  We spent at least one shift in the temple each day, and on Friday we also worked in the baptistry in the evening.  It is so good to be working and not just marking time.  Yes, there was a lot to do with getting supplies purchased and otherwise settling in to the apartment, but this is so much better.

Of course, the rainy season has continued.  Several times during the week I have been planning to go out somewhere, only to realize that the heavens have opened and the rain is dumping down.  Perhaps soon I will learn always to have an umbrella with me.  Notwithstanding the rain, there are also times when the clouds part and the sun streams down, and everything looks beautiful.

Yesterday in the temple I noticed some teeny little black beatles wandering around.  I saw them in different places, so I worried there might be some sort of infestation.  I was going to mention them to the maintenance people, but I happened to see the temple president first.  He said he was very familiar with them; they are just one of the consequences of the rainy season.  They collect them up every night, they fumigate monthly, but they are still around.  I should be glad they are benign little pests.

We had two groups at the temple yesterday.  There was a group of 13 youths from Chiriqui, which is a 7-hour bus ride away.  They were actually there Friday night, then showed up at the temple again yesterday before the doors were open.  Then there was a group of 18 sisters who came together from about an hour away.  Delkys and I were asked to be the witness couple for the endowment session they were on, so there were 19 sisters and me on the session.

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures this week, so I rushed outside to snap a few.  This first one is the front of the temple.

You can kind of see the clouds behind the temple, so I decided to get a better shot of them.

Finally, a shot of the jungle across the street from the temple.

We also stayed after church to practice with the ward choir today.  So we are getting comfortable here, and are having a great time.  We miss the folks back home, and hope you are all doing well.

Love,

Elder and Sister Reading

aka

John and Delkys

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.