Two Years Really Isn't Long Enough

Hey fam!

So, this past week was interesting, but great!  We had cambios, or transfers in English, on Wednesday. Well, Elder P had cambios so on Tuesday, we didn’t do much except pack up all his stuff, and visit some people in the area so he could say bye. Then, at night we went to play some soccer at the church with some of the young men, in the pouring rain! Afterwards, P went to stay at the ZL's house, and I went out to San Vicente with my Quantum Buddy Elder J, because his companion had changes too, and we were not allowed to go to the changes meeting.  So, I stayed there Tuesday night, and then we waited in San Vicente for the ZL's to call, and we went to meet our new companions!  My new companion is Latin, his name is Elder Q, and he is from Ecuador, and he speaks absolutely no English! But, I am finally comfortable enough with my Spanish to communicate normally, and I know it will only get better with a Latin companion!  I am sad that Elder P is gone, he is in Chitre, in the province of Herrera, and he loves it!  Sometimes, I forget my companion can’t speak English, so I will start rambling off something to him in English, and he just stares at me really weird.  My companion is a convert of four years, and no one else in his family are members.  Imagine telling your family that you are leaving for two years to serve a mission that they don’t know or want anything to do with?  He sure is smart in the gospel, and I respect him for his desire to serve! He goes home in December, so he will die (finish the mission) in Ciudad Bolivar.

So, this last week with Elder Q was great! We don’t have many people with baptismal dates right now, the area is pretty hard, and so we ended up contacting a TON! But, we met some really cool people, and it was great! We actually found Hermana Ledezma's sister in law, who is Catholic, but we talked to her for about an hour, and she invited us back this week, so we will see where that goes!

We had the opportunity to go to the temple again this week as well!  I have been able to go four or five times in the past change, which is more than most people get to go in their entire mission!  So, it has been a great blessing! I can finally understand the entire video in Spanish! We haven’t gotten the new video here yet, still the same one as before.  But every time I go, I learn something new and profound that I didn’t know before, and I love the temple!

So, Dad, check out the Titans whomping on the mighty Chargers! Any other time, I root for the Chargers. But, my titans are finally starting to play!  Also, did the Yankees win yesterday?  Mo's last game?  Also, Pettite is retiring too, right?  I don’t like the Yankees, but those guys are flipping legends!  Also, what happened with BYU?  I heard they lost to Utah!  What the heck?!!

Well, time is running short. We are cruising out to causeway for P Day today!  I love you all, and I am finding more happiness and strength in every day of the mission!  Time is flying by.  I hit three months in Panama this Wednesday!  Two years really isn’t long enough to give to the Lord. Well, I love you all!

Love,
Elder Austin Michael Kipp

Zone Conference – Elder Ochoa

September 16, 2013

Zone Conference – Elder Ochoa

Yo family! 

It is good to hear from you all, and that you are all doing so well! 

This past week has been good.  It has been hot and sweaty, but it has been good!  We are rewarded for doing hard things!  I have begun to recognize the hand of the Lord in my life much more, especially with the gift of tongues.  Sometimes I still feel like I have learned nothing of Spanish here, but when I look back on it, I can understand pretty much everything, and I have learned so much since I got to Panama.  My comp speaks fluently already, and he has taught me a ton!  I can communicate with pretty much anyone, now it is just words here and there that throw me off.  Everyone here tells me I speak better than any other gringo that has come, and I am learning more every day.

 We had a Zone Conference this past Friday at the chapel by the temple, with six zones.  Elder Ochoa from the Seventy came, and spoke to us.  He is the second counselor in the Central America Area Presidency.  He spoke to us about obedience, because this mission has a reputation for being a bit disobedient. He told us about when he was a mission president in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  When he got there, Preach my Gospel had just come out, and the mission was baptizing about seventy to eighty people a month.  He decided to start implementing Preach my Gospel immediately, and changing some rules that the last president had, to make the mission more obedient to the mission rules set forth by the church.  After his three years as president, the mission was baptizing 435 people a month, and it is still one of the most successful missions in Central America.  He is trying to teach President Carmack his methods and implement them to this mission. It was a good spiritual conference, and I can tell a big change is about to come over the mission!

So, I got one package this last week with some pictures and the drivers license information. There is no way I can get that form back in time, but I won’t need to drive for two years, so it doesn’t really matter to me right now. The pictures are great, mom you look so different!  In a good way, of course!  I will check with the AP's again at changes about my package, and I should be sending a letter that day too. As for the Christmas tree, I most likely will not get it, but I am not sure. Package rules here are kind of strict. There are not set rules, but the ladies are strict with what they will let pass or not.  But, we will just have to see!  Also, about the Christmas in Panama, I think it is a great idea, but it is not a good idea as a missionary to do it. Missionaries are not supposed to give anything to people, especially money or anything of value, just the gospel.  It has been done before, and ended badly.  Sorry, I was excited for it too, but I have been advised not to do it. 

So, Andy got the priesthood this last week!   He was ordained to the office of priest, and it is good to see him taking the next step in the gospel to grow closer to the Savior!  He is truly progressing a lot, and I think he wants to serve a mission!  It would be great for him to go out and share his love of the gospel with others. He could be a blessing in the lives of so many people!  Well, time is running short.  Thanks for everything you do for me, praying, fasting, everything!  I love you all, and I can’t wait to hear back from you next week!

Love,

Elder Austin Michael Kipp

All Things Quantum

Hola familia,

I hope this letter finds you all Quantum!!!   I am doing quite quantum down here this week, even though it has been incredibly hot this past week. We have been having either blistering heat, or pouring rain, but I love it.  I am sweating a ton regardless, and it is satisfying when I go to a person's house we haven't been to for a while, and they tell me I look a lot skinnier!  I am feeling great down here!
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So, we are having kind of a frustrating time with investigators losing enthusiasm and desire to be baptized.  We are still working with the family of six kids, and the two sisters, but they are not really keeping their commitments that they make, and it is disheartening.  We keep praying and fasting for them, and if we have faith, I know the Lord will bless us. We are already planning on taking Andy with us to help teach some investigators about the Book of Mormon. I know the reason he was converted was because he truly loves and understands the importance of that book.  We talked to him this week about serving a mission, and he says he wants to, he has some commitments with the university where he has to work in a job of the subject he is studying for at least a year or something weird like that.  But he would be a great missionary!  He has already started teaching his family about the restoration, and the word of wisdom. 

This last week, our branch did an activity, a Tarde Típica, (typical afternoon).  It was an activity that showcased the culture of the natives that live in the interior of Panama, or the western part around the city of David. Go online and look up the Salomar.  It is a way that the people from the interior greet each other, and it is hilarious!  All the missionaries from our zone came, and we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer to the tune of Come Thou Fount, and I played it on the guitar. 

Thanks for the sports updates.  Looks like the Mariners will miss out on the playoffs yet again! (as if I ever even thought they had a chance of making it).  It is awesome to hear about BYU beating Texas, and that Taysom ran for so many yards!  It will be an interesting season!  Also, I am glad to hear the Titans beat the Steelers.  I don't consider it an upset, the Titans are decent, they have young talent and have some progress to make, but they are looking promising this year.  Also, Peyton beasted it up with 7 touchdowns!  Holy Cow! Keep me updated on the baseball playoffs, I know the big deal here right now is the world cup race, and the USA plays Panama here in a couple weeks.  Also, Mariano Rivera will be pitching his last game here in the next few days, so everyone is going nuts over that too.  Everyone here only cares about the Yankees because Mariano Rivera is from Herrera. 

My comp will probably get taken out of the area here in the 18th, and it is a slight possibility that they will put hermanas in this area.  It is really safe, and there are 27 hermanas and 1 elder coming this transfer!  So, I might get to see some more of Panama pretty soon!  It will be good to get a new area and meet some more amazing people.  I like my area, but it has definitely been hard.  Our zone is the hardest in the mission I hear, so it has been taxing, but rewarding.  We will just have to wait and see, though, I might just stay and get a new comp!

I met an elder in my zone named Elder J, from Springville, and I introduced him to all things quantum, including the epic paintball war. Alert General Brown that one more valiant soldier will soon be added to the ranks of the Falcon Corps!  He just got back from San Blas before he came here, and he loved it!  I cant wait to see if I get the chance to serve out there.  The more I hear about the history of the Kunas, the crazier it is because it is literally the same as the Book of Mormon!

Well, not much more to report today.  We haven't gone to the canal yet, and next week we are going out to an island, so it will probably be awhile. We did pass it on the way to the temple, and it was cool, but we met a guy who works there and he can take us down into restricted access areas!  So, maybe soon!  Today, we just hung out at our church and watched a movie, ate, and now we are at Los Andes using internet. 

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Well, gotta go... Know that I love it, and that I am growing more and more every day.  Tell Joe T and Brad H, Mcrae, and Kevin Bacon to email me so I can have their email addresses to write them. Well, know that I love you guys!  Elder Duncan told us to always have the end view in sight whenever we do something, and I keep thinking of twenty months from now, in SLC Internationl, when I can return with honor having honorably served and helped many people come to Christ.  That vision of who I want to become in the mission is my motivation to go out and teach every day.  I love you all!

Love,

Elder Austin Michael Kipp

Andy's Baptism

Hola Familia,

It is good to hear from you and that you are doing well.  So, the rain finally calmed down a bit this week, but it was very hot!  It was an interesting week.  We found a family with six kids and a single mom a couple weeks ago, and they seemed super positive. They even went to the church a couple times when they lived in Louisiana!  We taught them about the resstoration one night last week, but we haven't been able to get another lesson set up.  Every time we tell them we are going to come over, they always have company that comes and visits, and they don't want to listen.  They are on vacations from school this next week, so we should be able to catch them.  Price leaves the area on the 18th of this month, so we want to see if we can get them baptized before then. It will be hard, but I think we can pull it off!  We fasted yesterday for it, and if we have faith, we will do it.

We had our baptism with Andy yesterday, which was very satisfying!  He chose me to baptise him, and it was really cool.  It was the first time I have ever baptised anyone, and it was a really amazing experience!  We almost didn't have the baptism  because he left church after Sunday school to go to a meeting for a soccer league that he is in charge of.  He was gone until one, and that was when the baptism was scheduled for.  He finally showed up, which was a relief, because our branch president was about ready to cancel the baptism because he was hungry and wanted to go home and eat, but we had the service, and it was great.  I ended up having to wear a super tiny jumper because it didn't fit Andy, so he wore my pants and shirt, and it was pretty funny!  It was great to see how happy he was, and he said that he is changed forever.  It was a really satisfying day!

We also got to go to the temple last Tuesday, which was amazing, and we will get to go this Thursday again with our branch!  It is such a blessing to be able to have a temple in the mission, not every missionary gets that experience.  I echo you, mom, when you say how excited you are to meet those people on the other side whose work you have done.  It is amazing the presence of those people you can feel in the temple. 

So, about the guitar and the water bed.  The guitar is over at Calebs, I forgot to get it before I left.  And as for the water bed, what did you do with it?  I loved that bed, and I might want it back in my room someday!  Is my head board that had all my stuff on it still in my room?  Thanks for going through and dusting it off, it definitely needed it.  As for the packages, I am still not too sure about that.  If you send the Christmas tree, I am not sure if I will even get it.  They have to go through every package, and some items are not allowed, but try it and we will see. As for treats, it has to be just small things, but a bag of Swedish fish would be great.  President Carmack emailed you guys, he has helped me out a ton, and I am doing so much better now.  He gave me a blessing my second week here after everything happened, and he said something that struck me.  He told me that at the second coming, the Savior will look to me and call my name blessed.  It was a spiritual lift for me in the hardest time of my life.  It is still not easy, but it gets easier and easier every day, and I am happier and happier every day!  Tell everyone back home thanks for the fasting and prayers on my behalf, and tell President Arens and Bishop Jessen thanks again as well.

Well, not much more time to write today, but know that I love you guys, and that I am loving the mission.  It has been the best learning experience for me, and I am not even four months in yet!  I can't imagine how much more I will learn and grow in the next 20 months!  I know the time is going to fly by, it already has.  I will try and send some pictures today, the computer doesnt like to read my card.  I will try and send some of the baptism and some of our investigators!    Love you all!

Love,

Elder Austin Michael Kipp