WHOOA!!!

Allrighty :)

Hello family, I love you so much! I´m soooo excited to talk to all of you on the 13th! Ahhh man it will be a great reunion. But, until then I´ve got work to do here in Chorrera with Elder Hill! We especially this week are gonna go at it hard to make up for this past week - For the past 5 days or so Elder Hill has been real sick :( I don´t know what it is with my companions getting sick.... maybe I´m bad luck. Hah - just kidding. But seriously, it really stunk!! I just had to sit at the house a lot and find things to do. The good thing was that we had Carlos come over a few days of the week in the afternoon and me and him just sat and talked on the porch while Elder Hill slept. It has REALLY helped my spanish improve. I feel like I can actually like, really speak it now! And I don´t need anyone to clarify or reiterate what I´ve said. The number one thing I have to do now is just remember who´s in charge here, and thank The Lord every day that he has helped me learn Spanish, and I just gotta continue to work hard at it and learn more every day :) That´s one of the funnest parts of the mission, is learning something new every day!

So ya´ll wanna hear somethin suuuuper sweet?! This week, we committed Elísa to baptism too, and her and her sister are planning on getting baptized the 12th of May!! We got their mother´s permission and everything, and we´re gonna do everything we can to help to make sure their family is there to watch them be baptized!! I love these girls so much, and Elísa and I especially get along well. They are going to be SUCH good mujeres jovenes (young women)!! Scratch that.... they already are good young women!! They attend every mutual, and every week at church!! I thank Carolíne and Michelle (the members) from the bottom of my heart for helping these girls find The Truth, and preparing these young ladies so well! Such an inspiration to me and proof that every member is, indeed, a missionary. I know they will be blessed for all their efforts in bringing their friends unto Christ.

I also just real quick wanna talk about the WONDERFUL Sunday that I had :) :) Ah! I don´t know, but it was just great. I felt like I understood almost everything that was said this time in Sacrament, and I just felt The Spirit so strong!! I was just so happy! I´m so thankful for this true gospel. I can now say that whether I´m in Utah or Panamá, or anywhere else, I can go to church and just feel right at home with my brothers and sisters :) At church, someone gave a discorse about Elder Uchtdorf´s talk from conference - the one about not judging others (don´t judge me because I sin differently than you.. haha) and it was awesome. Lastly, guess what? At church, Carlos blessed the sacrament for the first time, and did it perfect! What a great sabbath.

Speaking of Carlos, his family is doing allright. I am sorry to say that they did not recieve their marriage date yet.... the gobierno said they were faulting one bit of information..... so Vielka had to go and re-do part of their health forms for the marriage..... dang it all. Satan is workin´ hard to keep this family from baptism.... but with God´s help, I know we can overcome it! I cannnot wait for the day when all these guys are baptized. The joy I´ll have with them someday in heaven will be incredible (D&C 18:14-16).

Anyway, that´s it for this week. I apologize that the letter is a day late.... the reason being is because yesterday we had to travel to Chitré for Elder Hill.... he delivered a package to a family there that he baptized not too long ago! It was cool to see them - they are an awesome family and are so strong already! I was especially impressed with the 13 year old joven, Christian. Anyway, the trip to Chitré took alllll day and we never had time to stop by an internet joint.

I love you all soooo much! Mom, Dad, thanks for the update on evveryone, and the fotos too! Dave and Adam were both looking super hot. Haha.

-Elder Clarke