Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 9:30 AM

So we again had to wait a while for the internet to work, but here I go.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the ocean last week.

And here is a picture in my nice new room.

So this week Dalesca passed her baptism interview and her family is excited for her. We also will be getting her older sister and kids ready for baptism. This Sunday Dalesca and Juan came to church. We stopped by to see Juan after church and he is doing good. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and remembers what it talks about!!!! That is a big improvement and I know it is because of the help that He has been asking for from Heavenly Father to learn and remember. He is just so cool and willing.

This Sunday I meet our Branch President via Skype, haha. All of the Ward Leaders got together after church to talk with him and his wife. They are cool and Canadians, haha, and speak very little Spanish. But enough to understand and respond. But I guess I will never meet them in person because they will be staying a while in Canada for their son's wedding.

I ended up sharing some of the candy in my package. We did an experiment with the goo, haha. That was the sticky sin in our lives and they had to try to clean it all off only by licking it off, haha. But it couldn´t be all cleaned like that. They had to wash their hands with soap. The Baptism!!!! The kids went crazy over the idea and would only eat the goo candy by smearing it on their hands and licking it off, hahaha. But they had a ball.

That is so awesome that your letter got there on time!!!!!!!!! Hurray!!!

Yep I am trying everyday to see all the lilies in my life and there are many!!!!

Thank you for all your love support and prayers. Have a great week!

Love you Guys!!!!

Hermana Ochs

Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 5:00 PM

I have a lot of photos to send, but we will see. I still have lots more, haha. But I want you guys to experience Boquete with me. Our first Pday we went to M Garden.





It is those Gardens that I went to before when I was in David. There were lots of pretty Flowers. Then today early in the morning we went to the Beach to play!!!!

Here is a new pair of shoes that I am trying out. What do you think?

Well we are preparing a little girl for her baptism, and her family too. It is exciting. I believe I told you already but the Branch President is not here for this month and so we are working a lot more with the local leaders here in making sure all is going well. This Sunday we were walking over to the church and found our neighbor Juan who is slowly but surely taking the lessons and coming to church. He is awesome and reminds me of Grandpa Graham, very dedicated to the farm and the family!!!


Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 10:15 AM

We were at the internet cafe later in the day and in the middle of working on the email to you guys the server here at the store failed and no one could send there emails. So today they let us finish up what we were working on and get them sent off.

How are you guys doing? I hope Fantastic and Happy!!!!!! Because I am! Guess what your package came and I got letters from home!!!!!!!! Thank you all so so so much!!!!

Yes Dad, you are really going to have a hard time finding my apartment on the map because I live two houses away in the same street as the church, hahaha.

This is our house in Yellow and the Church right behind it in White!!! It is so nice to be right by the church!!!!!

Well I am so excited to hear too that Cara is going on her mission!!! When will she be leaving? I hope I can see her before she heads out.

Mom you are such a great organizer!!! You always keep yourself busy and working!! I am going to have to follow behind you for a bit after my mission and master that talent, but I am learning from our neighbors. Hermana Martinez reminds me alot of you, like a buzzing bee always working helping and happy!!!!! I asure you she is keeping me up on top of things. I am always trying to keep my things neat because she is always in and out of house right now fixing it up, and it really reminds me of home, but this time I and going to be better. Sorry Mom for all my messes and Thank you for always helping me clean up and giving me surprises!!!!!!!!!

Dad so are you doing better? I hope that that wheelchair is holding up, cause it is pretty old, haha. Well a good thing is you can work your arms out, haha. Dad I am really enjoying this time here and feeling like as I am obedient that God is guiding us along and we are happily helping in where we can and should!!!!! I will be strong and concentrated.

Lots and lots of love from,

Hermana Ochs

Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 9:48 AM

Ok, well I can't see the photos that I am sending but I hope they are good ones, haha.

Here is a picture of my fellow missionaries heading to the Mission Home for new assignments.

Me and Elder Elg before heading out to our new areas

All of us Hermanas from the MTC.

Me and Hermana Kennedy before she is heading home.

Man saying bye to the 24 de Diciembre familia was bitter sweet. I love my Hermana Torres and my super awesome Zone de Tocumen. Waiting for the news of the changes and to hear where I will die. I almost didn´t care where I was going but I didn´t really believe that Pres. would complete my dream. I am here in Boquete!!!!!! The heaven of Panama!! It is a very very very pretty mountain village town. I was pretty jealous of Johnny being in Concepion, haha. But I am in a place very, very similar. I have actually seen a lot of the same flowers Johnny has seen. And man I feel like it is all a dream.

First of all we had to take the long trip on the bus, 7-8 hours. We got to David really late and we had to stay the night in David, in my first home!!!!! The next day before we headed to Boquete we ate lunch with the Family Quiel. I don´t know if you remember me writing about them but they are my other Family Panamanian, haha. Man we were jumping with joy to see each other. I guess she had been talking with her husband before I was coming out there that she would love to be able to see me one more time before I go home, and here I am. haha

Well then we took the bus up the mountain!!!!! Man it was raining and my luggage got all wet! But we got in and then we headed out to visit some people.

Man our neighbors are awesome.

They are fixing up the apartment and it is very, very pretty.

So they are in and out of our house all the time and they have invited us go eat with them almost everyday.

The weather is so nice here. It is fresh during the day with a bit of Sun in the afternoon, then it starts raining in the late afternoon and in the night and then we get wet and cold!!!!!!!! When we get home I can´t wait to get in bed with my warm blankets!!!!! Then in the mornings we get in the warm shower!!!! I didn´t know how to work the water heater at first and that was my first freezing shower, but now it has been warm showers from now on.

This Sunday was awesome! We are a little branch with around 40 -60 attendees in Sundays. The Branch Pres is not here and wont be here for this whole month!!!! I think I might meet him before I go but for now we have assistants that he left in charge. There are a few strong members and then everyone else that we are working with really hard to keep them animated and happy. Ya the neighbors are old Mission Presidents and still run their house like that, inviting everyone to eat, especially the missionaries!!!! hehe

Man I am slowing but surely getting to know this area and their needs!!!! There are a lot. Please keep us in your prayers, the branch of Boquete and this area and me and my comp.

My comp is from El Salvador and is super good. I remember when I first meet her I thought it would be awesome to be her comp and I guess she thought the same. Well we are getting to know each other too. She wants to learn English and she is very good. I need to remember to practice more with her.

Well for now we are accepted here and we are going to work!!!! So please pray for me and this area And I love you forever and ever!!!!

Hermana Ochs

Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 9:19 AM

OK so I need to explain the pictures a bit. This week we were able to get Bruni and Cielo baptized with lots of help from our Bishop, District, and lots and lots of prayers to God. She knew it was the right thing to do but she just needed a little push.

So here she is happily getting baptized with her daughter Cielo!

And here is a picture of us at Church the next day.

We were so happy and sad that we have to leave each other for a little time.

Here is a picture with our Bishop and this family.

His little girl Bianca is crazy, crazy, crazy, but I love her.

And then the picture with me with random things that I have found in my luggage that I have not used and not even opened, hahha, and probably wont use, hahaha. My comp had a good laugh of my ridiculous gidup, hahaha. Thanks Mom for getting me prepared but I don´t think that I will be using the Mosquito net, hahaha. My Comp and I were thinking of camping outside with it our last night together.

Thank you for all your prayers for Bruni. I know they helped. Take care of Grandpa Graham. It was good to hear your voices and see you guys. I hope Braydon is good too, Happy Birthday from Panama! Man I can tell right now that it is going to be weird to hear all to guys speaking English to me. My brain was freaked out just hearing all you guys, hahaha. Ya, and Grandma really has an accent, a southern accent, hahah. Love you guys so much.

Well I don´t know where I will be going yet but I do know that I am going for sure. We will see how things turn out. I pretty much am ready to work out my last few weeks here in Panama!!!!

Love you, love you, love you!!!!!!!

Hermana Ochs

Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 9:08 AM

So here are some photos of our two temple trips.

The first picture is us with Hermana Tomasa our lunch lady on our first Temple trip this week.

The next picture Me and Hermana Torres with Bruni and Cielo on our second Temple trip.

And here is a nice shot of the Temple at night.

Man those pictures of Elder Ochs in Concepcion are so beautiful!!!! I am just a bit jealous.

Hey so DAD Happy happy Father`s Day!!! I love you!!!!!

Ok, this weekend was so crazy. I am learning so much about the importance of following the whispers of the spirit!!! All this week we have been preparing Bruni and Cielo for there Baptism. Well as we have been working with her the opposition has been working too. She has had a lot of trials and temptations. The Devil is trying to scare her and bring her down. Saturday we went to teach the daughter and the mom was inside cleaning when her old preacher from church comes to talk with her. We didn´t know what they talked about but it counldn`t have be positive. We asked her if she was ok and she said "yes", so we left it at that. Then on Sunday morning at 5 am I woke up really scared and knew that there wasn`t something right but I said a prayer to God for protection and went back to bed. So later we were getting ready for church and we called Bruni to remind her of her baptism interview after Church and she was saying "no we are not going today because we are going to visit family." I told her "Well, we were going to announce your baptism today in church it would be good if you came." Then she was saying, "it´s just that Cielo is not ready and I am not ready yet." I knew something was wrong and I persisted until she finally said, "Ok, we will come to church but I am not ready." So she came to church and I tried asking what was up and she said she was scared and frustrated. Then it hit me that this was not God but Satan working against her. She explained later that the preacher was warning her that she was getting into something bad and said all kinds of bad things about the church. Bruni said that she went to bed scared and woke up at 5am Sunday morning really scared. We took her into a room and talked and shared with her the importance of prayer and fasting. And also that Satan is going to try to scare you, but God will guard you and keep you safe. I told her that even Joseph Smith had been attacked by this evil force when he was looking for God the most.

So we are fasting for Bruni, Cielo and Bruno. We talked with the Bishop and we are going to have a Family Home Evening this morning. We called Bruni this morning to invite her and we found out that she has no food for her or her children. We are planning on donating our fast money to buy her food!!!!! Man this is a pretty crazy fight but I know we will win!

I know that the more we know of the Gospel and feel the love that Christ has, the more we see the needs of people and we can serve them!!!! We are Christain Solders Marching off to War against the Evil one!!!!!!!

Man I love you guys so so much and remember to Never Never Doubt and Always Always Pray!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please pray for us and Bruni and her family!!!

Love,

Hermana Ochs

Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 1:10 PM

Weeeeee, got to go to the Temple Today!!!!!! Hurray hurray! It was so awesome. Man I can not explain but the mission is such a blessing and everyone in it is here for a reason. My comp, my leaders, my Pres., our investigators and the people. I saw so many people I knew from other areas and from Tocumen. Our lunch lady Hermana Tomasa was really sad this week because she wasn´t going to be able to go to the ward temple trip, but we were all excited about being able to go the Temple. Well what happened is that the Bishop went with her to get a health card for her business but I guess she needed some other exams so they couldn´t get the health card. SO instead they came over to the Temple the same session as us!!! SO we had the whole 24 de Diciembre family in the Temple. It was awesome!!!! This was the first time for Hermana Torres.

So this week we just are being guided and blessed for all the work we have been doing here!!! This weekend was Stake Conference and Bruni came with Cielo. They were so excited and they got to meet President Ward and his wife. In the conference we talked a lot about Temples and Bruni commented at the end that she wants to see the Temple of Panama. President Ward offered to take a field trip to see the Temple, so tomorrow we are going again to go to the Temple with Bruni Cielo and her son Bruno. It is going to be a blast. At the distribution center we bought her scriptures a hymn book and some cds. I also stocked up on garments!!! Hurray!!!

Well I am alive and just hoping to make it to the end, hahaha. Ooo ya we had interviews with the President and he asked where I would like to end.....I gave him the suggestion a place pretty and NOOO BUSES!!! Haha. We will see but I could be going to Boquete!!!! A place very pretty a bit cold and away from buses!!!

But for now we are so excited to be getting Hermana Bruni and her family ready to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ!!!!

I love you guys so much. Mom where is Cathryn going to school. I talked to Hermana Ward about school and I believe that I am going to try to register for the winter semester at BYU. It starts in January. It would be cool if Johnny got registered too and we could go together!!!! Ya but I can wait tell I am home to do that.

Dad that video was not real, was it. Anyway funny stuff, thanks. Hey thanks for sending one more survival kit, hehe. I will be waiting!!!

Love you all and chao for now,

Hermana Ochs

Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 9:22 AM

Woooo-whooo! This week was awesome!! We went to work challenging investigators to Baptismal dates!!! We challenged 5 of our investigators and two of them excepted!!!! Brunilda and her daughter Cielo (in Spanish that means heaven). We were super duper happy and they have come two Sundays in a row!!! Hurray for Bruni and Cielo!!

Yes and I gave my testimony this Fast Sunday too! My comp went up and because we are a family I needed to also. Actually I wanted to anyways. Yep it is pretty cool this week.

The ward is having a Rescue week. The members are supposed to go out to find and visit 200 menos activios and invite them to come back to church. This call for a Rescue week came from the Prophet Thomas S Monson, cool huh. I hope that they can meet the goal. It really would be awesome!!! It will also be a sacrifice because this is vacation week for all the kids. I think sometimes, “man, I don't know if I would have done this back when I was their age and on vacation.”

Wow, I am pretty jealous of the beach adventure Johnny had.....we don´t really get to go to places like that. But we did go to the little waterfall jungle hike place. Here is a picture of me when I had to go check out a cool hill on the way there. I had a good soaking my feet and relaxing time. I don´t know what we are doing today but I am hoping to do something fun to get a little de-stresser.

Yes, it was sad but the Baptism date with Jose fell through. But we have got to find him and his Mom to see if we can still save it.

As for me and Hermana Torres, we are on a spiritual high just going and working and always praying for the help of God. I have been studying in Mormon and Ether. These are sad but awesome chapters! They talk so much about how those that follow God will be blessed in the land and those that don´t will be destroyed, ooooaaaa. But most of all that the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the church will bring light to the World, and that the person or persons that do this work need to have the mira puesta únicamente en la Gloria de Dios (an eye single to the Glory of God). Sorry I can´t think of the translation and it doesn´t sound as cool in English, haha. Something like the vision only in the Glory of God, haha. Well, may we all work in the Glory of God , to praise him on high and bow to his Son, our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Love you guys so so much. I hope work is going well and that you are enjoying yourselves. I am glad to hear how much God has and is blessing you guys.

Lots of Love,

Hermana Ochs