I got cabin FEVER!!!‏

Greetings my fellow beings. 

It is Monday and I have a chest cold. Hacking up a lung. The weather changes too much here and it is draining the life out of me. I got rained on in Boquete then I got back to my area where it is sooo hot you consider ripping off all your clothes and joining the people at the carnival. It is the week of Carnival and everybody be all drunk and naked up in here. Babylon. Disgusting. The carnivals here are right before the holy week. A week of partying and doing the horrible, before confessing to the father of their sins.. It gets really bad in Santiago. They send the missionaries out and put them here with us or in the city. Law of Chastity. Get some! 

The Indians are still going bonkers. The did a road block between Santiago and here. And the main highway was shut down and there was no traveling. They were protesting, smoke bombs, and put trees and rocks on the road. Ridiculous. And is anybody doing anything about it no. They want to do something big on the 27th I heard. Gosh and changes are coming up and we haven´t got mail because of it! No mail since the middle of January. NO GARMENTS!!! DAHHH!

This week we too watched a movie in English. 17 Miracles. BEST CHURCH MOVIE! Good grief. I lost it. It is about the miracles of the pioneer's journey to the Salt Lake Valley. It is truly amazing.  I had this urge to do Family History work. But I must be patient until my time comes. There are so many stories and histories out there. Many children and people have died without the work done for them. And I really want to help people do family history. I love teaching that lesson here. Brilliant movie!

We have three baptisms this week. Patricia and Isabel. We had to change the date on them because of the husband.  They are so excited and are beyond ready for this! We also have Krish Lezcano being baptised this week! Krish is a 14 year old boy. His uncles, cousins, and grandma are members. And he has gone to church every week for months. But the problem was getting the parents permission. So we taught him is final lesson. He has literally all of the lessons. And he asked for permission and the parents agreed. They are not members and have nothing to do with the church. I hope that they will have a change of heart someday. So his baptism is coming up. We have 6 fechas total. Hope they all go through! 

Panama is seriously hot. But the good thing about it is that it is fruit season. The good fruit. Not like the usual grapefruit, oranges, and all that. No it is Mangos and some sort of pear like fruit. Juicy goodness. I about died and went to heaven. Also the WATERMELON! Good grief. Dang good in the BOCA! Truly am enjoying myself. I have gained a lot of weight here. Because of the dinner and lunch at member's houses. Too much rice, pasta, and heavy food. You would think that the exercising in the morning and walking your butt off everyday would even it out. Nahhhh not really. I hope to starve in my next area and drop 50 lb. Ha yeah right. After the mission weight loss training will be happening. 

Everybody sounds like they are doing good. I am said I missed the grammys. I heard Adele the singer was on there. Beautiful woman. Great voice.  Wish Kyle good luck and I hope everybody is having a great time. 

Love you all and miss yah! But not enough to come home!   

--
Hermana Channing Jackson

Caution: Sasquatch crossing‏hhnnn

Well welll well we are innn trouble....

Hola. Well by the sounds of it looks like this are going down the drain. 

Me and another hermana are in tears because of Whitney Houston. My heart is broken. I love her and I will forever remember her beloved songs. She best be singing in the tabernacle in Heaven. 

Brett I was going to ask you when you were going to head to the equator place. I heard about it from an Elder here from Ecuador. By the way are the people of Ecuador's accents fetchin sweet. The Elder here I about pass out every time he talks to me. Good heavens. Beautiful. 

Well I am not really sure about the Indian thing anymore. I guess it is suppose to settle down. I think they are going to start it up again today. Dang Indians. This is our land! Hahahah totally a Pocahontas moment. Basking in the Disney. 

Well the flip. Why is the internet down over there. Cambria MCCHICKEN HEAD! WHAT UP SISTER! 

BLAKE HAS A JOB!!! Failure to launch be FLYIN! Whoop Whoop. I will totally visit you someday. Get on it my brother. Make some MONEY and Be A HONEY! I swear I´ve gotten gangster here. Losing my dignity. 

Well this week was pretty crazy. I almost died twice. One by being in a car and one walking down the road. But I did save a members life this week. We were coming back in a taxi from our appointment because we were so far away. And our idiot of a taxi driver decides to pas this car and here came two cars straight at us cause one was passing the other. We get slammed in between two cars and I screamed bloody murder. But no damage to the car or us. But my garments were damage if you catch my drift.  Good grief. IDIOT! LOOK BEFORE YOU PASS! And then after we got out of the situation he decides to demonstrate what happened and what he was thinking. DEAR SIR GET ME THE FLIP HOME! I was ticked and then he asks for a great deal of money. Whatever. 

On Friday my companion, a 13 year old member and I went contacting and trying to get lessons with members. This member is named Abel. He talks a ton. Well we went walking down this paved road where there are hardly any cars. He was telling me all about these video games and singing Skillet (because I got him hooked on it) and stuff. Then I got this thought, you guys needed to move closer to the side. I was like hmmm weird there aren´t that many cars. Well Abel was talking up a storm and a little ways away from my companion and I. And then we all heard this motor. I looked up and there was this purple race car passing this truck right in front of us at incredible speed. The words popped into my head SAVE ABEL! I don´t know how I did it but somehow I grabbed hold of him and chucked him to the side of me before the car almost hit him. This kid is a big kid and was pretty far away from us. It was really strange. The car passed us and it was so close that the wind kinda pushed us. Then Abel said. ¨WOW¨ I was in shocked and kinda freaked out because if that car hit him he would have died instantly. Adrenaline. Gotta Love it. 

We had a lot of good things happen this week.  More baptism dates. Three more families. And a ton of great experiences. 

We went to an area in David as a zone to help other Hermanas out in finding new people, setting baptism dates, etc... It went really well. I did divisions that date with the Mission Nurse and It was a really touching experience for me. We went up in the mountains of Boquete to find families and invite them to an activity that the ward there was having. Well after climbing up this mountain for about 30 minutes we get to the village place. Guys it was one of the saddest places I have ever seen. It is in a mountain range area where it is cold and rainy.There was this giant red tin building with 50 doors or so. Each door has a small room. These are the peoples houses. There is a concrete stove and one bed. I was in culture shock. Bugs were everywhere and dogs and tons of little kids running around with bug bites and dirty faces. One little girl walked up to me grabbed my hand and smiled at me and lead me from door to door. These kids surrounded me and were touching my skin and holding on to my skirt and petting my hand. Gosh my heart was breaking. We sang Families can be together forever in these little rooms and I bore testimony about families. Family is all these people have. One member there walks about two hours to get to church. She attends every Sunday. Never misses. What faith!  I had alot of spiritual moments there.

 

Well I love you guys. And I want you to know that I really love it here and everyday is a life changing experience. Miss you all, but not enough to come home! 

-- 
Hermana Channing Jackson

Everybody bee all kinds of crazy up`in here.‏n

Hello People of every nation. 


It sounds like everyone is having one heck of a time. Wow it is already time for the bishopric to be changed. That went by fast.


 AND HURRAY FOR THE GIANTS! MANNING POWER ALL THE WAY! Someday I will be apart of it all. I need to find a cousin of the Manning Family. 


Blake way to drive around America without me. What is this. And you don´t need hotels. Sleep in the dang car. Georgia! That is what I am talking about. Geturrrdone boyyyeeee!


Brett you better hang on to your pants because transportation is crazy. I have to hold my neck a certain way on the buses because I am so blasted tall here. And I get punched in the face by a woman's badonkie donk when I am sitting down. Also remember the difference in pronunciation in Gentiles (The people)  and Genitals(The parts) . Bahahahaha that was great. My face was so red. Discussing the book of Mormon and mentioning that crap. Awesome life learning a language.
 
Well I don´t know if you all have heard the news but the Indians of Panama have gone off the deep end. Look it up online. I am sure it is on the news. And of course I have to been in the province that they are protesting in and going wild in. The Indians are mad that all the housing developments or something to that effect. They are blocking the roads so buses and cars can´t pass. We can't go to some of our far away areas because there is no diesel. I am like awesome, we can´t work or anything. Only in the area closest to us. It was crazy yesterday so many helicopters and gun shots and stuff. I heard from an Elder today that in front of their house they were teargassed and all the army men were standing outside their laundry with shields and bats.  Today they are blocking the airport and and the way to Coasta Rica. They are mad and all the Panama Indians are in on it. Only Panama City is the safe zone I heard. President Ward called my Zone last night and said for us to wake up early in the morning and go shopping for 5 days worth of food because things are going to get crazy. So we did just that. And I have been on a food storage and water binge for some time so I am ready for whatever goes down. I personally think they will send us to Coasta Rica for awhile if things get rough. Kinda Crazy huh.


But anywho this week was pretty awesome minus the craziness. We set all kinds of goals as a zone and me and my comp tore it up! Whoop Whoop! All kinds of contacts and lessons with members which is beyond rare. We also have two more baptisms coming up! I am so dang excited! Patricia and Isabel are getting baptized next week! AHHHHH! I don´t remember if I told you guys about them.  Patricia is from Venezuela and she married a man from Denmark. They have two girls. Isabel and Malu. Malu is my favorite. She is blond and blue eyed and cute as ever. She comes up to my face and takes a piece of her hair and brings it to my head and says MISMO! Which is the same.  She hasn´t seen another person who looks like her. We brought them to church yesterday and everyone thought I brought my family to visit. Because the girls in a way look like me. It went so awesome. They loved church. And they have a car and alot of money. And Patricia is big on helping youth and has this awesome project planned. I am excited.She really is amazing and so are her daughters. The only problem is her husband is protestant and doesn´t really believe in god. I don´t really understand the religion that well. So we hope theing will go well with him. 


Things are going great here. They really are. I really have grow to love the mission. Missionaries are not perfect but the gospel is. This whole gospel is genius. Everyday when I am studying I am like WHOA WHOAWHOA! This is totally beyond awesome. Everything has a purpose. Get ready peps because this is going to be one crazy great expierence of life before it gets even greater in the world to come. Love it!  I hope all you are doing well! Keep the faith. Love you lots! Miss yah but not enough to come home...unless they ship me out of Panama due to Idians. hehehehehe
-- 
Hermana Channing Jackson

Hello People of every nation. 

It sounds like everyone is having one heck of a time. Wow it is already time for the bishopric to be changed. That went by fast.

 AND HURRAY FOR THE GIANTS! MANNING POWER ALL THE WAY! Someday I will be apart of it all. I need to find a cousin of the Manning Family. 

Blake way to drive around America without me. What is this. And you don´t need hotels. Sleep in the dang car. Georgia! That is what I am talking about. Geturrrdone boyyyeeee!

Brett you better hang on to your pants because transportation is crazy. I have to hold my neck a certain way on the buses because I am so blasted tall here. And I get punched in the face by a woman's badonkie donk when I am sitting down. Also remember the difference in pronunciation in Gentiles (The people)  and Genitals(The parts) . Bahahahaha that was great. My face was so red. Discussing the book of Mormon and mentioning that crap. Awesome life learning a language.
 
Well I don´t know if you all have heard the news but the Indians of Panama have gone off the deep end. Look it up online. I am sure it is on the news. And of course I have to been in the province that they are protesting in and going wild in. The Indians are mad that all the housing developments or something to that effect. They are blocking the roads so buses and cars can´t pass. We can't go to some of our far away areas because there is no diesel. I am like awesome, we can´t work or anything. Only in the area closest to us. It was crazy yesterday so many helicopters and gun shots and stuff. I heard from an Elder today that in front of their house they were teargassed and all the army men were standing outside their laundry with shields and bats.  Today they are blocking the airport and and the way to Coasta Rica. They are mad and all the Panama Indians are in on it. Only Panama City is the safe zone I heard. President Ward called my Zone last night and said for us to wake up early in the morning and go shopping for 5 days worth of food because things are going to get crazy. So we did just that. And I have been on a food storage and water binge for some time so I am ready for whatever goes down. I personally think they will send us to Coasta Rica for awhile if things get rough. Kinda Crazy huh.

But anywho this week was pretty awesome minus the craziness. We set all kinds of goals as a zone and me and my comp tore it up! Whoop Whoop! All kinds of contacts and lessons with members which is beyond rare. We also have two more baptisms coming up! I am so dang excited! Patricia and Isabel are getting baptized next week! AHHHHH! I don´t remember if I told you guys about them.  Patricia is from Venezuela and she married a man from Denmark. They have two girls. Isabel and Malu. Malu is my favorite. She is blond and blue eyed and cute as ever. She comes up to my face and takes a piece of her hair and brings it to my head and says MISMO! Which is the same.  She hasn´t seen another person who looks like her. We brought them to church yesterday and everyone thought I brought my family to visit. Because the girls in a way look like me. It went so awesome. They loved church. And they have a car and alot of money. And Patricia is big on helping youth and has this awesome project planned. I am excited.She really is amazing and so are her daughters. The only problem is her husband is protestant and doesn´t really believe in god. I don´t really understand the religion that well. So we hope things will go well with him. 

Things are going great here. They really are. I really have grown to love the mission. Missionaries are not perfect but the gospel is. This whole gospel is genius. Everyday when I am studying I am like WHOA WHOAWHOA! This is totally beyond awesome. Everything has a purpose. Get ready peeps because this is going to be one crazy great experience of life before it gets even greater in the world to come. Love it!  I hope all you are doing well! Keep the faith. Love you lots! Miss yah but not enough to come home...unless they ship me out of Panama due to Indians. hehehehehe
-- 
Hermana Channing Jackson

Rice Guts, Man Calves, and bushy eyebrows....‏

What Up All...This is Hermana Jackson reporting live from the heart of DAVID for the third change in a row and I am happy as a pimple on a teenagers face. I have the same companion and we are working like crazy to fix this area and make it into something.

Ommmaaannnn where do I start...

Brett the pictures are legit and it sounds like you are working it up. Learning to be a missionary is the hardest thing and I learned that we won´t really figure it out until the end. But keep working at it. I haven´t had much time to study my language either. But I´ve started writing conjugations and vocab and studying on the buses and while we are walking in the middle of no where and repeating everything that people say to me. Preach the Word of God my Brother. I also like your backpack. 

Well sounds like things are warming up in Colorado and all these changes going down in the Ward. Mom keep on preaching. Dad keep on a shootin those shots in the butt. Cambria be a star at music and life. Blake take over the world. Say hello to my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents for me. Tell them that I think of them often. 

Also did you get my package yet?

Poor Blake. 21 hours. Gosh put on some stuck like glue and wag that finger! I really miss some of the car music Blake and I would jam out to on our trips home. LOST IN THE WILDERNESS! I NEED THAT SONG!!! NOT ON THE IPOD!!!!! 

So this week was great it really was. We were teaching Samudio every night and preparing  him for his baptism. When it came time for the interview the District leader said he is more than prepared. WHOOP WHOOP. Saturday came and we were cleaning the font and setting up chairs, and filling up the baptism font. Which took 5 hours because there is hardly any water pressure and the faucet was tiny. Good Grief. We also did service the day of the baptism and we made pineapple empanadas. You know how easy that crap is. I was in shock. I could totally make this and forget about TACO BELL'S empanadas.  We also made a chocolate cake for the baptism. The Baptism was a 6:00 and no one showed up till about 7:00. I was so happy because His Family, who are less actives, all showed up to support him. He bought a white shirt and he was so happy. Then the baptism was done and I sang a song. Yes I be singing in places now because I am the only one who can carry a tune here. And then the greatest moment came. Samudio shared his testimony.  I almost cried. He said I am so happy, I am so grateful for Hermana Jackson and Hermana Mendez for stopping by my house and changing my life.  He said he would never forget us. He bought a journal slash and he wrote down everything. Every lesson we taught him, the dates, our names, his baptism and when he received the Holy Ghost and the Aaronic priesthood. I was like good heavens. We really are changing lives. All because we took the road less traveled by and God put him in our path. Miracles happen people, every once in awhile. 

We have also been meeting with some menos activos and one of them is a 90 year old woman who lives by herself. She looks like a dinosaur. I want a picture with her. We were visiting her last night and she was telling us all about her life, when she was converted, and showing us pictures and stuff. She has the pictures of the missionaries who converted her in the 70s and all that jazz. She laughs, jokes, and smiles like crazy. She has a ton of faith but it is hard for her to go to church because it is a long way to walk. While we were talking the phone rang and we saw her get up and run to the back. I am sooo not kidding. She literally ran. Me and my companion were in shock. My mouth jumped and my companion said Ella puede corre!? I was like yeah she can freaking run faster then me. What are they drinking and eating down here. That woman is a beast and still has 15 years ahead of her. O heavens I almost died laughing. Its all about moving and working. Somebody take Grandma Jackson around the gym a few laps. She can´t get any weaker. 

Well What more can I say. All I know is that life is good when you have God in your life and you are doing the things you are suppose to do all will be well.  Much love people. Know that I am praying for you all and that I love you all very much. Miss yah..but not enough to come home! 

-- 
Hermana Channing Jackson

Sometimes I get a good feeling yeahhhhhh...a

Well It was awesome to hear from everyone this week! Dad, Mom, Blake, Brett, Cambria, Ashley, and Mary!

 

Blake. Way to get on the ball. But I would be just enjoyin the freedom of the world. Live it up my man. And do as Brett says and GET AFTER IT! Whoop whoop

Cambria practice that violin. I have decided that the Jackson siblings are going to rule this world. Blake  brings in the dow, Brett puts on the Show, You play in the Band and I work the runway. Mmmmhhhhmmmmmm

Dad. I was so happy that you took the time to write an email to us. I miss you alot. I was thinking of you and playing video games today and cussing. hehe good times. I climbed a mountain today and was kinda roaming around looking for certain objects. Little arrow like objects. But alas I didn´t find any...... yet...

Mom! Sounds like everything is going good. I wish I could of been there to hear Ashley´s farewell. 

Well this week is Cambios. And I have no idea if I am going or not. I really don´t want to go. I love my area. And my Spanish is getting better. I have gotten to a point of understanding. When you start understanding the music that is playing on the bus you know you are making progress. The only hard thing is speaking. The way I deal with stress is a good ole coloring book! That happens to be a batman one. hehehehe

This passed week went by so fast and I celebrated my 6 months birthday...only three more months till I take the 9 months pregnant picture all the hermanas do. Basically a 11-12 months more for me. Weird. MAKE IT COUNT! 

We had the privilege of hearing from the one the only...RUSSEL M. NELSON! That beast of a man. He was here in Panama and preaching it up. We saw him on a video broadcast since we are 8 hours away from Panama. He told us what is up. Love it. They need to give these type of talks on Conference. His wife talked also and I was blown away. She kicks trash. She talked about Nephi Sam and Laman and Lemuel. How they all went through the same things. Saw an Angel, felt the spirit, and only two had a change of heart. I was like whoa.... Never realized that.

How many of us go through the mission and experience the same things but don´t have a change of heart. Genius. Also she said to look for the miracles in your life and remember them. Also If we could just take a glimpse into ourselves in the premortal life and see ourselves as we truly are all our problems and worries would fall away.  

And Russel M. Nelson told us a funny story about this letter he got from his grandson. Well his grandson is learning a different language and I guess the letter Elder R. got was full of grammatical mistakes and misspellings and foreign words. He said I scolded my grandson. I said to him that I know you are not teaching English but you are not perfecting your abilities in three languages. English, Spanish, and the Language of the Lord. He told us that we need to be excelling in all of these languages. I was like YEAH we do! My languages are crap! DEMAND EXCELLENCE out of yourselves people! Beyond which is sufficient!

And I am so excited for this week because we are having two baptisms. Samudio and a little 8 year old. Samudio is a mircale story. This man has family who are all members and some are less actives. He sits on his porch every night and looks at the cars passing by. And then we come along one day, because we took a wrong turn and say hey can we sing you a hymn? He says yes and says come back. He is a quiet man and nods his head during the first few lessons. then after the Gospel of  Christ, he starts talking laughing coming to church, and gains this testimony. All he was waiting for is an invitation. He was just waiting for people to ask him to change and come to Christ. And guess what he accepted. Sometimes it just take us one question to change our lives. Miracles. Love them.

Alot of people ask us about the world ending and 2012.  That's one of the number one questions we will be getting this year I am sure. I was like well prepare spiritually and did as Brett said, and said, take part in the Gospel of Christ! I love questions like these. Random. The Plan of Salvation questions are random too. 

Anyway not much to say this week. My mind is fried.  Keep on rolling with the punches. Love you guys! Miss you but not enough to come home!

-- 
Hermana Channing Jackson

Que Raro? Que Pena?‏

Sup


Dad sounds like his usual self. Mom sorry that work is ridonkulous. What is happening in politics anyway. Not that I really care but some natives ask me and I have no idea. Some of the missionaries asked if I was going to get a mail in vote thing and I said As if....pfffffff. Doubt I will vote again to be quite honest. I am starting the Party of Nothing.


Well Blake my suggestion for you is to stop applying and build your own empire of business. Stock Market! Photo shoots! Do what ever you have to to get money and take over the world.


Brett you crack me up as usual. I didn´t know you guys use chuso or chuleta! I use that all the time. And I can now to the finger snapping thing and look good doing it. mmmhhhhhmmmmm.


Cambria way to run the basketball program.


Mother I need garments. The silky kind. All my other ones are brown and missing the crotch part. Dead serious. There is some breezy breeze goin on up in there. Not good for the health. I also need a new pair of pants. But I don´t know where I am going to get those because I don´t think people here are my size.

And I need scripture covers for my Spanish Bible and Triple. But I want cool ones. Maybe scripturecovers.comhas some.hmmmmm I will have someone look into it. Or I can...This one.http://www.scripturecovers.com/suede-cases/latin-suede-scripture-covers-for-spanish-lds-bible-triple/ or something cool. I want a picture on them like everyone else here has.

Also is there a way that someone can print out the missionary picture of me and give it to the grandmas. I had a dream of that nasty picture of me on Grandma Bagwell's Wall of the 15 year old me. Geeeoooooooooo. Take that Crap Down! Put something classy up there.


So this week was really good. Alot of new people and people actually attending church and progressing. ANDDDDD D We have a fech or baptism Date for my main man Samudio! Wooo hooo! I really hope I don´t get changed the next cambio. I want to be here in Doleguita for my investigadors who are going somewhere.

My companion and I kick trash. I really like her. She is a very patient person. She practices with me everyday with my Spanish and teaching. I can finally get to a point of teaching all the lessons. Now I am working on starting lessons and better contacting skills. The Plan of Salvation is a killer though. The Premortal life and this Life are so long. O well. I understand it all now.

So we taught the Plan of Salvation alot this week. There was this Lady Patricia with her two Denmark daughters. They live in this huge nice nice house that is decorated so artsy. I love the decorations. Well she is big on religion and the word of God and wants her daughters to be good Christians. She is big on helping the young and starts big programs that teach kids at a young age. Her three year old sounds like an adult. Her Spanish is amazing. I was like wooooo she is three? Well we were teaching her the P.O.S. And She was sooo intrigued. She said I have never heard of any of this before. It all makes sense. Yeah it makes sense. Because it is true. People think we are going straight to heaven or hell but do they think about the resurrection and the judgment first...Nope...So where do are spirits go. To the Spirit World of Course! It is a genius plan that only God could have made. Love it! We only did the half part and we are visiting her again tonight. So yeah.

My Spanish is way way better this week. We have missionary moments in sacrament meeting where one of the companions go up`and share a message. Well I have never been called up before. The Bishop called my name and gave me a sly smile. And I was like watch this! So I pull out some scriptures and I give an inspiring message. I basically told everyone that we have a part to play and to get on it. Everyone told me my Spanish was perfect. So I felt good about myself. Muahahahahaha.

We also visited this lady named Iris. She has 11 kids and she lives in a shack. She is very into the Bible and has a lot of questions. The lessons we taught her were so good. But now we found out she is moving. But to another area where there are missionaries. Whew. IT was so funny so she brought out all her kids to greet us. The last one was the baby and one of the daughters was holding her. Well when she said his name. He started peeing. There wasn´t a diaper on the kid, but he had clothes. Some how the the pee was shooting out everywhere. I jumped up because it almost hit me and then I realized that my scriptures where on the ground. SAVE THE SCRIPTURES! So I dove for them. And then I started laughing because everyone else was laughing. the mother was so embarrassed. I thought it was funny.

Also there are iguanas falling from trees here. I was singing a hymn to this person and I here this thump! and I looked behind me and it was this large iguana. That thing fell from a high tree. Then the little thing took off running! I was like what the fetch.

Anyway. Everything is going good here! Tell everyone I say Hi! Well love you guys and miss you all...but not enough to come home! PAZ!




--
Hermana Channing Jackson