From Jett 2-13-12 Pre-Carnival week

Well the rioting finished. It all started because the government wanted to mine on the land of one of the indigineous tribes here. The tribes here have their own lands here and it is usually pretty good, but the indians got mad and blocked off the pan american highway. They burned out some police stations and other stuff like that. THe police killed like 2, including a teenager and that made it even worse. But the government finally signed something so the indians chilled out. so the unblocked the highway, but it still isnt over. And while the tribes were protesting, lots of other groups joined the cause and it got crazy. But things are more or less back to normal. My Jr. Comp. is afraid of lot of things, and as we found out yesterday, a tied up iguana and a parrot. He would not even touch them. Everyone was amazed that me, the gringo was fearless with them, and he, the latin was scared. It was funny. I got a pic with the iguana that the family was going to eat, hope you enjoy it.
Things here are pretty good. We had a little tough time with finding new investigators. We have to push back our bap dates with Victor, Ligia, and her daughters because of various problems with the Word of Wisdom for both. We are still working with them. We want them to be baptized this month. I have faith that they will. Carnavales start this week on Friday. So the whole world here is going to turn into a crazy place where sin does not exist. It will really be a place that that scripture in 2nd Nephi describes perfectly: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for tomorrow we die. The people think that they will be beat with a ´´few stripes´´ like the scripture says, but then they will just go to confession after the week ends and all will be good. The other day we had a funny experience but a sobering one. We were in a lesson with this familly out on their porch. One of their neighbors arrived at his home and the family was telling him to come over to listen to us. He was busy collecting ´´provisions´´ for a party. He said, ´´I´ll wait until im 60, and then I will look for God.´´ We all laughed about it at the time and said that he doesnt know if he will make it to 60 years. It was funny, but now that I think about it, its sad that that is the mentality of most of the people here. Do what they want and then when they are old, go and change. But enough of that for you.
Things with Elder Aguare are good. He is a good missionary, just is a little timid. I am timid too but he is pretty timid at times. But when he breaks out of that, he teaches well and boldly. Thanks for everything and I love you! Have a great week!

Elder Jett Scrimsher

Jan. 16th 2012 - the Long Walk over the Bridge of the Americas

Things are good here. This week has been up and down. My comps toe is better we go on friday to have it checked on. I will look for shoes today i think. THe good news is that we had a baptism on Saturday. Her name is Carmen. SHe is the one that was going to be operated on and wanted to be baptized before the operation. So we were scrambling around trying to get everything ready. The service was good, it would have been better if a little more members showed up. Our ward mission leader was unable to get her under the first time so it was a double try. The sad part was she hadnt showed up to church at the appointed hour so we called her cell and her husband said that they were on their way to the hospital cuz she was in so much pain, due to her stomach. So she wasnt confirmed yesterday. We arent sure of which hospital she is in either. Idk if we will try to confirm her next sunday or in the hospital or what. It was really really weird. Our other investigators with dates didnt show up to church cuz they went to the beach. We went by yesterday and i was going to matchete them with various scriptures. But she told us that she hadnt drunk coffee all that day and she felt great so we were pretty happy about that cuz she is trying to break that addiction. So I didnt do anything. But we need to push the baptism to the 28th now. Haha yesterday we taught this guy and his wife gave us soup to eat and he offered us a beer to drink. We politely declined that offer, but it was funny. Also this week we did some awesome bus contacts, it was fun. The buses here are way loud so i was basically screaming so everyone could hear. That is something that our whole zone is doing now. We dont see a lot of the results but you never know. And Elder Russel M Nelson is coming to panama this week and we have a conference with him on Thursday. So i should probably shine my shoes good and all that haha. But its good that jenner is doing well and is happy. Haha i miss fiesta a lot. Yes occasionaly we get good meals here. I did divisions with the zls here in panama and we had dinner at the home of a senior couple missionary. She made us spaghetti and salad and gave us bread. And apples from washington and way good doughnuts. IT was delish. ANd i got a hot shower that the assitants house so that was good. Things are good here, im in good health, im not tired. Its been tough to find investigators that stick here, we mostly just teach someone once and then they dont go any further. But we have some people coming along. Changes are next week so we will see what happens there. Thanks for everything and i love you! Oh and last week we had a mishap on the bus and we went over the canal when we wanted to get off before it. So we had to walk across the bridge of the