The greatest Mother's Day Surprise Ever and Her Testimony

Alyssa in Panama, Courtney in Kentucky and Abby in Utah

I hope everyone is having a great week and Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there. I truly hope you had a wonderful day. Since Alyssa’s email is not very long this week I am going to share with you Alyssa’s testimony but first I have to tell you about the best mother's day surprise ever... I got the BEST surprise ever in what was probably the greatest sacrament meeting ever! The bishop got up and announced that usually they have a couple of great speakers on Mother's day talk about mom's but today was going to be a little different. They had 9 speakers who were more than qualified to speak on mom's. And then he announced who the speakers were and named off each one of the missionaries in our ward. Our bishopric had taken the time to write to each of the missionaries and ask them to write a tribute to their mom and bare their testimony. They were all read in sacrament meeting! I had no idea., this was truly one of the best surprises of my life. I am not sure whose fantastic idea that was but this missionary mom is truly grateful!!! 

“I want to share my testimony that I KNOW THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!! I know that Jesus Christ lives and he is my savior and that through him we all have the opportunity to return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven. I know that the Book of Mormon really is the key stone of our religion, and just as Joseph Smith said, there is no other book on earth in which we can become closer to God than this book. It contains the fullness of the gospel and the answer to all of life’s problems. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he restored this amazing gospel. I know that President Monson is the living prophet today and that he and his apostles are the servants of the Lord. I know this is the only true church and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to preach to the people here in Panamá. How amazing is our God? He loved us so much that he gave us this earth, this life, and most importantly His son! I share these things in the name of the only begotten son, even Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Hermana Wandell

 In the Metro

On a Hike

Here is her email this week:

Dear Alyssa I am really really happy that I got to Skype with you. Did you know that I am really excited to Skype with you again on Christmas, I will probably scream. On Wednesday I am going to go to bed at 9:00. Did you know Mom loves what I gave her for Mother's day and from you and Courtney too. She said this was the best Mother's Day of her whole life! I think I colored her some pretty good pictures. Bye Alyssa, I love you more than most! I love you, Love Abby

Dear Abby, did you know that I was super excited to talk to you too?? I will laugh if you scream on Christmas! I am so glad that you colored mom some really good pictures. Tell her I love her and give her a great big hug for me! I love you more than most!! Love Alyssa!!

I am going to pick up my packages today, so we will find out what got to me and yeah. So I am kind of a terrible daughter and forgot to tell you Happy Mothers day... sooo uhhh Hey Mom! Happy Mom day!! A. says hello and happy mom day too.

I don’t have tonsilitis, I went to the doctor this morning. I have a cold and allergies so they gave me some medicine.  

We are going to the temple tomorrow. I will be fine, talking to you guys made me feel better.

Yes I liked the poem and the index card as well. (Abby and I sent her a poem comparing hump day to a camel and a stuffed camel, it was quite cute!)

Daniela. is 19, she is awesome, she is one of my good friends here.

Pictures: cute little girl named Camila in the branch,  and the picture from when we went hiking.

Camila

Hermana's Lopez. and Wandell

Thanks for everything. Sorry I didn’t write much, I forgot to take notes this week. I am glad I got to talk to you guys yesterday. Thanks for all the love and support from everyone back home. I love you I love you I love you!!

Hug my Abby for me! Chao for now!

Love Hermana Wandell

Mother’s Day Skype Session

We were able to Skype with Alyssa on Sunday for about 1 hour. I am so grateful for the technology that makes this possible. We truly lived in a blessed day and age. Here are the questions we asked and the answers:

Q. Did your Birthday package come?

A. I believe so, at least I know there is a package at the mission  office for me.

Q. How big is your church?

A. It is a regular sized chapel.

Q. Does your companion speak English?

A. No

Q. What is the best Non-American thing you have eaten?

A. Patacones and fried chicken. (she started to explain to me what plantains were and I told her I knew because they sell them in the store here, let’s just say she is pretty excited!! And then she told me that the fried chicken in Panama is different than here)

Q. What is the worst thing you have eaten?

A. cow lung but I didn’t actually eat it

Q. How big is your current area?

A. About as big as up to 1300 East. (from my house that is about 10 blocks or probably a little over a mile square)

Q. How long has your comp. been out?

 A.14 Mo.

Q. Are you in a ward or branch?

A. Branch

Q. Do they have ward’s in Panama?

A. Yes there are some, President told us that there are 50K members in Panama but only 10K are active, we have a lot of work to do!

Q. How many people are in your district/zone?

A. 6,( 4 Hermanas and 2 Elders) in the District and 28 in the zone

Q. Do you sleep well?

A. for the most part, but not when it’s really hot, I usually use the fan

Q. Where do you shop for groceries?

A. at a Chino

Q. What is the most interesting pet somebody has had?

A. Monkeys or a Macaw

Q. How many lunch dinner appointments do you have every week?

A. Everyday lunch and dinner

Q. What do you usually eat for breakfast?

A. Just whatever we have. A lot of fruit. (Then she went on to tell me about all this wonderful fruit they have that we don’t have and she told me all of their names but I couldn’t spell them to write them down. But she was really excited to tell me about some fruit that is really good that is where cashews come from, and that she was really excited to learn that is how cashews grew because she did not know that they grew on trees)