Creatures of Panama City

5/9/2016:
"Yesterday, it rained and I saw one of the weirdest things I have seen (as far as bugs go). The streets, floors of stores, EVERYWHERE was covered in flying ants the size of wasps. They looked similar too. I believe they were all queen ants. I'm not sure.. but it was pretty weird."

"...a pic I took of the ground covered in the flying ants (imagine that everywhere)."

4/18/2016:
"An iguana that I saw while walking in the city. "

"Me holding a little crab I found."

"A sign that I saw walking up to where the canal is. Its no joke either. Like 5 min later I saw a massive one swimming in the water"

4/11/2016:
"I found this alligator walking through the city the other day. These gross looking rivers flow through the city and I didn't know they were infested with alligators. haha!"

4/4/2016:
"Here is a sloth. We visited a zoo today as part of a zone pday."

"[This pic] is a Harpy Eagle the official bird and symbol, I believe, of Panama. They are twice the size of a bald Eagle. 

- Elder Hawes

People of Panama City

6/20/2016:
"Here are some more pictures. One is of the Barrio family that I feel will get married and baptized and the other is a young Kuna boy that everyone calls Flaco "skinny". We have walked that little boy to church nearly every Sunday since he wants to go so bad and nobody else will take him. Funny story I actually forgot to mention. We went to visit him this week and he took 5 of the missionary contacting cards with our phone #s and ran to his friends houses to share with them. He told us he wants to share how happy he has been (hes a recent convert and about 9 years old) with them. I thought that was pretty awesome."

"I'm always really excited when we actually have people to teach. They're called the Barrio family and I may have even mentioned them in one of my earlier posts. They asked us to be baptized but their not married and are from Nicaragua so that makes things a little harder. We assured them though that the church helps to facilitate the process (Most people in this country just live together and have families without getting married). They told us that they want to make it happen. I feel very strongly they will get baptized in the future."

5/9/2016:

"I'm attaching a picture of the Taleno family. They are actually from Nicaragua. We have been trying food from there. Its pretty good. We used their computer yesterday to talk with our families. I love this family. There is also two others (couple) to the right. One is a returned missionary and the other is his wife. We always love going over to their house to eat and share a message. They are amazing people and are very good to us." 

4/4/2016:

"Check this out! these are hair things that an investigator made me. They usually cost about $10 for each one because they are made by hand with bead and wire. She made me 23 of them because I showed her the picture of the family and she told me that I needed to bring some for my mom and sister. That women is awesome. She has given us more meals than times we have visited her. Shes the aunt of Hermana Trejos. The women that fed me 4 times a week."

- Elder Jaden Hawes

Service in Panama City

4/4/2016:

"[Last] Friday, we did service helping to clean a school located in the city."

"One pic here is a crazy janitor from the school that we clean. He told us he worships satan, attempted to lock us out of the school, then went and passed out in the Street. How the guy Works in the school..I dont know. The school was soo dirty!! We kept finding alcohol bottles..in the school." 

"Blessing we live in the states."

- Elder Hawes

Jaden's 1st Transfer

Jaden was transferred to Panama City!

4/4/2016:

" Well..I'm not in Aguadulce anymore! The day before I left, I said my goodbyes and packed all of my stuff."  

"Me with Hermana Trejos for the last time. I gave here a a gift and included a card that had my testimony. She told me she wants to have [my] family over for dinner when [they] come."

"The other pic is me with my bags. Day I left Aguadulce." 

"Guess where...I'm in the city. I'm in an área called Panama viejo (old panamá). This área is pretty awesome and I'm really excited to be here. Its called Panama viejo because throughout my área there are ruins from some of the oldest buildings that exist in panamá. Supposedly they are from hundreds of years ago and many of the buildings were destroyed after a pirate named Morgan came threw and blew everything up. I'm going to take a preparation day during my time here in order to go see some of them up close despite walking past many of them daily. Its pretty awesome. I'm also pretty close to the beach in some parts of my área. Its kind of torture in many ways. I love going to the beach and constantly smelling the ocean knowing that I can never go is sad. I also plan to go see the canal in one of the coming weeks. I think that would be a pretty cool. My old área was a small town in the middle of nowhere. Now I'm in the city and have to memorize routes threw the city with metro, chivas (vans), and sometimes taxis. My área used to be unbearably small. However, they gave us the área of two other missionaries and now its pretty massive. I will need some time to adapt." 

"My new companions name is Elder Varguez and he is from Mexico. Hes a pretty awesome guy and I'm glad to be with him. I'm sure we will have a good time together."

"Our home is in an apartment. Sadly, we will have to move out of it before the end of the month so I have been living out of my suitcase. Its really nice there and I don't want to leave. Its got a beautiful view of the city and the ocean is also visible. I have been told it is the most expensive home in the misión. Costing like $800 a month. That is a ton! My last house costed like $150. So..I don't feel too bad leaving. That's pretty expensive."

"More pictures of the view. I love the sunsets"

"This is a pic of the view from my bed. Every morning I wake up at6:30 and see an amazing view to start off my day"

"By the house I found this awesome restaurant. Its mainly a fast food joint that specializes in patacones. You can buy a dozen of them for a dollar and that is a pretty good deal. When I went there, I got patacones, 2 pieces of smoked chicken, and some fried chicken hearts. It costed $3.00. I like that place. I figured I should try the fried hearts. They were actually pretty good."

"Well..that's pretty much it for this week. I still can believe I'm in the city. Its sooo much different than my old área. I now have to dodge and evade cars rather than packs of wild dogs. Hope all of you have a good week!!"

-Elder Hawes

Jaden's 19th Birthday!

2/25/2016:  Message from Jessica Hawes (Jaden's mom)

Happy 19th Birthday Jaden!!!

I spent the entire day missing and worrying about Jaden on his 19th birthday in another country with no family.  I prayed over and over that he would not spend it alone, that he would be able to celebrate his birthday, and that he would be happy.  That night, I was surprised to get the following email from a Mr. Shawn Rowland in Panama:

"We had the honor of having your son and the other elders over for dinner tonight.  During dinner we found out that it is your son's birthday.  Since we are always looking for an excuse to celebrate, we quickly found a birthday cake and wished him a feliz cumpleaños."

They just happened to see the elders on the street and felt impressed to invite them into their home for dinner.  Members are encouraged to feed the missionaries; however, the Rowland family are not members of the church.  They are simply very kind people that are receptive to the spirit, for they were certainly an answer to my prayers.

- Jessica Hawes (Jaden's mom)

2/29/2016: Excerpts from Jaden's weekly email

"I forgot to mention though that I did have a good birthday though. I received two birthday cakes. One was from the Trejos family (member family that cook for us 4 times a week).... "

"....and the other was from some random Americans we found. We were walking one day and this van pulls over. It was an American that invited all the missionaries to his house. His sister is a member and he just likes helping missionaries. Him and his family were cool but not interested in the church. Anyways..we had dinner with them. He found out it was my birthday and bought us all a cake. It was pretty great. Hes living in Panama for his family to learn Spanish,"

"This picture is me with Hermana Trejos. She is awesome and buys all the missionaries that come through the area shirts"

- Elder Jaden  Hawes

Members & Missionaries of Aquadulce

3/7/2016:

"This is the Carpintero family. They are one of the less active families that are now attending church again. They are native Nove indians and people that have been helping me to learned their language Ngabere. Its really hard and I dont speak much but I talk a little. In the picture, the women in the yellow is wearing the native dress of the Nove people. You can always tell if they are Nove by colorful dresses like that one."

"In the picture Im holding a bowl of guandu (not sure if I spelled right) and it is really common here. We do service and help them peel it sometimes. Its a great way to do service, share a message, and learn some of the language."

3/28/2016:

"I'm attaching a few pics of less actives we have reactivated"

"Old couple to the left is the Savedra family."

"Picture to the right is a less active of over 8 years named Gloria that I found out in the middle of nowhere that is preparing to go to the temple again." 

"The guy in the Blue is Miramore and he is a less active from Hondoras."

"The last people are a brother and sister that we found last week. They are less actives of over 20 years."

"These are my zone leaders here. They are my friends"

- Elder Jaden Hawes

Fire in Aquadulce

3/21/2016:

"This week, someone lit a field on fire like they always do to clear it. However, it has been extremely dry and it caught acres and acres of land on fire. It was actually really crazy. I was in a bus traveling through it when it happened. both sides of the road had fire spreading. Smoke surrounded everything. I don't think anyone got hurt from, the fires, but there is a lot of damaged trees and burned crops. this is a picture I took from a van while moving. I couldn't capture a photo near the area where there was big flames. I just caught a pic of the smoke."

"More pics of the smoke and damage."

- Elder Jaden Hawes

Traveling while stationed in Aquadulce

2/29/2016:

"Today I got to visit this remote lake pronounced the (ye-gwa-dah). It was pretty cool. With the mountains in the back it looked a lot like Bear Lake in Utah."

"The trip up and back was crazy. It was so remote that little to no buses passed through. We essentially hitch hiked up there in the back of pick up trucks. Riding in the back was cool. Nothing to block the view of the mountains and the breeze was awesome."

"Some truck we rode together in today. This is the only one that had the protector thing. My comp is the one in the blue"

3/14/2016:

""This week has been pretty cool. This friday we had a missionary conference where a third of all the missionaries in the country gathered together to hear from the mission president. The other missionaries had their conference another day."

"Below is a picture I saw while I was sitting at a bus stop. Waiting to board a Chiva (van) crammed with people. The area smelled like urine. But that is every bus stop and after living here for a while, I didnt care and sat down anyways. HAha!!"

"While in the city, I was able to go find some really cool stuff. I bought some mola (material with designs sewed by the indigenous Kuna indians). Its pretty awesome. Also got some other cool stuff."

"Saturday I got to go through the temple here in Panama. It was beautiful! Its a little small, but the the spirit was so strong there."

3/21/2016:

"This week I had to go back into the city again. Go through immigrations again. That sucks. We get to stand in a super long line for over 4 hours with inconsiderate people that cut in front of you every 5 min because your a gringo.  I did get to go into the city and find some more cool Mola where they sell it really cheap. That was pretty sweet. "

"Another pic of the canal that I took in the bus while heading back home."    

- Elder Jaden Hawes