Last night in Volcan!!!! Tomorrow we have one last day in Boquete in the ministry and a little sightseeing. Then we take the midnight bus from David (Daveed) to Panama. So we should get to Panama City Saturday around 7am. There we will meet up with the Burkes and do the usual tourist things before flying out on Tuesday. These 4 1/2 weeks have gone by really fast. Today we drove up to the rainforest to hike, but surprise! it was raining and all but one of us in the family thought that they would melt! Soooo, we drove around instead and took more pictures of the local scenery. I've posted pictures of a Ngobe girl, friends at the meeting and some of the local neighbor ninos.

Here are some pictures of our candlelight party and more of the friends we've met here. The first picture I've included is of two little fleshly brothers. We attended the Spanish meeting on Sunday morning (in case I haven't mentioned it we walk to the Kingdom Hall). I saw these 2 walking ahead of us, bookbags in hand, shirts and ties, but no parents. During the meeting they sat in front of us. They looked up every scripture and commented several times during the Watchtower study. Afterwards I asked a local sister where there mother was. The best I could understand was that their mother left and their father had no interest in the bible. They did have an older sister and a brother that just got baptized, who helps them press their clothes. So, here were these 2 boys(maybe 8 and 10) that had got themselves dressed and walked to the Hall, fully prepared to comment and pay attention all on their own! Their are many examples like this here. It is truly a testimony to the potential of young people. It seems back home we underestimate what our children are capable of, coddling them and worrying about overloading them. Here though, it seems that the parents or even the children themselves are unaware of the limits we think are reasonable. Granted, not every 8 year old here is studying by themselves and not every 10 year old has 2 of his own bible studies, but it is very encouraging to meet so many that are.

More video of playing Spoons with the friends.

Here is the Duck Duck Goose Video.

This week has flown by at supersonic speed! Wednesday we spent the morning in service. David and I returned on a lady he left the book with last week. She invited us in and we had a short study with her. (We actually came back a few days later with a local sister on Saturday and had another study. The sister made arrangements to continue the study with the woman next Saturday!) After service we headed to the beach again with some of the friends. This beach was private, had to pay a few bucks to get in, but it was worth it. When we got there they took our fish and lobster order. One hour later, they brought us freshly caught and prepared food. On the way out we drove through a group of howler monkeys up in the trees. We were hoping to get a glimpse of these guys in their natural habitat, so we were thrilled when we came across them.

Saturday the congregation had a little farewell party for all of us that are leaving. The Burke family, from Oregon, have been here for 5 1/2 months, and Toni - from Australia for 2mths. We are all heading home next weekend. Of course right before the party started, the electric went out for a few hours. It gets dark here around 6:30. So we all enjoyed the candlelight atmosphere. When the lights came on, the kids taught the locals how to play Duck Duck Goose - on concrete! No major injuries were reported. After that we played a fun game of Spoons. Austin was narrowly defeated by Sister Burke. Score one for the moms!