Day 6- Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Day 6- Sunday, January 15th, 2012. 

I woke up a few times last night and early this morning from noise. Half of the people left last night I guess. So I was only the 9th wheel this time, HEY! Its better then the 15th! :) We had breakfast and got ready for meeting, I took a video, but had to stop close to the end because we stopped at the bus stop and let out 3 of the other wheels. Then I continued on with the video for about 30 more seconds. :) We had our meeting, lot of people there, they had to pull out extra chairs just to fit in everyone. Someone told me I sound a little like I am from Panama. At the end of their words and sentences they go an octave higher, it kind of sounds like Italian in that aspect, but with its own little twist. Apparently I am starting to do that. Weird… my Spanish is going to be even crazier now. Haha! After meeting we came home and had lunch and then they said we had to leave at 3 to go to Volcan. So we got ready. Getting ready for me here consists of me putting on a pair of of clothes and a my only pair of rec. shoes… Vans High-Tops! :) Then I'm ready. I decided though to go all out and wear the one pair of dangely earrings I brought with me. :) Going all out for these chumps. ha! Then we got into the back of the truck and headed off, we stopped at the paved road because its not legal to have people in the back of trucks so me and two of the girls waited behind for Brother Nixon. Although I am pretty sure putting people in the back of a truck would be the same amount of illegal-ness as the 7 we put in his car. But no judgement. :) We finally got there after about an hour of curves and it was cold! No one brought there jackets and so everyone was freezing. I brought my jacket but it wasn't cold enough for a jacket. They separated all of us, the pioneers on the route on one side and the publishers of the congregations on the other. There are three different congregations here in this circuit. Monte Lirio, Rio Sereno, and Boqueron. Finally they had all of us, route-ers, walk in and they had a standing ovation for all of us. We sat down and brother David Ruedas from Boqueron took the microphone and told everyone that these were all the pioneers that came to their circuit. And they applauded again. He said that he knew everyone was early grateful for all of our sacrifices and that already in all three congregations you could see the difference in the territories covered. (Side Note: In Monte Lirio, we cover a territory in about 2 days MAX) He said that the circuit overseer also wanted to say a few words, so the mic was passed and the C.O. went about saying how much he appreciated it as well. And how he just knew Jehovah was going to reward us for being here, and leaving everything and everyone behind, wherever it is that behind might be for all of us. Then Brother Ruedas got back up and said they all wished they could get to know all of us better and see they were going to. They called up all those from Rio Sereno and had each pioneer say a few words. Then they had one of the elders from there say a few things. And Brother Ruedas said that they had a present for each of the pioneers. They brought each family a wooden plack that says 'Ruta de Precursores Panama 2012' (Pioneer Route Panama 2012) then they gave them a little treat bag. Then some pictures were taken and they sat back down. Then DUN DUN DUN They called up Monte Lirio. And they made me go in front. >:{ But it was good. I said…

"Hola, Soy Margarita. Vengo de la congregacion Queretaro Sur Ingles de Mexico. Circuito 5…quesas 6…no 5….ay no me recuerdo (they laughed at me). Baptiso hace 6 anos, y casi 2 anos de precusora. Es mi primera ruta, y estoy muy emocionado para estar aqui, parte de la congregacion de Monte Lirio. Gracias a todos de abrir tu congregacion y Muchisimos Gracias a la familia Miranda de abrir tu casa para mi." Then I passed the Mic… for my English buddies… (Hello, My name is Margarita. I am from the congregation Queretaro South English of Mexico. Circuit 5…well maybe 6…no 5…ah! I don't remember (they laughed at me). I got baptized 6 years ago and I have 2 years of being a pioneer. This is my first route and I am very excited to be here, part of the Monte Lirio congregation. Thank you for opening your congregation and lots of Thank Yous to the Miranda Family for opening your house for me." Ta-da! Then everyone else said something, and they gave us our placks and snack bags (Guess where mine is going?… Thats right, baby! My stash bag!) Then Brother Nixon said a few words and we took some pictures and sat back down, the same thing for those from Rio Sereno were next. Then once we all got back to our seats. We took a group picture with all the Pioneers on the route in this circuit. Then they said they had a surprise for all of us. So we all sat back down. They brought out Nix Jr. and Madeline and they danced too traditional dances for us. Then we ate some food… the meat part I am not really sure what it was. Then they brought out a group from who knows where and they danced like 5 traditional dances. There is a huge group here from Mexico, and one of them is a dance teacher in Dolores Hidalgo and so the ones that knew danced 2 traditional songs from Mexico. And then they said they had some dessert for us. So we ate it… Again I don't know what it was. Then they said that's all they had prepared for us, so for the next bit we could all visit and get to know each other and dance. They put music on and some people started to dance. 

Nixon's daughter, Madeline (who is like 6 and all into romantic prince and princess stories) came up and sat next to me and she said in Spanish "Why aren't you dancing?" 

"Uhhh….well…. I am waiting for my knight in shining armor." 

"Really?! Well where is he?" 

"I don't know, probably in Mexico still." 

"Why didn't he come with you to Monte Lirio?!" 

"Well… he had to work, he is a very busy prince." 

"Oh…"she said all sad. "well maybe he is on his way, and you don't know it."

 "I don't think so." I laughed. Then one of the girls told me lets dance. And so I left. When I came back she said "I called your prince in shining armor, he says he misses you. And he wants you to come back home." 

"Well, I am not going back to Mexico until July 3rd. So he will have to wait for 6 months."

"He said he would wait for you. but he does miss you a lot. Maybe you should call him"

"I don't have a phone."

"Oh…well. He will wait for you in Mexico. And he has a surprise for you! But I can't tell you what it is right now." This little girl is pretty funny! :D

Oh yeah I forgot to say I SAW A WHITE DUDE!!!! :O His name is Matthew and he is from Louisiana he has been here for 3 years and is in Rio Sereno. AND!!! He speaks English!!! He dances pretty good too. But yeah he is 'pretty fly for a white guy.' Who knows maybe we will hang out, maybe not. Anyways, then…oh yeah! They put on the alarm clock song and I showed everyone how to dance to it. But MAN!! Its a lot harder to dance to it here in Panama. Its like we are up in the mountains and the temperature and humidity is different or something. :) haha. Anyways, I showed them and they want to know more dances that we do in Mexico. So I have the job of being the official English teacher and then also dance teacher I guess. But Imma only show them the ones that are in a line and you can't mess up. :) Those are the ones I am the best at! When we were driving back with Nixon and the family again 7 in a car meant for 5. Ruby said she wanted to get a few people together to learn how to dance traditional stuff from Panama and wanted to know if we would be up for it. Me and Yorlenia said we would so they tried to make a list of everyone that could do it. Ruby was like well Alvin can dance with Yorlenia and Mateo can dance with este Margarita, por que tienen casi la misma hombre. Y Milady puede bailar con ______. She went about making a list of 5 different couples to dance together. So hopefully!! HOPEFULLY! I can learn some traditional dance moves from Panama! :) Wouldn't that be awesome!!! Then when we got off the main road onto the dirt road, Brother Miranda was waiting and we got into the bad of the truck. We stopped about half way to the house and he yelled "Aqui!" and the girls took the garbage bags that where in the back of the truck and threw them over the side of the hill. I was like DAH!! What are you doing?! And they said this is where we dump our garbage. and My facial expression was probably extremely crazy, good thing it was dark! We talked a lot on the way back home. I convinced them to sleep outside one of these nights, cause the stars here are amazing! They have NEVER slept outside before… I think thats a sign they are crazy. But I finally convinced them too. Yorlenia is afraid to sleep outside at night. She was like what about the dogs? They are gonna wanna sleep with us. And I said so? She agreed to do it if she could sleep in the middle of all of us. I said that would be best that way when something came to eat me and her sisters she would have time to run inside. Hahaha! Anyways, one of these days we are going to camp outside. :) They told me they are glad I came here and I am staying with them instead of going back to the States and do other things. :) More peoples approval. :D When we got home no one even said Good-Night to each other. Everyone just went to bed. :) So good night!