Introducing Bridger

Bridger James Taylor weighed in at 5 lbs and 13 oz. He has dark hair and is asolutely beautiful. Tammy and James were so kind about keeping us infomed during the day. James i-phoned us with text, pictures just about every 15-30 minutes, or so and it was just about as good as walking the halls of the hospital. We can't hold him in our arms, but at least we can look at the

pictures and dream about it. Both Tammy and the baby are doing just fine. They were able to take Bridger home the next day.

Below is a totally unposed picture of the wonderful army of Helaman. The missionaries were taking a break

between lectures and just stepped out on the porch. This is a great picture of eager young men who serve the Lord with such diligence and commitment.

Look at the smiles on the two elders on the left: one from Wyoming and the other from Hawaii. They were our drivers from the airport to the hotel in Panama. These are just two examples of the men and women we meet and they typify the great spirit we sense throughout the Area. Dad's presentations are just great, by the way, and it is totally different from what he did in the first part of the mission. Our treatment card is out and everyone from Panama to Guatemala with many stops between are so enthusiastic.
We have given out about 2,000 so far and will now distribute them in the CCM. Each mission will have extras for the missionaries who come directly from the Provo MTC. This project has been such a blessing and has been an Area project. Many friends have blessed us on the way. Carlos, for example, has translated the whole thing from English to Spanish, helped us format everything and held our hands throughout the whole project. Every mission in all 7 countries are participating with such enthusiasm.

Dad did a Zone Leader's Council Training in Panama and then did three days of mega-zone conferences in San Pedro Sula Mission in Honduras. We have traveled from the Pacific to the Carribean with the Mission Presidents. We don't get the tourist information, but we do get a wonderful experience with men and women who probably have the most difficult calling in the church. An example, we had to go to La Cieba, about three hours away from San Pedro Sula. President Cruz sang hymns the whole six hours with all of us (dad and I and the two sister missionaries-nurse) joining in. These hours in the car were very precious to us and we will remember it always. The Cruz's don't speak English and we don't speak Spanish very well. We were to stay in their home for three nights and four days. Needless to say, we were very concerned. Somehow, we didn't just "get by", we were able to converse and laugh and share stories. We left both missions with dear good friends.

We had one day before the Zone Leader Council Training and thought we would try to go up into the rain-forest. We thought we might rent a car as everything tour we had been interested in was full. As we checked into the hotel we saw a little tourist counter. We went over to look at the brochures and a man came up and said there was one tour (of five people) that would like to addtional people.

We went up into the rain-forest by a long, stable, dugout canoe. Some of these pictures can illustrate the beauty of the Panamanian landscape. This yellow poncho is dad on the way out of the river. This was a day-long project and we were covered in mud. That night we tried to get all the mud from our shoes and pants so we could meet the President and his wife for dinner. The Madrigals are very experienced and without a nurse, Hermana Madrigal handles all the health issues for her mission. Meeting and working with these people throughout Central America has been inspiring.

On the way back down the river we stopped at an indiginous village for a fish lunch. Their native dress was incredible. A funny story, though, illustrates how much tourism helps the economy of all the countries. The picture with the young man on the end of the canoe is a case in point. As
we were trying to communicate in our horrible Spanish he began to laugh. He told us he only came back home during Spring Break from Harvard.

We hiked up a small tributary to a beautiful waterfall. If you look carefully you will see me holding the arm of our guide. Walking through the water is almost impossible for me, but the destination was worth everything. The waterfall, though short was breathtaking.

We don't often get the opportunity to do something like this and we were very grateful we had the time to do something like this.