So much has happened since we arrived at our hostel in Panama City just a few short days ago. I could write a book about the challenges we have experienced and the growth we have gone through already, but it’s best I keep it short and relatively sweet.
We arrived at the Panamanian airport late at night. We got our bags, went through customs, and then waited in the baggage claim area to decide what we should do. Our World Race team leaders then got together and found about seven or eight taxis, flagged them down, and we then boarded the taxis and drove about 30 minutes to our hostel. When we got in the taxi, we found out we were in good hands right away. The taxi driver was a Panamanian that was about 26 years old, but lived a few years in New York so his English was very good. We were able to communicate about many things such as life in Panama City and our shared hate for the Yankees. He was extremely personable, funny, and an all around great guy. That set the tone for the expectations for what Panamanians were like.
It seems as though every one we meet and talk to here in Panama speaks Spanish, but all of them seem more than willing to help people from the states find what they are looking for. The first day that we traveled the city was hectic but if it wasn’t for the friendliness of the people, we would have never made it. We attempted to try and find the bus station on our own by walking down to where we thought the bus station was, but we quickly found out that we had no idea where it was at. All we wanted to do was to catch a bus to the Panama Canal but we couldn’t find where the stop was. We ended up having to ask many Panamanians along the way. Each person that we talked to gave us the time of day to point us in the right direction. Heck, even the policemen and women (who line themselves up along the streets in the city) gladly helped us find where we could go. Even through our stress and broken Spanish, they seemed more than glad to help out a foreigner. This was a blessing because I have no idea what we would have done if it wasn’t for them.
After we figured out that the bus we were looking for didn’t exist, taxi drivers gladly took us in and gave us a great rate to get to Minaflores, a lookout point that oversaw the canal. Once we got to Miraflores, we realized that Minaflores wasn’t a lookout point; rather, it was a museum, a tourist trap of sorts. Admittance would have cost $15, so we decided against it and tried to find other options so that we could see the canal. It was harder than we thought because we couldn’t just go up to any random person and ask where the best place to see the canal was because we didn’t speak Spanish well. We ended up praying about it, and for some reason shortly after that, I felt compelled to ask a gentleman who was all by himself outside the museum. I approached him and asked “Hablas Ingles o no?” He immediately said “Si, yes I do papi, what do you need?” That was an answer to prayer right there because we was then able to get us a taxi to a premiere spot alongside the canal. Not only did he get us a taxi, he negotiated an extremely fair price to get us there then back to our hostel in the city.
When we got in the car, I immediately connected with the cab driver. He was one of the nicest people I’ve met even though he didn’t speak a lick of english. I was able to hold a conversation with him in Spanish, and he told us about the history of Panama, how life was when he was a kid, and even offered to drive us for free to a market where we could check out authentic Panamanian hand-made goods. Shortly after our market stop, we arrived at our lookout of both Panama City and the canal (I will upload a few photos soon, but my current location and internet speed disallows me from downloading images). It was absolutely gorgeous. We then made our way back to the hostel where we got together as a team and discussed the day, prayed, and shared stories of our lives and how to make our ministry more impactful.
It was decided that we approached our first day in the wrong way. Many of us had a mindset of “this is vacation time” so we approached the day like it was vacation as opposed to a ministry. I think God knew that we realized this, and helped out out today by swamping us with monsoon like conditions in the late morning and on to the rest of the day. However, the morning was beautiful and instead of approaching the day with a tourist mindset, we met together and prayed that we would be open to whatever God wanted us to do that day. We decided as a team that in order to make a difference in the world, we need to be connected with Christ each and every day of the week, regardless of whether or not we are involved directly in a ministry. We read our bibles, meditated, and asked God what he wanted us to do. During our quiet time, a large group of school kids aged 5-10 came running through our area. They were playing with soccer balls, roller blading, and having a blast. We had no idea what was going on, so we ended up asking one of the Panamanian school teachers who was near us what was going on. She turned out to be a teacher for kids in Col’on (pronounced like cologne), a city about two hours away from Panama City. That was strange because just last night, Jake had a feeling that God wanted us to go to Col’on for ministry. What made this even more crazy was that this woman was a passionate Christian and desired to see God move in her city. We were immediately convicted that that was an act from God, and we followed through with her by getting her contact information. After we talked with her, the rains started coming and we went inside. We ended up staying inside and researching potential contacts because the rain really never stopped.
God’s provision didn’t stop there. We found out that a man who knew about World Race ended up paying for our three nights in this hostel downtown Panama City. Furthermore, as we researched and tried to find potential contacts, we found more and more organizations, some of which we got in contact with today. We will be traveling to other cities beginning early next week, but for now we are headed to another part of Panama City tomorrow afternoon and staying in another hostel directly downtown in the new part of Panama City. This hostel will be about a 30 minute walk from Crossroads Church, the English-speaking church we will be attempting to build connections with on Sunday.
We continue to build our contact base as God continues to bless us in his provision. We learned a tough lesson the first day by not approaching the day with the right mindset, but God showed us today that if our eyes and hearts are in the right place, He will provide us with the people and tools we need to advance His kingdom. This is one of the first times I have actually felt like God’s presence has been with not only me, but my squad as well. It’s a feeling I’m not used to feeling, but it feels good. Really good. I’m so pumped to see what He has in store for us this weekend as we make our way to Crossroads Church. Please pray that we keep our hearts in the right place so that God may continue to use us in the way He needs.
Grace and Peace,
– N.J. Shear
