I’m adopted!
Panama where do I even begin?!?!?!
Think about a time the last time you were at a lost for words. Like that memory that you only wish your vocabulary was expansive enough to describe the moment. That’s how I feel about Panama.
See from day one I knew that this was gonna be a hard goodbye for me. We arrive and our host says that they are our Panamanian parents. There house is our house. They even had our names on a welcome sign when we arrived.
So I am guessing that you are wondering what made this month a hard month or at least why I say am adopted. Well I will give more info about that but I want to let you know what we did in Panama.
We rested on our first day because travel days are long and require a lot of sitting.
Overall Ministry in Panama looked like this
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Putting fertilizer in trays and planting coffee seeds
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First day of ministry “Padre/Dad” takes us to this little area on the farm and there is a mountain of dirt and he says that we need to plant seeds. In order to that we have to fill these trays with this “dirt”. After a while padre brings us cookies back to eat and are eating these cookies with the “dirt” still on our hands. Next thing it is lunch time we wash our hands. After lunch we go on a tour of the farm and we make more “dirt”. To our surprise we discover that the dirt was mixed with a whole lot of CHICKEN POOP! That was interesting to discover.
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Picking peppers
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This was a fun yet draining task. This day of ministry made for good convo and a fun game of throwing bad peppers at each other. However the sun was blistering hot.
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Moving coffee baby coffee plants to be planted in the field
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This was true manual labor. This manual of labor is not for the weak well if you were it did not last.
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First we went to one site on the farm and picked medium or large sized plants and put them on the truck. Then we went to the site that these plants would be planted and moved them from the truck to to the respective holes in the ground.
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I want to say that an assembly line was required and a lot of rotating of the body because who wants one arm to have a more defined muscle than the other.
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Serving an indigenous tribe in the mountains
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This was an 19 hour ministry day. We let home at 4AM and returned at 11PM
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This was an amazing ministry day. We had a field day for older children, face painting, lunch, and we handed out Operation Christmas Child gifts.
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Packaging coffee
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The packaging process goes as follows: Separate bad beans -> Roast beans -> Grind beans -> Square bags -> Put ground coffee in bags -> Weigh (220g or 340g) -> Seal -> Label
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These were amazing ministry days because watching the process helped me to understand the work that goes into producing products when it is not an industrialized company
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Sharing testimonies and leading kids ministry
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Our last Sunday in Panama we were invited to share a testimony of how we came to know Christ. Hannah and I shared and it was an incredible experience simply because it’s interesting to see what Papa want you to share and how each time I share I feel like I am bringing him glory.
I am still processing the month as a whole simply because I cannot put it into words as stated before but that blog post is coming.
365 that is the number of missionaries Mom and Dad want to support from their profits. Currently they are supporting 45 and this number is sure to increase.
The Caballero Family has a heart of GOLD. Everything they do is kingdom minded and God’s faithfulness is very evident with this amazing family.
I am beyond honored to be adopted into this family.
Also if you would like to try some of the coffee click here. Phoenix Coffee Roasters in Duluth, GA.
Financial Update
I am currently $5,985 away from being fully funded
I am asking that you give from your heart.
This is more that a mission trip this is life. Ministry gives me the opportunity to share love with others. Help me continue to do this.
Your donation helps cover food, lodging, travel and medical insurance. It also covers set up, coaching, debrief, training, and administrative costs prior to and throughout your Race.
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As always
Thank You
