So I have finally made it to Panama WHOOOPPP!!! travel days in total took two and a little bit, we left Nicaragua last Thursday very early on the boat, took several buses from Nicaragua to Costa Rica then from Costa Rica to Panama. we stayed overnight in Costa Rica and the hostel was really cool, Costa Rica is buzzing!! the city centre in which we were staying in was called San Jose, and there was people everywhere, even at night when we were carrying all our belongings through town; there was also the hint of Bruno Mars playing, alas we did not get to see him.
We arrived in Panama late Friday and early Saturday morning, me and my team took a bus to San Felix where our ministry hosts live. when we arrived our ministry host was there to greet us, she is very sweet, her name is Heather and her husband Danny welcomed us in and showed us our house in which we will be staying; all I can say is WOW! we are very blessed to be staying in this house, it is roughly 5 minutes walk from the beach and the beach is very similar to beaches at home minus the fact the water is warm here 🙂 the area in which we are staying in is known as Las Lajas and is situated to several indigenous reservations.
FIRST WEEK OF MINISTRY
Sunday morning we went to one of the many churches within the reservation, we arrived and walked maybe a couple hundred metres and suddenly we were in the jungle and found this little church outside in the rain. We waited for some time until the church gathered, we were told that many people walk up to four hours to come to church and because it was raining that day also, it would take longer. At church there were having a celebration and dedication to the church and other churches in the area. So church went from 9am to 1pm and afterwards we had lunch together, it was such a surreal experience to have church practically in the jungle and by the time everyone arrived there was at least 100 people there!
So back up a sec…
I should say that most our ministry this is month is within several reservations, we are to be working with a tribe known as the Ngobe/Ngabe that live in the area known as the Comarca, they are one of the biggest tribes here in San Felix and one of many different tribes that live scattered deep within the mountains which honestly fascinates me, I am very excited to meet and experience this culture.
Monday
Today we went to Oma in the afternoon and met the people living there. We got to play with the younger kids, doing crafts and meeting some of the families. There is a school also in the reservation that were preparing to have graduation ceremonies which was really cool.
Myself, one of my teammates Jess and Heather our host went to one of the houses to find one of the kids to do sign language with him. His name is Moses and it was by chance that Heather met this little guy a few years ago. I was also able to meet some of his extended family, and Heather had asked me to do some first aid with one of the family.
The rest of the team played and taught crafts to the other children and then we went to another church to teach some of the girls living in the children’s home. This was an AMAZING experience and we actually got to have full conversations with some of the girls.
Tuesday
Today was manual labour day….a whole a lotta fun! We went back to the church from the night before, and were asked to paint the outside, and also add fixtures to several benches that were being built for the church; this meant POWER TOOLS! 🙂 some of the team sanded down the benches and others drilled the support blocks into the benches. All in all it took us most of the day but we enjoyed it.
Wednesday
Today we went back to the Oma reservation and taught younger kids and adults English. Danny, our host played football with the boys and we helped Heather to do the classes. Afterwards they took us to a really cool bakery in between ministries – pastries and hot dogs galore for a couple of dollars! in the evening we travelled back to the church and helped Heather teach English to the older girls living in the kids home and also shows them how to code for games using scratch and sphero (really cool tech, you should check out). The girls really enjoyed it if not a bit nervous at the beginning, and we all learned something new so all in all pretty cool day!
Thursday
Today we split our teams into two, some of the team went back to the church to paint the outside and finish working on the benches while the rest of the team collected driftwood to help set up a nativity set for our hosts church planting
Friday
Today we didn’t have ministry until the evening and most of the team went into the mountains to one of the reservations to teach English and do bible study with the youth group there.
All in all this week has been amazing, if there was one or two words to describe what this months ministry will be like, I would say reckless love. Why? because I feel that’s why the LORD has brought us here to Panama, to show this wonderful amazing community, that I have never heard of until now, the love of Christ.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52v7.
So for the rest of this month that’s what my team and I are going to do, climb up the mountains, kick down walls and love on every single person we come into contact with, because that’s what the Lord calls us to do 🙂
Prayer Requests
We have some of our team members who are battling health issues so pray for healing and restoration over there bodies.
Please pray for us and our families as we are away from them this Christmas, I know that some of our team will find this season hard, so your prayers of comfort and joy, rest and peace to be on us as a squad would be great!
Lastly I would really appreciate your prayers on all things fundraising, as it stands right now, my last and final goal is to be fully funded by the end of January, that’s six-ish weeks away. I would really love your prayers and consideration in donating towards this goal of $18,000, I would really love if you wanted to give a gift to me this Christmas that this would be the best way to do it, even if it is $10/£10 I would be so blessed by it.
Prayer and Blessings 🙂
