Yes, another country another blog about the logistics of what I am doing on the World Race. I find these blogs some of the most important because they simply inform those who are following my journey of what I am doing on the field, where I am staying, and ultimately give an insight to my life on the World Race. If there is anything that you think would enhance these blogs, please let me know!
Country Overview:
- Location – Panama City, Panama
- Language – Spanish / English
- Currency –Balboa and USD : The bills are all USD. The change is a mixture between Balboas and USD coins. ($1 USD = 1 Balboa)
- Ministry Name – Navjeevan Prayer Fellowship
- Team Name – NEW team à Team Mix and Match (Teammates: Codi Moore, Joanna Phillips, Katrina Chaney, and Bethany Carter)
Our Home: The beautiful capital city of Panama City has been my home for the past two weeks in Panama and will be my home for one more week. I have always been interested in cities. Whenever my family would go on road trips I would become awe struck when going through cities and seeing all the beautiful night lights and tall buildings. As we arrived in Panama City, I had a very similar feeling; in awe of the skyscrapers, beautiful skyline, and the diversity that comes with massive amounts of people. During the first week, I was feeling almost as though we had been transported to America because we are using USD, talking English, and have beautiful living conditions. My team and I are living in a hostel in the neighborhood of El Dorado. The hostel has a great balcony that displays the city skyline and has a great breeze always. My team and I share one room that has bunkbeds in it. At night, we can use the AC (God Bless!), and there is WiFi always (which I am grateful to have, but has allowed for a lot of distractions). The hostel is owned Christians and is a very comfortable and safe place to be staying. Here there is a full kitchen that we use to make our own team meals (if we aren’t eating Indian food or pizza with our hosts or people from the community!). The kitchen has great big windows that you can open which brings an amazing breeze and sights to cooking. The balcony and the kitchen are the two spots you can find me 90% of the time while I’m at the hostel.
Our Mission: The Mission in Panama has looked very different from any country I’ve been to so far. My team and I are partnering with a local pastor, Shibu, and his family to help set a sound foundation (not a literal foundation – check out Brianna Johnson’s blog if you want to hear about her manual labor this month actually setting a sound foundation!) for the development of his new church. Shibu is originally from India and his wife, Lily, is from Panama. The churches mission is to minister to Indians who have relocated into Panama City. The church houses many different nationalities however – Indians, Pakistanis, Panamanians, and more. So much of our time here has been dedicated to outreach for the church. This looks a lot like traveling throughout the city to where many Indians live and passing out fliers, talking to people about Jesus, and encouraging them to network with Shibu. This has been an experience that has brought me a lot out of my comfort zone, which mean growth is happening! The other ministry that we have been involved with has been going to a Christian school that Shibu and Lily teach at. While there, my team and I served as “guest speakers” for the Bible and Chapel classes offered at the school. We were given the opportunity to talk to around 8-10 classes ranging from 6th graders – 12th graders. The majority of the students who attend the school are Asian and are not practicing Christians. Our team was able to tell them about ourselves and how we became international missionaries, what the World Race entails, how God has worked in our lives, and answer any question they asked (honestly any question- from what is my favorite animal to how I came to have a relationship with the Lord!). I have loved my ministry experience in Panama City so far because it is as diverse as the people we serve.
How am I? In the past “When In…” blogs, I have exposed you to different check-in activities that we do at the end of the day with our team. I’ve shown High Low Buffalo, as well as, Rose Bud Thorn with you thus far. This month I would like to introduce a new one: ESP. The activity ESP stands for: Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical therefore you would describe how you are feeling those three different ways that day. (Fun Fact: This is how I have been answering the question “How I am?” in the previous “When In…” blogs so here we go under How am I?). I would like to also do this for you for the past two weeks in Panama City.
- Emotionally — Oh I don’t know where to start. This has been the toughest month for me emotionally. I think that this is because I have access to WiFi every day and so I see things that my friends and family are posting back home and start to get FOMO (fear of missing out). This has become increasingly difficult with my graduation commencement approaching soon. It’s one of the things that I didn’t think I would miss, but now it’s something that continues to be on my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to go back to America. That’s not the case at all; I just want some of my friends and family to be here with me! I am praying to continue to be present and also that in the next couple months I won’t have WiFi every day like this month. I did well with connecting to friends, family, and supporters once or twice a week instead of everyday. I am also starting to get super anxious about traveling half way across the world. Latin America was a culture I have learned about a lot through school and people around me, however, Southeast Asia will be a whole new world. Languages that I am not even a little bit aware of, and a culture all to its own. I would love prayers for a smooth transition into this new environment!
- Spiritually — Spiritually, all is well. This month we have been given the opportunity to speak to students about our testimonies and often telling stories about all the good that God has done in each of our lives. By talking about this, it has reminded me of how God is and how He provides. This month we have talked a lot about faith and what it means to be faithful to God. Something unique that our team has encountered has been visiting other religious buildings. Our host practiced Hinduism until he was 12 years old so we were given a lesson about Hinduism and the major practices. After this, we went to a Hindu temple in the area. We have also visited a Sic temple and an Islamic mosque while in Panama. I have loved these experiences because it furthers my education on different religions and how to have open-minded and beneficial conversations with people who practice other world religions.
- Physically– Physically, I am doing well. I am almost three months in and I have yet to get sick so YAY, Praise God for that! Praying that I continue to stay healthy throughout the rest of the race. 3 months down; 8 months to go. Here I am struggling being physical, however. Our ministry does not include a lot of manual labor this month like the past two months. Being the city there is not a great area to run without worrying about being hit by the crazy taxi drivers. With this being said, I have tried my best to work out when able to do so. This has looked like running in a small neighborhood by the hostel which includes some major hills (yuck), and doing workouts with one of my teammates out on our balcony! Pray for open spaces and safety for my future countries and the ability to stay in shape and therefore sane!Physical activity is something that allows me to have “alone” time and release stress and anxiety so without it I don’t feel as in tune with myself. I pray for opportunities to release energy frequently in the next few months.
I hope this helps give you an image of some of the things that my squad and I are doing here in crazy Panama City, Panama. As always, feel free to reach out to me via email ([email protected] or [email protected]) if you have any questions or just want to chat. I have WiFi a lot more this month, however, will only be here for one more week but I would love to chat if you wanted!
See you next week!
– Elisabeth Sage
