I have lots of adventures to share with you from this past month. I left behind all my electronics last month so I will be catching you up on a few stories from last month as well as some new stories from this month. Phase 1: bus to San Jose. We arrived in San Jose where Rick and Teresa, extended family of my squadmate Ginger Larson, welcomed us into their home for the night. They showed us amazing hospitality during our stay! Phase 2: bus to the Costa Rica/ Panama border. Alvin, one of the Panamanian contact, picked up 3 teams in a bus and drove us to the beautiful mountain town of Volcan. We stayed in Volcan for one day of training on the jungle tribe. By 5 am the next morning, we drove along the serpentine roads through the mountains to reach Changuinola. Phase 3: canoe across a river and hike 2-3 hours to the jungle tribe. Pause. This is the World Race and a little thing I like to call life. Change is a guarentee. Plans changed at phase 3. When we arrived at Pastor Moran’s house (our Panamanian contact for the Jungle pastors), he informed us that the river had flooded and was too dangerous to cross. Panama had received so much rainfall that the Panama Canal flooded- the first time in around 100 years. In lieu of our original plan, my team stayed at Pastor Moran’s house with 2 other teams for 3 weeks and helped Pastor Moran with a new church plant in Guabito, a border town. So . . . no jungle? False. On December 14, Team Pneuma packed our packs and hiked across the banana fields to live with a humble family for 4 days. This family is part of a local church that started one month prior. The church meets in an outdoor pavelion surrounded by rich green vegetation. Woven palm leaves and bamboo shoots form the shelter. The scene invites one to rethink the word “church.” The journey to Octavio’s home (our host) was quite adventerous. We trekked through the mud with our packs. Along the walk, our friends took some of our packs and hung them on “the banana transport system.” We were honored as guests by the portable toilet attached to the line. Shoes and clothes splattered in mud, we arrived at their humble abode. Their wooden house had flooded a few years ago so their ceilings on the first floor were extremely low. It made for some interesting “wake up calls” on my way to the breakfast area. Octavio’s wife, Sarah, was an amazing cook and prepared us rice with fresh ingredients from their land. Ironically, we only ate bananas twice during our stay, but we consumed lots of cooked plantains (tostado style. . . mashed and cooked). 　
Maayung hapon (Good afternoon) from the Philippines! I arrived in Malabalay, Philippines on January 3rd after many long hours of travel from Central America. 3 buses, 2 continents, 4 airplanes, 6 countries, and over 10,000 miles traveled in a little over one week.
[Chiquita Banana Plantation, Panama]
This past December was an interesting month. My month began in Granada, Nicaragua for the S-squad reunion and team ministry assignments. Team Pneuma received their assignment: jungle tribe ministry. We prepared ourselves for “roughing it” for the month. No running water, no plumbing, no electricity. Leave the iPods and computers behind and bring extra TP instead. We were prepared for our adventure and several phases of travel . . .
[ (n) church: the body of Christ]
[the banana transport system]
During our stay, my team served alongside Octavio. We visited and prayed with families in his community and his extended family. Rachel and Josh preached for 2 services. Bri and I took turns translating for the services. During one service, we used some bracelets, given to us by missionaries Forest and Carol (we met them in Guatemala), as teaching tools to share the Gospel. We passed them out to the kids and encouraged them to share in the community. In the afternoons, we played with the kids. Josh played baseball every day with the neighborhood kids. On our last day, the church family prayed over Team Pneuma and spoke many encouraging words over our group. I was amazed on how much they were encouraged by us visiting them for a few days. Octavio and his family had been praying for missionaries to come to their community; my team and I were the first missionaries. It was humbling to realize the impact that we had on this family. Initially I had questioned our purpose of visiting this community due to the amount of time that we would spend there. The Lord quickened me to realize that I have a great responsibility as a Christian to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ. By encouraging and equipping local believers, any impact that Christ does through me in a community is multiplied. Discipleship at its core is all about multiplication. We encouraged the local church that they are also missionaries and that they carry the same responsibility that we have.
If you believe and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are a missionary wherever you are in the world. You are the hands and feet of Christ because you are part of His church. Every moment, every day, every month is an opportunity to be Jesus to someone. Whether we live in the bustling streets of a metropolitous, jungles of Central America, or quiet countryside, we all have the capability through Christ and by His grace to impact our communities for God’s kingdom.
