We made it to Panama!!
Okay so we made it over two weeks ago and I’m just now posting an update. My b.
Y’all, it is so beautiful here and we live up a mountain, so the weather is PERFECT and I am loving every bit of this country. I can’t believe August is almost over and we have less than two weeks left here in Panama. Here’s a run down of what life has looked like these past couple weeks.
Ministry this month has been a lot different than I was expecting. My team and team Mamacitas are partnered with YWAM, and everyday brings a new ministry. So far we have hosted a VBS type thing, cleaned up and painted a school, visited an orphanage and a nursing home, worked on projects around the YWAM base, helped with an after school program, went on a prayer walk, distributed Bibles, and evangelized in the town square of David. Some of these, like the Bible distribution and VBS, are a weekly thing, but other than that there hasn’t been a ton of consistency in our ministry tasks each day. I have really enjoyed each ministry task we have been given, but I think the best ministry we have is what isn’t labeled ministry at all. It’s building relationships with the staff at YWAM and the other people we live with.
At the base, the 14 of us live with anywhere from 10-20 other people that are either the discipleship school students who live here for three months or other missionaries that live on a ship and are here for a week at a time. These guys and girls are awesome and it has been so cool meeting people from all over the world in one place. So far we’ve lived with people from Holland, Australia, Paraguay, Thailand, South Korea, Namibia, South Africa, Switzerland, Albania, Germany, and of course Panama.
Also living at the base are 15 “Hogar” students, and they are the coolest/my favorite part of ministry here. The students are between the ages of 12 and 17 and they live here so they can get an education past elementary school. The Panamanian government is only required to provide school through 6th grade and these students come from indigenous communities where secondary education is not readily available. Since these kids live at the base and spend all their time here, I have been able to spend a good bit of time getting to know them. I have had the opportunity to host a Bible Study for them, attempt to help them with math, show them how to watercolor and do hand lettering, teach them how to play card games, and spend time trying to talk to them in Spanish during meals or while they braid my hair. Most of the time they just end up laughing at me and I’m not always sure why.
The extra cool part is that I wasn’t feeling ministry this month. We were told we were doing kids ministry and I really didn’t want to. I have been working with kids for as long as I can remember, and I was ready for something different. But in the midst of this ministry, God gave me exactly what he knew I needed and wanted, MIDDLE SCHOOLERS! I love middle schoolers so much, and these Panamaian students are no exception. They have managed to make their way into my heart, despite the fact that it’s only been two weeks and we barely speak each others’ language. On my birthday this past week, one of the girls, Yaibeth, told me she had a surprise for me and then gave me one of her parumas, which is a skirt thing all the indigenous girls wear. I think I teared up a little when she gave it to me.
All the students eagerly want to study the Bible and learn more about Jesus, and getting to witness that these past few weeks has been incredible. They love participating in Bible studies and intercessory prayer mornings, and it is inspiring for me to see the way the students seek to obey the Lord and grow in a relationship with Him. They have shown me that age isn’t always important and just because you are young doesn’t mean you can’t/don’t have wisdom to share.
That isn’t what I was expecting for ministry this month. I wasn’t expecting to befriend 15 middle/high school students. I wasn’t expecting to get to do something I love in a place that is so foreign to me. I wasn’t expecting to be loving every second of it. But man, does God know what He’s doing or what?!
Things I am grateful for this past week: new friends that love playing Mao, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, popcorn, ankle braces, Boquete, watercolors, dump trucks and rain.
What I have learned: I am a 7 wing 6 (if you know you know), gato solos (pictured below) are super cute, and sprained ankles are really frustrating (happened while running on day two, never exercising again).
Thanks for reading along!! I am going to do my best to post more often in the future. I know I say this every time but I really mean it (famous last words, I know).
Also if you didn’t notice, the title is a palindrome, but this blog has nothing to do with the Panama Canal.
-jb
