Sometimes in life, you hear word you´re going to minister to jungle tribes in the mountains of Panama, and instead, you end up sleeping in a chicken coup…
For the first time in history, the Panama Canal has been closed due to flooding. What do you know, the one time in my life I end up in Panama, it´s here and now. Thankfully, our contact made the wise decision that it would be far too dangerous for my team and I to head into the jungle. (Certainly it would not be wise to take canoes like orrigionally planned.) The why am I here now- that is something I admit to wrestling with.
Funny, I wrote these words not more than a week ago. It was only hours later, I heard that my team and I were in fact, headed to the jungle. The following day we ate a hearty breakfast of our usual hot dogs and fry bread, loaded up our packs, crammed the 7 of us into a 5 person truck, and headed to the jungle. (Jungle, banana field, same-same. No, really.)
The church our pastor heads up was the starting destination for a mile or so hike through chiquita banana fields to our final destination… the small wooden home of Octavio, Sarah and their 3 children.
The joke was made, ¨God never gives us more than we can handle, and God gave team Pneuma 5 days¨. While we only stayed a short time in the jungle, it was definately a time to stretch and grow. No running water, no electricity. This also meant however, no distractions.
With only a short amount of time, every moment was made the most of. Our team helped with services that would take place in the home, or with the small outdoor services that would be held in the afternoons. One day our team even went out praying for and evangelizing to the ¨neighbors¨which meant a bit of hiking… Even though it didn´t feel like we did much, it was the first time this church had recieved missionaries, and that alone was a huge encouragement to them.
I can´t believe how close we got to that family in such a short amount of time…
As for now, it´s back to sleeping in the guest house behind the chicken coup at Pastor Moran´s house. (The sweet pastor that unexpectedly turned into our contact for the month.) You know, whenever I pictured the Christmas story, and baby Jesus asleep on the hay, for some reason, I never pictured chickens. Funny, now I can´t imagine it any other way!
Grace, peace, and so much love!
Funny, I wrote these words not more than a week ago. It was only hours later, I heard that my team and I were in fact, headed to the jungle. The following day we ate a hearty breakfast of our usual hot dogs and fry bread, loaded up our packs, crammed the 7 of us into a 5 person truck, and headed to the jungle. (Jungle, banana field, same-same. No, really.)
The church our pastor heads up was the starting destination for a mile or so hike through chiquita banana fields to our final destination… the small wooden home of Octavio, Sarah and their 3 children.
The joke was made, ¨God never gives us more than we can handle, and God gave team Pneuma 5 days¨. While we only stayed a short time in the jungle, it was definately a time to stretch and grow. No running water, no electricity. This also meant however, no distractions.
With only a short amount of time, every moment was made the most of. Our team helped with services that would take place in the home, or with the small outdoor services that would be held in the afternoons. One day our team even went out praying for and evangelizing to the ¨neighbors¨which meant a bit of hiking… Even though it didn´t feel like we did much, it was the first time this church had recieved missionaries, and that alone was a huge encouragement to them.
I can´t believe how close we got to that family in such a short amount of time…
As for now, it´s back to sleeping in the guest house behind the chicken coup at Pastor Moran´s house. (The sweet pastor that unexpectedly turned into our contact for the month.) You know, whenever I pictured the Christmas story, and baby Jesus asleep on the hay, for some reason, I never pictured chickens. Funny, now I can´t imagine it any other way!
Grace, peace, and so much love!
