three months of ministry are done. what? when i look back & think of all the people i have met, all of the opportunities i have had & all the experiences i have encountered, i am blown away. it feels like time is moving so quickly & before i even realize it the eleven months will be over. yet on the other hand, i look forward & realize i still have eight more months. it’s this weird limbo of time please slow down, but also will i be able to make it to the end.
at the end of each month my pal max & i chat & it really helps me to debrief the last month. so yesterday we had our monthly chat & now i’m ready to share with you all what this month has taught me, what i have experienced & how God showed up (big time). so, i am going to share three stories about panama with ya!
but first, i briefly need to explain what our month included. our ministry this month looked like coming alongside college students who are involved in CRU & are working to spread the gospel across their campuses. we joined them in missional communities (small groups), went to dinner with their friends to encourage them, helped plan events to get new students involved in CRU, prayer walked around the campuses, put on an evangelism training/workshop for any student interested in learning more & even spoke in a few classes where we shared the gospel & actually taught about healthy communication.
okay, so story #1: our first ministry goal was to prayer walk around each of the campuses before we began talking to students or participating in CRU events. the students already involved in CRU that attend the university helped lead us around & show us different parts of their campus. so, as we were walking around our second campus, hannah met a professor in the bathroom who recognized us as foreign & spoke incredible english. we then ran into her later sitting outside of a classroom on her break. we introduced ourselves & we learned that her mother was from the states & she is a new professor who teaches some art classes. she took us back to her studio where we were able to get to know her better & actually pray for her. the student leading us on the prayer walk later admitted that this was her first time prayer walking around campus. it was new being open & vulnerable with her faith. it was such a beautiful moment to see her begin to open up & share more. as we said goodbye to the professor, our friend looked at us & said its crazy how fast God works. she joined CRU just to help translate for us but now God is pushing her to share & bringing her people to share with. such a great day of encouraging our new student friends while sharing God’s love with professors.
a group of us during our first prayer walk
story #2: last week we had no ministry planned for friday. so earlier in the week our team was praying for an opportunity to arise that we could jump on. on thursday, we were at a missional community at the university & a professor walked up to us. he said, “do you speak english?” we said yes & he then said, “tomorrow i have classes all morning. can you speak in them?” we were blown away! we said yes & asked if there was anything specific. he said, “it is a communication class so speak only in english & share anything you want. we are learning about social media & communication so talk about that, but other than that, anything you want.” what an opportunity!! we split up the classes between our team. kelsey & i paired up & had so much fun. we talked about the good things social media can bring to society, but also the bad things. if social media is used for good, it can actually influence a lot of people. i shared about how the world race’s social media actually helped to convince me to join the world race. kelsey talked about social media’s role in her personal testimony. then, we pulled up our blogs & videos we’ve made on the WR & shared them with the entire class. we talked about how our job right now is to communicate well with our supporters & friends back home. if we are able to communicate well, people back home can be influenced & changed based on our experiences. from this 1.5 long class, we got to know a few students who have since gotten involved in CRU, shared our testimonies & the gospel, & introduced the students to the WR. it was such a God moment for us & the students enjoyed listening to english & practicing their own english as we asked questions & had discussions.
kelsey & i teaching in the communication classroom
an english class selfie where bailey & megan shared their testimonies
story #3: honesty time (sorry leadership, i promise i’ve learned). i have had a cough since the end of nicaragua & then a cold since the end of costa rica. to me, it was very normal, & i didn’t think much of it. however, hannah then started to get sick & i didn’t want to get anyone else sick so i promised hannah & kristi i would go to the doctor at the end of the week if it wasn’t better. as we were participating in ministry, hannah & i mentioned to one of our student friends that we weren’t feeling the best. she told us her godfather was an ear, throat, nose doctor who spoke english & that she would see if he could fit us in this week. later that afternoon, we received a text that said two of his patients cancelled at 6pm, could we make it? of course! long story short, he diagnosed me with bronchitis & sinusitis. as i was leaving with my prescription, our friend’s mother (the receptionist) took our prescriptions & said she would get us the medicine & send it with her daughter tomorrow. hannah & i were blown away by the generosity & love shown to us that day. we thought it was going to be a long, hard doctor’s visit in another country where we had to deal with insurance & paying for prescriptions. however, it turned into an opportunity for this family to bless us & thank us for our time in panama. we felt so loved & cared for!
in my last blog i shared about our journey to panama & talked about how i was learning to truly rely on the Lord’s provisions. these three stories each speak to God’s provisions in different ways. first, he provided us opportunities to encourage the students in CRU & come alongside them to learn how to boldly share our faith. second, he provided us ministry for the day & allowed us to share his good news in a public university. third, he provided for our health needs & budget needs. also, he gave us a family away from home.
ministry this month has been such a breath of fresh air. our host & the students have welcomed us into their family & made us feel so loved. we have been able to intentionally get to know each one of them & build more than a surface level relationship. i am going to miss them dearly, but i know God has big big plans for each of them. there is a movement stirring hear in panama city & i cannot wait to see the outcome!
thanks for reading!
mads
missional community meetings & CRU events
