8 am — Wake up in my top bunk, but I’m actually chilly because the AC is right above my head. I hurry out to the kitchen on our floor of the hostel to make myself oatmeal, drip coffee, and a few hard boiled eggs. It’s already pretty humid outside.
8:30 — Our team meets up inside the room us girls sleep in, because it feels good with the air. We read a chapter or so of Luke, continuing the reading from last month. We read, discuss, etc. Sometimes people are still eating their breakfast in the room (*cough cough* me.)
9 — We start “official” team time. So far we haven’t gotten to share more testimonies here, because we’ve had to take care of business. So I usually announce things about the schedule, we do a thing called “Journey Makers” that our squad leaders read, and today we did storytelling. Should be having a regular team time soon. Once everyone has shared their testimony, we will start just hanging out as a team. Maybe a movie night, get to know you questions, something like that.
10 — A couple hours of free time before lunch. People usually go off somewhere to have quiet time and read and listen to podcasts. Sometimes a few of us will walk to Starbucks because we’ve become friends with the baristas, plus it’s air conditioned and has wifi where we can sit and get things done.
Noon — We meet back up at the kitchen in our hostel for lunch. Most of us opted in to buy groceries collectively with the food budget, so we prepare salads and stuff. The dining area is sort of the rooftop part of the hostel, so it’s loud as cars drive by down below. But we all chat and eat together.
The past few days have been more scattered when it comes to scheduling. So one night from 9:30 until 5 am, we stayed up at the church with our pastor from India and a few members of the congregation, praying and worshipping. I shared a message about the Lord’s prayer. A few others from the team sporadically shared messages throughout the night. It was close to 8 hours of prayer and petition. And snack / chai tea breaks. We made it to 5 am without falling asleep.
Our first official ministry venture was visiting the Hindu festival in the city. As the parade made its way through downtown, we walked along for the 2 miles and talked to visitors and participants alike. Many people there were obviously Hindu, but we made friends and had fruitful conversations about Jesus in the middle of the parade going on.
We essentially ran the church service on Sunday, and will do so every Sunday this month. We’ll take turns preaching and sharing testimonies week by week. The church is international and trilingual, and as of now only has about 20 people. Some are from Panama, others are from various Asian countries.
Another day we visited the main Hindu temple in Panama City, where we got to spend the whole morning with the priest in charge of the temple. He showed us around, answered all of our questions, and listened to our perspectives too. At the end we prayed for him and his wife, because they are trying to have a baby. We walked around and prayed over the property before we left.
Outreach is normally going to happen in the afternoon / evening because people will be off work, so it’ll be the best time to go and talk to them. Sometimes this will be visiting families, walking around the mall or china town, visiting events or tourist areas, etc. Today our pastor will show us around an immigrant neighborhood and then a family is cooking a traditional Indian dinner for our team.
And then every week night we have the option of going to the church for a time of prayer. Shibu is there every night no matter, usually for a few hours. Last night me and a couple other teammates joined him for an hour.
We live across the street from the grocery store, which is super helpful, and a few blocks away from regular restaurants and stores. We just got our bus pass and will learn how to get around the city without spending money on Uber. We are meeting A TON of people, mostly internationals. It’s cool that we have the Spirit of God in us, so when we speak to Hindus or Buddhists or whoever, they are having an encounter with Jesus. We are planning an event for the end of the month!
