Whoa! Month 1 is over already!
This past month my team and another team on my squad have been in Panama working with IC Jesus Ministries. IC Jesus is run by Danny and Heather Nelson who have been in the San Felix area for a bit over a year. We were able to be a part of a variety of ministries over this past month, most of which were reaching to the Ngobe people on the Comarca (the native reserve). Most Nogbe live in poverty and many are hungry for the gospel.
Nearly every day we worked with 2 other ministries here in San Felix. One was a girls’ home and the other was with another missionary named Mauren.
At the girls’ home we were able to show love to the girls living there, and develop relationships with them.
Mauren, is a passionate teacher. She runs many kids’ clubs, Sunday school classes, as well as trains locals in how to teach.
Heather is passionate about reaching the deaf community (an unreached people group) and is currently running ASL (sign language) classes here. She has felt God call her to one specific boy in Oma named Moises. Moises suffers from a skin condition that is worsen by him living in poverty. IC Jesus ministries was able to build Moises a house that helps to keep him out of the dirt and improve his condition. Once Moises’ house was built many of his extend family came to live with him, and he has since become in some ways the king of the Comarca! The day after his house was built, Moises’ grandfather (the only grown male in Moises’ family) passed away. Moises and his family now have a safe place to sleep, live, and keep locked. God’s timing is amazing!
When we arrived in Panama, Moises’ house kept getting flooded with the rains during rainy season. What we did was build a trench in front of his house to prevent the rain from coming in. What this basically meant was that we were chipping into the mountain at the front and moving it to the back of his house. Literally moving mountains!
While working at Moises’ house he captured the hearts of each person on our team. He is incredibly sweet, patient and loving. The very first morning we were there I was getting excited about the chicks that were running around his home, and chasing them around. A few moments later Moises came up to me with a chick in his hands for me to hold.
Heather was telling us that it is possible that Moises may not actually be deaf, but rather it was caused because of his skin condition. It’s possible that after a surgery his hearing could be restored if not completely then partially.
A girl in our group, Jenna, started a Go Fund Me campaign to raise the money needed for Moises’ surgery. After we shared it, the goal was reached within days! Deaf hears may just be able to hear!
Lord willing, Moises will be able to hear that God loves him for the very first time!
IC Jesus Ministries’ involvement with Moises has led them to so many more opportunities to reach the Ngobe people and develop more relationships.
Moises lives just down the mountain from a school, which IC Jesus has been able to partner with. The paint on the outside of the school buildings has been well weathered, and was looking quite chipped. We worked on chipping the paint off the outside, and then were able to put a bright new coat on the building. We did just one building because we were limited by how much the paint costs. Future World Race teams will most likely be working on the other buildings at the school, and IC Jesus hopes to eventually be able to paint the entire school.
We were able to make some of our own ministry opportunities as well! Check out my last blog about the power of showing up and find out more about our ministry at the local hospital.
We had a slew of empanadas left over and so some of our team warmed them and took them out to the community to give them away. They were able to create some relationships with by doing this and were able to spread God’s love as well.
Danny was asked to speak at an event in another town in Panama called El Cope. A few gals from our group were able to go with them, and I was blessed to be able to be one of them. None of us were all too sure what we were getting ourselves into. It turns out that September is the month of the Bible in Panama, and we were going to be a part of the festivities for it in El Cope.
It started out with a parade around the town complete with marching bands flanking the procession. People carried signs that had Bible verses on them, and we’d shout out call and responses declaring the glory and victory of Christ.
This all reminded me of how reverse the Kingdom of heaven is. We weren’t marching into battle or marching to show our disapproval of something, but rather we were marching for the King and just calling out and celebrating him. Something like this would be unheard of back home, but I loved the tenacity of it and how it just wouldn’t make sense to the world. The Kingdom often doesn’t make sense to the world.
All in all it was a fabulous month! I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us!
