Wow! I can’t believe I’m done with Month 1 of my Race! Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real that I’m on the World Race at all. But the “honeymoon phase” is over, and it’s definitely setting in. Our time in Panama has come to an end, we made it through Month 1 Debrief in Jaco, Costa Rica, and we are now at a new ministry location in Los Guidos, San Jose, Costa Rica. Before I get ahead of myself, though, I want to share a glimpse of what God has been doing in Panama and in my heart this past month!
To start the World Race, our whole squad flew into Panama City. That first night we stayed in a hostel called Luna’s Castle, and already, God was blowing my mind! The week before launch I visited Penn State and ended up talking with a girl who had just spent several months in Panama. After our whole chat, she said that if there is one thing I do in Panama, it should be staying at Luna’s Castle. Who knew that’s how I would start my Race?! It may sound silly, but that moment that we stepped into the hostel was all the confirmation I needed to know that this was exactly where God wanted me to be.
So after one night in Panama City and a morning at the Panama Canal (so awesome!), it was time for my team and one other team to board a bus up to Chiriqui, where we would be staying for the remainder of the month. We arrived at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base in Petrorillos Arriba, Chiriqui late Wednesday night and went straight into ministry Thursday morning! Our first ministry was at a nursing home in David, a city about 35 minutes from our base. God really opened the eyes of my heart through A Woman Named Louisa and taught me so much about joy. What a great first day! We also had the chance to go back to the nursing home at the end of the month and got a picture with a few of the ladies, including Louisa, which was awesome!!!
Over the weekend, we got a chance to help run two separate church services. The two churches were very different, but there was one similarity that stuck out to me: Panamanians worshipped with such passion. Whether it was prayer, singing and clapping, reading scripture, or anything else, they praised God with such enthusiasm. Not once did they seem disappointed that their hands and voices were their only instruments. Not once did they feel like crying out to God in prayer was not enough. You could see how much they truly appreciated their relationship with the Lord! During both of these church services, I also had the awesome opportunity to help direct the children’s times. It was so exciting to use so much of what I learned from my time on staff at camp, and God gave me such a heart for this children!
Next, our whole group headed up to the indigenous comarca (the Panamanian version of an Indian reservation) for a week. YWAM was there directing a discipleship school with some member of the tribe while we headed up a Vacation Bible School with the children of the comarca. God Broke My Heart On The Mountain and reminded me that, while we may not always see the fruits of our ministry, sharing the love of Jesus is always going to make an impact on the Kingdom of God. This was an incredibly stretching week full of growth! God opened my eyes to the reality of the world and gave us all a chance to really love on His children.
After our week on the mountain, we did some prison ministry! We spent the morning at a women’s prison and shared our hearts for Jesus with the ladies there. This ministry was a powerful reminder that the word of our testimonies can truly bless people. Two girls on our team shared their testimonies with all of the women, and we all had a chance to sit and talk with them after the service. So many of them shared so much appreciation for us because they felt like they could relate to us and felt so loved by us. I personally didn’t feel like I did anything too special, so this was encouraging to hear that just by chatting with them, showing interest in their hearts, and sharing our own hearts with them, they felt loved.
During our last week, was also spent two days doing Bible distribution. YWAM has a goal to get a Bible in every home in Panama, so we spent two mornings going door to door getting to know people, praying for them, and giving them a Bible if they didn’t have one. This certainly reinforced my newfound love for door-to-door ministry! Entering strangers’ homes is certainly a challenge sometimes, but how could I not love the opportunity to love people by getting to know them and sharing my love for Jesus with them?! Such good stuff! During one of the last afternoons, some of us also visited a boys’ home! We sang some songs and shared a testimony with them and just played outside with them for a few hours. These kids were so excited to have so many “adults” so willing to get crazy with them – my personal favorite was the trampoline. It was so much fun to just be a kid with these guys and show them our Lord’s love in the process.
Finally, we finished our Panama ministry at the base with a one-night-one-day camp called King’s Kids. The YWAM staff entrusted our team to plan the whole thing, so we split up into groups to prepare “Fruit of the Spirit” themed games, teachings, intercession, activities, quiet times, and worship. This was the perfect chance for each of us to utilize the gifts God gave us to give these kids a weekend of fun and fellowship and a fantastic way to end our first month on the Race!
Many of the YWAM staff went with us to our various ministries and off-days, and we had an opportunity to get to know all of them through our service and free time at the base. God has certainly blessed me through their friendship. Nikki, Tulio, Norralia, Jenn, Isaac, Sam, Lourdes, Rochelle, Joe, Richard, Debbie, Terry, Liz, Cathy, Vicki, Scott, Lucresia, Teo, Mireya, Hermes, Iri, and the rest of the YWAM Chiriqui Staff and Family: it was an absolute privilege to serve alongside all of you. I learned so much from each of you, and loved seeing how much God worked in your hearts just in those 3 weeks we were with you. Every single one of you has such a heart for sharing the love of Jesus, and I’m excited to see how your journeys continue. I continually pray for you all, and I can’t wait to see y’all again one day! (Nikki, see you in PA; Jenn, see you in Africa!)
So after saying farewell to all of our good friends at YWAM Chiriqui, we met up with the rest of our squad and headed to Jaco, Costa Rica for Month 1 Debrief. This was a great time to reflect on the first month and what the Lord was doing in my heart. I could write a whole separate blog on this (and eventually will), but I’ll give y’all the gist. Throughout the month I felt God revealing many areas of my heart that were not honoring Him – pride, impatience, disobedience…and finally I realized that He was calling out a lack of identity in Him all along. It took almost a month, but as I pressed deeper into each of these issues, they all linked back to an identity in Christ. I’ve been striving for this for a while now, but it hasn’t been my main focus. Now it’s my main focus, my greatest goal. As I continue this journey called the World Race and life as a whole, my relationship with Jesus is all I’m after. God is so good, and I want to be wholly rooted in Him! I know obtaining a true, deep identity in Christ often requires a season of brokenness and abandonment to truly bring me to my knees before God, and I’m praying that God prepares my heart and equips me for whatever season may be coming my way. Above all, I’m trusting that the Lord will be with me through the good and the bad and bring glory to His name in every circumstance. All I want to do is glorify Him!
So this month we are outside San Jose, Costa Rica in a town called Los Guidos. We’re essentially in the middle of the slums, and there is so much room for ministry here. I can hardly contain my excitement, honestly! My team is in a Christian school where we will be helping to teach English, play games in gym class, teach Bible lessons, and just love on the kids. We got to spend the day there yesterday, and I AM SO EXCITED! I’m also just super excited for the chance for ministry outside the school and throughout the community. God has put it on my heart to pray more and more for this community, that we would be His light in a dark place. Please pray for our ministry here this month and for the people of Los Guidos. God has big plans for iSquad this month!
Thanks for reading and praying and being so supportive! I’m so close to my next financial deadline of $11,000. If you are able, please donate, so that I can continue this journey for the whole 11 months! God bless!
