We just received an update on the school in Panama. From the sound of it, God is moving in many young hearts. Click here to open the newsletter.
Archive for the “Panama 08” CategoryToday we started off with visiting the Panama Canal and watched a ship pass through the different chambers. We got to learn about everything concerning the canal from when it was first made to the current changes it is undergoing now. Next was the local arts and crafts store to see what some people in Panama do to make a living. From there we moved onto the mall for some American food. We had an amazing trip….. our flight from Miami to Philly is at 3:55p and arrive at 7:55p… so buy the time we get to the bus and back to camp hill it will probably be…. 11p??? Please pray we have no glitches in the Miami airport…. we don’t a layover longer than 4 hours…. There is a random request for a shout out but the person would like to remain anonymous: “i love you mom” we will leave it up to all of you to figure out who it is.. there is one hint however: “watching jurassic park has never been so fun” This morning we went to an all girls orphanage. There was a pretty small group of girls but we had fun with them. We did the longest program we have done since we have been down here. Almost all the girls gave their testimony and the guys had fun with crafts, balloons, and bouncy balls. We then painted the floor for them and we cut down 6-foot tall grass with machetes. We came back and played the “Biggest Fan” game for quite a while which was very encouraging for all of us. We spent three minutes encouraging each individual person on the team and then we would rotate people. It was an awesome experience and we all benefited from it! Right after this we experienced an interesting dinner. The YWAM team had set up three environments for us. We all picked numbers from one to three and the majority of us had gotten the number three and therefore had to eat on the floor as if we were living in poverty. The remaining people were fed beef and french fries and three out of us were served popcorn shrimp and french fries with cake and coffee. The point of this was to show that three out of every 26 people living in Panama live like we do in America and every 4 or 5 have only enough money to support themselves. The pastor from the Gamboa church we visited on Sunday came to the base to preach to the team. He did a a great job keeping us distracted from the hunger that most of us felt. At the end he presented the altar call to us encouraging us to make the right decisions that will affect us in the future. He and his wife went around simply praying for each one of us and touched us all. Overall it was a slower paced day that was very much needed after hiking the day before at the village. Tomorrow we will enjoy our 1/2 tourism day. We are scheduled to visit the Panama Canal and go shopping at the local malls. Please keep us in your prayers considering the high school rally is tomorrow night. There is expected to be 2,000 students attending! We are all hoping for the best. well hello everyone at home… we got back from our 2 day and a night with the indigenous tribe. to say the least it was amazing!!! you have to take a 2 hour boat ride to get there because the river is so low but the second boat almost took about 2 and a half hours. our boat kept getting stuck on the rocks so we had to jump out and push. the first boat got there like a half hour before us and ended up coming back to get 5 of us so the boat wasn’t to heavy. it was really hard to push because we were pushing upstream. we have some great memories to tell about it. so we finally got there and everyone was swimming and jumping of the front of a boat that was balanced by people sitting in the back. but you had to be careful or else you would be diving onto rocks unless you jumped in where the water was like 9 feet deep. it was so nice after you were sweating trying to push a boat with like 7-8 people in it. we walked up the beach and the view was just amazing. they had built this huge hut that was used for when tourist came they could sell some of their home made things. then there was a hut where they cooked our meals in and where the girls spent the night. and scattered around was littler huts where the boys were grouped and placed. during the night the girls said that they kept hearing dogs going up and down the stairs. but we just got to know and play with the natives for the rest of the night. this morning we got up to an amazing view and sweet smells. they made oatmeal and home made bread that we will all be missing when we get back to the states. after breakfast we packed up and hit the trails that were so narrow at times it was crazy. we had to cross the river 3 times and by the time we got to one of our locations we all pretty much had the whole beach in our shoes. but our first program went awesome. all but all the children raised their hands and wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts, so we are praying that they will continue to seek after God everyday. we had to cross back across the river and hit a school on the way back to camp. the program there was awesome too. but this time not even half the children raised their hands, and maybe it was because of their friends but we are praying that they know God and have him in their hearts. on the way back to camp on one the sections we had to cross people were able to swim downstream and make it back to the camp for lunch, while some of us hiked it back. but ended up beating them and went swimming after all. we did one last program and then headed back to the base but along the way it started raining, but not too hard. we were almost to the dock when it stopped. but it was just a fun trip. we just say thanks to all of you who are an encouragement and for all of you who are praying for us. Thank you and we will see you on Saturday. hello all, this morning we visited one of the oldest schools in panama. the stadium that was used was filled with 1,300 kids/teens. there was a reggae singer that sang and a team from Indiana was there with us as well. after this we split the team and half of us went to another school and the other half were visiting the city streets again. the group with the school had a good report. eric starner and aaron stewart specifically wanted to mention that the boy they prayed for was so thankful for prayer. both aaron and eric said that it was encouraging to just hear a “thank you” from him, especially because they were praying against the spirit of intimidation and everyone around the boy were making fun of him for actually raising his hand to the invitation. the group in panama city saw amazing things happen as well this afternoon. we were able to minister to hundreds of people, many of whom stopped and watched the majority of our program. andrea gave an incredibly powerful salvation message which clearly spoke to many people. afterwards we had a whole line of people waiting to be prayed for. we were so encouraged by some of the people that even took the time to pray for us! we came back and spent the evening with our sponsored kids. we handed out the bags and got to watch many cultural dances. it was so cool. we did a few dramas for them and had a blast! what a great day! we did have a little problem with dehydration and sickness today with a few team members. but everyone is doing good. just keep up the prayers thanks all and we will not be able to blog again till wednesday night due to the fact that we will be up in a indigenous village which everyone is so excited for!! we love you all! Hi all,this is Amber. The internet in Panama is “down” today, so here are some bullet points from Pastor Jeff for all of you per our phone conversation. He expects to be able to reconnect by tomorrow:
I just wanted everyone to know that the bags came in at 1:30a this morning so the rest of the team woke up to their bags being here… they were elated to say the least… mike brubaker even gave a happy dance… wish i had it on video…. you should feel very proud of your children…. the staff here is very pleased with the ministry and attitude of our team… their will be another blog tonight from the students to tell you about today.. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s ….. we hope u have a great day tomorrow… Pastor Jeff P.S. Thanks for all the comments…. we’ve have a church service tomorrow and an outreach in Panama City… if you have a scripture verse or thoughts keep them coming…. last night we read them all to the team… it was a real encouragement to all of us!!
Upon our arrival, were found bags of heavenly goodness. haha, meaning our luggage had arrived. Though eight of us are still lacking a bag in which we are praying will come in the morning. We are all awestruck by God at this point and roughing it is really making us appreciate our lives back in America. To all the moms and dads, we love you and thanks for the encouraging remarks! New blogs shall be posted daily Stay tuned… This morning at 7:30a… the guys got schooled in soccer by the kids on the base and the girls played bball with the girls… all i know is that Casey shot a 3 pointer at the end… Eric Stump was the greatest goalie ever and Linn has a new name Beckham… he scored two goals…. our group is building good relations with the students on the base!!! Monday is the evening we will be ministering to them….
is that our luggage…. ahhhh….. no We all made it safely to Panama without a glitch until none of our luggage showed up…. everyone on the team has been really good about it… already its been a good source for laughter… it should be here tomorrow morning it never made it from Miami…. I’ve never liked that Miami airport and it proved to me again why… everyone is excited to be here and do ministry… they are bonding with the children on the base as we speak… talking with the girls…… playing hacky sack with the boys…. we are ready for God to do great things through us this week… so initial prayer requests… luggage as soon as possibly… Fridays’s ministry to children…. we just got one of the biggest high schools in this area to open there school for us to come minister on Monday… thanks for all your prayers… PARENTS OR FRIENDS: we will have a team time every night so if you want to send a message…. encouragement…. i love u message… this is a good place to post those remarks Panama Missions Team |
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We needed to leave early for the high school rally and decided to come back later for a better shopping experience. The rally was a great success. Both Mike and Jackie gave their testimonies and one of the other teams there with us did a drama to the song Everything by Lifehouse. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the mall where we enjoyed a great meal thanks to the Forever Young ministry back at CLA (thanks for the Panama Canal also). We retired to the base for the rest of the night, where we said our good-byes to our sponsored kids and translators. Most of us are attempting to pull an all-nighter since we have to be up at 3:30 to pack for our departure anyways. We are all looking forward to seeing our madres y padres y amigos very soon.
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