I don't have much time, mostly because Rachel and I have not had much sleep this week, and I must start tonight!! But, I want to again express my gratitude for your prayers. I wish I could explain more at this time, but please know that God is doing AMAZING things in Brisas del Golf and throughout Panama City. I'm not sure how I managed to be here at this time, but it is a blessing to me, as well. Please, continue to pray for our readers. One of my readers, Junior, who's wife was sick with dengue last week and is better now, will start Bible studies this Saturday with the missionary, partially in thanks to all of you who told me you would lift his family up in prayer. That was quite a testimony to him. Rachel and I have several other students who have stated that they will be attending the new house church. God is keeping us busy, so we ask that you will please help the mission by staying busy in prayer, as you already have been!!
I wanted to tell you too that I finally got some pictures posted online, and have more to go. The ones that have been uploaded are on Facebook, but even if you don't have a Facebook account, you can access them by following this link:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061846&l=41422&id=71000688 .
Hope to write with more details soon!!
Thanks again for the prayers. May God bless you all!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Ocupada, Ocupada, Ocupada
We have made it for two weeks. Rachel and I still love each other, and we are both alive.
I wish I had more time to write and update, but it is not often that we have internet access, and as it seems, when we do, limited time. Such is the case tonight. I only have ten minutes to tell you of all the amazing ways God has blessed us this week, and is blessing us everyday.
Rachel´s blood tests came back fine, thank you all for your prayers.
When I think about the past week, the phrase that comes to mind over and over again is ¨The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.¨ I never realized how true that was. Over 60 people signed up to have English lessons from the Bible, which was a problem for the new church in Brisas del Gof, because they only had two LST workers. So, they called our congregation, and Rachel and I travel across the city each day to spend six hours, working with as much as twenty readers. LST is traditionally for advanced English speakers, but more than half of those wanting English lessons in Brisas are at the beginner´s level. We could not imagine sending them away, so we are daily developing an English program for beginners that still incoprorates the Bible and the messages therein. We have been blessed to have very crazy students, who are so much fun and who became our friends instantly. It is amazing how our personalities have clicked with their´s so well. They are eager and excited to learn. We have precious Olga, who is sixty years old and still determined to learn a foreign language. She is challeneging, but provides comedic relief because no matter how hard she tries, she just does not know what is going on or what she is saying! But, she is steadfast, intelligent, and will learn! We have Reuben who has been labeled as the ¨crazy¨man by our other students, Soñia who is our ¨ham¨because she insists on being in every picture, and Mara who forced Rachel to do the Electric Slide (Or Electric Boogie, as they call it in Panama) at our party, and Delina who has been frantically searching for a Spanish book for Rachel, so she can learn the language in which she so badly wants to communicate. I wish I could write to you about them all--Katherine, Adol, Junior (Please pray for his wife, who contracted dengue from a mosquito), Maria, Helario, Lesliee, and the others. I am convinced that we have the best students! Please pray that in addition to learning English, forging new friendships, and having a very good time, they will also fall in love with the Jesus they read about in their Luke books everyday and that, we pray, they see in our lives.
Thank you for all your prayers. It is because of our family and friends at home, that we are encouraged to go on each day. Thank you for all of you who helped to get us here, and bring these people The Good News.
Scroll down to see some new pictures!
May God blesss you all!
Thank you for reading!
Excuse the typos--Spanish keyboards are a little tricky!!
I wish I had more time to write and update, but it is not often that we have internet access, and as it seems, when we do, limited time. Such is the case tonight. I only have ten minutes to tell you of all the amazing ways God has blessed us this week, and is blessing us everyday.
Rachel´s blood tests came back fine, thank you all for your prayers.
When I think about the past week, the phrase that comes to mind over and over again is ¨The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.¨ I never realized how true that was. Over 60 people signed up to have English lessons from the Bible, which was a problem for the new church in Brisas del Gof, because they only had two LST workers. So, they called our congregation, and Rachel and I travel across the city each day to spend six hours, working with as much as twenty readers. LST is traditionally for advanced English speakers, but more than half of those wanting English lessons in Brisas are at the beginner´s level. We could not imagine sending them away, so we are daily developing an English program for beginners that still incoprorates the Bible and the messages therein. We have been blessed to have very crazy students, who are so much fun and who became our friends instantly. It is amazing how our personalities have clicked with their´s so well. They are eager and excited to learn. We have precious Olga, who is sixty years old and still determined to learn a foreign language. She is challeneging, but provides comedic relief because no matter how hard she tries, she just does not know what is going on or what she is saying! But, she is steadfast, intelligent, and will learn! We have Reuben who has been labeled as the ¨crazy¨man by our other students, Soñia who is our ¨ham¨because she insists on being in every picture, and Mara who forced Rachel to do the Electric Slide (Or Electric Boogie, as they call it in Panama) at our party, and Delina who has been frantically searching for a Spanish book for Rachel, so she can learn the language in which she so badly wants to communicate. I wish I could write to you about them all--Katherine, Adol, Junior (Please pray for his wife, who contracted dengue from a mosquito), Maria, Helario, Lesliee, and the others. I am convinced that we have the best students! Please pray that in addition to learning English, forging new friendships, and having a very good time, they will also fall in love with the Jesus they read about in their Luke books everyday and that, we pray, they see in our lives.
Thank you for all your prayers. It is because of our family and friends at home, that we are encouraged to go on each day. Thank you for all of you who helped to get us here, and bring these people The Good News.
Scroll down to see some new pictures!
May God blesss you all!
Thank you for reading!
Excuse the typos--Spanish keyboards are a little tricky!!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Free time is over...Work has been done!
¡Gloria a Dios!
One of the things that I love the most about the culture of the church in Central America, especially here in Panama, is the willingness to verbally acknowledge God and praise Him whenever anything wonderful is mentioned. Whenever church members call on one another, they refer to each other as Hermano Helario (Brother Helario) or Hermana Betty (Sister Betty). When they talk about beautiful weather, their job, their family, their available time, it is almost always followed by a ¨Gloria a Dios¨ (Glory to God) or ¨Gracias a Dios¨ (Thanks be to God). They also greet and say goodbye with ¨Dios le bendiga¨ (May God bless you).
In the last week and a half I have found myself questioning why we in the U.S. have not incorporated this language into our spoken words or even our personal thoughts. Are we embarassed because it´s a little unfamiliar to our ears? Are we scared we will offend someone of a different faith? Or, worse yet, is it that we do not see every good thing as a direct blessing from God, see the man sitting on the pew next to us as our brother, or consider sending one off with anything other than sending them off with a blessing from our God, as requested by a brother or sister in Christ? What has happened to our being consumed by God and talking about Him (as was directed to the Israelites) all day long. At what point did we decide that our lives were too busy to speak in such a manner, or that people wouldn´t care. Maybe they would care if we took the time to train our mind and our words to flow in this manner.
Random, I know, but just something I have found myself pondering over in the last few days and something that I frantically working to incorporate in my daily communication.
We have begun reading with readers, and I wish that I had time to write about them all, but sadly, we have to meet our wonderful taxi drive, the Hermano Helario himself, in just a few minutes. Please continue to keep us and the work in your prayers, especially the new congregation in Las Brisas Del Golf.
Thanks for your emails, notes, and prayers. They are so very encouraging!
One of the things that I love the most about the culture of the church in Central America, especially here in Panama, is the willingness to verbally acknowledge God and praise Him whenever anything wonderful is mentioned. Whenever church members call on one another, they refer to each other as Hermano Helario (Brother Helario) or Hermana Betty (Sister Betty). When they talk about beautiful weather, their job, their family, their available time, it is almost always followed by a ¨Gloria a Dios¨ (Glory to God) or ¨Gracias a Dios¨ (Thanks be to God). They also greet and say goodbye with ¨Dios le bendiga¨ (May God bless you).
In the last week and a half I have found myself questioning why we in the U.S. have not incorporated this language into our spoken words or even our personal thoughts. Are we embarassed because it´s a little unfamiliar to our ears? Are we scared we will offend someone of a different faith? Or, worse yet, is it that we do not see every good thing as a direct blessing from God, see the man sitting on the pew next to us as our brother, or consider sending one off with anything other than sending them off with a blessing from our God, as requested by a brother or sister in Christ? What has happened to our being consumed by God and talking about Him (as was directed to the Israelites) all day long. At what point did we decide that our lives were too busy to speak in such a manner, or that people wouldn´t care. Maybe they would care if we took the time to train our mind and our words to flow in this manner.
Random, I know, but just something I have found myself pondering over in the last few days and something that I frantically working to incorporate in my daily communication.
We have begun reading with readers, and I wish that I had time to write about them all, but sadly, we have to meet our wonderful taxi drive, the Hermano Helario himself, in just a few minutes. Please continue to keep us and the work in your prayers, especially the new congregation in Las Brisas Del Golf.
Thanks for your emails, notes, and prayers. They are so very encouraging!
Friday, January 4, 2008
So, it took a while to finally post...
¡Buenas!
It has already been a week since we arrived in the chaos that is la ciudad de Panama! It´s cliche to say, but I cannot believe it! This week has been interesting, as we have been waiting for the missionaries to return from the states so that we can officially start working. So, this week we have been getting settled, familiarizing ourselves with the area, practicing our Spanish, and reviewing our LST materials, as well as the book of Luke, which will serve as our text for our reading sessions.
Rachel and I boarded the plane in Cincinnati having very little idea about what was in store for us down south. We had the name of an American man who was soppussedly going to pick us up at the airport, but that was literally all the information that we had. We arrived, and were quickly greeted and adopted by Larry and Karen Jones, recent retirees who moved to Panama with their 17 year old daughter, Lauren. The room Rachel and are renting while we are here was not ready until Monday, so the Jones took us in for the weekend. They have been more than hospitable, feeding us, guiding us, housing us, and coming to our rescue. God has truly blessed us with this family and we are forever grateful for them and their presence here.
As most of you know, mission work has been my dream for many years now, ever since I took my first trip to Thailand in 2000. The idea of living abroad, in an environment very different from the the one in which I was raised and sharing the love of Christ with those who are desperate to discover Him has been on my heart for years now, and I cannot express how excited I am to finally get to dive in and explore what I have yearned to do for so long! If you don´t already know, Rachel and I are Let´s Start Talking interns. We will conduct English lessons using the book the of Luke for free to non-Christians who are wanting to improve thier already exisiting English skills. These lessons will not be in a classroom setting, but rather will be one-on-one reading times where we will be able to guide the conversation to meaningful topics, while discovering the reader´s level of faith, and hopefully, to plant seeds. It is a very nonaggressive approach. We will never argue, never tell someone they are wrong, simply share our lives with them and their´s with us, and point them towards the love of our Father that has sent us here.
LST is a great tool to help bring people into the church who might otherwise never come near. Although language lessons is not the mission work that I have always had in mind, I believe that God is going to mold me and shape me while I am here, and that this experience will prepare me for other ways to serve Him in the future. Most importantly, I pray that it will bring someone, anyone, to Christ.
Rachel and I are living with a non-Christian family. The mother, Noris, did some LST readings in the past, and speaks some English. She is a very hard worker, and has been very hospitable to us. We have already fallen in love with her and her 4 year old daughter, Noris Maria, and 4 month son, Ulissis (like his dad!). This morning Noris told us that she would like to do LST with us every night for thirty minutes and that she wants little Noris to do it with us, so that she can learn English, and learn about Jesus!! This second part thrilled us, and we are anxious to begin. Please pray for Noris and her family. We hope they will join us for church services this Sunday.
For New Year´s Eve, I was blessed with the opportunity to join the congregation in San Miguelito for their celebration. The church in Curundu, our host congregation, did not have plans for the holiday, so I went with Erika, a recent HU grad who came this week to stay for a year and who is also living with us, to San Miguelito. I cannot even begin to express all that my heart felt when I stepped of El Diablo Rojo (the city bus--translated, The Red Devil). Rachel and I are staying in the area formerly known as the Canal Zone, which for decades, was completely controlled by the U.S.--five miles on both side of the canal. It is a very safe area, but also a very wealthy area. The family with whom we are staying is middle-class, but their home is nice, and was built by the Americans. Walking in our neighborhood, one does not feel too far from the US, minus the tropical birds and the occassional sloth or rumored monkey swinging from a tree.If you know me at all though, you know that this is not the population nearest to my heart. I want to love the people that are desperate, that have so little, but that are somehow have such a strong spirit. Welcome to San Miguelito, an area that actually looks like the rest of Central America, an area where it is not safe to walk alone, an area that some might describe as a ghetto. I got off that bus and oddly enough, felt at home. The congregation there was full of life and is uniquely made up of very rich and very poor, but watching their interactions, you would never know that there was such socioeconimic differences. I got to spend time with several of the members and learned a great deal about Panamanian culture, tourism, and way of life. I pray that I have the opportunity to worship with them again. I could go on and on about San Miguelito, but I will stop, because I have already written so much, and it is only my first entry! One more thing though that was perhaps one of the most encouraging was a brother in the church there who is now one of their most prominent church leaders, who was brought to Christ through LST English lessons. I have thought much about this program and how it works within an already Christian-Catholic culture, and have struggled with my own personal dilemma of wanting to serve the people here in other capacities, and I feel that God brought me to this man to show me the tremendous work that is possible through His means, and not my own. I know that He has brought me here, to this place, to do this thing, and I pray, oh I pray so strongly, that He will make many more new, and that through this effort, He will raise up numerous leaders for His kingdom. I ask that you will pray this as well.
It has also been encouraging to have met various people this past week who are more than excited to have LST reading sessions. I know that God will use this program for His glory! On the other side of Panama City, in Brisas del Golf, the congregation there is preparing to welcome a couple who will be completing a short LST project. The minister there approached Rachel and me about helping them in their effort there, while we are pulling together the work at Curundu, as they have 60, yes, SIXTY, people who are reading and earnest to study the Bible in order to improve their English skills. Lord willing, we will join them in this work in Brisas starting this Sunday. Please pray for this ministry there, and pray for Rachel and me as we quickly prepare to begin these studies.
That was a lot! I will try for future entries to not be so long!! If you want to be on our email update list, please shoot me an email and I will add you!!
May God bless you all. Thank you so much for your support and your prayers. I can truly say that they have been very felt and answered. They mean more than you will ever know!
Love and blessings to you all!!
It has already been a week since we arrived in the chaos that is la ciudad de Panama! It´s cliche to say, but I cannot believe it! This week has been interesting, as we have been waiting for the missionaries to return from the states so that we can officially start working. So, this week we have been getting settled, familiarizing ourselves with the area, practicing our Spanish, and reviewing our LST materials, as well as the book of Luke, which will serve as our text for our reading sessions.
Rachel and I boarded the plane in Cincinnati having very little idea about what was in store for us down south. We had the name of an American man who was soppussedly going to pick us up at the airport, but that was literally all the information that we had. We arrived, and were quickly greeted and adopted by Larry and Karen Jones, recent retirees who moved to Panama with their 17 year old daughter, Lauren. The room Rachel and are renting while we are here was not ready until Monday, so the Jones took us in for the weekend. They have been more than hospitable, feeding us, guiding us, housing us, and coming to our rescue. God has truly blessed us with this family and we are forever grateful for them and their presence here.
As most of you know, mission work has been my dream for many years now, ever since I took my first trip to Thailand in 2000. The idea of living abroad, in an environment very different from the the one in which I was raised and sharing the love of Christ with those who are desperate to discover Him has been on my heart for years now, and I cannot express how excited I am to finally get to dive in and explore what I have yearned to do for so long! If you don´t already know, Rachel and I are Let´s Start Talking interns. We will conduct English lessons using the book the of Luke for free to non-Christians who are wanting to improve thier already exisiting English skills. These lessons will not be in a classroom setting, but rather will be one-on-one reading times where we will be able to guide the conversation to meaningful topics, while discovering the reader´s level of faith, and hopefully, to plant seeds. It is a very nonaggressive approach. We will never argue, never tell someone they are wrong, simply share our lives with them and their´s with us, and point them towards the love of our Father that has sent us here.
LST is a great tool to help bring people into the church who might otherwise never come near. Although language lessons is not the mission work that I have always had in mind, I believe that God is going to mold me and shape me while I am here, and that this experience will prepare me for other ways to serve Him in the future. Most importantly, I pray that it will bring someone, anyone, to Christ.
Rachel and I are living with a non-Christian family. The mother, Noris, did some LST readings in the past, and speaks some English. She is a very hard worker, and has been very hospitable to us. We have already fallen in love with her and her 4 year old daughter, Noris Maria, and 4 month son, Ulissis (like his dad!). This morning Noris told us that she would like to do LST with us every night for thirty minutes and that she wants little Noris to do it with us, so that she can learn English, and learn about Jesus!! This second part thrilled us, and we are anxious to begin. Please pray for Noris and her family. We hope they will join us for church services this Sunday.
For New Year´s Eve, I was blessed with the opportunity to join the congregation in San Miguelito for their celebration. The church in Curundu, our host congregation, did not have plans for the holiday, so I went with Erika, a recent HU grad who came this week to stay for a year and who is also living with us, to San Miguelito. I cannot even begin to express all that my heart felt when I stepped of El Diablo Rojo (the city bus--translated, The Red Devil). Rachel and I are staying in the area formerly known as the Canal Zone, which for decades, was completely controlled by the U.S.--five miles on both side of the canal. It is a very safe area, but also a very wealthy area. The family with whom we are staying is middle-class, but their home is nice, and was built by the Americans. Walking in our neighborhood, one does not feel too far from the US, minus the tropical birds and the occassional sloth or rumored monkey swinging from a tree.If you know me at all though, you know that this is not the population nearest to my heart. I want to love the people that are desperate, that have so little, but that are somehow have such a strong spirit. Welcome to San Miguelito, an area that actually looks like the rest of Central America, an area where it is not safe to walk alone, an area that some might describe as a ghetto. I got off that bus and oddly enough, felt at home. The congregation there was full of life and is uniquely made up of very rich and very poor, but watching their interactions, you would never know that there was such socioeconimic differences. I got to spend time with several of the members and learned a great deal about Panamanian culture, tourism, and way of life. I pray that I have the opportunity to worship with them again. I could go on and on about San Miguelito, but I will stop, because I have already written so much, and it is only my first entry! One more thing though that was perhaps one of the most encouraging was a brother in the church there who is now one of their most prominent church leaders, who was brought to Christ through LST English lessons. I have thought much about this program and how it works within an already Christian-Catholic culture, and have struggled with my own personal dilemma of wanting to serve the people here in other capacities, and I feel that God brought me to this man to show me the tremendous work that is possible through His means, and not my own. I know that He has brought me here, to this place, to do this thing, and I pray, oh I pray so strongly, that He will make many more new, and that through this effort, He will raise up numerous leaders for His kingdom. I ask that you will pray this as well.
It has also been encouraging to have met various people this past week who are more than excited to have LST reading sessions. I know that God will use this program for His glory! On the other side of Panama City, in Brisas del Golf, the congregation there is preparing to welcome a couple who will be completing a short LST project. The minister there approached Rachel and me about helping them in their effort there, while we are pulling together the work at Curundu, as they have 60, yes, SIXTY, people who are reading and earnest to study the Bible in order to improve their English skills. Lord willing, we will join them in this work in Brisas starting this Sunday. Please pray for this ministry there, and pray for Rachel and me as we quickly prepare to begin these studies.
That was a lot! I will try for future entries to not be so long!! If you want to be on our email update list, please shoot me an email and I will add you!!
May God bless you all. Thank you so much for your support and your prayers. I can truly say that they have been very felt and answered. They mean more than you will ever know!
Love and blessings to you all!!
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