Panama

Hola! Sorry, it has been a while since I have written, but things have been busy and time is just flying by. My time in Panama has already come to end. After our time in the Embrera tribe we spent two weeks in a village in the mountains. To get there we had to hike for 45 minutes with all of our stuff for the 2 week stay. But thanks to NIKO, we were well prepared for the hike. While there, we did a combination of physical work and ministry, with a lot of walking in-between. For me personal, it was time of a lot of spiritual struggle, but I am happy to say God brought me through it all. I was even able to share a short meditation on James 1:22 -25 during ministry. It felt really awesome! Unfortunately, one of my team members, Melissa broke her arm and had to be taken to the hospital (45 minute walk plus a 45 minute car ride away) where she had to undergo surgery. But things have been going well for her since. Our last week in Panama, we spend it in the city mostly doing street evangelism. Our last Sunday in Panama we attended an English church. It was so nice to fully understand a full church service. And I was able to share my testimony for the first time on outreach. On our last day we visited the Panama Canal. I loved it and totally recommend everyone to visit it. Now I am back in Costa Rica and will not be going to Nicaragua anymore but instead finishing off the outreach in the southern coast of Costa Rica. There is only 3 more weeks until I arrive home.

Panama!

Hola! Outreach has started! We arrived in Panama on Sept 30 around 3:30am local time (which is 1 hour a head of both Costa Rica and Saskatoon). Our first two days in Panama, we spend at the YWAM base in the small town of Chilebe (which is about 45 minutes from Panama City). We did local ministry in a park, where I was able to share with some kids the story of my Lisa Bear. On Oct 2 we left our comfort zones to live with the Embera tribe. It was quite the experience. We lived in huts with birk floors and washed in the river. Most of the week we did small physical tasks, such as helping collecting sand for a water cleaning system, finishing the roof on a hut, and widing the path that leads to the river. We did get some ever awesome experiences to share with the people about our faith. The tribe has had many missionaries over the past few years come and share with them, over 400 missionaries! But we were the first team to stay for more than 2 nights! Because of that we really were blessed to be able to build relationships with the people. One afternoon Paola and I spend 2 or more hours just taking to a woman in her hut. Most of the girls in the tribe are married off at the age of 13 or 14! This woman we were talking to was 22 years old and had a 7 years old daughter. All the people in the tribe know Spanish, and luckily for me some people even know english. God really blessed me with this little girl named Ester. She was six years all and the only kid in the tribe that knows english. Esters know is only 19 years! We really grew close to people and it was really sad when it was time to live. But on to the next adventure! Tomorrow we will be going to a village high up in the mountains. We will be there for 10 days, mostly helping with more physical work. Please pray for us as we continue working in Panama.