Ok so Panama was SO amazing! I had an amazing experience there and God really showed me a lot. I think I’m just going to talk about my favorite stories, about what happened during ministry time, either with me or other people on the team.
So the third day that we were there, Tuesday, we went to this one ‘village’ on the other side of the island we were staying on. The night before, the team had planned a ministry to do with the kids. Forty of us arrived on two boats to the ‘village’ where we gathered all the kids together to sing songs, watch the dramas we had practiced, and listen to the tiny little messages that we were able to fit into the dramas and the songs. Afterward, there were a couple groups to draw and read with the kids, and a couple groups that went to visit some of the houses. I was in one of those groups. We (Nicole, Ricky and I) went to a house that was up above where we were doing kids ministry. It was an open air house so no walls. About five guys and one woman were sitting on the side of the house that was facing the field. Ricky started talking to one of the guys and me and Nicole would ask a question once in a while. We found out that the guys little baby girl was sick with fever, so we went up to the house and prayed over her. She was about 8 months I think. We talked with him some more and he told us that every time he goes to Colon (the main island) he buys alcohol instead of food for his family. He said he didn’t want to, but he did. Ricky started telling some of his testimony and then we prayed for him and his family. This is probably one of my favorite stories not only because we were able to pray for him and he was really nice, but also because I could understand almost everything he said. I became a lot more confident in my Spanish!
The next story kind of tells what the belief of the islands is.
So Wednesday, we went to the main island of Colon. We did ministry in the morning then we had free time in the afternoon. The ministry was awesome that day. Kaitlyn, Carly and I went around giving free hugs (well, Kaitlyn did,) and prayed for people. We eventually met up with a couple others from the team. They told us that they had just talked to the ‘devil’ of the Carneval, which was going on while we were there. They said he had accepted Jesus and told them there was to be a Baptism of the Devil at four o’clock, the same time the team was supposed to meet a restaurant for dinner. Well, word spread around the team and we started praying, asking God what we should do. Morgan, the leader, felt like we should walked around town with these signs we had made. They had a quote from the Bible or from God or just something like “Jesus loves you” on them. So we put them on and marched around town looking for the where the ‘baptism’ was going to be. We walked around this one back street and saw all these guys putting on demon costumes with whips in their hands. Basically what they do, is the ‘demons’ run around town with whips either whipping people or people whipping them. A couple of the staff went to them and said that this was God’s ground and what they are doing is wrong. But they just kept yelling “It’s tradition!”
We made out way back to the center of town, gathered around a big dome structure, and stared praying. For me, I couldn’t believe that they actually do that. Some kids were sitting around town with whips, just thinking it was a fun thing to do, when actually they’re getting into some really spiritual stuff.
The next day, after free time, we were talking to one of the girls from the team. She was carrying around four whips. I asked her where she got them. She said that she saw some boys playing round with the whips and started talking to them. They accepted Jesus as their Saviour (right on!) and gave her the whips. God is pretty awesome if you ask me!
So I learned a lot on this trip. I learned that God really listens to you, He loves me sooooo much, and I really do have it easy. He knows exactly what I need everyday, what I like and stuff like that. But He also showed me he wants to spent more time with me.
Thank you to everyone that has supported me! Thank you so much! Keep me and my family in your prayers! Love you all!
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