Panama Outreach!

I love Panama!

Hey guys! We spent the last two months with JUCUM boquete. My time in Chiriqui, Panama was long so I have a lot to share! I can’t even put into words how I’ve grown or what all I’ve learned but I sure can try. First, this was the sweetest season. I got to spend the last two months serving all different people groups and doing a ton of different things. We got to live with two different tribes; the Ngäbe tribe far in the mountains and the Embera tribe which is on the panama canal. We also spent time in two cities: David and Boquete. We did house visits with a lot of elders where we got to talk and eat meals with them. We helped out churches and local families by doing things like painting, digging trenches, cleaning, and working on farms. We partnered with a lot of long term missionaries in the area. We would also go into town and do street evangelism, which was the hardest for me. Our group worked with Feeding Souls bringing food to homeless, the youth, and people trying to make it back to their home countries through the Pan-American highway. My team did a lot of kids ministry, which was surprisingly my favorite. When I went into my DTS I didn’t love kids and had a hard time with kids ministry. During my lecture phase the Lord softened my heart and during this outreach I have come to love the Panamanian kids so much! Another highlight for me was when our team did a concert for the community and I was able to share my testimony.  

I cannot emphasize how much I’ve learned during this time. I was challenged to serve selflessly and get rid of pride that I had built up. It’s so important to walk in humility when being a witness to others. I am only saved because of God’s grace and not because of my doing, or lack of doing, something. I truly am just as much a sinner as everyone else but am being transformed by the spirit. I really started to understand how each morning the Lord’s mercies are new and every single day He will come alongside of me for whatever is necessary. I really am not alone in this life and He will help me do anything. I learned to lean on the Lord to get me through the rough days and days when I didn’t think I could do all of the ministry. I am learning to be disciplined. I don’t always feel like waking up early, doing a task, or reading my Bible. But I still need to do those things and put aside my own feelings for this season. Worship, prayer, and studying the Bible are disciplines we have to teach ourselves. The desire to do each thing is great, but the discipline of spending time with the Lord each day is even better. I am also learning that the fruits of the spirit don’t all come naturally but are like an actual fruit that I have to water and let grow. I am working on growing deep roots for each fruit of the spirit so that I can walk them out. I could go on and on but no one wants to read all of that so I’ll tell you more about the different tribes we visited!

Comarca

We spent 6 days in the Comarca with the Ngäbe tribe. We were supposed to spend 10 but had to leave early because of possible protests starting that would close the roads:/ It was my favorite place! It was in the middle of the mountains and it was so beautiful. The people were so inviting and kind. They welcomed us into their homes and would give all the food they had to host us well. The Ngäbe kids were very friendly and we did kid’s ministry almost every day. We worked on some farms with the people there and walked all over the Comarca to pray for people and do house visits. It was amazing. I even got to pray for healing over a little girl who was deaf! We didn’t have cell service and we slept in an empty warehouse in hammocks. We didn’t have running water so we showered in a creek! It was so windy that the bathroom doors had flown off so we got a view of the mountains;) I had a lot of quiet time with the Lord while we were there for the first couple of days because I was really sick. The Lord was teaching me to be still with Him and listen. I also learned how to be happy in the peace and quiet. I am a busy body and have to be on the go, but it’s so important to be content and still so that the Lord can speak. I also spent more time in my Bible and learned new ways that the Lord can speak through the word. Throughout the week I had an overwhelming sense of gratefulness for my testimony. I used to think that I have a lame testimony, but really I am so blessed because the Lord has been with me since I was young. He has been so good to me for my whole life. I am blessed to have the opportunity to know God and learn about Him as I grow up. I definitely can’t take that for granted. The whole week in the Comarca was spirit filled but the last night we were there we had the best worship night I’ve had. It was raw and my team just played worship on my JBL speaker and sat on the cement floor for two hours. We worshiped and thanked God for our time there and on outreach. I felt God really give me peace about my time here in Panama. The abuelas in the Comarca gave me a Ngäbe name which the elders give to people and it symbolizes something about you. My name was Medigo, which means that I have a message to share and love to talk with people. It was cool to be fully engaged with their culture. I am forever changed by my time in the Comarca.

Embera Tribe

I spent our last week with the Embera tribe in the Maje village near the Panama Canal. We slept outside in Hammocks and showered in a fresh water river which was so fun. I got to swim with the kids in the river and the abuelas prepared us fish to eat! We got to see the culture that this tribe has and it was very different than in the mountains. We worked on farms and helped harvest fruit and beans. It was so hot there so it was definitely a challenge to work in the sun all day. The kids were helping us work and they were only like 7! We also built the foundation for a house and worked with the people. We mostly just spent the week working on farms and loving on the people and kids. The week that we were with this tribe was cool! We would fish and pick our own food and really were living off the grid. It was a cool experience to rely on the local people to help us survive there. I felt really connected to the Lord here. Since it was our last week of outreach it was way harder to stay focused and live in the moment. I needed to constantly remind myself that I am not here for me and I am blessed to be here. The Lord spoke to me about realigning my needs to be with Him first. Sometimes when we are struggling we resort to doing everything in our own power to fix it. We try everything we can think of and when all of it fails we then go to the Lord. We have a father who is quite literally the creator of the universe, all knowing, and all powerful. He cares about us and our desires. Prayer isn’t something we should do as a back up plan or last resort. We should pray knowing that the Lord can do anything and will help us. Prayer is the most powerful weapon! The kids there were awesome. They were so friendly and made it easy to love them. I miss them already! We got to go to church twice while there. It was so cool and their worship was so energetic and sincere. One night there the Lord really spoke to me about his love and promises for me. That I am loved no matter what I do and I can’t do anything to earn it. It is really something I’ve been working on understanding throughout my time here in Panama but I don’t think I will ever be able to fully grasp how much love He has for me! The people in this tribe were so incredibly amazing and treated us like family. I am so grateful for my time with these people.