Odds and Ends

If you read Greg's blog, you know that we are back in Panama City and have moved into our own apartment. The Lord provided richly. The day we returned from Chepo we moved right into an apartment. We live in a neighborhood very close to the university where we will be working and we are paying much less in rent than we thought we were going to have to pay. We have spent the last week getting settled in and except for a few little details, we have made the place our home. Greg has been working full-time for the Bible Study Guide this week and will continue to do that through February. Our work at the university will not begin until late March so I am trying to find some other English students to do LST with until that time. I have the names of several former readers and am hopeful that I will be able to arrange a full schedule by the end of the week. Also, I may have an opportunity to learn the administrative end of LST projects from the missionaries perspective. It is very exciting to really find out what the life of a missionary is like. The slide shows we see when missionaries visit our congregations just doesn't do justice to the demands on their lives.

In other news, Greg and I will begin Spanish classes tomorrow. A lady at church is a bi-lingual Spanish/English teacher and will come to our home to give us private lessons. We are very excited and a little nervous. We have been working hard to learn the language, but it is definitely going slowly. The lessons are a little expensive, so we don't know yet how many we can take. The teacher recommends that we have 3 or 4 classes a week (one hour each). We plan to take at least two a week and will see if we can afford more. We will just have to crunch the numbers and see what we can do.

This has been a week of excitement for us. The missionaries (David and Lisa Carter) that coordinate the LST work in Panama City have been away since we arrived in December. This week we finally had a chance to spend some time with them and get to know them. We feel very comfortable with them and feel confident that we will have a smooth transition into a working relationship with both David and Lisa. And if that weren't exciting enough, another couple (the Carter's in-laws) just moved to the city to began missionary work. We are amazed at their faith and courage in taking this step to leave their family (they left 3 children, ages 18-28) and life in the U.S. to dedicate themselves to the Lord's work in Panama City. We are especially blessed by them because they are our upstairs neighbors. I can't tell you how comforting it is to have a brother and sister right upstairs.

The greatest news of all, there were three baptisms in the city this week. One that we got to witness. The ministers here have an amazing gift of outreach and evangelism and the church is really growing in Panama City. LST is just one effort that they are involved in.

Well, I think that just about gets you up to date on what is going on in my life.
Every day I am aware of the love and protection of God and I'm sure that without Him, some days I would want to just hide in the closet. But, since our apartment doesn't have any closets, I'll just keep turning to God and receiving courage and strength from Him.

The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace. ~Psalm 29:11