LST at UDELAS

Now that we have settled into a bit of a routine in our new project, I thought it was time to give you a glimpse into the work here. As most of you know, there was an 5 person LST team here from New York doing a three week project. While they were here, we worked alongside them for the most part, but now that they are gone, Greg and I are on our own with lots of love and support from the local missionaries.

In some ways, our work is the same here in Panama City as it was in Natal. We are doing one on one english conversation classes with people who are learning english (we call them readers), using the book of Luke from the New Testament as our curriculum. But in many ways, our work is very different. We are meeting primarily with university students on a university campus. The university has provided a room for our exclusive use and they are even providing some of our meals. Greg has about 17 readers and I have about 25. We meet with most of them once a week, but if possible, we meet with some more often. Although we are mostly working with university students, there is a little variety among our readers, from campus janitors, to first year students, to professors, and a few that come over to meet with us that have no connection with the university.

Another difference we are learning to adjust to is how we connect our readers with people from the local church. Many of our readers commute to the university and have very long bus rides to get here. And to make the situation harder, the church family that we have most contact with here in the City is comprised of people spread out all over the city, so it is almost impossible for them to gather together at times other than Sunday morning worship. In our past LST experiences, we have worked really hard to get church members to develop friendships with our readers so that as they come to know the Lord, they are also developing relationships with His people. Our contact missionaries here in PC have recommended that as we have readers who are coming to a level of faith that develops an interest in involvement with the church we try to connect them with a church in their own community. So, instead of regular social events we will probably try to visit them in their town and hopefully attend their local church together. Please be in prayer with us that we will see the leading of the Lord in this.

We are enjoying this new phase of our year of LST. It is great to be on a university campus and interact with our readers as we pass them in the halls or on the grounds. It is exciting to develop relationships with the cafe lady and the man that works at the desk (exciting and good for practicing our Spanish) and the english professors. And we look forward to seeing how the Lord will work out all the changes!

The Passing of a Hero of Faith

I found out this morning that yesterday my Aunt Terecia (my dad's oldest sister) passed away. That was bittersweet news. Sweet because she has been battling cancer for several years and her body was worn and weary and she has been ready to go home to the Father for a while now. Bitter because of the pain that her absence will cause in the lives of those who love her, especially her husband, Uncle Doyle. Aunt Terecia and Uncle Doyle are some of my personal heros of faith. My time with them was always limited to visiting at the biennial family reunion or short visits in their home but that was enough time for me to get the impression that their faith in God was the most important thing in their lives. When I picture their faces in my mind, I see them singing praises to the Lord with a look of love, joy and peace. My favorite memories of them are the times I was privileged to worship with them.

My parents went to visit Aunt Terecia in her home a few weeks ago and while they were there, I got to talk to her and Uncle Doyle on Skype. I appreciated that so much, in just that little time despite her physical discomfort, she had words of encouragement for me in this work we are doing. I am so thankful to God that He gave me one last opportunity to connect with her in this life and I know my next reunion with her will be even better.

On a selfish note, a lot of the family will be gathering in Panhandle, Texas this weekend for her funeral, and I am very sad to have to miss that time together. I would love to be able to join in Cousin's Chorus to sing songs of praise at her memorial as a tribute to her and as an encouragement to Uncle Doyle but I will be with my family in spirit. I know Aunt Terecia and Uncle Doyle support the work I am doing and they wouldn't want me to leave my work to go to her funeral.

One thing that God has been teaching me over the last several years is to stop trying to possess everything and just try to enjoy the things of this life without having to own or horde them. Not too long ago I realized that goes for people too. We can love, admire, appreciate and enjoy people for whatever time we have with them, whether that is 2 minutes in a taxi or 50 years of marriage and when that person is not present in our lives, that doesn't change the love, admiration, appreciation and joy or diminish the importance of the relationship. Instead of focusing on the time we don't have together, we must just be thankful for the time we were together. I think the loss of Aunt Terecia will be an experience that God will use to help me continue to learn this lesson. And how fitting that in death, just as in life, she is teaching me how to grow more like Christ.

"Don't be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry." Colossians 3:5b

More pics

Greg uploaded pictures of our project in Chepo and also of our apartment in PC. Follow this linkto see them.

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

Chepo

Here is the latest.
We had our LST Information meeting in Chepo on Sunday, Jan. 4. Although many people attended, only a small handful actually have enough English to do the program. So, I am attempting to provided beginning English classes for all the others. One for older children and two for teens and adults. This has been scary for me since I am not a teacher and have never taught English. But the Lord is so good and works through our weaknesses and He is providing help and inspiration. One of his greatest provisions in Chepo is the sister-in-law of the local preacher. She has been studying English for 3 months and she has come to stay with them during our visit (she lives in another city) so that she can help us communicate a little. Of course, after only 3 months of study, her English is pretty limited but considering that without her we would have no one who spoke any English, we think her English is great!!! She is also helping me with the beginners classes and I can't imagine how I would have done it without her.

Now, although all that sounds well and good, we have had a big snag in our work this week. Last Thursday night Greg came down with a high fever. On Friday we headed into the city so that we could take him to a doctor in an environment where we could communicate with the medical staff (either through people who speak fluent English and could interpret for us or, as it turned out, with a doctor that speaks fluent English). Greg kept having fever for 2 or 3 days and has had some digestive problems since then. On Monday night, I started getting fevers and digestive problems. We are still waiting for word from the doctor about what we might have had, and chances are, he may not be able to identify it for sure. But we are happy to report to we are both recovering. Although we aren't back to normal yet, we're very weak and tired, we are getting out of bed and eating solid foods. We have been staying in Panama City at the house of one of the local preachers and they have taken great care of us! We haven't decided yet when we will go back to continue our work in Chepo, but hopefully we will head back this weekend. We are sad to have missed a week of time with our contacts there but are trusting that the Lord is working through all of this. Originally we were suppose to work in Chepo only 2 weeks and we had decided to do 3. I guess we were only suppose to do 2, just not 2 consecutively.

One positive about our unexpected time in the city, we are very close to having an apartment. We have found one that is in the area we need to live and is affordable and it is suppose to be ready when we return to the city on the 24th or 25th. Only the formalities remain. I am very hopeful and excited about this. It was starting to look like we were not going to find a place and would have to crowd in with some local family or stay in a hotel. We are praying for the Lord to work out the details so that we can move into our own apartment when our work in Chepo is done.

But he said to me (Jesus to Paul), "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
~2 Corinthians 12:9&10

Quick Update

I got online to tell you all about our next work site, but as I reviewed Greg's last blog, I see that he has written about all the things I thought you should know about, so, if you haven't read Greg's blog lately go to this link and read all about our next adventure. We ask that you please be in prayer about this work. Greg and I will be called upon to do many things that we have never done before and that will challenge us but the effort is worth it if we can share the love of Jesus with even one person.

Panama Pictures

Since it is holiday time and summer break time in Panama, we have a LOT of free time. So we are doing some exploring in our new city. Follow this link to see the pictures.