"As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
That evening the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves."
But Jesus said, "That isn't necessary-you feed them."
"But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!" thay answered.
"Bring them here," he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.
About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children.
~Matthew 14:13-21
i love this story in the book of Matthew, it again reminds me that God is in control and can do all things! i was reminded of this story during our trip to Panama.
i was chosen, along with kerri, to be the "leaders" of this year's group. a lot of the work is done behind the scenes, and let me tell you, its a lot of hard work. i was the one in charge of all the money, booking the flights, making sure we had enough money, etc.....
about a month before the trip, i was feeling a bit hesitant about the money and i shared my concerns with kerri. we decided that we would add $100 to each person's amount. after sending all the emails out i had several who shared their concerns of raising even more money. i knew we definitely needed to leave it in God's hands. i prayed that those He wanted to go on the trip would somehow get the money together.
a couple of weeks before the trip kerri and i met over dinner while i was visiting in indiana. we crunched some numbers that were given by eliezel and came up with a plan of action when it came with the money. we felt good about being able to pay for everthing but were still a bit discouraged with the lack of money we had for supplies. we decided to trust God and just plan with the money we had....
when we arrived we again double checked with eliezel and sat down and finalized the money. it looked like we were ahead around $2000, but that still left us short with tips, monetary gifts, etc. that we hadn't thought of.....trust God.....trust God!
after spending a few days there i had a conversation with eliezel about going home and visiting his family. i found out through our conversations reasons why he is not able to go home often. main reason: money! we knew that we would be giving eliezel a gift of some sort at the end of the trip, but how amazing would it be to be able to help send him back home! my mind began to race as i began to make plans on how it was possible.
so as kerri and i continued to shell out the money for food, travel, and lodging we began to see a lot of money being saved here and there....was it possible?
supply money seemed to be multiplying as we went through our week....we were able to continue the plaster work, dirt work, painting, electrical, and windows all week, with money to spare for more supplies.
thurday evening kerri and i sat down once again to figure out the supply money on our last day. what could we do? we had plenty of money left....so after talking it over with eliezel we decided to pay off a debt to the supply store, and also buy all the materials for the plastering of two of the outer walls, and the ceiling in the sanctuary. we were also left with extra money to leave for labor expenses. PRAISE GOD! how was that possible? only GOD!
throughout the trip we continued to save money and we trusted that at the end we would have something to leave for our two missionaries. the last evening was a wonderful, emotional evening that i wouldn't want the memory of it to be any other way. we fellowshipped, sang songs, and shared stories. many had shared that they had almost backed out of the trip for many personal reasons, including financial issues. God knew what he was doing with bringing this group together.
after the stories were told it was my turn to speak in behalf of the team. i felt like God had laid it on my heart what to say to those that work so hard to be on a W&W team but also those who sacrifice their time and lives to be our leaders.
after making sure we had visa money to go home on, kerri and i came up with so much more money than we could have ever imagined. we couldn't believe that the money that i held on so tightly to throughout the week had practically tripled in a weeks time....only God.....
we were so thankful to be able to present Manny a monetary gift, along with Eliezel. our main goal was to send him back home, and i believe we were able to give him the funds to do that.
what did i learn from this year's trip? its not about the building......i love that physical church like everyone else....i have worked in the sewer and i have laid block on every level of that church. and this year was the icing on the cake as i was honored to paint the nazarene symbol on the front of the church.....i love that church......but when it comes down to it, its about the people. the people in the church, in the community, and also those in the group.
i am so thankful to be able to be a part of such an amazing group of people that have sacrificed so much to go to panama. i am thankful to be able to connect with the people of panama and show Jesus to them through my life. its an opportunity to walk around the town and invite the locals to see the Jesus film or work alongside them at the worksite and invite them to come to the service. there is always an opportunity to show Jesus....
at home we tend to live an even faster pace of life. we work, take care of our homes, and sleep and sometime in the week we attend a church. face it, we are busy people. to have an opportunity to witness to somebody is not as easy as it is in panama. in panama, there are people everywhere...in the US, we could spend days not seeing anyone if we wanted to....that's why i have found it important to ask God to show me an opportunity each day to show him to somebody whether its at the local walmart, restaurant, or even on the computer. i pray God shows me someone daily that just needs to hear that God is there. its that simple.....
i hope that you will continue to pray for the people in Changuinola, Panama, for our favorite missionaries, Eliezel and Manny, and for our group that every year can't imagine not going the next.
i, in return, pray that each day God gives us each an opportunity to share Christ with someone and that we would be open to do so.....
thank you again for all your prayers during our trip and after....its amazing what God is doing in our lives. i can't wait to see what will happen next year. this year tops the years before and i am sure the stories from next year will be even better....
please continue to watch this blog as i plan on blogging to share how God is working in my life through missions....God Bless you all!
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