"...I won't say garden hoe"

07.01.2012 It's Sunday, our last day in Panama. This is usually the day that is filled with the most fun and sadness. We headed to church at Puerto Caimito. We were excited to go and celebrate with the people that we spent all week getting to know and love. Edwin preached the sermon, while Pablo translated. We had a great time worshiping, Kenia and Dina led it. Dina is a sweet girl who knows English and translated quite a bit for us. Deena and Dalton did a special...Dalton on the guitar and Deena singing. Two girls, Kayla and Lia also sang a special, along with Jeremy, a sweet 10 year old. Of course it was hot and sticky during the service....fans were blowing, but it's hard to get relief. After the sermon we headed to the back of the church where the roof was put up and Edwin had Jeremy pray and dedicate the new dining area. We also recognized the ladies who made our food all week and also the Pastor and his wife. They also gave each of us a gift. Saturday was Pastor Milanio's birthday and we celebrated it with cake and ice cream! Yum! Lots of photos were taken and lots of hugs were given out. The people of the Puerto Caimito church are very loving people and we enjoyed getting to know the people and the children. We were blessed as much, if not more, then we blessed them. As I shared with them, God continues to remind me of the parable of feeding the 5000. I always stress over the money, whether we have enough and where it all goes. This year was no different. I knew the amount of money we had for supplies and before we were even there they had used the entire amount for the roofing project. We were great about that, but knew that we actually couldn't do the work of the roofing project since it entailed welding, which none of us could do.    So when we arrived we were a bit concerned with what laid ahead of us throughout the week. So God, of course, continued to stretch our money...so much that we were able to scrape the entire church inside and out, paint the entire church inside and out and purchase the materials to replace the front part of the building's roof. Again, God answered our prayers and proved to us His faithfulness.  After church we headed back into the city and went to the markets to shop for some souvenirs. It poured raining so we didn't get to see a lot of the city as planned, but we were all exhausted from the busyness of the weekend that I don't think anyone really minded. We had dinner at Pizza Hut, a tradition, before heading back to the house for devotions and packing.  Dario gave the devotion which was amazing and very fitting. Afterwards, Arcenio prayed over our group. I love when he prays....I like to say he prays you right through to heaven! Dario and Arcenio are two of the most amazing people I've met. I'm so glad that they were able to come down and spend the week with us. I've really enjoyed watching Arcenio come out of his shell, he's such a joy to be around and has such a heart for those that are lost. I sure do adore those boys! We had a great time of reflection and enjoyed spending the last moments of the day with them as well as Pablo and Edwin. Tomorrow we load up at 4am to head to the airport where we will be traveling all day tomorrow to get back home....it's time to plan our next trip! :-)

"blessed beyond belief..."

06.30.2012 It's Saturday and it's been a longggggg day. We began out journey at 5am as we headed on our 2 hour bus ride. We finally made it to the river to get into the hollowed out tree trunked boat. It was so cool! Something I always envisioned doing! We had a full boat....17 people, 8 boxes of rice, cookies and juice, and lots of bags filled with goodies for the kids. The boat ride was an 1 1/2 hour and started pretty well until....it began to rain! We were going to the village of Incanti, but heading to another village first to drop off rice and pray with the people. The closer we got, the more it rained. We probably looked a little silly with ponchos and garbage bags over us...all you could see were our eyes! So funny! We made it to the kuna village and hiked up the mountain with rice in hand. It was so awesome to be greeted by some of the little kuna girls. The village was made up of grass huts all around. We were asked to come into the home of Alexia, a man that Edwin knows. We were greeted by all, the kuna children sang to us and we sang to them the same songs in English. We prayed for one another in our own languages also. Afterwards Deena and I served the kids tea and cookies...that was so cool! Each child had went to their homes and brought back coffee mugs to be filled. I was so filled to serve them on this way. We met a few people that were going to be baptized the next time Edwin goes to the village and also a couple that plans to get married. We prayed over them also. We walked around the village some and then went into another hut to look at all the things they made. I got a new bracelet! :-)  As we were getting ready to head down the mountain to head to Incanti, we received news that Incanti was being quarantined because of an outbreak of diarrhea and fever in the children.  Four children had died that day. We were saddened to hear of the news. We decided to stay in the village and play with the kids. We made a craft with them and also made salvation bracelets with them. I was almost trampled by the ladies and kids when I began to pass out bags to them! We headed back down the mountain and into the boat. We were all exhausted Nd enjoyed the calm rude back. We prayed as we went past the Incanti village for those families who lost children and were sick. After we made it back we headed for supper. It was an exhausting, emotional day. I was glad to get back to the house and go to bed. During dinner we were able to skype with the kids.....I needed that. Tomorrow is church and our last day in Panama. Sad....

"...and then the tire blew..."

06.29.2012 Today (Friday) was our beach day. Of course we waited quite awhile for our bus driver so instead of leaving at 9am, we left at 11am. We had a nice morning, though...breakfast, devotions, hanging out. We finally began our journey to Colon, not the nicest city (lots of drugs), but it had beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, on our way there we blew a tire in the bus. Our bus driver was amazing! He got us safely off the road and changed the tire in no time! We probably looked a little crazy....a group of Americans on the side of a road! We finally made it to the beach. Everybody enjoyed the warm water and sand. Dalton had his guitar, so Edwin played some songs for us... Tonight, after the beach, we went to the largest mall. We didn't have much time, but we shopped a little and had supper there. Tomorrow (Saturday), we will be headed to the Kuna village, Incanti. We all have been anticipating this exciting journey! We will be taking a 2 hour bus ride and a 1 1/2 hour boat ride to get there! I know we are going to be blessed with an amazing time! We've been warned about different things...cameras/pictures, the boys looking at the girls, etc. The church is in the process of forming relationships with the people, so we don't want to jeopardize that. We've got to get up extremely early for this trip, so Adios! Keep the prayers coming! :-)