A new start.....how will you begin?

12/31/2013 Today was an amazing day! A lot of work was completed today at the church including more work on the stairs, lots of painting, and more block laying. Along with all of the work, we are having fun on the worksite as well! :) It's New Year's Eve....the end of 2013, the beginning of 2014. What a way to begin a new year, but by serving! Personally, I have been thinking back on my 2013....what did I do? What are some highlights? What moments would I'd like to do over? This is the time to reflect, re access, and decide what your 2014 will look like. This doesn't mean stress or worry about it, but we can evaluate! What's great is that it's so exciting to know that we can walk into the new year with God. We don't have to enter it alone, we don't have to go through trials alone, and we don't have to celebrate alone! We have an amazing God who wants to walk with you. Maybe you don't have that, and maybe you are interested in knowing....this is your year!! 2014 could be the year that you give up all of the junk, drama, and worries....and start a fresh life with God! I pray each of us as we make our goals or resolutions for this coming year, adds to that list "Spending more time with God." We all could use a little more of that.....

Blessings at La Gloria....

12/30/2013 So I'm sitting here in the lobby of the Hotel waiting on our group to rise and shine. I'm listening to the Panamanian news blaring, because that's how they like all noise, music, tv....LOUD! Today is our first work day at the church. Yesterday was a very nice day. We went to the church service in the morning and had a great time of worship! Afterwards we had pizza :) and some of the group filled bags to take to La Gloria. We headed to La Gloria in the afternoon with Nina (Pastor Anhil's daughter). She's a very sweet young woman who knows English and has been a major help to our group! La Gloria was amazing as usual! When we arrived this time all of the children were sitting in the church (more like a blocked park shelter) and singing songs with Pastor Anhil. We were so amazed at even when we pulled out all of the goodies, the children were so quiet and stayed seated the entire time! They enjoyed our skits for them....David & Goliath and Zacchaeus. They were a lot of fun! We organized our gift bags and our flip flops this year so we could line the children up and pass the things out. Three years ago it seemed like we were just completely bombarded with children when we pulled out the flip flops, we didn't want that this year! It was awesome to hand this little boys and girls (and some older children), mostly with bare feet or very dirty flip flops, a new pair of flip flops that were their very own! What a blessing! If my count is correct, we handed out over 160 bags and even more flip flops!! We are so thankful, especially, for those of our friends who have taken part in this trip, not by coming, but by giving! Whether you gave flip flops, the many bags, or the toys....everything was donated and we appreciate everyone giving a little to make those amazing few hours possible! More coming....

The fear of the bridge does not run as deep anymore...

12/29/2013 It's Sunday morning and I'm awake for church. Quiet in my room, just a peaceful humming of the air conditioner. After last night's craziness next door, I'll take the air conditioner! Well we made it to Changuinola, Panama!! All of the flights were great, smoothest travel day we've ever had! Yesterday morning we left on our bus ride to Panama. It was a beautiful ride as always in the rain forest and along the beach. For those of you who've been to Panama, you know how fabulous (insert sarcasm) the walk across the bridge is. Broken pieces of wood, rusty metal, and semis trying to get around you as you trek across the bridge hoping to miss a hole and praying none of the moving boards pop up and hit you in the face! (You know, like in the old cartoons, I think it always happened to Tom in Tom & Jerry! Ha!) well........now they've built a new bridge alongside of the old bridge. Of course the new bridge is only for vehicles and we still have to continue to walk on the old bridge, but we don't have to contend with vehicles and semis anymore! :) it is the little things in life.... Last evening we had a great meal served to us by Yanis and the ladies of the church. We were able to see Pastor Nieves, the boys (oh my! They've grown!), Alicia, Dario, and Arcenio, among many others. It was a great reunion! Today we will be headed to church and then to La Gloria! We are all very excited for this trip! We love La Gloria and then people we get to see there! We are praying this year we have more than enough flip flops to pass out to the children of La Gloria. They said it has grown with over 100 children in the church, with I'm sure more coming out of the wood works when we arrive! They also said that the local church has worked on their building as well, so we can't wait to see all of the changes made! Our schedule this week is very busy. We are at the worksite Monday-Thursday, showing the Jesus Film Monday and Wednesday night, NYE Celebration on Wednesday, and hosting bible schools in between all of it! It's going to be a long, exhausting, but amazing week!! Please keep us in your prayers....we have already been blessed by everyone's prayers already....

In anticipation....

So just a quick post this evening as I finish up the packing and head to bed to endure a very long day of traveling! I can't believe in just a few short hours I will be getting on an airplane to embark on my 9th trip to Panama! I'm looking forward to this year's trip, just as every year! I anticipate a great group of people who come from all walks of life. I anticipate an exciting project, along with VBS, and showing the Jesus Film. I anticipate seeing the faces of some of the most amazing people we've been privileged to be able to call family. And I anticipate a time of renewal, refreshing, and a time of closeness with God. Every year is different, and every year we say it's the best! I can't wait to see what this year holds for us! Please pray for us if you will! Here is a list of the people in our group! Jeremy and Rebekah McLaughlin (WI) Cabot McLaughlin (WI) Rosie Stanchik (WI) Vikki King (WI) Lori Slaney (WI) Robert Slaney (WI) Derl and Karen Keefer (MI) Bryan and Sheila Baker (IL) Gabe and Kerri Manis (CO) Al Smith and Karen Wenger (IN) Karen Renner (IN) Jama Pyle (IN) Kristen Cook (IN) Jamie King (IN) Julia Sorrell (IN) Lois Pines (IN) Thank you for you prayers!! I will be posting as much as I can on this trip....keep looking out for it!

"...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! :-)