learning to say good bye....

One of the things that I've had to learn over the last two years is how to say good-bye. And I've learned it never really gets easier. I think the thing that makes it the hardest for me is that there's people on both ends of good-bye, either sad to see you leaving or excited to see you coming. The mix of emotions is crazy. Even last night I swung from "I never want to leave," to "This needs to be over." It's insane.

But God is so so very faithful. One of things that I've learned this year is that there are seasons in our lives, and we move in and out of those seasons in His time and not in our own timing, even if we want it that way sometimes. Our team has been super blessed this year to get a chance to take part in the awesome work that God is doing here in Panama. As the Canadian project campus cycle came to a close at the end of May we held a commitment dinner where we challenged students to four things; to walk with God in obedience, to live a life of evangelism and discipleship, to involvement with Vida Estudiantil and to help to complete the Great Commission in this generation. Our prayer had been that we would see 39 students commit and from 3 campuses in 2 cities 44 students took this step and made that commitment. It was so exciting and in a way that helps make it easier to leave.

Leaving people and relationships behind is never easy. It always hurts to say good-bye. Because leaving Panama I know I want to come back but I'm not sure how that will happen or if it ever will. But like learning about seasons, I'm also learning about peace. God has given me this overwhelming peace that in spite of difficulty it's time for all of us to move into the next season of our life. And we can't do that without saying good-bye. But good-bye doesn't mean it's over, whatever it is, it just means it's going to look different. And that's okay. More than anything I believe that God is good. And that makes His plans for my lives and the lives everyone here perfect. I rest in His goodness because I know that in spite of pain He continues to be good and continues to be the sustenance and strength that I need in this difficult time. And so together, we're all learning, how to say good-bye.

some shots from project.

(We've jokingly called ourselves "Team Distraction," and this is why. From L to R: Amanda, Patrick, Krista, Evelyn, Steve and I)

Project has been great but has made for a super intense schedule as we're learning to balance normal life in Panama with the craziness that comes with project. Steve and I have been blessed with an awesome team in architecture/law/science that we've gotten to work with over the last month. Our outreach last Thursday came together super fast and super last minute but it all came together. We did an outreach called, "who is your hero?" or in Spanish, "Quien es tu heroe?" We had t-shirts made for the event and plastered big banners and posters all throughout the architecture faculty. There was a decent turnout of students from architecture and also from buisness administration as the Canadian team working there brought some of thier students with them to the event. That was a huge encouragement to me!

This next week our team is transitioning from a heavy focus on evangelism to more follow-up and discipleship as we're working on meeting up with the interested students from the outreach and from some classroom talks that Steve has had a chance to give in the architecture faculty. At the end of next week our entire project team is holding a "commitment dinner." Both before and at this dinner we will be challenging the key students either from this year or this last month of project to make a commitment to four things;

Walking with God in Obedience

Personal Evangelism and Discipleship

Involvement in Vida Estudiantil

Helping to Fulfill the Great Commission in this Generation

We're praying that 40 students would make this commitment and at the commitment dinner get hooked in with the Panamanian staff and other students so that as we leave there would be a smooth transition for the entire movement here in Panama. Please join with us in prayer with praying that these 40 students would commit to being 40 movement builders, that would change this country from the university to wherever they're heading next!

(all the project ladies at the canal)

(and all the boys at the canal.... they're outnumbered by quite a bit...)

in full swing.

Project is here and this week we were in full swing on campus. Steve and I have the blessing of working with a team of four in the architecture, law and science faculties. For me its coming full circle as three years ago when I was first on project I was in architecture and so it's been a blessing to be back and focusing on this faculty even as I prepare to wrap up with the girls I'm discipling in the science faculties. This week was insane! Every day was long as we've been leaving early in the morning to meet our teams on campus and then the evenings are filled with training or team building activities. But in the middle of the long days and the tiredness that come with those has been an overwhelming sense of encouragement. Spending the days talking with students about their views on God and seeing the students from Canada get a taste on full on ministry has been great. Three girls from the Interamericana campus have also been spending the days with our team translating! It's been awesome to have them partnering with us and our sharing their faith, a couple of them for some of the first times. For me I've simply felt so blessed to get to be here on this project and to have such a great team to work with. The times of bible study and prayer we've had have been awesome and God has been opening doors all over the place for us to do ministry.

Monday morning Dorrie (one of our project directors...) and I walked with the Buisness Administration team over to their faculty and were planning on taking some time to share and them do some discipleship together. As we started a conversation with two students, a professor walked up to us and asked to talk with us. As we followed him to his office I was a little unsure of what was happening... more curious as to whether we were in "trouble" or not. We quickly learned that Francisco is the Director of Student Affairs. As we talked with him about what our goals and purpose was we had a chance to share about what we were doing. Francisco loved that we were here to work with the students and shared a little of what was on his heart about the student population in this new campus. Over that morning and the next morning we had a chance to connect with the Dean of the faculty and get classroom talks set up on time management including a chance to share the gospel openly in each of these classrooms! It's such a great opportunity!! The team that's in this campus is super excited and I know that God has opened up this huge door in this new faculty! And it's crazy to think it happened 10 minutes into our first morning on campus!

The stories go on but more than anything God is showing himself faithful in so many ways. This past Thursday we had 42 people at the weekly meeting on the national campus. This was such a huge answer to prayer as we've been praying to see 40 people at the weekly meeting! Then, following the weekly meeting our team had a chance to meet with some of the more committed students and plan an outreach for this upcoming week. It was great to meet with them and see them get excited about reaching thier campus. Please be praying for the outreach this Thursday!!! We're doing an outreach called, "Who is your hero?" with a huge media promotion campaign followed by a Thursday even with testimonies, a drama and a speaker focusing on why we know Jesus is our hero, He's saved us from death! Its happening quick but we're trusting God that He'll pull all the details together in His perfect time!

they're coming!

It's May and for a stinter that means project is on the way. Every summer students from across Canada spread out on 6 week missions trips, we call them projects both within Canada and around the world. For us here in Panama that means tonight we have 3 Canadian staff arriving and 17 students on Tuesday! Its a chaotic and exciting time but I know that our entire team is looking forward to having this fresh injection of manpower and excitement over the next 6 weeks. This upcoming week will be spent in orientation with the students, training them to minister cross culturally and preparing them to work in teams on the campuses within Panama City and Santiago, a city three hours from here. The next 4 weeks we'll be focusing on campus ministry with a large amount of getting out and sharing our faith on campus. From there we take 3 days off to rest and refocus and then we're off to the interior of the country. We'll spend 6 days working with families and showing the Jesus film in two villages that are isolated and completely different from Panama City. Its a interesting experience as the living conditions are anything but normal for us, but its so cool to see what God does during this time our lives and in the lives of those we come into contact with. From there it's 4 days of debrief and then home time! Somedays project seems like it'll go on forever but most of the time it flies by in a whirlwind of activities. I would ask that you be praying for our team and the new Canadian team especially over the next 6 weeks. Some initial prayer requests would be the following.... Please be praying that:

-the staff and students would have safe travel here to Panama
-the students would adjust to be in a foreign culture quickly
-our staff team would have wisdom to lead this project in a way that sees God glorified above all
-for translation and Spanish skills as the vast majority of the upcoming team doesn't speak spanish, we'll need Panamanian students to help us out with this!

Thank you so much for your prayer support! It means the world to our stint team and really is making a huge difference here in Panama! I'll keep you updated as we go! :D

frosh continues and another note..

Frosh weeks, the weeks where activities are focusing on interacting with first year students and exposing them to the vision of Vida Estudiantil, have seemed to continue and continue, as the a unique class schedule on the national campus made us change our plans. Last week we were able to set up tables in the various faculties and have some great interactions with the students. Later on that week we had been debating how effective the tables had been. Some good conversations had happened but we hadn't had the traffic at the tables we had expected. Last Thursday rolled around and we prepared for our first weekly meeting of the semester. No one quite knew what to expect. But as I arrived at TUAL (the ampitheater where we have our meeting) I was surprised to see Juan Carlos sitting with a group of new students, many of whom we had met that very week at the information tables. We had 28 people in attendence which for us was one of the highest numbers ever. We've been praying that we would see the weekly meeting grow to a constant attendence of 40 and with that, we were well on our way. Many, if not all of the students there signed up to get involved in a discipleship group. And so, this upcoming Monday morning we're kicking off our guys and gals disicpleship groups. Please be praying that the students would remember to come and that we would have a great time of fellowship and growing in the word together. Your prayers are so important to us! One of the things that I've been learning is that I need to be persistant in my prayers... check out Luke 11:1-13. We need to keep on asking!
On a completely different note, this last weekend my missionary visa and the teams tourists visas were expiring so we needed to leave the country. God totally blessed our team with super cheap tickets to El Salvador and so we were able to travel there over the weekend. We stayed with Raquels grandmother and had a great time getting to know her and the rest of Raquel's (and some of Juan's) extended families. We also had a chance to visit Selegna, a friend of ours and a Panamanian missionary serving with Campus Crusade for Christ in El Salvador. Another highlight was getting to meet the American stint team serving in El Salvador. We had a great day hanging out with the other stinter's! It was amazing to get to connect with them and I left our day today super encouraged and excited about what God is continuing to do both here in Central America but also at home in Canada and the States.

For more pics of our trip check out the following link!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=243306&id=523285093&l=981db7f264

it all started with a balloon.

Today was one of the days of frosh week on the national campus. We had an information table set-up in the walkway in front of Chemistry. Unlike in Architecture the day before not a lot of people were stopping and we weren't getting into a tonne of conversations with a lot of students. Later on a young lady approached me and asked for a balloon. I asked her why and she said that she needed it for a chemistry lab. We began to chat and suddenly there was a group of 7 or 8 first year chemistry students surrounding the table. Derek and I got talking with a young man named Javier and his friend Vanessa. Both of them were Christians and super interested in getting involved. Javier even said that he wanted to take advantage of the time that he had in university to grow in his faith. It was super encouraging for both Derek and I to talk with some first year students when we had been praying to meet first year students. For me too, to see their hearts for the Lord and their desire to get connected in and growing in their faith was amazing! And to think it all started with them seeing a balloon on a wall... it made me smile!

whats coming next...

I just emailed out this update about plans for next year but if you're not on the list here it is just in case! Let me know what you think!

There’s not a day that I walk down the street in Panama City without being faced with the poverty that is so rampant here and around the world. As I finished my first year in Panama God began to work on my heart in a new way. I had always wanted to reach the poor and the outcast of society and felt that best way I could do that was through reaching future leaders on the university campus. Campus ministry does a spectacular job of reaching the leaders that will decide and change their nation from the top of society to the bottom years down the road. But the more I began to question God about what He was doing in my heart, the more I realized He was calling me into a different step of faith. Over the last year and a half I’ve begun a process of asking questions. Questions about my own heart and attitude towards the poor, what Power to Change as a ministry is doing about it and most importantly what Gods heart is for these people. This drove me into the word and the answer of what my reactions should be to the poor couldn’t have been clearer than when I read the words, “give to everyone who begs from you...” (Luke 6:30 ESV). And so I began to ask myself, “what does it look like for me to give?” The more time that I spent in prayer, the more I realized that I wanted my life, in every day, to be invested in reaching the poor in a concrete way.

As I looked at what Power to Change was doing internationally in the field of relief and development I was floored by the mission statement of the humanitarian branch of Power to Change, Global Aid Network (GAiN); “to demonstrate the love of God, in word and deed, to hurting and needy people around the world, through relief and development projects.” Jesus demonstrated through both word and deed his compassion and love for the poor and outcast, and GAiN is striving to do the same. I had the blessing of meeting with GAiN last summer and also when I was home in January. I began to ask questions about what they were doing, to share what was on my heart and to see if there was a place for me to put my passion for building into people and for reaching the poor into practice.

As of July when my stint is over, I’ll be transitioning out of campus ministry to work with GAiN at Power to Change headquarters in Langley, BC. I’m stepping into a new role as the coordinator of International LIFE teams, teams of individuals who have a vision for the ministry and are committed to investing their labour, influence, finances and expertise. This could be on a water well project, a project working with orphans or a relief or development project. My role will include working with the new development of the LIFE team office so it can effectively serve the various departments of GAiN. I’ll also at times have the opportunity to join these teams in the field. I’m amazed at how God has provided an opportunity to use my passion for building into the lives of people, for mission work, for working with the local church body and for demonstrating the love of Christ to the poor through tangible action, into a cohesive role within an international development agency.

Within Power to Change, whether in campus ministry or in GAiN, we talk a lot about faith adventures; a dynamic journey where people discover a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, experience the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit by helping someone else discover Jesus, and inspire others to do the same. What I love about this is that we are all called to be a part of this; to be on a faith adventure ourselves and to bring other with us on this faith adventure. As I begin a new step on my faith adventure I pray that you will continue to be a part of that with me. Over the last two years, you have continued to blow me away and encourage me with your faithful love and support, whether through prayer or financial support. Panama has been eternally changed because of you! As I prepare return home, I will need to raise a full staff salary to be able to move to Langley and begin work with GAiN. Currently, I am slightly below 50% of the monthly support I will need. Would you purpose to pray about continuing with your support as well as possibly increasing your support as we take this new step together?

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your faithfulness both in prayer and finances. I know I say this often but it is so true, none of this could happen without you. I’m looking forward to taking this next step because I know that I’m not taking it alone! Lets go change the world together!