pablo the pavo/turkey

(Steve discovering some yummy turkey parts...)

("pablo all said and done...)

Canadian Thanksgiving came and went on Monday and with it a great 3 hour meal together as a team. Steve and I tag teamed the turkey making bliss and combining some old school family traditions had a blast cooking up the feast for the team. But as we continue to eat leftovers (and let me tell you there's lots!!) I've continued to be thinking about so many things that I have to be thankful for.

(The Driedegers and Yenkana's that came to visit me....!)

God just blows me away with the people that he puts in my life, both in my relationships here in Panama and at home. Sometimes relationships are hard to maintain over distance but even this week something happened that gave me so much confidence in knowing that God's at work even over many miles as I continue to be both challenged and encouraged by my loved ones at home. And then there's everyone here. My team is absolutely amazing. The combination of our skill sets and just the different personalities both cracks me up and amazes me continually. At times it feels like we were always the little family that our Stint team is. Then there's these amazing girls that I've been discipling who both encourage me and challenge me to love deeper and continue to seek more in my own relationship with the Lord. Even this last weekend I had some supporters visit from Canada on their way home from Paraguay. Spending time with them over the last weekend was restful and super encouraging as we were able to share with each other what has been on our hearts and how we've seen God move all over the world.

(3 of the beautiful girls that I disciple... from Interamericana)

I've just been reminded how God is always at work and this morning I had such a crystal clear reminder of that. The girls and I were transporting supplies to campus so we decided to take a taxi instead of the bus this morning. As we got in the cab our taxi driver starting asking us questions about where we're from and what we were doing in Panama. My first reaction was that I was barely awake enough to have a deep conversation in Spanish but as we were able to share a bit of our hearts for the students at the universities I quickly woke up. Raquel asked Fidel (our taxi driver) about his own beliefs and he launched into this crazy story of a literal near death experience with a extremely bad car accident and his super difficult recovery from this. He went on and explained his experiences with all of this and wrapped the whole thing up saying he was afraid to go to church because he didn't want to fail God. Here was a man who has struggled with physical pain from many years but also a deep spiritual pain and fear of coming to God even though he wanted to so much. He glanced back at me in the rear-view mirror and his eyes were filled with such sadness and loss. Our taxi ride came to a rapid end but Raquel pulled out a booklet we use when we share our faith and left it with Fidel, telling him that this book explains how to have a personal relationship with God and inviting him and his family to come to church with us on Sunday. It was like something lit inside of him as Fidel gave us this brilliant smile. For me it seemed like he was so excited to have something in his hands that explained how he could have this relationship he so desperately wanted, this peace that he was seeking and that he would never be left behind or forsaken by this God. I stepped out of the cab into the brilliant sunshine, humbled that God had simply let me be in that cab that morning. Because I'm nothing special, but I know more than anything that I want to be used where God places me and this morning he placed me in the back of Fidel's cab.

I was reminded of Acts 3. Peter and John heal a lame beggar at the Beautiful Gate. The beggar is looking for money but Peter and John say to him, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" Fidel didn't charge us anything this morning for our cab ride. It was as if this other thing we gave him, this little piece of our own hearts was worth something so much more.