Everyone one of the students on project had an amazing story even simply to get them to the point of being on the project. But their stories didn't stop there. They continued to grow throughout the week and even now as we've been back in Panama. The project was made up of a little bit of everything and even though we had had a set schedule before we got there nothing ever stays the same. And so opportunity after opportunity came up as door after door opened up for our team to do things I never thought we would be doing. One of my favorite nights was Sunday evening when we had a chance to show the Jesus film in a rougher area of the city. We were told it was a slightly more dangerous area and to be careful. But as we stepped off the bus and looked the church there was in the process of setting everything up. We ended up shutting down a street and showing the film at a crossroads in the middle of the neighbourhood. More and more people kept coming and as the students shared testimonies and as we watched the film I was really encouraged. I had been really sick on the first couple of days and was under orders to rest which meant I wasn't able to go with the team to invite people, or help set up, or really do anything much at all. But as I waited in the church for my team to come back, more and more children came into the church. There was all of a sudden 7 or 8 little boys that broke out into band practice and later in the evening I simply sat with a little girl on my lap as we smiled and pointed at the movie together. That was really special to me. Because a lot of times when I'm sick I feel like I can't do anything. I can't do the things that everyone else is doing, and that's really difficult for me to handle. But as I was sitting there with these children I realized how much we are simply called to love those that God places in our paths. It was just another aspect of an amazing trip!
Friday, November 14, 2008
so we've been back...
The project to the Dominican Republic last week was awesome! Every time I stopped and realized that we were actually there and that is was actually happening I was blown away. On one of our training nights two of the students shared a little bit about their experiences raising support. I had never heard the full stories before and so hearing them there was amazing. Isaac, one of the students had only had $165.00 of the $1500.00 raised less than one month before the trip, and yet there he was fully funded and on project. God has acted in the last weeks to bring him up to full support. And then there was Lorenzo who had months and months in advance been passing out support letters to everyone he knew. But then he didn't hear anything back and ended up telling God, "if you want me to go you'll bring in the finances because I don't know what else to do." The money started to come in and Lorenzo was one of the first students done support raising.
Everyone one of the students on project had an amazing story even simply to get them to the point of being on the project. But their stories didn't stop there. They continued to grow throughout the week and even now as we've been back in Panama. The project was made up of a little bit of everything and even though we had had a set schedule before we got there nothing ever stays the same. And so opportunity after opportunity came up as door after door opened up for our team to do things I never thought we would be doing. One of my favorite nights was Sunday evening when we had a chance to show the Jesus film in a rougher area of the city. We were told it was a slightly more dangerous area and to be careful. But as we stepped off the bus and looked the church there was in the process of setting everything up. We ended up shutting down a street and showing the film at a crossroads in the middle of the neighbourhood. More and more people kept coming and as the students shared testimonies and as we watched the film I was really encouraged. I had been really sick on the first couple of days and was under orders to rest which meant I wasn't able to go with the team to invite people, or help set up, or really do anything much at all. But as I waited in the church for my team to come back, more and more children came into the church. There was all of a sudden 7 or 8 little boys that broke out into band practice and later in the evening I simply sat with a little girl on my lap as we smiled and pointed at the movie together. That was really special to me. Because a lot of times when I'm sick I feel like I can't do anything. I can't do the things that everyone else is doing, and that's really difficult for me to handle. But as I was sitting there with these children I realized how much we are simply called to love those that God places in our paths. It was just another aspect of an amazing trip!
Everyone one of the students on project had an amazing story even simply to get them to the point of being on the project. But their stories didn't stop there. They continued to grow throughout the week and even now as we've been back in Panama. The project was made up of a little bit of everything and even though we had had a set schedule before we got there nothing ever stays the same. And so opportunity after opportunity came up as door after door opened up for our team to do things I never thought we would be doing. One of my favorite nights was Sunday evening when we had a chance to show the Jesus film in a rougher area of the city. We were told it was a slightly more dangerous area and to be careful. But as we stepped off the bus and looked the church there was in the process of setting everything up. We ended up shutting down a street and showing the film at a crossroads in the middle of the neighbourhood. More and more people kept coming and as the students shared testimonies and as we watched the film I was really encouraged. I had been really sick on the first couple of days and was under orders to rest which meant I wasn't able to go with the team to invite people, or help set up, or really do anything much at all. But as I waited in the church for my team to come back, more and more children came into the church. There was all of a sudden 7 or 8 little boys that broke out into band practice and later in the evening I simply sat with a little girl on my lap as we smiled and pointed at the movie together. That was really special to me. Because a lot of times when I'm sick I feel like I can't do anything. I can't do the things that everyone else is doing, and that's really difficult for me to handle. But as I was sitting there with these children I realized how much we are simply called to love those that God places in our paths. It was just another aspect of an amazing trip!
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