back to panama 07-09

learning to say good bye....

2009-06-26T08:38:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-05-25T10:25:00.000-06:00

(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.

2009-05-15T13:39:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-05-03T16:12:00.002-06:00

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..

2009-04-24T11:47:00.004-06:00

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.

2009-04-15T21:36:00.002-06:00

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...

2009-04-13T13:26:00.008-06:00

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!

frosh frosh frosh

2009-04-07T08:33:00.003-06:00

In Panama we have many crazy opportunities that we don't have doing ministry in Canada. Take last week for example. Last week was the first week of classes at the Universidad de Panama, or "national" as we call it. Monday was spent sorting out last minute details and trying to sort out the class schedules for the different faculties that we're focusing in this semester, architecture, law and science. Unlike Canada each year of students is seperated into groups. The students stay in the same goups throughout the year, going to the same classes and having the same professors. Which makes life a little simpler for us! Over frosh week, our goal was to expose every first year student to the vision of Vida Estudiantil (VE) and give them an opportunity to get involved. So what better way to do that then to talk in each of there classes. Tuesday morning rolled around and found our team with Secundina split into two groups on campus. Each group would sit outside the classrooms where we knew the first years were and wait for the class to change. As soon as the prof would exit the room or as soon as the students stood up we would enter the class and ask to make a quick announcement. Then we'd get a chance to quickly share with the students the vision of VE, give them a schedule and an invitation to our Connection Night and the weekly meeting held on campus. It was a quick way to connect with all the first year students. As we had a chance to enter all 13 of the first year classes we'd targeted it was neat to think that we'd been able to acheive one of our goals of exposing the first year students to VE.

Frosh week (well more like frosh month... :) )activities are continuing this week with a focused drive to evangelize and then next week with a blitz of information tables situated in four focus faculties on campus. The feedback from the tables at UTP last week has been great and we've been seeing students get involved and hooked in on that campus. Please pray that we would have the same positive response next week on the national campus!

The team is also traveling to Boquete this Easter weekend for the annual Cruzada church conference. Please pray for safe travel and a restful weekend with the church and staff up there!

On a personal note... I was quite sick last week with a combination of migraines and nausea which led to me needing to take a full day off campus. After a restful weekend I'm feeling better but still not 100%. Please pray that over this busy time I would be able to heal completely and wouldn't be plaqued by any more migraines!!

taking another look.

2009-03-27T11:45:00.002-06:00

Our team has been working this year through a training program from Campus for Christ called Ministry Prep 1010. We're just wrapping up the section on evangelism and for me it's in a timely fashion as our first week back at UTP was this week and we're full time at the national campus as of Monday. Evangelism and discipleship are the two pillars of our ministry and even though I wouldn't say that I'm a gifted evanglist by any means I've learned to love sharing my faith. There are tonnes of different viewpoints and opinions on evangelism but as we talked this morning for me it came to the point that simply going our and sharing my faith is effective. It may not be the most culturally acceptable thing to do but it works. As I was reading through an article on evangelism I found the passage below really encouraging and challenging in mutliple ways.

"Christ called His followers to a radical life, which contradicted the expectations and cultural boundaries. One of these expectations was to refrain from associating with certain "undesirable" types of people on the basis of their appearance. Although Christ refuted this practice with His own lifestyle, many today would justify and call for this behavior as part of "avoiding the appearance of evil." Many cultural patterns are counter-productive and actually work against the evangelistic enterprise- not to mention the truth of the gospel. I'll sum it up to say that the greatest barriers to successful evangelism are not theological; they are cultural.

We must admit that first, it is impossible to act in such a way that we will be universally understood and accepted. -And second, as we move through life, it is inevitable that we will find ourselves on the wrong side of some man-made fences. Does 1 Thess. 5:22 say that we should never do anything that might look like sin to someone else? Did Jesus follow this principle? Christ avoided evil of every kind, yet He did not always avoid the "appearance of evil." He wanted to please his father. Christ lived in the tensions and He calls us to do the same.

Some would measure the maturity of a Christian as one who has most successfully separated them from the secular world where they live. But if we are to follow Christ's example, the mark of true maturity is not withdrawal, its penetration."

I think that there's always the struggle for us to be in the world but not of it. But be encouraged. The power of the gospel never changes and is so not dependant on us. We just need to be where God is calling us to be and be faithful in the precious time that he gives us here to live our lives out in this world. I love the verse in 1 Peter 2:12; "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." We live among the world and in front of the world. But that doesn't mean we need to put on a show, but my prayer is that more and more we would simply be Gods ambassador's here and demonstrate His love over and above anything else.

exciting.

2009-03-25T14:01:00.004-06:00

Monday morning the team was at UTP to begin the craziness of frosh activities. We set an info table up with some balloons and tuneage and simply talked with students all morning and into the early afternoon. It was great to reconnect with the students there that I`ve worked with on the summer project last year. I ran into two girls our project team had seen come to Christ and they told me that this year they had more time and wanted to get involved in Vida Estudiantil all over again. A group of 3 first year students walked up to me and asked how they could get involved in a bible study and yesterday a student approached the table and said that this was an answer to his prayers. He had been praying for a Christian group so he could connect in with Christian community and continue to remain rooted in his faith. And there we were! As more and more students approached the table, we had both the opportunity to share the gospel but also to simply cast the vision of sharing the gospel with the students at UTP and seeing students come to Christ and then grow in their faith. I believe that God has great plans in store for this university and as we begin to plant seeds I believe with all my heart that even years down the road the our actions now will continue to impact eternity.

"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew 9:35-38

Yesterday we had our weekly staff meeting with a couple of surprise guests. Marquis, a student was there from Santiago as well as another gentleman named Edgar. Marquis shared with us first and told of his experience with Vida Estudiantil and how he came to make the decision to accept the challenge to a one year STEP (a one year internship) working with Vida Estudiantil. This is huge!!! Marquis came to know Christ through Vida Estudiantil and now two years later he's taking the step of coming on staff for one year. Edgar shared his testimony next and how God has brought his through huge times of brokeness and despair but also restoration as his family traveled to Panama with everything they owned in 12 suitcases. But at the end of his story Edgar simply said, "I want to serve God 100%." And now Edgar's praying about coming on staff with Leader Impact group here in Panama. Lionzo (our national director) then shared about another lady named Patricia who has come from Colombia and is praying about working with Cruzada.

As we heard story after story of the people that are coming to fill some much needed positions I was simply blown away. God is bringing people from some of the least expected places to come and work in His harvest here in Panama. As I think about leaving Panama in July part of me's afraid for the team to leave because I see such a need for laborer's here. But then I hear of person after person committing to serving God wholeheartedly and again I realize that it's not about me at all. God has His perfect will that He's going to work out here in Panama and at home in Canada. My part in that is to follow where He takes me. Because He's calling me where I need to be and calling others to see the Great Commission fulfilled here in Panama.

perseverance

2009-03-12T14:11:00.004-06:00

"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."
Nehemiah 4:6

This morning we had a meeting with our campus staff team. Secundina, our national campus director started the meeting by talking a bit about the book of Nehemiah and the story of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. How Nehemiah and the people of Israel overcame intense opposition and rebuilt the wall. Secundina said this morning as she looks at this story she sees a common theme, and that is one of perseverance. This is a story that´s come up many times throughout the last year and half I´ve been on stint. Secundina asked us about our perceptions on the movement and how its changed and how it hasn´t over the last years. There´s things that have changed for the good and things that we as a staff team still need to improve on. But I think that Secundina was onto something this morning when she talked about perseverance. We´re coming up to the busiest time of our Stint year, as classes begin again on the national campus and at UTP. But at the same time we´re halfway through stint and I think the tendency could be to coast through the rest of the year. But it´s now that we need to push on more than ever. Please pray for our team over the next months. Pray for strength and that we would persevere onto the end!

:D

2009-03-06T11:07:00.002-07:00

So... March is here! I think that's insane that time is flying so fast. And speaking of flying our team is officially booked to come back to Canada in July... which is also craziness!

But this week was really encouraging for me. I hadn't been on campus in two weeks because of heading out of town for Mike and Dorrie's visit and then last week heading to the jungle for Carnivales. And so, it was great to be back!!! One of the things that I love about campus ministry is that when we do get back on campus it feels like home. We had a great week of getting back into the swing of things, whether with staff meetings or sharing! Steve and I had another opportunity to meet up with Juliana and Jennifer on the Interamericana campus. We did the third follow-up lesson and just had some really good conversation on who the Holy Spirit is and what His role is in our lives. At the same time Juan and Karina met two students who both prayed to receive Christ and then even came for follow-up the next day! It's been super encouraging to see students enter into a new relationship with Christ but then also to come back and meet up, eager to learn more about what this new relationship means! There's good things happening all the way around! Please keep these new students in your prayers over the next weeks!

Icandi.

2009-02-26T11:32:00.001-07:00

As our boat pulled up on the shore of Icandi and as we unloaded equipment I felt like the whole place was something out of a movie. We were surrounded by massive huts and packed dirt pathways snaked in and out of buildings and trees. It was the furthest away from quote on quote "reality" I’d ever been before. We call these trips “missions experiences” and for me this was definitely a little out of my comfort zone. I’d been on 3 of these trips before but never in such rustic and at times brutal living conditions. All 10 of us, the 6 stinters, the Tillinghasts and 2 Kuna pastors who came with us stayed in one massive hut, sleeping in hammocks and changing in darkness to try and grab some sense of privacy. But the people there were absolutely beautiful! I had never been in a Kuna village before but we were welcomed in as all the children and some of the men carried our equipment and set up our hammocks. The women were pretty shy and the language barrier didn’t help but we were still able to exchange smiles and have some conversation through our translators. Kuna women don’t speak Spanish but all the boys and therefore the men do, so it was interesting to be back in a situation where I couldn’t quite communicate at the level I’m used too.

The 3 and a half days we spent there were full of constantly changing plans and activities. We spent times throughout the day working with various families and Juan Carlos and I found ourselves grinding corn, cutting and gutting fish, machete-ing a little field and cutting and peeling green plantains. It was a totally new experience for me but one that we both enjoyed. The first day we didn’t really get a chance to talk with any of the families as we simply worked on our tasks, but as Juan Carlos said as we were working on a little field, “I hope that somehow this shows them the love of Christ.” And I pray that it did. We were able to have a bible study we the Kuna ladies on both days that we were there and I was able to share my testimony one of these days. This was while the boys on our team were entertaining and keeping all the tonnes of children distracted with singing songs and crazy re-tellings of bible stories.

The children too were absolutely amazing! We were mobbed as we walked throughout the villages and many a time I felt a little hand grab mine as we were walking to and fro. It was fun to play with them and teach them new games but also super encouraging hearing them sing Christian songs well into the night.

On our final evening there we had a chance to show the movie, “Magdalena.” It’s a newer film that uses scenes from the Jesus film and new scenes to tell the story of Jesus through the eyes of a woman. The message was powerful as the gender relations in a Kuna village are drastically different but not necessarily bad. When we asked a woman what her purpose was, she said it was nothing. It was sad to see women think that they were worth nothing but through the women’s bible studies and through seeing the film my prayer is that they know Jesus loves them and that they’re worth dying for.

It was a challenging three days but more than anything I left encouraged. There’s good follow-up set in place and a pastor named Lazaro that’s been visiting the village once a week. He’s respected by the chiefs and in the village and so as he continues to work there along with another Pastor named Leno I have a lot of hope for this village in spite of the challenges that are there. The beliefs of the people are so close to Christian beliefs; they say we have the same God and they believe that Jesus was the son of God. But they see no need for a saviour because their salvation is based on works. If the good things you do outweigh the bad ones you get to go to heaven. They're missing the truth of the word. The bible has been translated into Kuna but is still not in this village, the pastors have bibles but the people don't, many of them can't read. But my prayer is that as Pastors Lazaro and Leno teach from the word and build the church they just received permission to build, the truth about Gods grace but also the truth and need for a saviour would be spoken and received.

we're back.

2009-02-21T20:09:00.003-07:00

We’re back in the city and ready to leave all over again! David and Santiago was great and Steve, Dorrie, Mike and I had a great time connecting with the students and one of the volunteers that work with the movement. For me it was exciting to see many of the students I had met last year still connected in and faithful with the ministry. But even more than that hearing their hearts to follow God through all the ups and downs and discouragement was a testimony to God’s hand at work in their lives.

In Santiago we met up with three students from the ministry; Enoch, Marquis and Melissa. Mike and Dorrie were curious to hear their life stories and so away we went. Enoch went first and explained about his Christian upbringing but how as he got older church just became something he did socially. One day he was walking along on the university when he saw a piece of paper on the ground that said, “Are you a Christian?” and advertising for a Vida Estudiantil meeting. Enoch went, in his words thinking that maybe there were cute girls there and ended up being invited to a retreat VE was having. He ended up going and in a quiet moment under a palm tree he said that he felt the Lord spoke to him and he decided in that moment that he was going to follow God no matter what and for his own belief and not anyone else’s. I remember hearing about this retreat because the team that was in Santiago on my project put it together... it was over 2 years ago. Today Enoch is still connected in with the movement as well as being super involved in his local church. For me it was so cool to see how God has been moving over the years and how the Canadian partnership with the Panamanian ministry here has gotten to be a little part of that!

Please keep the team in your prayers as we leave tomorrow for the Darien jungle where we’ll be on a four day mission trip in a Kuna village. As always pics and details to come! Thanks so much for staying tuned!!

this week.

2009-02-15T21:38:00.002-07:00

I'm at home with the girls anxiously awaiting the arrival of two staff members from Canada. Mike and Dorrie are on their way down to "meet" Panama and prepare for the arrival of the summer project of students heading down throughout May and June. They'll be in town for the next week. Tomorrow the 4 of us, Mike, Dorrie, Steve and I will be in meetings with the national staff to talk about the vision for the summer project. Then, later in the afternoon we're setting off for a rapid 3 days of travel to the other side of the country and back. Not that far really as its Panama. We'll be heading to the city of David first and then we're off to Santiago. The goal for the four of us is to connect with the local staff and volunteers in the prayer that we'll be able to send summer teams to each of these cities, as well as Panama City this summer. David doesn't currently have any staff members but we're praying for that and are excited to meet the committed group there. Steve and I were there last year so I'm looking forward to revisiting the ministry there and seeing where they've been the last year and where we're looking forward to going. Visiting Santiago is always a joy and connecting with Duby (the local staff) and the group of students is awesome!

Please pray as we travel through the country over the next week. We'll be leaving Monday and returning sometime Thursday. Pray that we'll be able to have good conversations and get solid planning and preparation in place for the summer project. We're excited to get rolling! Also please keep in your prayers the group of students currently in the application and support raising process to come to Panama this summer. Summer project is always one of the highlights of he year and for me was an absolutely life changing experience! Thanks so much for all your prayers! I'll let you know how it goes!

i was going to blog but...

2009-02-13T12:41:00.004-07:00

Hey everyone! I was going to blog away like normal when I received a link to an article in my inbox and it would be great if you took a look at this. It's a great article that got posted about our trip to the Dominican Republic.... pretty cool!

http://ccci.org/locations/americas/panama/panama-to-dominican-republic.aspx

change.

2009-02-02T18:40:00.003-07:00

I feel like a part of me is growing up and getting ready to move into whatever is next. At the same time growing up comes with a lot of change and that's not something I deal with well unless I have control over whatever it is that's changing. But that's not how life works, especially life with God. Everything here in Panama is such a huge part of me, campus ministry included and so as scary as it is to leave it all behind I know that a lot of things will come with me. All the memories and all of everything that I've learned here. People are in our lives for a season and longer or more unexpected than others. And yet as everything changes and time continues to pass by there really only is one constant. Christ. Time and time throughout the Psalms David comes back to the refuge and shelter of the most high. Its as if David knows that's his only safe place. I don't know whats to come as everything around me seems to be changing but I know that God calls us into these ever changing season and that He'll be beside me every step of the way.

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong for the Lord upholds his hand."

Psalm 37:23-24

contentment.

2009-01-25T20:35:00.006-07:00

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Cor 12:10

At church this morning, Pastor Todd talked about embracing our weaknesses. How our normal reaction is to push the things that are our weaknesses away but that we should embrace them as it's then and there that Christ is able to demonstrate his strength and his over abundant provision. I was looking at this again tonight and thinking about how much this makes sense. Todd said that our strengths can actually become Christ's rivals as we depend on them instead of depending on Christ. And yet, when we're weak Christ is able to act and remind us how much we're dependent on Him. As I was looking at this again tonight I began to think about the word contentment.

How are we content and what does that even look like? This is a question I struggled with last year and it was then that I wrote the following. I came back to it again tonight and wanted to post this. My prayer is that as we learn to be more and more content in our circumstance and in who Christ is, we would rest in Him and more than anything abide in His amazing love.

Someone once told me that the way to be content in my situation was to be happy with what was on my side of the fence. The age-old analogy tells us that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence but I really just think it looks that way. As humans we always tend to look at what we don’t have and see it as better or improved. And yet, chances are everyone else is looking at our grass and thinking it’s the better pasture.

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” Phil 4:11-13 (NIV)

“Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be content (self-sufficient lit. Greek word autarkas) (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am. I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I also know how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want. I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength into me; I am self sufficient in Christ’s self-sufficiency).” Phil 4:11-13 (AMP)

As Christians we are not resigned to circumstances, we are content in them. To be content we need to believe God when He says He is strong in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”) With this knowledge we also need to rest in knowing He is God (Psalm 46:10-11, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”) Paul learned to be content, there was a process and unwittingly a struggle in learning to be content in spite of imprisonment and everything else he faced throughout his time of ministry.

“Contentment, then, is the product of a heart resting in God. It is the soul's enjoyment of that peace which passeth all understanding. It is the outcome of my will being brought into subjection to the Divine will. It is the blessed assurance that God doeth all things well, and is, even now, making all things work together for my ultimate good. This experience has to be "learned" by "proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2). Contentment is possible only as we cultivate and maintain that attitude of accepting everything which enters our lives as coming from the Hand of Him who is too wise to err, and too loving to cause one of His children a needless tear.

Let our final word be this: real contentment is only possible by being much in the presence of the Lord Jesus... It is only by cultivating intimacy with that One who was never discontent that we shall be delivered from the sin of complaining. It is only by daily fellowship with Him Who ever delighted in the Father's will that we shall learn the secret of contentment.”

A.W. Pink

amazing grace

2009-01-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see."

This is one of my favorite hymns which we actually sung Wednesday night this week at Crossfire, our youth group at church. It was beautiful for me to hear a new generation of youth singing a song that has been such a blessing to generations before. The words, and the grace of God doesn't change in any moment, and I was simply reminded at how amazing the gift of this grace is that we have.

christopher

2009-01-23T11:32:00.003-07:00

We were back on campus this week for the first time since classes let up for exams in December and it was a super encouraging week. The atmosphere on the universities is one of tranquility as the number of students is down and the it simply feels like summer... because it is here! Juan Carlos and I went out sharing and met a young man named Christopher. He's a Christian and we had a chance to share with him about the Spirit filled life. It was simply a fun conversation as we got to know him a little more and asked he asked questions and we simply got to talk together about our lives. I had to run off for a lunch meeting but later that afternoon Juan Carlos looked at me and said, "did you hear what happened after lunch?" Christopher actually went sharing himself with Karina and Juan Carlos. I guess as they went out Juan Carlos was doing most of the talking but every now and again Christopher would engage in asking a question like, "how would you explain salvation?" ... questions that we had asked him only a couple hours before. And that was the entire tone of this week, one of encouragement as the entire team had the chance to meet new students and share with them the love of Christ. Steve even changed a tire for a young lady in law as Raquel talked with her about Christ. It was a great week! Please keep praying for us and for this summer semester. It's such a special time to be on campus, we're having a blast!

where we've been....

2009-01-18T11:49:00.010-07:00

(the team at Christmas)

It's been a while.... a month actually and I'm amazed at how quickly time flies. Christmas came and went and in 2nd year Panama stint tradition we made a turkey and headed to the beach on Boxing Day. Christmas seemed really special this year as we went to a Christmas Eve service and even throughout Christmas Day we took time to pray and read the Christmas story. It was a great time of simply being together as I was reminded of how special Christmas is all year round.

From there I was blessed to be able to head back to Canada.... the land of crazy snow this year. I had a great time reconnecting with everyone even if it was freezing. I hadn't thought I was going to be able to go home and so every moment was special as it was an unexpected blessing to be home.

(back to snow in Canada!)(My dad, brother and I at home in High River)(Costa Rica... back to the sun!)

I flew directly into Costa Rica last Tuesday and the team (+ Mackenzie and Mark, Steve's friend and brother) had a great 5 days. For me it was a blast to reconnect with the team and have some good time to simply catch up and hear how everyone's time off had been. The weather wasn't great by any means but we made the best of it and spent one afternoon renting bikes and biking up the coast watching surfers and getting caught in sudden outbursts of rain. The 13 hour bus ride home on 3 buses was kinda a bummer but we made the best of it and arrived in Panama at 5:15am in good spirits. Crossing the border in itself was one of my favorite moments as we simply walked over a single lane bridge, got our passports stamped on both sides and we were good to go. Not a lot of security and the bridge itself was looked like it had seen some better days.

(crossing the border)

As I was waiting for the rest of the team to come through customs I had a chance to chat with some little boys, two brothers that worked cleaning shoes and watching suitcases and cars. They were in a great mood even though they were in such need. They put a smile on my face as they asked me how to say some things in English and asked about a Canadian nickle that one of the team members had give them. I think more than anything they reminded me how we need to be open and willing to take the time for the people that can surround us but that we sometimes don't even see.

a microwave... among other things....

2008-12-19T10:27:00.013-07:00

(at the professor lunch)

Our team has been extremely blessed over the last couple of weeks. It all started a couple weeks ago with our professors luncheon. This is an annual event that the campus staff here holds for all the professors that help us with the ministry throughout the year. It was and is a great time to say thank you and to serve the professors but also to reflect back on the year and what's happened on campus. For me it was a great time to see how much support Vida Estudiantil has from the professors, non-Christian and Christian alike.

(Eliana, Mariesteli, Karina, Raquel and I at the professors lunch)

2 days after the professors luncheon the sheparding trip came. Steve and Robyn Strongitharm along with their two little boys AND (!!!) our vey own Jessica Fauvelle who was on my Stint team last year came to visit. The purpose of their trip was to bring a Canadian team to encourage our team here. We had a great time meeting up and talking about John 13-15 in our devotional times and about our goals and desires on campus. I learned a lot from Steve and Robyn and it was amazing to have Jessica back with our team. It felt like she was just naturally the seventh stint member which was awesome. We were able to travel to a mountain town called El Valle for a couple days of rest and reflexion. It was a huge blessing to get some down time as a a team but also to look forward and be challenged in my own thinking about my heart for this semester coming up and for the ministry here.

(The Stint team with Christmas goodies from Canada)

(Hiking in El Valle)

We came home for the weekend and were able to take Jessica along with our Stint team across to the other coast of Panama and visit some of the tourist sites there. It was a great day away and again I was amazed at this beautiful country that God has called us to be in.

(Fuerte San Lorenzo on the Caribbean coast)

(The team inside Fuerte San Lorenzo)

Monday morning the team again took off as we headed for a city called Santiago, about 3 hours away from Panama City. As we packed and loaded up again Karina commented that she couldn't help but feel like a traveling missionary. We spent 2 and a half days with the student ministry there. We were able to attend their Christmas party and some of the team had a chance to share their testimonies. It was great to reconnect with Marquis, Joanna and Duby who were on the team when we traveled to the Dominican Republic. We also had a chance to give some training on evangelism and having an eternal perspective and got to spend some time simply hanging out and getting to know the students there better. I was so encouraged by the group there. They seem like such a family and it was cool to meet students that the team had seen come to Christ on the Canadian project in May. Seeing how much they've grown and changed was super encouraging. One of these girls was a girl named Cielo. Cielo had prayed to receive Christ last May and since then she's been sharing her faith and taken a bigger role in VE on campus as she's been bringing her sister and friends out to VE events, and been growing as she spends time in the word and with the ministry in Santiago. God is doing an amazing wonder in her heart!

(Marquis, Jessica and I at the Christmas party in Santiago)

We headed home Wednesday afternoon and were able to make it home in time for the Crossfire Christmas party. Crossfire is the youth ministry at one of the churches we are involved with and I have an awesome group of grade 11 and 12 girls that I work with. The entire Crossfire team of leaders including our youth pastor have been so amazingly supportive of us. We showed up Wednesday and sitting on one of the tables were two microwaves for our team, one for the guys and one for the girls. Our youth pastor Mark had found us 2 microwaves. Now I have no idea where they had come from but it was such a huge encouragement for our team. It was just so neat to see how God provided something so simple for our team but something that we had wanted and hadn't had a chance to get. It was such a blessing for us and such an excitement!

(Juan Carlos and Derek with the new and much loved microwave)

Last night was our Vida Estudiantil Christmas party and as such the wrap-up for this semester and this school year here in Panama. We had a great time of eating together, singing together and remembering all the Christmas is for us. There was an open floor where students had a chance to share their testimonies about their year and how Vida Estudiantil had changed or encouraged them. 2 girls shared about how VE had become a family to them and how they had felt so alone before, like they hadn't had any true friends but how VE had become a place where they knew they were welcome and they knew people were there who cared and were praying for them. Along with hearing this I was simply encouraged to be with the students I knew so well and see both new and old faces. One of these new faces was a young man named Samuel that Derek and Raquel had seen come to Christ at the UTP campus. To meet him and to see his life was such a testimony to what God is doing here in Panama.

(gingerbread houses... I think this was a new experience for all...)

(the boys at the Christmas party)

(and the ladies...)

Merry Christmas!!!!!! I pray that Christ's joy and His blessing would be with you this holiday season.

Immanuel

2008-12-14T18:31:00.003-07:00

This is an illustration my friend Jess wrote last year around Christmas time and one that I love.

"I learned about incarnation when I kept a salt water aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium I discovered, is no easy task. I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped in vitamins and antibiotics and sulfa drugs and enough enzymes to make rocks grow. I filtered the water through glass filters and charcoal and exposed it to ultraviolet light. You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed over the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. The showed me only one emotion, fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my design to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concern. To my fish I was deity. I was too large for them and my actions too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts at healing they viewed as destruction. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and "speak" to them in a language they could understand."

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
Matthew 1:23

And this in itself was why Jesus came. There is no other way that we could never have been able to understand how a God so huge could love us and have our best interests at heart. And so our Immanuel came to be with us. A little baby boy. Because we can relate to a child and then to a man. Because we've all been there. The fact that Christ came and masked His deity to be fully man is amazing. I can never quite get my head around it. But my hope and prayer is that this Christmas I would get a fresh understanding of this love, and it would be this love in my heart that would overflow to those around me. And that you too would again begin to realize how much Christ loved you, for him to come to our fish tank as a fish, to show us how much he loved us.

you have something to give...

2008-11-28T11:59:00.003-07:00

If there's one thing I am constantly reminded of it's that although Panama and Canada are so dramatically different, at the root level and at the basis of everything, we all have the same needs. The need to eat, breathe and importantly to be loved.

I was having lunch with two of my disciples in a food court on Wednesday when we were approached by 3 little boys asking for money for food. I think we had given 2 out of 3 boys some change to buy lunch when the 3rd boy came up to us. Andrea started asking him questions about where he lives, his name and age when suddenly she looked at him and asked, "do you know who Jesus is?" Andrea explained the gospel in one of the most beautiful and yet simple ways I had ever heard.

I keep coming back to the story of Peter and John in Acts where they heal a beggar outside the temple gate called Beautiful (in Acts 3). The beggar is asking for money but Peter says, "silver or gold I do not have but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk." The beggar was expecting money and he gets something so much greater. I thought about that on Wednesday. Because even though I had bought the three of them lunch and they were asking for food, I think what Andrea gave them was so much more. Because she told them God loves them, and has a plan for them, even if they don't see it. But it also made me realize how absolutely blessed we are. I had spent something like $12.00 on lunch for the three little boys. For me it wasn't a lot of money, but for them it was... one of the little boys I think had never been told he could pick off the menu whatever he wanted... and he just looked at me and said, "I just want a hamburger please." We have so so much to give. Sometimes its our money and sometimes its simply our time.

There's a man named Victor that is always on the university campus, I think he lives there. Yesterday as I was waiting for two of my girls to finish up some homework Victor approached me asking for help. He started mumbling something about a bible and as I asked him more I realized he was asking for a bible. I grabbed my Spanish new testament that was in my bag and as I handed it to him he looked at me and said, "this has the words of Jesus in it." We sat and talked for probably 15 minutes and honestly I didn't understand all of what he was telling me. But what I did understand broke my heart. He had been orphaned at a very young age and had worked until he got into an accident which ruined the use of his right hand and leg. And now he's unable to work and has no choice but to live homeless and relying on others for help. But I think Victor just wanted to talk. He wanted someone to see him and listen to him. And so I sat, and listened and even though I didn't understand everything, the smile he gave me at the end meant more to me than anything.

There are always opportunities to give of yourself. Of you time, your talents or your treasure. But we all have something as at different times it may be something else. But you always have so very much to give, wherever you are!

links to pics...

2008-11-21T12:40:00.004-07:00

Alrighty... so if any of you are non-Facebook people, as promised here are the links to the pictures from project! Have fun!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177850&l=f2c45&id=523285093
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177840&l=54bce&id=523285093

so we've been back...

2008-11-14T13:15:00.005-07:00

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!

have ticket, will travel.

2008-10-31T08:46:00.003-06:00

Well we're off... or almost! In less than 4 hours the entire stint team along with 10 Panamanians will be boarding a flight for Costa Rica as we head on route to the Dominican Republic. Excitement levels are high and we're all looking forward to seeing what God has in store for this trip. Please continue to keep us in your prayers over the next 10 days as this is a huge step of faith for not only the staff and students but for our Canadian team as well!

More details of the trip...

Saturday November 1- training and orientation of the city, training includes sessions such as sharing your personal testimony, evangelism brainstorming and practice sessions, spirit filled life...

Sunday November 2- church in the morning followed by an afternoon/evening showing of the Jesus film in a rural community outside of Santo Domingo

Monday November 3- Friday November 7- throughout the day we will be heading to the UASD (Universidad Autonomia Santo Domingo) campus for evangelism and outreach activities. We will be focusing in the humanities and arts faculties with the goal of reaching as many students with the gospel through various means and then engaging in initial follow-up. The hope and prayer is that by the end of the 5 days on campus we will be able to turn over a committed group of Christians (both new and old) to Layla and Prospero, the campus staff in the Dominican.

Evening activities include... a training session for students from the Dominican Republic, sharing the vision for Vida Estudiantil at a private campus, debriefing as a Panamanian team and a wrap-up party for all the students from the Dominican.

Friday evening and Saturday will be spent debriefing and bright and early Sunday morning we head back on a plane to Panama City!

I hope that gives you a little taste of what we'll be up to over the next 10 days so you can be praying for us in specific ways. I know I've said this before but this is a dream come true for so many of us in so many different ways! Thank you over and over for all your continued support, you've made a difference in my life, in the students here in Panama and now in the Dominican Republic too!

cracker vs. banquet

2008-10-30T20:31:00.010-06:00

(my awesome small group!!)

The last weekend was the 9th annual Crossfire retreat in Chame and with it came all the craziness that normally accompanies 200 kids and 30 leaders heading away for the weekend. For me the best times of the weekend were the small group times where I had the chance to really connect with the 8 girls that make up my awesome group!! We had some good times of talking together and praying for each other but also laughing together and simply hanging out. It was both amazing and encouraging to see how God really unified our group over that weekend!

(the banquet table)

Saturday Mark (our youth pastor) talked our life before death and how this life is supposed to be one of abundance. Every student was passed two things, one was a simple cracker and the other a invitation to a banquet. Mark explained that the cracker they held in their hand symbolized the satisfaction that the world could give. The things that we had control over, but how just like a cracker they were only temporal satisfaction. A cracker can't satisfy your hunger and shortly after the initial taste only leaves you wanting more. Mark then turned the attention of the students to the side of the retreat room where a banquet table loaded down with various deserts was waiting. As the students were invited to walk past the table and look at what it had to offer Mark talked about the parable of the kingdom of God being like a banquet. How we are all invited but only a few choose to go and be at the table. It was a powerful metaphor to see played out in front of me. I think that so many times we settle for the cracker and the temporary satisfaction because thats the part that we have control over. We don't want to submit ourselves to preparing for the banquet would rather hold onto our cracker than risk coming to the banquet table and living an abundant life, because with that life comes surrender. And thats the scary part. All of the youth were invited to come forward and crumble their cracker into a garbage can to symbolize their commitment to Christ, whether it was a new decision to follow Him or a re-dedication to stop walking around the banquet table and away from God and to come back to his banquet.

(committments on a wall... there were so many amazing things!)

Sunday morning everyone, youth and leaders alike had the chance to write their committments on a wall... specific things that they were committing to do. My small group all wrote committments on the wall and I know that a lot of them were afraid to fail. But more than a fear of failure they all really wanted to see God change them and change those around them. "The kingdom of God is like..." was repeated a lot this weekend but my favorite fill in to this blank came from the girls in my small group.... "The kingdom of God is like a party!" And we're all invited to the feast, an abundant life in Christ. It's John 10:10 all over again.

(small group shot #2)

And so the question that has been posed to me numerous times this week (and one that I love!!) is this.... are you living the kingdom?

it´s actually happening.

2008-10-22T10:52:00.010-06:00

(the team in training!!)

Saturday morning rolled around last weekend and instead of a typical morning to sleep-in our Stint team was up and at it! Along with 7 other Panamanian students and our Panamanian staff members, our team helped out with a 5 hour training and preparation session for the upcoming project to the Dominican Republic. It was the first time that the students from Panama City and the 2 that are coming from Santiago had been all together and as we laughed and learned together I couldn´t help but think to myself... its actually happening.

The dream of a Panamanian partnership has always been there. But I don´t think that any of thought it would actually happen this soon. Even last year as some of the stint team went to the Dominican Republic with two of the Panamanian staff for a scouting and vision trip I still felt like the whole thing was a dream. But as I´ve been putting together the student manual and working on logisitics with the staff team its finally starting to feel like reality. We leave in less the a week and the excitement is starting to grow! I was sitting with Karina on the national campus one day this week when Lorenzo, one of the students coming on project came up to us. He had just recieved his passport and his visa for the Dominican Republic and was so excited simply to show it to us. And so its happening... we're going!

(the whole team (minus duby and oliver) all together!)

A couple of details and prayer requests:
1. We're leaving on the 31st (this Friday!) and connecting through Costa Rica en route to Santo Domingo
2. We'll be focusing on the UASD campus, the largest national campus and the oldest one in the western hemisphere.
3. Some of the students are still finishing up support raising... please pray that the rest of their support comes in!
4. There's a fundraiser concert Sunday night... please pray that this goes well!
5. Please pray that we would be unified as a team and love both each other and all the students and people we will be coming into contact with!!

pablo the pavo/turkey

2008-10-16T19:18:00.006-06:00

(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.

dias de fe... days of faith

2008-09-30T15:59:00.009-06:00

(some of the ladies at the anniversary dinner)

I always think things won't be as busy as they always are. And the last couple weeks haven't been any different. They've been busy but more at the same time completely rewarding. It all kicked off with the 42nd anniversary dinner of Crusade here in Panama. It was an encouraging time to look back at where the movement has come from but at the same time look ahead to where not only the campus ministry is going but also to where the other branches of the ministry are heading.

(las chicas with the "week of values" banner at UTP)

Monday morning dawned bright and clear and with the start of our theology class on, "Christ, Man and Salvation." Its been an interesting class and I've been enjoying learning more about the basics... and realizing that they're not really that basic at all. Tuesday came around and with it the kick-off of "Dias de Fe," or "Days of Faith" at the Tecnologica university (or UTP as we call it). The administration at UTP had implemented a week of values at UTP and we'd (Vida Estudiantil) had been invited to participate in this.

(one of the shots from the concert on Wednesday)

What did that look like? 30 some odd classroom talks on building successful relationships in first year lecture halls and an estimated 600 (at least!!) exposures to the gospel over this time. We were able to throw a concert on Wednesday and the lectures continued over Thursday and Friday. I felt like we had open heavens over us as the administration ushered us into classrooms and announced we would be sharing something that was important for the students to hear. I've never been so openly invited into lecture halls, it was amazing. I was super encouraged as not only was the campus staff team present, but all of the staff from Cruzada. So every day 20 of us or so would descend on UTP, it was sheer insanity and I loved it! We had a great time sharing our faith and it was so cool to see everyone coming together.

(one of the shots from the concert on Wednesday)

Please be praying for all the students that were exposed to the gospel over the last week. The staff team at UTP is small but committed to beginning the long and slightly overwhelming process of following up all the students that indicated interest in hearing more about what it means to have a relationship with God. The task is huge but we know that the Lord is bigger!!

(one of the comment cards from my classroom talk... I actually had a chance to meet up with this girl... but thats another story!)

humanity and deity.

2008-09-27T13:56:00.003-06:00

The whole team has been taking a theology course over the last week and into this week and looking at "Christ, Man and Salvation." It's been heavy material to take in Spanish at 8am but I've been learning a lot and have being challenged to think on concepts I normally think I grasp. And reading through some material this morning I was encouraged by something and just wanted to pass it along....

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant pastor. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with the world except the power of His divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He was nailed on a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on the earth while He was dying- His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. And on the third day He rose from the dead. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man as powerfully as has that One solitary life The explanation? He is the Son of God, the risen Saviour."

-Phillips Brooks, 19th cent. preacher

there was an earthquake... seriously...

2008-09-22T21:34:00.003-06:00

So apparently last night there was an earthquake. Which explains why I woke up at about 12:30 and in a groggy state remember thinking to myself that it felt like my entire bed was vibrating. Confusion reigned and I fell back to sleep thinking nothing of it until the boys brought it up tonight. Apparently I wasn't hallucinating and I lived through my first earthquake ever... that and both of my roommates slept through it. Apparently it wasn't that bad.

monday+ apartment tour

2008-09-15T19:19:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday and we had a great weekend at the beach on Saturday and on back in the Panama City yesterday in a 2 day blitz of birthday celebrations. And now... Monday has come and with it a little bit of everything. Today (and really for the rest of the month) the focus is evangelism... and more evangelism. Derek and I went out sharing this morning and ended up wandering through the economics faculty... a little bit of foreign ground for me. We ended up having two great conversations with a couple of students, one in economics and the other in tourism. For me it was a completely different experience to be translating for Derek as he asked question after question and I scrambled to find my Spanish vocabulary to relay everything on. Even still I left today feeling encouraged... that we're communicating and at the same time simply getting to know these students. Asking about their trials and joys and not going in with a motive to say certain things but to simply love the students and let it be the love of Christ that really ministers to their hearts. So... its been another day and its still going but it was a great start to a long week! And.... the september update is on the way this week with more details so keep your eyes peeled in your mailbox! :)

And now for the long awaited apartment tour.. .a little fast, I got dizzy but hopefully it'll do the trick to give you a little taste of our Panamanian abode.

one more year...

2008-09-07T15:42:00.005-06:00

(living room windows... )

(a sunny view out the living room... more pics to come)

So... back in Panama and getting used to all over again everything... the spanish, the traffic, the heat. It has been such a blessing to arrive and have an apartment, electricity, internet and all the other things my team worked so hard to set up. Our apartment is such a blessing! We're in a quieter area of the city but still close to buses, groceries and everything we can need. There's even a massive park across the street that we can jog in and play soccer or frisbee in. As I've had a couple of days to settle in and unpack its been a huge blessing to have this weekend to chill before we get on campus full time tomorrow... which is super exciting. I've been reading through the book of Job and found a passage that really spoke to me;

"How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion? See how he scatters his lightning about him,bathing the depths of the sea. This is the way he governs the nations and provides food in abundance. He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. His thunder announces the coming storm; even the cattle make known its approach."
Job 36:26-33

I think sometimes I forget the majestic character of God. In chapter 38 of Job the Lord finally speaks to Job and asks him question upon question. As I read through those I realized that there's no way I could answer any of them. I can't control the constellations (38:31) or the storehouses of snow (38:22) and yet God in His power can. And yet He loves us. In all of our weaknesses and imperfection He simply loves us. In Matthew 11 He calls the weary and burdened to come to Him and find rest. And so.... in the middle of settling back into a strange and yet familiar culture I was quieted by His love this afternoon as I realized in spite of His majesty He loves me and desires to call me His own.

testimonies of the heart.

2008-08-21T22:45:00.004-06:00

Sorry its been so long everyone... my apologies... I thought it would be easier to keep this updated back in Canada... I was obviously wrong.

It’s been a whirlwind of a month complete with its emotional highs and lows as I’ve battled through some feelings of loneliness being away from my team, frustration with support raising and simply wondering whether I would ever feel ready to go back to Panama again, let along in less than two months. But as I’ve been reading through the word my bible reading plan has brought me to some books I haven’t read in a while and has really taught me something....

We need to remember the good things God has done in our lives!

All throughout the old testament and especially when the Israelites were in exile and finally as they were able to return to and rebuild Jerusalem, they were faced with obstacles upon obstacles as they opposed by the peoples of the land and even by their own tendencies to fall back into their paths of sin. But all throughout books like Ezra and Nehemiah the people were reminded by their prophets and leaders (Ezra and Nehemiah among them) off all the things that God had done for them, promised to them and delivered them from. Even throughout Isaiah you see reminders to the people to remember who god is and that He will not forsake them.

As I transitioned into some of the later psalms I saw this same trend of remembrance come out. Psalm 119 is laced with this ideal.

"Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart." (vs.111)

"Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them." (vs.129)

"But you are near O Lord, and all your commandments are true. Long have I known from your testimonies that you founded them forever." (vs.151-152)

And the list could go on and on. I found a lot of strength from these verses as in the middle of my sorrow or despair I simply needed to look back and remember what the Lord had done in my life. All the times He's provided for me and provided in abundance, all the times He's guided me and kept me from stumbling and all the times He's simply showered blessing into my life because He loves me. I think that its in looking back that I'm able to deal with going forward.

lessons.

2008-07-18T11:47:00.004-06:00

I've been learning a lot over the last couple of weeks. And if anything getting more and more of a perspective on how deeply the last 10 months in Panama has both affected me and changed me. I've been visiting supporters over the last weeks and hearing over and over, "you've changed," even though no one's really been able to nail down what exactly it is that's different. Even though I feel like the same person I know that there's something different.

I think more than anything this year I've learned both the beauty and the pain in the necessity of communication. I've never liked to talk about feelings, ever since I've been little. I'd rather bury my own emotions and deal with them on my own than bringing other people in. But this year I was really forced to examine this and change this. Communication is so very vital to any relationship and I know that as a team we learned this over and over again. I don't like confrontation and again this year I had to learn that it was okay. I don't really like rocking the boat so to speak but I learned that sometimes its necessary.

Another blessing from this year was simply being a part of what God's done and is continuing to do in Panama. I look back at all the crazy things that happened but through all the mass events I can see how clearly God was orchestrating every single tiny event. How He's deeply changing so many lives around me. So even as I come back and am still trying to figure out whats different in me, I know that He's changed those around me and it was a humbling blessing to get to be a little part of that.

perspective

2008-07-06T20:45:00.002-06:00

Well.. finally made it back not only to the motherland but also to where I grew up. I was saying to a friend how even though I haven't lived in High River for 5 years it's still home. My soul is simply at peace here. It's been great to be back and exciting to see old friends and connect with everyone here. I'm not in Canada for long but I'm looking forward to treasuring the moments I do have here.

I've been realizing over the last couple of days how big of a role our perspective plays in the our attitudes, but also in our emotions and how that overflows into our everyday actions. I was thinking about our budget for stint and as I thought about how much we needed to raise I started to get scared. Scared that the money wouldn't come it. Scared that I wouldn't be able to return to Panama for another year. And then I realized something. I had taken my focus off of God. I was looking at this sum, impossible by any means of my own and letting it scare me, instead of looking at God in all His strength and sovereignty. If we look at circumstances, whatever they are and take our focus off of God everything changes. If we're not looking at God we forget who we are in Christ, our positions as sons and daughters and more importantly that nothing is impossible with God. Think of David and Goliath or Daniel in the lions den. Circumstances were scary but... they looked to God to pull them through in spite, and in the midst of everything. It's something I need to remember every day, my perspective needs to be based in Christ, in every moment and every action. I simply need to look at Him and to Him.

just a peek in pictures....

2008-06-22T11:34:00.009-06:00

I had some unexpected internet time so I'd figured I'd boot up some pics so you can see what we were up to the last month on campus and in the jungle....

"Can a scientist believe in God?"- Science and religion outreach on the UTP campus, the room was packed out!

The Panamanian girls that I've had the joy and blessing of working with this year on the national university campus at our campus cycle wrap party.
(Marta, Yavi, Me, Ethel, Kiki, Karla and Yari)

Tired and about to get rained on at the top of "India Dormida" mountain in El Valle. The entire Canadian student and staff team were here for 3 days of rest and refocusing time before we headed into the interior for our adventure cycle.
The view from Barreta. One of two villages we worked at during our Adventure Cycle. I had never been that far up and isolated in the mountains as we were on this trip. Steve and I facilitated the trip with the student/stinter teams getting the blessing of working with the families in the days and showing the Jesus film in the evening.

The student team after a long (and wet) day of work at the church in Calebazo, the 2nd of the villages we worked in.
The entire Project team at debrief. It was a fantastic team and we had an absolute and crazy blast. I truly believe that Panama will never be the same because these students dedicated 6 weeks of their summer to come help change the world!

back to the land of starbucks and english....

2008-06-21T15:51:00.003-06:00

We've made it back to the motherland... well closer for me as we're in Toronto gearing up for our debrief. Its absolutely nuts to be surrounded by English speakers but fantastic not to stick out like a sore thumb. I realize more and more how simply blessed we are here. To have cars to drive in, carpet on the floors and silence in our house instead of the blaring traffic I'd grown so accustomed too. I could go on and on with the list, from transit to Timmies it's been great to be home. And yet at the same time there's a weird feeling of not knowing where my roots are. Someone asked me yesterday where I lived and I automatically replied Panama. And yet I'm not sure whether thats any more home that my house in High River where I grew up. And so, I feel like I'm in a state of transition and yet not 100% sure what the transition is too. Yes another year in Panama but I think one that will look completely different with a new team and a year already under my belt. But we'll see and I know more than anything that God knows. And so not a lot of words today. I think my brain's on overload but I am loving being back in Canada and looking forward to making it "home" to my family in the next weeks and enjoying this time of transition, however crazy it may be.

(Hopefully my June update reached everyone with more info about what happened in this last month. If you didn't receive it and would have liked too, fire me off an email at lindsey.davies@c4c.ca and we'll get you hooked up! Thanks so much for all your continued prayers and support, it means the world to me!! :) )

finishing up project....

2008-05-31T06:55:00.002-06:00

Campus cycle has finished up and we're on out way this morning to El Valle for a little R&R before heading to the interior on a 6 day rural missions experience. Campus cycle was great and even though we had a shorter time than planned at UTP we had a fantastic time and God moved hugely! Heather, one of my team members said, "I think we saw the same thing that would have happened in one month at the national campus that we saw in 2 weeks here!" God was simply faithful and the students are stepping into this next phase of project excited and encouraged and I think truly changed themselves.

Tuesday morning we leave for 6 days in the interior... no running water... no electricity... no nothing! It'll be a nutty time. This is the first time we've done a trip this long so it's going to be a little insane. BUT!! I am so excited to be working again with Pastor Correa and his ministry into this set of 20 villages. I'm also stoked to let the Canadians see a peek at the interior of Panama and what the complete flip side of the city is. Please be praying for safety and wisdom as the stint team is running this little endeavor! Till then.... chau!!

last week at UTP...

2008-05-26T21:49:00.005-06:00

So the last week on campus is shaping up to be insane! In a classic change of events we're actually helping with two outreaches this week on campus. On Wednesday Tom Aechtner, one of the Canadian staff and a soon to be doctorate student at Oxford will be giving a talk entitled, "Is a scientist able to believe in God?" (check out the poster above!!) Because UTP is a technical school I'm super excited along with the rest of the team to see what happens and what this starts... we've already heard that one prof will be bringing her entire class to the talk!

(Our UTP Panamanian & Canadian team)

Thursday is our weekly meeting! Last week the room was packed out and we actually needed to run and grab more chairs. A prof brought her entire class and it was great to see students we had talked to at our information table the day before show up to hear what its all about. And (!!!) to top the week off, we're ending Friday at 1:00 with a concert. Both the Canadian teams will be coming to campus to give us a hand in finishing the week off! Jose Andreas, a close friend and student at UTP, will be performing with his band. They're an awesome group of guys and I'm excited to see them play in front of their own peers.

And so... saying all that please be praying for us! The team will be busy doing publicity for both events as well as following-up with students we've met in the last weeks. I have a super busy schedule this week between discipleship meetings and preparation for our adventure cycle which will be happening next week! Its insane but I'm so stoked to see everything happening. Steve M said tonight at our training session that even some of the testimonies that were shared Sunday at church was only a tip of what God is really doing! I couldn't agree more!

Till next time!

field trip?!

2008-05-19T20:39:00.003-06:00

In a classic case of Panamanian action, protests shut down the national university for three days last week. Normally we would take a "riot day" and catch up on administration or whatever loose ends needed to be taken care of but for three day and with a team of 5 Canadian students working hand-in-hand with Jon and I this wasn't an option last week and so.... we headed on what originally thought would be a one or two day field trip to the Universidad Tecnologica de Panama, UTP. We headed to the private campus to do some evangelism and weren't really sure what was in store for the team there or at the national campus. As the days passed and the national campus didn't open I think that as a team we fell more and more in love with the UTP campus and more importantly the students there. I walked onto campus there for the first time and was surrounded by trees and I could hear the birds instead of the normal drone of Panamanian traffic. Both the students and the staff there were awesome and as we pulled students from the national campus onto UTP to come help us go sharing I was simply excited to be there.

UTP has no campus for Christ staff working permanently at it but it does have part time staff and a small but dedicated group of volunteers with a heart for that campus. And so, the decision was made that even though national campus had opened up, our team would be staying at UTP for the remainder of May. When I told Johnny, one of the key volunteer leaders at UTP, that my team would be staying at UTP you could see the shock all over his face. "Really???" he said. His face of appreciation and gratitude made any qualms I would have had about a campus change completely disappear. We're excited to be on a new campus and see something new happen from the ground up, that way we'll know like always it was God, and not us, that was really at work!

41 & counting...

2008-05-07T15:08:00.004-06:00

30

We started our second full day bright and early this morning, kicking off the day with a classroom talk in a nursing class of 33 first year students. Our campus director Secundina gave a talk on goals and limits with all the new Canadian students along with Jon and I also getting to introduce ourselves, saying what we studied and where we're from. Secundina wrapped up the talk with a gospel presentation and soon after that the room was filled with voices repeating a prayer to receive Christ. Out of a class of 33, 30 indicated decisions to accept Christ! It was craziness and again reminded me of how incredibly blessed we are to openly share the good news in a university lecture.

8

One of my teammates has left to the interior city of Santiago and sent me a text message this afternoon. Their team had been touring the university there when they were randomly invited into a classroom. Wes, the co-leader, shared what was on his heart and 8 students prayed to receive Christ.

3

My team went out sharing today on the rest of us were in a staff meeting. Even at times without translators the team saw one young man and 2 young ladies pray to receive Christ. My team is blowing me away time and time again with their excitement and their hearts for these students around them.

41

So Day 2 in Panama ends with 41 new brothers and sisters in Christ. PLEASE PRAY for these students as we will be starting the follow-up process tomorrow with phone calls to set-up times to meet and begin the discipleship process. God is so faithful, through sickness and lack of language students are pushing through, being faithful and God is answering and salvation is coming to our universities!

The New Team

2008-05-05T21:19:00.004-06:00

Our new team.
(Kaitlyn, Grace, Heather, Steve back L to R, Jon & I in front)

So... this week has barely begun already but I am so excited about whats already taking place. Today we took the Canadian project students to campus for some prayer and a tour of what will become their new home/workplace for the new 4. The above picture shows the awesome group that Jon and I are blessed to have an opportunity to lead and work with in the science faculties. I am so so excited to have 5 more people to add to whats been Jon and I for the last eight months or so. We have an awesome team and getting to know them and their hearts has been a blast. Tomorrow will be our first full day of ministry on campus. I know that they're nervous about the language and everything that comes with being in a foreign country but at the same time they are so much desiring to be obedient to what God is calling them to do and really change our faculty over the next 4 weeks. Please be praying for us... for our spanish... for the classroom talks we already have this week and that more than anything the Canadians and the Panamanians alike would experience the life-changing love that is only found in Christ.

All my love!!

this country....

2008-04-30T15:21:00.006-06:00

The Canadian staff arrived for project on Monday and its made me take another look at this city and again realize how much it needs God. Yesterday my cab ran out of fuel in El Chorillo, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city... especially when you're white and female. Now I was with Jon and Wes so I was safe but there was definitely some concern on my part. Normally we wouldn't have been driving through that area but we were looking for an open gas station. It was the middle of the afternoon but gas stations had closed in anticipation of today, when gas prices went up 25 cents; they simply wanted to make more money, and were doing it at the expense of others.

Today I stood in line at the grocery store behind a mother and her daughter. Their cart was stacked with the simplest of groceries but I soon realized they didn't have the money for all of them. They had separated the groceries into stacks of what they needed and what they would take if the total on the grocery bill wasn't yet high enough. I was standing there with a cart full of food for the Canadian students coming in tonight, with more than enough money for things that may not have even been necessities. I realized though how simply blessed I am. I've never been in the shoes of not having enough for even the simplest food items.

Today is a national holiday and instead of typical holiday actions people took to the streets in passive marches protesting the elevated cost of living. Even at the university Jon and I have become immune to the "exploding" noises of protests occuring as they often do. Someone asked today, "why are they protesting, does anyone actually listen?" Maybe no ones listening, but the people still desire to be heard and so act out to show that they're not happy with the status quo. A cab driver last night told me that none of the presidential candidates would actually represent the people and I could hear the apathy in his voice, and yet also desperation for someone to come and change this country.

What I've again realized this week is how much this country needs to know and experience the true love of Jesus Christ. Human action alone simply cannot solve dishonest business dealings, poverty, protests or corruption in the government. Tonight 15 Canadian students are arriving to join my team and the 5 other staff members that arrived Monday. All of these students are coming with a passion to see lives changed and moreover this country changed. Please pray for us. Only Christ can change hearts and change nations, and yet we choose to stand in the faith that this can and will happen.

And then there were 5.

2008-04-16T15:51:00.006-06:00

When I came on project I had no idea what was in store but I knew that God knew. When I applied to come on Stint I knew that God would have to be my provision. He was and still continues to be every single day of my life. When I re-applied to come on Stint for another year I knew it would be hard but again that He was going to provide and draw the new team together. He's faithful and I know that with all my heart.

When I applied to re-Stint I was the third girl on a team of four. Raquel, Karina and I would make up the females with my friend Derek being the only guy. Knowing what I know now I was praying for another guy, not knowing where he would be coming from but knowing that God had the team dynamic covered, however it worked out. And so.... today I found out something officially that I get to share now. We have one more guy!!!... and none other than my good friend Steve who's on Stint with me right now. When I met Steve in an airport close to 2 years ago I never would have imagined going on Stint and let alone for 2 years. I feel so blessed to have a teammate that's going to know what it's like to be giving the whole stint thing another round and I couldn't have asked for a greater guy or a better friend to be doing this with all over again!

(p.s. although Jon seriously I'm still voting for you to come back too.... jokes jokes.)

"tell the world..."

2008-04-13T18:38:00.010-06:00

(the napkin gospel... sat am. training)

This weekend was crazy!! Our "crossfire" youth retreat was these last 3 days and just like the last retreat there was not enough sleep but more than enough of everything else!!! The topic of this retreat was evangelism with the tagline being "tell the world...!!!" After an intense Friday night we spent Saturday morning training on everything from what evangelism is, why we do it, how we do it to obstacles to evangelism itself. The Canadian crew... Jess, Sarah, Steve and I, had the blessing of giving a chunk of these training sessions and using our "Campus for Christ" evangelism focus to teach and challenge the students in their own evangelistic lives.

(view from the top... cerro ancon)

This morning we all loaded on buses and headed to Cerro Ancon, one of the highest look-out points in the city and from there teamed up into groups of 4. These "evangelism teams" consisted of younger and older students with the jobs of praying, speaking or simply standing in support of each other as they were about to be sent throughout the city to share their faith. As we passed out 4 Spiritual Law tracts and survey questions I began to realize that the whole thing was a dream come true. Our Stint team seems to live and breathe evangelism... but to see the newer generation equipped and sent to share the good news was absolutely amazing!

(16 girls + me = 4 evangelism teams)

As I headed to Albrook Mall with 70 students on a bus I was again struck with how crazy the situation was. There we all were on a Sunday morning headed out to share the love of Christ.. in public and with complete strangers. I had the job of sitting at a "cinabon" in the mall in case anyone ran into troubles and was there to watch and pray. As I sat there I saw people with a completely different perspective. When I go there to shop I'm focused on myself and what I need and rarely realize that I'm surrounded by people that don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. But as I sat there I realized the opportunities that surrounded me and the students. The chance that everyone had to know someone and touch their hearts with the love of Christ.

The mall was pretty empty and I began to pray that God would bring people into the mall and that all the students would be able to have someone to talk too. A patter became a roar as a torrent of rain began to come down. I almost started to cry. Rain in Panama stops traffic. Rain in Panama stops people and sends them to seek cover. And so there we were... 200 of us spread across the city with rain causing people to stay in the mall instead of leaving, and coming inside instead of outside. God answers prayer... and I believe with all my heart that as we were praying for people God brought them right to us.

I glanced up onto the second floor and spotted two of the students, Ana and Gracia gazing over the ledge. I began to look for the other two members of their team and as I watched, Laura and Rebecca (the other half of the team) walked up to a lady sitting on a bench in front of the cinabon where I was. I began to pray just as the two above me were and as Laura and Rebecca began to to talk with the lady on the bench. I looked up again and saw my friend Christian standing on the other side of the upper floor praying for what was unfolding in front of us. As we prayed I realized that the lady the girls were talking to had no idea that she was surrounded by a triangle of people praying for her. I don't know what all happened in that conversation, but I know that as soon as Laura and Rebecca left this lady sat and read through the 4 Spiritual Laws, and then clutching it in her hand along with her shopping bags stood up and left the mall.

I don't know what will happen in her life and I have no idea what kind of impact that had on her. But what I do know is this... a seed was planted. And all over this city seeds were planted this morning AND(!!!) there are new brothers and sisters in Christ as at least 6 people prayed to receive Christ today. As the retreat wrapped up this afternoon I talked with one of the students and a good friend of mine. He said with tears in his eyes, "I will never ever be the same after this." Gods love changes lives, evangelism changes lives and as the retreat tagline says, we simply need to "tell the world!"

(me and my small group... i love these ladies)

"Galleta-logía"

2008-04-11T13:04:00.003-06:00

Something a little light-hearted to finish the week off... among the random things that happen here in this country there are tonnes of people with personalities that are distinct to say the least... let me tell you about my new friend the professor of "Cookie-ology"... "galleta-logía" in spanish.

Tuesday afternoon I was having bible study with my girls and a man approached selling cookies. Now as the convo went on the laughter almost reached hysterical levels as he went through his sales tactic...

"Galletas (cookies/crackers) with sodium chloride anyone???"- Sodium chloride being salt for any non-science people

"Benzene anyone?"- code word for chocolates that have the same shape as the chemical structure of benzene... rotating double bonds you say?

...and on and on it went... my spanish vocab missed half of it but the girls were quick to explain...

As I think looking back on it... how cool is it that my bible study is full of science students and that we could laugh together over something as nerdy as "scientific cookies?" God has totally placed this bible study together so that we can connect over cookie-ology or whatever it is that we've been through as science students.

Wednesday morning bible study happened again but with a different twist. Tuesday afternoon I lead a study with the four girls I work closely with in discipleship. Wednesday morning is a new group that Erika and Yavi are leading, so I get to sit back and watch as they take leadership over this group. It's been amazing! The new girls that are coming are awesome and it been amazing watching them share their pain and joy with each other. They're all connecting with each other but more importantly with God and its beautiful to see every week.

Frosh at national

2008-03-28T12:29:00.007-06:00

(hanging out at the info table in chemistry)

This week was a definitely a little unexpected for me... frosh week hit at national and we were there in full force! Well at least everybody else was... I on the other hand was out of commission on Wednesday and broke ordered bed-rest to make it to the concert! It was definitely difficult for me to not be on campus with the team but at the same time it was amazing to see all the students come and take leadership. Tuesday Jon and I were actually able to leave our "info table" in the hands of the students and take an unexpected lunch break. One of the highlights was sitting at our table in science and being surrounded by students in matching VE t-shirts and then... walking over to the law faculty and seeing their table surrounded by more students...

(Ericka, Yavi and I at the concert)

Thursday morning came along and with that the concert... the outreach meant to cap the week of activities off. As I came onto campus tual (our amphitheater) was already humming with people in matching shirts... setting up sound equipment or the info table. Students filled the back rows of tual, sitting in the shade and listening as the sounds of Jose Andreas and his band filled the air. It really did sum up the week for me. I sat there, with two of the girls I disciple on each side of me and listened as the name of God was lifted up and glorified on our campus. These two girls, Erika and Yavi have blessed and encouraged me so much. And so as frosh week has winded down I'm excited to start their leaders bible study this week... and then on Wednesday morning to pass over a fresh batch of students to them and watch as they begin to lead their own bible study!!

(the concert!! everyone was up top in the shade.. )

A simple touch

2008-03-22T21:39:00.005-06:00

"Come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matt 11:28-30

The last couple of days I haven't felt burdened so much as weary. I've been physically sick and so weary as I tried to keep going at a normal pace, only to realize that I simply couldn't. That was a hard realization for me to come to. Jesus tells us to take His yoke, instead of our own... and more than that to learn from Him, to learn from His gentleness and His humbleness.

"And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, the sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought their sick to him, and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, all who touched him were healed.”

Matt 14:35-36

In my mind I can see the crowds and the people just grasping to touch the edge of a simple cloak, a simple garment. And yet, for them it meant healing, cleansing and more than anything life. This was the Jesus who saw people down to their deepest need, the powerful man that healed with a word and whose heart broke with compassion when he saw the crowds of people, even in spite of his grief (Matt 14:13-14). That’s my best friend. That’s the relationship that I wake up to every morning. And so my prayer is that I would to be gentle and humble in heart like He is and that every day I would get another touch of His cloak.

Semana Santa... Holy Week

2008-03-18T21:11:00.009-06:00

I walked into church Sunday and was jolted into the realization that it was Palm Sunday. Easter is my favorite time of year because it makes me think for more than a moment, or more than a time of communion once a month at church of what Jesus did for me. There's no other perfect picture of love.

Isaiah 53 (The message translation)

"Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him.

He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.

Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors— Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep."

#100.

2008-03-12T12:46:00.006-06:00

A new school year...
Coming up is a lot of firsts for our staff team here in Panama City.... a new (and first ever here) servant team, the first leadership retreat, the first frosh week, and a new "look" for our campus ministry.

A new look...
Looking at the logo above you might notice something a little bit different. "Green???" you might say... "whats up with that? what happened to the red?" Many of the political parties at the Universidad de Panama use red combined with some combination of black, white and yellow. The political parties at the university are extremely active, especially in the law faculty, which is one of our key faculties. And so... to distinguish ourselves all together we've decided to change the color altogether to green, a color not used by any of the visible student groups on campus... at least as far as we can tell.

The frosh approach...
Rapidly approaching in t-12 days is our frosh week at the Universidad de Panama. Yesterday, the four of us Canadians that work at the national campus met up to brainstorm and get on the same page for this crazy week of activities. First year students are always key to a ministry. When a student gets involved in their first year they then have four years to both be built into and trained but then also to turn around, reaching out to those around them and then taking leadership in the movement. So from the 24-27th of March we're targeting the frosh. Whether it's carnival style games, information tables, a concert and prayerfully a concert; we're praying for salvation and for new students to get hooked into and full heartedly committed to reaching their campus for Christ.

P.S. This is post #100. Thanks to everyone that's stuck with me this far. That's pretty special.

Reminded why I'm here...

2008-03-09T19:28:00.003-06:00

This morning I took my dad to the airport and as I said good-bye I felt pretty homesick. As much as I miss my family and friends I'm able to talk to them and keep in touch but there's a chunk of me that misses Canada. That misses what is still deep down still my home. But tonight as I get ready for what looks to be another crazy week I'm reminded of why I'm here and how much I love it.. even when it's rough sometimes. Yesterday and today I've been getting calls and text messages from the two of the Panamanian students that I'm discipling here. Just simply to say they missed me. Don't get me wrong, that's nothing to do with me and everything to do with God and what He's been doing and continues to be doing in their lives. But as I've talked with them and with other students this last week they show me why I'm here. Last week our team (minus one) headed to campus to share our faith and with being an odd number I really felt like I wanted to stay back and pray as the other four headed out. I was sitting in a really uncomfortable spot so as I went to move to a bench I spotted a girl sitting alone on a bench. I felt God whisper "go talk to her" and so I headed over to say hello, wondering more than that what I was going to say. BUT (!!!) sure enough she's a Christian about to enter her first year in architecture and not only that she spoke fluent English. I was totally blown away and taken aback. If I had stayed in my comfort zone I would have sat on the bench and not said hello. Instead I have a new friend, Jissella, in my life and a lunch date set up with her to explain a little bit more about what we do and to challenge her to get involved.

God has brought people into my life in crazy ways and each of them are so special to me. This week I'm getting to reconnect with the students that have been key in my life the last semester and gear them up for this new semester... frosh week is on the way!

Jericho... Day 1.

2008-03-03T20:30:00.002-07:00

Tonight was the first night of 7 days of prayer for the campus ministry here in Panama. For the 6 days we'll be prayer walking around the national university campus praying for the students and the needs there. Sunday morning at 6am we'll be marching around 7 times... for the biblical back-up to this check out Joshua 6. So tonight 13 of us set out around the national campus praying and confessing the sins of the various faculties. This was something new for me and I was wondering why exactly I was confessing sins that I hadn't done. But as we were praying and speaking out loud what was happening in the university I really felt that it was bringing these things into the light. Darkness and sin isn't hidden when it's openly confessed and that's exactly what we did tonight on behalf of the students. So as we came to end I just started to pray for forgiveness and that it would begin to roll over this campus. It was a special time and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this week. Please be praying with us.... all my love.

One more year.... officially.

2008-03-01T18:47:00.002-07:00

Found out yesterday afternoon. I'm officially accepted for one more year in Panama. Whoa, it's kinda crazy it'll actually be happening all over again.

Please be continuing to pray for my team and us being here now... but... looking forward to the future, please continue to be praying for the movement here and for the new members of next year's team that are getting prepared to support raise and move. Currently, there are 3 of us ladies accepted and 1 gentleman. Please please please (!!!) pray that one more guy would join the team. I can't imagine the team without at least two guys and I'm praying that God brings us one more... at least, I'd take more if we could get more. God had the dynamic covered on this team totally and I know that it's in his control for next year too.

p.s. took me long enough to figure out how to title these hey??!

My part of my application to re-Stint.

The last 6 months have been full of ups and downs, both as a team but for me individually. But 3 months into Stint when God starting to speak to me about coming back it was honestly the last thing that I wanted to do. Jessica (one of my team members) spoke at a weekly meeting about "running the race" like the finish line was on top of our toes. I was really convicted by that as God spoke to my heart that for me to run like the finish line was any minute I needed to stay another year and to come home to Canada was running like I had 20 more years of ministry. I knew that the decision to stay was the one I needed to make but it still was a little unnerving to me. Stint has been a lot harder than I had ever anticipated. At times I just wanted come home and join what I thought would be a normal staff team somewhere on campus. But in Jeremiah 29 is a letter to the exiles and as I was reading it vs.10 really gave me the peace about making the decision to apply to re-Stint. God says to the exiles, "... I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place (their home)." I feel that's a promise for me to hold onto. Its harder applying to come back another year because I know the struggles that are in store for our team and for the ministry here. More and more I'm coming across verses about the flawless nature Gods word, His faithfulness in His promises and more than that His everlasting love for me. I don't think that I'll really ever understand the depths of any of these 3 characteristics. I could list off the practical and strategic reasons why it's a good idea for me to stay and give this another go and tell story after story of the lessons I've learned here. But in the end its my relationship with God that makes me want to stay. He's placed in my heart a God-given passion for people and daily I learn what that means for my life. But it's His love that gets me up in the morning and turns me in the right direction and places me in the right place when I don't want to move. It's this love thats calling me to stay.

2008-02-28T13:02:00.009-07:00

Back home safe and sound in Panama. When we left for the Dominican Republic I thought to myself, "okay, we'll give some training sessions, set up some logistics, get to know the staff... pretty basic stuff." What I wasn't counting on was how much of a missions trip it would be and how critical what were doing would be for the those we came into contact with throughout the trip and also the futures of the students that step onto their campuses, like UASD and PUKMM, the two campuses we spent the majority of our time at.

Tuesday afternoon we were at PUKMM, one the private campuses in the city of Santo Domingo waiting to meet up with Laura and Carlos, two of the key students there. We weren't 100% sure of what we wanted to "do" with them. We wanted to see their hearts for their campus and if they were committed to Vida Estudiantil and all that entailed but had no idea on how to go about doing that. We were thinking about it when Lusanna, our key leader from UASD showed up, followed shortly after by Laura and Carlos. So there we were, sitting with the 3 students that had come out as leaders over the last week. I still remember looking at them and realizing that these three are going to change the world, starting at their schools. Lusanna and Leyla (the campus staff there) are already seeing fruit at UASD and Carlos, Laura and two other students have submitted a letter to their dean at PUKMM requesting permission to start actions as an official club. We had a chance to interview them on video to bring back to Panama and I was truly blown away by their hearts. They see the need on their campuses and instead of just seeing it, they're stepping out in faith to make a difference. It's taking that first step of commitment where everything it is that really starts. They're choosing to believe God has a plan for the students around them, each and every one of them and are acting on that. So just like in Panama, a piece of my heart is there with them, praying for them and standing firm in the promise that God goes after the lost, each and every one of them.

2008-02-25T13:13:00.003-07:00

And the Dominican adventures continue... even though half of the team left yesterday back to Panama. I´d had a blast working and training together so it was a little weird this morning to wake up and not have them here with us. But we headed back to UASD this morning and spent the morning talking with students, getting them to fill out questionaires and interviewing them for a video to encourage the Panamanian students to come here to the Dominican. Would you believe that there are 120,000 students on this campus? The question always is... where do you start??

We had a meeting this afternoon with the president of the federation of students. I definately didn´t catch all of what happened in the meeting but I caught enough. Jhon Garcia (the president) was so so open to having Vida Estudiantil on campus and offered to do whatever he could to help us put on events now, and when the Panamanian project comes in November. He was simply a pretty coool guy and after the hour and a half long meeting I think we felt we all knew each other pretty well... We met some amazing students even today and I was so encouraged by the people that God brought into our path. The four of us (Jon, Jessica, Leyla and I) had split up around the entrance to the main library on campus and we chatting with students when an English speaking student named Jason came up and said hello. And then he left before Jess or I could say anything other than we were from Canada. Later on though he came and joined our group and we got to chatting. He´s only 16 and already at the university. He became a Christian 2 years ago and I was so encouraged by his heart. He simply put it this way,¨"Christ set me free and now I want to tell others about him." Doors are opening all over the campus, from the directors to the students and I can´t wait to see what´s in store!

2008-02-20T11:08:00.002-07:00

We are in the Dominican Republic!!! We arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon and I can´t even explain to you the beautiful color of the ocean as we landed. We settled into the retreat center where we will be staying and met up with Layla (the campus staff member we´re working closely with) and headed to the national offices here in Santo Domingo. We then met with the national director, Braulio and heard a little bit about how he became involved in Campus Crusade, some 30 plus years ago. I was really encouraged to see Braulio and Layla again since our time together in Nicaragua and its been a blast already to be here on their home turf. Last night we attended an amazing church service, they have a beautiful new building which is still being constructed and it was a huge blessing to worship and learn with them last night. This morning we headed to UASD, the only public campus in Santo Domingo and both toured thier beautiful (!!!!!) campus and met up with a couple of key students. We were then joined by a pastor and his wife as we continued on the tour and ended up sharing with a group of students outside the sports center. 3 young men prayed to recieve Christ with us this morning and tomorrow we have a chance to follow up with them!! We met up with a Christian group on campus and it was a blast meeting them and seeing what they´re doing already. There´s more to say but we´re training tonight and doing some logistical investigation this afternoon so... please keep us in your prayers, Gods at work in huge ways already!!!!

2008-02-18T13:27:00.006-07:00

There's times that I read a passage and think that I've never read it before in my life. I've been sick the last couple of days and curled up on a couch with a cup of tea. Silvia, my awesome discipler, put me on a bible reading plan much to my dismay and so I've been making my slowly through the bible, revisiting a lot and beginning to enjoy the structure that's come with the reading plan. Yesterday I polished off Leviticus, which was actually better than I thought it would be... although I'm still confused by the whole wave offering thing... and started in on Hebrews.

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs."
Hebrews 1:1-4

I never remembered Hebrews being so cool before... the first chapters really sets up Jesus to be the Son of God, higher than the angels, greater than Moses and yet like his brothers in coming to the earth as flesh. Reading through the old testament you really get a picture of what it meant to make atonement, to be redeemed and forgiven, but all needing to be done through sacrifice and through a priest. And yet the message Hebrews preaches is one of fulfillment. We don't need to go through a priest because Christ was and is that priest for us complete with a new covenant.
Jesus was the exact representation of God on earth and He came to be our sacrifice once and for all.. that's amazing, and I still haven't wrapped my mind around it all yet, I'm not even close.

2008-02-17T12:22:00.002-07:00

Tricia and I were chatting last night about how the next 4 (and a bit) months are going to fly by. We’ve hit the homestretch more or less but it’s really in this final stretch. When we first made it here a year seemed like forever and now I’m in awe of how far we’ve already come, as individuals, a team and a ministry. The next four months hold craziness for this team. From a trip to the Dominican Republic this week, a leadership retreat March 20-22, frosh week March 24-27, follow-up and discipleship throughout April and preparation for the Canadian summer project coming in May and June, there's a lot in the works.

But it got me to thinking... how do we measure time? In Canada for me, seasons were measured by the first snowfall, or the first sprouts of grass pushing up through the ground in the spring. Or now seemingly marked by the varying wares of the street sellers at the corner I walk through every day. Seasons of our lives change just as constantly as the weather. Relationships change as do the seasons and cycles of ministry, of health and of sickness. The ways to “measure” these seasons of our lives are numerous as we look to measure and mark the times in our lives. We look back at the as “a time of growth” or some other phrase explaining where seemingly we “were at” in that year or on the day. Time is always passing and it really makes me aware of how I need to be a good and faithful steward of the next couple months and then into the future as the final push on my first Stint year has really begun!

2008-02-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

More and more I'm falling in love with the youth group at my church here. I have the blessing of co-leading an amazing group of grade 10 girls on Wednesday nights! Crossfire (our youth group) is nuts week after week and I absolutely love it! Crossroads (our church) has 3 services every week to sufficed to say its hard getting to know people really well by simply coming Sunday mornings. Every Wednesday night the sanctuary of the church is transformed... the music is louder, led by our awesome students, the crowd is younger and all in all everything 's a little crazier! We break into small groups after the message and some nights I feel like I'm watching these young women grow up in front of me, which has been an absolutely amazing blessing. And so... please take a moment on Wednesday night and pray for all of us!! My hearts desire is to see these students meet with Jesus, not only on a weekly basis but on a daily basis and that more than anything else shaping their lives, it would be their relationship with God that's the driving force of everything they do! With all my love! Chau for now!

2008-02-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

Tricia, Jessica and I just got back last night from our second missions experience in the interior of Panama. After a 3 hour bus ride, another hour on a bus and then an hour in the back of a pickup truck made to transport cattle we finally arrived as far into nowhere as I have ever been in my life. The truck dropped us off and we soon discovered there was no running water at all but more importantly there were no people... anywhere. As we unpacked and found a creek to draw water and then cooked "salchichas" panama style I realized that any expectations I had had went completely out the window. As the afternoon drew on the villagers began to congregate for what became a daily game of baseball with rough-hewn bats, a ball made out of something like socks and a triangular and uneven baseball field. Bajo Grande (my first missions experience) was a village that had more access and constant "traffic" through it. And with that came alcoholism and a spirit of depression that was all throughout the village. El Cope was absolutely beautiful, there's really no other words to explain it. The landscape was amazing but more than that the people were amazing. The villagers were full of so much joy and like the sunshine I really think that we all just sensed a completely different attitude in this village.
I began to realize how thankful I was for certain things. Like a concrete floor when I was expecting a dirt floor and running water when I went without it for 5 days. Or the projector finally working and showing the "ancient" 16mm film reels to a village that had never seen a movie. We showed the Jesus film in two parts and even as we announced the film was about to start the villagers dropped their baseball game and were in their seats within minutes. What we found out later was that there are 120 people in the village and 71 of them were at the Jesus film showing. These were families we had worked with and for the previous two days, played baseball with and waved to as we walked by or they rode by on their horses. Time and time again we were asked, "when are you coming back?"
One of the coolest things for me about this missions trip is that it doesn't end when we leave. Tuesday morning we brainstormed and talked about the strengths and the challenges of the villages and what our next step could be. And so in March the plan is to return. This time to bring bibles to the community and teach both the adults and the children about the assurance of salvation and what it means to have a personal relationship with God. The community has a church but no pastor and no bibles or any way of learning more about who God is. The students we went with are committed to changing this village and I believe with all my heart that the first steps are already being taken to do just that.

2008-01-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

We survived Frosh week round #1!

The week is coming to an end (finally!!). This morning as the team met up for the daily briefing and prayer time I really think there was a sense of accomplishment and excitement in the air. For me this week has been my first real opportunity to be at Interamericana and to interact with the students there. The students there are amazing! There's definitely a different atmosphere at Interamericana but students are still searching and still open. And so as we all (minus Jon) bumbled through Spanish explanations of the questionnaires and what exactly it is that we do we connected with the students and more than anything put our name out there. We have official club status at Interamericana which is huge and such an amazing blessing!

Please pray now for the follow-up process. A lot of students have showed interest in discipleship and now the challenge is to connect with all of them. But even as carnival starts and the national partying begins God is at work. I know and trust with all heart that God loves these students and has a plan for each and every one of them. The Christians are coming out of seeming nowhere and already people are stepping into place to get this movement off the ground... its already been a blast and we're just starting! :)

2008-01-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

If you haven't had a chance to read the last post, check that one out first because this one will make a whole lot more sense with that one two... and so, this is the follow-up to my "quiet revolution" week;

I struggled to write down this week on paper, not knowing quite what was expected and not sure that the things I did learn were what God wanted me to say. I read through 1 Kings 18 and 19 again several times this week and the question that time and time I wrestled with is how do you hear the quiet whisper of Gods voice? When I take time to concentrate on listening, time and time again I feel bombarded with my own doubts, worries or the answers that maybe I’m telling myself. Sometimes I want it to be God’s voice that is the storm because it’s easier to hear fire and earthquakes than a quiet whisper. But it’s that whisper that I long to hear with all my heart. It’s in the middle of the storm and the pain that I believe we really seek God and are willing to struggle to hear His voice. Elijah sees fire fall from heaven and God move in a powerful way. And still he ends up hidden in a cave praying for death, likely praying for anything other than being told to, “go back the way you came.” (1 Kings 19:15). We can’t deny the quiet of Gods voice because in its stillness it’s more powerful as the earthquakes and the fire.

I think more than anything this week I was so much aware of the time that I was or wasn’t choosing to spend with God. I missed my quiet time last night and woke up this morning again thinking about how hard devotional time is to maintain. I was years into my Christian walk before my devotionals had any resemblance of consistency. I was so frustrated with everyone telling me the necessity of devotional time and not seeing it backed up in my life that I gave God an ultimatum. I committed to a daily 2 weeks of devotionals but if he didn`t “show up” in that time I was done, feeling I could honestly say I gave it a good shot. God totally showed up in those two weeks and I still look back at that time as being extremely special to me. I was also being held accountable in my devotional walk and this kept me going through the lows. We have such an awesome opportunity right now; both to grow in our personal devotional walks but also to encourage and help hold each other accountable as we lead this Quiet Revolution. I know how difficult and frustrating it can be to seemingly scream at God and miss the whisper. I’ve been there. My hope and prayer though is that through this you grow closer to God and learn, like we’re all learning, how to hear His whisper. I still don’t have my answer to how we hear it but I know that this week has shown me the necessity of listening even when the answers aren’t what I want to always hear, if I hear anything at all.

2008-01-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

The Quiet Revolution...

1 Kings 19:3, 4b
"Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.... He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough Lord," he said, "Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors."

1 Kings 19:11-13
"The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

I love Elijah because he's totally straight up with God. He simply said, "I've had enough," and he prays to die. Now I've never got to that place but there's definitely times where I've laid in bed in the morning and wondered how on earth I was going to drag my exhausted body out of bed and face another day.

As many of you know besides full time campus ministry I also lead a small group of Grade 10 girls at my church youth group, called Crossfire. We had out monthly leaders meeting Friday night and among many things were challenged by our youth pastor to become a part of the quiet revolution. Sometimes in the middle of everything going on in our lives we need to take out to listen for that gentle whisper. We can't hear it in the rushings of the day, we can't hear it when our worries and doubts drown out its gentleness. Our youth pastor Mark explained this all to our group of leaders and then we were all assigned weeks to take part in this. A week where we'd make the effort to take more time than normal for God and to quiet down and listen to him. And so... this week is my week.

One of the blessings of my job is that once a month I get a "day alone with God." A day alone to spend just with the big guy upstairs, my best friend and sure enough for me it's this Thursday, my quiet revolution week. And so I would challenge you guys too... sometime this week take some time out for God. An extra 15 minutes, an hour... whatever you need to do. Lets spend some time this week, slow everything down and focus simply on God and our relationship with him. I'll get back to you on how my week goes, let me know about yours. I would honestly love to hear from you too, may you be blessed this week, I love you all so much!

2008-01-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well well well.... I'm back in Panama and as we were driving back to the apartment from the airport last night I was was shocked at how normal it felt to be back. The last night I was in Los Angeles I realized that as much as I love what I'm doing and where I am, it gets hard to say good-bye time and time again. So I was thinking about something that really challenged me when I was getting prepared both practically and even emotionally to come on Stint. Jesus says the following and its repeated in 3 out of the 4 gospels.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matt 16:24

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mark 8:34

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Jesus knew that the path of carrying our crosses is not always the easiest way to live life and yet daily its the life of surrender that He calls us too. And so as I adjust to being back in my apartment and surrounded by the team I love and the country I love I remember that although its not always easy, its always good.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

And to wrap it up... a major prayer request. This (below) is my "little" brother Lance and I. He's currently in the Canadian military and I just found out last night that he's on stand-by to leave for Afghanistan. He could be there in 5 days. Its a scary thing... and yet I know that God is in control, even when things are out of my hands, they're held completely safe in His. Please pray for his safety.

2007-12-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

A centurion's faith, a widow's son and a possessed man....

In Luke 7:1-10 a centurion sends the Jewish elders to Jesus to request for Jesus to come and heal his valued servant. He does this because he feels that he is not worthy of coming to Jesus himself (vs.7) and yet, Jesus states that it is his faith that is greater than any that he had even found in all of Israel (vs.9). It made me think... we're never worthy to come to Jesus, our sin has messed that up, and yet He comes to us. People (like the elders in this story) come to Jesus on our behalf by praying and interceding for us, but its Jesus who himself decides to come and act and our faith impacts that.

At the same time though I think that our circumstance is a big part of things. Continuing on in Luke 7:11-17, Jesus raises the son of a widow from the dead. In vs.13 it says that, "when the Lord saw her (the widow) his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."" He raises the young man from the dead and "Jesus gave him back to his mother." (vs.15). Time and time again when Jesus heals throughout the New Testament it says that he does this in response to faith (Luke 8:48 for example), whether spoken or simply in the eyes and the actions of the people desiring and more than that believing to be healed. Here there's no talk of the widow's faith, simply that the Lord's heart went out to her and he acts on that.... I think it's absolutely beautiful. How many times do I let my heart be broken and act based on circumstance? Not enough.

This morning I read the story in Luke 8:26-39 when Jesus healed a demon possessed man and again the idea of circumstance came up. In vs. 27 it says "for a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs." This in itself is a physical manifestation of our spiritual brokeness without Christ. In Rev 3:17 it talks about this condition and how, "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." This man was naked, homeless and living among the dead, and in a tortured state, he knew his condition and the demons themselves were scared when Jesus came to cast them out (vs.28-29). The sin in our lives is shameful in light of the glory of Christ, but yet there was healing for this man (vs.35) and there is healing for us.

Jesus said in Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeanace of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty in instead of ashes, the oil of gladness, instead of mourning, and a garment of praise,instead of a spirit of despair."

The joy of my life is that I don't have to live in my broken state of sin. Jesus came to take us out of our condition and he counsels us to come to him and "to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see." (Rev 3:18). Jesus acts in response to our faith, he acts in response to our circumstance and he acts in response to our brokenness but we still need to come to him and let ourselves be healed.

2007-12-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say I hope you're all having a very Merry Christmas!! We've been singing Christmas carols which has been great... other than "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow," just doesn't ring as true as it could.... see you all soon, I need to go put turkey in the oven!! Love you all so much!(Jessica, Emily, Tricia and I at Casca Viejo

before the Christmas cantata at Teatro Nacional.)

2007-12-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

Kinda a weird note today but I was thinking all the cab drivers in this city. This week more so than normal I've been in cabs all over the city. My grasp of Spanish has improved vastly from 4 months ago and its too the place I can actually have a conversation that makes some sense. It's just been nutty, but my first conversation that made me giggle was when the cab driver kept asking me why I didn't speak french and I was Canadian... then I had a cab driver recite me poetry about the sunshine when I asked him how his day was. And then today one driver put in english hip-hop when we got in and the next driver, with his 5 or 6 words in English called the traffic in Panama crazy and then proceeded to tell us in Spanish how his day was better because Jess and I were in the cab. I love being able to converse with the men that more or less make this city how it is. They just crack me up.

2007-12-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night after a freezing cold bus ride (seriously, I had 2 shirts and a hoody on and still froze...) the western half of our team (Jessica, Steve and I) returned from a vision trip to the interior city of David. Before we left I really had no idea of what we were doing or going to do. Sure I had a list of smart sounding questions and concerns to be addressed but I really wasn't sure how it was going to play out. But we had an amazing trip!

One of the things that we really focused on was what we called the "current reality": whats really going on with the campus ministry, who's involved, how many are involved, on what campus etc. etc. etc. Quickly it became apparent that the current reality is really quite simple, there's no campus movement. But (!!!!) it doesn't end there, because more than anything I was encouraged by what we did find, a framework for the future campus movement. 3 young men, students on the 2 public universities that have a heart for reaching their campus and are committed to being a support if we're able to send a team of canadians there this summer. A dedicated group of volunteers that desire to see a movement started. A super friendly dean at the tecnologica university and seemingly open doors at Unachi, the other public and priority university. Both of the public university campuses are great and the atmosphere there is so similar to what it is in Panama city at the national campus.

It really took me aback and excited me when I realized something. What the campuses look like in David now is what the Universidad de Panama looked like 2 or 3 years ago. And yet look what God's doing, I get the blessing of seeing that day after day as I step onto campus and work with the students. And so the groundwork is getting set, the framework laid out and the campuses waiting for the Canadian team, but more than that, waiting for God to move and a movement to begin.

2007-12-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

Wow... Christmas is coming and as we set up a Christmas tree and cut out snowflakes for our apartment there's a Christmas word that keeps coming up and up... Emmanuel. And so I want to introduce you all to my "guest editor," my roomate Jess who's going to write this with me...

"K so Jess tell me about the fish..."

"So imagine that you own a fish tank. You buy the pretty black and white rocks for your crazy expensive filter, you buy the nice light, you fill the tank with colorful rocks and different kinds of plants. You even feed them..."

"Feed who Jess...??"

"But when you go to feed them what happens??"

"Yay but who are we feeding?"

"The fish. Okay so, the fish, we're feeding them. And what usually happens Lindsey?"

"The fish hide, especially when I go to the boys and feed their fish. They just swim away from me."

"Okay, so how would you convey to these fish that you love them... when they just swim away from you?"

"I don't know, because I can't explain to the fish that I love them. They're fish??"

"I know they're fish, but what if you became a fish?? What if you swam among them? What if you weren't just a big looming figure over the tank? But you were a fish?? Someone they could relate too, someone who could speak their language."

Sooo... moral of the story if this. We're little fish in a big huge ocean that is this world. We have no idea how big God is and there's no way that we can get any comprehension of how big he is... but on the flip side how much he loves us. That is... until we look at Jesus. Man.. Jess and I are just blown away by this. I mean think about it... God, almighty, all powerful, omnipotent God became a fish. A little tiny helpless baby boy... and why??? Yes to save us from our sins... but also to show us how much he loved us and for us to be able to relate to him!!! There was no way he could do that as a huge lurking shadow, he had to become like us, like a little fish so that we could see the truth. So that we could learn straight from God, everything God said as a man is in the bible, its the only time that he was able to communicate with us, man to man, fish to fish. Jess saw a little baby in church on Sunday as we sang, "Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God is with us." There was no better and no other way for God to show us himself, than to simply come and be with us.

And so as Christmas comes remember this... we're little fish, but we have a loving Heavenly Father that knows exactly what its like to be us.

2007-11-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

This last week our bosses from Canada, Brent and Celeste were in town and ran the team through workshops on team dysfunctions to simply bringing us Christmas presents and taking us away to a beautiful island on the Carribean. Yesterday morning during our last training time Brent passed out diagrams to each of us to illustrate spiritual multiplication and really drive the point home of our vision and our goals for the ministry here. Seeing this little diagram, and as I filled it out with the names of students I'm working with I was so so excited to realize we're taking steps to realizing our dream of seeing students sharing, training and multiplying their lives into others. It takes time but it's coming.

Even as I write this I have a huge smile on my face. After training with my team I booked it to school for my discipleship time with two girls in science, Erika and Katy. Erika and I had 45 minutes before Katy arrived and so I pulled out my little diagram and ran her through where I see her fitting in and taking steps of faith. As Katy came and I re-explained the entire thing in Spanish I asked her what she thought. With a blank face she said, "Si ella cree que lo puedo hacer porque no?" As I translated this into English mentally I looked at Erika and asked, "did she just say what I think she just said?" Katy was exhausted and yet through this said, "If she (me) believes that I am able to do this, why not?" Both of the girls laughed at me as I let out a little shriek of joy. These two girls are committed to this ministry and to reaching and changing their campus. They're just as scared as I was 4 years ago when I got involved in campus ministry and yet so excited and willing to get trained and be ready to rock in March with their own discipleship groups.

Next week is the last week of classes and so as a ministry we're gearing up for a bit of a different time until March. But there's training to be done, a tonne of prayer and strategic planning, vision trips and retreats all in store. I believe with all my heart that the campuses here are going to be changed through the lives of students here like Katy and Erika. I've already seen the beginning of this in their lives and in two of my other disciples Jely and Yavi, let alone all the other students the rest of the team is working with. All four of "my" girls are baby Christians but know and believe that God can do anything when we're sold out and committed to him. They're catching the vision and trusting God with the results.

2007-11-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

For the longest time I was "stuck" in Psalm 62 and finally I kept going in the psalms... only to hit Psalm 63. The words of David are beautiful in the passage. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, complete with the rough pathways, from team communication to simply being homesick when I realize how far away I am. There's also some issues that have come up with my health. Not huge worrisome ones, I'll be totally okay, but enough of one that I'm back in forth from the hospital for blood tests and all that fun stuff. I think more than anything, all of this reminds me of the huge necessity for prayer. The other night when I was upset I felt like God was simply asking me, "Lindsey in who do you put your faith?" It was a good reminder that my solid foundation is only found in Christ and its not changed or dictated by the circumstances around me.

Psalm 63, A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

2007-11-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

As I stood at the doors of the auditorium this morning, waiting for students to come for the lecture/outreach we were having I was reminded of something. When I was in Ukraine 3 years ago on a missions trip we showed the movie, "The Passion of the Christ," as an outreach for the community. Not very many people showed up and I remember thinking and really just needing to believe by faith that God in his sovereignty had exactly the people there that he wanted to be there. Sunday morning came and we were sitting in the church service as my pastor preached and was interpreted into Russian. Towards the end of his sermon I remember him saying that there are times that we just need to come to God. He was gearing up for the invitation to come to the altar when something else happened. A man named Alex, someone we had met that week, walked up to the front where Pastor Will was standing and just kneeled in front of him. It wasn't the proper time to come to the altar but it was his time, his moment of truth with the Lord. So I remember sitting there, to the right of Pastor Will and Alex, with the sun streaming in the window and the tears streaming down my cheeks. That moment made the entire trip worthwhile. If 6 of us had had to travel across the world so that Alex could come into contact and a personal relationship with his loving heavenly Father than it was worth it for me. Today 15 students indicated decisions to recieve Christ on the comment cards that were handed in. 15! So yes not as many students were there, and no the auditorium wasn't packed but that's not what really matters at all. I have 15 new brothers and sisters in Christ and those there were those that needed to be.

What is the price, the cost, that we place on a life??? If the 6 of us STINT-ers had come here for a year and only saw one person come into a relationship with Christ, would that be enough?

"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue." Luke 15:4-7 (The Message)

Am I really willing to leave behind my 99 safe sheep and go out looking for the 1 that is lost?

2007-11-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Monday morning I stared at a stack of 150 posters and 600 invitations for the outreach on Wednesday, simply wondering how on earth we would pass out 600 invites. But by noon, all 600 invitations are gone, whether given out or with other students involved in the movement. A group of students had shown up at TUAL (our unofficial office) and headed out to invite students and go postering around campus. So by one o'clock I'm back at the copy center with another 50 posters and another 600 invites ready to go. That stack is almost gone.

"They," whoever they is say that to get 200 people to an event you need to pass out 600 invites, so on those numbers we should have a packed out auditorium tomorrow. But either way I learned to say, "lets do this in faith," en espanol, "en fe." I can't do anything on my own and when I start to place limits on things its then God takes those limits and gently exceeds them.

"For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matt 6:32-34

I've been thinking about those verses this week. What do people seek after? What do people run after and look for? Things like relationships, money, security and the list goes on and on. The thing that struck me though is that God already knows we need them. There's no denial on his part that those things don't hold some value. BUT He doesn't tell us to seek after them, he tells us to seek him first, his kingdom and his righteousness, and everything we need comes after that.

There's a sweet sweet passage in Matthew chp.11 that's really touched my heart this week and so I leave you with this and with all my love. In the midst of life, in whatever pain, trial or even normality remember this, I know I'm definately taking this one to heart this week.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30

2007-11-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Canadians (minus Sarah)... I love you guys!
The beautiful view from the top.

My team for the weekend, these guys are awesome!

Well the team of 26, Panamanians and Canadians survived Bajo Grande this past weekend. As I returned home Monday morning and as I've been spending time through my solo time with God a lot of little details of the trip are starting to make more sense.

Tuesday morning I was able to talk to my mom and she told me that my grandpa had prayed to recieve Christ last Thursday as he was headed in for hip surgery. I let out a little yell and laughed as tears welled up in my eyes, because that's a miracle! I was thinking back to this weekend when my team was blessed to see 8 people accept Christ on Sunday, and yet the excitement I felt then was nowhere near what I felt when I heard about my grandpa. Now don't get me wrong I was definately excited this weekend, but my grandpa hit a little closer to home. So that got me thinking... why shouldn't I be just as excited when someone I've only known 2 days becomes a new Christian as I am when someone who's known me all my life accepts Christ???

Then I realized; my 8 new brothers and sisters in Christ in Bajo Grande have people surrounding them. Maybe not Christians but people that will see their lives changed and be affected by that every day. People that will see when they fall but see that they now have someone bigger to pick them up. I think of Pastor Correa and his wife, in their 60's and moving further and further into the interior of Panama planting churches. They have amazing vision and I remember joy in his eyes when we told him about Mari accepting Christ. When I thought about all that the excitement and joy grew like crazy in my heart. Sometimes I look inwards instead of outwards, and when that happens, God gives me a simple check and reminds me it's not about me at all.

2007-10-31T21:27:00.000-06:00

I would be lying if I said that life the last week or so has been a piece of cake. Relationships are hard and they take more work than I sometimes am willing or even want to give them. I think, actually I know that I was way too optimistic coming into STINT this year. I'm not a very confrontational person at all so confrontation and therefore "rocking the boat" is not something I really like to do. The reality of the whole thing is though I am called to love and I really do love my team... and here's why;

Jon- is an amazing leader and its been a blessing to have someone to talk to and someone that can call me on the things that I need to work on in my own life and to give me encouragement in that too. He has such an amazing heart to support our team and get to know each one of them. He has such a love for the students we work with and a way to add details and some reality to my crazy ideas.

Jessica- is such a tenderhearted and beautiful woman of God. Her excitement and genuine joy at the smallest details sometimes is such a reminder for me about the love that God has for me and our team and that details are constantly being worked out for us by a big, loving and powerful heavenly Father.

Sarah- is a hidden talent of a powerhouse. I don't really know what else to add to that. She's got these crazy hidden skills that keep coming out of nowhere but are totally needed and relevant like those of getting a movement started on a campus where there's nothing.

Steve- is a loving man of God. Yesterday he ran up to a random guy to talk too because, "he was sitting in the same place yesterday and I wanted to talk to him then." You can simply see his love for the students and for God through his actions everyday.

Trica- is a joy. She's the other half of the crazy teetor-totter that is the two of us. There's no real other way to explain that one, she's got an awesome heart for the new campus we're opening up and I'm so happy that God's called her to be there.

So in the midst of pain and homesickness and a general need for what I think is normality... I know that I need to remember that I am surrounded by an amazing team.

2007-10-25T22:20:00.000-06:00

These guys are an answer to prayers... Jon and I have been able to connect with a lot of girls in the science faculties and I've got a good group of girls that I'm beginning to work with. That had been awesome but we had been praying that God would raise up the guys in our science faculties... and here they are, a solid beginning...

And because I know that my dad is checking this tonight... here's the link for some of my pics from Nicaragua... (copy the whole address into the browser...)

http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61080&l=04938&id=523285093

Crossfire youth retreat...

http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61676&l=5e14c&id=523285093

Love lots and lots!

2007-10-21T18:46:00.000-06:00

I just returned from our church youth retreat... absolutely amazing! My small group of girls blew my mind this weekend and more than that God healed my heart. There's so much more that could be said but at this point I'm still working through what happened last night... it definately goes down as one of the most intense moments of ministry that I've ever had and one of the most precious moments with God. So until then I leave you with some lyrics from this weekend and a verse that came alive this morning;

You're my every moment
You calm my raging sees
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in you, I trust in you

I believe you're my healer
I believe you are all I need
I believe you're my portion
I believe you're more than enough for me
Jesus you're all I need, Oh my healer, you're my healer

Nothing is impossible for you
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible for you
You hold the world in your hands

Psalm 62:5-8, 11-12
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God [a] ;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah
~
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
12 and that you, O Lord, are loving.

2007-10-18T20:17:00.000-06:00

Well well well... Nicaragua was a trip and a half and I think my brain is still blown... partly from all the Spanish and partly from all the sheer information. It was amazing to be sitting in a room with the campus directors and other staff and national directors of Vida Estudiantil in the CMC region (Central America, Mexico and the Carribean). I learned so much about what it means to have a movement and just gained so much understanding of this region and its past and future! Because I'm leaving again tomorrow on a youth retreat with my church the update will be soon to come, more than that I'm still trying to process everything that just happened.

2007-10-11T19:47:00.000-06:00

Life is absolutely nuts and most days I just have fun trying to keep up with it. The last 10 days has been insane.. but what's new for Panama?? The long and short of it is that God is doing crazy crazy things on all fronts.

Steve and I have started to lead small groups at "Crossfire" which is the youth ministry at the church that Sarah, Steve and I are attending. Its been such a blessing to get to be a part of an amazing group of leaders and also get connected into our own small groups of students. My group is a group of 5 grade 10 girls. My first night with them was last night and it's definately going to be interesting. Their small group just seperated into two so they'll definately be a breaking in period with them but we're headed on a retreat in 8 days so I am super excited to have some solid time with then and serve them as their friend. Please pray for them.

On the campus front... I don't really know what to say to put into words the feelings and emotions there. This week has been a week of follow-up and meeting with contacts Jon and I gathered from our classroom talks the last couple of weeks. Yesterday I was supposed to meet with 6 girls at noon but only one of them showed up. But as my friend Laura and I shared the gospel with her you could totally see her processing and thinking her own way through the whole thing. At the end when I asked her if she wanted to pray to recieve Christ she said that she wouldn't be here meeting with us if she wasn't looking for God. It was amazing... thats how the whole week has been! Today Jon and I were so encouraged because 4 guys (!!!) from science showed up at the weekly meeting. I've been connecting really well with the girls from the faculty but there's been a lesser number of guys in the classes and therefore for Jon to connect with. For me it was another sign and encouragement that God has huge huge plans for our faculties. I know that everyone on the team has their own special stories and special moments that God is teaching them and showing them things. Time and time again I am humbled by Gods plans and how even though He could do things without me... He chooses to use me anyways! Until next time.. much love!

2007-10-01T21:00:00.000-06:00

Just a couple more... because I realized that they're good.. and I have some computer time.... yippee! (Thanks Jess!!!)So this is the crazy fountain that we found Friday night at Nikko's, now the weird thing is it was full of bubbles... in espanol... burbuja... funnest spanish word ever (pronouce the "j" like an "h"). Alrighty so this is a close up of the articles on the protest Friday at the university... enough said.
This is another shot from church.. I don't know why I have a goofy face on but oh well... it was a great Sunday morning. So this is bascially to bring a smile to your face... love you guys!

2007-10-01T18:05:00.000-06:00

Well its definately been a week. We had an awesome full week on campus and were able to present some "talks" including the gospel to 4 lab classes of mostly first years. Today Jon and I did another classroom talk. As we were getting started I really wasn't feeling comfortable with what I had said in the other lectures. So I prayed rapidly and wung (winged??) the whole thing. It went awesome and I'm constantly amazed what God does when we ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and trust in his leading. Jon and I both thought afterwards that it was the best talk we had done so far. We've been able to connect with a lot of students in the faculty... most of them girls which has me really excited! Even today as I chatted with 3 girls at the end of the talk I was encouraged by my Spanish and their excitement to meet up and get a discipleship group started. Yesterday Jessica, Tricia, Jon and I went to the church in San Miguelito where Jon and I spent a week last summer on our adventure cycle. It was great to be there again and see the people from church and talk with them again. Jon preached the message and it was cool to realize how far we've all come in the last year. I never would have imagined being back and yet I completely felt at home being back with them. It was definately another one of those "crazy... I'm actually in Panama" moments.

Some pics for you guys from this weekend... courtesy of Tricia as my camera is still MIA. :) Late night drive turned into a late night at the Panama Canal... beautiful. Alright... so I don't know how much of this I should mention but... on Friday the university was shut down because of a protest. Jon and I were eating lunch when we saw students walking down the street carrying posters, flags and tires. Needless to say the tires were for blowing up and we all had to exit campus a different way as the police came in full on riot gear... needless to say this is apparently normal. This is Jess and I with the newspaper articles... for another take on this.. check out Jon's blog (the link is on the sidebar of this page), some smart insight there!!

The guys made us dinnner for team fun night and then we headed to the national theater (Teatro Nacional) for a concert that my church brought to town, it was a great night!
This is Jon and I at the church on Sunday in San Miguelito... I was helping Jon out and giving an example... (p.s. I love that they have 2 Tim 2:2 painted on their wall) This is the view from the top of one of the hills in San Miguelito.. beautiful.

So I was really tempted not to post this due to the shape of my face but it makes me (and the rest of my team) laugh so... this is what happens when we try and one-up each other on who can make the best pescado (fish) face.
Love you all... more to come! Stay tuned... it looks like Jon and I may be headed to Nicaragua in 2 weeks and a little bit for a conference.... fiesta!!! Jokes... please pray.. science outreach on Wednesday!!! Update to come!

2007-09-24T21:43:00.000-06:00

Its been an absolutely nutty weekend. For those of you who know whats happening you'll know its been a huge rollar coaster of emotion to some huge depths, and yet God always takes us out of the valleys, although they defiantely hurt when we're there. September 20th I wrote in my journal, "How quickly things can change, how quickly joy can turn to sorrow or laughter into pain." And yet tonight it'll be a completley different story.

(Rundown for everybody that has no idea.... Sept 20 some of my teammates took my guitar and my backpack containing my laptop, camera, wallet etc. home in a cab... except for it didn't make it home as everything was forgotten in the trunk of the cab... and trying to find one cab driver in Panama City can only be done by God.)

Now everything hasn't made it back and I'm still praying it does... and yet God continually blows me away. But until then... lets take a walk through some scripture that pulled me through this weekend, grab some coffee or tea and take a minute to do this with me. I know that scripture speaks to us all at different times but I pray that even as you read and think about these that God will continue to reveal his character to you... just as He's been doing to me.

Psalm 37:3-7a

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

Psalm 38:9

"All my longings lie open before you, O Lord: my sighing is not hidden from you."

*Psalm 42:11 (5-11 too)

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God."

*Psalm 51:12

"Restore to me they joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

*Isaiah 26:3

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you."

*James 1:2-3

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverence...."

*1 Peter 1: 6-7

"In this you greatly rejoice, through now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

*John 14:14

"You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it."

& again...

*John 15:7

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you."

& again...

*John 15:16

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

*Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."

*Psalm 139:7-10

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there: if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea (Panama???), even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

*Psalm 36, Psalm 40, Psalm 95, Psalm 100

(any of those guys....)

Thanks for taking a trip with me, I love you guys all so much!!! As always... more to come.

2007-09-18T20:17:00.000-06:00

Well... we're not getting deported tomorrow!! Yeah! This morning our request for an extension was granted and we've been excepted for a 30 day extension to our tourist visas. We have Panamanian identification cards and everything. At the end of the 30 day extension (October 18th) we'll be passing in our applications for our missionary visas and we should be set up for the rest of the year! Thanks so much for all your prayers!

2007-09-13T15:33:00.000-06:00

So an update on the crazy missionary/ tourist visa situation.... as uncomplicated as I can attempt to make this. We registered at the immigration office this morning and then applied for a 30 day extension to our current tourist visas. The only thing is that we won't find out until Tuesday morning whether the extension has been approved. Until then we wait and pray. Worse case scenario is we do a mad jaunt to Costa Rica on Wednesday and re-enter the country. Basically the idea is that a month from now we'll pass in the application for our missionary visas and then be completely finished with this bureaucratic mess. Please continue to pray that we'll have favor with the immigration office and that our extension will be approved. The officer we dealt with this morning had John 3:16 posted on his carrel which was a cool encouragement after the 5:30 am wake up call. Also... one of the girls on the team is still sorting out with Canada how to get a criminal record check done from overseas and its not looking good, so continue to keep that in your prayers.... lots of love!!!!

2007-09-06T20:01:00.000-06:00

Just some random pics for you guys..... enjoy...

The weekly meeting we were at today. The place was hopping with students a half hour before we even got rolling.. it was awesome.

Jessica, Steve, Sarah and I at the 30th anniversary of the signing of the canal treaties and the land breaking for the canal expansion.

The long awaited view from the apartment... I love waking up to this every morning.

Bathroom graffiti in Panama... 10 points to whoever translates this first (Jon you don't count).

The view from the mountaintop.... where we were at a retreat with the staff and students the past weekend.

2007-09-05T09:32:00.001-06:00

I hate being sick. I absolutely hate it. I feel irritable and frustrated when I have no right to be and I don’t have the energy to do the things I normally can do. I question things when I shouldn’t and all in all don’t function well both physically but also emotionally. When I’m at home I talk to my mom or grab a cup of tea and cuddle into my favorite sweater and sweats and sit with my dog or on my couch with my favorite music. I can have a bath or do whatever I need to do to take care of myself. So it’s hard when I’m not able to do those things anymore. I absolutely love it here and yet there’s times, like this evening that it’s hard to be somewhere that’s not quite home yet. I’m too hot to cuddle in a sweater and it’s too sweaty to drink tea and my family (my dog included) is over a thousand miles away. But it’s also times like this that I have nowhere to turn to but to my heavenly Father. He’s the only steady and constant thing in my life when all else is changing and moving and scary or frustrating at times.

Psalm 73:23-26

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

In John 7:60-71 Jesus is deserted by “many” of his disciples as his teaching is hard (vs.60). It’s not exactly the most encouraging bible story and yet it has one of my favorite verses in it. In verse 67 Jesus asks the Twelve whether they also want to leave him and Simon Peter answers, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (vs.68-69) I love that. “Lord to whom shall we go?” Where else would I turn when I feel alone or ready to throw in the towel? To whom shall I go? “Whom (else) have I in heaven?”

2007-08-29T19:14:00.000-06:00

This is a video of the Panama City skyline from a "hike" that the team took yesterday through the natural metropolitan park (pardon the quality... I'm still working on it!). It was a gorgeous day for some gorgeous scenery... I've been praying a lot lately about what God is speaking to me. In John chapter 4:43-54 Jesus heals a royal officials son. What hit me about this was two things... 1. the man took Jesus at his word that his son was healed and departed... man I want to have faith like that and 2. Jesus said something and it was so. So I've been thinking... what is God saying to me??

2007-08-28T10:18:00.000-06:00

Learning a lesson....

In the last post I mentioned that we had found an apartment for the girls and that we would still be looking for one for the boys. Backtracking a little though... when we had first started looking for apartments we had looked at a gorgeous building in a safe area called El Dorado, but... it was too expensive for us and only had 2 rooms. On Saturday we were supposed to move into what was supposedly the "girls" apartment. Our realtor called that morning though and said that another apartment had opened up in the identical building we had first looked at BUT that the rent was cheaper (moved into our price range), had 3 rooms AND was completely furnished. Holding our breaths we went to take a look. I was speechless... and we all know that that doesn't happen a lot...

I learned an important lesson that day. As I stepped out onto the balcony to look around I saw jungle and rainforest in the distance on my left and on my right the skyline of downtown Panama city but through the gaps in the buildings was a site that blew me away... the ocean. Standing near the ocean or even gazing at it from a distance I feel so incredibly close to God. But what I learned is that God desires to bless us more than we deserve... or even think we deserve. I wouldn't have asked to see the ocean every morning and yet He gave me that and as always more than I ever thought to ask for. Sometimes I think that God simply desires to blow us away, wherever we are, even when we think we could be satisfied with less.

The first (of many) girls nights in Panama city....

Post Saturday morning prayer... the morning we moved!

First dinner at "home"... well the boys house that is!

For more pics... check out this link....

http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45277&l=f9b54&id
=523285093

2007-08-24T08:12:00.000-06:00

Yeah!!! An apartment!!! We picked up keys for our new home yesterday and its exciting to know that we have a place to move into tomorrow. Its a 3 bedroom, 3 bath apartment halfway furnished with a washer, dryer and appliances which is a rare find down here. We´ll be taking the bus to campus, its about a 15 or 20 minute ride but it´s only one bus so we should be able to figure it out... thanks so much for all your prayers!

This morning we woke up a little after 5 and headed to the campus for a prayer walk around the campus. It was awesome to lift up the students and faculties in prayer and also pray that God would raise the level of evangelism on our campus. My hope and prayer is that the staff and our stint team really leads that way in this. I´ll be working in the science faculty along with my co'leader Jon. The Panamanian staff member we´re working with doesn´t really speak English so my Spanish needs to get better and fast! It´s awesome though because I´ll be forced to speak it so I´ll be able to learn... but please keep that in your prayers as well.

I´ve been delving into 1 Peter chapter 1 this week. I would encourage you all to take a peek at that, its such a beautiful progression within that chapter and concludes with a prayer I have for our team. I´ve been praying that we would love each other deeply and 1 Peter 1, I think vs.22 talks about this. Love each other sincerely because we´ve been purchased with something imperishable... the blood of Christ. Its an awesome chapter and one of my favorite books... there´s simply so much there. As always you´ll be in my thoughts and prayers, thanks so much for keeping me in yours!

2007-08-22T09:30:00.000-06:00

Well well! Here's some pics for you guys now that I found a less sketchy internet connection... still in the process of apartment hunting but it's looking good at this point! More soon!

Jessica, Tricia and Sarah on the plane ride... I can't figure out how to flip this... sorry!

Our airplane row... Jon, Me and Steve!
Our Panamanian welcoming committee! Gotta run... more to come!

2007-08-20T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well we made it! As we were landing at the airport I remember looking out the window of the plane and thinking that’s home! We had a crazy trip down, from not knowing about the embargo on 3^rd pieces of luggage and oversize bags to being delayed 5 ½ hours in Newark, from losing luggage and a minor car accident with some of the Panamanians, it was an eventful day of traveling and as we landed at 2:30 in the morning we were just happy to be back. The Panamanian air feels wonderful. I just absolutely love this country. It’s weird and yet comforting how familiar everything seems as we walk around and pick up some essentials. The last couple of days has been intense as we’ve set up cell phones (I’m feeling less and less like a tourist) and gone searching for apartments. The real estate market in Panama City is going nuts and rent is sky rocketing which means it’s extremely difficult to find apartments. But we’re looking and learning more and more about each other and about God as we do that. Rod Alm always says that he’s happy when someone says no when they ask to talk about spiritual things because it means that there’s someone else God has for them to talk too. Jessica related this to apartment hunting. As we find more and more full buildings and high priced rent it simply means God has something better out there for and us that we just need to trust him and keep searching it out in faith. We’re in staff meetings tomorrow and the apartment hunting continues until a big dinner tomorrow night in celebration of the anniversary of Campus Crusade in Panama. It’s a great time to be here and I’m blown away by the partnership we get to be a part of. As we stepped off the plane so early in the morning we were greeted with cheers, posters and a welcome song. It’s so humbling to be an answer to someone’s prayers. This nation is ready to be impacted and I believe that an eternal difference is being and will be made. I’m so excited to get onto campus in the next couple of weeks and get rolling on ministry, whether its language learning or devotional time with the girls as I lead the team along with Jon. Pics to come as soon as I can get a better internet connection... much more to come!

2007-08-15T19:52:00.001-06:00

In Guelph and all together finally!!!! Here's some pics and a quick update for you guys... Panama on Friday... so excited!

Leaving at the airport in Vancouver.... 5 am... here we go!
The team all together... finally! It feels right and we've decided that from now on we travel in 6's.... Gods totally hand picked this team and its so exciting to be a part of it!

We all made it here safe and sound, luggage and guitar included! The last couple of days of training have been great, the only real word I have for it is solid. We've spent a lot of time talking about communication, conflict resolution and all that fun and not so fun stuff. Language training and financial training followed so its been a little bit of everything which had been a little hardcore but awesome overall. The team is awesome. We sat through a Birkman analysis of out team dynamics and discovered we're a high fun team... which I think I figured already! It was good though to see who needs down time away from people (not me!) and who's high challenge, high esteem etc. etc. but it was awesome, I think it'll be super helpful later on.

Tomorrow we'll be dealing with details specific to Panama, such as roles, cultural stuff and things like getting our apartments set up (yeah!! apparently it's a pretty sweet setup in a neighborhood called El Dorado). Jon Agudelo and I will be leading the team which is both exciting and scary at the same time. I'm remembering a lot of lessons over the last couple of days that I've forgotten... like knowing and believing God is good and that he has called me to do this, there's so much more than that but I'll save it for later.... as always you guys are great, our team's awesome and God's great... so I think we're pretty much good to go!!! :) More to come!

2007-08-12T19:44:00.000-06:00

So this will be super speedy but.... I leave tomorrow morning (way too early!!) from Vancouver to Toronto to meet up with the rest of my team. From there we leave on Friday morning for Panama City and then the rest will sort itself out!! Thanks so much for all your love and support as I've been crazily getting ready to go. I've been incredibly humbled by all the support and words of encouragement that you've all been so lovingly and willingly passing onto me in the last few months. I'll miss all of you but I know that this is exactly what God's called me to do and I'm excited to see what that'll look like over the next year. I love you all but this isn't goodbye because you'll all be hearing from me soon! I'll let you guys all know my new mailing addy and phone number in Panama with the August update that'll make its way out once we get down there.... if you need anything I'm always here... drop me a line.... lindsey.davies@c4c.ca Until then, much love and I pray you'll all be blessed even more than you've blessed me!

Love and prayers... Lins.

2007-08-03T19:16:00.001-06:00

I'm leaving Calgary August 8th en route to Panama via Vancouver and then onto Toronto for some team training. Its craziness... honestly! I'm excited for so many things and yet at the same time nervous about a lot too. Its a hard place to be in sometimes when you don't have control over circumstances but it's in those times that we have a decision to make on who we're going to trust to control the uncontrollable. I think that some days more than others its a hard decision to make to trust God but at the same time He's never let me down when I do put my trust in Him. So as the days pass by ever so quick and I'm packing and sorting, and most likely crying I choose to rest in the fact that He loves me and cares for me more than anything.

Psalm 36:5-9 (The Message)

God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You're a fountain of cascading light, and you open our eyes to light.

2007-07-22T23:04:00.000-06:00

So... I bought a guidebook for Panama a couple weeks ago and was finally perusing my way through it today. Just an interesting fact that's actually pretty sobering when you think about it;

Although Catholics are the majority, only about 20% of them attend church regularly. The religious orders aren't particularly strong in Panama either: only about 25% of Catholic clergy are Panamanian. The rest are foreign missionaries.

77% of the Panamanian population profess to be Roman Catholic and yet only 20% attend church. That's a crazy stat when you start crunching the numbers....

2007-07-16T14:35:00.000-06:00

For the longest time, well the last year anyways Panama has been so far in the future that it almost didn't seem real. For months it was a year away, 9 months away etc., etc. and now the wheels are spinning away and I'm actually getting set to leave. My plane ticket out of Calgary is bought for August 8th which means that in less than a month I'm potentially gone for the next year. There's still a lot of "ifs" and "buts" and so so many details to get sorted out and yet I know I'm exactly where I need to be right now. So whether we leave as a team straight from Toronto or I'm back until sometime in September I still know and trust completely that all this details, all the things that could potentially stress me out are nothing in the face of a larger and ever loving God.

2007-07-04T16:31:00.000-06:00

Just a brief glimpse of home...
I was at home this weekend for Canada Day. I went for a walk and came to the place where I shattered my leg a couple of years ago. The last time I was there is gave me the chills but the sun was shining and I was so thankful to be home that it didn't matter this time. So I just wanted to post some pics from this weekend and wish you all a belated Canada Day... Enjoy your summer!
This was the fence that broke my leg... notice the post on the right still standing... stupid post... haha oh well. I broke the one running horizontal... one point for the good guys!

The sunset... there's no place like home, it's still home to me!