frosh frosh frosh

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.

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.

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

"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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

"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

"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

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....

(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....

(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

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...

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...

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...

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.

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!