Blind Faith

God is faithful

These words have been going through my head since the moment I got off the plane here. Scriptures tell us that if we walk in faith then God will take care of us... don´t worry about anything because He will be taking care of His children.

Sitting on the plane I felt as though I couldn´t breath... I had no idea what I was walking into. All we knew was that we had a man named Larry at the gate waiting for us who ¨looked like a dad¨with glasses and that we had a place arranged to stay while we were here. All of that was too overwhelming for me. Little did I know that the Jones family would soon become our close friends and we would quickly feel like they were family to us.

When our host house was dark and looked like everyone was in bed, Karen offered us to stay with them. So there I laid in their daughters bed completely anxious about everything I had already seen and feeling like I will never learn this language that is all around me now. But thankfully I am here with my amazing friend who comforted me enough to fall into a much needed sleep. In the morning we found out that our house would not be ready until Monday but we were able to meet the family that we would be staying with. The mom knows some english from studying with LST (Lets Start Talking) before but the dad does not know any english-- fun for me. They have a beautiful daughter who turns 4 tomorrow and a 4 month old baby boy... which I have already become attatched to.

The Jones took care of us all weekend while we waited to move in. It was amazing to see how many people we knew in common and how many places we had all been before! It is such a small world and I know that God knew that this was the family we needed to walk into. On Saturday we went to the mall and at one point Jami and I got seperated from them... it was so overwhelming. Here we were in a crowded place with no phone, no car, NO idea where we were and I had no idea how to communicate to people around me. At that point only a handful of people even knew who we were in this entire country! It was a lonely feeling that I have never experienced before. Talk about needed to put all your faith and trust in God. (Don´t worry- we found then after about 10 min)

Going to church on Sunday was such a great experience and a wonderful encouragement. The people there were so nice and kind and soooo eager to talk to us. They all expressed an interest in learning English and working with us. hopefully we can start something for the church soon but it just seeing their excitement really made me excited about starting our readings here. We also met a couple named Arielle and Jose (who went to Harding too) and we were able to hang out with them all day long. They quickly became our friends and was another way that God revealed to me how he is taking care of us!

I was here for New Years an that way an experience. Fireworks are the thing to do here and it was so much fun to stand on the Jones back balcony and watch as hundred of fireworks went off all over the horizon (some were so close that we heard multiple car alarms going off!)

Betty and Raul are the people from church who works with LST and are arranging our schedules and readings for us. They are out of town until tomorrow so all week me and Jami have just been exploring and settling in. Something that I know I needed to do. I am so much more comfortable here and I know that I really needed some time to get settled in and get use to everything here. So all week we have been hanging out with our new friends... going to Old Panama, shopping around all the art markets, feeding fish off the bay coast, playing games... we have planned to go to the beach but that hasn´t worked out...

Wednesday morning Arielle was going to take us to the beach. We were outside the mall entrance waiting to go catch a bus when all of a sudden I felt really sick. I turned to the girls and told them that I felt like I was going to pass out... and the next thing I knew I was waking up to Jami saying my name and I was laying on the ground. It all felt like a dream!!! I had a crowd of people all around me and I could not believe that I just fainted. When I felt like I had enough strength we went inside to the AC and I sat on a bench where I eventually layed down because I still felt so bad. Jami said when I was standing outside she noticed how I got a glazed look on my face and she simply touched my arm and it was like someone else guided me slowly and gently down to the ground because none of my weight was on her. And when Arielle called Larry, they were already getting in the car to come to the mall! God was obviously watching after me because if I would have fainted any later then I would have been on a bus or two hours away from everyone! We went to the doctor an my blood pressure was 88/55-- extremely low! It might have just been dehydration but I got some blood work done yesterday to find out (results on tuesday). It´s nothing to worry about but def say a prayer that we can know what happened! God is obviously watching out for me!

I don´t want to write too much but just know that everything is wonderful here. I am excited to start working and I am so thankful to be here. For not knowing what we were walking into-- things have gone smoothly and perfect! I will write more fequently because I have SO much to write about and I hate that I can´t explain everything from this week.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support! You don´t know how much you all are a big part of this mission. Pray for our readers that we will be working with soon!