Going strong

Everyday that I am here I really fall in love with it more and more. I am more comfortable with the people and my surroundings and I am beginning to really love the culture. This might come as a shock for some of you because my heart was never drawn to Panama but I knew that God wanted me there and that it was something I could learn and grow from. But now I am really thankful for this opportunity and I praise God for putting me in this country.

Some things are still hard to deal with.... Mostly it´s just that I don´t speak the language here. It is so hard to go to church and to not be able to bond with the other members (which is sooo hard for me not to talk!-- that comment is for you Mom!) I am so thankful that Jami knows spanish and she is willing to help me learn and fill be in on what is going on! But sometimes it is hard to be the ONLY ONE who does not understand. It can be very lonely and humbling most of the time. But I have never had to rely on God´s strength as much as I am here... so this is a great blessing to me. At church I found myself tearing up when they sang one of my favorite songs. Even though I did not know the words I still felt like I was actually being able to worship God with the people. It´s amazing how we take for granted even the little things in life. I did not realize how much singing praises to God meant to my heart and spirit.

It has become a joke here that I am going to wake up one morning and speak spanish. Some of the people here tease me saying that I have been here two weeks and I should know it by now. If only it was true! :) Betty it arranging for me to have lessons here soon and I cannot wait to start.

This past Sunday we went to the first service at a church in Brisas Del Golf . This was a very exciting day. A couple from California got in this weekend and will be doing LST work here for the next two weeks. Because of the great response they recieved from the people in the community, they needed me and Jami to come and start working there before our work in Curundu. At the information meeting we quickly saw that about half of the people who came did not know very much English. How the LST program works is that you read one-on-one with a reader. Each session you read through a passage in a Luke workbook. This is suppose to help people work on their conversational english skills but it also is a way to expose them to the word of God. Through your sessions with the readers you are able to ask them questions about the text and get them to really think about what they are reading... and also build relationships with them that will hopefuly show them the love of Christ in our own hearts and lives. So since so many people could not even read the text, Jami and I volunteered our time to work with small group beginners level classes. It has been an AMAZING week.

At first it was hard because I felt like I was not contributing much to the classes and most of the time I did not know what was going on. But slowly the people started really helping me feel welcome, but forcing me to practice my spanish and teaching me new words. One woman even promised to buy me a book to help me learn. I may not be able to communicate with them through words but I really feel like I have made some friends through this. (Also our taxi driver teaches me a phrase a night!) It is also incredible to watch as our night large group class has grown up to about 15 people! It is then that we work through Luke workbook with them to practice english comprehension. And with the help of some of the members of teh church who sit in on the lessons, they are able to communicate the messages of the lessons to them! I also have been working with two readers in the LST classes and one of them is hopefully going to start coming to church with us. I feel so connected to everyone and it has been a blessing to watch as we all bonded with eachother (the people in our classes act like they have been friends for years!) Words cannot explain all the amazing things God is doing in Brisas Del Golf!

I have no more time to write but I do want to say thank you to everyone for praying for me and my health! The tests all come out saying I am extremely healthy. My blood pressure was still low but not as low as before (it was 80/50 the first time- I wrote it wrong in my last blog. Now it was 88/60) is still just a little low but I have medicine to continue to help bring it up. So everything is just working out perfectly here!

We are getting internet at our house soon so more updates and PICTURES to come. Thank you for all of your encouraging comments, emails, and messages. I LOVE YOU ALL!