We want our Panama Mom . . .

We want our Mom !! Today we begin the second week of our reading schedule. We are amazed at how we have adapted to our routine. After trying to cram in as much as possible during the weekend, we are now settling into a busy week of interacting with our readers. Saturday began with an opportunity to look at a few houses in Brisas to get an idea of the average home in this area. Finally we got an opportunity to do a little sight seeing! We signed up for a tour of “Monkey Island” in the Gatun Lake portion of the Panama canal. After a beautiful 20 minute boat ride up the canal, the captain gently coasted our little boat up to the tropical foliage of the island, when we spotted a huge Iguana resting on a low branch! This thing was massive, its body was about 3 feet long, tail was over four feet, must have weighed close to 30 pounds. Our guide says they taste like chicken! Like a scaly, cold blooded, tropical chicken with a hint of cricket aftertaste no doubt! Our guide called the monkeys and all of the sudden it was raining monkeys! They were dropping off of the trees onto our boat, onto the shade awning, the deck; it was more fun than a boat load of monkeys! The little white faced monkeys were eating bread out of Libby’s hand. What a beautiful country filled with amazing things and wonderful people. Sunday we were blessed to worship with our brethren of the Metropolitan Church of Christ again. One of my readers, Edwin Garcia, came with his family to the worship assembly! Please pray for the work that God is doing in Edwin’s life and heart! Finally we were able to have a big nap, yes! We turned down a few social invitations in the interested of getting rested for a final week of enthusiastic readers. So, here we go! We left Brisas at 7:30am in order to arrive in the downtown, or centro, district to meet with our readers in their law office. We will finish at about 11am, trundle down the elevators, through security, and drive out of the parking garage. This will just give us time to stop at Brisas, change clothes, inhale lunch, then out the door to the neighborhood, Castellana, where Edwin’s pre-school is located where our classes will begin at 1pm and continue until 10pm. We try to fix a quick sandwich and gulp it down in between readers when we can. So far, we have been so busy that we have often forgotten to eat supper. After visiting with Edwin and his wife Lesbia we usually arrive back at Delores’ house sometime around 11pm, a few times as late as midnight. I am going to have to enter a serious coffee detox program when we get home, I am now drinking six or eight cups throughout the day… We really miss our Panama Mom! During our last trip we were so well taken care of by Shelia and Gertrue that we didn’t realize how hard she worked. Now we are struggling to find time to eat, do laundry, buy groceries, fix meals, take pictures, even to write these updates! We took as many students as we could, about 95 a day, but we still had to turn people away! We have a growing list of people waiting to be called in case of cancellation or to be notified of the next class in January. God has really prepared the hearts of this community, it has been an incredible opportunity to see God do amazing things in the hearts of all of us! I close this update with this good news, no new cop stories! So in closing, Shelia, where are you??!! We need you !! Mike