Panama Team Returns

The Panamanics returned without major incident with only one team member suffering from a self inflicted bruise.  It was good to see my fellow workers in the gospel at Services on Sunday morning. They appeared exhausted from the trip, yet empowered and enthusiastic about the work that they had been doing. Thank you God for the 80 students who heard your word spoken clearly.  Thank you lord for bringing home my brothers and sisters, safe and sound.

Paanama Pics 3-25-2010

What did you say?

Edwin, the fish was this big!

MORE PICS FROM PANAMA

News from Mike and the Mission Team

Wow # 3 From Mike Crowley

Our time in Panama is drawing to a close.  We are already experiencing a little separation anxiety.  It is amazing the kind of friendships that are forged when you spend invaluable time together each day struggling to communicate the timeless Gospel message.  We continue to be amazed at how readily the Panamanians we meet here are ready to open their hearts to us.  Jack and I are staying with Norberto Lasso and his family.  They were eager to give us the master bedroom, complete with two beds for us to rest comfortably.  After a few days we realized that Norberto, his mother, his niece, and two nephews are staying the remaining two rooms.  I am confident that Norberto and the boys are not sleeping on any beds so we can be more comfortable. 

We discovered the ultimate car freshener during our stay.  A few days ago we bought some fresh fruit at the outdoor market, and then hurried to the school to begin our teaching routine.  Thus a fresh watermelon, three pineapples, a mango, bananas, cantaloupe, and a papaya stayed out in our black car in the tropical heat in direct sunlight for the entire afternoon.  The car smelled fabulous when we got in it that night!

We had a running debate that was finally settled last night.  We have been reading Matthew chapter three and talking about how John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey.  For some reason, my readers in the late afternoon starting telling me that locusts were creatures that lived underwater.  I had to work to get them to understand that a locust was more like a really big grasshopper.  Why were my last few readers suddenly thinking that a locust lived underwater?  After a bit of research I discovered that Jack was “helping” my readers in the lobby before they were coming into my classroom!  Well…we definitely had words!  After much laughter and teasing, we discovered that in Panama the same Spanish word is used for locust and lobster!  So… I had to apologize to Jack for all the harsh things I said ;-)  Actually, the team has been doing a great job of “smelling like Christ” so we could be helpful attracting others to Christ.

Jack has a reader that works for the Panama Canal Commission.  He has been having a great time engaging in some pretty serious conversations about life and spirituality.  Veronica has been reading with Janice, Juan Carlos’ wife, and leaving energized about the things they share together, in spite of the fact they are meeting from 9:30 to 11pm!

So now we all have new Panamanian nicknames.  Edwin calls Jack, “Panama Jack!”  He likes to call me “Captain Jack Sparrow,” Christine is “Tinkerbell” because she is so friendly and energetic.  Edwin has nicknamed Andrea “Little Lynn” because she has a mountain of basic readers like Lynn had last time, and Veronica is known simply as “Vanna.”  Now we call Jack, “Jack Potter,” I’ll have to explain that one to you later; it has to do with a newly discovered superpower and a new beauty mark…

Christine has an amazing gift.  She has a brilliant smile and a charming personality.  We have used her gracious spirit to assist our efforts in many ways.  She greets everyone in the lobby as they come in, making them feel relaxed and comfortable.  To demonstrate how gifted she is, let me give you this one simple example.  We have been back to the car rental place a time or two due to difficulties with our vehicle.  Our RAV4 is a little cramped so I asked for an upgrade to a slightly larger vehicle, like a seven-passenger Nissan Pathfinder.  I was told the first time that I could only have the small upgrade for fee.  After the battery died in our RAV4, we took it back to the airport.  They insisted that I fill it up first, then bring it in and they gave me another RAV4, this one black and more prone to heat during the day!  I thought my plight would surely get me a free upgrade.  NOPE !  We went back last Friday to see about renting a 7 passenger minivan so Edwin could be our tour guide.  This time I brought Vanna and Tink with me.  While I was asking one agent about the problem I was having with the internet registration for the minivan, Christine was looking into Carlos’ eyes and smiling, often.  While my agent could not find my registration in the system, couldn’t find any record of my name at all, Christine’s new friend gave us a free upgrade to a diesel powered twelve-passenger van for slightly more than our RAv4 was in the first place!  When I returned the van late Saturday night, I was recognized immediately as Mr. Crowley, the one with the two girls!  Ugh….

Next we went to the fruit stand to get fresh fruit.  After Vanna and Tink starting asking for help (I was standing off to the side only grunting occasionally and holding my wallet.) the owner starting digging fruit out from under the table, from his “private stock.”  Needless to say we got really good fruit and a great price and even had it carried to our car…  Double Ugh…  I’m thinking I’ve got to start working on my smile ?!

We had the opportunity to watch God protect and rescue one of our precious readers, I’ll have to tell you that one next time…

News from the Mission Team

news from Christine  . . . . . . Sun, March 21, 2010 6:55:29 PM

I am soooooo tired!!!!!!

 It is the end of the day on Sunday. We went to church this morning, at Iglesia de Cristo and then we went to the big mall.  It was nice but I am not in much of a shopping mood because I am sooo tired, you heard me right :)))) Not in the mood to shop!!!  That’s not why I came here anyway. 

Yesterday we had a very long day.  We went to Porto Bello, Colon, Coronado and to El Valle.  If you look it up you will see that is was a very long day.  We left at 7:30am and got home at 11:30pm.  Although, I did put my feet in the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific on the same day.  Portobello was cool.... such history! And Coronado was beautiful.  The beach sand is black because it is lava.  Oh and when we were at the Atlantic (I can now say I have been to the Caribbean) it started raining and it was sooo warm. The waves were rolling in and it reminded me of just how AWESOME our God is !!

It is so interesting to see the difference in the way people live.  The flowers here are beautiful and huge!!!!! The only thing is, there is a lot of trash everywhere in the city.  I find that a bit sad since it is so beautiful here.  Today on the way back to Brisas we went through the city and saw old Panama and the ruins that are still there. 

Oh yeah!! I saw my very first fire fly in El Valle!! It was beautiful!  We also saw hot springs in el Valle.

Veronica and I bought some special mud for our faces at the hot springs that is only found in Lakewood, Colorado for quite a price.  We paid $2 !!! 

The people here are so nice and I am really starting to feel a lot more comfortable in my classes.  It’s so interesting how God works and how if you just let go and let God it really does work out. I feel so inadequate, mostly because I am not a teacher but it is His entire plan and I am leaving it up to Him and just doing the best I can. 

Christine

Panamanians!    J    2010         3/19        

“Chocolate Chips”

For some reason I awoke with this strange, unexplainable amount of energy. Yeah right! That won’t be happening anytime soon! But I did wake up with the excitement, or I should say, the rush of trying to find flour, and chocolate chips!

Today is Jack’s Birthday!! It is a wonderful thing when you are on a trip out of country and someone has a Birthday! It gives you a kind of energy when you get to celebrate something. Especially when it is someone special like Jack!

I awoke to the rush of, “Oh dear, there is no flour for the gravy!” Or, “My goodness there is nothing for the Biscuits!” and the final, which I searched for myself, “I NEED CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!” So I was sent to search the kitchen for chocolate chips to put in the pancakes to make a special breakfast for Jack.

I discovered something very fundamental when you are going to prepare a meal; you have to have the whole “prepare” part somewhere in your plan. But seeing as we were told just the night before that Jack’s Birthday was today, we did alright. Veronica was a whiz, as always, when trying to prepare an “on the fly” special breakfast meal. But you really should have seen the special candle we got for Jack’s Birthday pancake. (It was a real “hot” one.)

It was a wonderful, amazing, perfect, match. Yup, a match. The one’s where you use them to go “whoosh!” and light a fire! It took several tries to actually keep the thing lit. Unfortunately though, it decided to go out just as it was set before Jack at the table, and at that point we just gave up, and had him just pretend to blow it out, and sang Happy Birthday.

Today was our last day with the Preschool kids. It feels really sad that I won’t see my little Shaun, but it’s been difficult to fully rest and have our mornings when you have to head over and prepare for class. I have come to really love those kids! 

Nothing extraordinarily exciting has happened, but I have had some great conversations with some of my students. (Besides discussing fruit!) I have really been enjoying my stay here! Please continue to pray for us as we try to let God guide us on this crazy trip, one Panamanian step at a time.

Love you all! 

God Bless!

~ Andrea

P.S. By the way, I did find the chocolate chips; I didn’t want to leave you on tenterhooks! 

Updates from Panama . . . . .

An update from Mike. . . . . . . . . .

WOW  !!

We are having an amazing time seeing God work on the hearts of people.  Every day brings a new humbling experience.  We are helping people practice their English by using the Bible.  People here are open to new friendships and find the Bible very interesting.  In fact, the Panamanians that we meet believe in God, fervently believe that the Bible is His Word, and typically have no idea what it says.  These factors plus an eager desire to learn more English creates a beautiful opportunity to talk about Jesus. 

It has been unseasonably hot. We are melting as we swelter in our classrooms, waiting anxiously for the sun to set and our air conditioners to catch up with the humid heat.  It may sound like we are really suffering when in fact we are having a wonderful time.  We are constantly laughing, learning new fascinating things, and enjoying a front row seat to God’s miraculous work.  Yesterday a family came into the lobby of Edwin Garcia’s preschool and starting asking questions about the school in Spanish.  I readily jumped to the rescue with my broken Spanglish and answered their questions.  Things were going very well.  I was excited about signing up a whole family for English classes when Edwin arrived just in time to prevent them signing up their preschool son for free!  Oh well… 

We are eating like kings!  Veronica is making us gourmet breakfasts and lunches and stacking some amazing sandwiches for supper, she even bought us a can of bacon flavored spam. JOY!  We scheduled Veronica with a few gaps so she would have time to make sure the rest of the team is well fed and hydrated.  Once our schedule kicks in, we literally go from student to student for hours at a time.  It’s amazing how fast time flies when you are having so much fun!

We even had our very own Panamanian “campfire!”  Andrea needed about thirty pencils for her beginners’ class, so Edwin and I ran out and bought three boxes of pencils.  I noticed that Edwin had also insisted on buying these three little tiny metal cubes with an enclosed razor blade.  I never suspected that these tiny little objects were fancy pencil sharpeners.  As soon as we got back to the school, I called the team together and we began sharpening pencils for Andrea’s class as fast as we could!

We are not only having a fantastic time laughing, exploring, and having great fun; we are also humbled to see the Spirit do amazing things through our meager effort.  Monday night I met my last reader of the day, Juan Carlos, at 10pm.  He is a newlywed of eight months to one of Veronica’s readers, Janice. He is a new manager of an auditing firm.  After we finished our first reading session of Matthew 1, he wanted to ask a personal question.  He wanted to know if the rest of the lessons these two weeks were going to be from the Bible.  It’s funny how that is the very reason why we are here and yet I felt a tremor of nervousness.  What if he is offended?  Should I “tone it down” a little…? 

I said gently, “Yes, all the lessons are from the Gospel of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament.”  

“Ah,” he said and was quiet for a moment.  That was one of the longest moments of the trip so far for me, at least as long as waiting for our lost luggage to be found!

Finally he looked up at me and began to explain the reason for his question.  He said that this is a very, very busy time of year for him and his firm, that he has no free time available.  When Edwin had invited him to take this English curse, he declined because he really did not have the time.  He and his wife did not attend last Sunday night when we scheduled everyone for a class.  However, he said Monday morning he felt such a strong urge, and nagging need to sign up that he phoned Edwin Monday morning and took the only remaining time slot available to him, 10 to 11pm.

He continued to explain how he grew up in the Catholic tradition but has no real knowledge about God.  He has wanted to learn more about the Bible, but just didn’t know how, or even where to begin.  He was stunned speechless to discover that the nudge to make the phone call to sign up was God arranging for his very need!

 I explained how we had originally planned to come in January but felt delayed by God to do some things at home in Modesto (the “To Save a Life” movie outreach event) and so we rescheduled for March.  If we had come in January, Edwin’s new school would not have been opened, we would not have met Juan Carlos, and he wouldn’t be spending two weeks studying the Bible every night!  Didn’t Jesus say if we seek we will find!  I can’t wait to show him that verse tonight! 

Juan Carlos has been so amazed at the things that he has been seeing in the Bible that he went home and talked his wife into coming also, she is reading with Veronica now!  We are going to move our schedule around to be able to study with them both from 9:30 to 11pm.  You should have seen Juan’s face when he realized that the Bible doesn’t contain the “three kings of Orient.”  He even sang part of the song and gave me their names, yet nowhere does the Bible name them, call them kings, or tell us how many there were. 

He said, “So this is just a tradition of men?”  You should have seen the excitement in his eyes!

 Please join us in praying for our readers.

Wait till I tell you about Jack and Veronica’s readers!  Have I told you about the difference between a grasshopper and a lobster?  Have you heard of Christine’s amazing gift?  Would you believe me if I told you Andrea has a new nickname?  Stay tuned…

Jack Hairston writes:

Friday, March 19, 2010

Our day begins at about seven o’clock, and continues until we sweep and mop the School before heading home to shower and collapse by midnight.

Sounds restful, doesn’t it?

Some readers come only once, which satisfies their curiosity. Others get into intense discussion of scripture and life that run over the allotted time. We have given Bibles to those who neither have nor can afford one, and have also given ten copies of People of the Park to advanced readers. Who knew that this would turn out to be an evangelistic tool? When we hand out a copy, we tell the reader, “These are true stories about real people. When you know these people, you will know there is hope for you.” Readers who have finished my story look at me differently. I hope this is a Good Thing.

Tomorrow is Turista Day. The plan is to wade in both the Atlantic and the Pacific on the same day. If all goes well, we will see historical landmarks and end the day out on the Causeway for supper, watching ships enter and leave the Panama Canal.

Andrea # 3

Panamanians   J   2010        3/17

“Another day shall commence!” cries the announcer on her megaphone at what feels like 5 in the morning! When actually it was Christine’s sweet face telling me we must get up at 8:15. But it felt like 5 in the morning!

We taught preschool after having our delicious breakfast by our wonderful cook Veronica. (Or as we have nicknamed her, Vana. If you don’t know who that is watch Wheel of Fortune.) The kids are great, full of energy but good! We then get back to Delores’s house and ate a wonderful lunch of Spaghetti and meatballs. (Notice there is no Spam! Much to the boys disappointment.) We then ran off to Edwin’s school at 2:00 where I have my first basic class. However nothing truly hilarious or exciting happened today, unless you think learning nouns, prepositions, prepositional phrases, verbs, subjects, and objects is fascinating….then have at it!

I however find this story particularly funny. I have a reader named Shamyr, she doesn’t know hardly any English. And I mean practically zero English!! So I was trying to teach her the word Bitterness, and how you can get rid of it, which is of course, with forgiveness. So I was on the ground stooped over holding the “marker of bitterness” which was basically just that I was holding a marker that represented bitterness. And I would keep holding more and more “markers of Bitterness” and asking her, “So how do you get rid of all of this bitterness?” And after a long pause….she replied with a very serious face and tone, “Well, I would add more fruit.” I just stood there for a moment thinking, “seriously she thought I was talking about the taste!?” And I had literally spent 15 minutes trying to explain bitterness, and all this time she answered with FRUIT!! I laughed!! And then tried to explain the feeling of bitterness. That was definitely the funniest story so far!

Even though I am supposed to be teaching students, they seem to be teaching me! Including how to get rid of bitterness, now this is real gold, fruit is the answer! But really I loved it and have enjoyed every minute of this trip! Please keep praying for us as we continue to try and follow God’s guidance one Panamanian step at a time!

Love you all!

God Bless!

~ Andrea

Message from Andrea # 2

Panamanians!  J  2010       3/16

Well the first day of our classes was a success! I had four Basic classes, the first at 2:00, that one was small with only three students, but still a good class! My second one at 4:00, had about nine, or ten students, that was a good one! And the third class at 6:00, had ten students, that was a great one! And the last one was at 9:00, with about four students. Then I had three regular students which were great!

I realized when I first started the first class I didn’t have all of my material! I was standing there thinking, “Oh great I’m supposed to be this great North American that doesn’t have all of her stuff together!” But then God just started dropping ideas in my brain, and we kept going.  I have one class that has a lot of younger kids in it but there are some adults in it, so it was interesting trying to balance having kids and adults but still having to teach the same simple material. But it was lots of fun! I absolutely love teaching!!!!

Link to pictures from Panama

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=195766&id=100000493866074

Message from Mike

Mike #1

Amazing Grace; Lost and Found!

What an amazing God we serve!  God has already begun to weave His amazing story in this trip.  We were originally scheduled to fly from San Francisco to New York, to Panama City.  We were supposed to leave at 10pm last Friday night and arrive Saturday afternoon.  We purchased these tickets because this was such a great schedule!  But God…  We got to the airport to find a 3 plus hour delay, our connecting flight was impossible, so we got rescheduled to leave San Francisco at midnight, fly to Houston, Texas lounge around the airport for 9 hours, then arrive in Panama late Saturday night.  We were excited for all five of us to make it out of Houston on a standby flight arriving in Panama at our original time!

We were rejoicing in our good fortune until we discovered upon reaching Panama that none of our bags made the flight with us!  I was struggling to remember that Paul and Silas were praising God from a prison cell after an unjust beating… after all, it’s just delayed baggage, right?  The airline told us there would be no problem, our luggage would simply be delayed, it would arrive on the evening flight.  We got our rental vehicle and headed for our sister Delores Leonard’s home in Brisas de Golf.  After a warm greeting with Delores, Veronica realized that she couldn’t find her carry-on bag!  We searched the car, Delores’ house, nothing!  We bravely launched back into the incredible Panamanian traffic, rushed back to the airport to meet the evening flight and try to recover our baggage.  We hurried to the car rental counter and told them of Veronica’s carry-on bag.  What a blessing to be told that security had her bag safe and sound!  Our spirits were high as we found the security office, and there was Veronica’s bag with everything still in it!  In fact, the head of airport security asked Veronica if she was a Christian.  Veronica said that she was and why are you asking, the manager, Zoriada, said, “I looked in your bag and saw your Bible and study materials.”  Veronica and Zoriada hugged, we thanked her for keeping Veronica’s bag and we set off to retrieve our poor delayed baggage.

We were stunned to discover that our bags had not arrived!  After several frustrating moments talking broken Spanish/English through an intercom, we were told that our bags were missing, that they could not be found in their system, that we could come back tomorrow and try again!  Now I’m trying to whistle a strained praise hymn through clenched teeth.  So… we went to the store, bought toothbrushes and toothpaste and extra extra strong deodorant.  Sunday we all got up, Jack and I showered and then put our clothes back on that we had been wearing since the previous Friday morning!  I’ve got to tell you, you could tell that we had been in the tropics for a while.  We discovered a whole new “layer” to the whole fellowship thing.  We meet the Richardson’s in worship and upon hearing about our predicament, Jim literally offered the shirt off of his back, or at least those in his closet!  I could’ve had a whole new style…   After lunch we got into our car only to find out that our rental car had a dead battery.  It’s a Toyota… what can I say! 

What was that praise song??  Actually, everything turned out fine.  After Delores’ neighbor gave us a jump start, we returned to the airport Sunday afternoon to find all of our baggage safe and sound, it had simply traveled to Panama via New York without us!  We exchanged our rental car for another Toyota and headed straight to our homes for another shower ;-)

Did I tell you the best part?  What a frustrating, disastrous trip right?  Wrong!  God is doing what He does best, He is weaving our lives together to create the greatest story of all time.  While we were trying to find our luggage at the airport Saturday night, we decided to ask Veronica’s new friend for help, Zoriada the security manager.  We were able to explain our problems as her English skills were very fluent.  As she was taking us to various places in the airport to check on our baggage, we were explaining to her why we were in Panama, that we were helping people practice their English using the Bible.  We invited her to join our classes and she signed up!  As I write this update, Veronica is reading the Bible and talking about spiritual truths with Zoriada right now!  What if God delayed our baggage just so we could meet Zoriada so Veronica could share the Bible with her?  Zoriada is the first female to be the head of airport security in Panama.  We are learning why it is important to relax and trust in God while unforeseen circumstances are swirling around us.  Would we have missed a divine appointment if we had been negative, harsh, and griping with anyone who would listen?  Please Lord, help us to be more humble that You may be glorified in us…

Pics from Panama

Chrsitine Chillin at the airport

News From the Panamaniacs. Andrea Crowley

Panamanians! J 2010

Well the adventure has truly begun! Not quite the same as the Olympics perhaps, but for me, just as exciting!

Our trip began Friday night waiting in the San Francisco Airport for our flight that will come at 12:20 pm. Our flight had been delayed so we waited for a few hours.

Then our connecting flight in Houston, Texas was also a waiting trip until 9:30 am. Then we were going to Panama!

We arrived in Panama City, at 2:00 their time; however, our luggage did not! But we clung to the hope that they would arrive at 8:00 that evening. We hopped in our rental car and drove off! Arriving at Delores’ house, we then met with Edwin. (He’s the guy who is letting us use his school to do our classes.) We got our tour of the school. (It’s a great building!) I was then invited that evening to join Edwin and his family to go to a small roller coaster park! It was fun, though I must say there are several safety regulations that the U.S. would have a fit over!

I got back with the unfortunate news that they did not have our luggage! So we had to make do and go to church without clean clothes. (In hot, humid weather, might I add.)

After a good church service we had Subway, making yet, another connection with the manager of that Subway. She was excited to come to the English classes. After eating we went to the airport for yet, another try at the luggage. They had it!!! They had our luggage! I never realized how great a big black bag looked as I saw it coming down the walkway! But God works in mysterious ways, yes we lost our luggage, but we made connections with one of the security ladies and invited her to the English classes! And we invited a man to the classes because he helped us with our battery in the car.

Last night, we met with our future students! I am teaching a Basic class which is for those who know zero English. As well as the regular classes, so a full two weeks for me as well as a lot of us! I have thirty-seven students for basic and five students for the regular classes! I am sooo excited!!! Today is the first day! Please pray for me and the rest of us that we let God guide us one Panamanian step at a time!

Love you all!

God Bless! <3

~ Andrea Crowley