This title is the best way to describe my life here. Today. Yesterday. For the last week.
Its so lovely here....yet so difficult.
The enemy is trying so hard to stop the love of God we are experiencing and beginning to pour out on the Panamanian people.
Sickness....
Homesickness.....
Fear....
You name it.
I am excited. I am learning what it takes to be a full time missionary. It is challenging to the core of my being. But this challenge fuels my spirit. It thrills me. It makes my toes tingle.
So do earthquakes...
July 4th, 2 am....6.0 earthquake hits a few miles northeast of where i am staying. It woke me from a dead sleep, and immediately I was terrified....
the rumble...
the shaking....
It took me an hour to get back to sleep. For the first forty five minutes I was pretty much replaying the event in my mind. I was so uneasy of another one coming. I felt almost violated. After all, I sleep on the ground, and my bed should NOT shake while I sleep. It is the one place I should be able to rest from the toils of the day. Then I remembered someone in my room shouted "Earthquakes don't happen in Panama!" Thats interesting, I thought. Its like God is teasing us by sorta saying, "now that you're in Panama, its time to shake things up a bit"
Thats when Romans 13:11-12 came to mind. Well, I like to think that God put it into my mind. And I just happened to remember all of the words by memory :)
"The hour has come for you to wake from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."
The enemy has been right on our heels ever since we arrived here in Panama. Trying to scare us away from his firm clutch on this country. Whether it be by placing fear of man on us, sickness, or homesickness...he has been trying hard to win. But thankfully we are surrounded by prayer (thank you everyone) and we will not let our guards down!!
Dont worry...everyone is safe after the earthquake, and no significant damage was done.
I really feel that God is doing a lot here. We have had multiple people tell us that God told them he brought my team here for a reason. That things are going to happen while we are here. And I am really beginning to feel truth in this. Things are already happening. There have been so many firsts.
First bad rainstorm in 5 years the first sunday...wiped out a few houses in a nearby tribe, so we spent the whole next day helping clean up the mess left behind.
Heres a picture of me hacking away at a tree with a machete! This tree fell on the sister of the cheif's house. So we spent the day chopping it up and moving it!
First earthquake in 9 years...6.0? God really is shaking things up.
They have also told us "It never rains this much in Panama"
Oh, and did i mention there was another earthquake last night? 5.3 on the richter scale...and it was in the same place...interesting!
First week??
bats, ants cockroaches, pig squirrels, 6.2 earthquake, humidity, sweat, mall, sight- seeing, ruins, rash, outdoor hose shower, machetes, praise, joy, laughter, prayer, living in community, cute children, jaguar, leapord, puma, abandoned town, cheap corner store, apple soda, grape soda, skyline, railroad, big boats, panama canal, Caymans, turtles...in no particular order.
Coming soon.....Ministry that we are working with:
Orphans
Ngobe tribe...most unreached and marginalized people group in Panama.
Will update soon!!
Thank you for reading!!
