We've broken the 400 day mark, and we are in our 8th country...Panamá!!

back to Our Walk of Faith

Tuesday, November 6th
Luis and Lety prayed over us and off we went with Ginnell (the sister we met on Sunday at church) and her friend Ynory. We shared a lot of testimony with them this morning on the ride over to Sixaola the border town with Costa Rica and Panamá.




They were supposed to meet the rest of their group in Bri Bri, but when we got there, they were already gone. So they thought they'd find them at the border, but they weren't there either. (Check out this border crossing...those are gaping holes...we had to be careful where we stepped!!) We were only planning to go as far as Sixaola, but since their group wasn't there, they kept taking us along with them...all the way to David!! We couldn't believe it.

An interesting chain of events occurred just when we were coming into David. Ginnell and Ynory told us that they were going to pay our way to David, so we thought they had already paid. But the bus driver's assistance came around and asked us for the money. We were stunned, we didn't know what to do. So instead of asking, we paid for the tickets (the first time ever on this journey). Then he went on and Ginnell tried to pay for all of the tickets...she was prepared to do that. Then she felt sad that we had paid. All because we went ahead of God. It's interesting to me...God always provides, but sometimes we go ahead without consulting Him, other times we are impatient, or still other occasions we want something different. I'm so often reminded about how much I have to learn about following Christ! Anyway...lesson learned (hopefully)!

When we got to David, Ginnell and Ynory found the rest of their group had arrived just before us so they quickly departed. We didn't really know what to do because it was raining and late. We prayed and looked around and waited. We found a place to check our e-mail, but we finished there and still we were waiting for the rain to stop. It never did...9 pm and it was still raining. Thankfully there was a hotel near where we were. We decided to stay the night there and head out of David in the morning.

Wednesday, November 7th
We woke up and decided that we should change the colones (Costa Rican mondy) that we had to dollars (the currency they use in Panamá). The church in Limón gave us a love offering before we left on Sunday. We had no idea that we would be leaving the country so fast, so we didn't change money in a bank before we left. We didn't change the money at the border because in every country that we've ever been in (7 up until now), they rip you off at the border. It's best to go to the bank. So we went to the bank, and they wouldn't change the money. They sent us to the National Bank, but they wouldn't change money there either. They sent us to the National Bank of Costa Rica...we weren't sure where that was, and we hadn't eaten breakfast, so we decided to go to the bakery across the street before we tried again. As soon as we crossed the street, this guy (Jack) spoke to us out of his window. He asked what we were doing. When we explained the situation, he said that he would help us. It turns out that he is a developer from California working on a project near Boquete, Panamá called Boquete Plantation. It will have houses, time share options, and a bed and breakfast. AND it's all located in a working coffee plantation. So eventually the owners of the homes will also own coffee.

Jack and Martin (a Panamanian who will eventually oversee the project) took us around to find a place to change money. They wouldn't change the money in the Costa Rican bank either. We didn't know what to do...it appeared that we had 100,000 colones ($193) of worthless paper. Finally the guy at the Costa Rican bank said there's one place, but it won't be a good rate. I expected that at this point...$1 is worth about 516 or 518 colones. I figured that they would say $1 was worth about 600 colones...we'd lose about $20. NOPE...she said 800 colones for $1...she was making $70. We didn't know what to do, so we went ahead and changed the money...maybe we didn't learn our lesson yesterday about waiting on God's timing. Now thinking back about it we could have just waited until we met someone going to Costa Rica or waited until we got to the capital city. Thankfully, God is patient...He wants us to learn so He continues to put us to the test. Slowly but surely He's forming us.

Another lesson that He's trying to teach us...We can honestly say that we know what it feels like to be discriminated against. We have been faced with this in almost every single country that we've been in. They see the color of our skin, hear us speaking English, know we are from the US, and think that we are rich. It's extremely frustrating when a person gives you one price and the person beside you a different price. We still have not learned how to respond in this situation. God is testing us and trying us, and we constantly fail this test--which is why He allows us to pass through a situation that is similar in another country. Our initial reaction is anger because it's unjust! Yet I don't think Jesus would have reacted in anger. We are studying Romans 12 right now and in verse 14 it is says "bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse." That is a hard truth to live out. We're still praying and trying to figure out how to react...our desire is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). It's hard for me because I want a formula of how I should react everytime...but that's religion. I don't want that...I desire an authentic relationship...constant communion with our Lord...then He guides my every thought, step, emotion, and word. We're in school...He wants us to understand more about the people who make up His body. We need to understand what it feels like to be discriminated against because of the color of our skin or the language that we speak. We're just still struggling in this area...though little by little it's sinking in to our hearts and our minds.

In the end, we went with Jack and Martin up to Boquete. They wanted to show us the development and apparently Boquete is a big tourist attraction because of the climate and the beautiful landscape--You can see Volcano Barú from there. It's also one of the 2 areas in Panamá that coffee grows. We enjoyed our time with them, but they had work to do so they dropped us off at the park.

It started raining again, so we opted to check e-mail until the rain stopped. Then we started walking...about 3-4 miles before it was too dark to continue. We met some kids out in the street, and they told us where we could stay. Early to bed to get in a good walk before the rain tomorrow!

Thursday, November 8th
Our first day back in a couple of weeks...of REALLY walking that is...about 12-12.5 miles today. It was a good time of praying and remembering what God has done in our lives and working on Romans 12. I was surprised at how the time was passed.

As we were coming into Dolega, we stopped in a gas station only to learn that there was no where to stay the night...only in David (another 10 miles away). We sat out front to rest and to have something to drink. While we were there, Greg and Kathy stopped to talk with us. They are originally from Oregon, but they are living in Boquete now...they are building a house in one of the developments we passed while we were walking. They had seen us walking earlier during the day and were curious about what we were doing. So we were able to share with them a bit while they were getting gas.


From there we walked on...less than a quarter of a mile later, Enrique pulled his truck off on the side of the road. He's a member of the 4 Square Church, and he was excited to hear what we were doing. He was excited in general about how he sees God at work in his life and all around him. His family had hosted many travelers over the years, so he shared some stories with us about them. He also asked for any literature we had that we could share with him and the guys who were riding with him. (The guys aren't Christians.) We gave them each a tract that talks about knowing God.

Enrique's stopping and talking to us was of God because as he pulled off it started sprinkling. A warning for us to find shelter because the hard rain is coming. God "just so happened" to have us in front of a grocery store with benches underneath a huge roof! (This was the 3rd time today that God provided shelter when it was raining.) We waited there for about 1.5 hours for the storm to pass. We talked to tons of people while we waited...several of whom had seen us walking earlier that day.

When the rain had almost stopped, we decided to walk on...at least to find some where to eat supper. We knew God would provide a place to stay. It started raining again, but again God provided a shelter where we could wait it out. (We are extremely thankful for Max's son, Steve. He gave Chris and I both umbrellas last Saturday...boy have they come in handy today!!!) By the time we could walk again, it was pitch black, but thankfully there were street lights. We kept asking where we could eat...God sent two guys to guide us, but none of the restuarants appeared to be open. Finally, we reached a corner where a lady named Mica came out and to talk to us. She told us a place where we could find fried foods, so we walked over to Aurora's place. She wasn't cooking yet, but Steve was out front. He called to Aurora, and she came out. She patiently explained all the types of food that she fixed. I had never even seen or heard of most of the food that she described, but it was delicious!! We ended up inviting Steve to eat supper with us as well. He has muscluar dystrophy, so it was difficult to understand all that he said, but he's really nice.

Aurora asked where we were planning to stay, and I explained the situation to her. She quickly invited us to stay with her!! We ended up talking with her and several of her customers until almost 11 pm. One of her customers, Coco, has been to Darien, so he told us some places to avoid and some areas that are safe to visit. What an amazing day...we definitely saw God's protection and provision in big ways today!




Friday, November 9th
Aurora loves to cook, and she loves to talk. It's wonderful because I can ask her all I want to know about Panamá and differences in the language and culture here! AND she knows the answer! She fixed several new foods for us to try today...including cow's heart, bofe (cow's lung), and torrejas de maiz nuevo (corn bread made from fresh baby corn that she herself ground up)!! I didn't get to try the bofe (Chris did, and he liked it.), but the heart and torrejas were really tasty!! I don't think I could have tried the heart if I hadn't seen Aurora prepare it...I would have missed out.

We met Yajaira one of the ladies who works with Aurora and 3 of Yajaira's children--Yajaira, Christopher, and Gianella. We showed them the evangecube and gave them salvation bracelets. A few seeds planted. We also met Melvin "Puco" who works a couple of day a week as well. They are all excellent cooks!! We have feasted today!






We walked around the city a bit too...just to get to know it a little. A guy, Carlos, called to us from a barber shop. We walked over, and it turns out that he's from California. He wanted to know what we were doing, so we had a chance to share with him as well. Praise God for seeds planted...it's up to Him to do the rest.



Tonight we saw even more of Aurora's compassion...she saw a man (Pito) walking down the road and she called in to the house to eat supper. Apparently he comes by often, and she feeds him. Then he watches TV in her kitchen until she closes her food stand at midnight. He loves the Lord...it's obvious. He too asked for literature to read, so we gave he a few tracts and the paper for the salvation bracelet. He's 50 years old, and he's finishing high school at night. During the day, he works whatever odd job to earn a little money so that he can eat...a real sweetheart!

We also go to talk to Mica a little more this evening. She and Aurora are good friends, so she was excited to see that we were still in town. She teaches catechism on Saturdays at the local church. Apparently, the Franciscan monks are really prevalent in this area, so they have formed children's groups and youth groups that meet together in the community to study.

Aurora has invited us to stay as long as we want, and she's excited to feed us different typical plates. We're both pretty pumped up to try new foods (and get a few new recipes!!) So it looks like we'll be here again...at least tomorrow. We'll have to see what happens...

Saturday, November 10th
It has been raining so much! We thank God for a dry place to sleep at night and to be during the day! Praise God!!

We went to check our e-mail today, but it's a holiday here in Panama...the first cry for their independence from Spain, so the internet is closed.

We ended up just hanging around the house a lot...today Luzbel helps Aurora with the cooking, so we got to see how they make empanadas (freshly ground corn filled with ground beef and potatoes), enyucadas (yuca stuffed with ground beef and potatoes), and almojabanos (cornbread made with freshly ground corn). We had already tried the empanadas and enyucadas, but we tried the almojabanos with tasajo (smoked pork). We also tried sao (pig's feet)...again only because I saw how it was prepared...it was really good. Another new food that we've eaten is ojaldras (kind of like an elephant ear). I can't tell you how well we've eaten here!

Sunday, November 11th
Today we went to mass...we thought that Aurora was going, but it turned out that she just wanted us to go. Afterwards, Aurora wanted us to meet Ronnie also know as Manrega. He's paralyzed from the waist down...from what Aurora told us we expected something totally different from what we encountered! Ronnie explained that he had several accidents...each one God showed him what was going to happen to him in a dream before it happened, but he continued living a really crazy life. Five years ago yesterday, he was in fight and was pushed to the ground head first which fractured one of his vertabrae leaving him totally paralyzed. He could only communicate by blinking his eyes, but God started speaking to him in a dream again while he was in the hospital. This time he listened...God told him to apologize to his mother who abandoned him when he was 8 years old. After he did that, he started to regain movement from the waist up. He explained that he learned that God wants to clean us up on the inside before he wants to heal us physically!

Ronnie believes with all his heart that God has a purpose for his life! He talks to everyone he encounters about Jesus, and he continues having dreams...sometimes these dreams concern him and other times they concern other people, so he shares with them. God has also revealled to him that he will be on his feet again one day. He told us that right now isn't the time because people don't believe, and they aren't really listening to him. When he told the doctor that he would be on his feet again, the doctor tried to discourage him. Ronnie answered him very quickly, "Aren't you Catholic? Don't you believe in God?" The doctor responded that of course he believed it God. So Ronnie told him that he was offending God with his words. God was the one who would determine whether Ronnie walked again not the doctor!! We just smiled!! His faith is amazing. God will heal him in the time and the manner that will bring Him the most glory! His smile amazed me because it is one of the most authentic and joy-filled smiles that I have seen in quite some time! Praise God! Another thing that impacted me is that Ronnie told us that he believes that God has a special purpose for those who are disabled...otherwise they wouldn't still be on earth. Wow!! What a testimony!

Luzbel came to get us from Ronnie's house...she wanted to show us the nursery where she works--flowers!! You already know how much I love them!!. Ronnie shared with us before we left that the owner of the nursery is very sick with cancer, so we were hoping to pray with him. He had visitors today, but his wife invited us to come back tomorrow morning.

This afternoon, we've been helping a tiny bit with the feast that Aurora, Luzbel, and Puco are preparing. Aurora wants us to try everything!! We're going to eat tamales (not like ones we've had before), salad, rice with guandú (a type of pea). She's already planning the menu for tomorrow too! Here are some pictures of the preparation...this was truly a labor of love.

After we feasted on all that delicious food, there was still tons left over. Aurora asked us to take some food over to Ronnie and the guy who lives with him, Erick. Again we had an amazing visit...he is so full of God's Word! I was surprised again at the things he shared with us. Ronnie took Erick in off of the streets four years ago. Erick didn't have anywhere to live. So now, Erick helps Ronnie around the house and getting to and from therapy. But it works both ways, Ronnie has encouraged Erick in his faith! Erick even wrote a Reggaeton song for Jesus! (He sang it for us!!) Before we left, we prayed for Ronnie and Erick, and Ronnie prayed for us. He said that he would remember us every night...God has brought another prayer warrior to our team!! Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

It appears that our time in Dolega is drawing to a close...we may be leaving Tuesday or Wednesday. Something that has very rarely happened to us has occurred here in Panamá...there are open doors down the road in Pocrí and Panama City. They are towns that are relatively far away from here and from each other, but we have friends there who are hoping to see us. We'll have to see what happens. Continue to pray for open doors in Panamá and for discernment as to how we will cross into Colombia. (There is no road!!) We'll be in touch again soon. God bless you and keep you! We love you a ton!! May the peace of our blessed Savior rest upon you!!

Making tamales...it takes a whole crew to fix them! They are really different from tamales that we've had in the past...but tasty just the same!!


































Tasajo...

Orange anyone?!

More flowers...these are from our visit to the nursery!