News from Panama

The following post comes from very dear friends in Panama, who are working with Chinese in that area.

CHERYL'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

• I'm still processing all of the sights, sounds & impressions of a very unusual week. Let me share just a few.



• I was humbled at the personal sacrifice of money, time away from family, and the hardships of traveling the back roads/paths of the Guaymi reserve that our Guaymi coworkers make in order to minister to the people in those remote areas. God is honoring those sacrifices & people are responding to the gospel. About fifty people responded to the gospel this week, alone, after three nights of movies: La Esperanza, the Jesus film, and the Jesus film for children. Pray for these new believers as the Guaymi coworkers continue to follow up & organize Bible studies with these new believers.



• I felt overwhelmed with the physical needs of the people. Its hard to express the humbleness of their homes, the wornness of their clothing, the premature aging & multitude of health issues caused by a lifetime of hard physical labor under the sun and to me, the fruitlessness of trying to eek out a living in their situation.



• I couldn't help but smile at the children enjoying the same kinds of simple pleasures that all children enjoy, like climbing trees, playing in the local stream, playing baseball with a rock & stick, bouncing up & down on a fallen log and expressing delight over an empty cardboard box to play with.



• I felt the satisfaction of having helped a child with a broken arm get to a hospital hours away, or of the groups' helping a very sick newborn get to a hospital and be diagnosed with a serious heart condition or having helped alleviate intestinal parasites, infections, and many types of aches & pains, even if only temporarily.



• My own inadequacies in Spanish were painfully obvious at times but God was very gracious & surrounded me with patient, helpful coworkers who were happy to help me learn what I needed to know!



• In Panama, there is no place too remote to find Chinese. In the nearest town to our medical clinic, I shared Chinese/Spanish evangelistic tracts with the owners of the local grocery, who are Chinese.



• Never having been a big camping enthusiast, I did learn that using an outdoor "squatty potty", bathing in the stream and sleeping in tents can be fun, or at least funny, part of the time.



• The local Guaymi ladies can make some awesome food in their very humble kitchens over an open fire.



• Benedryl does not effectively silence noisy roosters.
  
  Thanks for praying me through this week. I had no problems with sickness, our vehicles & traveling details worked well, our medical team was able to treat around 400-500 people and there was great attendance & response to the movies at night. God is at work & you have been part of it!

John Mark and Cheryl