We were up early - about 5:30 - ate a traditional breakfast of Huevos Revueltos (scrambled eggs) and pancakes, then packed up for the remainder of our westward trip on into Volcan in Western Panama... but first we made a planned stop on this Lord's Day to worship with the body which meets at a place called Santa Marta.
Santa Marta is a community of about 1000 people which is situated on the side of a mountain near the city of Penonome (where we slept last night)... about 45 minutes by taxi (the Santa Marta taxis are actually 4wd Toyota pickups with two benches and a headache rack). About 30 of us loaded into three taxis for the trip, which is routinely made impassable by high waters... today the waters are low, so we crossed with no difficulty. This taxi ride was the most incredible one of my life! We went from Penonome (300 feet above sea level) up and down the face of this mountain (up to almost 3000 feet above sea level) until we reached the community of Santa Marta... the most beautiful and rugged terrain I have ever seen.
The people greeted us warmly and we visited for a little while until it was time for worship... Jose (one of the church fathers) led singing and began worship, then Doyne led the songs that we knew... in English, then in Spanish... it was AWESOME!!!
Then I delivered a message - through Pablo, who translated - about how Jesus commands us to live with confidence and 'break down Hell's gates'... it went pretty well...
While I spoke, the ladies conducted Kingdom Kids, complete with skits and puppets and songs... again, AWESOME!
We all gathered again in the building, and Jose introduced us to the entire congregation as they stood up at the front of the building... then Jose asked if we might bring a team to Santa Marta to conduct a medical mission, and we agreed that we would begin planning to do just that!
We ate lunch, consisting of KFC which we brought and beans and rice which they cooked... it was delicious!
After we ate, Jose showed me the school where we might house our medical mission...
Then, after tearful goodbyes, we boarded the taxis for the 45 minute ride back to our bus and van... again, the scenery was absolutely breath-taking!
At the bus, I walked up to a roadside stand (tiendita) and bought a couple cokes and some plantain chips (which became a favorite of ours) for the girls... very much appreciated!
We then boarded the bus and van to continue our westward trip along the Pan American Highway to our 'home' for the week, Volcan.
We stopped at David (at the foot of the Volcano; about 45 minutes from Volcan) for supper at McDonald's, then climbed back on the bus for the final 45 minute jaunt up the mountain to Lyn and Joy's house.
We went from 300 feet above sea level to over 6000 feet above sea level in a little over a half hour... ears popped 3 times! Finally arrive at Lyn and Joy's - a beautiful and recently added-on-to house with a bunk room and 3 bathrooms to acommodate our team... the ladies stayed at Lyn and Joy's while the men stayed a couple miles away at a cabin in town.
A beautiful end to a wonderful, long day... we were all in bed by 10:30 or so...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment