Panama Mission Effort - Day 3 - June 4

We were up early to begin our work in Volcan... the van picked us up at 6:15 and we ate breakfast at Lyn and Joy's at 6:30, consisting of fresh fruit, oatmeal and scrambled eggs. Doyne brought the devotional and did a terrific job of encouraging us to keep our good attitude throughout the week...

The work at Volcan has three points of emphasis:

1. teaching morals - using Bible stories - in the elementary school which is only about 3/4 mile from Lyn and Joy's
2. building fences and other work on Lyn and Joy's property
3. evening Bible study on the porch (which will serve to establish the church in Volcan)

The School teams left for the school at 7:30, as we were to begin by 7:50 and finish by 11:30... I was a part of one team, doing puppet skits in Spanish and acting out the Bible story afterwards. The other men stayed behind and worked on the farm, though their day was cut short at 10 am by rain... (it is the rainy season, and you have to be really flexible to survive!)

We are working at the school in 2 teams... each team repeats their lesson 3 times per day for a total of six 'audiences' so all grades are covered. These children are so welcoming and attentive... God has provided a truly awesome opportunity to our teams, allowing us to teach morals (using Bible stories) in their public school! Incredible!

After school, we returned to Lyn and Joy's for lunch and a bit of down time before our canvassing of the neighborhood; our intention is to invite as many people to evening Bible study as possible... today, though, the rain was too heavy for us to go door-knocking. We did, however, get a ride into town for some 'light shopping'. We went to Romero's to buy some towels (we forgot to bring some) and we bought ice cream cones for a quarter each... then we decided to walk back to Lyn & Joy's, but the light rain turned torrential about half way there... so we sought refuge on the porch of a small store, and bought some plantain chips and Mountain Dews (in the bottle!) and sat on the porch waiting for a ride... finally Joy showed up in the van to take us back... and we chilled out til dinner.

We ate dinner about 6, then people from the community who had already been invited to the study started arriving. There were about 35 adults on the porch, and we studied the first six chapters of Daniel and discussed how God's hand was always directing his life, just as it does our own. Pablo translated back and forth, and we had a great study.

Important note: A young man from Panama City named Hezekias is with us this trip... Joy and Lyn are sort of 'interviewing' him as a possible candidate to help lead and establish the church in Volcan. I believe God has indeed blessed us by placing this wonderful young man in our path!

We said our goodbyes at about 8:30 and prepared for bed... the men returned to our cabin and were asleep by 10... getting rest for the next busy day!