Ministry in Abundance

   We moved! We are now in the mountains of Panama on the whole other side of the country. We are staying at a different YWAM base. 

COFFEE FARM

   Ministry is amazing! We have gotten to do so much. One of the ministries that we got to go help is a coffee for ministry where they hire indigenous people to work on the farm and then eventually build a relationship and share the love of Jesus with them. We got to play with the kids there. It has been wonderful to get to love on the children in the community. 

GLOBAL FOOD PROVIDER

   Another ministry that we’ve gotten to go work with a lot is Global Food Provider. It is an organic farm. They grow all kinds of really great super foods and instead of throwing away the food they can’t sell they dehydrate it and turn it into super food powder and then they hand it out to the indigenous community. They can then put it in the rice and it gives them a ton of proteins, vitamins, and nutrients that they need. Also this ministry has moringa trees that are very healthy for you and can give you a lot of vitamins and nutrients so we have gotten to do door to door evangelism handing out trees. They will provide these people with food and then we tell them about the Lord. We have gotten to have some really great conversations with the people in the community, and pray for people. At this ministry they’re currently working on building a chicken house so that they can raise chickens and when they’re fully grown give them to orphans and widows and impoverished families so that the chickens can produce eggs for that family. It’s just a sneak peek at what this ministry does but it does so much for the community. 

TEACHING ENGLISH 

   We have also gotten to teach English these past couple weeks to the kids. It has been very fun. It’s sometimes crazy and hectic but the kids are learning and we definitely are. It is an awesome opportunity to just get to love on the kids. 

CLEARING PROPERTY 

   We’ve also been helping a family nearby with the property that they bought and recently we’re helping them clear the land because they plan to host missionaries. They also plan to grow their own produce and live on the land. They will then go out and do lots of outreach and mission work in the community. So we have been helping them remove stumps from their land using pick axes, moving logs, and clearing brush.

EVANGELISM 

   We’ve also had the opportunity to do evangelism. It was an amazing day when we went to the city of David, my group and I were walking around asking the Lord to highlight people to us that we should go up and talk to. We talked to several people and prayed with them, and then we walked back down to the center part of town with a fountain in a park. We then saw this lady with a yellow bonnet and she was highlighted to all of us but we didn’t really say it we just all started gravitating towards her. We went to her and said hello; I told her that we were missionaries and asked her if we could pray with her if she had any prayer requests. She started sobbing and she said, “yes I need prayer!” She said her son had been missing for almost 2 years and she would like prayer that he will be returned. Her son is 48 years old. We then proceeded to pray with her and our hearts just broke for her because we could see how much pain she was in but we also could see the faith she had in the Lord. When we finished praying for her we were continuing to encourage and talk with her, then her sister walked by. She waved her sister down telling her to come and then we start talking to her sister. Then she asked for prayer for her granddaughter and her granddaughter’s baby. She started crying and we all pray for her. We talked with them some more and then we decide to pray again with them. The sister of the first woman that we met said that she had been asking the Lord to encourage her to keep going and to help her through. She said that we were the help that she had been praying for and the encouragement. It’s really cool to get to be used by God in that way. They both decided to bless us and they gave us nine dollars between the both of them. We didn’t need the money or want it from them but we took it (since they wanted to bless us & culturally it is offensive not to accept gifts here.) We thanked them and said that we would continue to pray for them. Then we went on our way. We wanted to use the money in someway to bless someone else so we then remembered the lady we had prayed for earlier. She was sitting and asking for money so we decided we would go spend the money we have been given to buy her food and water. It was really cool to see how God blessed us so we could then bless her.

DEVOTIONALS

   We have also gotten to teach devotionals and Bible studies with a group of students here at the base. It has been a great time to look at what God has been teaching me and then get to share that with others.

MANOS DE FE (hands of Faith)

   We got to go to another ministry that takes in young girls who have been sexually abused and become pregnant. Most of them have children at a very young age, some as young as 12. They take them in and give them not only a house, but a home. They help them to finish their high school education, along with teach them how to be good Mother’s. They give them skills for when they re-enter the community and they teach them about the Lord. They really show them that Jesus loves them, he’s with them and that there’s nothing that you can do that will make the Lord love you less. While we were there we got to go distribute food to the families near that ministry, a lot of which had many many children and were very impoverished. It was very eye-opening to get to just see these families and what their every day life is like. We got to bless them and give them food along with pray with them. 

   We are living in abundance now ministry wise we have gotten to do so much in just a couple weeks we’ve gotten to be at this base. I’m so thankful for what we’re getting to do and it is amazing to get to see what God is doing all over the place. We just found out yesterday that on Saturday we will be leaving for two weeks to go to the Camarca which is like a Native American reservation but here in Panama it is an indigenous tribal community. We are going to get to stay with them and do ministry with for the next two weeks. We will be living on a mountain and sleeping in tents and getting to rough it. I am very excited for this awesome opportunity. I appreciate any continued prayers for me and my team as we embark on this new journey and adventure. Please continue to pray for us to finish strong as we are now in our last month of ministry before going home. We have definitely gotten to be the hands and the feet of the Lord and yes it’s hard sometimes but the blessings that come from getting to see smiles on faces or just the joy that God gives you in doing his work is all worth it.