Panama!

Just as a little recap from Miami, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in intense drama training. We trained for two to three hours in the morning, and four to five in the afternoon, with just a few breaks. In between that, we had language and cultural training, and of course, FUAGNEM every night.

On Thursday, we left for Panama. Check in went really smoothly, as did our flights... it was only a few hours long, maybe three I think. I was SO SO SO excited to finally get to Panama! Our hotel is big, but our rooms are small. :) There are seven of us in our room, and we don't have beds either, just mattresses on the floor, which is fine. We also have hammocks on the balcony, which makes up for not having beds. :) Panama is a beautiful country, and our hotel really is smack dab in the middle of the rainforest. It is great, so peaceful, with really, really amazing views and you can see all kinds of monkeys and other rainforest-y animals outside of our windows.

Today was our first day of ministry, and it was really amazing. Our first stop was a school, which had somewhere around 200 or 300 kids, from preschool up on through sixth grade or so. One girl shared her testimony, and then we performed our drama. Our stage was a little bit small, so we altered a few parts a little bit, but it was totally fine. We got to go out and talk and play with the kids for a little bit. I started playing with some of the littlest kids... they were so cute and fun even though we couldn't talk to each other. I let them play with my China Doll fan, and I painted their faces. There was one little girl who came over and sat on my lap, but wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't even smile. I asked her teacher her name, and it was Michelle. Her teacher says she hardly ever talks to anyone. It was sad, but at least I was able to give her lots of hugs, and paint her face.

When we got to our second drama site, some kind of open-air shopping mall, I realized I didn't have my camera. All of our leaders and LITs tried to help me think of places where it could be, but after we had emptied out my bag and searched the bus, we deemed it must have gotten knocked out of my pocket in the school. One of our leaders called the school, but no one answered. They assured me we would go back and look for it, but in the meantime, we had to perform the second drama. We got to perform in the mall, and then we talked to the people again, as we always do. A couple of people came to Christ, and I got to talk to one teenager about my age who accepted Christ.

After lunch, we went back to the school, and sure enough, we found my camera right away! I'm still not sure what happened, or how it even fell out of my pocket, but at least we found it. No more putting the camera in my pockets!!!

Our third ministry site was some sort of basketball court. I had prayed at the beginning of the day for God to give me someone to look out for to talk to after one of the dramas, and I felt that I should look for someone who was pregnant or had a young baby. At the mall, I had seen a bunch of ladies with little babies, but none of them were able to stop and talk. As we were doing the drama at our third site, I was watching the audience, and there was no one that had a baby or was pregnant... I thought, "Well, maybe it's just not going to happen today." About five minutes before the drama was over, I saw a lady walk up and sit down, and I thought, "Hmm. Maybe that's her... she looks pregnant."

After the drama, I took a translator and went over to talk to her. I explained the whole drama to her, since she hadn't come in until right at the end, and then I asked her if she understood. She said yes, she did, and she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. I was so excited for her, and we prayed together, and then I asked her if she was pregnant, and she said that yes she was (She was 8 months along). We got to pray for her baby too, and then we went back to the hotel for dinner and FUAGNEM.

The food here is really good, and of course, FUAGNEM is as well. I got asked by my leaders tonight to speak at FUAGNEM when they asked for some people to come up and share stories from the day, so I did. (I hate speaking in front of crowds!) Now, I'm getting ready to go up to my room - curfew is in just a few minutes.

Thanks so much for praying for us! We are seeing God do amazing things and we are having so much fun. I will update again when I can. :)