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We are Back

Well we are back from Panama tired but with a smile on our face. Over this last week we have learned many things, but the most important thing we learned is God's word is still working. Not that we ever doubted His word but we all sometimes need to be reminded about that. God did not allow us to open the trailer until the day we were leaving. We preached the gospel, won souls and equipped the saints. After that was done, then we opened the trailer. WOW!!!!!! God is so good and we need to make sure that we stand on the mountain tops proclaiming that.

Thank you to everyone for all your prayers, we could not have accomplished what happened in Panama without it.

May the Lord continue to pour out his Blessing on your lives.

BIC

Another Interim Post

The guys are on their way home. They are tired, but are excited about their trip. Everyone is doing fine. They are due into Miami this evening, so I am sure they will have a lot of stories and pictures to share. Please keep them in your prayers for travel mercies. Pictures will be posted soon. God Bless, Dixie

Panama

Yesterday we went to two churches. The first church was in Chorrera. This church was close to the beach but the road or pathway to this church was horrible, in fact when we were leaving the van got stuck. The pastors of this church were awesome. Pastor Sixto and his wife planted a church closer to the city and are now on the outskirts in the hills planting the church that we visited. The church has 6 posts made out of tree branches with a tarp thrown over the top for a roof. They have such a heart for their people. They also take a canoe trip lasting 8 hours to deep in Panama to reach a set of indians. We could go on and on about them but suffice it to say that they are a mighty man and woman of God. When we arrived at the church the children were already there and they were singing and reciting scripture. We interacted with the children and we are always amazed at the things that we take for granted, they treasure it in their hearts. When we took pictures of them with a digital camera and then showed them the picture they had the biggest smiles on their faces. When we gave out candy or made balloon dogs and swords it was as if you gave them the world. WOW!!!!! They were all so loving towards us. We also got an opportunity to witness to people that were there and again people were saved (GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!). We gave out care packages to the congregation and just bringing the care packages to the church was a blessing. We parked the van at the bottom of the hill of the church and we started to load the packages in a wheel barrow so we could carry a load at at time up to the church. Once the kids saw what we were doing they rushed down the hill and we had an army of kids coming to help us. They were so many kids that we did not need the wheel barrow because they all grabbed a package and took it up to the church. This is one of the simple things that put a smile on their faces. Anyway as we spent the first half of our day at the church we were blessed. The church made a wood fire outside and fried fish, cooked crabs and clams for lunch. It was good!!!!! We cannot say how much we have been blessed but WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED TREMEDOUSLY!!! By time we left the church we were tired but knew that God again had used us again. We just want to be extensions of Christ's hands.

When we arrived at the second church the children were being organized to go next door to the park and play games. We accompanied them to the park and watched them play various games. It was a pleasure to see Pastor Ariel ineract with the children. He was the pastor that met us at the airport and has been to quite a few of the other churches with us to assist us with anything we needed. The games that the kids were playing were all based on interacting with each other and that was refreshing. They had a great time. After the park we all went back to the church and showed the kids an animated movie. While that was going on a few of us started to prepare balloons for the kids outside while they watched the movie. Once the movie was complete they went outside and were treated to the balloons and started to interact with us. While that was going on a few of us started to sing inside the church. This was a special moment because as we started to sing some of the adults started to come back in the church and as we continued to sing the more we sensed the presence of the Lord. We started to pray over the chairs, the equipment the whole church. We then began to individually pray for the adults in the church and anointed them with oil. There were a lot of tears, a lot of burdens being lifted the Holy Spirit was moving mightily. We prayed for the pastor, his wife and children. Their was a young man that assists the pastor that you could see the servant heart coming from him a mile away. He was on his knees weeping and crying out to the Lord and you could literally see the burdens being lifted from him. We thank God for the opportunity to be used by Him. To Him be every victory, every soul saved, every need met. To Him be ALL the Glory,Praise, and Honor.

God Bless you All
BIC

Mission Trip Update

Today we went to Pastor Juan's church in Capira and were received with open arms. A few of us stayed at the church to set up a movie for the kids while another set of us began to walk the neigborhood with the pastor's daughter and son to begin praying over the area. While they were walking through the neigborhood ,opportunities to pray for people kept coming up. Opportunities for witnessing to people came up and quite a few people came to know Jesus Christ as their savior today. Because of this walk through the neighborhood several families that do not attend church came to the church today. That was amazing!!!!!!!!!
While they walked thru the neighborhood the other brothers at the church were ministering to the kids and adults. Two brothers ended up giving their testimony and because of that testimony many people gave their heart to the Lord. By time we all got together at the church we began to pray over the congregation. We anointed them with oil and prayed for everyone. The Holy Spirit was again moving especially when we got the opportunity to pray for the pastor and his family. He shared with us that he has been trying for 12 years to get this going and this was the first year that he has began to see some fruit of the labor and love he has put into the ministry. This was another phenomenal day and we are all in awe of how God is using us. Our goal each and every day is to stay obedient to whatever he wants us to do. We have learned to be extremely flexible so that God can direct us anyway he pleases. Praise God and to Him be ALL the glory and honor.

God Bless you all
BIC

Mission Trip Update

Just to follow up on Dixie's posting we spent the day at the fishing village and again were blessed. We participated in teaching the children about Jesus Christ and had the kids in three separate groups. After the teaching a lot of the children accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. That was an awesome sight. While the children were being taught some of the brothers were praying for various needs. The pastor of the church would bring people to us for prayer and we would anoint them with oil and pray for them. There were a lot of breakthroughs occuring while we were praying for them.

The children were so cute that we all wanted to take them back with us. They followed us around everywhere we went and the stuff that put a smile on their faces was precious.
We walked up from the beach and as we walked up from the beach to the church we gave out some bags of food to various houses on the way. Because of that we had more opportunities to pray for people in their houses. These are the times when we get to show the love of Christ in a tangible way. When peoples need are met because of Christ they are way more willing to listen because they are seeing his love in action. These walks in the neigborhood and going to peoples house are so impactful, because although they may not all accept Christ, a seed is planted in every single person that we give a bag of food to. God is so awesome!!!!!!!!!! There was a boy that couldn't speak and we prayed for him and there was a young man whose mother begged us to come and pray for him who from the minute we started to witness to him, he immediatley started to reject us. Please pray for a supernatural touch for the young boy to speak and the other young man to have a tender heart so that the seed we planted in him starts to take root and grow. When we got to the church we set up a "Veggie Tales" movie for the kids. After the movie the pastor and his wife started the Sunday service. They are two people that have such a deep love for the people in their neighborhood that it was awe-inspiring. We all had an opportunity to pray over all the children during the service. It was very moving to have all these children around us and as we walked through the crowd of children, anoint them and lay hands on the future of Panama. The Holy Spirit moved through the whole service but again it would be be an injustice to attempt to describe what happened. Those types of things we will have to personally relate to you when we get back.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to go to another church and we go there with a high expectation of something supernatural. A lesson that is being taught to all of us is we do not need things to preach the gospel. All we need is the gospel. This is made clearer and clearer everyday because we still have not received the container yet and God has shown himself so powerful. We all believe that if the container had been cleared we might have been devoting time to "things" rather than the ultimate goal of preaching the gospel. We give the Lord all the praise and glory for orchestrating everything that is going on.

God Bless you and continue to pray for us.
BIC

Interim Post

Just a brief note in case the guys are not able to post. They have moved from the army barracks to a fishing village and are working outside of Panama City. They said that everyone is doing great and that there are so many God stories to share. Everyone seems to be very excited. The new place they moved to does not have good phone reception and many not have good internet so the updates may not be as forthcoming as they were previously. They had shrimp and oysters for dinner that the fishermen are able to catch in low tide. God Bless, Dixie Gualtieri

Another Miraculous Dsy

It is now 2:45am and we just got back from another church that was deep inj the hills of Panama. We went there twice, this morning and again this evening. We ended up barbecuing burgers and hot dogs for the kids and gave out care packages for the adults. We again were blessed to be there. Anyway just a short note to let you know what is going on because it is time for bed and we have to leave at 8:30 am to go to another church. If time permits we will add more to the blog before we leave because God showed himself so clearly, however we wouldn't do it any justice if we attempted to write about it right now. It was an awesome move of the Spirit of God.

God Bless
BIC

The Mission Continues

We continued our journey yesterday as we walked through the neighborhood with Pastor Rodrigo. At one point 4 of the brothers were walking ahead of us praying holding hands and they heard a noise behind them there were 6 kids behind them singing "How Great Thou Art" In Spanish. They were not prompted by anyone to start singing but started because they sensed the presence of the Lord. They joined hands with the four brothers and walked with them as they continued in prayer. The Lord continue to pour his blessing out on us. We prayed in the middle of the street for 2 pastors that accompanied and they both broke down crying. Please pray for Pastor Ariel whose blood pressure is sky high. He was the one that met us at the airport when we arrived. When we finished the outreach as we loaded up in the van and noticed 2 of our brothers were missing. We drove back into the neighborhood in search of them and found them leading a lady to Christ at her front door. Words cannot express what has been happening. We all thank everyone for their prayers because we see fertile ground to preach the gospel. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!! After we left the church we went to another church. We had an awesome time there. They had a young man that lead in praise and worship that was awesome. The amount of kids that were there was mind-boggling and they embraced us as we talked to them. We had the opportunity to show the whole congregation the Jesus film. The pastor that we had the outreach earlier in the day came to the other church and told one us that because of the outreach a lot of people that never came to church before came to his church and they attributed it directly to the outreach. They loved the service at his church and said they would be back. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!! Pastor Ariel also said that because we have come there and talked to different churches and brought them together over dinner that first night they have decided to form an alliance of all the 8 churches so that they can assist each other. They have now scheduled a monthly meeting between them so they will all stay connected. Isn't that how the body of Christ should be. To God be ALL the Glory. Back to the second church, we had the opportunity to show the Jesus film to them. The church was packed and had people sitting outside the church at the back looking at he the film. During the film a few of the brothers were busy making over 100 balloon sword and dogs for the kids. As soon as the film was over the pastor gave a brief word on the film which encouraged the congregation. After the pastor was finished, all the balloons were brought upstairs and the children were estatic with them. They all lined up to get one. They were so greatful for such a simple thing as one of those balloons. WOW!!! After the film we served the whole congregation ice-cream. There were smiles on top of smiles. The blessings we recieved just by seeing their faces over something that we take for granted was something we will all treasure for the rest of our lives. By the time we were finished with outreach we were all dead-tired with a grin on our faces that could not be removed. God is moving and we just want to be obedient to whatever his will is for us in Panama. Each and every man and woman in this group has been radically affected just by the 2 days we have been here. What we have written so far has not even began to scratch the surface of what is happening down here. To God be be ALL the Glory and Honor.
God Bless you all and we all have a tremedous story to tell when we get back.

Outreach

Today was an awesome day. We started out by not being able to get the container yet and later found out that we were not going to get the container until Tuesday. Since we didn't get the container we decided to do a outreach to the community with Pastor Rigoberto from one of the churches we are assisting. We put together approximately 75 bags containing rice, beans, salt and sugar. After putting the bags together we went to Pastor Rigoberto church and met him and members of his congregation which included quite a few children. This was a perfect opportunity to reach the children through balloons. Vince and John West were making swords and dogs out of the ballons which brought an immediate smile to the children. After the balloons we started to walk with pastor through the neighborhood and go from door to door knocking and presenting each household with an outreach bag. We got looks of unbelief to looks of amazement. This lead to several opportunities for us to witness to people and lead them to Christ. There were powerful stories to each person that the love of Christ was shared with. There were many tears shed after the gospel was presented especially the young people. We witness children following us all over the neighborhood and praising Jesus. More to follow..........................

We are here

Well we have finally arrived and have found all our luggage (praise the Lord). We are actually staying at an old army base that has been converted to rental apartments. Carlos has shown us around Panama as much as he could with the limited time we have been here. The highlight so far was all of was us having dinner with the pastors whose churches we are going to assist. We all left that dinner with how blessed we are and more importantly saw and heard the hearts of the pastors.

As the Lord always works we came to be a blessing to these pastors but they turned out to be a blessing to us. We all sat together with the pastors and their wives and their translators and ate and talked.

We are going to see if we can get the container released today so we can start distributing to the churches.

Keep us in prayer.

Arrival at Airport

We have finally reached and are now sitting in the departures lounge waitinhg for our flight. All in all the process for getting through security was pretty easy.

This is just a quick note to let you know where we are. The flight is scheduled to leave at 11:15 am.

The day before the journey begins

The journey began with a brother who wanted to bless the children in Panama with some toys, but God had a bigger plan than that. As BIC began to meet, the Holy Spirit began to inspire a wider vision, and as we prayed and fasted the mission began to be revealed. First a 20 foot container was donated and the communication with the pastors in Panama began. As their needs were made known, God put in place the people to fulfill those needs and at the same time began stretching the men and women involved. Each person involved has their own God stories As we walked in faith and the omniprences power of the Holy Spirit is working in Panama and at the same time churches throughout the countryside that didn't communicate before are now working in unity as they prepare for our arrival and they also have their God stories that we hope to share with you. Now eight months later, the container was expanded to a full size 40-foot container with over 600 new toys and many used toys, musical instruments, drums, congas, bongos, guitars both electrical and accoustical, key boards, moroccos, tamborines, sound boards, refrigerators, freezers, over 150 chairs, 45 large boxes of clothes, office funriture and much more were donated. Praise God for this provision. On December 28, the trailer departed for Panama and is due to arrive on Jan. 2. The team of 13 people that God has ordained for such a time as this will arrive on January 3. BIC would like to thank all of the men, women and families involved from the smallest details to the biggest ones. Thanks once again for your obedience to God's prompting. We know you will be blessed many times over. Please continue to pray, this is just the beginning. Your Brothers In Christ.