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