Como estas Amigos?
I can finally understand a little bit of spanish when the panamanians and I hold a conversation (with help from hand gestures and speaking slowly, haha). So basically, I can introduce myelf, ask some questions about life in Panama and in the university and questions in getting to know the students better, and move on to sharing the gospel and I can use SOLARIUM in discussion (because no matter the country, race or language, the pictures can still be used)!
The first week is the period we call the romantic phase. So after that, I got into the routine of the day. A typical day: wake up around 7am, breakfast between 7.30am and 8.30am and during that time, observe your quiet time. Training each morning begins at 8.45 am for about an hour and then we divide into teams and head off to the university (either the National campus or the Engineering Campus). We are in school for about 5-6hours and then we head back to either the hostal or the church. And free time is between the hours of 9pm till whenever you are ready to go to bed.
It was an interesting week because I got to learn certain things about myself both spiritually and in my relationships with people. One major thing I discovered was that at a certain point I stopped depending on God to lead the conversations with the students and I decided to lead my conversation on my own will. I noticed it in one of my conversations when I told the student (for lack of a better word) harshly if he was going to answer our question or not because I ran out of patience. Looking back on it now, I realized what the bible passage in 1 Thes 5:17 was referring to (the verse talks about praying continually without ceasing). I found the student later on during the week to apologize for earlier and we continued on the four spiritual laws, and the incident was used as an analogy (about forgiveness). This project has been a real eye-opener for me, as it has shown me how broken my relationships with people are and how I need to constantly rely on God for help (Matt 7:7).
On Friday, I was on the team to the elementary schools to show the Jesus Film. That day will count amongst my top 10 happiest days ever. The way the kids face lit up at the beginning of the movie, their reactions during the movie, their response at the end of the movie (during the talk). It reminded me of how Jesus said in Mark 10:13-16. We also had classroom talks with 2 skits. One of the skits was on "My heart":in one of the classes, a female kid stood up and said that her heart belongs to God -> the skit was about a girl who gave her heart to God, then a guy came asking for it and she rejected him twice (even after he did push-ups for her and showed her how strong he was), then when he gave her flowers, she gave her heart to him and immediately after that, he used the heart as a basketball and smashed it, she was left crying and God called her and asked for her heart again which he restored for her, she later one told the guy to give his heart to God. The other skit -> we acted like chickens, cars and christains, but just because we behave like them doesn't mean we are, and so we need Christ in us to live through us (I can't remember majority of the talk because it was in spanish).
Also, this week we were able to see about 9 students come to Christ. It has been amazing an amazing week (though I am just completing this blog in the 4th week). I was able to do follow-up with some students from the first week, got an opportunity to chat with two english professor and one of them agreed to let my friend, Alice, and I give a classroom discussion next week (3rd week in panama). Also one of the students I am doing follow up with is challenged to change the world. I have never seen someone so passionate about that as he is, He wants to start out with changing his hometown and the surrounding cities. His name is Sergio, fourth year english student. I am super excited to see how God is going to use him as a change. Last awesome news, some students are interested in Vida Estudantil (VE!).
Some prayer requests:
- Join us in giving thanks to God (Psalms 136)
- Pray for completion of the office project, it is halway done and we have one more friday to work on it
- Pray that for those interested students and others that God should let them know if that is what he is calling them for.
- Pray for health and safety
- Pray for students we will be doing follow-up with, also pray for our upcoming Story of the Soul event
Mucho graçias for your prayers and words of encouragement. Currently, we are in our fourth and final week with 3 more days left on campus (this is a late update).
In Christ:
IB :)
PS: I hope to keep update on week 3 and this week soon. Seguir orando por mi.
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