Finally:Panama

The first week

of June,

of my internship, &

of knowing ten new interns,

was spent in Panama.

Here are some of the happenings

in pictured and journaled form:

This was the boat we road on for 7 hours from Panama City to the village of Union Santania.

I look distressed in the picture, but it was actually a really relaxing ride.

At one point I woke up and looked out over the wide open ocean,

and just thanked God for the beautiful mountains in the distance,

I remember feeling full and at peace.

And He gave me these verses:

Psalm 57:9-10

I will praise you, O Lord among the nations

I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, reaching to the heavens

your faithfulness reaches to the sky

From my journal:

One of the saddest things I've heard so far is something that Vince told me. He quizzed the children here on bible stories and found that they do not have a basic knowledge of the Bible, not even who Moses is. So, I feel a challenge in my heart to help that. Every day this week we are going to read Bible stories to the children.

This was my favorite part of my time in Panama. And it made showering by flashlight, waking up to roosters at 2 and 4 and 6 AM, the constant sweating, and sleeping on a mat on the ground seem like nothing compared to the joy that came with teaching these kids about God and His story.

From my journal:

God, those kids ate up the Bible stories, they wanted more. And it's so amazing how all of your stories tell of a God who is faithful and loving and everlasting. I pray that some of the children understood this.

Teaching those kids was one of the most amazing experiences I've had. So much else went on in Panama, we worked really hard and gave away a lot of Bibles, but the kids and the VBS that we organized each day was what I really went away with. I don't know exactly what God is doing this summer; he keeps stirring a love for children in me. But I do know that He is teaching me about calling, and about trusting Him.

"God's will and what you

dream about in your deepest dreams

line up so well that you can usually

chase your dreams

and you will more often than not

find God's will."