We have been in Panama on our outreach for a little over a week now and it is definitely time for an update! I highly apologize that this update does not have any pictures. The internet is not very fast so I can't upload anything right now. Sorry. It will have to be my words and your imagination for now!!!
We got to the beautiful Panama on December 30th and quickly realized that it was going to be warm 40 days. The weather has been hot and humid and we have all come to the place that we are not worried if we stink and the cold showers are a blessing.
The first day we were here we were pretty tired from getting up early and travels so we took things pretty slow and rested most of the day. The 31st we did some jobs around the base. Mario grouted some new tile and I cleaned up after him. We had a New Year's Eve party that night, complete with good old Latin American fireworks. We had the 1st of January off and decided to go to a river with some of the people on staff. I was expecting something different, but we pulled off the highway and walked down a hill to a river that seems very similar to the Kern River in Bakersfield. In other words, it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was refreshing. Then we drove by the Panama Canal and snapped some quick photos as we saw the boats in the holding areas between the different chambers. It was pretty cool.
The next day, January 2, we continued with our jobs around the base and we finished off the grouting of the tile. We also packed and prepared (as much as we could) for our trip to an area called the Darien, to build a house. We woke up nice and early on January 3rd and walked down the hill to see that a military bus was waiting for us. It was quite the ride and we were thankful for Sargent Flores who not only got us there safely, but helped us quickly pass the military checkpoints and didn't even complain when we had to stop for the bathroom more than once along the way. When we got to the road that led us to El Salto, which was the name of the town we were in, there was a lot of ups and downs until finally we arrived at the river. We would then take a 15 minute ride in a boat to arrive to El Salto. It was not too bad on the way there, except for the mud that we all slipped in trying to get in and out of the boat. Then we were finally there. El Salto.
We were in the middle of the jungle and it was even more hot and humid than Panama City. Thankfully we had an air conditioned room so that we could cool off during the day. The only bad part about the room was that it was the dorm room for all 18 people who were in our group and there were no beds, just a cement floor. The girls set up their sleeping bags on one side and the guys set their stuff up on the other. I was on the boundary line of the girls and Mario slept on the boundary line of the guys, so I guess you could say that we slept close to each other, but then again after being with everyone for that many nights, we all probably know each other better than we would like to. There was also a rat in the room when we first got there, which made all us girls jump up on chairs and scream until it ran out the door. At night we were hoping for a good nights rest since we were all pretty tired, but we soon found that above the ceiling were bats and they decided to get into some kind of bat fight around 2 AM... it was quite the night!
We started building the house on the 4th. It reminded me of a house that I helped work on in Louisiana with the Rosedale Bible Church youth group a few years back because it was up on stilts, making it look like a 2 story house. Thankfully the stilts were already dug in the ground when we got there so all we had to do was build the house. The first day was full of a lot of lumber carrying, rock collecting (more on that in just a minute) and hole digging. The rocks and the hole were for their septic tank. We dug an 8 foot deep hole, added 7 big tires, put some window screen type material in, and then filled in 2 feet with rocks that we had to go find down by the river. It was quite the ingenious invention, but I am not sure that I totally understand how it works. Anyway, we worked hard, sweated a lot and got lots and lots of bug bites. You see, in the middle of the jungle there are bugs that don't know what OFF bug spray is. They think it is candy and they like to eat it right up! I think that after the first day I had around 20 bug bites on each leg. It makes for quite the lady-like appearance.
Each afternoon we did a children's ministry with the kids of the village. One day we did it in "downtown" which consists of a row of about 5 houses, a common area where the village chiefs meet, a basketball/soccer court, and a very small store. We were thrilled to see that the store had a refrigerator and quickly bought cold drinks. Mario was missing his daily coca cola so when he found out that they only had two liters of coke, he didn't hesitate to buy one.
At night we would show a movie and then give a devotion after the movie about something that related to the movie. It was cool to see a bunch of indigenous people who don't have power in their homes laughing and enjoying themselves as they watched a movie.
Our shower situation was interesting to say the least. Although we had air conditioning in the room, we did not have running water. The water hole was a 10 minute walk and included climbing down (and then back up) a muddy hill with a bucket of water. I, understandably, did not shower that many times while we were there. I took one dip in a creek (which was also a 15 minute walk through the jungle, over logs, and left you just as sweaty as when you started) and I also used the water hole a time or two. It was an experience living like the people there do and we all came back so much more thankful for beds, running water, and many more things.
After 3 days the house was finished and we gave the keys over to the beautiful family that would now call it home. I am so glad that we got to be a part of helping this family and I am excited to see how many more people YWAM Panama will bless with a home in El Salto.
We packed up our bags and headed back down to the river on the 8th of January. We were sad to leave behind new friends, but so excited at the thought of being clean and resting well on a comfortable bed. We found that the "nicer" boat that had brought us was not available and that we would be traveling back up the river in a canoe! The good news was that there was a motor attached to the back so we didn't have to do any rowing, but it was definitely the kind of thing that made you want to hold your breath the whole way so that the canoe did not tip over. When we got to the shore we saw an army truck waiting for us. We rode in the back like real soldiers and were all excited for the fresh air. By the time we got home and took showers we were ready for bed. It was such an amazing trip, though, and I am so glad we got to experience it!!!
Blessings and thanks for reading!!!
