Panama

The Team

1 from Pennsylvania, 2 from N. Carolina, 12 from Michigan
and our host pastor From Panama City, Pastor Roque

The Kunas go out to sea 3 times a day to fish, morning, noon and night.

The dentist pulled 250 teeth over the course of one week!

the doctors combined saw approximately 1300, patients, plus over 450 pairs of eye glasses were given out and many therapeutic massages. In total 2253 patients received some sort of treatment.

Zach put his Spanish to good use. He translated all the doctors English prescriptions to Spanish for a Spanish speaking Kuna Indian who then translated it to the patients who only spoke Kuna, (once back to school he received 5 extra credit points for his efforts) Our Last day on the San blas islands we had time for a little bit of fun in the sun, It was over 100 degrees every day so we did not spend any extra time in the sun, because it was too hot! ( I know, can you believe I said it was too HOT?)

The traditional Kuna dress was provided to me my my new friend and a pastors wife Jessica. In Panama if you are married to a pastor you are called Pastora. Pastora Jessica and her husband minister on the island of Achutupu.

We took boats to get every where, on this particular day the waves were crazy, Zach was our guide though the shallow waters but out in the middle of the ocean he was being tossed every where, at one point he had a rope tied around is waist in case he fell overboard. I am totally serious. The waves were that strong.

The kunas on Mamatupu gave us our first fresh coconut, very delightful.

The children were all very protective of family, they spent hours waiting in the sun for their turn to see the doctor.

The Kunas on San Blas Islands are known for their molas(sp?) and were very excited to show off their handi work, one mola could bring in 20-40 dollars and 40 dollars could feed their family for more than a month and families varied from 1-13.

The children loved to show off for the camera, on one particular day they deiced to walk on there hands, if one child does it the whole community is soon in on the act. It was very precious.

Duck, duck, goose ended up being a favorite, but they called it duck, duck boose? I guess that is how they heard it; especially so they could see the mercki (kuna for American) run and chase the children!

Fish was served fresh with the head on:( and lots of rice, we may not eat rice in this house for 6 months! :)

Our boat rides to each island varied from 1 hour to 1hour and a half, and the Kunas traveled farther to see the doctor. Amazing.

Our Hotel, was called the Konesega, but was really a glorified thatched roof hut on the Caribbean sea, totally solared powered, so it got dark pretty early, but not before Zach got in a good game of basketball. (there was a photo here but I am not sure what happened to it)

Well I tried to summarize the trip if you want more details send me an e-mail or give me a call, Zach and I will be happy to share our experiences with you.

Painting Eggs and The Hunt

5Th grade play

Wrestling with God

as the wrestling season comes to a close here in Romeo, I've been thinking about this......

Wrestling is an intimate sport

-- body-on-body, face-to-face, blood-sweat-tears.

There is no where to run. There is nowhere to hide. It is person-to-person combat. It drains you of your energy. It strips your strength. It is tiring.

Wrestling is about utilizing the other person's strength. It is about balance. It is about being wise.And in the end, wrestling is about surrender - the tap out.Wrestling is about the relinquishing of one's will to the another's.It is about surrendering authority and control.

Jacob's entire life was marked by deception, running away, fear, and self-reliance. It defined who he was. Even his name revealed his character. Now he had nowhere to go. He had no place to run. He was in a life-and-death struggle with God. He was wrestling Jesus. It was time to stop with the pretense. It was time to stop being afraid and deceptive and self-dependent. It was time to tap out.Yet in the text it appears that God is the one who is ready to tap out (v. 26).

"Let me go for it is daybreak" the man says.To which Jacob replies, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." What is going on here? Well we know from v. 25 that God could have ended the match at any time, but this fight was for Jacob.It was time for Jacob to stop trusting his own craftiness and abilities and to start trusting in God.All of Jacob's tricks are useless when you are wrestling Jesus.

Jacob's lifelong struggle with the reality of who he was comes to a climax in this fight. And finally Jacob gets it ... his source of blessing and success would not be his own craftiness or deception. His source of success would be God's blessing on his life (a blessing he was already promised in the Abrahamic covenant).It is time for Jacob to surrender his own will and become who God has called him to be.It is time for Jacob to give way to Israel - the deceiver to give way to the prevailing warrior.

It is interesting that God's people would be called Israelites and not Abrahamites or Isaacites.It is interesting that God chooses the Deceiver, the Heel Snatcher to name his people after.

Perhaps that serves as a reminder that as we jockey for position and seek to manipulate our way to the top that God is waiting on the mat.He is waiting to strip our strength and humble us so that we might walk with the limp of grace.He is ready to dislocate our hip to keep us from running.He is ready to cripple us in order to bless us.He is ready to bring wholeness through brokenness, completion through pain.

What is your greatest source of strength? Upon what are you relying? In what do you put your trust? What is it that God needs to strip from me in order to bless me?

Did you catch that?The purpose of the tap out is so God can bless me.

3 days until Panama.......hhhhmmmmm walking with a limp. joelle