Sunday in Panama

Our wonderful accomodations

Still a bit tired from our early morning flight the day before, we enjoyed a relaxing start to our week.  A true blessing of this trip is to have Jess, from Casa Paraiso, make breakfast for us each morning.  We have a kitchenette on our floor (We had the entire floor for just our team!) with a coffee pot and refrigerator, which was so very helpful.

I read a blog post that morning on praying scripture as a way to reignite your prayer life that both challenged and encouraged me.  Little did I know at that point, but prayer would become a theme for our time in Panama.

The church faces the canal

We attended Gamboa Union Church, a body of believers made up of Panamaians, expats and indigenous people (Each week an announcement is made asking who can drive them back to the river so that they can get in their canoes and go home! Not something you're apt to hear in the US) We alternated singing in English and Spanish.  I was hoping we would sing Eres Todo Poderoso, but we sang all hymns.  I remembered singing There is Power in the Blood at Ezel and so the Spanish words were quite familiar.

The drive to church is along the canal

 There had been a conference in Panama City that week on prayer put on by the International House of Prayer, and the main speaker of the conference was the guest pastor that morning.  No surprise, his sermon was on prayer.  (Yes.  I'm listening, Lord)

After lunch at the mission house, we headed out to an orphanage considered one of the best in the country.  It was a rainy afternoon (It  IS the rainy season, remember??), and so we weren't able to play outside with the children, but broke up into small groups, each group with an individual who was able to act as a translator for us.  We were able to give some of Phillip's Love Bears to the children in the HIV house, which is the house Bill and Judy visited.  (We were not allowed to take any photos while in the orphanage in order to protect the children.)  Susan and Mike spent their time in a house with very energetic toddlers, while Ty and Barry were in a house with toddlers and infants.

A wooden bridge we crossed to go to church

Bob and I were in the special needs house.  There was a wide range of ages in this home with a wide variety of special needs.  Some of the girls were around 10 and quite chatty (Now, that's a surprise to no one!) and we tried to interact with them as much as possible.  The gal who spoke Spanish who came with us, kept them entertained by teaching them some Christian children's songs in Spanish. We learned that one of the girls was there, not because she was an orphan or had special needs, but because it was too far for her to commute to school.  She was being allowed to live at the orphanage so that she could go to school.  She hopes to become a doctor one day.  I am praying that she will and that she will come to know the Great Healer.

This orphanage was doing the very best they could with what they had, but it became very apparent why there is the need for an orphanage dedicated to special needs children.  There was no physical therapy for these children.  There were no means by which these children could grow and develop to their fullest potential.  Our prayer is that Casa Providencia will be completed quickly and be able to  minister to these that are so precious in His sight.  I found myself sitting next to one girl and stroking her hair singing Cristo Me Ama (Jesus loves me) It is one of the few children's songs I know all the words for in Spanish.  Although she wasn't able to speak to me,  her body language indicated that she was enjoying it and when I stopped, she would move her head closer to me or reach out her hand to touch me.  Lord, please allow her to understand Your great love for her.

Yes, he ate the whole thing!

That evening Bill and Judy took us to a restaurant on the causeway in Panama City  from which you had fantastic views of the city at night.  Some of us enjoyed "a bit" of fish.  Tomorrow we begin work at Casa Providencia.