Panama Update Week 2 - 10-26-09

This week has been a bit slower.  We promised ourselves that we would take a week or two to get adjusted, settled in and start our Spanish lessons.  Pastor Roosevelt came over twice last week to begin our lessons.  2-3 hours of Spanish tends to make your tongue hurt and your brain mushy.  But he is a wonderful, patient teacher.  We are so grateful that he is willing to come to our house to teach us.  Clara is doing really well and is no longer, in my opinion a ‘complicated’ student.  We began to get a little restless in the beginning of the week.  When you are in the same house 24 hours a day, things tend to start closing in on you and you begin to question the purpose of everything.  We had some friends and family remind us that our main objective right now is to learn the language.  Without knowing how to communicate we will be unable to do what God has sent us here to do.  We are, as some of you know, a little impatient when it comes to having an agenda.  We both prefer to have a schedule and things to cross off our list.  But at the moment the only thing we have on our list that is necessary is learning Spanish.  Please pray that we remain patient with ourselves as we take the time to learn the skills necessary to spread the gospel here in Panama.

This Saturday we had Max’s family over to visit and teach us how to cook arroz con pollo.  We are now connected to the website www.skype.com.  This is a site that allows you to video call anyone in the world for free.  Clara has so enjoyed being able to see and talk to her grandbabies through Skype.  When Max’s family came over on Saturday they were able to talk to Max, Verna, Sarai and Misael.  Max’s mom has not seen Sarai and Misael for over a year.  She was crying and touching the screen when she was talking to them.  The whole day was quite the adventure for Clara and I.  The family included Max’s mom, sister, two nieces and their 5 kids.  All under the age of 4!  Our spinning chair in the living room is still recovering. J

Sunday we were finally able to go visit the Crossroads church in the city.  This is the only English speaking church in Panama and is frequented by all the missionaries.  One of our goals is to network with the other missionaries to see what all is going on and how we can work together to better build God’s kingdom.  We have been in communication with a few couples and are trying to set up a time to meet.  One of our biggest prayers right now is transportation.  We took a taxi to church and back Sunday and it costs $24.  This is obviously not something we can continue to afford.  We are praying for a 15 passenger van.  This van can also be used to rent out to other missionary teams that are coming into the city.  It will also save us a great deal in rental fees for ourselves, when we bring teams into Panama.

The wonderful rain that we enjoyed so much last week was nowhere to be found this week.  Each day got hotter and hotter.  We learned that the Panamanians do not like the rain.  Some of them can’t work when it rains and also the transportation is a lot more crowded and difficult.  But Clara and I soooo love the coolness that comes with the rain.  We are enjoying a wonderful storm right now that makes it feel like we have an air conditioner!! 

I told you all that I would let you know when the semi-automatic washing machine was no longer fun.  Well I reached that moment this morning.  I was washing my clothes and the belt came loose on the bottom so it stopped working.  I had to swish and swoosh the clothes by hand.  Thank God the spinner basket still worked.  Handywoman Clara fixed it after I was done…so hopefully it will go back to being fun next time.  They have put up cinder blocks to close in our hole, but it’s still not fixed.  Every time it rains water pours into our back room and down the wall all the way into the kitchen.  We are hoping there isn’t any permanent damage.

We are starting to get a little homesick I think.  We are missing everybody so much…but we are trusting in God’s calling us here.  My mom has bought me a ticket home for Christmas.  I am scheduled to fly home on December 20^th.  Clara would like to fly home, but is waiting on the funds to buy her ticket.  Please keep that in your prayers.  She would really like to be with her family for Christmas.

I’ve put a few more pictures up also.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

God Bless!!

Christy and Clara

Max's family talking to him via Skype

Eating at our favorite restaurant Jenny's

Learning how to cook arroz con pollo