One day more.

Hello again!

Friends, that verse about Satan being a lion walking around seeking people to devour is no joke.

He is constantly on the attack, and sometimes it's more obvious than others.

It's crazy to me because I don't think I've ever felt so close to my Father, and at the same time feel under attack so strongly. I know that I have the Lord on my side, so I've got nothing to worry about, but it's like whiplash a little bit.

Just when I think I'm in the clear and happy as can be, rejoicing in my Lord and all the blessings I've received since I've been here, something happens that just totally throws a wrench in things.

I am so so thankful that I have the Holy Spirit to help me to see through situations and realize that it's just another one of satan's attempts to steal my joy and ruin my time here!

I'm really getting tired of it. But, I also know that as long as I'm letting myself be used of God, Satan is going to do anything he can to try to make me stop so I just need to get used to it.

One of, if not the biggest, blessings I've received while being here is a heart change I didn't realize I needed.

I feel like when Satan tries to get me to fall into the temptation of complaining or getting irritated or anything like that, I'm able to recognize it better, and it just makes me want to find the good in things that much more.

(If you thought I was an optimist before, just you wait!)

Praise the Lord that he hasn't won. Yes, I've given in to complaining now and then, but not once have I said "I can't take this. It's not worth it."

It's only by the grace of God and His strength that I am still going strong with one full day left here in Panama.

Wait...did I say that correctly?

I only have one day left?

I can't believe it even though the evidence is staring me right in the face!

Before I ever left, everyone was telling me this would happen. That I would blink and I'd be headed home.

Not gonna lie, the first couple of days here it felt like it would never end...ever.

But now that it's here, I honestly can't believe it!

I really feel like I just got here!

I've already been talking to Cristobal about wanting to come back. I mean, I have to come get more coffee right?

Really though, the students and new friends that I've made while I've been here have impacted my life more than I ever could have imagined.

Like I've said before, I came down here to be a blessing, to fill a need. And I've received such a huge blessing in return. A bigger blessing than I feel like I've been!

I think it was all of my students' goals to make me cry today and yesterday. I'm proud to say I held it together! But when they gave me gifts and threw me a going away party, I didn't think I would make it.

Dayanis assured me it would be just fine if I cried, and that she would gladly get pictures of it. But I just wasn't feeling that for some reason.

Tomorrow the plan is to go spend my last day in Cañazas with the whole family. I'm so excited, and Dayanis may just get her wish and see me cry when I leave for the airport Saturday morning.

This trip has been nothing short of incredible, and I thank the Lord that He asked me to come do this for Him.

I really don't think this is the last time I'll be in Panama...I know I'm leaving pieces of my heart here, and I cannot wait till I get to come back!

Well.....

This is probably the last post from this trip.

Thank you so much prayer warriors back home.

And thank you for reading! I hope these posts were as much a blessing for you to read as they were for me to write them!

With that, I'll say a bittersweet Adios!


(P.S. sorry for the lack of pictures again. If I end up taking any more I promise I'll post them!)

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

Hey Y'all!

Through teaching English I've definitely noticed how often I use the word y'all.

I decided yesterday that I'm going to teach my classes what it means so that there will be some Panamanians walking around speaking Texan....I'm pretty excited about it.

A few things I've discovered since my last post:

1. I can actually do this teaching thing.

2. Cultural differences are a lot easier to handle with a friend.

3. The geckos have found a way into my room! I'm not okay with it.

4. The coffee here has some sort of magical power. (That one is no surprise)

Let me explain some of that.

Like I said in the last post, I've been teaching on my own since Wednesday. It is going so well, and while I miss having Shelly here I know that God is still using me as His vessel.

I am still so amazed that He chose me, of all people, to come do this job for Him. I am so humbled that He picked me to do something that He knew I could do, even though I had some serious doubts.

He has shown himself to be so faithful and hasn't left me floundering once. Not that I expect Him to, but these two weeks and a few days so far have been such a sweet (and painful at some points) time for me to feel so close to my Father.

Not trying to sound like a broken record, but I am SO far out of my comfort zone. And when I find myself in uncomfortable situations I tend to lean on my family or close friends.

Not on the One who has my back no matter what.

So, while Shelly was here, though I was absolutely still growing and stretching my faith, I had a friend to lean on a little bit.

Having another person from my culture to relate to was so nice. Sometimes it just helps to have someone to talk to.

So that's where that cultural thing I mentioned earlier comes into play.

I thought that I had gotten over the culture shock, and I am settled in. The people are so great, and I love them all, don't get me wrong.

But Satan was on the attack Saturday night and into Sunday. For some reason that I honestly couldn't put my finger on, I was just feeling irritated.

And I was mad at myself for feeling irritated. And Sunday was Father's Day, so I was feeling pretty homesick wishing I could have been home to celebrate with my dad!

I kept thinking to myself "If only Shelly was here things would be better. I wouldn't be feeling this way because I'd have her to vent to!"

But that was just me trying to make excuses for my attitude. I did message Shelly Sunday morning, and in the sweetest way she told me exactly what I needed to hear: Get over yourself.

She reminded me that I am here to be a blessing, not to be blessed. That's just a perk of being here!

She was completely right. (It's great when the Holy Spirit uses friends to get through to you. I just wish I had listened to Him myself!)

I was totally thinking of myself and allowing Satan to steal my joy. So the rest of the day, I tried my hardest to pray it out when I started feeling irritated at anything.

It's funny how during this whole trip He has been patiently waiting for me to come to Him with my problems, when I always tend to go to Him as a last resort.

I will admit, I tried to pray about my attitude Sunday morning, but my heart just wasn't in it. So when I finally stopped focusing on myself, and completely leaned on Him and no one else, things turned around almost immediately.

I decided that I couldn't let Satan take away the joy of being here and being a blessing to these people! It was just his attempt to take away my usefulness to do the job I'm here to do!

So, once I got over myself and the pity party I had been having, Sunday was a great day!

The morning service was a blessing like always, and the church had a Father's Day celebration in the evening.

There was a great message, great singing, great food (of course), and great fellowship!

At dinner, the church family was debating whether or not I was going to cry when I leave Saturday.

I totally am in case you were wondering.

I am going to miss the friends and sweet church family down here that I've had the privilege to know!

But it's not time to think about what I'll miss yet.

Okay. So about the coffee and the magical powers is has.

I was talking to my parents last night, and when I told them I hadn't had any coffee at all on Sunday, we decided that it has some sort of power to make you happy!

Of course, it's not actually the coffee. It's absolutely the Lord. But the coffee does help!

And lastly, the geckos. I was so okay with them hanging out on my window. But now that they want to come inside we're gonna have issues.

So that brings you up to today. Sorry I don't have new pictures for this post. I promise I'll get some to post in the next one.

Thank you everyone for the prayers!

See ya later, Shelly! Hello, flying solo.

Hello again!

So I told you in the very first post that I had a feeling I would be talking about how incredible God is throughout this blog. And I think that applies so well this week.

Monday and Tuesday were more of the same: teaching, teaching, and more teaching! With a trip to the store and a movie in Spanish thrown in there somewhere.

Here it is, Thursday, barely over halfway through the week and I can't count the times God has surprised me or just clearly shown me His presence in things that have happened this week.

The biggest one actually happened Tuesday. Shelly, like I've said before, is an art teacher, and wanted to be a blessing to the church here in Santiago by painting a mural on their wall. She worked so hard and got it almost completely finished yesterday!

And as wonderful as that was, that meant that I would be teaching by myself a day earlier than I was expecting. As you can expect, I started to worry. I had lots of insecurities about not being fun enough or not having enough time to prepare for teaching alone.

So, we went to the second class on Tuesday, and the memory verse we were working on was Psalm 56:3 "What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee." We were all singing it together, and it hit me that I was absolutely not trusting.

There I was, afraid about what Wednesday would be like, and singing about what to do when I am afraid. It was another "Okay, Lord, I'm listening" moment.

So I started praying. You'd think that after so long I could get it through my head that prayer works, and that if I would just trust in Him and not my own abilities that everything will work out, but I was surprised at how quickly I felt peace.

It was almost instant relief.

I didn't feel like the most qualified teacher (I still don't), and I was still wishing for that extra day, but I definitely wasn't feeling despair like I had been.

So Wednesday while Shelly did her thing, I taught my first classes on my own.....and it went so well!

(I guess helping Shelly in the classroom rubbed off on me!)

It wasn't perfect by any means, but I figured out how to do things better on my own. Shelly let me use her as a sounding board to bounce off ideas, and she gave me tips on what to do in certain situations.

Now it's day 2 on my own. Shelly sat in on the very first class this morning, then she left to stay in Panama City since she goes home on an early flight in the morning. She made me take the lead even though I didn't want to with her being here still, which was good for me as well.

And then we said our goodbyes.

One reason (of countless reasons) I am so thankful that God gave me the opportunity to come on this trip is that I was able to find a wonderful new friend in Shelly.

I'm gonna miss her like crazy these last 9 days that I'm here in Panama.

But I believe wholeheartedly that God's timing is perfect, and that He put us together at the exact right time, for the perfect amount of time.

I'm so so thankful that she was here at the beginning of this trip, for example, because I don't know what I would have done in this classroom alone the first week teaching. She taught me everything I currently know about teaching. And without her example, especially in the first week, I would have been a mess.

I also know that she is so ready to get back home to her husband, and I can't wait until I can go visit them in Arkansas!

Well. That pretty much catches you up to today, but before I close, I just want to list some things I'm thankful for here in Panama.

•  The Yañez family
•  The wonderful afternoon rains that cool down the temperature 
•  The Air Conditioned school
•  The sweet church family
•  Siestas.
•  Café Duran (coffee!)
•  The great time I had with Shelly
•  How much this trip has stretched my faith and caused me to grow closer to my Father. 

Oh! And before I forget, here are some more fun pictures! Enjoy!

Our coffee haul.

Panama City (I forgot to upload these onto the last one. Oops)

Lemongrass tea. It's. So. Good.

Fruit juice refrescas. Again..so good.

Teaching fun!

I don't even know what this is, but it's pretty great as well. 

And these are candy made of the stuff above. Have I mentioned that food here is super delicious? Because it is.

That's all for now!

Great fun, great sights, and great friends!

Buenas, todos!

Warning: Long post. Also lots of pictures!

(This is a picture of Dayanis, our friend Mary, Shelly and me at dinner the other night.)

So here it is, the end of the first week of teaching, and let me tell you....I am loving it.

It's so much fun being able to help people learn English. I'm getting the hang of things, and we've figured out how to live on "Panamanian time".

Each class is at a different level of speaking, so we've figured out how to change the lessons we have for each group. I was so nervous at first, thinking that I wouldn't be able to explain things well enough or I wouldn't be able to be engaging enough.

Well, the truth is, it's absolutely not me. It's all God, because I'm not a teacher! I'm not qualified to be doing what I'm doing. But I keep thinking of that quote "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called."

That's exactly what's happened! God chose me (the most unequipped teacher in my opinion) and is using me to spread His Word through English class!

So Monday through Thursday were full of classes. Monday and Wednesday we have a big break from about 10-3, and Shelly and I are loving the coffee and siesta time.

Thursday evening we decided to go explore Santiago. The main street through town is about a 10 minute walk from Dayanis and Wide's house, so we walked around enjoying the evening.

We thought it would be nice outside because it had started to rain, but Wide told us that because it only rained a little bit, it would actually be hotter out at night.

But, away we went, hoping it would rain more while we were walking.....it didn't, but it was still nice to get out and explore.

There are a bunch of clothing shops, mini malls and fondas which are little hole in the wall restaurants on the main street. There is also a gorgeous Catholic Church at the end of the street.

Panama is a Catholic country, and I've also seen some Church of Christ and Apostolic churches around. Cristobal has planted Baptist churches in Santiago and Cañazas, and he goes up in the mountains and preaches in the villages there. It's amazing.

We went back to Central Avenue on Saturday after class because when we went on Thursday everything was closed. So we went back to look around in the shops (after a siesta of course).

We went to this busy panadaria or bread shop and got some pastries and coffee. It was great. Until we got chased by bees.

We looked around some more, then decided we needed some water. So on the way back, we stopped at a mini mart and met a really sweet family.

The man in line in front of us was with his two granddaughters, who were the daughters of the lady at the checkout. He only came up to my shoulder, so he told his granddaughters to look and he measured himself next to me.

I had some pears in my hand, so I told them Shelly and I were so tall because we ate our fruits and vegetables. He kept telling the girls to listen to me and that they could be as tall as we are if they would eat right.

We actually ran into them again today in a store while Dayanis and Wide were looking around, and they wanted to take a picture with us! He told us that he was going to bring his granddaughters to the school to visit us. So we might have three new students this week!

Today brought another great day in God's house. The service and songs are obviously completely in Spanish, so sometimes it's hard to keep up with all that Cristobal is saying, but the Word of God is still His Word no matter what language, and I was blessed in spite of that.

But I just got ahead of myself.

Back up to Friday.

Friday was our free day, so Cristobal and Eneida took us to the Panama Canal and we walked around Casco Viejo, which is this really cool old part of Panama City.

We woke up bright and early to get an early start to the canal since it's 4 hours away from Santiago. Roadtrip!

Cristobal told us to be ready to go at 6am Panamanian time, so we were ready to go at 6:30, and we enjoyed coffee on the patio until they came to pick us up at 7.

As you can see, we were doing some wishful thinking that morning having our hair down....yeah that didn't last.

I told Shelly that we wouldn't recognize each other in the States with our hair and makeup done.

So off we went at 7 and stopped about 30 minutes into the drive for a coffee break. I'm telling you, I could probably live here simply for the coffee.

We drove and drove and drove and finally saw the ocean. Cristobal took us to this area where we could go touch the water before we actually went to the canal.

These are some ships waiting to go through the canal. Every ship that passes through has to wait 8 hours. And we learned that around 45 ships go through the canal every day. 

Also, we were near the airport so a plane flew right over us and it was awesome.

Friday funday selfie! 

Not the best picture, but this is the bridge that was built when the US was in charge of the canal. It is right over it, and we drove over it to get to the canal museum.

So the canal has a visitors center/museum that we went and toured, and it explained anything and everything about the canal and it's history. It was really cool. On the top floor, you could go out and watch a ship go through the canal.

Sadly, no ships passed through while we were there, but it was still really fun.

After the canal, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed on to Casco Viejo.

I really enjoyed walking around in that part of the city! The buildings were beautiful, and Shelly, being an art teacher, really enjoyed all of the art in the area.

Oh. Disclaimer: A lot of these pictures are Shelly's. 

And here are some of the other buildings in Casco Viejo.

That was all on Friday. Saturday like I said before, we had class and then walked around Santiago.

And today was church.

And Satan was ready and waiting to attack us. We had a fantastic week, a wonderful church service, and instead of being happy and rejoicing for the great day, we decided to complain about being hungry and hot.

We really got ourselves into a self-pitying mood. Instead of being happy to be where God wants us, we wanted to find little things to complain about.

So. Tonight Shelly and I had a Jesus talk. We read some verses and talked about how ridiculous it is for us to be complaining about anything when we have been saved. There's no greater thing in the world than that!

This whole trip has me seeing myself and my Lord in a whole new light. I know that's one reason God wanted me to come do this; so that my faith would be stretched and tested.

I definitely haven't trusted Him on several occasions this trip, especially in the first few days like I talked about earlier. But that's the thing about God's grace. No matter how many times we fail (complaining today was absolutely a fail), He is waiting with open arms.

We talked about how awesome God is for knowing that we would need each other here at the same time, for the amount of time we would be here.

Shelly is leaving on Thursday, which was at first completely terrifying to me. I have to teach class alone for an entire week!

But this wasn't a surprise to God at all! He knows what I can handle, and how He wants to use me.

God is so good.

No water and avocados and teaching...oh my!!

Hey everybody!

So many things have happened since I've been here that I wasn't sure where to start this time!

So, clearly, coffee was the way to go.

On Sunday evening Shelly and I enjoyed our coffee on the front patio while it was raining.

 It's funny to me to think that when I left Texas, I was so happy for the sunshine. But being here, it's so hot and humid all day until it starts raining, so I can't wait for it to start!

Sunday afternoon, after the church service was over, we ended up staying up at the church until around 5 helping to redecorate for the month of June. Because Shelly is an art teacher, they had her drawing and cutting out flowers and letters to decorate the bulletin boards with.

Here she is hard at work drawing the letters backwards so that the right side of the foam would show on the board.

I was mostly there for moral support (and to take pictures of her working) since I have almost no artistic talent.

Dayanis' husband Wide brought us huge slices of avocado, and I ate it. Which is a huge deal for me because I usually really don't like them.

They were soooo delicious! They tasted so much more fresh than what we have in the US. Also, I have proof for those of you who wouldn't believe I actually ate it.

Really, Sunday was full of delicious things.

We were given something called Duro de Nance (a lot of the time we will just be standing there and someone will pop out of no where at the perfect time when we are dying of heat and hand us something delicious to eat or drink...we never say no.)

It tasted like honeysuckles and was amazing. It was pretty much a popsicle made out of this fruit growing on the trees outside of the church.

We had seriously just been talking about how hot we were and out come the popsicles! It was great.

We didn't realize that we would be spending most of the day at the church. That's something we've been learning...just go with the flow.

Also, schedules are just a guideline.

In Cristobal's words "don't worry, be happy". But I'll talk more about that later.

Oh, one more thing we've learned is how to deal with no running water at random times during the day.

Apparently they are doing some sort of water line repairs, so every day from around 9-5 or 6, there's no running water in the house.

Luckily, they have a reserve tank in the backyard, but running water is nice to have when you need to wash the dishes or your hands.

Ok, moving on.

So that brings me back to the coffee from the beginning. Shelly and I enjoyed our coffee, the sound of rain and the cool breeze that came with it after the long hot day.

Sunday was really the turning point (for me anyway) when I decided I was actually really excited and happy to be here. Ready to do what we were called to do.

So, we drove 45 minutes up the mountains to Cañazas which is where Bro. Cristobal lives. It was a beautiful drive, but because the school we are teaching in is in Santiago we decided on Monday that we would stay with Dayanis and Wide.

Monday morning brought the first day of teaching. I was a little bit nervous but mostly just so excited to see what the Lord had in store.

That was on the drive from Cañazas to Santiago Monday morning.

So, here's that schedule thing I mentioned earlier. Cristobal got his days mixed up and thought that the first class started at 9 Monday morning...it actually was supposed to start at 8.

So we were an hour late on our first day. What a great first impression right? That was my first thought, but Cristobal told us not to worry but be happy! And our students were very gracious with us and are just happy to be there learning!

The hardest thing was, and still is, trying to figure out exactly what level each person in the classes are.

But it has been so awesome because we have been teaching them English using verses from the Bible and the story of Joseph. I love that we are able to do that so freely here.

Because the people want to learn English, they don't care where they are learning it from. And while they are learning English, they're learning truth. I still get excited when I think about it!

Monday and Tuesday were learning curve days for Shelly and me, but we have gotten the hang of things and the classes are so much fun. Shelly is a teacher in Arkansas already, so I am learning a ton from her.

She is so sweet and lets me take the lead whenever I have something to add. It's been awesome working together.

I think that catches you all up on what's happened so far this week.

God has been so good, and I've been stretched in more ways in one week than I thought possible. And you know how when you stretch, it hurts while it's happening, but when you're done you feel great? That's how I'm feeling right about now.

Being this far out of my comfort zone...doing things I never thought myself capable of..it's crazy. But I know the only way that I am here and doing what I'm doing is that God is using me. I'm just the vessel He chose to get the job done, and I'm so honored that He chose me to do so.

Thanks again for reading!

Here are just a few fun pictures from the past week!

Our gecko friends hanging out on the window! They sing to us sometimes and I don't know how I feel about it.

The huge avocados!

They had an Arkansas flag on the wall already, so I decided Texas needed to be represented too!

"Me muero por un helado"-Wide taught me this saying. It means I'm dying for some ice cream! They said that is my saying because anytime they ask me if I want ice cream my answer is "always". So we enjoyed some Dairy Queen last night.

And this is my favorite picture of Panama so far.