Bible Chapel Mission Trip Blog
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What A Week!
Our team tied a bow on the rest of our projects: installing Wi-Fi for the dorms, installing garage support pillars, and of course buying hot dogs. Why hot dogs..? I'll tell you later, keep on reading :)
Just to recap this week's team accomplishments:
- A trip to share the gospel with the children living in the slums of Curundu.
- Painting the endless fence.
- Pouring the concrete for the pool building footer and floor.
- Digging the foundations, pouring concrete, and setting the pillars for the new garage roof.
- Providing laptops, configuration, and training for the missionary students on their way to the Bible Institute.
- Suprise! A Wi-Fi wireless bridge to the dorm buildings. This will enable online study of seminary students whom wish to serve at the camp and continue their training. This provies a tremendous win-win for the camp and the seminary student to practice ministry.
Looking back, God has our team really busy. But it was so worth it. Looking back, sharing the gospel, seeing all the smiling faces, giving and receiving testimony of how Jesus has transformed all of our lives has been extremely energizing.
We're all sad to leave, but very grateful for the staff here at the Word Of Life camp. We felt welcomed into their homes and lives, accepted and treated as family.
Oh yea... The hot dogs.. Well, Traci, one of the founders of the camp, has been sharing the gospel with a tribe of ingenious people here in Panama. They LOVE the hotdogs, and it gives us a chance to share the gospel. So, we're taking hot dogs for about a hundred tribes’ people for only $40 US. That is such a bargain to have a chance to share the gospel with an entire village! I'm pretty sure someone will get baptized tomorrow :)
Blessings to all of you and our supporters, without your prayers and support this amazing week would not be possible.
Here's a collage of pictures from the past day or so, enjoy:
This week, we marvel at the trust and depth of faith that the missionaries at Word of Life camp live every day. They walk in dependance on the provisions of Christ alone, as their own material resources are so limited. They have learned to wait on God, trust in His perfect time and expect Him to meet their needs. When material needs arise, as they always do, they can't write a check or pull out the credit card instead they pray, seek God's direction and obediently follow the path He has set before them. As they have lived this way for so many years they can quickly recount God's past faithfulness and countless answers to prayer, never forsaking them. Consequently their faith grows stronger and without realizing it they provide us an inspiring and encouraging example. We want to emulate them and learn their ways. We want to serve and honor God as they do. We want to trust Him alone.
Serve Hard, Love Fully, Smile Alot
Today, after breakfast, John Zanker led our devotion. We then went back to work. John, Luke, and Nick continued working on leveling the ground to get it ready for concrete. They used shovels and a wheel barrow to move dirt then mix concrete. They were able to do about three quarters of the concrete floor today. Unfortunately, their hands started to blister.
Brad and Jordan continued painting the chain link fence. Jordan was happy not to get as much paint on himself today. Yesterday he was joking by saying that he got more paint on himself than on the fence.
Glenn and I went to work at the shop. Our job was to sand and prime the steel that will be used to make the structure for the roof extension. Just about lunch, we finished priming the steel beams.
We then moved on to help Juan, Jorge, and Juanpi to dig the holes where the steel beams will rest for the roof structure. The dirt was so hard because it hasn’t rained. We would put water in each hole to soften the dirt to make it easier to dig. I praise God for guiding my digging. I was using a steel pick to dig and I was very close to breaking the main water line for the whole camp. Ruben was very thankful I didn’t give him more work too!!!!
Jon Fowler is very happy with our progress. He told us that he didn’t expect us to work on the roof during this trip. He thought we were only going to have enough time to do the removal of the doors and the concrete work by the pool. We are praising God for the progress so far. We also are thankful for His protection. We have only had minor scratches. We have stayed healthy too.
Through a series of very fortunate blessings, John Fowler recieved a donation of 4 long range WiFi mesh repaters, about a week ago. The dream is to light up WiFi in some of the dorms that will be used for Word Of Life Bible Institute Students. This opens up many doors for both the students to practice their vocation and bless the kids and staff at the camp with their friendship and sharing the gospel. The only problem is, nobody really understands how this stuff works. This is where Bill comes in, he called a few of his network engineering work friends at Dick's Sporting Goods and used facetime to draw out a design, reviewed the documentation, and through John Fowler saying an extra prayer, it's working! Now we just need to mount it. Stay tuned for our next blog post :)
Tonight we had the opportunity to hear the testimony of several WOL staff and missionaries. It’s amazing to see and hear the impact that God has had in the lives of so many people throughout the 30 years of this ministry.
So many lives have been transformed. It is very especial for all 8 of us to be a part of what God is doing here. We are very thankful to our supporters for having sent us and for praying for us.
Faith In Action
We stared out our Monday with a construction project to remove doors and frames in two dorms. We’re doing this because the new doors will help with security and safety of the students.
Jordan and Glenn AKA “Picasso” were working hard panting the chain link fence in the front of the camp property. When they asked how far we should paint. Jorge, a missionary at the camp just pointed to the horizon. This is where the language barrier brought much joy, and both laughed and kept on going ??
After Lunch, Luke, Nick, and John Z., started on the foundation of a storage building by the pool house. They were hard at work with Ruben, the facilities manager here at the camp, and Jorge mixing concrete. The footers were laid, first row of blocks set, and tomorrow we plan on pouring the floor.
Besides the construction projects, the Chapel raised funds, and through the help of a few good Christians brought down twenty Chromebooks. These blessings will help the missionary students at the Word of Life Camp while they attend Bible College in Argentina for a year. Where God willing, they will multiply belivers as they learn how to share the gospel and the word of God. We installed software, provided basic training, shared techniques in self educational tools. Check out the thank you video linked below!!
Good Morning from Panama…Palabra Da Vida!
It is Sunday morning 3/27/22. Here is a recap of out trip so far which has mostly been traveling to Chame Panama, team bonding, some sleep and reconnecting with old friends at the Word of Life Camp.
We had a blessed and pretty uneventful trip from Pittsburgh to Panama City. Waking up to Pittsburgh snow on Saturday made all of us think of how different it would be when we land in Panama. (as I type this, it is sunny and 80 degrees this morning in Chame).
At the airport in Pittsburgh, we realized what a different world it is traveling internationally these days. Filling out forms and making sure all testing and documents were accurate took the most time. Interestingly it is situations like this that help the team to bond, and we saw that happening right away.
We landed in Atlanta around 3 pm and then flew out for Panama around 4:30. We have already realized that joking around with each other it a great way for a team to connect and bond. God uses laughter doesn’t He!
The team landed in Panama City around 7:30 pm (Panama is 1 hour behind Pittsburgh time currently). Our team leader Fernando was a big help with the language challenges and got us through immigration quicker than expected.
The director of the camp, John Fowler and a few of the missionaries met us at the airport to drive us to the camp. The drive to the camp is about 90 minutes without traffic. On the way we stopped for a dinner to get a feel for the Panamanian culture and food. The restaurant area is called Sabor Local (local flavor), and we really enjoyed the food and the glimpse of the culture.
We got to camp around 11 pm and were greeted with cheers and smiles from old friends (missionaries and staff) and new ones. It was so good to see everyone!!! Due to Covid restrictions, the camp has had almost no visitors over the last two years, so they were as glad to see us and catch up as we were. It was a beautiful night at the camp with weather and connections. God really blessed our day of travel!
Wake up this morning was around 7 and breakfast was at 8:30. Currently, there is a weekend camp here for local kids from 5-13 years old. They are a having fun and hearing about the saving work of Jesus Christ in their lives and have many opportunities to accept Him as their Lord and Savior.
We started our team time together studying God’s Word going through 2 Chronicles 20. The key verse was 15, “For the battle is not yours, but God’s”.
Or work projects start tomorrow with the first one being the replacing all the doors throughout the camp. Thank you for all your prayers during this week! 
