Bible Chapel Mission Trip Blog
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Hello, my name is Josiah, I am 14 and visiting Panama to serve here at Word of Life. On the second day of the mission trip, a lot of things happened, to me, to the students, and to the leaders. The day started with French toast for breakfast, soon after we had a missions trip meeting where we heard one of the Panamanian staff’s testimonies: Ishmael. We were very moved by learning how God uses tragedies and turns them into beautiful parts of someone’s story of how they found God. After that we played games and gave some of the consolers a chance to take a break, that’s when I took a 15-minute nap before I helped with the zipline. The zipline was very fun and the kids had a wonderful time; some of the counselors also went down the zipline. Once the last kid went down the zipline it was lunch, where we enjoyed a beef stew with pinto beans and rice with a salad. We finished lunch and headed to the pool, this was an excellent time to connect with some of the children, the pool is where I connected with most of the children outside of my assigned group. We played more group games afterward and then had dinner. We ate pizza, which was delicious as always. Then we watched a wonderful live show performed by the junior counselors, there was singing and dancing and a wonderful message where we learned about how God created all of these wonderful things such as stars. and planets, but the most beautiful thing that God created is a human being saved by Jesus ' blood who died on the cross to save us from our sins. We ended the day with small group devotion and we went to bed.
This morning's devotional was about Christians arming themselves for spiritual battles (Ephesians 6:10-20). The group's discussion focused our attention towards our plan of attack, to demonstrate the light of Jesus to the campers. As the campers arrived, they were greeted with a roaring crowd and praise music.
The Consejera or camp counselors did an amazing job. It's hard to express how many smiles there were. After the campers arrived we divided them into cabins and during the first couple hours we simply just tried to get to know each other. Shortly after we settled the campers into their cabins and bunk beds, we ate lunch, and then it was off to swim and take turns riding the zip line. Following those outdoor activities, the campers gathered to eat and hear the gospel. Their hearts were tender and truly all of them sat there fully attentive to the message. Lights out again at 11 however this time the kids have arrived!
All their energy and excitement meant they were all asleep by 10!! Praise God for a great day and very eager for tomorrow.
Our day started with team morning devotions. John 13: 1-17, Jesus serving the disciples and washing their feet.
Then we went on to sorting and organizing the many donations, clothing, shoes, soccer balls, etc., that our team was blessed to offer to the children and camp facility. We also were involved in helping the Staff finalize some of the crafts and decorations to be used to share the gospel in story form for the children to understand the love of Christ. Final day and homeward-bound after a week that felt like a month because it was so eventful. We were well cared for and loved on by the WOL staff.
Arodis, her husband Roberto, and 2-year-old daughter, Kylie, joined us at breakfast for our final send-off. They gave each of us a Panama mug as a thank-you gift. We were touched by this gesture and enjoyed one last conversation with them. It was fun hearing how they met each other at WOL camp and now serve together as missionaries. They have a pastor friend in Nashville TN who provides funding for them to fly to the states to talk to churches about their ministry.
