Bible Chapel Mission Trip Blog

Welcome to The Bible Chapel Mission Trip Blog. Please use the dropdown feature below called - Any Tag - to choose which trip blog you'd like to read!

Panama Bible Camp 2024 - Day 4

Panama Bible Camp 2024 - Day 4

Jan 22 9:41 AM
Jan 22 9:41 AM

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Our experience at Word of Life camp has been so memorable.  The WOL team is all in, pouring themselves into the lives of the children. Thursday evening was the campfire - nearly two hundred campers stood in front of the camp fire throwing in small sticks to symbolizing "All that I am, all that I have, and all that I hope to be for Jesus."    
 
On Friday night one of the most popular events of the week took place, Carnival! Eight booths were set up with games and prizes. The children move from booth to booth having a great time.  Our team brought the prizes which we collected as donations. The children loved them.  As camp came to  a close on Saturday we learned 83 children accepted Christ as their Lord and savior and 73 more children rededicated their lives to Him!  
 
          
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Panama Bible Camp 2024 - Day 3

Panama Bible Camp 2024 - Day 3

Jan 19 9:19 AM
Jan 19 9:19 AM

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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.

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Panama Bible Camp 2024 - Day 1

Panama Bible Camp 2024 - Day 1

Jan 16 1:40 PM
Jan 16 1:40 PM

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Our team of 12 arrived in the afternoon on Sunday, January 14 without any delays or incidents.
 
Day-1  Monday
Our day started with team morning devotions. John 13: 1-17, Jesus serving the disciples and washing their feet.
 
The children arrive tomorrow, so today is the final preparation for a week of camp. Our team was introduced to the Word of Life Missionaries and Staff and then explained what needed to be done to have camp ready for the children. We divided into small groups and went to work. One of the dorm buildings needed the exterior painted as well as the deck around the pool area.
 
 
 
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. 
 
After dinner, we learned some of the songs complete with hand and body motions that we all will be presenting to the children tomorrow. Lights out at 11 PM to get some much-needed rest to be energized for greeting the children.
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WOMEN'S PANAMA TRIP - Day 7

WOMEN'S PANAMA TRIP - Day 7

Oct 14 9:50 AM
Oct 14 9:50 AM

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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. 

 
We shuttled to the airport for the first of our 2 flights to get home. We had a layover in Atlanta, so the 4 of us debriefed about our trip over a leisurely dinner at the airport. We landed in Pittsburgh just before midnight but were too tired to take one last picture together before we hugged each other goodbye.
 
 
Save the Date:  On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, we are hosting a dinner and a presentation to share more about what the Lord has done in us and through us as a result of this unforgettable mission trip.  Check back here for details of the time and room number at the South Hills campus.
 
Thanks for following our adventures on this blog.  We count you as part of our mission team and we ask for God's richest blessings to be upon you.  
 
Read more about the WOL staff, mission, and vision at: 
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WOMEN'S PANAMA TRIP - Day 6

WOMEN'S PANAMA TRIP - Day 6

Oct 13 9:39 AM
Oct 13 9:39 AM

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Monday was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Leslie and a few other WOL staff drove us in their van for a two-hour trip to visit an indigenous village on the Chagris River. The village can only be accessed by boat. 
 
We traveled in canoes dug out of tree trunks they hollowed out with primitive tools. They add motors in order to make the 45-minute trip up the river easier. The river is clear and pure with occasional rapids. As we traveled through the tropical rainforest guided by villagers, we felt like we were in a National Geographic documentary.
 
 
When we arrived at our destination, we hiked up a hill and were greeted by the villagers in their tribal dress playing their hand-crafted drums and wind instruments. They danced for us and pulled us in to dance with them. The male chief, female president, and Christian pastor and his wife spoke with us. The chief and president are elected by the villagers. It was a first for them to elect a female president.  
 
 
The villagers have built a concrete building for the school and the Christian Church. The government provides a teacher who comes to live at the village Monday through Friday and goes home on the weekend. The WOL staff visit often and provide programs for the children. They have plumbing and a bathroom house for the teacher and the tourists and satellite dishes for the school but the villagers prefer to live in grass huts. They cook on an open fire in a central building. They made us a lunch of fried fish and plantains wrapped in a large leaf from the forest.   
 
A number of the villagers are Christian but they follow many of the traditional practices governed by nature. They have access to the public hospital which they use on occasion but they prefer to use their own native herbs and cures.
 
 
 
The women make hand-woven baskets, bags, jewelry and wood carvings to sell to the tourists to make an income. We enjoyed being able to support them. As a team, we managed to buy something from each of the artisans.
 
We had to leave by 3 in the afternoon so the villager who took us in his canoe could return back up the river by nightfall. 
 
 
From there we traveled by van back to the city for our final night at the hotel near the airport. The rest of the WOL staff joined us there for a send-off dinner. This was yet another opportunity for us to engage in one-on-one conversations with the WOL missionaries. We learned more about their own ministries over and above the work they do at the WOL camp. 
 
The life of a missionary is built on faith because they depend on monthly financial support from individuals and churches who believe in the mission. Seeing their faith and passion for sharing the gospel made the stories of the mission trips described in Acts come alive. 
 
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