Missions Blog

Hi everyone!!

Today is October 3, and today starts the first night of the Women’s Conference for 2025!

Before all the women arrive to camp, we have some last minute things to accomplish. Alaina and Jessica help with the decorations like making a flower arch that was on the stage along with setting up all the tables for the women. 

It was amazing to see all of the missionaries and our group come together to get this work done. Even the missionaries' children were helping us!

Jessica and Alaina also got to practice speaking Spanish, and they are definitely getting better!

Both Jennifers, Jennifer Christensen and Jennifer Zebo, were in charge of making brownies for the last day of the conference. The work it took to make these brownies was crazy but I know they will taste delicious! 

After most of the work was done, it was time for everyone to eat another delicious meal! Today we had spaghetti with either red or white sauce. We talked with more of the missionaries and their children and learned more about their stories and how they got to Word of Life Panama. 

After lunch, we had some downtown to relax and spend more time with some of the other women. A little while later, it was time for dinner and for all of the women to arrive at camp!!

It was so exciting to see everyone filing into the office to receive their greeting bag with supplies you all helped fundraise for! Then it was time for dinner, we went into a time of worship and time in our Bibles. Lots of pictures were taken and many friends were made. 

Once we finished, it was time to go off to bed and get some rest for the next few days! 

Good morning!! Or good evening whenever you are reading this!

Today is October 5, the last day of the conference.

We started the morning off like every other morning with a delicious breakfast at 8 a.m.. We talked with more women and all of our Spanish has improved since our first day here! Then, it was time for the speaker to give her message and talk to us the importance of understanding and building up the next generations. 

She talked about how we need to focus on God in our lives and gave the analogy of squeezing an orange, what comes out? The juice inside comes out. Just like whenever we are in a tough situation and are being “squeezed,” however we act toward that situation is what is inside of us. We want to have patience and understand, not anger and violence. Which is why we need to have God at the center of our lives, feeding our bodies spiritually. 

After our Bible time and worship, we had our last group member, Jennifer Zebo, share her testimony with the women. It was amazing to see the support and kind words after Jennifer shared. 

Through sharing our testimonies, we empower others to get that weight of possible shame or regret off of their chest and be able to fully live a life for God. There is also community in that because you are not alone in things you may have gone through– you can find connection with others in your hard times.

Once we finished the second-half of the message and more worship, it was time for lunch and to say our goodbyes to the women. So many pictures were taken and so many numbers were exchanged. Alaina and Jessica made so many more friends with young women their age, who they will hopefully see one day in the future!

The conference was an amazing reminder of God’s goodness and how with him at the center of our lives, we can find immense and never-ending joy!!

After all the women left, we had the missionaries come to our room to look through all the clothes donated to us! They were able to pick out some t-shirts, pants, shoes and more! It was definitley rewarding to see how happy they were to receive some clothing items, so thank you to anyone who donated!

As this was our final night with our missionaries at Word of Life Panama, all the women went out to eat to enjoy one last meal together. It was so much fun to sit and relax with all the women who made this conference possible and continue to hear their stories and learn about their lives. 

We said our goodbyes and went to our rooms to start packing for our last day in Panama tomorrow– come back to hear about what adventures we did for our last day!

Welcome back!!

Today is October 4, and it is the second day of the Women’s Conference!

We started our day with breakfast at 8 a.m. and then immediately went into a time of worship and reading our Bibles. It was so cool to hear worship in Spanish and try to sing it in English. After a time in our Bibles, Jennifer Christensen and her daughter, Jessica, were able to give their testimonies. It was amazing how we were talking about building up the future generations and setting an example, and then hearing Jessica’s life story after we heard Jennifer's. 

After that, we had a coffee break where we could get refreshments and snacks before returning to a time of worship. The main focus of our time in our Bibles was on the different generations and how each of them viewed life. We did an activity where we split into the different age groups and played a game. It was so much fun!

Then, we cleaned up and brought out the craft we had prepared for everyone – decorating trucker hats! Fun fact- before we went on this trip, we were worried that we were not going to reach full support with all the materials we needed for this craft, but God will always provide, and we did reach full support thanks to everyone at home! It was amazing to see all the women with their different creative styles, and then later on in the day, so many women were wearing their hats. It was a blast!

Once everyone had finished creating their hats, it was time to clean up and return to our rooms to rest and prepare for the rest of the night, which included a gala. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it was to see all the women in their fancy dresses and beautiful makeup. Everyone looked stunning, especially when we went into a time of worship in these evening gowns. After this year's speaker gave the sermon, our group member, Alaina McDonald, gave her testimony. It was beautiful to see how her story reached so many women at this conference. 

Later, it was time for a mini “Miss America” contest, where two women were crowned. This year, Jessica and Alaina decided to participate in this contest, and it was amazing! They started out with a runway walk, and then the finalists were chosen. Alaina and Jessica did not win, however, Jessica did end up performing her talent, which was doing the worm in her evening dress! It was hilarious! 

The event ended up going until midnight, and everyone was so tired that it was time for bed. Alaina and Jessica ended up making some friends and got invited to go swimming with them afterward, so, obviously, they could not pass that up!

They mentioned how beautiful it was to talk with the women by using the Spanish they knew, since the women could not speak English. Even with a language barrier, they shared stories and had so much fun. 

Tomorrow marks the last day of the conference, with breakfast at 8 a.m.

Hello!!

Welcome to the first blog post from our 2025 Panama Women's Conference trip! We arrived in Panama on October 1 and have had many adventures so far: visiting Monkey Island and a Wounaan indigenous community located near Gamboa, Panama, before we headed to Campamento Palabra De Vida. 

Before I tell you about what we have been up to, I want to share a God moment. When we landed in Panama, one of the women in our group lost her suitcase because it was not in the overhead compartment where she had put it. In addition, we were also having cell service issues to let the Panama missionaries know we landed. Instead of freaking out, we all came together to pray for peace and patience while navigating a foreign country and running into some bumps.

Shortly after, the suitcase was found, and we ended up befriending one of the airline workers. His name is Ramano and he saw us praying and felt the need to help out a little-- he got us through customs quickly by allowing us to go through a different line and then he got us assistance to move all nine suitcases full of supplies from the baggage claim to the car. Without losing our luggage, we would have never had those blessings, so it is an important reminder to trust in God's plan, even if you don't understand.   

More about our trip: To get to Monkey Island and the Wounaan community, we had to take a boat on the Panama Canal. It was amazing to learn about the history of the area in addition to listening to personal stories from Missionary Traci Delibasich. Traveling across the water was eye-opening in seeing God's creation in full. The nature is so vibrant, and there are animals everywhere. We saw crocodiles, birds, and, of course, the monkeys. We got to get up close to different monkey islands and feed them grapes, oranges, and bananas, but we soon learned that they really wanted the limes. But not to eat them-- they used the limes to clean themselves, which was so interesting. The first monkeys we saw were the Capuchin monkeys, and then we saw the Titi monkeys. I loved the Titi monkeys because they are so small. 

After Monkey Island, we got to visit the San Antonio Wounaan Tribe. We learned their history, which turned out to be a little sad because they are not allowed to hunt like their ancestors did. They now rely on tourists for income because of the regulations on the Panama Canals that no longer allow them to be hunter/gatherers. While there, a few of us bought some handcrafted jewelry to support them, but also to have a souvenir. Before we left, they wanted to show us two dances: the Dance of the Butterfly and the Dance of the Coyote. It was amazing to see these dances and to see some of their clothing. 

After leaving the tribe, we traveled to Campamento Palabra De Vida, Word of Life Camp, on October 2. Some of us reconnected with old friends while others met new ones. It was beautiful to see the camp and what they have to offer for people here. We settled in and then got to work later in the night after dinner (which was delicious). Some of the women volunteers worked together after dinner to pack welcome bags for the women attending the conference later that day. This is also a big shout-out to those who helped us fundraise for this trip. It allowed us to bring supplies for these gifts, along with an activity to do with all the women. It is amazing what God can accomplish! 

Once all the bags were finished and we cleaned up, we headed back to our rooms to get ready for bed after an eventful day. Wake-up call is 7 a.m.!

It has been such a fun and informational two days, and I cannot wait to tell you more about this trip over the next few days!

Day 4 - Wow! If we thought we were sore yesterday, today was a doozy! But our team fueled up with breakfast and a beautiful devotion about God's faithfulness using the story of Elijah. Paul brought the message, and Tyler read the scriptures. Because of an issue with the normal devotional room, we got to start the morning on the massive back deck, complete with many rocking chairs, overlooking the most gorgeous mountain scene. Since we didn't have our sound system and screen, Linda was asked to lead worship with Amazing Grace. It was fun to have a whole TBC morning as our team led the whole group.

Boyd, Paul, and George finished the kitchen ceiling at their rebuild. Those previous days felt backbreaking, and they spent most of the day lifting the wood over their heads, so it was a blessing to be finished with that task. They also worked on cutting and installing the living room crown moulding. Unfortunately, there were no pictures with the turkey today. 😂 

Tyler and company finally finished ripping up the glued-down wood flooring after 4 days of work! Then Tyler, Linda U, and Karen finished the insulation, hung drywall, worked on drywall mud, and did truck inventory again. A very productive day with much more variety!

Regina and Stevie put the finishing touches on Miss Katherine's house. There was still more (heavy!) furniture to move into her home, so they spent most of the day doing that.

Jonna and Linda went into the day knowing the plan was to install ceramic tile in the bathroom, and thought they would be gophers for tools and supplies. To their surprise, Tim and Jack taught them to use a wet saw, a jigsaw, and a grinder. It was really special - knowing that these skilled craftsmen could have finished the job quickly, but took the time to teach them how to use the tools and trusted them to do almost all of the cutting. It really was a blessing all the way around.

Although we are all exhausted physically and, to be honest, mentally and emotionally, it's bittersweet that tomorrow morning is the last trip to the work sites.  We will go to three sites, work until noon and head out for the long 8 hour drive home. It's guaranteed that if you ask any one of the team, they would say they would come back again and would encourage anyone with a heart to serve the hurting to sign up to partner with Samaritan's Purse.