TO ALL FREE WILL BAPTISTS

From the time I was about 12 years old, I knew that God wanted me to be a missionary. Even when people told me I couldn't do it or made fun of me, I still kept pushing toward that goal. I love people and I love being in different cultures. This is the reason I am going into debt and making myself go crazy from the school work. However in light of recent circumstances, I do not know if this will be possible. Free Will Baptist International Missions released a statement this week that they are no longer sending new missionaries and those current missionaries in the states have to stay until further notice.

I cannot tell you how much this breaks my heart! I have had the amazing opportunity to Volunteer down at International Missions this past semester. I have also been able to travel around the world and visit our missionaries. They are doing some incredible things! They have given their entire lives to telling others about Christ. It is their passion and God"s light is being shown in some really dark places. They are obeying the message that is clear throughout the Scriptures to go and tell. 

Now they are being told I'm sorry you cannot go back to your field, you have to stay here. Why is this? Money. FWBIM is making them stay so they can go around to our churches and beg us for money. How sad is this? IT IS TIME FOR US TO WAKE UP!!!!!!!! The church exists to spread the light of Jesus, not to give you a place to go to once a week to make you happy! I am sick and tired of all the fighting and the bickering between FREE WILL BAPTISTS brothers and sisters! This is our fault for letting our money be more important than the souls of people. Because of our greediness people are going to Hell, and you will answer for it. 

What have we become?! We spend more time arguing over things like a stupid funding system than actually doing what we are supposed to. Do you not have faith in our God to use the money the best way possible? Money is temporal, souls are not! You are not going, you are sitting on your butts, at home, comfortable, spending your money on yourself. That is the definition of selfishness. May God forgive us for letting ourselves get in the way of His plan. 

I am a new generation, and I refuse to just sit by and watch all of this happen! Our missionaries are my heroes because they have given up everything for God. That is what we teach in Sunday school is the mark of a true Christian, but no one believes it anymore. Actions speak louder than words. We are failing in our job of the great commission. It is time for us to wake up to the world that is going to Hell around us. Your money is not really yours. It belongs to the almighty creator who gives it to you so that you can be a blessing.   Get past your selfishness and your greediness and support the missionaries that are on the field! You will answer to God one day for what you do! DO you want Him to say "Well done," or, "Look at all these souls that are in Hell because you did nothing?"

I am sorry if this sounds mean, but it is the truth. I am speaking to every single Free Will Baptist. I know that there are those of you out there that do support IM, but you can do more. We need people to step up and give and we need people to step up and confront those who are doing nothing. We have thousands of us out there, there should be no reason for this mess. The Bible tells us not to let divisions come into the church, so why are we letting things get in the way of being one united force in the world? I do not care about your preferences. God is much bigger than you. Stop being selfish and do what it is that God has called you to do. This is the true mark of a Christian- putting others before yourself. If we are not careful IM will be gone and FWB will be too! 

Lord, I pray that you will forgive us for being selfish. Forgive us for not doing what you have asked us to do. Please change our hearts so that we may take you to a lost world. I pray for our missionaries, give them strength and help them not to get discouraged. Please let them know there are some of us on their side! Please give them a special blessing. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

WHY AM I HERE?

I have found myself asking this question alot lately. Why am I at the Free Will Baptist Bible College putting myself through all of the stress of getting a degree that I can't really use in America? Why do I have to write this paper, and get a  good grade? Why am I going thousands of dollars into debt when I could go to another college for free? It is because I have been called by God for a greater purpose than that.

I am nothing special. I'm just a girl with alot of hang-ups and problems, but God chose to use me in a great way. I don't understand the amount of grace that he has shown me or why he chooses to forgive me over and over and over again, but He does willingly. If God can use me he can use anybody!

And God wants to use YOU!! He has called each one of us but he doesn't make us choose him. My generation has forgotten what true servanthood is. We are not being taught to give up everything and serve God. We are taught that sucess equals weath and prosperity. we go to school to get a good job to make alot of money so we will be happy but this is not true! This is the road to unhappiness! I'm not saying that weath in and of itself is bad, but it takes our dependency off of god and puts it on ourselves. (Sorry for that little rabbit trail!)

We need young people to step up and answer God's call in their lives to be preachers and missionaries. We need the older people in our churches to start teaching these young people about servanthood and about the call of God. We should be encouraging them to seek God's plans for their lives and not just about him. Our lives are a relationship not a leaningpost. We should be loving God, talking with Him, and getting to know Him so that we know what He has for us, not just calling on him for help when we need it!

Have you answered the Call? It's not this mysterious thing, its not necessarily a voice you hear, it is a knowledge deep down inside of you that you were created with a purpose. For me it was the feeling I got when I heard missionary stories or went on missions trips. I am never happier than when I am serving God with my whole heart in a cross-cultural setting. Its not easy and it wont lead me to great riches, but I know that I know that I know that God has called me to be a missionary. That is why I am here at FWBBC, why I am stressing over a paper that is due on Friday, and why I just took out a loan that will take me years to pay off. Because God has called me to and I said yes!

The New Generation

I know it has been a couple of months since I have written but it has been a crazy time in my life. I am quickly learning about good time management and how to keep a detailed planner/schedule. I know that my trip is over but I want to try and just write about things in this world as I see them. 

Yesterday was Sunday and I was excited to go to my church. I truly love going there and it is so exciting to be able to worship with this group of people every week! I looked around our congregation, we have a very diverse group of people. We have alot of older adults who are great role models for me, we have middle age adults who our church is reaching out to that have come from some rough backgrounds. We have alot of 20 somethings too. The problem though is that these younger people are not stepping up. The older adults are getting to the point that it is hard for them to teach the younger children and our youth pastor and children's pastor are having to do everything by themselves. 

I am teaching children's church now on Sundays. I am not a teacher kind of person but I saw a need and I am stepping up. I had 8 very hyper 3-5 years olds and so I needed a helper. I asked 5 different students to help me and they all had a different excuse. 

My generation is all about "what is good for me?" They are so selfish. God did not call us to go to church to warm the pews. Christians were called to serve to tell others about Jesus. What has happened to this teaching? Why are Scott and Derek having to beg people to help them when we have at least 10 students from BIBLE COLLEGE alone going there. I have a hard time believing that a person is called to be a pastor or in some form of ministry when they can't serve in a lay person role. I know not all people work well with children but there is a ministry in every church for every person! Before I went to Panama my professor had me read a book on servant leadership, leadership is not possible until you know how to serve God by serving others. 

Acts 26:16-18 gives us a picture of what we are called to do. It is by being a servant and a witness that people are reached and souls are saved from a horrible eternity in Hell. 

¹⁶But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, ¹⁷ delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles— to whom I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

The older generation is moving on and it is our turn to get up off our behinds and do something. If we continue to become pew ornaments while the world all around us is going to hell then I have to question whether we deserve the right to go to Heaven... we should be willing to die for our Lord as the early Christians did, not be bribed to help out. 

Think about it are you doing what you have been called to do? Are you truly being a servant? Are you sending people to Hell today?

WOW...

Hey friends!

I am sooooo sorry it has been so long since I have written. E-TEAM arrived June 15 and I have been super busy ever since! I had the awesome opportunity to be a part of their team and I got to travel around different parts of Panama with them. It has been two weeks of an up and down roller coaster. I am exhausted but it was so worth it!

 I will try to give a quick day by day for the last two weeks.

June 16- Orientation with E-TEAM and working around the Seminary
June 17-Prepared for the event on Saturday
June 18- We had a huge outreach event for the community here at the Seminary. It was a day of games and sports for kids ages 5 and up. We had about 200 people who came and it was an awesome day. E-TEAM did their program and we had one little boy named Carlos give his heart to Jesus! By the end of the day we were all exhausted but it was wonderful. Saturday night I went back to Santiago with the Collins to help them prepare for E-TEAM who would be there Monday morning.
June 19- I went to church in Chitre with the Collins. I helped Mrs. Brenda with children's church which is always quite an experience! We ate lunch at the church since it was Father's day and then headed back to Santiago. I enjoyed a very relaxing night hanging out with the Collins and it was wonderful!
June 20- We got up and ate breakfast then I helped clean the house and the started cutting out flannel-graph.  E-TEAM got there and then we assigned their jobs. A few of the girls were in charge of cutting out flannel graph and then the rest went out and sanded down benches the Mr. Paul has made for their services. After lunch one of the boys from E-TEAM taught me how to play a song on the guitar! I now also know how to play the bass guitar which I am super excited about. Then we prepared for a BIRTHDAY PARTY we had been invited to that night. That was a really cool experience. We sang a few songs in Spanish and a few in English and got to be a part of the celebration. the really cool thing though was that this lady is one of the people that we reached the first weekend I was here in Santiago. When the group was out passing out invitations to "The Night of Drama" they came to her house and shared the Gospel with her. She was saved and Julio and Mr. Paul have been having Bible studies with her and her family ever since. Praise the Lord for this dear lady!
June 21- I got up at 5 something to start fixing breakfast. We had breakfast and then I left Santiago with E-TEAM to head to Panonome. We worked hard cleaning up a park. The boys got out there and cut down all the tall stuff with the machetes and the girls scraped and painted benches. We also pulled leaves and picked up trash. It was a really sunny day and most of us ended up with some bad sunburns. Everyone worked hard until about 3. We cleaned up and then got ready for our program that we were having in the same park that night. It was pretty awesome and we had 25-30 people who came! We finished the day with Chineese food and headed back to Chame.
 Got to go fix lunch, I'll finish later!
<3 Bethany

I JUST WANT TO GO TO SLEEP!!

Hey friends!

I am so tired. I have not slept more than 3 hours for the last two nights! I cannot seem to fall asleep, and this equals tired cranky Bethany.

This week has flown by. We had so much to get done for E-TEAM and we even moved on Monday so I have stayed pretty busy.

E-TEAM finally got in at about 2  this morning. They had quite an adventure getting here! We have alot to do in the short time they are here but I will try to update as often as I can!

My spanish is improving. Two of the boys have determined to make me learn it and our now my "teachers" After dinner they make me sit and practice! It is so funny, but they say I'm improving!

I had another first this week. I played my first game of soccer. I had so much fun and they said I did good. I did manage to sprain my wrist of all things! It hurts but it is slowly getting better.

I'm sorry my thoughts are all over the place. I'm a little scattered- brained right now! =)

Hasta Luego,
Bethany

Thank God for Tylenol and cough drops!

Whew am I glad this week is over! My week started out with me being sick. I didn't get out of bed for almost 2 days! Thankfully Mrs. Judy and Ariadna took care of me and many tylenol, two boxes of kleenex, and a pack of cough drops later I am finally getting better! 

We had alot of people here with us this week! We had 4 teenagers that came the beginning of the week and stayed 2 night. We also were tearing the ceilings out of the classroom building to put up new ones so we had a bunch of people here to help out with that. We also had a family who came here on vacation for a couple days so at one point we had about 35 people on campus!

Thursday was a Long, fun, and interesting day. Mrs. Judy, Ari, and I went into the city. We spent the ENTIRE day there shoping for things for the event we are having on June 18 and E-TEAM. I got to see the worst part of the city and the nicest part. It was like night and day difference. One part of the City looks like Southern California and another looks like it has been through several wars. At one point Mrs. Judy says to me, "I am not sure if this is the right road, hopefully we live to find out." At first I thought she was joking but apparently that was not a good area. We went to this one place that is just one little shop after another where you can get little kids toys cheap and we got some of the stuff for our carnival. We got 40 barbie type things and they bring us a garbage bad with the dolls in it, counted out the shoes and gave us the folded up boxes, we have to put them together ourselves. It was so funny to me! =) We also went to this market type place. It was like a street with tons of "shops" but you cant drive down it. It was funny to see some of the things people were selling. One guy was sitting there selling eggs but he was asleep! One guy was pushing a cart of furniture around. Nothing really surprises me anymore! Needless to say, Thursday was quite a cultural experience for me!

My Spanish is improving, but I am so frustrated because I cannot speak it very well!! It is very frustrating not being able to communicate with people! I was able to have about a 2 or 3 hour conversation in Spanish last night, but it was very slow and on facebook. I had a verb tense book, a spanish dictionary, and a translator helping me when I got stuck. It would take me 15 minutes for 2 sentences but I did it. Please pray that I will learn quickly!

We are moving down the street on Monday so I should be packing. Please pray for us and for E-TEAM as they arrive on Wednesday. It will be a busy busy time.

Dios te bendiga,
Bethany

F. R. O. G.

Hey everbody!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have updated, I have been so busy. Wednesday I successfully taught my 2nd English class! This week I have my 3rd class and we will be talking about the calendar and our likes and dislikes.

On Thursday something really exciting happened. There is a couple from Cuba who have been trying to get here to help at the seminary for over a year. We have been praying for so long that the paperwork would go through and she would be granted permission to leave the country. On thursday night they finally arrived!!! Praise the Lord! Everyone was so excited and it is a huge relief To Mr. Steve and Mrs. Judy as they are going home on furlow for three months. Please keep praying for this couple as they have to now file paperwork for more permanent visas so they can stay!

Friday I went up to the city with Mrs. Judy because she was speaking at a lady's meeting. We got into town early so we went to the mall... it was HUGE!!! I had fun shopping and clothes are sooo much cheaper here! I got a watch and a new shirt for 6 bucks! =) We had dinner at Johnny Rockets and then headed to the church. The driving here is CRAZY and I would be a nervous wreck if I was the one driving haha. The meeting was good and I really enjoyed it!

Saturday was our lazy day. I got to sleep in till 7 and didn't do much of anything till about 3. Mrs. Judy and I left at 3 to go to the grocery store. We took like a 2 hour detour and went up into the mountains. It was so beautiful!! Up there it doesn't look like Panama anymore. There are no Palm trees and its nice and cool. Everything is green and there were even a couple pine trees! I really enjoyed our little trip! We then went to the grocery store and we had a time there. We kept running into everybody and knocking things over... haha. We got KFC for dinner and headed home.

Yesterday was a long day. There is not a church here in Chame or anywhere close and Mr. Steve was speaking at the first church in the City. We got up and left about 8:30. Sunday school was supposed to start at 9:30 but was just starting when we got there at 10. So we had sunday school then a bunch of other stuff and a break. the worship service started at 11:30 and we got out at 1:30. (which they say is early for this church) By the time we got lunch and got home it was 4:30. I started feeling bad on the way home last night and by supper I was feeling terrible. (running a fever in 90 degree weather is no fun!) So I ate dinner and talked to my sister on skype then headed to bed.

When I woke up this morning I felt horrible. I have no voice and I have stayed in bed most of the day. Please keep me in your prayers!

Love
Bethany

Is it time for bed yet?

Buenos Noches!

Whew, it has been a day. First though I have to tell you about yesterday. I did something I have never done before, I helped kill chickens. Yup, I'm a murderer. It was a crazy thing and I did not want to do it but cirilo made me. We hung them up on a tree by their feet and then the boys killed them. After that you take them and dip them in boiling hot water, which makes the feathers come off easier. Then I helped pluck out the feathers. After that they took them and cut them up and put them in bags. It was disgusting... BUT I DID IT!!! They told me my reward was getting to eat the chicken for lunch today... and we did. The whole time though, I was thinking about those poor chickens lol. I can now add that to my expieriences haha.
Other than that my day was pretty normal. I went with Mrs. Judy to the grocery store and she took me on a little drive up into the Mountains. It was really pretty!

Today has been a long day. I woke up a little late and decided to stay in my room and finish my powerpoint for my class tomorrow, so I did that till it was time to pick up the kids from school. Came back and ate lunch then it was nap time! I have gotten to experience my first Panamanian downpoor! I have never seen so much rain fall in my life. There was really not any reason to use an umbrella! haha Anyways it has been raining all day which has made me very sleepy! =) After my nap was work time. Today I raked leaves and then planted a ton of bush things! I was covered from head to toe in mud and I have blisters on my hand and feet. It was hard work but I enjoyed it. At 5 I came back to the house and took a long shower. I really miss hot showers! O well a nice cold shower is nice after a long days work! Then it was dinner time. I realized tonight I have had an allergic reaction to something I ate so I am having to be really careful now till we figure out what it was! I took some Benedryl and now I am falling asleep, so I will write tomorrow!
Good night!
Beth

Busy, Busy, Busy =)

Hola amigos!
 I am sorry that it has been a few days since my last post, I have been kinda busy the last few days. I finished up my first week at the seminary on Friday morning. I have really enjoyed getting to know all of the students, they are a fun group of people. On Friday the students left as soon as lunch was over to go to their weekend ministry assignments. After everyone had left we were all tired so we took naps. I was awakened by one of the loudest noises I have ever heard! Apparently lightening had hit the transformer outside our house and it had blown it! Talk about an alarm clock! =) After my heart calmed down we realized we had no electricity and it was pretty hot in the house. About 5 we headed up to the next big town(that has stores) Coranado, to get some dinner and do a little grocery shopping. We had a good time and it was nice to be someplace cool for a little bit! I am really enjoying getting to know Mr. Steve and mrs. Judy and I am learning alot from them! After grocery shopping we came back to the house and unloaded the car and put the groceries away(in the dark!) As soon as we finished that the power came back on, thank the Lord!! We watched a TV show (in English) and then we went to bed. On Saturday morning we got up and fixed breakfast did some laundry got our stuff together and then we headed to Chitre which is about 2.5 hours away for a concert. The young people at at the church in Chitre sponsored a concert Saturday night. It was really neat and there were 186 people in attendence. Saturday night I stayed with a lady in the church. She has three girls and they were all very nice. They did not speak much English though but it was ok. We got up Sunday morning and I got ready for church. Sunday School was interesting since I don't speak Spanish but I picked out a little bit here and there. We were talking about how David loved Absolom even though he wanted to kill his father and how it is a picture of how much God loves us. It was pretty good. Then Mrs. Brenda asked me if I would like to help with CHildren's church and i was like "sure!" but I did not know what I was getting into.=)It was fun but it was alot of work and it was sooooo Hot in the room we were in. I really enjoyed it and Mrs. Brenda gave me some wonderful ideas of things to do with children! We ate lunch and then we headed back here to chame. This time however there were 3 other people with us so it was a bit tight in the backseat! Lino, one of the guys here at the Seminary, was sitting in the middle and he kept falling asleep and it was really funny watching him. We got back and cooked dinner and all of the students came back. We had a short meeting where everyone told about their weekends and what God is doing at their churches. It was pretty cool. After that it was bed time (my favorite part of the day! jk). i woke up really late this morning so I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Which reminds me I have been volunteered to help Cirilo kill the chickens today! I do not want to but he is insisting that I help him! So I may have some interesting stories tomorrow. Well I just finished my spanish lesson and now I have to get my lesson plans done for my class on Wednesday!
Hasta Luego!
Beth

I thought this was supposed to be Summer!

Hola!
 Well I thought this was summer break but guess what... I am going to school here too! =) I have been very busy the last few days. This is my typical daily schedule: 5:30 am, wake up and get ready. 6:30 go up to the place where we eat our meals and start setting up for breakfast. This includes setting the tables, setting out the mugs for coffee, and serving the food. 7:00 is breakfast. After we are done eating I help clean up and do the dishes. Then we have chapel at 7:30. We sing and they do announcements and then someone gives a short devotion(it is very similar to our chapel at FWBBC but they sing more.) Classes start at 8 and go for 2 hours each. During this time I am usually working with Mrs. Judy on something(except on wednesdays) or I'm working on my homework or whatever I need to. They have a break at 10 and the next class starts at 10:30. This is my time when I do my devotions (except on wednesdays when I am teaching my English class. Then I do my devos in the morning.) At 11:20 I got with Mrs Judy to get the kids she picks up from school and we take them home. When that is done we go get ready for lunch. Lunch is at 12:30. After we clean up and the dishes are done it is free time!( or for me it is nap time!!) At 2:30 all of the students meet and we are given work to do until 4:30 or 5. Today I helped clean windows and we swept and mopped the whole classroom building and chapel. At 5 we all meet up and play some type of sport (volleyball, basketball,soccer, etc.) Then supper is at 6. After supper is free time until we go to bed. So I have been staying pretty busy and I am exhausted! =)

Today I overcame one of my fears about this trip. I taught my first English class. I was so nervous I wanted to cry and throw up!  I have been preparing for it but I was just afraid they wouldn't understand and they would be bored. However it actually turned out to be alot of fun! They are so much fun to be around and they put me right at ease. We were telling each other about our families and one guy told me his sister was like a horse( he said it in spanish first so I said huh? then he tried to explain it to me) , it was so funny. I had them come up and practice their conversations and they were really trying to be actors. I really enjoyed the class. I did get done very early though so next week I will have to plan  more things for them to do! So it ended up turning out well, thank you everyone who was praying for me, it worked!! =)

Keep praying for me that I can keep up with my classes too while staying busy. I have alot of reading and paper writing to do. I'm signing off to work on homework!

Hasta Manana!
Bethany

Sunburns, Bug Bites, and Sweat

Those are the words that discribe the day. Today was the first day of classes this quarter at the seminary. I got to meet all of the students. There are 11 students here and I am enjoying getting to know each one! It finally rained last night. This is the rainy season but I made the comment yesterday that it hadn't rained since I had been here. Well it was so loud I didn't hear my alarm go off at 5:30! Thankfully I woke up a little after 6. I got up and got ready and made it to breakfast by 6:45. We had french toast and Charrizos for breakfast! After Breakfast we had chapel. I recognized two of the songs! One was Shout to the Lord and the other was In My Life Lord Be Glorified. It was neat. After chapel the kids went to class and I went to the office with Mrs. Judy to work. I am trying to get my lesson plans together for my class on Wednesday! A little while into our work Mrs. Judy told me the vegetable man was here. We got all of our vegetables fresh off of his truck! It was pretty cool! After this I went with Mrs. Judy to pick up Michael (his parents are dorm parents/ students here) from school. There are actually several other students that ride home with us and it is fun talking to them! When we got back it was time to serve lunch. We had chicken(pollo), rice, beans, and platano and a new kind of chicha called arroz con pina. It was soo good! I sat by two students, Benjamin and Dinyka, and they were helping me with my spanish, it was cool! I now know some new words! =) After lunch I had about an hour of rest time in which I worked on my homework and took a short nap. At 2:30 I joined the other students and we were split up to do jobs around campus. I was put on window duty. By the time we were done I was tired and hot and sweaty! Then it was "playtime" =) I played 3 on 3 basketball and then played Volleyball. It was hot but it was fun.

I have now taken a shower and have a few moments of rest. I realize my face is sunburned (even though I had sunscreen on!) I have 3 bug bites the size of quarters on my feet that are itching like crazy,but it is all in a days work! I'm exhausted and headed to bed!

Buenos Noches!
Beth

Your're the God of this City

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

[Verse 2]
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Buenos Tardes,

This is a song by Chris Tomlin and today it has a totally different meaning to me than it did two days ago. I am exhausted by I enjoyed my time in Santiago so much. The group that came down were from a place called San Vincent and they were wonderful. They went out Saturday morning and passed out invitations to the community to "The Night of Drama" that they did last night. While they were out one group was able to pray with 4 different people who asked Jesus into their hearts! The program they did was wonderful. Even though I didn't understand many of the words, I could see what they were acting out and I could see the love of Jesus in them and at the end a guy named Julio gave a short message. There were actually 23 people from the community who attended!! Please pray with me that these seeds that we planted will be able to blossom!

I have met several new friends in the last few days. I got to meet one of the missionary familes here, The Collins. They are the ones starting the new work in Santiago. They have three wonderful children and I Loved getting to spend time with them!
One girl Amy did not know English but we were able to communicate through other ways and we "talked" for a while last night. She was so sweet and I enjoyed getting to know her.
Then there is Julio who I mentioned earlier. He is a young man who graduated from the seminary here last year.He has now moved to Santiago to help the Collins! It was such a blessing to talk to him and see what he is doing there. He also has a great sense of humor and you better watch out or he might play a joke on you!! =)
Another guy I met was Os. He also graduated from the seminary last year and he is now in Pananome helping with a new work there! His English is very good and we stayed up talking for a long time. He loves American praise and worship and he plays the guitar very well. He knew "You're the God of This City" in Spanish and he had me teach it to him in English. As we were sitting there singing this song, it took on a whole new meaning. God is at work here and I am so excited to be a part of it. God is the God of this city and this nation and these people! Pray for them!I am falling in love with this place and these people, two months is not long enough!

The seminary students should be getting in at any time and the new quarter starts tomorrow. I am going to go help Mrs. Judy make pizza for our dinner!

Chao!
Beth

Santiago

Hey friends!
 I am in the city of Santiago for the weekend. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive from where I am staying in Chame. There is a new work starting here and they are having an event. A youth group from Panama City that came down to do some dramas and we came down to cook and help out. On the trip down I got to see alot of the countryside. It really is a beautiful country. You really cannot tell when you have left one area and gotten to another. On our way we got to stop in a place called Santa Clara and we went to the beach. We only stayed a few minutes but it was wonderful to walk in the sand and put my feet in the water (which is warm!) It was the first time I have ever seen the Pacific Ocean too which was cool! It is so hot today and I wish I could go jump in the water right now! =) I have a new favorite flower its so pretty and pink... I do not know what it is called though lol. I have been doing a lot of cooking but the food is wonderful. I have learned you can make chicha out of anything and Platano can be fixed 500 different ways. Well my computer is dying so I'll write later!
Chao!
Beth

Busy Day!

Hey,
 Well yesterday was quite a busy day. We went back to Panama City and spent most of the day there! It was neat to see the city in the day time. It was wierd though to see beautiful skyscapers on one side of the road and then small rundown looking homes (compared to the states) on the other.There were several familiar things though like McDonalds and KFC, office Depot and a place that is alot like Sam's club. We did some grocery shopping and then we went to dinner.

So far I am enjoying the food. I have tried a few new things but my favorite has been platanos that we had at lunch yesterday. It is something like a banana and you can fry it to make something like a potato chip. It is delicious.

Church last night was a pretty cool experience. We went to a church in the area known as Bethania which is Bethany in Spanish which was kind of cool. The women here dress very nicely for church even on a wednesday night. There was alot of singing at the beginning. I could pick out some words I knew and there were two in paticular that I liked very much! After a little while the pastor of the church came up and gave a greeting and things like that. Then he turned the service over to the Lytles. Mrs. Judy gave a powerpoint on missions around the world and then Bro. Steve preached out of Zephania chapter two. After the message we then had a prayer time for needs of countries all over the world. It was really neat and although I could not understand the words I could understand the emotion and feeling behind them. It was a blessing to me. I think church was over about nine and then we made the trip back to Chame. By the time we made it home I could barely keep my eyes open so I headed for bed.

Today has been a relaxing day compared to yesterday. I got up at 6 and got ready. We had breakfast at 7and I had something that tasted kind of like a funnel cake and it was yummy. After we cleaned up I had my official orientation for the summer. I am quickly falling in love with this place and the people. After the orientation we had company so I helped Mrs. Judy fix lunch. We fixed in her words a "typical Missouri meal." =) We had American food including Mashed potatoes which are hard to find here. We did however have a drink that you make with fruit and water. It was really good. It was a different experience sitting at the table with 7 other people and not having any idea what they are talking about. I am starting to pick up words here and there so I hope it won't be too long till I learn it. O and I almost forgot, I got to see two monkeys today that live in the neighbor's yard. They are so little and cute. Well We just finished cleaning up the kitchen and doing the dishes and now it is siesta (nap time!) So I am headed to sleep.
Love,
Beth

Finally Made it!

Hey everyone,
 I have finally arrived here in Panama safe and sound. They weren't joking when they said it was hot! That was the first thing that stood out to me. The drive to the Lytles from the airport was about an hour and forty-five minutes. The driving is different here but at the same time it is similar. Once we got to the house they showed me to my room and i put my stuff in there. Then I helped Mrs. Judy and Mrs. Brenda divide chicken into small bags. That was an experience! After the chicken was taken care of I was exhausted and went to bed. However I realized when I woke up this morning that I did not bring an alarm clock or a watch or anything to use to tell time. So I got up at 7 instead of 6. I have a busy day ahead of me and I will try to write later!

Love,
Bethany

Panama... Step one

Hey everyone!
 It is 10:55 PM and I cannot sleep. I have so many emotions running through me right now. I am SO excited to see what God has in store, I am a little nervous about being so far away for so long, and a little sad to tell my family goodbye. I know God is in control and I am reminded tonight of all the ways he has blessed me to get to this point! Thank you to everyone who has given and prayed to help me to get to this point! This trip would not be possible without each one of you! It has been so amazing to hear stories of where each dollar has come from.

Keep me in your prayers tomorrow, and also my friend Chris who is flying with me. He is going to another part of Panama, but it will be nice not to have to fly alone! I have to be at the airport by 7:30 in the morning so I will sign off for tonight! I'll let everyone know when I am safe and sound!

Love,
Bethany

Here I Go!

Hey guys!
 I am starting this blog so that I can share my experiences this summer in Panama with you! I will try to write and update as often as I can!


Love,
Beth