Friday, July 1, 2011

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

Thursday, June 16, 2011

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

Saturday, June 11, 2011

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

Monday, June 6, 2011

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

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

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

Monday, May 30, 2011

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

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

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