Life Back Home

I want to thank everyone who followed my blog while I was in Panama, thank you for all your support! Here is a little update on life now that I am graduated from the DTS program and some photos of the end of my trip.

My last week in Panama was full of many emotions, I was excited to return home but also sad to leave the friends I had spent the last 5 months with. It felt like I was leaving family and my trip home was almost if not more emotional than when I first left Canada. It was tough leaving Canada but I knew I would be returning and I had a plane ticket to prove it but leaving Panama was rough. I don't know if I will ever see the places I saw again, experience the things I had experienced or more importantly see the friends I made there ever again. I was also nervous for my transition and reentry back to Canada, luckily we had classes the last week educating us on what to expect and how to deal with coming home.

My trip home went very smoothly, my flights were on time and I had no motion sickness the whole trip. As I made my way home from Houston to Vancouver the Canucks game played as crazy fans cheered and probably scared some people on the plane. The week I arrived home I was thrown into wedding preparation which kept my mind off things. But the following weeks things started to seem like a dream. All I had experienced in Panama was hard to express to people and although people wanted to know about my trip they would never fully know all that I encountered during those 5 months. But most importantly I know what I learned, and I can recall those experiences that shaped me.

Many people have asked me 'So whats next?' and my response is typically this:
Currently I am looking for a job to start saving for college. In January I will attend Langara College working towards a Bachelors in Visual Arts. After 2 years completed at Langara I will transfer to Simon Fraser University to complete the last 2 years in my degree and then hopefully move onto one year in the Education program. After I complete my teaching degree which will most likely be focused on high school students I will start my teaching career! I am pretty open to wherever God calls me, whether it is here in Canada or across the world. So yes, that is my current plan, but it is not set in stone, I am open to being flexible and I would love to travel more.

speaking at graduation

swimming in boc

hospital visits

ngobe school uniform

Alison's baptism

killing dinner

graduation

picking strawberries

So thank you for keeping up with my adventures, God bless. If you would like to talk more about my experiences i would love to chat over coffee or email! whatever works!

Kayla

The Last of Outreach

Bocas Del Toro
The Islands of Bocas Del Toro were beautiful! Clear water, palm trees & white sand, too bad it rained all week! We ran a few school programs but most of the students canoe to school from other islands so when it rains classes are canceled. We visited houses and noticed slight differences in the Ngobe culture of Bocas. We learned to make coconut bread with Lydia a Ngobe woman (sooo yummy, but lots of work to make over a fire!) We also visited Red Frog beach for our day off and enjoyed a little bit of sunshine and a beautiful beach. One of the days we went around inviting people to watch a movie at the base and we had to paddle up river to a far village. It was hard work and once we got there most of the village was away working in the fields but we met a woman who was making coconut bread in the Mamma Tata church. Mamma Tata is a Ngobe religion which is a mix of Catholicism and Voodoo. That night we showed the movie a few people came and they had lots of questions. One of the men who came asked to be baptized so we baptized him and Alison the next day. We had a great week and got to support the awesome ministry that Kim & Dale (base directors) have already been doing.

After Bocas we made our way to the Costa Rican boarder but on the way we stopped at a pastors house to quickly catch up with the other team. We quickly exchanged stories and hugs and then we were off to Costa Rica. Unfortunately they would not let 2 of our members through so we were stuck in between Panama and Costa Rica not sure about where we were going to spend the next week. Since Alison, Bekah and I had gotten permission into Costa Rica we decided to go get ice cream while the team was deciding what was best. Either we split up or we stay as a team and go somewhere else. So we prayed and everyone felt that we should stay together as a team. Someone got the idea to call Cathy who's house we stayed at in Chiriqui and ask if we could stay another week. She gladly said yes, so we made our way back to the city of David.

Chiriqui
When we arrived in Chiriqui it felt like home to a lot of us. We were all excited to continue our hospital ministry. When we finally arrived at the hospital for visiting hours my group (Lucas, David and I) made our way to the 4th floor. Jessica had twisted her ankle in Bocas so she stayed home with Kristina and the kids. When we got to the 4th floor and went into the room we had visited many times before it was different. All the kids had left, God had healed them all! Even the kids that had been abandoned, family members had come and picked them up! All our prayers had been answered, it was amazing. God had brought us back to Chiriqui for a reason, to see the work he was doing. Alison, Bekah, Gerardo & John were visiting the 3rd floor and praying for babies and when they got there they only recognized one father with his child and he said "Well everyone else has been healed and left, so I guess I'm next!" It was awesome, we talked to the nurses and they told us all the kids we had been praying for were signed out of the hospital for getting better and that they appreciated what we were doing. Some of those babies & kids had been there for more than 6 months without any progress. God completely exceeded my expectations with the abandoned kids. There had been 5 abandoned kids who the hospital had been taking care of and by the end of our week in Chiriqui all had been taken home by family members. God blessed us a lot that week, and showed us why he wanted us in Chiriqui.


After Chiriqui our leaders surprised us with a 2 night stay in some hostels off the Las Lajas beach! It was beautiful and we were all super excited. Unfortunately David ended up leaving, we were all pretty upset so we had a team meeting. We prayed and felt that it was his choice, and he has to learn consequences of things he does. The Sunday we were leaving for chiriqui John got a phone call from David saying he wanted to come back. So as we made our way to Tugri we met up with David, and openly welcomed him back. Also Kristina, Jessica and the kids returned to Panama City for the last week of outreach.

Tugri
We all knew the last week in Tugri would be hard. It rained all the time, and is in the middle of no  where on a mountain. Our plan was to take an out trip to a town 4 hours away hiking but we ended up going to a different town 3 hours away. The previous time we had met a peace core worker (Khris) who lived there so we decided to visit him. After a long hike, which we were all out of shape for we arrived in Salitre. We stayed in a small church and invited people to our service that night. We found Khris' house and invited him also. That night we shared stories, sung, talked and drank coffee. We told Khris about our plans to do a teaching on health and staying healthy. He was excited and asked if he could join in. So the next morning we left with Khris back to Tugri. When we finally arrived we taught on the importance of washing your hands and latrines. Khris ended up staying the  night and we enjoyed spending time talking over great food and coffee. The next day we planned on making the top of the latrine, we had ordered concrete and pipes to make the latrine and have running water. Unfortunately it was raining so we didn't end up making it. Khris took John aside and sincerely thanked him for the time we spent with him. He said he was having a hard week and was feeling down and the fact that we invited him to eat and stay with us was a blessing. We had lots of great memories in Tugri and God used us to work in the lives of Khris and others.

Outreach was an amazing experience and I learned A LOT.

outreach update

childrens games

traditonal ngobe dress

So we are almost half way through outreach, 3 weeks completed and 4 more to go! Last week we spent at the Ngobe reservation (Tugri). It was beautiful and mountainous. We had no electricity, slept under a wooden house with a tin roof and cooked over a fire. They are trying to start an indiginous YWAM base there so we helped them prepare for teams by clearing out land and digging a latrine. We visited a lot of houses and invited them to our kids programs and services. All the women have handmade traditional dresses called naguas and then men have handmade purses called chácaras. Its interesting to think of beauty in different cultures, to the Ngobe people naguas are a beautiful part of their culture but to us they just look like bright, colourful, formless dresses. I think they appreciated that we wore them though because it is a sign that we respect their culture. Each of us got Ngobe names also, mine is Maligi (it probably isn´t spelt like that in Ngobe). We enjoyed visiting houses and getting to know the people even though to get to someones house you have to hike 5-10 minutes. At one particular house we were offered Chicha a traditional fermented corn drink and out of respect you must drink the whole cup! It was hard but we all did it, at the bottom of the cup there was a nice surprise of corn soot. Unfortunately a couple of the girls ended up getting parasites from it :( We also found out that a few of us got lice, possibly from the kids. Other than that Tugri was a great cross-cultural experience and we can´t wait to reaffirm the relationships we made there for our last week of outreach.

childrens program

After Tugri we made our way to the province of Chiriqui where the new YWAM base is being started. We are staying at Kathy´s house and we have warm showers! :) So far our ministry has mostly been in the hospital, we have been visiting the children there and praying for them. Its so sad to see that there are quite a few children that have been abandoned at the hospital, so they have been living there for years. We have also been visiting the land inbetween the childrens hospital and the regular hospital where many indiginous people live because their family members are in the hospital or they don´t have money to return home. We have been sharing stories with them, bringing them food and praying for them and their families. We have also been working with a few schools in the cities near by, running childrens programs which consist of games and stories. Yesterday we helped clean up the site for the new base and heard about Rich & Debby´s 10 year plan which consits of training schools where indigineous people can learn trades like constrution and farming and also includes an orphanage. Please continue to pray for all the ministry ahead of our team, we will be leaving for Bocas del Torra wednesday morning.

Love & miss you all!


Kayla

beautiful garden in boquette

Outreach update

So we have officially completed one week of outreach, six more to go! This first week we worked with the Chinese community in Panama. We ate lots of Chinese food, talked to lots of Chinese people and had a great time. My favorite was leading a few of the church youth groups, we really connected with the kids and were sad to say goodbye :( Its so encouraging to see the Chinese churches of Panama working together and being unified. They have some great plans for the Chinese church in Panama. Here are some pictures from this week:

chinese park

lots of chinese food!

chinese youth group

 Tomorrow we leave for an 8 hour bus ride half way across the country. Our schedule has been modified a bit, instead of going to Tugri Ngobe Comarka for 2 weeks at the end of our trip it will be split into two parts. So tomorrow we will arrive there and stay for 5 days and then we will return again for the last week of our outreach. We will be visiting people and possibly working with the school there so please pray for our ministry and the language barriers! I'm super excited, hopefully I will post again possibly half way through outreach.

love & miss you all
Kayla

week 11

Sorry I haven't been updating much but right now we are fairly busy preparing for outreach! Next week is the last week of classes and Thursday-Saturday we will be going to Tulio's village on the northern side of Panama. Then Monday is officially our first day of outreach and although my team will be staying on base the first week while we minister in Panama City the other teams are leaving. :( Tomorrow is a busy day as our teams will be splitting up to go to 3 different churches and raise funds for outreach which is still not paid for.

Last week Chris and Vanessa Collins who are staff here taught about "Making Plans and Setting Goals." It was a great to just focus on what our goals are for outreach and for life! We talked about values and principles and made a personal mission statement and then we made a group mission statement. Our groups is:

Reality (sharing the reality of Jesus Christ)
Relationships (building relationships with others and God)
Release (releasing people from religious bondage)

So that's our outreach group's mission statement for the 7 weeks and were all pretty excited to see what God has in store for us!

love & miss you all,
Kayla

2 weeks till outreach!

I cannot believe that I am leaving for outreach in 2 weeks! I am half way done the school which means only 10 weeks left in Panama! This week we were challenged a lot by our teacher Christian who spoke about conflict resolution. I have learned a lot, and hopefully I can successfully put it into practice. I learned that conflicts are part of life, and unavoidable. They need to be dealt with to move on and build stronger relationships with the people around you. I also learned that when confronting conflicts everything has to be out of love and sincerity. Conflicts are an opportunity to glorify God. I've been challenged this week to confront some of the conflicts in my life, big or small because holding on to that unforgiveness only creates bitterness towards the person and the situation. *note: this is a work in progress*

This week we have also started preparing for outreach, going over some of the things we will be doing and researching about the people groups. We are expected to know common phrases in 4 languages: Spanish, Bribri, Ngobe and Cantonese! Here is our letter to let you know what we will be doing:

love & miss you all
Kayla

Outreach

I am super excited to finally announce our plans for outreach! The group I am in consists of Alison, Jessica & Lucas, David, Gerardo and I. It will be led by John & Kristina Henry with their kids Natalie and Asher. Here is an outline of where we will be working and what our focuses in those areas will be:

Our focus is West Panama & Ngobe Reservation

-1 week in Panama City Chinatown:
building relationships, storytelling, teaching english & spanish, visiting families and bible studies

-2 weeks at the new YWAM Panama base in Chiriqui:
construction, orphanage visiting and building relationships

-1 week at the Costa Rica YWAM base
supporting the people there and working with the surrounding Bribri tribes

-1 week at the  Bocas del Torro:
 refreshing the current missionaries, storytelling and community development

-2 weeks on the Ngobe reservation:
storytelling, supporting the local missionaries, supporting the local church & working at the school.



Please pray for our group and the work we will be doing :) if you have a question i'll try my best to answer!

love & miss you all
Kayla

Isla Grande

Last week Carlos Gomez a missionary in Panama from Costa Rica taught us about the missions field. He talked about what a missional church is, and about the kingdom of God which is the great mission throughout the bible. At the end of the week he showed us on google earth all the places the gospel hasn't reached and posed the question "What is your job in all of this?" As I thought deeper about my role in God's kingdom I realized that I didn't really know but that I have to be open to God's calling on my life, whatever it may be. Here is a short video he showed us about being a missional church:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxfLK_sd68

Since it was the last weekend that Karli's brother Nate was going to be in Panama we decided to venture out to Isla Grande (the closest Caribbean Island to the coast of Panama.) After a 2 hour bus ride we took a 10 minute boat ride to the island. The island looked straight out of a postcard, white sand beaches, palm trees, clear water. On the boat ride there we met two guys from Panama City who had been to the island many times. They showed us to a hotel which we thought was too expensive so we went to the house they were staying at. It was an older Panamanian lady's house, she was very welcoming and even though they had run out of bed space she offered to put mats on the floor and let us stay there for $5. So we dropped off our stuff and headed for a day at the beach! The beach was beautiful and refreshing! After we went to eat dinner and drink batidos! (fruit smoothies) That night we spent mostly on a dock eating double stuffed oreos (do we have those in Canada? because we should.) and watching the brilliant night stars. Then we settled into bed while the carnival festivities continued. (Carnival is a week long party that happens in most Latin countries. we planned this trip without knowing before hand that it was the week of carnival.) In the middle of the night we woke up to bugs surrounding us and eating us alive so we decided to sleep on the dock. It was a bit uncomfortable but was better than itching all night. The next morning we headed home, it was quite the interesting experience but great none the less.

 

Nate, Alison & I

sleeping on the dock

mini outreach & the weekend.

Embera Puru

boat ride to Embera Puru

pushing the canoe

truck ride home from mini outreach

me and Kamal in his little loin cloth!

Embera Tattoo

Embera Puru traditional music

The hut we slept in

For our mini outreach we spent 4 days at a tribe called Embera Puru. It was a great experience, and not too far from home. It was a 40 minute drive and a 30 minute canoe ride, since the river was a bit dry we had to get out and push the boat a couple times. The village is right on the edge of the river and all the houses are elevated. It is a very traditional style embera village with palm tree roofs and thin wood floors that are flexible. We stayed in the big hut which is also the kitchen. Each night we told bible stories and the last night some of us preformed a drama. On the second day we hiked to the upper village to tell stories and pray for the people there. On the way back we decided to ride the river home so about 10 of us floated down the river. It was nice when the water was deep but when the water was shallow we got bumped around a bit. At one point the current was so strong I put my hand down for a second and my ring slipped right off :( Other than the little bumps and bruises it was a nice ride down the river for about an hour. The last day we watched them preform for a tourist group that came, doing traditional dancing, tattoos and selling crafts. We all enjoyed living right on the river and swimming every day but when it was time to go home we were ready.

Karli's brother Nate just arrived from Seattle and is spending 13 days here so we've been busy showing him around. Yesterday we went to Casco Viejo and the Art Market then to the Amodore for dinner. After dinner we got ice cream and walked by the yacht club. We noticed that there was something loud going on on the roof so we decided to go see what was going on. When we got to the top we realized there was a massive exercise class going on so we joined in. Today we ventured to Norelia's family's house, she lives on a river about an hour away from the base. Her brothers took us to a waterfall which was beautiful! We had to trek through a mud filled river that sucked us in like sinking sand. Once we got to the waterfall we met some exchange students from Norway and Germany who are living in Panama city. After a crowded and rowdy bus ride we finally arrived at home tired and ready for sleep! What a wonderful week :)

love & miss you all
Kayla

This week John and Christina will be teaching on ethno-arts and redeeming cultures. We will also be heading on a mini outreach to a local village called San Juan. We will be spending 4 days there helping the community. YWAM has had a strong relationship with this tribe and has visited many times. They have a desire to have a church planted so we will be working towards that, we have also prepared some story telling and a drama. Here is an episode of the tribe were going to from a MTV show Exiled where they send super sweet sixteen kids to remote villages in different countries. In a lot of ways the tribe will be like this, but reality tv is also not always complete reality, so keep that in mind while watching, some of it has been cut to seem more dramatic.

enjoy :) http://www.mtv.ca/tvshows/video_content.jhtml?cid=1599300&id=9677

here are some pictures of what i've been up to...
Love & Miss you all,

a Panamanian family in my DTS

Kayla

the 'lung of the city' metropolitan park

Alison's 21st birthday

cooking in the kitchen

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last week our teachers were the base directors Kenneth and Elaine. They spoke on listening to Gods voice. The first day of class we took a field trip to the zoo which has all the animals native to panama, monkeys crocodiles, mountain cats, birds & others. We also played some games that test how we communicate with each other. It was nice to get out of the classroom for a day, and explore. The rest of the week they talked about God's character and also about how hearing God's voice is a process. It was a great week and Kenneth and Elaine are very passionate about what they teach.

On Saturday we went to Clayton which used to be part of the old american canal zone, it's a very fenced in neighbourhood with many different types of people. We ate breakfast at a lovely Colombian cafe and after we walked around the park. After breakfast with Christina we went into the city to walk along the "Coastal Belt" which is similar to the Seawall in Vancouver. It was beautiful but very hot outside so we drove to a mall in the middle of the city called Metro Plaza, which is the high end mall, it would be comparable to Oakridge. We walked around for a bit, ate lunch then headed home. Saturday night we all babysat Christina and John's kids so they could have an early Valentines day. We ate pizza, made smoothies and watched "End of the Spear" which is set in El Salvador but most of the cast is Panamanian.

Sunday we attended Gamboa church where John was leading worship. Pastor Wilbur talked about Covenants. After church we took our packed lunches to the pool at Clayton where they require girls to wear swim caps to keep the pool cleaner. (I don't think I'll be posting those pictures anytime soon.) It was a nice day out and I got some sun but when we got home it started raining a bit. It was a great week and this week out DTS leader Jennifer will be talking about Christian World Views. Friday we will be heading out for a day trip a couple hours away to work at a youth camp.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone! and Happy Birthday Mom & Lizzie!

Love & Miss you all
Kayla



"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you a hope and a future. 
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:11-13

Week 3

 This week our teacher was the YWAM Costa Rica director, Marjolein Coghi. She taught all about relationships and even though I had heard lots of teaching on relationships in the past she taught with passion. She expressed how important relationships are in our life, and how its important to connect with people on a deeper level, heart to heart. I loved the teaching this week but unfortunately Monday night I got sick and was in bed all Tuesday so I missed class. Luckily it was only a one day thing so I was back in class Wednesday. 

Eve and I

Saturday we did our first outreach at Gamboa church where we handed out Samaritans Purse: Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes. We sang songs with the kids and told a story, they also had some interesting clowns come in and get the children all excited. Then they lined up to receive their shoe boxes. There was a long lineup of kids and luckily we didn't run short of boxes. After the kids were running around, playing, opening their boxes and getting their faces painted. When we got home we relaxed at the base then walked to San Vicente for smoothies.


Sunday we went to Crossroads church which is an English speaking church in the old American canal zone. It was weird seeing so many white people at church! We sang familiar songs, which was nice and the pastor spoke on speaking carefully and truthfully. After church Alison and I went to the local water slides at El Camping Resort. It was packed full since Sunday is the only day off for many Panamanians. They have 3 slides, a 'lazy river' (which is basically a mote you can ride tubes in), and a wave pool. We just got back and after dinner were going to the Tracy's for a Superbowl party! Go Packers! ( I think that's who were rooting for since some people are from Wisconsin.) 


Love & Miss you all,
Kayla


For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth, 
nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Romans 8: 38-39

week 2

I have officially completed 2 weeks of classes, 10 more to go! This week Pastor Mike spoke about the transformation and recovery from the fall of man. He also talked about strong holds and things that can stop us from growing closer to God. It was a good week and I am ready for the weekend! Tomorrow the 2 teams staying with us will be leaving so the DTS girls are excited for some quiet time! On Thursday we had a soccer game, YWAM Panama vs Wisconson. We won 6-4 and even though I didn't play, Alison and I enjoyed the pool beside the field. :)

two-toed sloth.

Friday night we went out with our small group leader Christina to the Cosway which is a man made strip that is filled with restaurants and has an awesome view of the city. It was crazy to see all the boats lined up waiting to go through the canal. We went to dinner at a popular restaurant called Mi Ranchito, and I got the breaded shrimp with french fries and fresh squeezed limeade. Dinner was excellent and after we went for icecream, which I was way too full for. The strip connects 3 islands together, its a very popular place to go biking or walking. After icecream we went to visit the yacht club, and admired the enormous boats docked in the harbour. On our way back from the yacht club we encountered a two-toed sloth on the side of the road! I personally thought it was rather creepy but apparently the two-toed ones are rare and also more vicious. We watched as it tried to make its way towards the ocean (because they are much better at swimming than walking.) We also encountered some local racoons that scrounge for crabs by the rocks at the bottom of the strip. It was a great night.

Tonight Bekah and I are babysitting for Christina and John so they can have some time alone. In exchange we get to do laundry, shower and watch movies and their house. Next Saturday is our first outreach, we are going to be handing out the Samaritan's Purse boxes to a local church! We are also thinking about volunteering at a local orphanage every other weekend. I'm pretty excited for the next few weeks and im starting to build relationships with many of the kids here, even though they don't speak english!

Love & miss you all,
Kayla

p.s. heres our memory verse

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful; he will not tempt you beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.


1 Corinthians 10:13

The weekend!

Saturday we had all day off so after breakfast and hand washing our clothes for the first time. Which is a lot of work I might add! We headed out just us 5 North American girls to the mall and the old city. After a 30 minute bus ride into the city we arrived at Albrook mall. The bus rides are quite the experience in itself. Old school buses painted with bright colours and interesting designs, some with lights, some with blaring music and all packed way too full. Mostly everyone stares as we try to find seats, which is nearly impossible. When we arrived at the mall we took a 10 minute taxi ride to Casca Antigua otherwise known as the old city. The buildings and view of the city were beautiful and it is most defiantly a tourist spot. We walked through the city looking at the architecture and the little shops. For lunch we stopped at a quaint pizza cafe where we enjoyed excellent pizza and fresh squeezed juice. After looking around there we headed back to the mall. The mall is huge, but filled with similar stores, mostly cheap department stores. Karli and I bought cellphones since they are so cheap and we can buy prepaid cards. After eating dinner at the food court we headed back to the base since were not allowed to be out after dark. It was a lovely day where we all got to explore and bond.

Heres a picture from Casca Antigua. Too bad my eyes are closed.

Today we had class since the teacher is here Sunday-Thursday this week. Our teachers name is Mike Breininger, he is a pastor from Wisconsin. He is also a long term YWAM Panama supporter and has taught here every year. In class today we heard his testimony which was really impacting and tomorrow we will start on his week long series 'Recovering From The Fall'.

Also this week the base is packed with people! There are 2 groups here for a week; one group from Wisconsin participating in Mission Adventures which is a week long outreach program that they run here at the base and the other group is a smaller group, im not sure where they're from or what they're doing.  Anyways we had a week where it was just 9 people here from my program and now there's 22 girls sleeping in the dorm which is quite the adjustment.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

That was the verse we memorized this week. Even though I have heard this verse multiple times this week was different. Since I have arrived I have been challenged by the thought of giving everything up to God. This month I'm reading 'Making Jesus Lord' by Loren Cunningham the founder of YWAM. The first couple chapters talk about losing everything and putting your life into God's hands. That's exactly how I felt the first week; absorbed in culture shock and homesickness I felt like I had lost everything. (I know it sounds a bit extreme, but that's honestly how it felt.) And the challenge in this verse and in the book were both to not trust in your own abilities but to give that trust to God and to fully rely on him. So this week I have been challenged by that thought and I think God is still working that into me. =) Love & Miss you all

Kayla

p.s. here's a couple pictures taken by my roommate Alison of the Gorgonas beach.

Weekly Schedule

For those of you who are wondering what I will be doing with 12 weeks of my time at the YWAM Panama base, here is a typical schedule Monday-Friday:

7AM Breakfast
7:30AM Personal Devotions
8:30AM Worship or Intercession
9:45AM Class
1:00PM Lunch
2:00PM Class or Small Group Time
3:30PM Work Duties ( Alison and I are assigned to making dinner)
6:00PM Dinner
10:00 Lights Out


So that's my weekly schedule give or take a couple things. Lots of spare time in the evenings which we'll have to find something to fill it with. Weekends we basically have all day off except for church on Sundays.


Today we were assigned small groups. I was put in Christina's group, so its me and 4 other Americans, and Christina who is also American. We talked about expectations and fun things we could do to bond. I'm pretty excited because we are planning on baking, watching movies, hanging out at her house (which isn't on the base), hiking, shopping and just spending time with other girls.


As for work duties dinner prep was one of the duties I requested. Me and my bunk neighbour Alison will be preping dinner Monday to Friday. Alex one of the staff members here will teach us all the recipes, some Panamanian and some not.


Anyways I think that's all for now. Love & Miss you all.


Kayla

First Week of Classes.

Yesterday we attending the bilingual church that the staff go to. It was quite interesting, they sang a lot of similar songs but in a more upbeat style. The pastor spoke in english and they invited all the dts students to come up and be prayed for. They also encouraged the members to take one of our name tags and pray for us these next 5 months. At the end of the service we went outside by the canal and prayed and sang how great is our God. After church most of the other students decided to go into the city and shop, I wanted to go but I was feeling a little sick from the car ride, and exhausted from the heat. So I went back to the dorm and napped most of the day. I seem to have caught a cold which is a rather odd thought in a hot country but I'm all stuffed up and my nose is runny. I don't think I have a fever but I am feeling a bit warm. This morning we had worship and after the staff shared their testimonies. It was interesting hearing each testimony and how God has lead them here. We just finished lunch and then were going to have an intercession class and after that work projects. Me and my bunk neighbour Alison got assigned to dinner prep, which should be fairly easy. Everyday we will prep dinner from 3:30-6. I'm feeling a little better, but still not to hungry. Love & Miss you all.

Kayla

orientation

So yesterday we had worship which was interesting since most songs were in spanish. Then we had a small orientation with the dts students going over rules, and what the schedule will look like. Were expected to do a book report each month were at the base so 3 books they have chosen; 2 by the founder of YWAM.We are also expected to read all of the new testament while we are here and memorize a verse of scripture each week which they have already chosen. Then we took a small tour of San Vicente which is a town near by with laundry mats, grocery stores, restaurants. Today we went for a beach day! It was pretty hot and it was a 2 hour ride to the beach because there was construction going on. We swam in the pacific ocean, which reminded me of home, but a lot nicer and a lot warmer! and there was also a pool. On the way home we stopped for pizza which was nice and the leader who was driving us told us all the cool things we could do on the weekends if we wanted to. Lots of hiking, visiting the waterfalls, zip lining, shopping, going to the zoo, visiting the canal, museums, beaches, pools, water parks. all within an hour from the base, and all reasonably cheap. I'm looking forward to all those things, but I still miss home.

Greetings from Panama!

Finally I have arrived in Panama, the last 2 flights weren't so bad, I got lots of rest in uncomfortable seats and on airport floors. Luckily I was able to find all my gates in time, it wasn't too hard although the Houston airport is quite big, and very beautiful I might add. The flight to panama wasn't long just 3.5 hours. I was sleeping most of the time so I didn't get my immigration and declaration forms! Luckily I was able to somewhat communicate with customs and immigration and it was pretty easy. As the plane arrived in panama I got a very scenic view of the coastline filled with tall skyscrapers, reminded me of home. John and his wife and kids met me at the airport then we drove 40 minutes to the base. The base is quite small only a few buildings and I think I am defiantly in culture shock, its gonna be hard to get used to. I'm living in a room with 6 other girls from my program and 10 others who are here for outreach from another base. School starts tomorrow with breakfast at 7am!! (4am our time.) and worship at 8:30. Please continue to pray that I get used to it here because I am feeling a little homesick.

miss you all.

Kayla

Finally departing...

I am currently sitting in YVR waiting for my plane to board. I think it finally hit me, I'm going to be gone for 5 1/2 months! This is crazy, I'm feeling nervous & excited! Just thought I would let you know a few things I'm gonna miss...

-friends and family obvs.
-my own bed/ room
-ly Thai
-working... It's a weird thought.
-vancouvers beautiful view and downtown

I'm sure there will be more. Anyways hopefully I'll update you in either San Fran or Houston.

Kayla