Panama = the best.

We took a team of high school students to Panama this summer, and that was an amazing adventure. I went as a student seven years ago, (feels like yesterday). That was the best mission trip I’d been on, until I went again. Stuart was a leader when I went with our youth group. I’d like say that’s where we bonded, and I fell in love…he doesn’t seem to remember it quite like that. Here's our young little team when I was in high school:

This trip, although 7 years later, was actually very similar to the one before. Same ministry (YWAM). Same camp to call home. Same indigenous Panamanian village to visit. Same torrential downpours to enjoy. Same broken Spanish skills to confuse people with. Our team leader was even the brother of our leader from last time! One of my many highlights was the fact that my dad (good ol’ Shel) was there with his church youth group two weeks prior to our trip. Of course that meant that everyone knew who he was, and would nearly fall over laughing whenever I brought up the fact that he was my DAD. He leaves his own mark wherever he goes, and he is not ashamed. They all loved Shel and were never short of stories from him being there. It was great fun and made me proud that he made such an impact!

At first I thought it was a little weird to me that the village we went to for three days, was the same village my dad went to with his team, which was the same village we went to seven years ago! Don’t you think all those villagers might be Christians by now? Shouldn’t we move on to other places in Panama? I honestly thought something was a little fishy about that. Thankfully, we were privileged to meet a man named Tulio, (who is also a blogger, for those Spanish-speaking folk…for the rest of you, just look at the pictures on his blog and you can tell how awesome he is). Tulio is a native Panamanian who has a deep passion for his people. He gave us an in-depth lecture about the history of his people and the movements of Christianity through the land. The main problem was that people would come in and push Jesus into their lives, telling them to change everything about their culture. Their music, their dress, their traditions…this all needed to be modified in order to become Christians. Now, why would someone want to worship a God that doesn’t accept who they are? This made me realize the reason YWAM continues to go back to the same villages. It’s all about building trust and relationships. Demonstrating the love of God rather than forcing it upon them. It all made sense. I was grateful for the opportunity to learn all about the natives of Panama and have such a deep respect for them now.

I could go on and on about highlights from the trip, which would take days. Instead, I’ll just try to sum it up for you (and you can watch the video). Our team was awesome. Awesome. Truth be told, we were a little nervous about taking this level three team. We felt like they weren’t as prepared as teams in the past, but once they got focused, they did amazing things. We had several opportunities to go out on the streets of Panama City and perform dramas, tell testimonies, and talk to people about Christ. Mid-week, we packed up our stuff and took the 4-hour canoe ride down the river to the village I've been talking about. There we swam/bathed in the river, played with the kids, talked to the adults, and got poured on every day.  Stu and I got to help teach some youth in the village how to play guitar! (They know about as much as I do now...very very beginner.)  We had lots of down time all week, due mostly to the rain. Here is our team this year, just ignore that whole right side of the group...

Our schedule was pretty relaxed which was great because it enabled us to have extensive devotional time every morning. Andy did a great job leading us through the book of Hebrews. Every single person gained from his encouragement and challenges. During those Bible studies we not only gained from God’s word, but from each other as well. It was a time that people really were able to open up about some pretty heavy issues in their lives. This brought us much closer as a team and as a family. I praise God that we had those moments. He changed lives, He healed lives, He restored lives, and He continues to work in our lives since. God did awesome things and totally refreshed me from the inside out. It was awesome. For more details about what we did exactly, look at Andy's blog…and check this out to see for yourself how awesome the village was:

A Panamanian Village from Stuart Atkins on Vimeo.