Our time in Panama was quiet short: we only stayed 15 days in the country and we had 2 ministry point !
Our first contact was in Gamboa, a small village next to THE famous panama canal ! Before we arrived in Panama, we were hoping to see the impressive man-made canal that joins the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. And God blessed us abundantly by having the canal next door to the church were we stayed ! Usually we would eat our meals outside and we would see those massive cargo-sheep passing without any noise on the back of the yard... It is very impressive ! Until 2000, the area around the canal was american, but since then it is Panamanian and it brought a lot of money to the country because of all the sheep crossing every year. Sometimes, they can be over 35 sheep a day, I let you imagine the amount of the tall fee to cross the 90 km long canal ! Our host were Pastor Bill and his wife Ann. There are both american but they live in Panama since over 40 years. They were only supposed to stay 2 years but God gave them a heart for Panama and they stayed 'til now... Pastor Bill is involved in Prison ministry since also over 40 years, he does weekly visits, pray with the prisoners, listen to their story, encourage them, etc... We had the opportunity and privilege to go with him for one of those Prison- ministry. We organized a drama, some songs, one testimony and a personal prayer time. It was very powerful, we could feel God being with us ! After we went out of the prisoners quarters, the director of the prison gave us an incredible opportunity : We were able to enter the high security department were a political prisoner was kept. And this prisoners was the old military dictator that ruled the country from 1983 to 1989 ! People told us a lot of negative stuff about him, but that was all before Jesus came into his life: We had an amazing time with him, we prayed for him, sang for him, shared a testimony, it was unreal.
The second ministry point started quiet randomly... Pastor made for us a all program for the week we had to spend with him, but at the middle of the week, the YWAM people phoned him and ask if we could help them to move out from 3 houses and bring everything into a hotel's floor ! It was an incredible door that God opened for them: Instead of paying rent for 3 houses in different places in the city, they now had the opportunity of having everything on the same place, for more or less the same amount to pay every months ! A chance that David, the director of YWAM grabbed directly, but then they just had one problem: they had to move out 3 houses in 3 days with only 8 people ! Luckily, God always orchestrate everything perfectly and our 15 people came to help moving stuff around ! It was a very good experience, and I feel so blessed to be part of this new things that God is doing in Panama !
Next stop, Colombia !