Hi hey hello,
This week’s Friday Favorites is going to be a bit different. Since I just got back from Panamá, I wanted to talk all about that, until I realized that today is Friday and therefore Friday Favorites! are supposed to go up today. So, I decided to have the two come together in a work of something that I probably wouldn’t call art and give you this week’s Friday Favorites! The theme for this week is: Panamá.
Monday: We left Tallahassee that morning, had a VERY long layover in Miami and got to Panamá around 11 o’clock their time.
Tuesday: We got up and had our first day of VBS. I presented the story in Spanish and we learned a memory verse. We were in a Kuna school and it was such an amazing experience. Seeing the kids’ excitement and enthusiasm to learn the memory verse was so encouraging.
Wednesday: We went by boat to an Embera tribe on the Chagres River. Seriously, prettiest thing ever! We got to tell Bible stories and teach the kids songs. We did crafts and played games. We got to play soccer with some of the older kids. A number of the guys and girls got temporary tattoos done by the indigenous people.
Thursday: We went to a Wuonaan tribe, where we also had to travel by boat. This was one of my favorite days because I got to talk to a woman named Carmen and she was truly an amazing woman. We did the VBS thing again. It’s funny, we did this almost everyday, but yet, we never got tired of doing it.
Friday: We went to another Kuna village. This time we went door to door, telling the parents about what we were doing in the church. We held another VBS in the afternoon for the kids. That day a good friend of mine lead a woman to know Jesus. That was a simply amazing day.
Saturday: This day and Sunday are tied for the best day. On Saturday we took the kids to a soccer tournament. Without us being there they would have been unable to go to this tournament, so it was a big deal for them. We got to play with the kids and invest in them. We cheered them on and played with them. The highlight for me was when a few of us took a bunch of kids up to the top of a very tall hill and chased them and hugged them. We played up there until we were called back down for popsicles. Later that day I got to really talk to a kid in Spanish, that was a huge milestone for me.
Sunday: We got to lead a service at the local Kuna church. We got to see the kids who had gone to the school on the first day again. It was so cool to see them again, when we got there it wasn’t a greeting like “Hey, look! Americans!” It was a greeting of friendship. They knew our names and came running up giving hugs and welcoming us to their church. We lead worship, one of our instructors gave a sermon, there was a skit, and someone shared the bridge. We left and went to lunch and then came back and played soccer with the kids. My friend and I got to play a group of girls who really wanted to play a team of American girls. They beat us, but it was fun!
Monday: We were supposed to go home, but in God’s plan, that didn’t happen. We got up early and went to the airport, got our tickets, and boarded the plane. We sat for an hour and were then told that the plane had a broken part and it would take most of the day to get it fixed. We got off, sat in a line for 8 hours, got tickets again, got back on the same plane, sat for 5 minutes and were told that the pilot could not fly because he had to go to sleep because of laws. We once again got off the plane and went back into the airport. We ended up sleeping in the airport, the coldest airport in the history of airports. Sorry no pictures of that day because it was sort of a travel day.
Tuesday: We were woken VERY early by security telling us we had to get out of where we were. We all quickly gathered out things and left that part of the airport. We were in a part of the airport that is closed to the public, we had permission to be there, but that information was not relayed after the security shift change. We sat around for a little while, then boarded the plane and headed for Miami. Upon arrival in Miami, we found out that there were not enough seats on the direct flight from Miami to Tallahassee, 7 of us were on a flight that went to Tampa, and then Tallahassee. I was one of the 7. We flew to Miami, had a 3 hour delay there, and after much time, got home, safe and sound. I mentioned yesterday, the sunset. That was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
I hope you all had a wonderful week and I hope you enjoyed Taylor’s Friday Favorites!
-LC
elizabethcori 