A week and a half to go...

These last few weeks in Panama have been very busy. It's been a time of seeing old friends again, meeting new friends, sharing what God has been teaching me this last year, sharing where God is leading me for the present future, eating food that I have missed for the last 4 years, going to the beach, enjoying the torrential downpours of rainy season, and seeing what God is doing in Panama in Crossroads Bible Church and among my friends. It's an exciting ride!
July 22nd, Crossroads Bible Church sent out another of their own - Andres & Diana Galvez. A few years ago, Andres went on a medical missions trip to the Jahango people in Guinea, Africa. The Lord worked in their lives and put a desire in them to go back to work full-time with the Jahango to bring them the Gospel. They left a week ago and are learning French for these first 6 months after which they'll move into a Jahango village to learn the Jahango language. Please pray for them in this transition as they learn the Guinean culture & French and then the Jahango language & culture.Their last Sunday, we had a Despedida to "send them off" to Guinea. Here they are surrounded by their extended family.
I have also had the privilege of sharing with the young adults group at the church in Chame, where I grew up.
Enjoying the aguacero - torrential downpour with friends. We had just returned from the beach, so we took advantage of the rain to take our showers.I am enjoying once again all the fresh, tropical fruit and the fresh seafood that abound in Panama. Passion fruit juice, fresh sea bass right out of sea, plaintain chips, and fried yucca! Mmm...
Here I am preparing a little to speak to the youth in Chame. Perfect place to think. :)

Cristo-pagan worldview

data from the Joshua Project
The people of Las Moras are a small group of approximately 1,300 people, who live in a remote area in the Western Sierra Madre mountains. They grow crops and raise livestock. Corn, squash and amaranth form the basis of their diet, though they also hunt game and gather wild fruits.Although they have incorporated various elements of Catholicism into their religion, they’ve retained their pre-Columbian worship practices with regard to the sun and moon, Venus, the eagle, and the deer. More than 10 years ago, a process of pre-evangelism through community service was initiated. A Bible translation project has also been started in this language.
The pre-evangelism work done by co-workers has opened the door wide open for us to be able to move into the village and live with the people. Please pray for us as we

• build houses (September - ?)
  
• move into the village of Las Moras (after 2 houses are finished)
  
• learn the language & culture of the people (next few years)
  

so that we can teach the the truth of the Bible and confront the erroneous beliefs that have been passed down for thousands of years. These people are a lost people. Dying without ever hearing the Gospel. Pray that they will soon have a chance.

Arrived

Praise the Lord I'm in Panama! Thank you for praying. For Saturday's flight, there were 27 seats available, but I was number 33 on the standby list, so I figured I wouldn’t get to go on that flight, and was hoping that Lord-willing I would be able to go the following flight. For the second flight, there were 13 seats available and I would be #6 in line after the 27 people in front of me had left on the first flight.
Well, the agents gave the 27 people seats, and then the monitor said they had “dispatched” the plane. They were packing things up & stuff, not calling more standby’s on, so I figured that flight was done. All of a sudden, one of the agents grabs the mic & calls “So –and-so and Chapman” I went up to the counter with my carry-on & they said, “the flight attendants say there are 2 more seats, get on down there.” I asked what seat, and they said “Just pick one of the empty ones!” So, I “got on down there” and sat between two flight attendants who were heading to Atlanta to work later that day.
It was God, because there were 6 people ahead of me on the standby list! I don’t know why they called me. 3 of the others were traveling together, but I don’t think the others were.
Anyway, thanks for praying. I arrived safely and was met at the airport by a friend.
I've enjoyed seeing old friends, remembering old favorites, and seeing new things - there are some things that are the same as they have been for oh-so-many years and others things have completely changed in the last 4 years. It's good to be back.

fly Saturday?

Well, I was hoping to be on a plane right now, flying to Atlanta, and then to Panama. However, I'm flying on a space available basis. When I made the reservations, today looked good. But now, there are no empty seats leaving Dallas today or tomorrow. So, the next chance is Saturday. The chances are SLIM that day, though, so would you pray with me that God would open up the way for me to fly on Saturday?
Thanks.

I'm leaving on a jet plane!

Well, not quite this caliber, although this jet plane would be much more fun!

Thursday I will be heading to Panama on an airliner! I would appreciate it if you would pray for safety and that I would be a blessing to those around me.
Thanks.

Meditations

As I was driving down here to Texas, I had plenty of time to think - well, 13 hours to be exact! I reflected on this past year, praising the Lord for what He has done. As I said goodbye to friends in Missouri, several people shared with me how the Lord had used me in their lives. As I was thinking, a song came on my mp3 player that puts words to what I am feeling:

Grace Alone - by Scott Wesley Brown & Jeff Nelson
Every promise we can make
Every prayer and step of faith
Every difference we can make
Is only by His grace.

Every mountain we will climb
Every ray of hope we shine
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace

Every soul we long to reach
Every heart we hope to teach
Everywhere we share His peace
Is only by His grace.

Every loving word we say
Every tear we wipe away
Every sorrow turned to praise
Is only by His grace.

Grace alone which God supplies
Strength unknown He will provide
Christ in us, our Cornerstone
We will go forth in grace alone.

It is only by God's grace that I am anything. And, it is only by His grace & Him working in me that I can be of any good to others. I know people look up to me or admire me because I'm a missionary, but I know what is in myself - my weaknesses, my timidity, my selfishness. I'm nothing special, I just have a super powerful and gracious God that can take this worthlessness and make it of use to others.

As I was driving through OK City, I switched to the local Christian radio, and a song came on that I had not heard in a long time, but it mirrors the sentiments of the song above and echoes what I've been meditating on in Philippians 3:8 "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him."

In Christ Alone - sung by Brian Littrell (I don't know who wrote it)
In Christ alone I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory Let it be said of me
My source of strength My source of hope
Is Christ alone

In Christ alone do I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
For only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
And now I seek no greater honor than just to know Him more
And to count my gains but losses to the glory of my Lord

A Video Ministry Update

Woohoo! I'm catching up to technology. Here's my first ministry video. Hope it gives you a better perspective about what's ahead. Enjoy!

A little language lesson

Nahuat is the language spoken by the people of Las Moras.
Did you know that you can speak some Nahuatl (NAH-waht)?
Let's see...

What is this?

Yep, chocolate! The Nahuatl word is xocolātl. (The "x" is pronounced "sh.")

Give up yet? The Nahuatl word is tomatl.

This fella is called coyōtl.

In Nahuatl, this is a āhuacatl.

This one may be a hard one if you don't know your types of cats. In Nahuatl it's called an ocēlōtl.

These are just 5 words that we've borrowed from Nahuatl. Here are some more... cacao, cocoa, chayote, chili, guacamole, mesquite, quetzal, shack, tamale... and Spanish, especially Mexican Spanish has many more.

A Visual

This is a video my partners, Tom & Teresa Elkins made for their church. It has some photos from several trips that Tom & Ron made into the village doing community development projects for the people. Hopefully it gives you a visual of what it will be like... :)
Unfortunately, one thing that has changed since these trips were made is that flying into the village is no longer an option for us. For several reasons, that is no longer feasible. We will be driving in and out each time we travel unless God works several miracles.

The people of Las Moras

The people of Las Moras are one group in 30 that form the Nahuatl language group in Mexico. They are the descendents of the ancient Aztecs that used to rule central Mexico.
They are friendly, hardworking people and have been very receptive to our visits and desire us to live among them.
The people in and around Las Moras number around 1000 people and live in villages scattered in the mountains.
This is part of the village where we will be living.
It is right on the edge of a cliff! Makes for gorgeous views!
This is the road that we will be using to travel into & out of the tribe. It's a long, bumpy drive!
Here's some more pictures of the people:

Introducing... My Team

God has opened the doors for me to work with the people of Las Moras in Mexico. There is no Gospel witness there - no believers - no Bible - no truth. Lord willing, we will be able to present God's truth to these people in a few years when we know their language & culture.
So, let me introduce you to those with whom I will be working:

My Team - My Co-workers - My Partners

Dan & Sarah Alkire - Josiah - Dan & Sarah are both children of missionaries. Actually, Sarah's family was in Panama with us & the two of us were in a dorm together at the boarding school! I've known them for a long time & it is cool that now God has brought us together to serve Him on the same team.
Ron & Tasha Davis - Ben, Emma, Josh, Nathaniel - I met Ron & Tasha when they went to Mexico in September 06. I was the newest on the field, but acted as their "host" kinda. How ironic! They were the only missionary family within walking distance of my house. I hope they enjoyed my spontaneous visits! :) They had been serving in another country, but moved to Mexico when it was no longer possible for them to be where they were.
Katie Moore will be homeschooling the Alkire & Davis children. This will free up Sarah & Tasha to have more time to dedicate to learning the language & culture of the Las Moras people.
Tom & Teresa Elkins began to have a ministry in the Las Moras area about 10 years ago. Despite many setbacks, they are continuing to do community development projects and will be supporting us as we live in the village.

This summer, the whole team is taking a "summer furlough" visiting churches and family before the move into the tribe. Lord-willing, we'll all be back in Mexico in August and then get ready to build houses in the tribe & move in.

More details to follow... :)

Memorial Day a la Mexicana

Arriving late, like a good Latin, although, perhaps this time it was a little too late, but I had to come from an hour & a half away and I didn't find out about the party until after I was supposed to be there! :)
Friends from Chile & Nicaragua
Sebastian playing a little for the kids.
Gerardo, the pastor of the Latin church, hosted the get-together.
Mmmm.... Grilled chicken, beef, sausage... watermelon, warm homemade tortillas, beans, rice. What more could you want?
A feast shared with friends. A great way to spend a holiday.

I'm a Survivor!!

11 kids - 4 hours a day - 5 days a week - whew!

This is the reason for all the work everyday. My job made it possible for these people to be trained for cross-cultural ministry. Some of them are now heading out to different countries around the world to expand the reach of the Gospel. Others have another semester before they head out. Please pray for them as they embark on this new stage of life's journey, that they would be faithful.

Another camping trip

We try to do fun things periodically with the Latin youth group. Last semester we camped outside for a night, in the yard of one of the Latin families who lives out of town. We had the fun things about camping but with some modern ammenities - bathroom & kitchen to help prepare food. It was such a hit that we decided to replicate it this semester, but go a little more primitive.
One of the families from the American church I attend has some property out in the country and offered to let us use it to camp. So, we took them up on it. Praise the LORD for the gorgeous weather we had both Friday & Saturday.
There were a few non-normal camping apparatus that we enjoyed.
Despite the means of cooking with gas in the background, we chose to make our dinners over the fire.
Going with the model "Don't fix what ain't broke" and since TFD's (tin foil dinners, aka hobo dinners) worked so well the first camping trip, we had them again.
After a walk and a few games, we had a time of getting real at the campfire. It was a time of honestly sharing before the Lord and others some of our struggles. It was good to hear the kids open up & to see how they're doing & with what they are struggling.
I also had the opportunity to share some of the things I've learned over this past year, especially about who God is and how knowing Him and His character affects my behaviour and what my response to Him should be. I especially appreciated the opportunity to share because I only have a short time left with the youth before I'm planning to head back to Mexico.
This was the girls tent. Although, 2 of us slept outside. I slept out in the open under the stars, and another girl slept in her hammock. Right before we loaded up the cars to head back to "civilization," we took a group picture. Although we did not realize that just a second before, two of the girls had run off to see something. We took the picture, loaded up the cars with the two of them who had returned and blended into the group. We didn't realize that we were missing the girls in the picture until we were looking at the pictures later on the computer.
But anyway, here we are...all but two. :)

10K race

I had the opportunity to run a 10K race this weekend with 7 other friends from NTM. 2 others ran the 5K race at the same time. It was fun to do it as a group - seeing your friends at different stages of the race as you pass each other on the parts that you backtrack. And, we had a cheering section, too! That was fun.The first 3 miles, Danielle & I ran together. It was fun to have someone with whom to run - to comment about what we were seeing and to pace each other.
Here's 8 of us at the end of the race. 2 others had already left.