Mission to the Americas

Serving Ministries and Missions in Latin America

Upcoming Teaching Schedule

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RoadT3rip_v7 During our upcoming trip to the States, here is what we have scheduled:

  • Friends from Seacoast Church, Charleston June 21-22
  • Rockville Presbyterian Church, Charleston SC, June 22
  • Iglesia Evangelica El Buen Pastor of the Park Circle Presbyterian Church in North Charleston, June 22
  • Vacation Bible School, Capilla Cristo Redentor, Fayetteville NC, June 23-June 29
  • PRMI Family Camp, Black Mountain NC, June 30 thru July 4
  • Christ Presbyterian Church, Richmond VA July 6
  • Westminster Presbyterian Church, Richmond VA, July 13

Be in prayer for us as we travel to all these different places.  Right away upon our return, Brenda will teach at a children’s conference, and I will be teaching at Missions Extreme with Operation Mobilization Panama.

Training 300 Children’s Workers

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Children's Leadership camp 022

This past weekend, Brenda conducted workshops for the 9th Annual Leadership Congress for Children’s workers in Panama.  We were in the mountains of Penonome Panama, at the Foursquare Leadership camp.

What a privilege to have been invited and to have the liberty to train teachers.

The most common reaction was "wow, this is really cheap to make."  Making crafts out of toilet paper rolls, Styrofoam trays, string, paint, crayons.  Stuff that kids can do with items are that are already common in homes and in churches.

panama may 052

For example, see the flock of people that can be made with toilet paper tubes and some paper towels, rubber bands and cotton balls.

My favorite is Paul in Prison.  Made with a Styrofoam tray, string, construction paper, and half a toilet paper tube.  It can be adapted for any bible character that was in prison, or spiritualized to talk about the prisons we find ourselves in.

Brenda taught the workshop on making crafts out of really cheap items.  She’ll be putting the worksheets with instructions at her new website, www.mismanualidades.org.  They will be in Spanish, and the site will be open for contributions.

The plenary speaker was a pastor from Columbia, who spent each plenary session teaching thru the life of Elijah and out of proverbs.  It was some very encouraging teaching about preparing ourselves for ministry.

Thank you for your partnership in our ministry.  We are grateful that you help us attend events like this to continue to shape the church in Panama.  Honorariums from events like this do not cover all of the costs, which are then covered by our own supporters.

New Conference

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leaders camp 097 At the end of May, our family heads back out to the Foursquare Camp in the mountains of Penonome, Panama. 

Brenda has been invited to come out and teach her craft workshop at the FourSquare denominational children’s leaders camp. 

This camp will provide an opportunity for children church leaders to gain insight and new ideas about that can help them in their work with children’s ministries.   Leaders will have an opportunity to participate in workshops that will cover topics like:

  • Puppet Ministry
  • Songs for children
  • Easy and Inexpensive crafts to make for Biblical Lessons
  • Discipleship of children
  • Working with misbehaving children
  • Reaching out to high-risk children

Plus, they will get inspired by the speakers at the plenary sessions that will bring the messages for the theme of the conference:

"Formed, Sanctified and Commissioned to transform the children of Panama"

Continued Inflation News

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Inflation is a concern for us, as is it for a large majority of people living here.  Wage increases are not keeping up with price increases, utility increases, services increases.

Just this evening, what was a 1.25 taxi ride ran us 2.00 because of the new tarriffs that have gone into effect.  As mentioned previously, we’ve seen banana prices jump from .15 to .30 a lb.

When one gets used to living by nickels and dimes and making every penny count, such increases are astronomical.  It is an issue in the mind of many here, even as there is a growing middle class. 

The economy is growing strong at something like 9% year, but for the those living at the low end of the wage scale, price increases are a big deal.

 

From Prensa Latina. (Source)

Panama Food Costs Continue to Rise

Panama, Apr 29 (Prensa Latina) Panama’s basic foods increased 1.2 percent between February and March and 20.9 percent compared to the same month of 2007, the Ministry of Economy and Finance published on Tuesday.

According to the report, the average price of 50 basic food products calculated for an average diet per person daily of 2,305 calories – reached 246.79 dollars per month. This is the third rise in food prices reported this year.

All groups of food products registered an increase in prices this year, and the highest were fats, including vegetable oil and margarine for 46.9 percent, followed by dairy products (cheese and powered milk) up 38.7 percent.

Other products with significant increase in prices are potatoes, 21.6 percent and bread, with 19 percent

Electricity Prices (Source)

From LA Presna Latina

The country’s three electricity providers have announced that they will be increasing rates again this year.

Elektra Noreste, Edemet and Edechi yesterday published proposed adjustments to rates that will go into effect July 1. Those rates have a 2 cent per kilowatt hour increase. Industry officials said the increase is necessary because of rising fuel costs.

The latest increase comes on top of a 4 cent per kilowatt hour increase that Elektra Noreste and Edemet enacted on January 1.

The government is expected to absorb most of the price increase. In January, it decided to subsidize the increase for 90 percent of the affected customers.

The customers bearing the brunt of the price hike will be those consuming more than 500 kilowatt hours per month. These customers do not receive subsidies from the government.

Public Bus Transportation in Panama

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Diablo Rojo

 

When we moved here to Panama, we sold both our cars and chose to use the public transportation system.

Taxis and buses are our primary means of getting around. 

Having experienced it for several months, would you join us in praying for provision of a car?

Yesterday for example, what would have been a 15 minute car ride, took 80 minutes in a bus.  Other times, we have chosen to forgo an errand or even skip a meeting simply because the moving around the city is near impossible at certain hours.

Tomorrow is payday for a majority of people.  Starting around 3pm, the streets, cars, and buses will be jam packed and gridlock will exist until nearly 7pm.  The challenge for us is that we are to conduct an evangelism workshop across town and need a bus to get there.

During rush hours, taxis refuse passengers if they don’t want to go there.  We have been left stranded a few times, and occasionally shown up 90 minutes late because of transportation issues.

Here is a story from La Presna about the problems with buses, focusing on overcrowding and limited supply.  It doesn’t address the fatal bus fires or fatal accidents from drag racing at night that have happened recently.

Tourists might think its cool to pay $0.25 for a bus ride experience, but for those of us who live here and need to use them, they can be a dismotivating obstacle to doing life.

It is one of the largest issues that has dominated the news here in the last few months, and most of today’s morning news was about transportation.

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