We have been back in Panama since the
17th of Oct,..... so we just made it past the whole month mark.
The same group(with a few ad-ons, (minus Lawson) that got caught at
the River flooding in the last letter decided the next Monday that
they would go to the Beach for the day. Beautiful day. At about
the time that the rain would have normally started.... it did not....
so they stayed a few extra hours to enjoy the surf and sun and
started home around 4pm so as to get home well before dark.
20 miles toward home they broke down. The Car just "died". Everybody got involved. Poking and prodding and banging did no good. Jiggling wires did nothing either. Phone calls went out. Those that had cars were on bible studies and unavailable, and the rest of us did not have functioning cars at that moment. So deciding that they would have to just “wait it out” they pulled out the folding chairs and settled on the side of the road to wait for rescue. So everyone sat around and ate the last of the snacks and watched the shooting stars and enjoyed the starry night without a cloud to obstruct their view. Aside from being stuck on the side of the road it was an enjoyable time, sitting and chatting.
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| Jolene helped take care of the house while we were away. |
20 miles toward home they broke down. The Car just "died". Everybody got involved. Poking and prodding and banging did no good. Jiggling wires did nothing either. Phone calls went out. Those that had cars were on bible studies and unavailable, and the rest of us did not have functioning cars at that moment. So deciding that they would have to just “wait it out” they pulled out the folding chairs and settled on the side of the road to wait for rescue. So everyone sat around and ate the last of the snacks and watched the shooting stars and enjoyed the starry night without a cloud to obstruct their view. Aside from being stuck on the side of the road it was an enjoyable time, sitting and chatting.
Finally around 11pm Arney Axler was
able to rescue them and get them home around 1am.
The next day the mechanic was able to get the car. It turned out to be a wire to the starter relay. Not something you expect nor look for necessarily.
All is well.
I also got my oven "repaired". In the states this would NEVER happen, but here in Panama I suspect it is more common.
I bought my gas, 4-burner/ oven new from the Do-It Center. A four burner stove is quite narrow and its a good thing I did not bring all my larger cookware from the States, the oven is so small that it will not bake a "large" pizza.............in fact it was not baking ANYTHING AT ALL !!@%%
Go figure? I just gave it up and decided that anything I wished to bake would take twice as long as the recipe called for. The 10 minute cookie Rescipe took 20 minutes the night I decided to crave cookies..... so obviously I have not been baking very much, which is a real shame.
Then one night Justin came over for dinner and just in passing I mentioned the oven. He is the "fix it" guy. So he decided to see what might be the problem and within minutes my oven was in several pieces on the floor and he was looking things over........
He found the problem alright!!!!!!
This was NO BOTTOM TO THE OVEN. It had the normal “floor”, or you might call it a shield that sits over the open flames for the long burner that heats the oven. But UNDER the burner where there should be a FLOOR to send the heat up and hold the heat in the oven there was nothing. It went straight through to the concrete floor. That's right, nothing, nada..... Didn't know ovens came with NO Bottoms, never thought to look to tell the truth. But on either side of the missing floor there was some very heavy duty foil strips hanging out that had glue on them.
Justin figured out that if we took about 6 layers of Aluminum foil and folded it back and forth across the bottom that they would "stick" to the foil strips and create a bottom.
Voila !!! I can bake !! Mystery solved.
We have fit a 2 day Circuit Assembly into this 4 weeks also. Attendance was 179. Lots of Bible studies came.
Does anyone remember the bible study I told about some few letters back, we told her that Jesus had brothers and sisters? She was shocked and stopped us and said? Really? I didn't know that". That really was not the subject of the current study but having made the statement we needed to show her in the bible,, so we did. (Matt 12:46)
She very carefully read the scripture several times and then looked up. You could "see" her thinking about this very carefully and thoroughly and then she said,...."Was Mary a virgin when she had Jesus?",
"Yes" we assured her. But after she had Jesus she had other children by her husband Joseph. It would be only proper that she would do so, after all he was her “husband".
(still thinking hard). "so if Mary didn't stay a Virgin then....................................it would not be right to worship the "Virgin Mary" would it?
(I nearly fell off my chair !!) "That's right."
(thinking some more.....)............................ "and if we don't worship Mary....................... then......................... we shouldn't worship the rest of the Saints either, should we??"
Well, I nearly choked !!!
Anyway, SHE made it to the Assembly !!!! I saw her and gave her the biggest hug at the 2 day assembly !!!!!!!
How exciting to see these ones make progress !!!
And some of you may remember Rudy, a study we had in David and we handed over to the Missionary Couple. Rudy is the one that spoke very good English (from Almirante- the other side of Panama- Jamaican background) and his Panamanian wife who spoke NO English at all, but she would join in on the studies and Rudy would translate for her. After only 3 studies they came to the Memorial Last year, the English one, even though she did not know a word of English. Hilda (the wife) sat in for about 5 studies and the next week Rudy told us that his Wife had started reading the Bible again every night before bed. (she had stopped for a number of years).....and she now had some questions.
We invited her ( through him) to ask her questions and we would do our best to answer them............
SHE PULLED OUT A NOTEBOOK AND STARTED TURNING PAGE AFTER PAGE !!!!!
It was only about 3 studies after that that we found out that Rudy was very sick and receiving chemo for stomach cancer. We turned the study over because we were moving and Rudy and Hilda had another couple of good studies and then seemed to drop off the earth. Rudy went to see family and the study just didn't happen.
We heard at the Assembly that Rudy has died. Very sad.
We have set the wheels in motion to locate Hilda and have her study resumed. So keep her in your prayers. Jehovah knows where she is and is reading her heart.
This next piece is about Jim and his recent Circuit Assembly Part. He received an email while we were in the states requesting if he could handle the experiences part on the Circuit Assembly. He called the CO to inform him that we would not be home until about 20 days before the assembly. The CO said just email the congregations and get some volunteers that way..... So from the states Jim lined up 2 volunteers, but couldn't talk to them until he got home because they did not have email.
They lived on the other side of Panama in Changinoila, they are both up in age and not able to travel far, and both had Jamaican accents and it was the first time for both of them on a Circuit Assembly. So they were both extremely nervous. AND trying to get an answer to a question like ..."Do you feel that Jehovah blessed your efforts to Aux. Pioneer?.........was very hard..... The response was ,....."Yes". ( and that was all)
At which point Jim decided he might be in trouble here. So Josh Randall from their congregation who had studied with both of them volunteered to help Jim out. He said he would "work" with them and get them "polished up" for the Assembly. And since he knew them and they were comfortable with him it surely went better.
The next day the mechanic was able to get the car. It turned out to be a wire to the starter relay. Not something you expect nor look for necessarily.
All is well.
I also got my oven "repaired". In the states this would NEVER happen, but here in Panama I suspect it is more common.
I bought my gas, 4-burner/ oven new from the Do-It Center. A four burner stove is quite narrow and its a good thing I did not bring all my larger cookware from the States, the oven is so small that it will not bake a "large" pizza.............in fact it was not baking ANYTHING AT ALL !!@%%
Go figure? I just gave it up and decided that anything I wished to bake would take twice as long as the recipe called for. The 10 minute cookie Rescipe took 20 minutes the night I decided to crave cookies..... so obviously I have not been baking very much, which is a real shame.
Then one night Justin came over for dinner and just in passing I mentioned the oven. He is the "fix it" guy. So he decided to see what might be the problem and within minutes my oven was in several pieces on the floor and he was looking things over........
He found the problem alright!!!!!!
This was NO BOTTOM TO THE OVEN. It had the normal “floor”, or you might call it a shield that sits over the open flames for the long burner that heats the oven. But UNDER the burner where there should be a FLOOR to send the heat up and hold the heat in the oven there was nothing. It went straight through to the concrete floor. That's right, nothing, nada..... Didn't know ovens came with NO Bottoms, never thought to look to tell the truth. But on either side of the missing floor there was some very heavy duty foil strips hanging out that had glue on them.
Justin figured out that if we took about 6 layers of Aluminum foil and folded it back and forth across the bottom that they would "stick" to the foil strips and create a bottom.
Voila !!! I can bake !! Mystery solved.
We have fit a 2 day Circuit Assembly into this 4 weeks also. Attendance was 179. Lots of Bible studies came.
Does anyone remember the bible study I told about some few letters back, we told her that Jesus had brothers and sisters? She was shocked and stopped us and said? Really? I didn't know that". That really was not the subject of the current study but having made the statement we needed to show her in the bible,, so we did. (Matt 12:46)
She very carefully read the scripture several times and then looked up. You could "see" her thinking about this very carefully and thoroughly and then she said,...."Was Mary a virgin when she had Jesus?",
"Yes" we assured her. But after she had Jesus she had other children by her husband Joseph. It would be only proper that she would do so, after all he was her “husband".
(still thinking hard). "so if Mary didn't stay a Virgin then....................................it would not be right to worship the "Virgin Mary" would it?
(I nearly fell off my chair !!) "That's right."
(thinking some more.....)............................ "and if we don't worship Mary....................... then......................... we shouldn't worship the rest of the Saints either, should we??"
Well, I nearly choked !!!
Anyway, SHE made it to the Assembly !!!! I saw her and gave her the biggest hug at the 2 day assembly !!!!!!!
How exciting to see these ones make progress !!!
And some of you may remember Rudy, a study we had in David and we handed over to the Missionary Couple. Rudy is the one that spoke very good English (from Almirante- the other side of Panama- Jamaican background) and his Panamanian wife who spoke NO English at all, but she would join in on the studies and Rudy would translate for her. After only 3 studies they came to the Memorial Last year, the English one, even though she did not know a word of English. Hilda (the wife) sat in for about 5 studies and the next week Rudy told us that his Wife had started reading the Bible again every night before bed. (she had stopped for a number of years).....and she now had some questions.
We invited her ( through him) to ask her questions and we would do our best to answer them............
SHE PULLED OUT A NOTEBOOK AND STARTED TURNING PAGE AFTER PAGE !!!!!
It was only about 3 studies after that that we found out that Rudy was very sick and receiving chemo for stomach cancer. We turned the study over because we were moving and Rudy and Hilda had another couple of good studies and then seemed to drop off the earth. Rudy went to see family and the study just didn't happen.
We heard at the Assembly that Rudy has died. Very sad.
We have set the wheels in motion to locate Hilda and have her study resumed. So keep her in your prayers. Jehovah knows where she is and is reading her heart.
This next piece is about Jim and his recent Circuit Assembly Part. He received an email while we were in the states requesting if he could handle the experiences part on the Circuit Assembly. He called the CO to inform him that we would not be home until about 20 days before the assembly. The CO said just email the congregations and get some volunteers that way..... So from the states Jim lined up 2 volunteers, but couldn't talk to them until he got home because they did not have email.
They lived on the other side of Panama in Changinoila, they are both up in age and not able to travel far, and both had Jamaican accents and it was the first time for both of them on a Circuit Assembly. So they were both extremely nervous. AND trying to get an answer to a question like ..."Do you feel that Jehovah blessed your efforts to Aux. Pioneer?.........was very hard..... The response was ,....."Yes". ( and that was all)
At which point Jim decided he might be in trouble here. So Josh Randall from their congregation who had studied with both of them volunteered to help Jim out. He said he would "work" with them and get them "polished up" for the Assembly. And since he knew them and they were comfortable with him it surely went better.
Jim DID NOT MEET HIS 2
VOLUNTEERS UNTIL THE DAY OF THE ASSEMBLY !!!!!........ I'm not sure
WHO was more nervous?! Jim? or Them?
But everything went smoothly. Jim said this was the FIRST circuit assembly part that he didn't rehearse it in front of the CO. The volunteers rehearsed with Josh, not Jim. And until the day of the Assembly no one for this part saw the CO at all...........................................then Jim found out that this is more or less the norm.... It is often too far to travel for things like this and cars and transportation is often an issue.
It was a WONDERFUL assembly and SO nice to see all the friends we have met and come to love and dozens more that are here for visits, some long, some short.
And I must share the biggest news !!!! We have started 10 new congregations in the circuit ( that is A, B, and C part -all of Panama and Costa Rica) in the past calendar year !!!! That is of course with all the hard work of all the brothers/sisters in both countries. The CO/ DO said from the platform that he had NEVER seen this much growth before in all his years in the service !!!! We were SO THRILLED. How exciting to have just a teeny tiny little part in the growth here.
The new "group" in Puerto Armuelles (down at the Pacific coast / Costa Rican Border) is growing nice and steady. They now have 8 publishers (had only 4 before) and several more move in's. Waiting to see that grow into one of the next "new" congregations.
2 of the brothers that have been working down there are up here this week getting a little tourist-ing in and having a little fun. They are both from Keniwick WA.
But everything went smoothly. Jim said this was the FIRST circuit assembly part that he didn't rehearse it in front of the CO. The volunteers rehearsed with Josh, not Jim. And until the day of the Assembly no one for this part saw the CO at all...........................................then Jim found out that this is more or less the norm.... It is often too far to travel for things like this and cars and transportation is often an issue.
It was a WONDERFUL assembly and SO nice to see all the friends we have met and come to love and dozens more that are here for visits, some long, some short.
And I must share the biggest news !!!! We have started 10 new congregations in the circuit ( that is A, B, and C part -all of Panama and Costa Rica) in the past calendar year !!!! That is of course with all the hard work of all the brothers/sisters in both countries. The CO/ DO said from the platform that he had NEVER seen this much growth before in all his years in the service !!!! We were SO THRILLED. How exciting to have just a teeny tiny little part in the growth here.
The new "group" in Puerto Armuelles (down at the Pacific coast / Costa Rican Border) is growing nice and steady. They now have 8 publishers (had only 4 before) and several more move in's. Waiting to see that grow into one of the next "new" congregations.
2 of the brothers that have been working down there are up here this week getting a little tourist-ing in and having a little fun. They are both from Keniwick WA.
We have also fit into these few weeks
a few more repairs on the “Blue Bomb” (our car).
After much
prayer and thought we have decided to keep it. A '97 Nissan Sentra,
there are literally thousands of them across Panama, which is one of
the reasons for keeping it, availability of parts. We know of
several brothers here that have purchased cars only to find that the
“parts” do not exist. Or they are available only from some place
like Korea and cost something ridiculous. Purchasing cars can be a
difficult thing here and this is just one point to keep in mind.
The Nissan on the other hand is
proving to be quite cheap to buy parts for and also reasonable for
the Mechanic to work on. So far we have put about 600 into the car.
.......................as opposed to buying something newer for
around $5,000 to $7,000.
We have finally solved quite a number
of problems that the car was giving us and it is riding much better.
And no letter would be complete without telling you of our latest weather conditions.
Of course here in Panama we do not have winter in the usual sense... We have dry and wet. Or as someone told me, "dry", "wet" and "mud" seasons. But this week I have been taught a new word for a "season" that I am finding delightful.
It is called the "Bajareque" (pronounced Ba- haw- ray- kay ) An obviously Spanish word that took some doing to find in the dictionary... it means "Low Drizzle"
Now let me draw
you a mental picture. Today for example we were in service in
the "clouds" all day. Not a fog really, and not
really a cloud either, but a very fine fine mist was in the air kinda
like being under what is sometimes called a "swamp cooler"
in the states. It puts out a fine mist that doesn't really soak
you, just keeps you cool. The sun is brightly shining through
the mist and it is warm, but cool all at the same time. Every
now and then the drizzle will get a little heavy and you wish maybe
you had an umbrella, but then it lightens up again and the sun comes
back..... We spent the day in service in this. But the best
part was around every corner and past every hill we saw the most
GORGEOUS rainbows everywhere !!!!! I am attaching pictures.
I think I must add a new name to this "season" Dias del Arco Iris. Days of the Rainbows.
It is also the season for papayas, citrus, bananas (15 for a dollar), and watermelons.
We mapped out a territory today in the town of Caldera. It is hotter there and the Bajareque was a wonderful gift. At 12:30 we all (10 of us) met for lunch at a local river spot. We all ate and sat around on huge boulders and then went for a swim in the river.
Cold and refreshing.
The river was crystal clear and about 70 degrees. Just
wonderful. Then we all dried off, changed back into service
clothes and continued in service until 4pm. All in all a
marvelous day.
And no letter would be complete without telling you of our latest weather conditions.
Of course here in Panama we do not have winter in the usual sense... We have dry and wet. Or as someone told me, "dry", "wet" and "mud" seasons. But this week I have been taught a new word for a "season" that I am finding delightful.
It is called the "Bajareque" (pronounced Ba- haw- ray- kay ) An obviously Spanish word that took some doing to find in the dictionary... it means "Low Drizzle"
Now let me draw
you a mental picture. Today for example we were in service in
the "clouds" all day. Not a fog really, and not
really a cloud either, but a very fine fine mist was in the air kinda
like being under what is sometimes called a "swamp cooler"
in the states. It puts out a fine mist that doesn't really soak
you, just keeps you cool. The sun is brightly shining through
the mist and it is warm, but cool all at the same time. Every
now and then the drizzle will get a little heavy and you wish maybe
you had an umbrella, but then it lightens up again and the sun comes
back..... We spent the day in service in this. But the best
part was around every corner and past every hill we saw the most
GORGEOUS rainbows everywhere !!!!! I am attaching pictures.
I think I must add a new name to this "season" Dias del Arco Iris. Days of the Rainbows.
It is also the season for papayas, citrus, bananas (15 for a dollar), and watermelons.
We mapped out a territory today in the town of Caldera. It is hotter there and the Bajareque was a wonderful gift. At 12:30 we all (10 of us) met for lunch at a local river spot. We all ate and sat around on huge boulders and then went for a swim in the river.
 |
| Playing in Service |
Aribey Sanders has updated her blog on
Panama this week. If you would like to see more go to:
Boquetechicas.blogspot.com She has
some really cute stuff on there.
All for now Friends.
Agape'
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