E-TEAM Panama News Archive 2007 Starting Over

June 21st, 2007

So basically we have begun a new chapter of our journey in the beautiful country of Panama. We have said our goodbyes to the Church in Chitre and are now positioned in Las Tablas. Today is Thursday and we have been here for two nights. All of our homestays are accepting and appear to be very sincere and generous, considering they have allowed us permission to sleep in their beds for a week. The other night we had a service in a church members side yard. When we arrived Christian rap music was blazing and it was really cool. The service began with more music and all of the kids were very excited and glad to be there. Even though it was all in Spanish, worship was still awesome. We all had a very good time and many kids accepted Christ into their lives after our testimonies and message, which was amazing :] So far today we have slept a lot. The exhaustion of the whole trip caught up to us but now we are all rested and ready to head downtown to pass out tracts. From my experience here, I have become aware of major spiritual warfare. Catholicism runs rampant in panama and it bewilders me. Every city has a different Saint to which they all mainly pray to in order to get closer to God. Besides this one main Saint, every occupation has their own saint as well. This is inexplicable because the bible says that we can only reach the Father through his son Jesus. We visited a catholic cathedral and came upon a statue of Saint Liberator. At her feet stood a wooden box with a sign which read a bunch of Spanish statements and a "25" cent symbol. Mr. Bunch told us if whoever prays decided to put some money in the box will have their prayers answered more quickly. wow. First they have a plethora of Saints to which they pray for help to, then they pay money hoping to have their prayers answered more quickly. that's messed up. I would sit here and type more, but It happens to be 200 degrees in here where I have chosen to type this article. Keep us in your prayers everybody!!! Stay classy.