April! April! April!

Hey! Happy May! For the month of April, I had the privilege of living at YWAM Panama Boquete. Living at this base were a variety of different people, from world racers to YWAM discipleship students to YWAM bible students and staff and everything in between. There were people who have lived in the United States for most of their lives, and people who have lived in indigenous mountain communities   most of their lives. I absolutely loved living on this base- I have a heart for getting to know local people, so getting to become friends and hear their stories was amazing. I also have grown so much in my ability to speak Spanish and can hold conversations relatively well!

Our ministry this past month was a wide variety of things coordinated by YWAM staff. We served in a lot of different capacities, some of which I will describe. 

One ministry we visited weekly was the Global Food Providers farm, owned by none other than Daniel Daves. A man after the Lord, Mr. Daves believes that food is power and desires to provide food and food-related education to those who don’t have savings accounts to rely on in times of need. We helped fix up his farm, help in the green house, and even evangelized in nearby communities by listening, conversing, and praying while giving away nutrient-rich trees which Mr. Daves claims can save anyone from starvation.

Another ministry we visited weekly was a plot of land owned by a neighbor of YWAM named Jorge. His vision is to build a similar discipleship school on this plot of land, so we helped him clear it of trees. We also got to pray for the land and the students that would one day learn on the land, for God to equip leaders grounded in the true gospel on this very ground.

One of my favorite ministries we worked at was Demalari Estate, a coffee farm with attached housing provided for the employees. There we assisted with manual labor projects around the farm and lead bible studies with the children of the employees. We played games, sang songs, talked about God, and helped teach them how to write. We also got to try some of the coffee, which was the best coffee I’ve ever tasted in my life!! 

Of the many groups living at the YWAM base, one was the group of students in the Hogar school (ages 12-17). We got the opportunity to lead them in bible studies over Genesis and begin their days with devotionals, which was another one of my favorite ministries. 

This month held much joy for me and my team. I drew closer to the Lord and felt as if a fire for the Lord was reignited in me. I experienced some very cool evangelism days and got to pray over some serious things in the communities. My new team and I are walking through finding team unity and being a team centered around the Lord. As we head into our last six weeks of ministry, prayers for the strength and passion to fight for each other would be much appreciated. Also prayers over our heart postures as we enter into our next ministry and reminders of why we serve. Colorado, see you in six weeks!!