The A Team

Here they are, in all their glory.

You thought I was going to talk about Mr. T didn't you?  Or maybe you thought I meant the A for Alan team.  Although that does sound kind of catchy.  But no, A is for Alpha team, because this is the first time I have co-lead a team since getting back here to Panama.  I've lead dozens of teams before of course, but there is something special about being back and leading again.  It was the first time I really felt like I was back in the groove of things.  They were a youth group from Canada, and it was so much fun to watch those polar people sweat in our 80 degree weather, which is still nice and cool compared to Texas when we left it.  A couple of them had little fans they hung from their necks to keep them cool.  Very funny stuff!

Aside from the fun, if you have access to either my Facebook or YouTube channel you have seen the steady stream of video clips I have been uploading.  There are still more to come even though the team has left now.  However, you can see in those videos that we were all over the place! We went to a Ngobe (Guaymi) camp, several schools, and old folks home, and more.  

At the schools we did presentations, prayed for the students, had dance contests, played soccer, and had an all around great time bringing the light of the Gospel to these students. 

At the old folks home there was a pretty horrible event that happened.  It wasn't very dramatic, but it looked very painful.  As you can see in this picture above, some of the people there use wheelchairs, and they have these concrete paths all throughout the complex with no rails or curbs or anything like that.  On top of that there are often drop offs that aren't very deep, maybe six inches or so, but if you are an older person in a wheelchair, it is a recipe for disaster.  

While we were speaking with the people, I saw this one man suddenly start leaning and his eyes got really big.  Before I could react, I saw that his back wheel was slipping off the edge of the walkway he was rolling around on.  It was like watching one of those fainting goats fall over (http://youtu.be/we9_CdNPuJg).  He let out a little cry of help and crashed over the edge.  As soon as he hit I ran over with the leader from the Canadian team and tried to pick up him up, but the wheelchair had collapsed and was effectively squeezing his hips and locking his legs in.  Needless to say, it was an ordeal to get him out, and nobody from the home staff came to help up!  We finally pulled him out and I was holding him up like some kind of super skinny teddy bear while the leader of the other team fixed the wheelchair and put it back in place.  

The ironic thing is that as painful as that fall must have been, the tough old guy just laughed the whole time I was holding him, and didn't seem any worse for wear when he was safely sitting again. After all of that someone from the home came and wheeled him off, presumably to check him for any serious injuries, but I didn't see him again that day, so maybe he was just taking a nap.

What do you mean those were my teeth stuck in the wheels?  Noooooo, those were my last teeth, my new ones are safe in the room under my pillow.  Shifty Ol' Grenilda steals them to make her quilts.

Ministry, whether on the mission field or in your home country is very much like having a garden.  It takes a lot of care, tending, watering, fertilizing, and everything else you have to do to keep a garden healthy.  Most people want ministry to be this: Walk into the field, stick a seed in the ground, come back in an hour and have a full harvest.  That is simply not how it works.  As a matter of fact, most experienced ministers will tell you that statistically it takes at least two years for real (ministerial) fruit to start becoming visible, and then five years for you to really start getting effective at what you are doing.  

"Whoa!  How long did this take?"
"About twelve minutes.  I just learned how to say 'Hello'".

We need every part of the body of Christ for the ministry to be effective.  Teams that come through often feel like they aren't providing much, but they don't realize that they are watering the garden that we have been laboring over for years, stirring up the hearts of people who need to hear the Gospel that would otherwise stay at home if there weren't visitors coming.  It is very similar to a church having a guest speaker come through, everyone is excited and you usually have more people show up on Sunday morning.

Now, we have been preparing for our next team which arrives tomorrow.  They are a team of 13 from the Cayman Islands and will be with us for ten days.  It should be just as eventful with them as it was with the Canadians.  Very different cultures, but God changes lives regardless of who you are or where you are from.  What matters is that you are available, have a right heart, and willing to be used by Him.  

Also, this coming weekend the base will be running a King's Kids camp, which is a Friday night through Saturday camp for local kids to come and learn more about Jesus!  That is a simple way to put it anyway.  This will be Karmy and my first camp on this base, although we helped with them several times when we lived in Costa Rica.  It is exciting to have another one coming up!

Expect a lot of new videos and testimonies of what God is doing, because after that we have our next DTS and Leadership school starting on September 12th, plus a team from World Race that will be with us for three weeks.  Also, our Ngobe DTS will be starting as well in the next few days.  Exciting times!

You know, on the mission field, in YWAM, nobody receives any kind of salary.  I get asked all the time by teams and others who come through how much we get paid to be out here, the answer is $0.00.  From the newest missionary to the Global Leadership Team of Youth With a Mission, not one of us receives a dollar from the organization.  We all raise our own support and rely completely on donations from others.  So, if you would like to partner with our ministry here, I am going to put the information out there for you.  Whether one time donations or monthly, they are all super helpful for us, and they all go to make the ministry you see in our videos and read about in our posts and newsletters possible.

First, you can do so through the Paypal button here in the blog.  That is not tax deductible however.  If you would like tax deductible donations, you can follow these instructions:

Tax deductible donations are processed through Mission Enablers International:

You can either donate online through the following link:

https://www.meigiving.com/mei.php

Simply fill out the short form, and when asking for the account number, write 9052.  Donations through Mission Enablers are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt for them.

If you would rather donate by check, you can also do it through MEI at the following address, just add a note saying the donation is for the account number above.

MEI

P.O. Box 1311

Fayetteville, AR 72702

Until next time!