Friday, August 3, 2012

The hotel had quite a nice breakfast, and we were able to watch some of the Olympics while we ate.  I’m not a news hound, but I do like to keep up with the overall news in the world, so it was fun through the week to keep a medal count. 

We loaded our luggage and medical trunks in one van, and the team went in another van.  The couple that met us at the airport drove the luggage van to David, our destination for the weekend, and Pastor Willis drove us to the airport.  It was my turn to be the problem child – I forgot that I would need my passport to fly from Panama City (PC) to David, so I had left it in my luggage.  PTL, Pastor Willis was able to contact the couple, who then had to quickly get to the airport before our flight left so I could dig my luggage out of the very over stuffed van and find my passport. Ugh!  I felt like such a goof!  We decided after a few more goofy things I did that I needed a responsible adult to watch over me; Brittany got the job! 

Coming in last night, it was too dark to see the city.  This morning on the way to the airport I was amazed at how PC looked like a major US city – beautiful skyline, great roads and orderly traffic pattern, American fast food, etc.  The wealth, more than likely from tourism, was very evident here.  This was not the same airport into which we flew last night, but both airports were very modern.  The one from last night had lots of shops and restaurants – very nice! 

From PC to David we flew over beautiful countryside – lots and lots of mountains.  In the midst of these mountains we could see villages but no obvious roads.  A couple of us asked aloud how those folks will hear the gospel, but there was no one to answer.  

As soon as we arrived in David we were met by other missionaries and our team was divided into four – three to a team, and each team going with one of the missionaries to the four feeding centers operated by the church.  Feeding centers are places where children can come to get a hot meal at least twice a day.  I’m not sure how they qualify to come, but they must bring their own eating utensil and bowl.  These children and their families are also provided with transportation to church, if they wish to come. My team consisted of Ashley, Daniel and myself.  Daniel is a student at PCC, getting his masters of divinity.  He would like to work as a youth pastor, and this is his second trip with MMO; earlier this year he went to Kenya.  While Daniel acted as gate keeper – keeping the children in line and releasing one at a time to see either Ashley or myself – Jeff Jones acted as interpreter for us both.  Now there’s a job – asking medical questions for two nurses simultaneously. Good thing I’m starting to pick up a little Spanish so that I could ask a few questions myself.  Actually, when I was in college I worked on a bus route of primarily Mexican families, so that is where I learned whatever little bit of Spanish I know.  From what I gathered, each team saw about 50-60 patients at the feeding centers, so multiply that by four and already that’s over 200 patients.  None of these kids seemed too bad off – just some skin and ear issues and colds.  Jeff drove us around the neighborhood to see the housing conditions – very poor, open shacks with corrugated steel roofs and animals running in and out.  Seems like the wealth ends where the tourism stops. 

We then drove to our new hotel, Gran Hotel Nacional, to wash up and get some lunch.  Again, this was very nice hotel with absolutely delicious breakfasts each morning.  There was hot water, A/C and very comfortable beds with high thread count linens. We had pizza for lunch and everyone was amazed how good truly fresh pineapple tastes on a Hawaiian pizza! 

After lunch we all headed to the orphanage where about 20 children live with caretakers.  Again, I’m not sure how the kids qualify to come, but there are even teen mothers with their babies that don’t have a place to go.  The tiniest baby was a little boy that was born four months ago, but gestationally was only a month old, meaning that he was born three months early.  The caretakers, the best that I could tell, are volunteers that agree to live there for varying lengths of time.  One is an older lady from the States that is here for three months; another is Sarah, my interpreter for the week.  I guess that I’ll be a little transparent here, but it was difficult for me to want to love on these kids.  First off, I’m not a real ‘kid’ person – children just aren’t naturally drawn to me and vice versa.  But secondly, the kids had a lot of rashes and were dirty from playing outside.  This is one of those times I just have to ask the Lord for grace, and these little kids seemed like they were starving for affection.

We formed an assembly line with the kids – one provider looking for skin problems, another looking in ears, nose and throat, another listening to lungs and heart.  If we saw a concern we sent the child to the doc for an evaluation and scripts as needed.  It was actually a pretty efficient system!  All of these kids come to church, too, so we were able to send the needed medicines for all the children (from the feeding centers and the orphanage) to the church on Sunday. 

Back to the hotel, an hour break and now it’s time to start counting and packaging vitamins, ibuprofen and Tylenol.  We did this for almost three hours – with a smaller group it takes longer.  We interrupted that task with dinner at the hotel.  We ate on an open patio with tiki torches and a beautiful tropical ambience.  The food was all cooked over an open flame, and the service was top notch.  I had fish filet and a very tasty pasta salad with goat cheese – yum!  A hot shower, a cool room and the freshest smelling linens – wow - is this really a mission trip???

Panama, August 2-11, 2012

Medical Missions Outreach

Panama, August 2-11, 2012

Team Members: The ‘dirty dozen’, plus field missionaries – 1 medical doctor, his wife and son (Greg, Linda and Tim), 1 pastor (Bradley Edmondson), 6 nurses (Brittany, Hope, Charity, Ashley, Becky, Tammy), 1 teacher (Diane), and 1 Pensacola Christian College student (Daniel), plus 4 missionaries (Byron Willis, Jeff Jones, Buzz McQuerry, Juan Robles), interpreters and soul winners from the church in David. 

My interpreter was Sarah, a Honduran young lady that is in the Bible institute led by missionary Byron Willis.  She also works at the orphanage the church operates. 

Missionary Willis’ parents moved to Panama when he was 7 years old, so he is a second-generation missionary, is married to a Panamanian woman, has 3 kids and has taken in a 2 year old Panamanian girl.  It is more than obvious he is well beloved in his host country.  His father died a number of years ago, but his mother remains on the field supporting her husband’s former ministry.   Currently his church (which is not his father’s church – that is pastored by a national pastor) runs, among other things, four feeding centers and an orphanage.  They are raising money to build a home that would operate as both an orphanage and feeding center.  The land has been purchased and cleared.  This ministry is in David, Panama.  While we assisted at these ministries, the clinic was set up in Changuinola – a city about 5 hours drive to the northeast, across a mountain range and very near the Caribbean Sea and Costa Rican border.  The major industry is the Chiquita Banana plantations.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

My flight to Panama originated in Harrisburg, PA, then to Newark, NJ, then to Panama City.  I was the only one on the team flying out of this general area, so while the rest of the team met in Atlanta and took a Delta flight to Panama, I flew ‘solo’ and my flight arrived about an hour after them.  In Newark I had an extended layover, so I got dinner there and was surprised to find that the clerk was Haitian.  We were able to talk briefly in French, and she willingly accepted a French tract.  I’m starting to collect quite a variety of languages in my tract holder! 

From Newark to PC, I was seated next to a young couple from Toronto, Canada.  Actually, she has a Muslim background from Trinidad, and he has a United Church/Scandinavian background.  They were planning to hike through Panama, but neither of them spoke Spanish.  I like the hiking idea but not too sure about doing it in a country where I can’t speak the language!  Anyhow, the Lord opened a door to witness to them and give the gospel, for which I’m very thankful, but it was not an easy conversation.  They had lots of questions, especially about the ‘natives in the jungles’, but in the end they accepted tracts and we talked some more about where they hoped to visit.  Maybe I planted, maybe I watered – I can only pray that the Lord will allow someone else the opportunity to harvest.

When I met the team I realized I already knew half of them from other trips.  That to me is a good testimony of how well these trips are run – the fact that a lot of team members are ‘repeaters’.  Found out one of the medical trunks had been left in OH, but praise the Lord, it was delivered to us a couple days later before we really needed its contents.  We met Byron Willis and a couple from his church at the airport, and they drove us to our hotel for the night – Country Inn and Suites.  I never cease to be amazed at the American influence I see in these other countries!  After we dropped off our luggage at the hotel they offered to take us to eat, but I wasn’t hungry enough at that hour to trade food for sleep!  It was about 11pm, CST.  For some reason the bathroom door was locked, so I had to call for a maintenance man to jimmy the lock, but otherwise it was a very nice hotel, and I was even able to send an email that I had arrived. 

My roommate for the entire week was Ashley, a nurse from TN.  In fact, when she told me where she was from I recognized the name of the church and town.  Come to find out, some of the folks from the Nicaragua trip attend her church as well.  Small world!  Ashley is due to graduate in December as a nurse practitioner.  She was a great roommate, and I think the match was perfect!  While I prefer the early hours and can sleep through a lot, she prefers the evening hours and can also sleep through a lot.  To my knowledge, neither of us ever disturbed the other the entire trip.  I was very impressed that although she labeled herself as a ‘picky eater’, she never once complained about food and was willing to try new stuff – including yucca fries.  I believe they are made from yucca plants, and they kind of remind me of fried cheese sticks, but with a potato texture.  Very good!