Missions Blog

Good morning from Panama Word of Life camp. How blessed we are to be alive and to be able to serve the Lord. With many prayers lastnight to finish strong, we needed to work hard for everything to get done today before the family picnic day. Over 1300 are registered for family day tomorrow. Today had some very special moments including the best part of the trip so far, but first we started off with a great breakfast at 7am and Jim shared his testimony about his life. We where all hands on deck after, with help from everyone at the camp. The roof needed to be finished,  the water fountain installed and the AC unit installed and running. Along with painting.

It's another extremely hot day out here and all the work and heat is starting to wear us down, but God is giving us the strength to keep going. We stopped for lunch and  Keith gave his testimony which was a reminder to the younger guys the importance of a faithful Christ centered dad to anyone with kids. Then right back to working for the final push. 

The fountain and AC unit are done and working and the roof is almost finished and as the evening is closing the best part of this entire trip is about to happen. The night before, Mike who was giving his testimony talked about being baptized after he realized what it meant and then another guy from our group, John Laboon, asked Mike about what it meant to him. Then after that, John challenged everyone from our group who had never been baptized yet to take that first act of obedience of what Christ commanded all to do once you have confessed Him as your Lord and Savior. It shows you have truly  surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord and Savior and a profession of your faith. You are proclaiming Him as master of your life to all the world, wanting to be obedient out of love and gratitude for His finished work on the cross. It stirred 5 guys from our teams hearts to take that act of obedience, truly wanting to live a life surrendered to Christ. Brothers Ryan and Adam, Luke, Brendan, and Stephen. So before dinner John and the rest of our team, along with everyone from Word of Life went to the pool and we got to witness all 5 of those men get baptized by John in the pool with Daniel helping and as they came out of the water the first thing they all seen was the cross on the mountain behind camp which Stephen suggested. It was truly a special moment and hugs and joy and tears followed shortly after in celebrating Christ as King. 

Left to Right ( Ryan, Luke, John, Daniel, Stephen, Adam, and Brendan) 

We then went to Dinner and headed back to Casa Grande and Stephen shared his powerful testimony  about forgiveness and we all joined in prayer in a circle after. Jon Fowler then talked about family day tomorrow and we all shared in prayer in smaller groups after for the gospel message to be received tomorrow by all who are still unbelievers and for hearts to be prepared to hear about God's love for us and His amazing gift of grace for our salvation. A few guys went back in the dark to finish the last few panels on the roof while others made bracelets for kids tomorrow to hand out. What an amazing day to be a Christian and serve our Lord. Please pray for family day tomorrow and for God's will to be done. Time for bed, ready for an exciting day tomorrow! Thank you Jesus for today! Great experiences are happening here in Panama!