Diablo Rojo
When we moved here to Panama, we sold both our cars and chose to use the public transportation system.
Taxis and buses are our primary means of getting around.
Having experienced it for several months, would you join us in praying for provision of a car?
Yesterday for example, what would have been a 15 minute car ride, took 80 minutes in a bus. Other times, we have chosen to forgo an errand or even skip a meeting simply because the moving around the city is near impossible at certain hours.
Tomorrow is payday for a majority of people. Starting around 3pm, the streets, cars, and buses will be jam packed and gridlock will exist until nearly 7pm. The challenge for us is that we are to conduct an evangelism workshop across town and need a bus to get there.
During rush hours, taxis refuse passengers if they don’t want to go there. We have been left stranded a few times, and occasionally shown up 90 minutes late because of transportation issues.
Here is a story from La Presna about the problems with buses, focusing on overcrowding and limited supply. It doesn’t address the fatal bus fires or fatal accidents from drag racing at night that have happened recently.
Tourists might think its cool to pay $0.25 for a bus ride experience, but for those of us who live here and need to use them, they can be a dismotivating obstacle to doing life.
It is one of the largest issues that has dominated the news here in the last few months, and most of today’s morning news was about transportation.
I completed the first of two part evangelism series for a church in Panama.
It was my second workshop in Spanish, and I want to give thanks to God for a growing capacity to teach in Spanish. While the grammar was not 100% perfect, I was told that I was understandable, and the church gave me great grace. My family was with me, and we were treated to excellent and warm hospitality.
Part I — focused on our motives for evangelism, (for example: Evangelism Motives) and a brief introduction to the model of Phillip and the Ethiopian.
As part of the presentation, I explain some of the richness of the Gospel and God’s loving pursuit of us.
What surprised me however, was a visitor walked up to Pastor afterwards and said he was ready to start following Jesus.
He had been invited by a friend to come and hear the presentation and somehow with my limited Spanish, the Holy Spirit had convicted him of his need to follow Jesus.
My presentation was but one part of this man’s journey to faith, but last night he was as ready as the eunuch was in the Acts passage to start following Jesus.
All I can say is wow.
The next two Friday’s this April I’ll be conducting workshops on Evangelism at Oleo de Gozo church.
April 18 — the motives for evangelism and the Phillip and the Ethiopian.
Homework — looking for people that God points out.
April 25 — discuss the weeks experiences and coach on how to present the gospel.
The training discussion will look something like this:
http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2007/10/effective-evangelism-training-lab-time
We also talked about launching and forming an evangelism department (something like a committee, but not quite). We talked about evangelism training groups
http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2007/10/personal-evangelism-coaching
In May, we have received invitations to teach at other conferences in Panama.
One of the most important issues in Panama is the rising prices of food. Here is a great article that reports some of the price increases.
Basic Food Costs Continue to Rise in Panama – Panama Guide
As a family we have seen:
- potatoes from .30/# to .70/#
- drinks from .19 a pack to .29
When we first visited Panama, we thought these prices were really cheap. Compared to what we were paying at US grocery stores, they were.
Now that we live here, we got use to paying .30 for potatoes. To go to .70 in a week for potatoes is really expensive.
The rising prices of nearly everything in panama may only be nickels and dimes, but it is huge percentage increases that are going to force this to become the #1 issue in the mind of the electorate.
I have the privilege this week of spending time with a young church planter in Venezuela. He’s been charged with launching 4 new churches in his region of the country.
He has come to Panama for a period of rest, and to seek me out for coaching.
We’ve been talking about churches in Latin America in general, and its good to have his Latin perspective on churches, and on what he sees as training needs for pastors in Latin America.
He’s invited me to participate in some regional pastor training events in Venezuela and Columbia if the funds are available. Pastor training is part of our vision here and this an excellent opportunity to serve.
Continue to pray for our ministry and my involvement in his life. It’s a sacred responsibility to coach a church planter.
Pray for funding for this opportunity, but more specifically, pray for my coaching time with this church planter.
Panama, Prayer | Chris | 
April 24, 2008 5:53 am | 
Comments (1) 
Subscribe
