Alcoholism and it’s evidence

In today’s La Prensa, the daily newspaper in Panama, there is an article about the growing challenge that alcoholism is causing in the city centers.  It’s estimated that 5% of the homeless are alcoholics and that number appears to be rising.

The story captures the struggle and journey of one man in particular.  My heart felt this story.  Speaking of his daughter’s invitation to live with them and get cleaned up, he says.

“It’s a great opportunity, and with my 65 years it’s the best thing for me,” said Serrano. “But I’m not ready, and won’t be until I’m able to find the Lord, something I hope to accomplish before my death, so I can return to my kids.”

The line that grabs my heart is “won’t be until I’m able to find the Lord, something I hope to accomplish.” 

This morning, my prayers are focused on this man and on the many like him, who perhaps don’t realize that it’s not hard to find the Lord.  Lord, send the church, send the workers into the harvest.

The intercessory burden is clear. 

It is our calling to help equip the church to help men and women like this, to help them find people and share the good news of the love of Jesus, to help folks find forgiveness and the strength to pursue transformation and be transformed.

Walking through transformation is difficult.  Finding the Lord should not be.  Who shall go to the harvest field that is ripe?

Seeing God’s Hand in Provision

Over the last few days, we’ve been praying specifically for provision for a couple of things. 

• International Airfare for our Mission in Venezuela
• Praying for a Car
• Language Comprehension (Spanish Lessons In Panama)
• And a small group.

Today as I sit in the airport, leaving to teach a conference in Florida for pastors, we want to report on some blessings.

• Bank error in our favor, collect $2700. 
• The offer of provision for our family’s airfare to VZ.
• An invitation to a small group, we can walk there and our kids are welcome.
• Two more churches have added our ministry to their monthly mission gifts.

We’ve seen other evidences of God’s hand of care and concern.

• HP will repair my out of warranty laptop for free.
• Free lodging while in Tampa FL.
• A cell phone that fell in the toilet continued to function.
• We thought our fridge motor had burned out — it was no longer cooling.  We unplugged it, pleaded with God for mercy and replugged it in.  It functioned.  Thankfully, the food didn’t spoil either.
• My faulty laptop wireless card worked yesterday when it was needed.
• Continued safety as we travel.

We give thanks to God for His blessings.  Living on the edge by faith is a razor edge away from failure.  Yet often, we see God’s provision and sustenance.

Missionary Letter Support

Regular newsletters are very important in our work.   Many of our readers automatically get our newsletter by email.

Newsletters allow us to stay in touch with supporters and to share special needs and prayer requests; they are a vital lifeline between congregations back home and our mission field.

They also allow congregations to see and understand what God is doing here in Panama and in our ministry in Latin America.

Normally, we use an email newsletter to keep you informed, and likewise, you can also stay informed on the website automatically Subscribe to the feed a reader or Subscribe by email.

The need

We are in need of a person or a small group to take on the role of printing out and mailing our printed letters. 

We have supporters who do not use email, or even computers, and as such, we need to get printed materials in their hands.

The postal system here exists, but functions nothing like the US Postal service.  To post something from here to the US is not very efficient, timely, or cheap.

One of the many ways you can help support us is by helping to publish our newsletter. 

Publishing a missionary newsletter to our entire list involves a fair amount of effort.  At this point, we plan only for those few who do not use email, so we expect that the workload will be small.  

We also invite a limited commitment of 12 months so that it is not a permanent responsibility.  Lives change so we don’t expect you to take this on forever.

What is involved?

We will send you a 8×11" letter ready to print, stuff in an envelope and mail. 

Sometimes it’ll be more than one letter, other times it’ll just be one. 

Occasionally, we’ll ask you to put our photo in there as well (we will have 20 printed for you at your local Walgreens, CVS, or Sam’s club for you to pick up).

Most of your service to us will be the time and effort associated with

• printing
• folding
• inserting
• stuffing
• addressing
• stamping
• mailing

What now?

Would you consider helping us in this way? 

Doesn’t matter where in the US you are.  As long as you can color print and stamp a letter for us as needed, this would help us greatly.

Simply contact us to volunteer, or reply to the email pitch that we have sent you.

An Armchair Quarterback’s thoughts on Panama Mindset

Concerns and worries

According to La Prensa (Sept 17, 2008), the number one issue in the mind of Panamanians, described as their "pain in the head" is inflation.

In a survey of 3,021 responders, 33% had inflation as their number #1 concern.  Though down from 38% in 3 months, it remains the #1 issue. 

The second issue (32.5%) is crime.  That has shot up from 16% 3 months ago. 

All other issues polled, such as poverty, bad economy, unemployment, corruption, and high cost of fuel all under 9% of the results. 
Source: http://prensa.com/t.asp?d=080917p1523246

Economic Growth

According to La Prensa (September 16, 2008) recent growth within the country’s economic sector measured 10.1 percent.  The Panama economy in the first half of year 2008 grew at a rate of 9.5%.  Yet inflation remained at a rate of 9.8%

My thoughts

I’m not an economist, just observing what I see and wondering what that suggests for our ministry in Panama. 

I don’t understand how it’s all tied together with the growth in the construction industry, the speculative housing / condo market (which continues to expand).  Though the local economy is growing, it is may be beginning to face a credit crunch as well. 

Banks are not giving easy credit like they used to.  In fact, those that can’t prove an income of $500 a month will no longer qualify for a card (according to La Prensa last week). 

One February article on consumer debt looks at this item: Panama banks overexposed on consumer loans.  Interest payments in 2007 totaled $2.7 Billion for a country that has only 3.2 million people (July 2007 figure).  That is about $843 per person.  Seems small, but take out those that can’t get credit (I have no idea how to compute that figure) and the number must be a whole lot higher.

What I see on the "Everyman" level is

• a fear of crime (example: La Prensa reported highest rate of car thefts in years),
• the rising cost of food in the grocery store and market, and
• the continued threat of increased bus fares. 
• Taxi fares have already gone up considerably. 

I don’t hear complaints about being in debt.

Yet, I’m not aware of salaries growing similarly to compare with cost of living increases.

Inflation and crime — that is what is on the mind of people as best as I can tell.

Ministry Impact

This suggests to us what fears and anxiety reside in the mind of many.  What can the gospel say to such fears?  What can the Bible say about managing your personal economy (finances) and debt?  How can a person have peace of mind in the midst of such external stressors?  How can a person find the peace of Christ in this?

How can people experience the joy of a full life?  What role does sin play on both a personal level and on a regional level?

These are simply thoughts that run in my mind. 

Mission in Venezuela

October 2-6, our whole family will be in Venezuela where I will conduct a wedding.  Today I have also learned that I will be

• conducting 2.5 hour workshop on Evangelism on Friday 03 October at "la Iglesia Buenas Nuevas Shekina"
• preaching at a church on 05 October.

My missionary friend (standing next to me) will provide translation for me during the workshops and preaching to allow me to focus all my Spanish preparation on my friend’s wedding.  That is a mental relief and gives us a chance to minister together again.

We will travel home on Monday the 06 of October from Venezuela, and on the 7th, I will leave for Palmer Alaska to teach an evangelism seminar.

How can you pray?

• Provision of funds for the trip to Venezuela.
• Fluency to communicate in Spanish.
• Rest even with all the travel.

Conducting a wedding in Venezuela

In just a few weeks, our family will be in Venezuela to conduct a marriage ceremony for our friends.

We were honored to be invited by the bride and groom to officiate. 

The groom traveled 12 hours on a bus to get to the international airport in Caracas, flew to Panama, and then isited us personally to give us that invitation.  We are deeply honored.

The ceremony will be on October 4.  On the 5th, I’ll be preaching in a couple of churches for a love offering, casting the vision of our ministry in Latin America. 

Barquisimeto Venezuela

We will be visiting the city of Barquisimeto, population about 1.5 million.  It is a university town about halfway between Caracas and the Columbian border and built on a plateau along a river valley.

From Wikipedia:  Two well-known landmarks in Barquisimeto are the obelisk, called El Obelisco (which is actually flat on top not making it a true obelisk), raised to commemorate Barquisimeto’s 400th anniversary of foundation, and the Cathedral, which looks like an inverted orchid; this style of construction is very rare in Latin America since it consists of a cross-like tinted glass dome, designed in 1959 by Jan Bergkamp and finished in 1969.

I have preached in a little church just outside the Cathedral.  The Cathedral is where the Mary statue is carried once a year on January 14.  Over 2 million people join the procession.  Some barefoot, some holding a cross.

Visiting some family friends

This is the first time since the year 2000 that the whole family will come.

We will get to see some former members of our church, the missionary in Venezuela who continues to serve there and has been a family friend nearly 16 years now. 

He still considers me his pastor and in the many trips that I have been there, we have spent a lot of time together.  He mentored me in discerning our call to Latin America.

How can you pray?

• 1.  Sermon Preparation — I’m doing this in Spanish and certainly don’t want to commit accidental heresy or say something offensive.
• 2.  Provision — airfare is not cheap for a family of 4.  We will be using domestic ground transportation once we arrive in Caracas.  The 45 minute flight for a family of four was running close to $1000.00, so we are finding ground transportation for the 4 hour drive.
• 3.  Safety — recent tensions between Venezuela and the US continue to make it not the safest (though not the most dangerous) place in the world.

Networking to Advance our Ministry

Our invitation to come and work in Panama was initially to work along side an existing ministry and plug into their active teaching network.

However that has fallen by the wayside and we are required to build our own network of contacts.

Over these next few months, we will be aggressively networking ourselves here to make more people aware of our presence in Panama and in Latin America in general. 

Email and social network sites haven’t quite caught on with overworked pastors, so the best way to get in front of pastors is to start meeting with denominational leaders and personally visiting pastors.

Thus the goal is a face to face meeting with pastors.

Basic networking challenges.

The challenges here to networking are very clear.  These are just observations and not complaints.

1.  Transportation. 

First off, we rely on Public Bus Transportation in Panama, and as such, the inefficiency of public transportation makes it difficult to get to places on time and at hours that are workable. 

For example, it took 4.5 hours of transportation — waiting for bus connections and traffic to attend a 45 minute meeting.

2.  Different understanding of time. 

Last week, on two occasions, my appointments canceled on me after I made the effort to get to the meeting point.  Of the first two, one called and apologized.  The second didn’t show up at all.  The third appointment showed up an hour late and never apologized for it.  This different understanding and treatment of time require us to be flexible.

3.  Travel schedules. 

I’m wanting to meet with one denominational supervisor but he has been out of the country (he oversees 17 countries) that it’ll be mid October before connecting with him.

4.  My language abilities. 

I’m still learning and growing in my ability to speak the language, so conversations still feel clumsy.

5.  Telephones

It doesn’t appear that telephone conversations are as common as they are in the US.  Most cell phone minutes are expensive, and thus calls are really short.  I don’t see people spending 60 minutes or more on their phone like I see in the US to make idle chit-chat and connections.  I also have a real hard time understanding what is said to me on a telephone with the background noise.

How to Pray for Us

Be in prayer for our networking contacts.  We must get out and meet and greet.  To do that we have to overcome some of the obstacles that are in front of us. 

Would you join us in Praying for a car?

Spanish Lessons In Panama

For nearly a year, I’ve been taking private tutoring at ISC Panama in Panama City.  I usually take 4-6 hours of private instruction each week.

I’ve had several different professors.  Some have been excellent, one or two I haven’t clicked with.  They have been helpful to me in working with me to translate my teaching material into Spanish, and helpful in some of the finer points of Spanish.

So, two or three times a week, I walk to class.  The building is about 6 long blocks away and for the most part, the walk is enjoyable, particularly if I listen to my IPOD as I go.  I listen to sermons from Ravi Zacharais, or Mark Driscoll, as well as leadership development podcasts.

The DELE Exam

I will continue to take and pay for classes at this school.  I have a new professor and she is helping me specifically prepare for the DELE exam, an internationally recognized certification

 

DELE is the official test in Spanish as a foreign language and stands for Spanish Diploma as a Foreign Language (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera). The Instituto Cervates (the official governmental organization who promotes the Spanish language) is the organization in charge of the DELE Spanish language exams.  The DELE Spanish language test is also internationally recognized as the official Spanish language exam for non-native Spanish language speakers (like the TOEFL test is for the English language).

I am planning on taking the 2nd level, or intermediate level.

The second Spanish language course level is the intermediate (Nivel Intermedio) which is for students who are able to understand and speak the Spanish language in every day situations and who have a good knowledge of the Spanish grammar.

The Spanish language exam for all levels consists of 5 different parts where the main difference of the 3 levels is the difficulty and the time available for each part.

The first part is to examine the Spanish language reading comprehension of the student and consists of a Spanish text which will vary in length and difficulty. After having read the Spanish text the student has to answer a number of multiple choice questions about the text.

The second part is to test the Spanish language written skills of the student and consists of writing a small text or an essay depending on the Spanish level.

The third part is a Spanish language listening exercise where the student has to answer a number of questions after having heard a Spanish text.

The fourth part is to test the students’ knowledge of Spanish language grammar and Spanish language vocabulary and consists of multiple choice questions and filling out blank spaces with appropriate Spanish words.

The fifth part is the oral test where the student has to talk to a Spanish examiner for about 10-15 minutes about a picture or a specific topic.

Prayer Request

Continue to pray for me as I prepare and make this investment in our future ministry in Latin America.  I am preparing to take this test in the Spring of 2009 as the November 2008 dates will not work in my schedule.