God is good.

I am so late on writing this blog- I apologize! These past few weeks have been crazy busy. 2 weeks ago our teaching was on Story telling and that was very interesting. Probably not my favorite week- but it was interesting to listen to our class tell story sets from the Old Testament. I got the privaledge of telling the story of David and Bathsheba, so that was pretty funny. Anyways- it was a good week. This past week we learned about World View- and the Christian Idea v. Pagan Tyranny v. Pagan Individualism... still learning and thinking about MY World View.. and how it lines up with the Bible.
To be honest- I have had a slump these past 2 weeks.. just not been myself and frustrated.. but I am coming out of it.. and so thankful for that. I am so excited about this next week... We are going to be traveling all week around Panama.. doing a week of teaching on Spiritual Warfare.. going to a village called Erabache and then also Chirique.. which is "colder" than here, and has strawberries! YAY!

My birthday was so good here.. I was worried that it would be bad considering my first one without Chels.. but I woke up to a big box full of cokes, candy, and goodies.. then had my breakfast french toast ready for me at breakfast.. had all my plates and stuff washed.. got to eat mashed patatoes- so good... took my 5th hott shower since I have been here- THEN I slept on a couch!!! Haha.. said I was just gonna hang out for a minute and woke up 2 hours later.. crazy huh? We also went to Bennigans to eat- so good.. and came home to bag of 2 liter coca cola, maria cookies, and munchies! It was a good one.. totally missed twin- but it was still good.

God is good. All the time.

That's all for now! Love.

CHow!

Baptism :)

I am simply amazed at the grace and beauty of God. Today I got to experience something that I will always remember the rest of my life. I was baptized in the Chagre River with 7 other brothers and sisters in Christ. I was baptized when I was 7 years old, after I made the decision to let Jesus into my heart, but it was just going through the steps. I was young and I knew what I was doing but I really do not remember being baptized. The only memory I have of it is from a picture, so when one of the "home" kids told our base director he wanted to be baptized Rich opened it up to anyone. I had a meeting with Rich and we discussed what this baptism would mean to me.
This is what I shared with him- I am ready to lay everything at Jesus' feet. Give complete and total control to my Savior. Let him be Lord of my life. I am done with the things of the past. I am unashamed and am committed to allow the Lord to speak to me, work through me, and use me in any way that he has planned. I want nothing holding me back, it's time for me and God to really spend time together. For me to get to know him, and listen to him.
So at 10 o'clock this morning we headed to the Chagre River.. we had a time of worship and then our time of baptism. I was the 7th to go, it was beautiful to see all of these indigenous youth giving their lives to the Lord. As my turn came, extreme excitement filled my spirit. As I was immersed in the water I let all my shame, pain, sin, and guilt come off of me, let the Holy Spirit take control.. I am pretty sure I yelled whenever I came up. It was a beautiful experience.. and I am so glad I did it. I now can remember the day I was baptized, completely laying everything at His feet.
Another cool thing about the baptism was that 3 nations were represented. All of the other youth that were baptized are from indigenous villages, and they live on base to be able to go to school and get their education. I am so blessed to have experienced this with such beautiful children of God. Praise the Lord. :) I am a new creation, I am alive in Christ, and I am a child of God. Dios es Bueno.

Pura Vida

Costa Rica was absolutely amazing... that country is so beautiful. (We were in Talemanca and Bambu, Costa Rica.) I love Costa Rica! I am pretty sure that I have said that so many times since we have gotten back to Panama. I was able to see a lot of the beauty of Costa Rica; the mountains, rivers, jungle, ocean, and so much more. I am so amazed at the beauty of that country. I think it's going into my second favorite country slot. :) My Niko was so good for me, stretched me in a lot of areas that needed to be stretched. I can't tell you all the details but I can tell you that I would love to see a group from home do a Niko. Part of the Niko is that you don't know anything before you do it. So... you'll just have to trust me that it is a very good and challenging week. The days before and after the Niko in Costa Rica were so much fun- this fun included a WARM SHOWER. Yep... got to take my first warm shower... it was glorious. Hot showers will be heaven.. I am completely convinced... and they will never run out of hott water either. We also went to Puerto Viejo- which is a touristy spot- with a BEAUTIFUL ocean. One downer from the trip is that quite a few people from our group got sick.. including myself. Stomach aches and frequent trips to the restroom. Our group got to know each other a lot this week... haha. But- God is good and so is life. Pura Vida. Pure Life-- is a common saying in Costa Rica.... I think I am going to adapt that phrase as well. Chow.

P.S.-- 95 more days ;)