Today I experienced the “wet” season on Panama. The rain came down all day, not very hard, but they say it is normally like the rain you see in Mississippi. Today it was very cold outside, yet I was still hot and sticky because of the humidity. Doesn’t make sense to me. Their summer is December through February, but when Taylor came during that time, she said it was not nearly as hot as it is now. She said they saw the sun maybe 4 times. So, I’m still learning about the seasons of Panama. It’s not like it is in the States where you have 4 seasons. Here, it’s wet and hot, and that’s it. Right now, I am experiencing the wet season of Panama. I just looked to my left and the curtain is held together by a bread tie. Now that is savings! Anyway…This morning we did the usual routine: woke up at 8, ate breakfast, and did our morning devo. Sarah led today and her insight really directed our focus on the Lord and what we are here to do. She spoke on the passage in Matthew that says we are the light of the world. Instead of making the same ol sandwich for lunch, Sarah and I got to pack up the left over spaghetti from last night! Yum!! So we gathered our things and were on our way to the school. I’m still not used to the seatbelt rule in Panama where only the front 2 have to wear seatbelts. Its weird looking to your right at a car driving next to you and seeing a 4 year old running back and forth across the street. It’s such a habit for me to put my seatbelt on, I don’t even realize it. Sarah looks over at me all the time and says… Jaclyn you did it again. Haha. We make it to the school, and immediately students started coming in. Sarah sat with a lady to try to figure out how we could work in all of the students into the schedule. Since she was doing that, she sent all the students to me, so I was busy. My schedule is so full, that we doubled up students with me, meaning I will teach 2 at a time. There is no room for anyone else. I have a total of 9 students now and 2 teachers. We are expected to get more teachers on Fridays. Fridays are designated for teachers, because the students cannot make it on that day. Today’s sessions were rewarding. The first 2 girls that I had were extremely shy and very quiet. As we read the story, I tried to relate the story to things that I learned about them, things that they enjoyed. When I found an example that related to them, they got excited, began to speak louder, and I could tell they were really enjoying the conversation. The shyness went away, and it was so rewarding to see big smiles come out of their beautiful faces. Many of my students are Catholic, so they know much about the Jesus and the Bible. This is good because I do not have to worry about bringing God up. They already believe and know about him. The conversations become a challenge however when I use examples to try to show them that it is not about religion, but that it is about a relationship. I think, though, that God is using my experiences as an example of how to really communicate and get to know God, rather than just knowing about him. I was talking with Raul today and he encouraged me with some words. He said you are here only to plant the seed. He said, I can see the excitement in you. Sometimes I don’t want to wait for the change, I want to see it now. I want it to happen over night, even though I know it doesn’t work like that. It’s only because I’m so wanting them to know Jesus, because I know how He changes lives. But Raul reminded me that the seed I plant does not pop like popcorn. I just loved that analogy. I spoke to me and made perfect sense. Tomorrow I lead the devo, so maybe I’ll work that into it because Jesus tells us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition present your requests to God. After my reading sessions were done, Sarah and I wandered the school again. She decided that she had to go to the bathroom. Oh boy. We went in every single bathroom on that campus. None had toilet paper. Or paper towels. Or anything for that matter that you could even possibly wipe with. And all were completely and utterly disgusting. Like a bathroom you’ve never seen before. We asked the coordinator of the school why there was no toilet paper. She said that they ran out of funding and were waiting for the government to give them more money and then they will buy more toilet paper. I just couldn’t believe that. In the states we don’t even think twice about that. We get upset if the toilet paper is getting low and think… oh someone’s not doing their job. We think, when can we get the next best computer? But here in Panama, at this school, they hope for the next time when they can get toilet paper. When it came time to go home, we ran to the car to try to stay as dry as we could. We stopped to grab a quick bite to eat… chicken sandwiches...mm! Then we had to make a quick stop to the store to buy more things for lunch that we ran out of. I bought a calling card for $10 with 3 hours on it, so some of you should be expecting a call sometime in the next 2 weeks. When we made it home, it was time for our night session readers to come. But first! The phone rang and I hear a shout from Terry in the kitchen saying “Jaclyn get that!” I’m thinking to myself… oooooh no. The person on the other line will most likely not know any English, but heeeere we go! “Buenos?” I say. Now I can’t repeat what he said because I don’t know how to write it, but I understood! He was asking to talk to Taylor. So I answered, “O ok. Uno momento.” Then Sarah looks up at me and says Taylor ran to the store. I’m thinking ok this is not good, I don’t know how to say that in Spanish. Maybe I could pull a sentence together, but not in time! So I said, “Eres tu?” Meaning who are you or who is this. And he answered Raul! Rual… yes! He is the man that has coordinated all of our English classes and speaks English. Phew. He was calling to make sure that our schedules filled up and to see how the day went. Just as I hung up the phone, my students walked in the door, Christian and Christopher. Cassandra is not coming anymore. She only came on the first night because she was a friend that just happened to come along with the 2 boys. Christopher was first and today’s conversation was incredible!! God is shaping this 13 year old boy into a very respectful man. I can sloooowly see his love for God growing. I must be patient. Tonight we read the story in Luke where Jesus separates the good grain from the straw. This led to a discussion on Heaven and Hell, and eventually to baptism. God is good. It went great and I would not have had the courage to talk with him about these things if it weren’t for God’s strength, guidance, and wisdom. Next was Christian. Christian said he played guitar at the last session, so I told him to bring it so that he could play us a song… and he did! Wow, this boy is amazing at the guitar. He learned on his own, with youtube and books. This was a God-given talent, because I’ve tried that and there is no way I could be as good as he was with only that type of training. Taylor wanted him to play November Rain, but he didn’t know it. So he’s going to learn it tonight and play it for us tomorrow. Whoa. It’s funny to hear Christian say the word guitar. He pronounces it geeter. We’ve tried to fix the pronunciation, but he just cannot get it. Christian and I also got into deep conversation. I think these boys are unique because conversation does not get this advanced at the school. We talk about God at the school, yet we do not reach deep theological discussions that question faith. Christian and I read the same lesson that Christopher read tonight about the straw and the grain. The conversation led to similar topics, but since Christian is older, the conversation was more in depth. He brought up examples of friends and how he could help them get to Jesus better when they don’t want to hear about it. He thinks it’s important to know God, but just doesn’t quite know how to have a relationship yet. We’re getting there. No worries. Tonight I asked Christian to bring the tickets that he was selling because I wanted to buy some to support his graduation trip. They were a dollar each and I told him that I would buy one. But when I went for my wallet, the smallest bill I had was a five. So I told him I would just buy 5 tickets. He was SOOO excited!! But we couldn’t celebrate for too long because we had to race out the door to make it to a birthday party. Sarah has a night session reader named Jessica and it was her daughter’s birthday that we went to. When I walked through the door, the house was so beautiful. So I said to the lady, “Su casa es bella.” Bad idea… everyone from then on thought that I spoke Spanish. So most of the night I was saying, “Que??” I could pick out words and understand, but it was difficult. I like going to bilingual parties! It was quite and experience and so much fun! It’s weird getting kissed on the cheek by people as a greeting and a farewell, but that’s the culture here. Ok… their dog… Robby, but you have to say it with a Spanish accent. I told the dog to sit and they started laughing. They said nooo! You have to speak Spanish to the dog, he doesn’t know what you’re saying. I thought that was so great! A Spanish doggy! So I said sientense… Maybe the dog just didn’t know how to sit. This dog was literally a cross between an armadillo, an anteater, and a poodle. Its face looked like an armadillo/anteater and it had the body of a poodle. It was like a rug running around. I have never seen a weirder dog in my life, but I have never seen a happier dog in my life. It ran around the WHOLE time with goofy goofy grin slapped on his face as he pranced around. Funniest and cutest dog I have ever seen. Robby was his name-o. There at the house, we were able to watch the dance competition that was on channel 2! So we got to see our students from the school (instituto America) on TV! They were so great. They got over a million votes from their students and got almost a perfect score from the judges. They did a break-dance to popular English songs sung in Spanish. So that was all really neat to see! Next it was cake time! Her birthday cake looked amazing. It was like normal white cake but it had peaches and strawberries inside the cake. Not mushy, but fresh and so tasty. We sang happy birthday first in English then in Spanish. It’s the same tune in Spanish but completely different words, so I did my best to keep up and understand. We stayed for a bit longer, had some laughs, headed back to the house, and here I am. Tomorrow will be the busiest day so far so I need to get some good rest. I’m going to prepare for morning devotion and hit the hay. But it may be difficult considering there is a massive group of people outside yelling and rapping to the music that is blaring. Gotta love Panama! Can’t wait for another blessed day to learn more about myself and the students that have been forever brought into my life. Adios familia y amigos!
