Sunday- Day 2

Our first full day in Panama was spent visiting a local  Kuna Church.  The Kuna are an indigenous tribe in Panama and we had the opportunity to spend time with them worshiping as well as interacting with the children as well as the parents.   The church was small and just a cement floor with a roof, but everyone was so welcoming, attempting to speak English, as we attempted to converse with our limited Spanish (except for David).  But somehow, we all managed to have a great time laughing and praying with everyone.  We had been asked to give a sermon and Coach VanPelt spoke with a translator.  Taylor Miller also shared her testimony (the first time one of us had to share in public!!) and she did a fantastic job.  We hummed along with the songs we knew and some of us had the opportunity to learn a song in the Kuna dialect.  After church we spent some time talking to the youth in the church while the women made lunch for us.  Lunch was a huge pot of soup and chicken with a side of white rice.  It was amazing to see these woman cook for us.  Some of them were dressed in the traditional Kuna clothing with bright skirts and printed tops and bracelets and anklets all the way up their legs.  They had mixed a huge pot of soup and poured it out for us.  Lunch was fantastic and after we finished our group split up and went in search of local children to come and play some games with us at the school.

At dinner we went around the table and shared our favorite part of the day and everyone said that this was our favorite part.  Playing and interacting with the kids was just such a joy and a blessing to all of us.  To be able to overcome language, age, gender, and many other barriers to just have a great time was truly a gift from God.  The kids ranged from very little (maybe 2) to around 16 or 17.  We played soccer, basketball, football, and drew with chalk as well as a lot of chasing kids and throwing little nerf balls over and over.  I can't count how many times I traced a kids hand or foot, or for some of them, drew their whole body, the kids just laying down in the dirt-as kids tend to do.  Taylor Miller got a game of volleyball going, and Meg and Zach  made a new friend (who was possibly the cutest kid in the camp).  I saw John and Wes playing wiffleball with the little girls (they were really good!) and Derek and Taylor Groff had fun making the little ones attempt to shoot over them (unsuccessfully for the most part!).  David acted as our translator as the kids pestered us with questions that we had a difficult time trying to answer since they were speaking Spanish or Kuna.  David actually captured,  the heart of a little girl Rosa and she spent a lot of time being carried around by him.  But the kids could not get enough of Jerimiah.  I looked and he would be holding two or more with many more begging for a ride.  As we left they told him he looked like Clark Kent.  To end we had a foul shooting contest and if you made the shot you won a tee shirt.  The kids loved this and cheered as everyone shot.  Leaving was hard and we made some great friends and really learned what it meant to just show love and get love in return.

We arrived home tired and dirty.  We played a highly competitive game of spoons while Jerimiah supposedly beat Amy in ping pong.  We had a pizza party for dinner and listened to devotions from David (one of the leaders from Panama on our trip).  After dinner, under the supervision of Coach Van Pelt we did a push-up and sit-up workout (what else would athletes be doing on their down time).  It was a card game with the lowest card played having to do pushups.  Poor Meg and John since I don't think they won a game the whole time.  Tomorrow we will most likely be sore. 

It was a great experiance getting to meet the people down here and get our feet wet as to interacting with everyone and our group is growing closer and closer and the days go on.  I feel fortunate to get to spend a week with everyone here, I can only imagine what God has in store for us.

--Kira