Messiah College AROMA Panama

Today was a Sunday like none other. Instead of a typical Sunday morning church service we had church on the bus. We were on our way to a village far away because they asked our group to come play some volleyball with them. During this two and a half hour bus ride we heard testimonies from two of our team members, had a devotion, and finished with some worship. Even before we stepped off the bus today we were feeling blessed to hear the promises of God. We were reminded that we are not only children of God, but also heirs to the throne. This was the energizer we needed in order to spend the day pouring ourselves out into others.
Once we arrived we were greeted by hugs and kisses from many of the villagers. We made our way over to a central location where the food was cooking! A few of the girls helped with the cooking along side of the village woman. Once we finished  I looked out and saw my team dispersed throughout the village. Some were playing basketball, some were playing fútbol, others were handing out stickers, while a group was "speaking" to the locals. The team was spread out sharing the love of God not through our words but rather through our actions.
Two of the girls on the team had the opportunity to visit another part of the village about two minutes away to visit a woman who had just recently had a baby. The difference between these two areas were incomparable. The children were running around with close to nothing on and these people were living in grass huts. Seeing people live in these conditions has burdened our team for the people of Panama. When they returned to the other part of the village it was time for lunch.
After we scarfed down the lunch of chicken and rice that the women prepared for us, many of us started a mini volleyball tournament with some villagers. They seemed to really enjoy the sport of volleyball and were excited to see that we wanted to compete with them. During the tournament some of the younger children were running and around and playing with the goodies we brought for them.
Tournament play ended around 3:30 and transitioned  into a small time of closing fellowship with the village people. We introduced ourselves, heard a testimony from one of our team members, and received blessing from a man in the village after hearing his heart warming story of spiritual transformation. We finished with a prayer  and started on our long bus ride back to Cass Paraiso with heavy hearts for these people.

When we arrived at Casa Paraiso we enjoyed nice hot showers (well, most of us), a  big pizza dinner and a time of fellowship. Of course we ended the night with a little bit of ping pong and a game of signs. tomorrow we will be switching things up a bit and working along side of the collaboratory from Messiah College. As we head to bed we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow and the rest of our time here. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, God is hard at work here in Panama!