Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement! Please continue to pray for Panama:

1) Continue to pray for Celso and Nina as they work together in a ministry that is effective but tough at times. Pray for encouragment and renewal as they seek the Lord.

2) The houses where we stayed during our trip are located right next to Cresta del Mar, and are a great resource for the ministry that happens there. Unfortunately, these houses are up for sale and Cresta del Mar is praying that they will be able to either purchase the houses through investors, that the sale would be put off, or that whoever purchases the property would be supportive of the ministry at Cresta del Mar. Please join us in praying these things for the camp!

3) Pray that the students and families that came through camp while we were there continue to seek the Lord and grow in their relationship with Him. The youth that attended camp during the week will have the opportunity to attend again with their families in January- please pray for receptive hearts and the leaders of the church as they prepare for this ministry!

Debi and Dreux meeting and sharing with some teens who were at family camp by themselves.

This morning we had the opportunity to join the families for an object lesson and speaker session (which was especially interesting given our rudimentary grasp of Spanish). The activity involved two teams, each choosing a representative to be their “king.”  The king has the authority to ask for objects from his “subjects,” and they must comply within a minute. Whichever king has the most objects “wins” the activity. The speaker reminded us that, as believers, we must be willing to offer to our King whatever He calls us to give. Each team’s “king” called for gifts of shoes, backpacks, or raincoats. God calls us to sacrifice, to put other’s needs before our own, to leave our comfort zones to follow Him. Are we willing and ready to offer our lives to God?

This lesson was good for us today as we prepared ourselves to offer to God the best of our service and ministry. We did not anticipate that today’s service would involve very little “dirty work.” As we become used to washing dishes and “working,” it’s easy to forget that sometimes our service takes the form of building relationships. Today we were put in charge of planning and playing games with the children. Last night we planned relay games and group activities, and this morning we gathered everything we needed to make the games successful. When the children arrived, however, our plans were thrown out the window. The kids just wanted to play with us! Instead of organized games, they were just as happy kicking a soccer ball inside the dining hall, coloring pictures at the table, playing ping-pong, and talking in broken Spanish. As we struggled to feel “useful,” we had to remind ourselves that our usefulness in the kingdom is not based on what we do, but on relationships that are created as we serve the Lord.

Ellie made friend with Ana, the cutest little girl ever.

Tomorrow afternoon we will finish up this family camp, then head to Panama City in preparation for Monday’s departure. Thank you for your continued prayers as we finish this week strong!

Singing "Joe's Button Factory" in Spanish! Score!

Ellie and our new friend Fe.

In today’s team devotional time, the Hamiltons shared about the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandment. Tatyana has a special connection with missions, as she came to Christ through the ministry of an American missionary while she was living in the Ukraine. We’re all fulfilling the Great Commission while here in Panama, and it’s a blessing to be a part of the Gospel work going on here. We may not be directly witnessing to the students, but we’re spreading God’s Word through our speech and actions. And for that to take root and be an effective and authentic ministry, we must have love! Without it, all of our efforts would be only a “resounding gong or clanging cymbal” (I Cor. 13). We’ve all been learning and practicing what it looks like to love others with Christ’s love.

The whole youth group and our team. We'll miss them!

Our team enjoyed a few hours of downtime (naps! the beach!) before the next group arrived. We greeted the bus with another jumping welcome, and were glad to see it chock full of smiling faces. We were told to expect a family camp group of 40-60; the actual group is mostly kids (some younger than 11 and some teens) and some mothers. There isn’t a dad to be found in the group, which is heartbreaking and a reflection of what Robert told us earlier about these kids being from broken or dysfunctional homes. But they arrived VERY excited about camp, and it was contagious! It was great to see our team jump right into serving and building connections with them. We’re looking forward to interacting with a whole new group, sharing Christ’s love. Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

These are the awesome steps that we get to climb every day to get to and from camp.

Trevor is ready to serve salchichas!

After breakfast, our Pine Cove team organized a “rally” – a relay-style series of teamwork-driven events that each group attempted to complete in the shortest possible time. We really enjoyed running the events, encouraging the students’ teamwork, and joining in the general hilarity and friendly chaos.

The Bons led us in our team devotional time today, and they shared on the topic of sheep and shepherds. In a game last night, campers had to find people hidden in the pitch-black campground by listening for and following the sounds that they were making. The powerful correlation with Scripture is that we as believers must listen to and follow our Good Shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:11 promises that the Sovereign Lord will search for, find, and rescue his sheep, meeting their every need. God himself tends to us, taking care of the needy. On the other hand, the Lord also promises to deal with the fat and prideful sheep by “feeding them justice”. What a great reminder of how much we need Jesus, who accepted the punishment and justice that we as straying sheep deserve, and calls us each by name (John 10).

The campers wrapped up the day with praise and worship, followed by a crazy game of capture the flag. It was raining, so the campfire was postponed, but everyone was grateful for a slightly earlier bedtime! We’re off to sleep as well – thanks for your support and prayers! Tomorrow the kids leave and a new set of family campers arrive. We’re looking forward to it!

Ready for water balloons!

Coggin, Trevor, and Hannah serving dinner.

Youth camp started today! After a few days of preparation and rest, our first group of the week arrived this morning at 9:30. The youth attending camp this week are from a Christian school outside of Panama City, though many of the students are not Christians. The pastor of the church that sponsors the school brought 63 middle school students, along with their own counselors and support staff. As the bus pulled into camp, we welcomed them “Pine Cove style” by jumping and going crazy, letting the campers know how excited we are to have them here. After helping campers find their cabins, we jumped right into their first activity: tie-dying t-shirts! Autumn Dawn translated for the group, then the rest of our team got to work demonstrating for each cabin how to rubber-band and dye the shirts. This was a fun opportunity for us to use our choppy Spanish to interact with campers that we will see and play with for the next two days. After tie-dying, we prepared, served, and cleaned up from lunch. We even got to shuck the corn and peel the yucca that we collected yesterday!

Debi loved greeting the kids as they exited the bus.

 

It's tie-dye madness!

During our team devotional time, Autumn Dawn, Coggin, and Ellie reminded us of yesterday’s trek to the yucca field. It surprised all of us to find that the yucca plants were so easy to dig up, despite their tall bush. We also  had no idea that such a flimsy-looking plant would yield such big roots! The Galbreaths led us to  Proverbs 12:1-3, which tells us that the righteous cannot be uprooted. Ephesians 3:14-21 reminds us that if we are “rooted and established in love,” then we will be able to grasp the power and great love of God. When we begin to understand the fullness of God’s love, then we can share it and demonstrate it more effectively, both on the mission field and back at home. Our desire is that God’s love would be made known to the campers and staff here at camp, whether we speak the same language or not!

Our team loved getting to know the campers and staff today as we played with them, attempted conversation, sang silly songs in Spanish, and hid around camp for them to find us in tonight’s night game. Tomorrow starts early for us, but we are excited about more opportunities to serve “with the strength that God provides” (1 Peter 4:11)!

The Bons are working on the fruit of yesterday's labor (corn and yucca!).

The theme for the session is “Hitos”, which is the equivalent of a mile marker on a highway. It represents a mark, a goal, something along a defined path. The camp’s vision is for campers to “set a mark” in their lives, the equivalent of “putting a stake in the ground” for Christ. They want campers to set goals for their lives and relationship with Christ, and to know where they are going. The marks will be tangibly represented by small wooden “tokens” or medallions which represent various character traits or practices of the Christian life that they will encourage the campers display over the course of the session. As campers and cabins successfully demonstrate the trait in question (e.g. “community”), they will receive the “hito” for that. There are three “hitos” that each camper will be awarded. For you Towers veterans, it’s a similar concept to the Cedar Medallions that each camper receives.

Robert shared with us that the camp’s key verse for the session is Ephesians 5:16, which commands believers to “make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Cresta Del Mar wants to absolutely make the most of every opportunity they have to share and demonstrate Christ’s love to these campers in the three short days they have with them. It’s a great reminder for our team as well, to make the most of every opportunity we have in the five short days we have left here.

Robert shared with us that recreation is largely not a part of the culture in Panama or Latin America in general once childhood is left behind. It’s work, work, work, with very little rest or recharging. For many people, it’s an issue of resources or a preoccupation with materialism, and they live day-to-day while working constantly to support themselves and their families, or to buy what they want. At any rate, “fun” is not a frequently utilized tool. As we at Pine Cove can attest, recreation, camping, and fun in general can serve as incredibly powerful tools in building relationships and allowing the Gospel to penetrate hearts and lives. Cresta Del Mar exists to provide an avenue for fun that leads to Christ. What a great opportunity to share in that vision!

Speaking of fun, we definitely got to have some today! We left mid-morning to tour a rice processing facility in Aguadulce. Rice is a significant part of Panama’s diet and economy. The facility’s manager is a friend of Robert’s and was at camp with the group that left yesterday. He generously allowed one of his employees to walk us through the factory and explain the function of the various machines and processing steps. Autumn Dawn was our translator, and did a great job of taking the Spanish manufacturing explanation and turning it into something we could all understand. After lunch, we headed to a farm owned by the camp’s head of maintenance, and got our hands dirty by harvesting corn and yucca that the campers will eat.

Tomorrow brings the campers! We’re excited (though we have a few jitters) and are definitely ready to see what God has in store for us and the kids. Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

Tetyana, Debi, and Autumn Dawn are ready to see some rice!

Luke, Ellie, and Dreux ready to harvest some corn and yucca!

 

Luke and Emily digging up yucca- and Luke won.

Autumn Dawn in the boss of the yucca plant!

 

Buenos dias! Today was our first toursim day, and it was packed with fun and fellowship. Our first stop was the Panama Canal, where we watched ships pass through the locks and learned about the history of the canal via video and a museum tour. Following the tour, Robert Bruneau, the director of CCI Latin America, lead our group on a tour through Old Panama and its new developments while sharing with us the colorful history of the country. Here are some highlights from today’s trip!

The Panama Canal!

Our view from lunch.

Debi and Autumn Dawn making homemade potato salad.

 

By God’s grace our entire team arrived in Panama Saturday evening with every piece of luggage! This is a minor miracle for certain travel in Latin America, and is a welcome departure from our lost baggage woes on a couple of One:8 trips last year. Our team met up in Houston and flew down together to Panama City, where we were picked up by our ministry partners on the ground and taken to Cresta Del Mar Camp, a Christian camp and retreat center in Santa Clara, a couple of hours outside of Panama City. We’ll be serving there for the week.

Our team of 12 is made up of two Pine Cove staff alumni leaders, myself (Luke “Wok n Wo” Friesen) and Emily “Click it or Ticket” Greer, as well as three families:
- Dreaux and Debi Bon, with their two sons, Travis and Trevor, and daughter, Tara
- Autumn Dawn Galbreath, with her son, Coggin, and daughter, Ellie
- Tatyana Hamilton, with her daughter, Angela

Our ministry partners are Robert Bruneau and his wife, Nina. Robert is the director of Christian Camping International (CCI) Latin America. They are visiting camp this week as well. We’re also working directly with the camp’s director, Celso, and his wife, Nina.

As an added bonus, Hannah Zandstra is also at camp serving as the Bruneau’s nanny for a couple of weeks. She was here before us and will be staying after we leave. It’s great to have her here as well!

Sunday presented a great opportunity for our team to jump in with both feet! It was the last day of a three-day church retreat, and we were able to serve in meal prep and cleanup, as well as run the morning’s childrens’ activities and games. I had to laugh as were introduced to the group – apparently it’s common for visiting teams to have a cultural skit or song prepared to share (we didn’t). Tatyana did a great job of singing the classic Christian song “God is So Good” in Russian, and we followed up with a couple verses in English. Bravo, Pine Cove choir!

The next couple of days will be a unique opportunity for our team to learn more about the history and culture of Panama. We have two days before the next camp group arrives, so we’ll be taking in some sights (of course the Panama Canal, the source of everyone’s favorite palindrome) and touring around with Robert and Nina.

Wednesday will bring a group of ~70 teenagers for a two and a half day session. Our team will be helping with the classic kitchen and cleanup duties, as well as helping facilitate parts of the camp’s program. Friday afternoon through Sunday is a family camp, and our responsibilities will be similar. Our team’s desire is to be an encouragement to our local brothers and sisters in Christ, and to serve them in any way needed. Robert’s vision is for our ministry to directly support and enable the sharing of the Gospel with teens and families, and we are 100% behind that!

Sunday evening Robert shared three primary prayer requests or our team to bring before the Lord, and we would love it if you would join us!

1) Pray for Celso and Nina as they execute the camp’s administration throughout the summer and remainder of the year. They are a couple in ministry together, managing all of the camp’s finances, programs, and operations. It’s more than a full time job. Robert made the point that it’s easy for camp directors to feel isolated even in the midst of all the hubbub of camp. Please pray for the camp’s smooth operation, as well as for Celso and Nina to experience the support of their Christian community (including us!).

2) Pray for the teens who will be arriving on Wednesday. Robert said that about 40% come from divorced homes, and the remainder come from homes with dysfunctional marriages. Pray that they would come to Christ, and experience God as a loving Father. Please also pray for God to work in those many hurting marriages.

3) Pray for the families who will be arriving on Friday. Robert said that they will be coming from the Atlantic (Caribbean) side of Panama, and are largely non-believers from difficult low-income circumstances. Many of the families do not know what love looks like. Robert made the point to our team that these are people who have been told about Christ many times, and “they want to see Him in you”. Please pray that our team is able to love on these families and act as Christ’s hands and feet to them, and also show them God’s love by how we treat one another.

Well, my thumbs are cramping so that’s it for today! We plan to post daily updates from here on out if possible, so keep checking in on us! We are so grateful for all your love, prayers, and support.

Luke, for Emily and the rest of the team

This trip to Panama will be an exciting experience as we work alongside the staff of Cresta del Mar, a Christian camp right on the beach and approximately 2 hours from Panama City. While we are there we will work behind the scenes as we help set up for and clean up meals and work around the grounds. We will also have the opportunity to jump in with the local team and campers in their planned camp activities and, of course, impromptu fun during free time!

Please pray for us as we embark on our journey this Saturday. We are praying for safe and smooth travel, as well as a continued sense of unity and purpose as we seek to glorify the Lord in Panama. Thank you for your prayers, and we will see you next in Panama!

Come and Go with us. Pine Cove is a trusted place where you can come and experience God in a fun and relevant way. Now we want you to Go with us around the globe to experience God in new ways. Your family’s heart will grow in your mission and discipleship on these 8 day mission trips.

Experience God using your family to be His hands and feet to love others. Each trip includes hands on cross cultural ministry that will change your family’s perspective on life. In addition there are several planned excursions to experience the local cultural sites and highlights of the region.