Monthly Archives: July 2013

throwing children into the river! I think there were 25 lined up waiting their turn.

Trip to Platanares

We´ve recently accompanied a group of 10 talented, loving, Spirit-filled folks from Canada over a span of two weeks… over highways, byways, rivers, and ocean. We enjoyed seeing them bless the communities they visited, encouraging the churches, sharing testimonies, songs, and laughter with the people they encountered. This has been an encouragement to us with regard to the impact of short term missions and how God can use our efforts and willingness to go wherever He leads.

Back to our House

coloring with Luris at our home in Catrigandí

We are getting settled (sort of) back into our house in Catrigandí. Kalea is integrating and adapting better than we ever imagined, and she has showed a willingness to try new languages, foods, and is making friends everywhere she goes. Colleen makes a small attempt to hide her disgust when Kalea sees the fresh, fried fish and politely requests the eyeballs to start her dinner. I guess it goes to show that taste is also a matter of perspective and a learned behavior like so many other things.

Off to Yaviza

We will be heading back to Yaviza soon to accompany Pastor Einer´s wife, Girlesa, and their 2 adopted children while he goes to Colombia for gall bladder surgery. I will likely make a couple of community visits while Colleen and Kalea remain in Yaviza. Please pray for Einer´s health as well as our safety and sanity. All the traveling can be exhausting and none of us enjoy being apart from our families.

Peace and Health,

Los Fosters

The day before leaving SC to come to Panama, we were asked a poignant question in Sunday school, “How can a person run to church and at the same time away from God?” Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan immediately came to mind. Although the text doesn’t explicitly state it, chances are that either the priest or the Levite that passed the beaten fellow that day were literally going to “church”, that is, their temple, while leaving another human being to die. The ensuing discussion which followed that question produced a statistic: only 20 % of churchgoers are Christians. Myself being rather fond of numbers, and having personally given up on quantifying salvation, I listened curiously for what would qualify the 20%, hoping to be in that number. Faithful church attendance, regular Bible reading, and tithing were mentioned, and I couldn’t decipher if there was more. Trying to aggregate this new information with the story of the Good Samaritan was giving me a mental cramp. Jesus speaks often of the religious people of his day, saying things such as “they like the chief seats in the synagogue” (Matt. 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46), “they study the scriptures diligently” (John 5:39) and fruitlessly, and when Jesus mentions tithing, it is always to rebuke the religious leaders of his day. It would seem that we get little or no celestial treasure for church attendance, Bible reading, and perhaps even tithing. Of course, I don´t intend to discourage these practices in the least, which have been handed down to us to help us draw nearer to God and each other. I only intend to remind myself that my measuring stick is inadequate and that every person has been created in God´s image and has the potential to carry His Spirit. God works through people that are not even in the church, and I may only be able to take part in what He is doing to the extent that I can recognize His hand.

We´re off to a whirlwind of a start here, accompanying the team from Forest Grove Community Church. Their actions and attitudes thus far have been an inspiration to us and to the people we´ve visited. Thank you for praying for us and for this team. We´ve had a little setback in the bowels department, so the team has continued upriver to Vista Alegre while we wait in Yaviza for our guts to work properly again. Thanks again for your prayers.

Amor de Cristo,

Los Fosters

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhhx0Wqbhwo&rel=0]