Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Colleen

As some of you are celebrating Independence day, may we also reflect and celebrate the freedom we have in Christ! Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name ; you are mine. -Isaiah 43:1 This verse brings me great joy as I know that God created me for a purpose.  I am His creation wonderfully and beautifully made…(Psalm 139:14 ) Praise God for His enduring love!

We came to the city last weekend and are settling into our temporary home which is located near the hospital we will be using for the birth of our baby! It all is becoming real now, as I have washed baby clothes, and have my hospital bags packed! This last month has been a bit tougher physically. With swollen feet, and the added weight of baby belly, I am not as active as I used to be! Alan also has been experiencing back trouble, which he has intermittently with a disc problem. Kalea is doing wonderful! She is excited about her new brother coming, and now has the opportunity to ride her bicycle daily where we are staying.

This is not photoshopped! Alan having fun with putting our puppy Samson in Kalea´s basket!

Prayer Requests

Would you please pray for our health and strength and wisdom as parents. Pray that we would not encounter typical Panama traffic when time comes for us to give birth, and prayers for a healthy labor and delivery!

Pray for our team here in Panama as they receive a group this week from Canada. May they bless and be blessed as they serve alongside our Wounaan brothers and sisters.

Pray for rain! We should be in our ¨winter¨months now here in Panamá, which means it is the wet season. There has been little to no rain. At this time, materials for water projects cannot be brought up river to communities as the rivers are low and the weight of the materials cannot travel.

Kalea being a big helper while at a baby shower hosted in SC during our visit last month. Thanks Bethel Baptist!

Howdy faithful readers, supporters, and prayer warriors!!!

We have been so encouraged these past couple months! Anthony and Rachael Burchett of Solea Water and Ben Goodman of Village Rights International visited us and traveled with us up the Membrillo River where 3 communities are selling avocados to collaborate with us and get clean water in their homes. That´s right!! Similar to the widow that told Elisha “I´ve got nothing in the house… except a little oil,” we often face something more oppresive than poverty… that is, the poverty mentality. Although our indigenous brothers and sisters have been told for generations that they are poor, it is quite possible to break that cycle, giving them dignity and helping them help themselves to meet their needs. After 5 failed projects over many years, Sinaí now has water!!! Canaan and Mach Pobor are not far behind. Thank for you being part of the team and allowing us the privilege of working with all these special people. Check out the video below to see a little of the action.

Speaking of poverty, we have bounced our first check, so to speak, with MB Mission. We spent money that was in the budget. Unfortunately, it was not in the bank. The good news is that we have achieved permanent residency, the cheapest long term solution to mission work here, and will avoid all future expenses for visas. The bad news is that it left us with a deficit of over $6k with MB Mission. Don´t worry. They are still giving us lunch money, but if we can´t catch up, we could be asked to leave the field to raise support. We invite you to pray about helping us meet that need by contributing to our project through MB Mission.

At the top of our webpage you can see José Gaitan´s aged hands weaving a basket. If you scroll down, you can see half of his smiling face. Señor José was first our neighbor; his son, Pastor Justo, being one of the main reasons we decided to build in Catrigandí. For a while Señor José was my roommate in our home while I built and Colleen was back in the States.. While we were still lighting our way with candles, I came home to find him asleep with the snub of a candle burning ever closer to the block of wood that it sat upon. I was grateful that I decided to come home a day early and decided the time had come for our first solar panel. José marveled and laughed at the switch and the ensuing glow of the bulb. It was so fun to see his reaction (and such an improvement over candles or kerosene) that we´ve made solar lighting a bit of a sideline project, having now installed simple systems for 2 elderly couples and 2 families. José´s grandchildren finished high school this past year, so he, his son, and his daughter-in-law decided to return to their family land in a very remote scattering of farms called “6 nickels” while the children board in town to continue their studies. It is far, but most of the distance can be covered by an equipped 4×4 in the dry season. So I decided to go and take a blessing to the family that has been such a blessing to us.

Perhaps you could spend an evening, an hour, or even 5 minutes in candlelight or lamplight to help your kids understand how most of the world lives. It may be “enlightening”!!! “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” Psalm 18:28

Bendiciones!

It is the peak of summer in Panama. Everybody is busy. The dry season allows tractors to cut dirt roads into faraway places. Products come out, like wood and fruits, products go in, like dry goods and anything else you can possibly sell to someone who has just gotten their hands on the most cash they´ll see all year. For certain relatively impoverished communities, this creates a juggernaut challenge of financial stewardship. Compared with their typical monthly income, summer might be something like winning the lottery.

Our most recent excursion took us to Sinaí and Canaan, named after the biblical locations, on the Membrillo River in Darién. The river is beautiful for bathing, but I wouldn´t recommend you drink the water. They wouldn´t drink it either, if they had a choice. Fortunately, they do! These two communities have most of their infrastructure (tanks, tubing, solar panels, etc) from previous projects. Sinaí lacks a water source (you can´t use the river directly because floods will wash anything away) and Canaan lacks a pump (theirs broke due to silting in the well along with inadequate filtration). Through presentations, dialogue, and collaboration, we´ve convinced these communities to raise money through their summer avocado sells to purchase everything needed to get their systems working. This is an awesome achievement for communities that have suffered the repercussions of a paternalistic history of failed projects! It is also an inroad to talk about stewardship, cooperation, and the love that God has for all of us. Have a blessed summer (or winter) wherever you are!!!

This past month, we have done a lot of traveling, and are preparing to hit the road again this coming week! We received and hosted a film team from the MB Mission office in California for two weeks. They will publish a film on the testimony of Giovany Peña and how God has been working in his life. They also had the opportunity to film the Zuluaga´s and ourselves in action…so more of that to come in the future. Through all of this, the team seeks to give all of the glory to God as they reveal through videos how He is working through the lives of others. We felt blessed to share time with the guys.

Don Warkentin, Alan, Giovany, and John Ervin in Majé Chimán taking a break from filming to pray

Alan did an inspection of the water system in Majé Chimán…

… getting GPS coordinates in a creek bed. We are working with Engineers Without Borders, U of Missouri, to help Majé achieve their goals in potable water.

Girlesa and Einer hosted a youth convention in Yaviza…

Kalea, Alan, Colleen, Gabriel, Girlesa, Einer

Kalea started Kindergarten and is hungry to learn! She loves art, and enjoys taking pictures, so it was really nice for her to get the chance to observe the video crew here in action. We give praises to God and thank you all for your prayers as we have had been staying healthy with all of our traveling, and our little baby boy is growing healthy too!

Don Warkentin, Alan, John Ervin, John-Mark Bergen, and Kalea

Some of my greatest memories from childhood and earliest, are that of being soothed by my mother singing to me as she cradled me in her lap and rocked me. She was there when I was sick, or couldn´t sleep. She was there to encourage me along the way, in all of life´s challenges.

As a parent, we have a privilege, a certain understanding of that unconditional, unfailing, love. From the very moment your baby comes into the world, the raw amazement and glorious wonder of a God that allows us to share in such beautiful love.

If we know the true living God, we know that this is what He wants for us. He longs to nurture us and sooth us with His love.

We are excited to share with you that He has granted us as parents another gift.  We are expecting! Our little Kalea will have her baby brother around July 31^st. We ask that you would pray for us for continued good health as we travel and work here in Panamá.

By Colleen

So I had two big cultural experiences within the past two weeks. A nearby church had donated us their bus in order for us to take a field trip with the public school in our community Catrigandí. This is the school where I have been volunteering my time teaching English. We decided to go to the zoo which is on the other side of the city from where we live. About a 3 hour trip. The kids, teachers, and parents were very excited. In total there were about 50 that went on the trip.

We never could gather everyone for a photo as everyone was so excited to get moving!

Highlight of the trip: Seeing a school bus full of children look out the windows in amazement at the airplanes as we neared the airport outside of Panama City. I had forgotten that living out in the countryside where we are there is only an occasional helicopter. I was thankful to be part of this experience, knowing, that for some of these children, they have never traveled so far in their own country.

Trying to catch a peek at the airplane.

All in all, it was a successful trip even with occasional chaos of kids running ahead of the group! Happy kids!

Two days later, there was a graduation ceremony for the sixth graders, as December is the end of the Panamanian school year. For some of the uprising seventh graders, they have a choice between two schools to finish out the rest of their schooling through Highschool depending on their house location. For some, like my neighbor Elena, they are contemplating moving closer to the road for the convenience of Carlos having an easier time traveling to school. Otherwise, if they stay, Carlos will have to walk a 35 minute walk out as early as 5 or 6 in the morning just to wait and catch a bus to school. We will greatly miss our dear friends if they move! Please pray for their family as the discern this next big step!

Elena and Carlos

Highlight of graduation: Getting to witness my neighbor and friend Elena see her son Carlos graduate. Some adults in the area have not had the privilege of completing a primary school education. What a proud moment to witness the seven graduates of our small rural community!

(Alena is the mother of Luris, one of Kalea´s mejor amigas!)

Kalea and Luris experiencing the zoo together.

By Colleen

How the time has gotten away from us! We have been keeping busy between working away at our house and leaving to go to a missionary conference on the other side of the city with MB Mission. We have enjoyed the time in sharing with other missionaries from other parts of Latin America. It was a time of sharing, listening, laughing, crying and feeling refreshed with our friends…some new, and some old!

Some of the Wounaan Church Leaders participated in our final ceremony with MB Mission during the Latin American Conference.

Getting to know some missionaries serving in Mexico and Peru. Lovely Women!

Feeling refreshed with the words….” But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” Job 36:15-16

I suffered with anxiety and depression for almost a year in regards to my health. At times I felt defeated. These words were a reminder and a truth that I needed to hear in order to have closure and to speak against the wicked lies that I was consumed with in regards to my health. How great and freeing is it to be under the promises of God. Praise God for all of the healing he has done!

I now have that invitation to a spacious place and really feel that He has put a table with much abundance in front of me. I thank God for His blessings and pray the same for you that you would be encouraged to think about the great food he has put before you. For me the food is all of the great opportunities He has put before me. Not to be overwhelmed, but to try and focus on what God is calling me to.

Please pray for our team members Einer and Girlesa Zuluaga. Einer is scheduled to have surgery in December and are currently in Colombia.

Howdy from immigration!

We’re trying to get our visa. Please pray that it goes well. We are grateful that Kalea makes herself at home with other kids in unlikely places.

Things are moving fast here at the end of the road,  Yaviza. New partners and renewed vision has breathed life into this church-owned property,  and it feels somewhat like being part of a winning sports team marching towards the championship.  One of the big “games” that we are determined to win is the aforementioned radio station to be operated here on-site by the Emberá and Wounaan. The initial study has been conducted by Avant ministries and the light is green,  the equipment has been donated and awaits us in Canada,  groups have committed to helping with the construction of the necessary infrastructure to house the equipment and people operating the station,  we’ve even been given the verbal go-ahead from the director of Panama’s equivalent to the Federal Communications Commission and promised the license.  The only remaining step is to comply with the requirement to conduct a formal technical study by a Panamanian engineer and complete the relevant documentation.  While this task normally costs upwards of $5,000 plus legal fees, a compassionate professional has offered to do the job for $2,000,  the remaining legal paperwork costing about $1,000. So… Without further adieu… We are asking if you might be called to financially support in part or full this last,  big step towards accomplishing the long-standing goal of operating a radio station by and for the people in the rural communities surrounding Yaviza. Are you called to be part of this?  We invite you to pray about it.  Donations can be made directly to the project through Mb Mission here: Yaviza Camp Please be sure to let us know so it can be earmarked for the radio.

Blessings