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Dec/Jan Extreme Panama Praise Report Vol 3

e3's main mission is church planting by Equipping believers to Evangelize the lost so that we can Establish new churches. We are not a construction ministry or a humanitarian aid ministry, but we will utilize these ways of outreach in specific areas if it helps the main mission of planting a church. On this trip we had no set agenda to provide physically for the Ngobe people, but the Lord showed us the need, and gave us the resources to provide a meal, and a New Year's Celebration party (including pinatas)! This really opened up the hearts of the Ngobe people, especially the parents who saw us taking care of their kids and providing a fun time for them.

One of my team saw first hand how a little compassion can open someone's heart to listen...

"I joined the national leader [Moises Vega] and we wandered off into the village where we encountered a small boy trying to collect sun-drying cocoa beans before it rained. We helped him while unknowingly his mother watched. Impressed by our act of kindness, she invited us to her hut and shared some local cuisine with us. We planted the seed of friendship and invited the family to our main site the next day. She appeared the next day and I had the opportunity to share the EvangeCube [a tool used to share the Gospel] with her. I later saw her name on a tract, indicating a profession of faith in Jesus Christ."

Dec/Jan Extreme Panama Praise Report Vol 2

What a cool team the Lord provided for this trip! Only one had gone on a e3 trip before! 3 were from my home church, one of those from my personal community group, which was very cool! Two found the trip through the internet after hearing about e3 by word of mouth. The one veteran e3 person recruited two people from her area. It was neat to see how the Lord binded us together as a team! Even the Panamanian translators were from different parts of Panama, but we were all unified in the Body of Christ.

The Lord directed which people should go to which site and which translator should work with which N. American. And even though there were struggles along the way and things did not always go the way we thought they should. He was in control and grew us through our trials, and in our weakness He was strong!

The ground was hard in some of these areas, but seeds were planted. One of the cool stories I heard was of a women that was visited. They talked with her and shared with her about Jesus and they asked her if she wanted to pray to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior, but the whole time they were talking she was expressionless. She did not respond to them at all and so they left. A short time later after they had headed back to their campsite this lady came to the edge of the campsite and said, "I want to pray to receive Jesus!" You cannot always see the kind of impact the message of Christ is making on someone, but as Isaiah 55:11 says, "...my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

There is also much power in the prayers of God's people as witnessed by one of my team...

"Juselino (Panamanian site leader) called Orluis (Ngobe translator) and I (Andy - N. American) up to put our hands on and pray for a man who was having trouble putting his faith in Jesus for a number of reasons. When we all began praying, the walls came down and he accepted the Lord. Seeing the power of prayer and a man's heart change because of the Holy Spirit and prayer was amazing. God was right there in everyone's heart. The smile on his face showed God was in his heart as well."

Dec/Jan Extreme Panama Praise Report Vol 1

I took a team of 9 North Americans to Panama on Dec 27, 2009 - Jan 4, 2010. We went into the Bocas del Torro region of Panama to work in three different jungle villages of Ngobe people. The three villages, Monte Lirio, Barranquilla, and Guabal, did not have a church. In fact only Monte Lirio had been visited by a team before (a year ago). This was ground breaking work for the Kingdom of God. Although as you know the Lord went before us and paved the way. We found in each village persons of peace to help us establish a new church in their village. Many of the Ngobe people are hungry to know more about God and His Word. Many had never heard about God before. Some responded quickly to the Good News while others will need more time to process this new information before the Lord opens up the eyes of their hearts.

We were able to share the Gospel 210 times to people in their houses, and another 1,001 times to people in group settings (children's meetings and evening meetings)! Praise the Lord! God then opened up the eyes of 93 individuals who prayed to receive Him as their personal Lord and Savior! Thank you Lord for letting us be a part in your plan! Please pray for these people, their follow-up, and discipleship.

In order to give you a glimpse into the people behind these numbers, I would like to share with you over the next few days some stories from the N. Americans on my team. This first story is from a young man. This was his first mission trip, in fact this was his first time even setting foot on an airplane...

" The greatest memory I had was the first time I presented the EvangeCube (a Gospel presentation tool). God allowed me to be calm and think clearly. The man I was talking to seemed like he was really trying to grasp what I was telling him. After I had finished, the man told me he wanted to be saved and I was just amazed at how easy God made it for me to lead him to Christ. It made me start to wonder what had been holding me back from sharing the Gospel earlier in my life."