Monday, March 21, 2011


These past few days have been a whirlwind of emotions, from excitement to feeling overwhelmed! We are getting thrown into teaching faster than usual because of our short time here, this can feel very overwhelming especially right at the beginning. I’m trying to take it a day at a time so that I can enjoy each moment. I have been spending sometime writing lesson plans in the backyard hammock so I really can’t complain too much. : ) Although I find that I am easily distracted by looking for monkeys or sloths in the trees surrounding me. Friday night we went to a music festival in a local park. There were hundreds of people there and it was so awesome to get a taste of Panamanian culture. There was singing and dancing and a lot of music! So much fun! The moon was exceptionally bright and I kept thinking how perfect the night was. The next night Manuel and Nubia (my host parents) and Diana(their 11 year old daughter) and I went out to dinner for Panamanian food. The food was great and the conversation even better! We sat around and talked the whole time about everything from the education system, how to improve the education system (My profs would be so proud), different cultures and countries we have been to, church planting (My dad would be so proud), Christian education and its pro’s and con’s and how our worldview as Christians should effect everything we do. I love fellowshipping with fellow believers, especially when they live around the world. It reminded me how strong the bond of brothers and sisters in Christ is. We live thousands of miles apart, yet we have the same goal of spreading the word of God and encouraging one another. Poor Diana may have been bored out of her mind but it was encouraging for me! On Sunday we went to church at Crossroads (Where I teach) and again I was amazed to see the various cultures and nationalities that surrounded me, all praising and worshipping the same God! That afternoon we went to the causeway, which is a road that connects three islands off the coast. The road was made with the dirt that came from the Panama Canal when it was being built. You can ride your bike, rollerblade and walk on this road. That day was a kite festival going which was so much fun! There were hundreds of Kites filling the sky and I almost filled my memory card trying to capture every moment. We were able to walk down to the entrance of the canal and watch ships come in and out. These are the moments that excite me, when I realize that I just experienced something that I may never experience again.

Today was my first day teaching at Crossroads, it went better than I thought it would! This class is bigger than my last placement and love to talk! They are very sweet and were so excited for me to start teaching. They kept asking on Friday “What are you going to teach us?? When are you going to talk??” I have a feeling they will get tired of me talking pretty quickly, even I get tired of hearing myself talk all day! I taught Bible and spelling and both went well. Some exciting news is that a little girl in my class accepted Jesus as her Savior in class Friday! This truly makes me excited to be here at Crossroads. Many of the students do not come from Christian homes. Parents here so badly want their children to fluently speak English that sending them to this school is very appealing. It does not matter if it is a Christian school and they are Catholic (which most of them are). This means that Crossroads has a huge mission field, which they are taking full advantage of! Pray that more students will come to understand what is being taught here and know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Great things are happening and I am so excited to be a small part of it!

5 comments:

  1. Looks like you are doing great! Keep the updates coming :-)

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  2. So excited for you Danielle. My heart is full of joy as I read your post today. Praying for you daily! Love the pic of you doing lesson plans in the hammock! See any monkeys yet?! Love you!

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  3. Thanks for these updates Danielle. I'm excited to watch what God does in you and in the lives of the people you are ministering to. Stay strong!

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  4. Love reading your blog Danielle! Miss you!

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  5. Awesome Danielle! I finally got a chance to read your posts! Miss you so much! It's so exciting to see all that you are doing and learning! Keep pressing on girl! Love you!

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