Wonderful Sabbath at vbs location

We had a great sabbath worship at the church where we conducted vbs during the week. Pastor Jonathan preached, our vbs team and the kids sang special music and several of our team led out in children's story.

Here are some pictures and will upload videos when I can

Dedication

We have stayed at the same hotel for both of our trips this year. One other mission group stayed there before we did.

The owner liked having our groups there so much hat they dedicated a new gazebo to Maranatha groups. It was very sweet. Here is a picture of the plaque and the gazebo

Finished!

We got done with all the block on both buildings and the roof on one. Praise the lord we had good weather and no rain today that allowed us to finish.

The team finished strong but are very tired.

Here are some pictures of the building and our team.

Awesome Thursday

The team did great on the job site. We are completely done with the side walls and up to 17 on all end walls. God willing and it doesn't rain we will finish tomorrow and maybe get the roof on!!!!

Everyone pitched in and did what was needed. Very happy with all of the teams!

Vbs report

Our vbs crew has been amazing. They were planning on 30-40 kids and got up to 83 yesterday! Rachael ended up sending enough crafts for 60-75 kids but even that had been multiplied!

Vanessa keeps referring to the crafts as loaves and fishes because there are always enough.

Here is a picture of our vbs team serenading us with their songs

Destiny got some concrete on her today

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Productive Wednesday

We had another rain free day and got a lot of work done. We got mostly done with the 13th course today on both buildings. God willing, we will finish the sides tomorrow and start working on the gables.

I am really pleased with how all of our new team members are doing. We have 15 first time missionaries and all are doing great!

One of our block teams are two ladies- Carolina and Roaa. The Maranatha workers and the teachers at the school have all been amazed that they are doing that and doing so well !

Great day on the jobsite

We had a day with only one brief rain shower! Praise the lord.

We got almost done with the tenth course all the way around on one building and started most walls on the other building. Still a little behind but caught up a lot today.

Kenton got a little dirty today

Kenton joined our team from our spring trip from Atlanta. He decided to work construction this time and got a little dirtier than he did in the spring !!

Shoe failure

Frank had some issues with his shoes today. Luckily I carry duct tape after having a similar issue a few years ago.

Rainy Tuesday

The second day at the job site is always one of the toughest. First we had to pour the ring of concrete all the way around the building on the fourth course. Then we have to extend the vertical rebars up another five feet. Finally we have to put scaffolding up to reach higher on the wall. That took most of the morning. We got some of the seventh course laid up but haven't put the rebar in yet. We are a little behind schedule.

Part of the reason is that the skies opened up around 3:40 pm and started dumping rain on is. Even with the tarps, when it rains that hard, it is difficult to lay block. We didn't get any block laid after that.

And to add to that the water for all of La Chorrera is not working. It hasn't worked since yesterday and they cancelled school today. So that was challenging because we have to use water to make mortar and concrete. The crew was able to find water somewhere and we were able to keep working. We will pray for no rain and for the water system to begin working.

Our vbs team had a great first day. The local elder is fantastic and was a big help. They got way more kids than expected. We were told to expect 30 and 65 showed up!!! We hope that continues in spite of the rain

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First day worksite picture

Great start to week

We had our first day on the job site today. We got done with four courses of block on both buildings. That's great considering that we have a LOT of new people laying block.

We were blessed with clouds and it only rained for a short time twice. All in all a great day on the job site.

Our vbs team had a great day as well. They got organized and made a visit to the church where they will conduct the vbs starting tomorrow.

The mayor and a lot of the team showed up to help get ready. The mayor is so impressed that he is going to throw a party for the entire group and vbs attendees with piñatas and everything on Friday when they wrap up. We have never had that type of response before!

We had two people late and they had to perform a skit for us tonight. Very entertaining by Rosa and Ariana.

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Sabbath at job site

We had a great worship at the hotel this morning led by Julian k, destiny and pastor Jonathan. After that we headed to the school for church service. We had a great sermon by the pastor and Vanessa was nice enough to translate for us.


We got a chance to scope out the job site as well. Everything is set for us and ready to go for tomorrow. Very happy with the prep the team did for us.



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Safely at hotel

After a longer bus ride than expected, we made it to the hotel. No problems at the airport and everyone got their luggage.

Once we got on the road, we were at a stop in traffic. There was a really bad accident and it took us twice as long as expected.

We all got into our rooms and had dinner. We have had worship and know the plan for tomorrow. God willing, we will have a great sabbath tomorrow.

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Made it safely to Panama City

We all have arrived safely in Panama City and are on the bus to our hotel. Praise the lord that everyone's luggage arrived safely.



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On our way to Panama

We are all at the airport and boarding the plane to Panama City. All 43 of our volunteers are ready to go do Gods work!


Pray for safety and minimal rain for our group!

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Final day at job site

We all went back to the school today for the last day of vbs and to clean up the job site. We got done around noon and are headed back for lunch and time to relax and pack for home.

Pictures of completed building

Forgot to attach

Miracles do happen

When I brought up the idea of our group building two structures on his trip, some of our group was skeptical.

When our numbers dropped to only 25 on the job site more people doubted.

I told the team when we arrived that we had no business getting one building done because we are not professionals and we also had four new block layers and two person crews. We all know that it is only through God that we are able to do this.

Well, we not only completed both buildings but completed them with roof and all in five days!! Praise The Lord !!!

We are happy and humbled. We will come back tomorrow and help clean up and move tools. We will do something fun in the afternoon.

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Names on the wall

Claudell Wilson has been coming on the trips for the last ten years and I have gotten to be good friends with him. So I was very sad to hear when his brother Courtney passed away in January.

Claudell (and the team) paid tribute to Courtney by signing a block and Claudell laid it high on his wall.

Medical team report

Our team had a wonderful experience. They went to an indigenous Indian village and saw over 600 patients with just their nine person team! What a blessing. An incredible experience.

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Siobhan playing jump rope with the school kids

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Wednesday building pictures

Wednesday report

We get off to a rough start. Our medical and dental team were headed to a remote village today jay was about 2 hours away and were planning to leave at 6 am. Unfortunately the bus never arrived. It had tire problems and couldn't make it. We took the medical team to the job site at 7 and they took another bus from there. We hope they made it ok

We had a great day on the job site. We got the side walls completed on both buildings and up to 15 on all end walls and to 17 on one. Great work by the team. God willing we will be done with all block work tomorrow and put the roof on Friday!

Vbs also went well and had fewer issues.

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Tuesday vbs and medical report

Vbs had 140 kids today and went smoother. Medical saw over 105 patients and had two dental surgeries

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Productive Tuesday

We had a good day on the job site with one minor setback. We got all of 11 done and poured and most of 12. We had a mistake on the back wall that we had to tear down about 15 block and relay them. I didn't catch it and had to redo it.

Regardless we are still on track to finish on Friday, god willing.

Vbs had a great day as well and have smoothed things out.

Here are some pictures of re building progress and one of the vbs.

Ministry reports

Our vbs team had a good first day and worked through some first day challenges. They had 105 children today and will have 135 tomorrow. They have their routine down and tomorrow will go smoother.

Medical and dental began their work today and saw 60-70 patients. They will have many more tomorrow.

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Day two construction update

We had a great day on the job site. Everything went much smoother as the team go into a rhythm with each other and the local team.

We got done with most of the ninth level on the back building and with all of eight and a little of nine on the front. Great progress considering we had to put up scaffold and work on windows today.

Our medical team worked in the building next to us today and the VBS worked in the other building. More to come on that later.

No injuries !!

First construction day

We are returning from the job site,tired and dirty. We got four levels of block done on both buildings and one building has the concrete poured on the fourth level.


That is a great first day with a smaller crew and new block layers. Very happy with the progress. Tomorrow gets a little more challenging as we start on the windows and have to put scaffolding up to continue the work.

Here are some pictures of the team in the morning and the progress on each building.

On our way to the job site

24 construction team members are on their way to the first day of construction. Everyone was on time and we have nice weather this morning.

Praying for a safe productive day!!!

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Sabbath in panama

We had a very nice bible study at the hotel and then went for a church service at the school. Thanks to Tim for translating!

We had a relaxing afternoon at the hotel and some of the group took a walk to the river. After dinner and worship we will get organized to begin our work tomorrow. Pray this God is with our efforts!

All volunteers safely in panama

The rest of our group arrived safely and we are finally on our way to the hotel

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Bus ride to hotel

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Safely in panama

We arrived in panama at 3 pm safely. The brakes worked REALLY well. We are on the bus to our hotel safe and sound. Nice and humid here. Just like Houston.

Praise The Lord for safe flights and good brakes!

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Waiting on Tarmac

Well we are on our plane and were ready to taxi to the runway and we stopped!!! The captain came on and said that the brakes had locked up and they will need to replace the calipers on the runway. Delayed at least an hour! Not a great start !

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Trip to La Chorrera

Our group of 39 missionaries will leave on March 20 to head to La Chorrera, Panama to build two school classrooms, conduct a medical/dental clinic and conduct Vacation Bible School for the local children.

We pray that God will bless our efforts and keep us safe.  I will do my best to post daily with updates and pictures.