UW 25 Panama

As many of you already know, Laura, Kathryn and I (Edwin) went on a two week mission trip this last summer, to Changuinola Panama with Maranatha’s Ultimate Workout 25. Spring of 2015, I received a call from Maranatha asking if I would serve as the group’s nurse for the 150 individuals from around the world who would be participating on the mission trip. There would be 5 nurses/site medics in all. The Ultimate workout is primarily for teens ages 15-20 to get them outside their comfort zones, put their youthful energies into a project, and challenge them to grow as individuals physically, mentally and most of all spiritually.

After spending a week in Northern California for a family reunion with the Chase side of the family, the three of us boarded a plane in San Jose CA and flew to Dallas/ FT Worth to meet our connecting flight to Panama City Panama. Before we left home we had received a package with a T-shirt, a Bible, and a Journal as well as other final travel information. It was cool to land at Dallas/FT Worth and see other people with the Sky Blue shirts with the, UW25 Logo, all converging on the gate. On arriving in Panama City we met many others of the staff coming from the USA as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. We were met by the group leaders and taken by bus to a location where we spent the next day in orientation before the rest of the group arrived Wednesday afternoon. Thursday Morning we loaded all of our bags and suitcases onto a canvass covered truck and boarded 3 coach busses and rode 14 hours up to Changuinola, near the Costa Rica Boarder on the Caribbean. We arrived around 10:00pm at the Adventist Bilingual School.  While we waited for the truck to arrive with our bags we played games in the auditorium. We covered some of the basic orientation topics in order to use the time and save time Friday for other things. The teens were quite fascinated with the giant unicorn/rhinoceros beetles. Finally the truck arrived with our bags at 1:00 am. Hummmm Sleeeeppp…

Friday was spent in group orientation in the morning and then afternoon had site orientation for the four different work locations. I was to stay at the Changuinola construction site at the Adventist School as the site medic. Laura with Kathryn went with the Changuinola outreach team and VBS. At the Changuinola construction site, we were adding on two classrooms, as the school is already busting at the seams with 400+ students. There was a roof and posts already in place and rough footings from a smaller building that had been there at one point. New footings had been placed to make up the difference. The block for the first coarse had to be specially cut and in some places they had to just build forms and pour more concrete to make it all level to start with. My job as the site medic was to observe for safety concerns and treat the bumps and scraps as small injuries can become infected in a hurry.

Sabbath morning as we were getting ready for church I was informed of a Participant that was not feeling good-tummy troubles. So I stayed back while the rest of the group divided up to go visit the churches local to their respective job sites.

On Sunday each construction group attacked their projects learning how to properly lay block. Fortunately very few injuries occurred and I spent most of my time coordinating and translating between local laborers and the UW personnel. The Participant with tummy troubles was back on his feet and ready to go by mid to late morning.

Throughout the trip when the tummy troubles began it usually only ran about a day, to a day and a half, with mild symptoms. The main ailments that I saw were scrapes, sand and concrete in the eyes, a broken pinky finger, and a few sprains and strains. We were very fortunate that nothing serious happened. It is common with a group of this size for there to be a few people who ignore caution in regard to safe and unsafe food and drink, and end up really sick.

Sunday through Friday construction progressed nicely as the block walls came up and doors and windows formed.

Wednesday the group took a trip out to Star beach in las Bocas del Toro for a little swimming and playing in the sand.

Sabbath we had Sabbath School all together at the school, then each group went to a different church in the area for the church service. During our trip, there were 6 of the participants who decided to surrender fully to Jesus through baptism or re-baptism. All 150 of us went down to a lovely river on Sabbath afternoon. With several musicians barefoot and standing in the shallow water leading hymns of consecration, we witnessed the rebirth of 6 precious souls.

A note from Laura;

Our trip to Panama was my first time out of the US, other than a weekend in Canada long ago. I was not sure what to expect. Overall it was not as bad as I had feared. Any inconveniences were worth it to be able to help with the VBS and interact with the local children. It was so touching to see them singing the songs and participating in the group prayers. We had 50-100 children each day, and gave out over 100 lunch sacks filled with toiletries and school supplies, on the last day. During VBS one day, a little boy fell on a broken bottle and gashed his shin open. A couple of the girls rose to the occasion, cleaning the wound and wrapping it with a strip of a shirt that one of the girls was able to spare. We took the boy and his mother to a nearby clinic. It was the boy’s first time out of his little village.

One of the highlights for me was the local Sabbath services and meeting the local Seventh-day Adventist people. They are such wonderful, sweet people. The Lord worked a miracle in my heart and made me willing to sacrifice all, to be able to take His Love to people everywhere. Jesus gave me a love for the people; I cannot wait to go back to South America to work for Him.