Psalm 97:6

So here in Costa Rica there are no street names and house numbers. When you order pizza, you explain to the pizza people the general vicinity of your house, then they drive around and occasionally honk to get your attention, so that you come to the front gate and wave them down. Well, Abby and I were babysitting for Jonathan and Amy the other night, and they ordered pizza for us. They left us the money and took off to have dinner with family that’s visiting from the states. Well, Abby and I were being watchful and aware of all that was happening in the streets, porque teniamos mucho hambre. At the first sign of a motorcyclist (the delivery guys drive bikes) that was driving around in the street, I ran out front and waved him down.

“Muchacho! Pizza! Aqui! Aqui!”

But it was then I noticed that this muchacho was just an ordinary muchacho. He had no pizza box on his bike.. no advertisement sticker slapped on the side… he was just a guy on a bike. He looked at me and just said, “No….”

Abby and I glanced at each other and just kind of ran back inside… Yay for being gringas.

Although I don’t have time to recount all our adventures in Panama, I will fill you in on a few details. I saw God’s hand of provision and protection so clearly on that trip! For instance, before we left we had made plans to call Fernando Espino, Georgianna’s cousin (Steve and Georgianna are the missionaries that run the children’s homes. Georgianna is half Panamanian, so she still has family living in Panama). Well, Fernando graciously and generously offered to take Abby, Shaina, and me to the Panama Canal. But he ended up taking us, literally, all over Panama City seeing all the sights! We went to the Canal, the Causeway, Casco Antiguo, and Las Ruinas. They were all exceptionally beautiful places. We had a fantastic tour guide! Even though Fernando had never met us before, he was eager to make us feel welcome in his country. He told Georgianna, “It is an honor to have visitors to my small country! And I consider any friend of yours to be my family.” Fernando indeed proved to be an excellent host, providing us with probably hundreds of dollars worth of tourism.

Another neat story from Panama City reminds me of the incredible unity found in the body of Christ. On Sunday we visited a church plant from our church in Villas de Ayarco. The missionaries, Toby and Jocabed, have been in Panama for about two years. Well, God first of all sent us a friend to help us get to the church. Now let me explain something to you. The busses in Panama are called “Diablos Rojos” (red devils) because they are gaudy painted school buses that compete with each other to have passengers. They have been known to run over passengers in their hurry to race other buses to the next stop. Anyways, we called a guy, Neo, whom we had met just a week before at church. He was a friend to some of our friends at youth group, and he kindly offered to come get us and bring us to the church. Believe me, I would not have gotten on one of those buses had we not been with a Panamanian. I have never been in such a small space with so many people. We were packed in there like a bunch of girls packed in the ladies’ room on a rest stop on a high school road trip. Anyways, when we got to the church, we were welcomed by Toby, Jocabed, their daughter Jocabed, and the rest of the congregation. We sat around after the service, drinking refrescos and snaking, relaying messages from loved ones in their church and inquiring about how the work in Panama was going. Then Toby and Jocabed invited us to have lunch with them. They were so incredibly kind to us all that afternoon! Once again, people we had never met were showing us extreme generosity. They took us to a lovely little park/walk way and then to Multicentro Mall, just talking to us and getting to know us. Oh, while we were exploring Panama City with them, Toby was working as a clown, Apparently being a clown in a lucrative profession here. All sorts of people hire clowns- celebrities, schools, parents of young children, politicians… I have now met three professional clowns here (one of the house dads does it as a side job). So, the clown that you see in the picture is actually a missionary with a good sense of humor that helps him earn a few extra bucks.




A song from Leeland has been stuck in my mind off and on for the past week. These past two Wednesdays, I had the opportunity to go to some of the poorest parts of San Jose to serve lunch to homeless people, street children, drug addicts, and prostitutes. Of course, I went with a group of people ☺ the Abraham project teams up with a man named Ronald who has a ministry to drug addicts. Himself being an ex-drug addict, he has personally brought roughly 500 people through rehab, sharing the gospel and the tangible, physical love of Jesus with each one. We go with Ronald to help him make friends, so that hopefully he can get more of the men, women, and minors involved in drug off the streets. This song by Leeland, though, has a question that haunts me:

All my needs you have supplied
When I was dead, you gave me life
So how could I not give it away so freely?


This is Ronald, keeping watch for any strange activity. This neighborhood we were in is called "Under the Knife."




I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

March is a busy time for us! We are in the second week of our three weeks straight of teams. We had a team from UGA last week, and this week we had more people from Georgia- a team of high school girls from Atlanta. They just left this morning ☹ They were very hard-working, they didn’t complain, and they work a lot harder than some guys I have seen doing construction here. We made some awesome friends with both the UGA team and the girls that left today.

So although I’m sore from all the activity and construction work, I am completely content to be this busy, because I’m seeing God at work here. I’m hearing testimonies of his constant faithfulness, and I’m seeing his strength and his love on display.

The Heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the nations see his glory. Psalm 97:6

Love you all.