Kerry in Rio Indio, Panama
Just posting a couple other pictures I am certain you will find interesting. They tell the rest of the story on the Rio Indio trip.
Visited the Emaus Baptist Church, Rio Indio
Met Pastor of Emaus Braulio Moran and his family.
Visited the Central Panama Baptist Association Campsite at Salud, Costa Abago. Beautiful and definitely rustic!!
Kerry picking apples at Salud…of course 
This was one scary descent from Buenaventura. We watched with bated breaths wondering if she was going to end up in the river.
Then she made more friends at Icacal, of course they had an apple tree too!
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And finally we are on our way home. A very tired Kerry falls asleep…And that is the picture Derry is dying to see. I’ll show you when I get home
Much Love
Marvia
These are nice pics but Marvia, memba u are all the way in Panama and Kerry cant hurt u so post the real funny pics soon ok
Marvioa you look like a real ranger. I would have loved to be there see that for myself, that is a kodak moment.
well i am glad Kerry-ann got an experience that i beliv most of us should. i think some of us taske for granted what we have around us. we need to be exposed to the hardship of not having at our convince.
keep up the good work rev.
hey marvia, mi amor!
can i tell u… i have been reading ur blog and am so choked up rite now with all the feelings i am feeling… i am touched by urz and kerry’s experiences, i am excited and i must admit somewhat jealous…u know part of my heart is there in panama (hm!)lolllllll. i pray God’s richest blessings on u and the work u r doing there in panama in this ur first of (how many???lolllllll) years there. truly u r an inspiration and this blog was a most excellent idea for inspiring and challenging those of us who sense a call to ministry (of any kind). i wish i were there, but ro was rite… u have such a way with words, that even sitting in my living room at home in st ann (can u believe it? free paper bun tomorrow tho’)i feel like i am on a boat on my way to costa abajo. i don’t have to tell u that i wish all that’s best for u and my family at first isthmian for the new year (and beyond)please give them all my love… hoping to see u all soon (hope the warden reads this … hint! hint!)llloooooooollllllllllll. But until then i hold u all in my heart, in my thots and in my prayers. nuff love.
staci
ps: i am especially anxious to see ur closet (the shoes) hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa
Bendiciones, besitos y abrazos a ti y a mi familia con mucho carino y amor
tu hermanita en Cristo para ahora y siempre
Hello Everyone,
It’s another Holiday today – Panama Labour Day. Many are off frolicking at the beach in Portobello but not this child. I am here juggling my Diary trying to see where ALL the programs and meetings for January are going to fit,
I take this refreshing pause – to give Staci a virtual **pinch** even though I am laughing my head off.
I can’t decide which one is worse – Staci or Derri!!
Well Miss Staci – you will be happy to know that when the church heard I was expecting a visitor from Jamaica they thought you were the one coming. They fell in love with Kerry-Ann too and Kerry dear, you’ll be happy to know that the ladies asked for you at Bible Study on Wednesday.
It is my hope that Summer 2007 a number of youth will journey to Panama to engage in Short-Term Mission among the sisters and brothers of Costa Abago. It will no doubt be a most memorable experience and rightly appropriated should see some new young ministers emerging in the JBU. As you rightly said Staci – in whatever area of ministry. However, you cannot visit and leave the same as you came.
Staci…I will pass on your greetings and love to everyone. And pray for your warden’s eyes – sometimes he does not ‘see’ hints very clearly
Take care,
Marvia
Dimario – your comment about me looking like a ranger is a good one. You know something, daily I am ever more convinced that the kind of ministry I have been called to exercise is a reminder that God made NO MISTAKE when YOU are called into God’s service.
Without launching into a sermon, I’ll put it this way. When God calls us to serve, God has a plan for the UNIQUE package that you are. If you asked me a year ago about where I see myself most suited in Ministry – I would have told you Academia. Lock me up in a room with the Bible and lots of old books on history, theology, philosophy, religion, missiology…. Just let me loose with a book or on the Internet.
I have had many occasions to pause and reflect on where I am today and how much I am enjoying it because here is a another side of me that just never got a chance to be expressed in the kind of fulltime pastoral ministry that I had grown accustomed to. The kind where we spend all the time in the church building meeting or putting out ‘bush fires’. (‘bush fires’ = church conflicts or fighting church members)
Today, here I am ministering among a people with the same challenges of ‘organized church’ yet I get to do some:
- Hiking & Bush Eating – Thank you Lord for the Linstead Baptist Youth Fellowship days of hiking and cookouts by some distant river, and for the hikes to Blue Mountain Peak while at UTCWI.
- Switching from “dressed up parson� (in the shoes Staci broadcasting) to barefooted local the next.
- Sprinting from an approaching Iguana or climbing an apple tree for a snack if none of the males around decides to help a “poor defenseless female” [meaning me of course!] Because you all know – green lizards live in apple trees! Jamaican sisters you know the rule – Women first except when there is a cow or a lizard!
But the point is this – I am able through Christ to naturally adapt to my circumstances and enjoy it because of who I am and not some stereotype of what the pastor is supposed to be. What a difference this would make if more ministers could find such a joy in service in ways that our whole persons find relevance where we are and we are able to reach a meaningful and mutually satisfying partnership in ministry wherever we are called to serve and in whatever circumstances.
Lesson to you my friends – never deny or suppress the many other facets to your personality, your gifts and talents that were cultivated while growing up. Paul in 1 Cor 12:6,11 NRSV speaks of how God ‘activates’ God’s gifts in us. I prefer ‘activates’ to cultivate when speaking of gifts. God called the UNIQUE package that is YOU and let no congregation, no denomination, no popular culture lead you into becoming something other than the one God calls. And yes, whatever else we are to become – let God do the molding!
Amen church…Amen!
Ok end of sermon for the day.
Love you all,
Marvia
Hmmmm that’s cool.