Never the Same - Panama 2012

I just got back home from a 2 1/2 week missions trip to Panama with Susie Magazine, a Christian magazine for teen girls, and Big World Ventures, a nonprofit Christian organization that specializes in planning short-term missions trips for teens and churches. This was my third mission trip with them -- my first mission trip with them was in 2006 to Peru when Susie Magazine was Brio Magazine (a magazine published by Focus on the Family).

Now that I'm home, I actually have time to take a moment to think about the trip and everything that happened. There was so much to think about and learn and everything while on the trip, but I was too busy loving on my kids and running around helping with organization stuff. It was so much fun, and even though I would have loved to spend another week in Panama, I'm glad to be home.

The trip started out different for me than any of my other trips -- I flew down to Miami, FL a day early to be a part of "Team Big World Ventures" and help with set up and getting everything ready for the leaders to arrive the next day. The leaders arrived and we had several training sessions and time for preparation for the students to arrive. The students arrived and the leaders were prepared and organized to receive them -- we had teams at the airport picking kids up in our matching shirts and another set of leaders back at the hotel to get them registered and make sure their passports were accounted for.

Striped zebra in the corner = boredom during slow times of registration

That night we had our first large group meeting -- FUAGNEM ((F.ired U.p A.nd G.oing N.uts E.very M.inute)) -- and our first meeting as Team 1. And then we had drama casting for the drama we would be performing on our ministry days in Panama.

Our first night with the students ended with us casting each team member as a part in the drama -- from the evil magician to the toys, from the Toymaker to the mimes, everyone was given an important role.



More stories and pictures to come...


Simply,

Amy Lynn



To learn more about next year's Never the Same Mission trip to Peru, visit www.neverthesamemissions.com

Very little internet access...and very little time...

I had hoped that I'd be able to update this blog a little more, but I have only just discovered that I have access to the internet in my room. I also have been quite busy and haven't had much time to write or do much else.

Facebook has been quite the medium for sharing updates on the trip -- we have a facebook group for the whole trip (( http://www.facebook.com/groups/PanamaMission2012/ )) and I created a page for my team ((http://www.facebook.com/groups/176615665802660/)). We have several photographers on the trip who are updating the whole group's page and my team leader, Lia, has been updating our team's page with pictures via her iphone.

I myself have taken over 2000 pictures so far and I have not had much time to sort through them yet!

Today is our free day -- we've had 4 ministry days so far, and we have two more days of ministry left. Saturday we have our shopping/tourist day and then we fly out on Sunday. I can't believe it's gone so fast!

Brief update on what our days have been like so far:

Panama Day 1 --We took motorized dugout canoes up a river to the Embera Tribe. They performed a dance for us and fed us fish and fried plantains (delicioso!). We did our drama for them, and then talked, prayed and played with them until it was time for us to leave.


Panama Day 2 -- Our second day was titled "food distribution" and our first stop was to a supermarket where we bought rice and several different kinds of beans. We then sorted the items into individual bags with 5 items each. We packed over 100 bags of food to take to a local community. We then walked to the site where we'd be meeting with people and performing our drama. I'm not sure how far we walked, but it was at least 2 miles. We went door to door, inviting people to our drama, performed, talked and prayed with people and distributed our food. We still had about half of our food left to give away, so we decided to walk to another village/neighborhood. Just as we started walking, it started raining...and we continued to walk the opposite direction of our bus for another 3+ miles, in the pouring rain...




to be continued....I'm hungry and it's time for dinner!

Students, Day One

((I'm in charge of my team's blog/group on facebook, so I'll hopefully be posting there throughout the week and I'll share it on here as well!))


July 2, 2012 -- Team Update

Today was the day that the students all arrived! We had several students that came a few days early with family and siblings, but today was the first day that we had the whole team together for the first time.

As everyone arrived throughout the day, friendships were created as the kids waited for room assignments, explored the hotel and greeted new teammates. Our first time together as a team was at FUAGNEM - F.ired U.p A.nd G.oing N.uts E.very M.inute ((pronounced “fwaag-num”), where we worshipped our amazing God through worship with Tommy Bailey and celebrated our “Big Bertha,” our birthdays in Christ. {{I unfortunately could not be with the team at this time, as I was still working on registration for the last few students on the trip}}

After FUAGNEM, we had our first team time and split up into our “pods” ((small groups within the team)) {{see facebook pictures}} and got to know each other a little more. We watched a video of the drama they will be learning and then moved on to the drama try-outs.

Drama try-outs were EXTREMELY difficult this year -- everyone on the team is SO talented, that it was hard to narrow down the parts. As a leadership team, we cast the roles and I think that everyone will thrive in their role -- and every single part is absolutely crucial to the performance as a whole. Every role requires the talent that each of our kids possess.

We had our first tuck-ins/slap-ins and I loved getting to go around with the other female leaders to talk with and pray for the four rooms of girls that we have. Hopefully they won’t stay up too late, as we have the first shift for breakfast tomorrow -- bright and early at 6:45!

I’m so excited to see where this trip takes us all ((ok, we’re obviously going to Panama, but you know what I mean!)) We have such a great group of students and leaders and I can already tell that everyone is going to get along and work well together. I just know that God has big things planned for this group.
Please pray for health as there will be a lot packed into the next few days and we don’t always get our normal amount of sleep each night -- it’s just too much fun being around such good friends to go to bed :)

Preparing

‎...reality is hitting and you are walking away from your home for 2 weeks and 2 days. Some of us are leaving our children at home. Work unfinished at the office. Laundry has to be done. Bills have to be paid. Some have a funeral on their mind. Everything starts to close in on you these last hours before you get on the plane. Maybe you are even hearing doubts being whispered in your ear. You are not alone. It is part of the job description and it is not easy, regardless of how many time you may or may not have done this. Be encouraged. Everything will fall into place, eventually. We are warriors in the Kingdom of God. We belong to God. We are on assignment, but.. there is an active enemy that would like to really discourage us right about now. You have been CALLED. You have been EQUIPPED. Jesus Christ is Lord. You are going to do amazing! Keep pressing ahead, full speed! 

Jill Dooney Etter

This was posted by one of my fellow leaders for the Panama trip just this evening.

And I realized that I have such a different mindset than so many others when I travel. Part of it may be that I have been a "carefree" student for the majority of my travels. But for me, I love the opportunity to leave "normal" life behind. I love the adventures and the spontaneity of traveling.

At the beginning of our trip last year, our team leader addressed the things that were distracting us from being completely present in training. For several of my girls, it was hard for them to be away from friends and family and were distracted in thinking about what everyone at home was doing and what they were missing out on. For me, that has never crossed my mind. As I said before, I love getting away from that.

I'm taking almost three weeks off of work. When I get home, my paycheck from my full time job will be quite minuscule. I have rent to pay and school bills to pay. While I know that that is the truth, God has provided in other ways -- such as one job in which I get my first paycheck from working all through June while I'm in Panama.

God has also provided full funding for my trip, plus a little extra to cover some of the items I needed to buy specifically for the trip and for some toys for the kids we meet along the way!

I know not everything will go "according to plan" -- there will be hard days, little sleep, disagreements between teammates, and messy heart issues that we'll all be working and praying through. But I know that through it all, God has His hand in it all. Even though it's difficult sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), I know that God knows what He's doing. He has put me on this trip, on my team, for a reason -- whether it's to teach me something about myself or to minister to someone on my team or someone in Panama ((or more than likely, all three)), I'm following Him wherever He wants me to go.

Until next time,

Amy Lynn

Already Packed

I don't leave until Friday, but my bags are already packed.

I have a lot to do this week, but in the name of procrastination, my suitcase for Panama is already packed! After doing my laundry this weekend, I figured it would make more sense to pack what I needed rather than put it away.

This will be my suitcase's maiden voyage -- as I was returning from Ecuador last year, my suitcase broke and I decided it was time for a new one :)

After I had packed my bag, I didn't know how much it actually weighed. We don't have a scale and so I finally went out and bought a luggage scale ((something I've been wanting for a while)).

I weighed my suitcase today and I was totally surprised when I saw that it only weighed 35 pounds. I'm pretty sure this has never happened to me. I know I'll probably add a few more things to my bag before I leave on Friday, but to be 15 pounds under the weight limit, that's new. I'm usually just barely below 50 pounds, and that's with a ton of stuff crammed into my carry-on, just to make the weight limit. I'm hoping that I can avoid putting much more in between now and Friday and have it be a record for me :)


Until next time,

Amy

Wow, 49 days from now I'll be on a plane bound for yet another mission trip.

Preparing for Panama has been quite different than any other mission trip I've been on (okay, other than procrastinating on sending out support letters, which seems to happen every year).

• I have two trips with Brio/Susie/Big World Ventures under my belt, and while I know what to expect, I'm expecting this year to be completely different and completely awesome!

• I haven't really kept a countdown for this trip (yes, I know it's 50 days today, but I hadn't really looked at the countdown until a few days ago)

• Panama is a warmer climate than where I've been for the last few trips

• I've been fundraising differently than ever before: I've sold handmade items and my mom and I hosted a jewelry party

• I'm going into this trip knowing so many more people than ever before and I'm looking forward to it. But on the other hand, some of my closest friends from last year are not going to be on the trip.

I think a big part of why this time of preparing for the trip is so different has to do with where I'm at in life right now. This whole year has been so different for me -- I graduated from Northwestern College last spring and am currently working full time. I'm not counting down to the end of the semester or anything this year and summer doesn't mean a long break or a change from what I'm doing right now. I'll continue working at the nursing home until the day before I leave and when I get back from Panama, I have one day off to rest up and then I'm back at work. All that to say: I'm really looking forward to Panama, but it's starting to sneak up on me because of my schedule.

Until next time,

Amy Lynn