Would not Trade the Snow for All the Sun and Sand in the World!

It was snowing lightly when we arrived home in Torotno

After a 5 hour of  flying time on Copa air, served with a delicious beef dinner, one of the best meal I ever had on a plane, we are finally home!

It doesn't matter how long or how good our trip has beem whenever I travel, it is always great to be home! It took us barely 15 minutes to clear custom and retrieve our lugguage.

It felt so good to step out of the airport and breathed a breath of cool clear winter air!




A Christmasy Welcome Home for me from my husband

I just loved it!


As we were sitting in the taxi taking us home, I reflected on our trip overseas and thanked God for His protection bringing us back to Canada safely.

Toronto has its first snowfall this year and it happened just before we landed.

It was well past midnight when the taxi took us to my house. It was quite a sight! My wonderful husband worked hard putting the Christmas lights on welcoming me home!



Helenea clearing the snow off her car on our driveway

Helena left her car parked on our driveway on the night we left for Panama. It was all covered with snow and she spent ten minutes clearing all the snow off her car.



Looking out to the street from our window

While many people love the year round hot sunny beach weather in the tropics, I love our cold weather and four seasons in Canada.

I love the rainy spring, mild and at times hot summer, cool air that comes along with a colurful autumn and a white Chriatmas in the winter!

Icicles were formed on our tree this morning

I will never trade our beautiful four seasons and snowy winter for all the sun and sand in the world!



















Thank you, God, for bringing our team safely home!

R.T.
Toronto, Canada
Nov. 27, 2013

The Metro Mall - Panama CIty

It was time to head back home to Toronto, Canada. Mrs. H. hired a driver and took us to the airport early this morning.



Metro Mall, Panama City, Panama

We saw Pastor Monica off at the Panama Airport at 12:30pm and also checked in our luggage with Copa Airline. Since our flight was at 6:30pm, we had a few hours to kill.  We had planned to go sightseeing for a few hours in Panama.



Unfortunately, the traffic congestion was pretty bad and we knew that we would not make it back to the airport in time if we wander off too far from it.

 Instead of exploring Panama City, we went to the mall closest to the airport.

Entrance to the Metro Mall

Metro Mall – is a spacious and modern shopping plaza that looks quite similar to a mall in a North American city.

It’s not even December yet, but the mall has already been decked out for the Christmas season with a huge glittering Christmas tree placed in the center of the mall.

There were also other snowy Christmasy scenery scattered throughout the mall.

With Christmas songs playing in the background, I hardly knew that we were in Panama!

The mall is all decked out for the Christmas season  

The Metro Mall has a number of  familiar brand name and big box stores such as El Costco ( a department  and  furniture store), Victoria Secret, Adidas and few others I couldn't remember now.

A very nice free play area designed for kids in the mall!

The mall has many shops for shoppers as well as places for the little ones such as a merry go round and a kids' play space where kids can run around, have fun while their parents can relax and watch them play.

This is the second mall we visited in Panama that has been designed with a special place for the little ones to enjoy. ( I wish shopping malls in U.S./ Canada can be as kid friendly in their shopping mall designs).

There are a lot of eatery scattered throughout the three floors of the Metro   Mall.                                         

  A very popular place for shoppers is the Leons & Carbon Restaurant where I ate two years ago with the 2012 Mission Team. I still remembered it so it was very good. We looked for the restaurant and found it.                                         

  By the time we got there for lunch, it was well after 2p.m., but there was still a line up.

I was trying to take a picture of the restaurant so that I would remember the name and look for it next time.

As I pointed my camera, the friendly cooking staff saw me, waved at me and tried to make some funny faces for my camera.

Some fun loving and friendly people indeed! What a  contrasting experience for us while we were travelling in Northern Europe last year.



A delicious plate enough for two for $13.50

We ordered this combination plate with steak, salad, corn bread, fried plantains and rice for U.S. $ 13.50, a meal good enough for two people, Helena and me.

 I normally do not eat much beef, however, the beef dishes are supposed to be very tasty in Panama. We tried it.

Yes, the steak  was worth the wait as the food was delicious!

We could have spent a few hours here looking around. However, our ride was here shortly after lunch so our time was short.

But Helena and I did manage to shop at the shoe store and we both got ourselves a pair of stylish leather sandals at a pretty good price. We were happy at the finds!

The Metro Mall in Panama is definitely worth a visit!

R.T.
Metro Mall, Panama City
Panama

The Panama Canal - A Wonder of the Modern World

A  visit to the Panama Canal is a visit to one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

The Panama Canal, a 77 km long waterway joining the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean together, was first constructed by the French in the late 1880's.  But they had to stop due to high mortality rate during the construction period. In 1904, the Americans took ove the project and it took them a decade to complete this huge project.  The canal was opened in 1914.

In Panama, I saw this painting titled" The Kiss of the Oceans 1915" a few times and thought it nicely depicted the significance and romantic notion  of the Panama Canal to the people of the world at the time.
( Source of picture - Google )

 

The Panama Canal is open  and operates 24 hours a day,  and about 18,000 vessels go through this waterway each year.











 The buildings in the background used to be the residences of the American personnel when they were in Panama decades ago.

We were lucky enough to witness the crossing of one of the many ships going through the Panama Canal. This ship came in from the Carribean sea going out to the Pacific Ocean in the background.
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 The Panama Canal – its 7 story tall gate is opening for ships to pass through. It was built by Americans but was handed back to Panama around year 2000.
The tolls charged for vessels using the Canal are based on weight. It could cost as much as $450,000.00 to pass through the canal and about 10 hours to complete the entire crossing into the Pacific Ocean.

The electric cars seen here are guiding the ship to go through the canal safely without it hitting the sides of the canal which only had a clearance of a little more than a foot.

 It is quite a feat to have  40-50  vessels a day passing through the canal so precisely without any of them hitting part of the canal.

I was glad that I had the chance of visiting and learning about this modern wonder!

R.T.
Panama

Note: We were here with the previous mission team and we visited the Canal in 2011.I took the above pictures and notes during that visit.

Prisoners in Their Own Stores - The Danger of Operating a Small Business in Panama

Since the Penonome church does not have a full/ part time pastor, our Torotno church tries to support the congregation here as much as possible while awaiting for the search of a missionary matching the needs of this local church.

While our Short Term Mission team is here, we try to visit and follow up as many new believers and church members as possible. 

One of the last people we visited on the last day of our Panama trip was S.M. and his father who has not been to the Sunday Service at the church for quite some time.

S.M. wants to be a teacher and plans to obtain teacher qualification in a year's time.  We invited him to be more involved in teaching the kids at church. Though it was his first time teaching, he did a very good job in last Sunday's children's worship!






S.M.'s neighbourhood  store

 



We went to visit him at his store located not too far away from the church.

It is a neighbourhood conveninece type of store selling mostly drinks and snacks.

There were a few people hovering around the door of the store. Instead of going inside the store and shopping for the items themselves, the customers looked through the locked metal door and requested the items they wanted. Then S.M. went around the store collecting all the items and adding up the total cost. He handed over the items and the customers fork ove the cash, both through a samll opening in the metal door.



S.M.'s house behind his store

We asked S.M. if he had always run his store this way. He replied no and infomred us that he started selling behind a locked door after he had been robbed four times.

Not only was he robbed, he was also beaten and injured in the robbery.

He was so shaken up and frightened by the robbers that he decided to call it quit.

As soon as he sells most of the inventory, he would close the family store. However, during the mean time, he must protect himself by locking himself behind the metal door.

Unfortunately, conducting business and selling behind a locked door is not an uncommon practise in Panama for small business owners who are under the constant fear and threat of robbery. 

Another store owner selling behind locked gate

During the last two weeks, we visited and got to talk to over a dozen of small business owners.

From them we learned about the rampant incidents of  robbery that target a certain segment of the business community.

S.M was the fifth victim of violent crime and robbery from among the dozen of people we visited.

    

      

   These store owners are hard working people trying to make a living by opening stores and serving the community. But small mom and pop stores are particulary vulnerable and are easy targets for robbery.  We all feel bad for hard working people such as S.M.

We sincerely hope that Panama would improve its justice system and protect business and innocent people such  as S.M. and Mrs. La whose husband was murdered during a recent robbery at their store.

R.T.,Panama

          Nov., 2013                

Why Do I Go on Short Term Mission Trips?

"R. Why do you go on mission trips? What do you do there?" My friends and family members ask me.

"R.  Why do you  travel so far away to visit us! Canada is a long way from here? "  The local people of the countries I am visiting often ask me these questions.

I, at times, also ask myself these questions and wondering if my short stay at these places would make any differences at all in the lives of others.


I got my answer this time -  a resounding Yes, loud and clear!

Our Short Term Mission team visited numerous families and church members in and around the city of Penenome, Panama on this trip.  On my second mission trip during this past two weeks,we have witnessed first hand how people have been changed,  marriages saved and lives being transformed

The following people really stand out for me:

1. When I met Mr. C. and his wife two years ago, I was struck of how hardworking they were operating a supermarket in Penonome. They worked long hours,  seven days a week, always looking  exhausted and also not very happy at all. Our last mission team introduced some fun things which he entire church could enjoy together - Line Dancing and some family fun games.



Winning a prize at the Family Night's game

Later on, other STM team organized Couples' Retreats helping couples to rekindle their love and romances as well as Family Camps to bring families together  spending some quality time with each other.

This time, we organized two family nights and encourage families to have fun together.
Mr. C. had so much fun that he broke into a huge smile enough to light up a 1000 watt light bulb! It warmed our hearts to see this hardworking man relaxing a bit and having fun!



Couples holding hands & praying together

During the weekly prayer meeting, when people broke into small groups for prayers, it was a moving moment when husbands and wives sat together praying while holding each others' hands!

This was an eye opening moment for me about the effectivess of our mission teams' work. Before the couples' retreats,  some couples could not even talk to one another!





Couple praying together at Penenome prayer meeting

Mr. C. told me that his marriage was about to collapse. Because both he and his wife received Jesus, they've learned to trust God with their burdens and have real peace in their hearts!

2. Knowing that we would be leaving in a few days, we drove to the Anton area to San Juan de Dios and visited Mrs. La., the widow of a recently murdered victim.

This was the second time we visited the family this week. We visited them on Tuesday, seeing them again on Friday as we felt that they needed support at this difficukt time.

We went to visti the widow at their store

With Mr. L. accompanying us on this visit,  Mrs. La. was visibly glad to see us again.

She was less stiff, showing more emotions and  able to converse with us more. There was even a tiny welcoming smile when she saw us. This was a big break through for her! She had not been able to show emotions or express herself verbally since she had witnessed the robbery/ murder tat her family store.



Mrs. La.'s store in San Jaun De Dios  

The STM team worked well together supporting each other. Pastor Monica sat closely beside Mrs. La while I operated the computer for hymn sing and Helena doing whatever she could to support the family.

Mrs. La had a few questions for us and was much more responsive than the last time we saw her. She was even singing along with us when we started playinng the hymns.

Where the victim was murdered

At the end, Pastor Monica asked Mrs. La to lead us to the spot in the store where the murder of her husband took place

Together we held hands and prayed for the victim and his family. That was a touching moment and hopefully a closure for the family. We invited the family to attend the Sunday service in Penenome.




After preparing for the Sunday church dinner at the church house, Mr and Mrs. L. went to pick up Mrs. La for our Sunday Service. She did come bringing with her her sister! Both of them stayed for the entire time, participating in the worship.

The church embraced everyone who comes to worship

Her sister told us that this was the first time they ever went to a Sunday Service and  encountered church people.

She really enjoyed it and was glad that she came. Mrs. La, though still not saying much but was evidently more open to interact with others.

We could see the change in Mrs. La and some of the family members. In the darkest hour of their lives,  Mrs. La and her family knew that they were not forgotten. They felt the love of God when the congregation of the Penonome CCC reached out to them, visited them and embraced them with love and warmth



Keep praying ! God listens to our prayers!

I saw the gratitude and the hope in Mrs. La's eyes; it brings me to tears as I am writing this.

I have witnessed the work and the fruits of the Short Term Mission ministry. I will continue to go as long as God allows me the opportunities. God's words are powerful, healing the wounded and bringing comfort to the broken hearted. It's a privilege to be a part of His work!

R.T.
Short Term Mission Trip
Penonome, Panama
Nov. 2013