R.E.A.L. Men Outdoors

Panama '09

Written by Missionary Ray Jensen

To give the short version of a long story: Before we went, the Panama team prayed for many things, but we specifically prayed for 2 particular goals. One was a prayer for "a man of peace". The other was for a new church plant. During the course of the mission, we got both.

The Man of Peace

I was walking around the streets trying to talk to the kids of the island of Rio Sidra, but the language barrier was preventing me from getting much past saying hello and what is your name. The Kunas understand some Spanish due to the Panamanian influence near them, so I went to get Alex, who knows Spanish. He was relaxing during our scheduled downtime, but made no hesitation to get up when I asked if he would join me in the village to translate for me. We met a fisherman who was probably in his early 50's to late 40's...it's nearly impossible to tell the age of these people because life is much harsher on them physically than how we have it in America.

I introduced myself, as did Alex, and he told us that his name is Constantino. We told Constantino how impressed we were with his people by their firm focus on their hard work. We told him that although we live far away, we are the same as the Kunas because we are all people that God made. We also told him that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God due to sin handed down through the generations from Adam.

I think one unique thing about witnessing to these people is that not one person disagreed with us when we told them that all have sinned. Even they understand this. So we went on to tell him about Jesus, and that Jesus died for the penalty of our sins and rose again so that death would no longer have mastery over us, that we would get to live with the Father in eternal life through Jesus Christ...but he had to believe this in order to get this free gift. We asked him if he was interested in this free gift of salvation, and he said YES. I personally led him in prayer to receive salvation through Jesus Christ, and Constantino confirmed his belief in this prayer.

Constantino surprised both me and Alex by pushing us further in his request for us to produce a bible in his Kuna language so that he could study further on his own. Alex and I were excited that this guy had intentions to do more than just enough, but seemed to have a leadership style about him as he wished to take it beyond just what we were able to tell him. So we told him we would consult with our missionary leaders to try to find a Kuna Bible. Our Kuna translator just so happens to have given many years of his life towards translating the New Testament into the Kuna language, and just so happened to have some leather bound, printed bibles ready to hand out.

Alex and I hurried back to Constantino's hut and called to him from the door, to which he promptly appeared and then followed us to our hut to receive his bible. Constantino wasn't able to see the words on the page though. One of our missionaries on our team "just happened" to have brought many various strengths of non-prescription reading glasses. We gave him varyious glasses until he could see the words, and he read us a few verses from the book of John in the Kuna language.

The next day I had the privilege of meeting the chief of the island. He spoke in understandable English as he had worked on the Panama Canal with Americans for many years. He told me that he was very old, nearing 80 years, and that he was going to pass the title of Chief to his son next year, who "just happens to be". . . Constantino. This was our "man of peace" that we had prayed for.

Friends, next year's appointed Chief is now a born again Christian with his own New Testament bible. God has set the stage for the future generations these people by drawing to Himself their future leader. I felt a strong sense of leadership about this man when he asked us for a bible of his own. It's no wonder he has this leader's trait about him, he grew up as the chief's son.

New Church Plant

One day we left the island of Rio Sidra to visit a neighboring island. We followed Sam Craig of samcraigministries.com into what's known as the "Congress" hut where the chiefs recline in hammocks and discuss matters about their community. In this very large hut are rows of wooden benches that go around the outer walls, and the chiefs' hammocks are in the center. Sam Craig knows with experience how to approach the Kuna leadership and talk to them about salvation through Jesus Christ.

After Sam spoke, two of our missionaries spoke before the chiefs about their own personal testimonies. One gave a testimony about following Christ from a young age growing up in a Christian home, and one gave his testimony about having never grown up in a Christian home, and not getting saved until he was almost in his 40's. Both men shared with the Kunas about what God did for them to change their lives and how they devote themselves to God today. As they gave their testimonies, many Kuna people silently entered the Congress hut to listen to us.

At the end of their testimonies, Sam Craig asked the chiefs if they had a church on their island. One of the chiefs stood up and began talking almost wildly with his arms waving in the air as he spoke forcefully in Kuna. From my perspective, I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing because in previous days we had seen some people outright reject our story of salvation in Jesus.

The chief got up and hurried out the door and everyone followed him. I was wondering if we angered him, but I wasn't about to be left there all by myself so I got up and followed. We quickly walked through the island turning our shoulders sideways to fit between huts, until we arrived at an open area of the island. Open areas are rare on these islands because as many as 2000 people will cram onto an island of about 5 acres. I asked what was going on, and Sam Craig told me that they WANTED a church built on the spot that we were standing.

The chief was "excited" after hearing Sam's sermon and my fellow missionary's testimonies, that's what all of his arm waving was about! He was full of energy and joy in the Lord. That day, the Lord answered our prayer for a new church plant. We broke out measuring tapes, and some paced distance by walking to estimate the area of construction. It has been mentioned of the possibility of returning next summer with materials to begin the building of this island's first ever church building.

Before I went on this mission trip, I had pondered for a long time what prayer really "is." I somewhat had a watered down version of it like many of us do that it's basically a way for us to talk to God one on one. It's much more than that. To leave prayer's definition so weak as that would be downright wrong. I won't try to define prayer yet, but I'll tell you this much, "IT WORKS."

The Bible says for us to bring our requests to the Lord, not for our own gain, but requests we will dedicate to Him in His will. Then once you do that, as you work in faith it's exciting to see what he makes of it right before your eyes. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Thank you for all who prayed. Prayer is real, prayer works, and it demonstrates the reality of God in our lives when we do it. Prayer even works on things we don't know are coming yet. One of our missionaries on this trip was hospitalized "2 hours after he got home" due to a kidney stone. I just now got a text page from him as I completed this email that he is just now finally going home from the hospital.

We got home Saturday evening, and now it is Monday 5:30 pm and he's just now getting to go home. He told me it has been the most severe pain he's ever felt. We are thankful to God that he held off the suffering from this kidney stone until immediately after he got back home. We were so far from civilization that I can't imagine him going through such pain all the way out there past Panama City, past the 2 hour 4x4 jungle jeep drive, past the 1 hour boat ride to the island of Rio Sidra.

God is certainly good. Don't doubt it.