Hasta Manana!

Panama- During the time we were camping in Mariato, the Panama team stayed in tents on a cliff looking over the ocean. Every night we fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below us. There were palm trees surrounding us and stray dogs everywhere. The best part of the environment was the sun, mangos, coconuts and plantains that I lived off of picked fresh from the trees. The first day we got there I met about 10 kids of all ages and they let me ride their horse. I got to know all of their names and I spent most of my free time connecting with the kids of Mariato, even though there was a language barrier (I am not very good at speaking or understanding Spanish). Down at the beach we all went swimming crashing against the waves. A few of us on the Panama team got stuck in the rip tide but the locals were quick to jump in and make sure we were all okay! I visited a school with a team and shared my testimony. That night I shared my testimony again in front of all the locals and the Panama team. I was really nervous but it felt good to be able to step outside my comfort zone and to follow the nudge. Becky translated for me. There was also another translator Steven, I am very grateful for meeting him because he taught me a lot about bravery and god and shared experiences with me that changed my point of view on things. I also got closer to Jim, he is someone I now know I can always count on to be there for me. Brooke, Gabby, Jim, and I got really attached to all of the kids from the orphanage and in Mariato. We were all sobbing together and Jim prayed for us and prayed for the children. He said that god has a plan for the kids and that one day we will see them again in heaven. It was also a pleasure getting to know Don, Jim, and Steven at one of the school while we cleaned the bathrooms. Jim taught me how to fix toilets and we all bonded. I will never be the same. Those people have definitely changed me for the good on this trip. I loved getting to know everyone and leaving the campsite and some of the kids I got close to was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The last night I had with the kids I was crying and the little girl, Ruth, hugged me and wouldn’t let go and was sobbing into my shirt. It was a priceless moment and there are pictures that I am looking forward to show everyone. The next day before I got on the bus she and a couple of kids made me things and gave them to me along with kind notes. And when I said goodbye they all came up and kissed me on my cheek and that broke my heart. I have experienced Beautiful Pain. I Have learned so much from the kids and I hope that the kids have learned from all of us too. I will never forget the love and pain this trip has brought <3.
-Kaylee Overby

This entire trip to Panama has been an unreal experience. For a long time leading up to the trip, I didn’t want to go. For the past year or so, I have really struggled with my faith and accepting the presence of God. In my mind, going to Panama would force me to confront many of these struggles and I didn’t feel prepared to deal with them. However, because of the persuasion from a few of my friends who were going, I reluctantly paid the final deposit and before I knew it, I was sitting on a plane with 30 other students on the way to Panama. And wow, am I glad that I decided to come. I would not trade my experiences here for anything. A moment that particularly impacted me was during a church service Sunday morning in Mariato when the Panamanian pastor asked the people of the church to come forward if they were hurting or needed prayer. This soon developed into half of the congregation stepping forward and the Harbor Cov group kneeling before them and praying over them. After I had finished praying and took a step back, I drank in the sight that was before me. To observe people of different cultures and backgrounds holding each other and praying and sobbing and understanding one another was tov; it was good, it was beautiful, it was working exactly as God intended it to. That Sunday morning during the first real church service I have been to in almost a year consumed me with a feeling that is unable to be explained with words. Standing in that church in Panama, surrounded by strangers and people I’ve grown up with, has been the first time that I have genuinely felt the presence of God in a long, long time. Though the memories of this trip will eventually fade and in twenty or thirty years I may not remember the names of the children we served or the towns we stayed in, the feelings of love and acceptance and satisfaction that God provided me here are things that I will hold onto as tightly as I can. And I don’t ever want to forget the feeling of God’s presence again.
- Mara Kramer

Panama has been an amazing experience for me. I have never experienced joy as much as I did while I was here. If you would have told me before the trip that I would find joy chasing kids around and carrying them on my back in the hot humid sun I would have told you that you were crazy. The first two days we were serving at a school either helping in classrooms, doing work to make the school nicer or just doing whatever they told you to do. When recess came around everyone would stop what they were doing to play with the kids. These kids had so much energy and when playing with them, their energy flowed straight to me. Kids would run up, poke me, make a face and then run away for me to chase them. When I did this the kids laughed and smiled which made me laugh and smile. Then after those two days we headed out to the Pacific side of Panama to the beautiful town of Mariato. In Mariato I was on the team that went to the community of Plantan Aires. We helped at the pastors home painting walls, cleaning floors and simply by being present with the people. There was one little girl that I will never forget, Sari. She was about two years old and was the cutest thing! She came up to me crying one day and I just picked her up to comfort her. She kept crying so I tried something to get her to stop. I would go “Uno, dos, tres!” and then throw her up in the air and catch her then while holding her drop her backwards so her head was towards the floor. When she came back up there were no more tears and in their place was a beautiful smile. She was happy to be having fun and I was happy to be causing that. This is one of the main places I saw God during this trip, through the joy in the kids I played with. I want to take that joy that I got from the kids and spread it around to everyone I know. It was the highlight of my trip and just thinking about it makes me smile. God did some amazing things on this trip and there are many more stories to be told when we get home.
~Maddie Stelle

Panama was defiantly the best trip ever and I’m so glad that I got the opportunity to come here and make new friendships with everyone on the trip. Panama is so beautiful, especially Mariato because of the ocean and rolling hills. I loved working in the school the first two days because the children just loved being held and loved because they didn’t get much of that at home. It was awesome to teach the fourth grade class despite the language barrier. I really don’t want to forget working in the school or working in the orphanage in the HIV room because it was so sad to think about what their life was like when we weren’t there and it pains me to think about what their life is right now. They will continue growing and it saddens me thinking that I can’t see them grow because they were life my own children. Mariato was so much fun. I can’t describe how much fun it was to be there and to camp with everyone. Team busted tent and team busted truck, otherwise known as team 27, were the best teams ever. I loved working at the pastors house and painting while Willieto kept tickling me and flicking my ear because his smile just brightened up my day and he was like my little brother. I know this because I ended up giving him my cross necklace because God was nudging me and telling me that he was the one who deserved it. Going to the beach was also fun with everyone and our new team dog, Randi. I felt a lot of comfort whenever Randi was around and I looked out for him as much as I could even though we weren’t here for the animals. During the Sunday service is definitely a moment I won’t ever forget because I was not feeling good at all and that church was extremely hot so I ended up sitting outside on the ground with Randi who ended up following us there and fanning him because I knew that he was hotter than me and I loved the smiles I got from the locals while I did that because I felt a little bit better knowing that Randi was treated better because of the kindness I showed him and knowing that he was happier just sitting next to me and just seeing me. I never want to forget this trip or the experience I had here. Just seeing everyone work hard to do physical work or working hard to make the children happy I could see God working through them.
~Emily Ivey aka Ohio

Panama… This has been the most amazing trip I have ever been on. Period. I have experienced so much joy, and so much beautiful pain over the entire trip. I have experienced the power and love of God like never before in so many different ways. One of the times that I experienced beautiful pain was leaving the orphanage on the 25th. I had been blessed to spend two days just playing, and caring for three eleven year old boys. Mike , Jim, Luke, Scott, Roberto and I all had the privilege of getting to know Franklin, Angel, and Loberto. Playing with these kids was very fun, yet it was bittersweet because I knew that in two weeks they were being transferred to a different orphanage just for boys, and we were told that it was run more like a detention center. Leaving these kids while knowing this was very painful because I knew that they were completely under Gods control, which has helped me strengthen my faith in him. The moment on this trip when I felt the most reliant in God, and felt his extreme power was when I was swimming to an island in the Caribbean. I was with a few other people, but I was still nervous I had never swam that far in the open ocean before, and although I am a very strong swimmer I felt an odd sense of weakness. I stopped, and looked around and I was almost halfway to the island. I had been swimming at a moderate pace for about twenty minutes now, and I knew that I had a long way to go. All I saw was open water, the waves, the island that was my destination, and the little tiny beach way in the distance where everyone was just chillin. I felt a shiver go down my spine, and it was not because I was scared, but rather because I felt how dependent I am upon God, and how extraordinarily powerful, and awesome he is. It was in the moment of my utter weakness that I felt truly invincible. This trip has strengthened my faith in ways that I cannot explain, so I thank everyone who helped me get here!!! See y’all tomorrow!
Sincerely, Jacob Willenbrock