here am I.

as many of you know, i went to the country of Panama in Central America on a missions trip from July 9th to August 4th, 2011. 

to sum it up in one sentence,

it changed my life. forever.

i fell in love with panama, with the people there, and with the absolutley and amazingly honest connection with God I experienced there. my team got to panama on July 11th and left for the San Blas islands (our island was called Carti Sugdub) on July 13th. here is part one of my island journal entries and some pictures!

PART 1: a challenge-07.14.11

"i want to have an encounter with God like never before on this trip. I want to be challenged, broken, changed, inspired, amazed, and totally in awe of my Savior. I want to see people be healed, dead people made alive, and broken people be made whole. I want to see the timid be made bold in Christ, and lacking people be fulfilled. I want to see the villages of Panama singing the praises of the one true Lord God Almighty. Not to an idol that will always come out void, and not to the things of this world that will never satisfy. no. to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. I want to become humble, so that in my weakness, Christ can be glorified. I want my pride to be broken down so that I can have a real, relevant, and revolutionary relationship with the Creator God. I don't just want these things. I believe in the name of Jesus that these dreams will become a reality. I want and believe that through Jesus, I will change the world."

PART 2: first glimpse of the island-07.15.11

"We got to our island today! I have already fallen completely in love with it. God has already done some amazing things, and we just got here! even though we have been awake for 19 straight hours, God has given us all the strength to perservere and open our eyes to the reason we are on this island. I have a 101.5 degree fever today, but I am praising Jesus because He promises that in our weakness, He is strong! I have already been able to use my Spanish a lot, even helping do a little bit of "translating" when we got to the island (no one else really spoke any spanish). I am so thankful that even though we've only gone to our huts and our dinner area, we have got to minister to about 50 kids who have come to see us! they have stolen my heart, i love them so much. I taught some girls how to jump rope and the guys showed the little boys how to play Frisbee. The boat ride was beautiful. loved all of it. I am so so so in love. this place has my heart, and we've been here less than 24 hours. Praise Jesus!"

the island bathroom!

first glimpse of the San Blas Islands!