UW25 Panama - Part 1

Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't posted in... like, a month (the Word of the Week's are automatically posted). But I was in Changuinola, Panama for two weeks meeting new friends, painting a church, trying to learn Spanish, and entertaining little kids at VBS. Really!

In case you don't know what I'm talking about (you probably don't), I participated in a mission trip organized by Maranatha. It's called Ultimate Workout (UW), and this was the 25th trip. About 150 teenagers went this year, including me.

But anyway, let me start at the beginning. I flew to Panama City on Wednesday and stayed at a school with the other participants right out side the city. The mattresses on the bunkbeds were... questionable. But the next morning all the kids loaded up on buses and headed out on a 14 hour drive to Changuinola in north-west Panama. That was Thursday (so exciting). On Friday we split up into 5 teams that focused on a certain project throughout the next week. That afternoon we visited our worksite; my team worked in Guabito and painted a church.

Anyway I'll leave it at that for now! I'll continue posting about this amazing adventure in the next few days, to stay tuned. For now, here are some photos so you can experience it visually, too.

Me on the bus!

One of the many amazing critters I got to see.

My team walking through Guabito.

A local cabinet maker.

A local grocery store

One of the church members who was very helpfully sanding the window grates.

Painting!