Panama Adventures!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our retreat in Panama this past week - we had a safe, fun, and relaxing trip and retreat with the Cap Corps volunteers who are living/working in Lima, Peru, as well as one of the co-directors from the States and a Capuchin friar who lives and ministers in Chepo, Panama! 

After some 30 hours of traveling by bus (yes, 30), we finally arrived in Panama City, where our director met us with a driver who took us to our retreat location (the Capuchin friary in Chepo, Panama). After being in the one-story city of Managua for nine months, the three of us were in awe of the sky scrapers as we drove down the Pan-American highway. 

After of evening of catching up with the Peru volunteers (whom we haven't seen since orientation in August!), we had 24 hours of silence to stop, relax, and reflect. I spent much of my time journaling, listening to music, and cross-stitching.

Our group: Laura (Peru), Myself, Ryan (Peru), Ana (Nica), Michael (Managua - also went to Creighton with Ana and I!), and Matt (Nica)

I took a short walk with our director to a river close by - it was so peaceful and refreshing.

The theme of our retreat was "Joy and Sorrow in the Context of Discipleship" and we were joined in our reflections by Padre Andres, a friar from the US who has been in Panama for almost 30 years. It was so nice to be surrounded by the friars and to hear about their lives and ministries in Panama - I wish we were able to spend more time with friars here in Nicaragua.

We spent the last day of retreat visiting Wacuco, a Capuchin-owned and run rural project outside of Chepo.  Padre Pablo (Wally) is another friar from Wisconsin who has been in Panama for many years. He has been active in several extensive rural projects, including highway construction, rice production, water systems, woodwork and skills training, and has over 2,000 acres of protected land.  He is currently in the process of leading the construction of a dam that will bring water to over 2,000 people in the area!

Thomas (and his grandpa, dad and uncle!) would have loved

all the construction and farming equipment they had--unfortunately,

mostly Internationals, tho ;)

Off-roading to visit the site of the dam 

Drinking water straight from the stream - that might be a first for me!

BEAUTIFUL waterfalls made the muddy hike totally worth it!

GiAnT tReE!

BeAuTiFuL :)

With Wally at the huge chapel they are constructing all from donations and volunteer work
 - did I mention that in his laundry list of projects?!

After retreat, the six of us volunteers spent an extra day in  Panama City just exploring and spending more time together. Of course, we HAD to go see the Panama Canal!!

This is a short video we took of one of the ships moving through the canal 

- it's a pretty slow process but cool to watch! 

And check out how LONG this one is! Crazy! They are currently in the process of building an even wider

canal through Panama to move even larger ships.. seriously hard to believe things that big can float!

Last group picture (you can see the water is high on the right and the lock on the left is almost empty)  before heading back to the hostel for some drinks and a good night's sleep before another long trek on the bus! It was definitely worth the trip, but we were more than ready to be back to our own beds last night! 

In other news, the rainy season has hit us in full force--we returned from Panama to a flooded house--luckily Miguel, the neighbor who had watched the house while we were gone, had already spent hours scooping out buckets and buckets of water from the kitchen and bedrooms, but I currently have about 300 sheets of construction paper spread out across my floor to dry! Bummer deal! 

So, with Panama, my crazy busy season has arrived -- this week one of my best friends from college (who also studied abroad in the DR) will be visiting! We're not entirely sure what we'll be doing, but I think a trip out to the east coast would be fun! Right after she leaves I will have my next delegation, then Mom and Dad coming to visit, another delegation! Then all of the sudden it's July and more traveling, delegations, and hopefully more visitors! Before we know it, August will be past and delegation season will be history.. so, my personal goal right now is to remain present in the moment - to enjoy these next few [albeit crazy busy] months in Nicaragua as I will never have them back. 

More updates to come soon, but thanks for checking in .. know that I am praying for everyone back home - for zealous patience and restless peace as we continue our journeys as disciples... God's blessings come when we listen, learn, and actively love.