1 Thessalonians 2:8 “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well…”



This past week was a “mountaintop” experience for me. I traveled to Panama to do a missions trip with the youth of our church. We did tons of ministry in the streets of Panama. We led people to Christ as we shared the gospel through a variety of means. One of the highlights of the trip was spending 3 days deep in the jungle with an indigenous tribe, the Embara. We slept in their huts, ate together, and did worship services and bible studies 3-5 times each day.



When we pulled up to the village by boat, which was 3 hours away from civilization, we were greeted by the villagers. Everyone was warm and welcoming. Half of the tribe was Christian and the other half went to the local witchdoctor. We shared the gospel through our testimonies, bible lessons, and gospel bracelets. We showed them how to share the gospel with others and went deeper into the jungle and shared the gospel with the next village.



Our mantra was, “We are going as missionaries and not as tourists”. We definitely got a feel for what being a missionary is like! Three of the kids felt a call to missions and one is going back to Panama this summer to serve at the YWAM base.



The most important thing is that people came to Christ and the youth at the church learned what is was like to be the hands and feet of Christ in what seemed like another world. God is moving so greatly and is gracious enough to invite us to participate with Him!


Buck