It is an exciting time here in Panama for all people.
February 11, 2008
Dear friends and family,
It is an exciting time here in Panama for all people. The Carnival which is a huge national holiday just ended. During this holiday everyone goes on vacation and celebrates by throwing buckets of water and water balloons at people driving or walking by; we were able to experience this first hand while we were in El Valle. This holiday is much like Mardi Gras in that it is also marked by women dressed in very little dancing in parades, loud music, fireworks, games, lots of food, excessive sex and drinking that lasts five days. This is celebrated all throughout the country and draws in huge crowds from others countries as well. The evangelical Christians in Panama feel that this is a very sinful time, thus most of them go to the beach or to the mountains for their vacation. Our host family invited us to go along with them to El Valle which is the biggest city located in the crater of a volcano. During our time there we visited with many of our host family’s friends, rode bicycles, visited a zoo with local animals, played games with their son David, and hiked up India Dormida, which means sleeping girl. There is a legend of the mountain: an Indian princess fell in love with a conquistador, and when her father would not allow the relationship to continue, the lovesick princess laid down and died, and the erosion over the years covered her.
The day after coming back from El Valle, we met up with our m’s and about twenty young Chinese for a retreat at Santa Clara which is a beach a few hours from the city. Wednesday marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year and this is why many of the young people were able to get off of work to go on vacation for a day. One of the girls, Wendy, whom I have become friends with, said this has been her most exciting New Year Celebration since living in Panama because of going to the beach and fishing with friends. I stayed up until two in the morning talking to her about many different aspects of Chinese culture. Yarp that I will have many more opportunities to meet with her again. While our time at the retreat didn’t seem to last long, I really felt as though I was starting to build some good relationships with a couple of the girls. The two girls I spent most of my time with know Cantonese, Mandarin, and a little Spanish and English.
After coming back, our host family and Brett and I went to the convention center to see some Chinese performances and go to small booths which were set up. When entering the convention center it seemed like a completely different country because everyone was Asian. At one of the booths we picked up a language book with CDs that teach basic Mandarin so we can communicate with our new friends in one of their first languages. Also while we were there we were able to see a performance of the Chinese dragon. It was one of the best performances I have ever seen in my life. The men in the dragon costume jumped onto very high pillars and moved to the sound of drums. The costume was so detailed that even the dragon’s eye lids moved!
This week we will continue language lessons again, as we were on a break for the national holiday, and we will move into our apartment at the end of the week. The week after that we will be helping our m’s with a English VBS with Chinese children and young adults with the theme being holidays. Please yarp that everything works out with the VBS concerning language as we will be working with children and young adults who might only know Hakka rather than Mandarin which means we will have to have three translators (English, Mandarin, Hakka, and possibly Spanish). Then we will take part in a conference here in Panama about the ministry among the Chinese. I am very excited that we are finally going to get involved in the ministry here in the next couple of weeks.
In Him,
Rachelle Roberts
Dear friends and family,
It is an exciting time here in Panama for all people. The Carnival which is a huge national holiday just ended. During this holiday everyone goes on vacation and celebrates by throwing buckets of water and water balloons at people driving or walking by; we were able to experience this first hand while we were in El Valle. This holiday is much like Mardi Gras in that it is also marked by women dressed in very little dancing in parades, loud music, fireworks, games, lots of food, excessive sex and drinking that lasts five days. This is celebrated all throughout the country and draws in huge crowds from others countries as well. The evangelical Christians in Panama feel that this is a very sinful time, thus most of them go to the beach or to the mountains for their vacation. Our host family invited us to go along with them to El Valle which is the biggest city located in the crater of a volcano. During our time there we visited with many of our host family’s friends, rode bicycles, visited a zoo with local animals, played games with their son David, and hiked up India Dormida, which means sleeping girl. There is a legend of the mountain: an Indian princess fell in love with a conquistador, and when her father would not allow the relationship to continue, the lovesick princess laid down and died, and the erosion over the years covered her.
The day after coming back from El Valle, we met up with our m’s and about twenty young Chinese for a retreat at Santa Clara which is a beach a few hours from the city. Wednesday marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year and this is why many of the young people were able to get off of work to go on vacation for a day. One of the girls, Wendy, whom I have become friends with, said this has been her most exciting New Year Celebration since living in Panama because of going to the beach and fishing with friends. I stayed up until two in the morning talking to her about many different aspects of Chinese culture. Yarp that I will have many more opportunities to meet with her again. While our time at the retreat didn’t seem to last long, I really felt as though I was starting to build some good relationships with a couple of the girls. The two girls I spent most of my time with know Cantonese, Mandarin, and a little Spanish and English.
After coming back, our host family and Brett and I went to the convention center to see some Chinese performances and go to small booths which were set up. When entering the convention center it seemed like a completely different country because everyone was Asian. At one of the booths we picked up a language book with CDs that teach basic Mandarin so we can communicate with our new friends in one of their first languages. Also while we were there we were able to see a performance of the Chinese dragon. It was one of the best performances I have ever seen in my life. The men in the dragon costume jumped onto very high pillars and moved to the sound of drums. The costume was so detailed that even the dragon’s eye lids moved!
This week we will continue language lessons again, as we were on a break for the national holiday, and we will move into our apartment at the end of the week. The week after that we will be helping our m’s with a English VBS with Chinese children and young adults with the theme being holidays. Please yarp that everything works out with the VBS concerning language as we will be working with children and young adults who might only know Hakka rather than Mandarin which means we will have to have three translators (English, Mandarin, Hakka, and possibly Spanish). Then we will take part in a conference here in Panama about the ministry among the Chinese. I am very excited that we are finally going to get involved in the ministry here in the next couple of weeks.
In Him,
Rachelle Roberts
posted by Pamela Ferguson at
11:19 AM
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