The land of the dugout canoes...
As some of you may know, we recently had the chance to visit our friends in the province of Bocas del Toro,
on the other side of Panama. The weather there is unpredictable, but every turn presents an incredible view which makes for an exciting week long hike.
The group...
We started off fully loaded and carrying everything we needed for our 7 days here. This included food, water, tents and so on. Here we had already hiked a considerable distance.
The views are gorgeous, with crystal clear tropical waters.
On our way to Bahia Azul.
The Bahia Azul kingdom hall. There are about 90 in attendance there.
I spied this little water hut and figured it would be perfect for...
...our tents, hehe. As we set up, dozens came around to ask what we were up to, which gave us an opportunity to give them the kingdom message, as Nadia is doing here.
We were next to the main dock and this allowed me to go and speak with everyone who came in and out. Although I stayed behind on preach day to guard our stuff, I spent the whole time witnessing.
Chris has a big smile, but the reality was that she was scared to death in this dugout. The natives swear by its stability, but none of us were convinced. She hollered until she went out of sight around the bend.
Preaching with flipflops :) ...and a tie :(
Rain, rain rian...but Wify says it was fun anyway
Our five star resort, the best during the whole trip.
Kids start early on these dugouts, as most of them have to go to school and use these things every day, sun or rain. Only the very worst of weather keeps them from school.
This massive group of schoolkids came to say goodbye as we left. I had a chance to do a 'My Book of Bible Stories' chapter with 12 of them who were itching to come up and speak to me. Others visited at different times.
One person came in the early morning to speak about the bible, and after a lengthy conversation I told him to return for an afternoon bible study, where I could dress properly. He couldn't wait and came back one hour later for the 'return visit.'
We did it on the porch. I was in my swim trunks and shirtless, because I was guarding the tents and hadn't planned on witnessing. Throwing a shirt on, we spoke for another hour. The benefits of informal witnessing...
After a short boat ride from Bahia Azul, we hiked along the beach for a few hours.
Shhh, don't tell anyone about this jewel, but this little island beach will be our next hangout...
A sidewalk in the middle of the jungle. Huh. We couldn't figure it out. Was it the peace corps? Whoever it was, we mostly walked on the grass, as the steep, slippery slopes on this sidewalk made walking treacherous.
Here's some interesting facts and numbers.
This little kingdom hall in Calle Paloma (Pigeon Key) has 39 publishers.
Regular attendance is 180 to 200 every meeting.
One of the elders here is a special pioneer from Kusapin, who comes here on weekends to help out. It's a six hour walk and it means he serves two congregations.
Which brings me to the other point.
Normally, we would all agree that a congregation with four elders is in dire need of help.
Ahem.
Where we are in Chiriqui, four congregations have one elder only, four have one M.S. only, and one congregation has nobody. This does not include the many groups, which are in an even worse
situation.
In this Bocas circuit, there are
12 congregations,
13 groups, and
8 elders. In total.
Our very stern, very serious District Overseer was having a very serious group meeting here with these kids.
A singalong in preperation for the assembly. Turns out nobody knew which songs would be used, so we picked at random. Sung by kerosene lamp and flashlights.
This strange fruit is a woman's best friend. Inside are big seeds that, when dried, baked and ground turn into that little magic thing called cocoa.
We set up camp in this chicken coop, and the parrot was not amused. At least not until we bribed him with a fruitloop.
More numbers.
125 publishers.
740 in attendance.
1 baptized.
How come only 1 got baptized? Witnessing with the brothers, we came the see the answer.
Panama has huge potential for growth, but many witnesses don't want the commitment involved in conducting a study. In other words, MANY want to study, but...
Those interested ones are usually told to go to the meetings, and they do - hence the 39 publisher / 180 attendance at the meetings.
This problem is country wide. Hopefully, more will come to realize how rewarding it is to teach the scriptures to these humble and friendly people.
In Canada, we have parking lot attendants at assemblies. Here we also have parking lot attendants. This is no joke. Some families have three or more dugouts (the middle class, haha) and the small beachfront can get packed. Some avoid the traffic jam altogether and simply park in the next beach.
A friendly wave goodbye...
We didn't want to leave. Gorgeous beaches, great weather, friendly people. In fact, Chris and I are in the process of making another life choice right at this moment.
For those of you who would love to be here but can't, pray, pray pray for more workers. For those that can, what are you waiting for?
At this point, it had stopped raining and trails had become happily muddy. It's 3 pm at this point.
Here, it was about 6 p.m., and we had walked far more than we ever did before in this area. Sara loves my muddy truck, which we usually leave at the first intersection because of the horrendous trails.
Sunday at 11 a.m. We're already at the local school in Quebradas Llanas.
There's no electricity here, so we had to prep lights for the 6 p.m. event, plus electricity for the sound system and microphone.
Caught Nadia prepping some wild flowers...
Our generator / truck. It worked great in powering up everything.
We bit of entertainment while we counted down the hours. Nadia tried the hoola hoops for the first time.
And I tried roping a fence post. Seems like this is what every young boy wants to be when he grows up. A cowboy, that is, not a fence post.
For some reason, Alfonso's bald head mystified all the children. They couldn't keep their hands off of it.
The event.
In total, 51 people attended. Though it doesn't seem like much, we had no idea Quebradas Llanas had 51 people. There were 10 publishers, when gives us a nice ration of 5 times the amount of pubs.
This little guy was out of his element. His owners can't go anywhere without him, so he snuck in and hunkered down underneath a bench for the whole event. We didn't hear a peep out of him.
