I’ve got to say that last month in Panama is in my top three months of the race, if not my very favorite. I’ve made many friends and met so many new people from around the world this year. Saying goodbye is always hard but for the first time this year, I felt my heart crack right down the middle when I left the people at the YWAM base in Panama. This was one of the few times on the Race where I got teary eyed as I hugged my friends and told them goodbye.
During my time in Panama, I met one particular girl that I created a quick friendship with. We share many of the same things including the age of 22, a deep love for Jesus and our favorite flower being a sunflower. Due to the easy blush I can’t control, she called me “red face” along with “blue eyes” and within a week I was responding to my nicknames. Though she is only a month older than me, she seems years wiser. She is strong and extremely brave. The love she has for the Lord and missions spills out of her and so obviously affects the people around her. Our lives and culture are different but even though we were not raised the same, our desire to serve God and the people around us bridged any gaps there might have been. I can’t describe how much this friendship has blessed me or how much love I have in my heart for someone that was just a stranger not so long ago.
We asked to hear her story and with her permission and a name change, my teammate Jess put together a beautiful blog that I would now like you to read:
“She is a local here in Panama, from an indigenous tribe out in the jungle. That jungle is a three-day walk to see human civilization, to even see a car.
We will call her ‘Rose.’ To share her life, I must first give background on her family and culture.
Rose was born into a culture where it’s common for men to marry multiple women and have more than one wife. It is custom that after the first year a girl ‘becomes a woman,’ she is expected to marry and start a family. Basically, the typical age to get married and have a baby is 13 years old.
Rose’s mother was brought into this lifestyle at an early age. Being the second wife to her father, Rose had a sister from another mother, or she called ‘aunt.’ The whole family lived together, and Rose grew up knowing that her sister was her sister, her father had two wives, and she had an aunt/mother.
When Rose was 2, missionaries came to their village to preach the Gospel. Rose’s father denied hearing what they had to say ... he said he didn’t need Jesus.
Eventually, Rose’s grandfather said he wanted the Bible. This sparked the change in the family.
Rose’s father became sick with stomach pain. People in the village said that only a witch doctor could heal him because of the curse on the land in their village. He instead went to a normal doctor and they said nothing could be done. He later decided to visit the witch doctor, but even that didn’t save him from his sickness.
After some time, Rose’s father’s sickness worsened, he became so skinny. With loss of hope he finally decided to go to church. The congregation prayed for him, and he was healed. Not only physically, but also spiritually. He was saved.
While Rose’s father was away at church getting healed and saved, Rose’s mother and ‘aunt’ were still at home in their village. Missionaries that knew their language came and shared about baptism.
Rose’s mother became interested in learning about ‘baptism.’
The missionaries invited her mother and her aunt to Easter Sunday church. When her father returned, it seemed the whole family was building a foundation on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
From that point, her father started working with missionaries.
Out in the jungle, in a rural village somewhere, Rose grew up learning about Jesus.
As Rose got older …
Rose’s father wanted her to fight for her future. To study. To change culture norms. He did not want her to marry at an early age, but instead get an education.
At 10, Rose declared she wanted to follow Jesus.
During that year, a pastor’s wife asked for Rose to come live with them at a YWAM base to get a better education. They accepted both her and her sister into their program.
Because of the poverty, Rose and her sister would only get the chance to see their family once a year.
Rose started her first year of study at the Panama City base. In the beginning of her studies with other kids in the program, Rose realized that her home life may not be as ‘normal’ as she thought. Other children would ask questions about her and her sister. When she would give honest answers, they would make fun or bully her.
“Is it not normal to have two moms?”
During her second year, Rose began to defend herself and started fighting with the other kids. After school was finished for the year, her mother began to discuss the importance of forgiveness. Rose’s mother said when you decide to follow Jesus, you shouldn’t build up anger, or be prone to fighting. Rose respected her mother’s thoughts.
After her third year, Rose and her sister were moved to a different YWAM base and started a new program.
Through years, tears, studying, hard work, lies, confessions, repentance, studying, mercy, grace, hard work, failures, successes, studying and hard work ... Rose finally graduated.
During her last year of an internship, the staff at YWAM and her parents requested that Rose go to DTS (Discipleship Training School) before going to a university.
Rose’s goals were to study and get a job, not to be a missionary; but she angrily accepted the offer and began yet another program to respect her parents.
Little did she know that her family and extended family saw something in her.
She just needed to get her focus back on the only thing that mattered. Jesus.
For the first few months of the DTS program, Rose was reluctant to press in. After seeing the changes of the peers around her, she realized that she wanted more. She wanted change.
Because of past hurts and peer bullying, Rose had to forgive in order to move on to the next step in her relationship with those around her and with Christ.
Vulnerability is hard. But ... it’s important. It allows for growth and a deeper intimacy.
She forgave.
The leadership saw the change in Rose.
They asked her to stay and help the new youth in the program at the YWAM base. Since then, two of her other younger siblings have joined her at the base and are present with the program.
Currently, Rose is attending the university and has been discipling the kids here for the past three years. Her experiences of hard work and studying have come into play with the youth. Rose has now incorporated new things that she didn’t get to experience. She implemented Bible studies and open conversation and has been using her skills of encouragement. Community living among teenagers from different tribes and various cultures isn’t easy, but Rose has the skill set under her belt to encourage them and build them up ... focusing not just on school, but on Jesus.”
Rose’s life may not be “normal,” and she may have two moms. She may have grown up with a different culture, different lifestyle, different experiences, etc.
But the God she serves is the same God I serve. We are of the same family. Sisters in Christ.
Jesus picked her out of the middle of the jungle, to serve his kingdom and do his work. She holds authority in his name. He chooses who he wants to use in order to reach those around them. Bridging the gap of culture and differences.”
This month I am serving with a new team of girls in Costa Rica. We are working with a women’s ministry that teaches life/entrepreneurship skills to women living in poverty and/or prostitution. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we determine what the Lord has for us this month.
