Panama English Camp 2011 Reflection

Panama English Camp 2011 STM
Date: Sept 9 - 18, 2011
Members: Ontario Team (Jacqueline, Joel L, Pascal & myself), Houston Team (Wilson, Cindy, Clarissa, Jessica, Jeff, Joe, & Paul)

EC 2011 STM

What I told my team before heading down to Panama was this: "We are going to stay at a resort to teach English to the youths in Panama mainly by speaking English to them." And that is exactly what we did, but boy it turned out to be one of the longest weeks in our lives. I remembered midway through the camp, Pascal came up to me and said "building a house in Mexico will be so much easier than this." Later when I asked the team if they would come back and do it all over again, I got a resounding "YES".

How would I sum up the trip?
The one word I would use to describe my experience is that I have "aged". I have aged not because of the intensity of the camp. Yes, the camp was a challenge for many of us: for Jacqueline and I, it was the first time we had to come up with a lesson plan to teach English. For Joel Lau, though he has experience with writing scripts and working with youths, this is his fist mission trip. And for Pascal, not only this is his first mission trip, he has never worked with youths before. All in all, we are all out of our comfort zone. Along with the long camp schedule, 7:00am - 1:00am, it took a toll on our bodies. So in the physical sense, yes, we have "aged".

EC2011 - Dare 2 Be

For me, I felt that I have aged spiritually. Not only because It was my first time leading a STM team, being challenged to come up with a fellowship program on the fly, or even preaching in both English and Chinese in one morning. God opened my eyes at one point during the camp, showing me how much He loved the next-generation.
Before arriving at camp, Pastor Nick has informed us that there was a kidnapping. The youth that was kidnapped was suppose to attending the camp. However, he insisted that the 2 cousins of kidnapped victim continue to come to camp as planned, for it is better for them to be at camp rather than staying at home. So we know of the two youths but we did not know the identity of the youths.
On Friday during breakfast, Jessica informed me that the police found the body of the kidnapped youth. I did not know how to react to the news, so I went to the admin table (a quiet place with all the kids in the breakfast hall) to collect myself and prepare for the rest of the day. All of a sudden a youth came up to me, said "Thank you, pastor", and gave me a hug. My first thought was, what great kids. Then it hit me, he came to me to say goodbye before going with his family because of the news. I ran up to him and told him to "be strong and courageous" (from our memory verses) and said I'll continue to pray for him.
News article of the kidnapping
I sat back down, looked up at the camp scoreboards which meant absolutely nothing at this point, and wept.
I "aged" because I was standing at the crossroad of innocence and evilness -- the innocence of the youth meets the evilness of the world. I ran to Wilson, because he is about to lead worship and give the message that morning, to check to see if he's okay. He said, "I'm holding it together for the kids." For the kids. This is why we are in Panama - for the kids - to help raise a generation of youth in Panama for the glory of God.
Over the next few day, while the rest of the team can relax after the conclusion of the camp, in stillness I was trying to tune into the moving of the Holy Spirit of God. At the Daniel fellowship, God lead me to address why these things happened through the Bible Study of the "Men who was born blind". Also for the Sunday message I was led to speak on how God gives us peace when we pursue to see Him.
We are still witnessing the effects of the news of the pass week. But God has rally the Chinese community and the church community in Panama together. He is doing something. And I wait with great expectation to see what God is doing in Panama.

Memorial March for the victims

The STM did not end when we came back to Canada. Back in Canada, I spoke to several of the youth who committed to serve the Lord in full time ministry that I'll keep them accountable to their committments. May God raise up a generation of youth in Panama to serve the local ministry.