Fatherless

Antonio Luo

By God's amazing grace, four brothers and sisters from XING group were able to go to Crosspoint Church's first Short Term Mission. Actually, all of XING group's brothers and sisters went together to this first mission trip. It was an answered prayer and a great blessing from God.

Panama is a special place for me. I was born there but I didn't grow up there. In my teen years, I went back and lived there for roughly 2 years. I saw the deprived lives that Chinese immigrants are trying hard to grasp with their ceaseless labor. Seventeen working hours for 354 days every year, having the whole household striving to earn the pennies from the natives, life goes on without meaning or purpose. And I saw no way out.

This time, I went back with 7 other brothers and sisters and Pastor Ching; I was filled with hope and joy. As we travel around Panama City (the capital city of Panama), I saw few changes in Panama's landscape: a remodeled airport, a few taller and nicer skyscrapers stood next to the bay, two highways and a new mall. Other than that, lives are same as before, Chinese people still work like there is no tomorrow. But there is one subtle difference that brings color to this sadden landscape. There are several Chinese churches! When I was in Panama, I didn't know there was any Chinese church (in reality, there was one). But now there are more than five! For some brothers and sisters who devoted to their working life religiously, now are willing to temporarily close their business for half of a day to come to Sunday worship! It is definitely a baby step of faith they take to follow Christ. I thank God for His marvelous deeds done among our people.

We hosted a weekend of Vacation Bible School for the young kids. Alice and I handled a group that ranges from 7 years old to 11 years old. They speak mostly Spanish, and Hakka (a dialect in the Canton region), which is a great challenge to Alice and I. I used my broken Spanish managed to get by with short phrases and with the help of translators.  We had the kids to use clay to make the characters for the nativity scene. They all loved to play with the clay, making "things" that are not in the nativity scene, even though we had assigned them to make specific characters. After the class, we collected their artifacts for decoration, a kid came to me with the leftover clay in hand and asked, "can I take these clays home?" I thought, we should leave these clays to the church and let the church staffs to reuse them in future activities. I said, "well, how about leave these clays here, and have your dad buy you a new set of clays, how about that?" He looked at the ball of clay gloomily, and said "my dad is no longer here." Then I realized that this kid's father was shot dead in his store. I was stunned, then said, "hmm, okay. You may take this home, but don't let others know about this, okay?" So he walked away playing with the ball of clay.

The second day of VBS, we had the kids to do crafts. Afterward, we gave out rewards to those who can recite the verse in Mark 12:30-31. One kid who didn't recite the verse, partly because I hadn't given enough time to teach and guide him, asked me for a gift. Knowing that he is the son of a wealthy merchant, I said to him, "can you ask your dad to buy you this?" Referring to the two bouncing balls in his hands. "My dad is always busy working. I usually don't see him," he replied, throwing the balls to the ground and trying to catch them. Then, I let him keep those bouncing balls.

Middle group doing craft works

I saw orphans not in an orphanage. I saw adult with a family, living like orphans who are in need of love and something to fill up the empty slot in their soul. I wonder why? It was raining most of our trip. In reality, it was raining so hard that the province of Chanquinola was having a flood and needed massive humanitarian aids. But in the end, I saw sunshine, on the last day of our trip. The sunshine after the rain always is accompanied by rainbow. It's a good reminder that God is there and His grace is there.