Panama STM Sharing

Lok T. Liu

Why did I go?

I have been planning to join a short-term mission for several years. However, the right opportunity had yet to come up until this short-term mission trip.  To me, participating in a short-term mission is more than fulfilling the Great Commission in some way. Nor it is just to add another line to my resume as a Christian. Joining a short-term mission is an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone, to experience God in new ways, to learn how to care about people that I have never met, and to work with other brothers and sisters for a common mission. The Crosspoint Panama STM trip was my first STM trip and it was a very memorable trip.

Thanksgiving

Our short-term mission (STM) trip took place during the Thanksgiving week.  Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Panama. However, during the trip, I could not help feeling so thankful with what God had provided me for the trip.  Going to Panama also gave me an appreciation of all the daily things I had taken for granted in the US.

I thanked God for this short-term mission (STM) experience, our fantastic STM team members, our gracious hosts at Panama (Pastor and Mrs. Mar), the hospitality from the brothers and sisters in Panama, and the support of the wonderful brothers and sisters from Crosspoint.

Panama

Though much of Panama is not well developed, it is not as primitive as people may have expected.  There are water front high-rise condos, casinos, and shopping malls in downtown Panama City just like the US.  During the trip, what struck me was the disparity between the have and have-not in Panama.

There are about 150 thousand Chinese out of the 3 million people in Panama.  However, only about 600 Chinese Christians attend church regularly in Panama.  Many of the recent Chinese immigrants were from Huadu, Guangdong Province, where the native dialect is Hakka.  The Chinese at Panama work long hours every day and often work 6.5 to 7 days a week.   Many church members are business owners who operate grocery stores, restaurants, dry cleaners, hardware stores, auto part stores, or construction material suppliers.  Some church members are just employees in these stores. Crime rate is high in Panama.  Many Chinese have been victims of robberies, which even lead to murders in some cases. Many Chinese also send their children back to mainland China to be raised by grandparents. Due to the stressful life, gambling and family problems are prevalent among the Chinese in Panama.  During my visit, I could sense the fear, insecurity and hopelessness among the Chinese in Panama.  I also learned from the local missionary that many Chinese in Panama, especially the store employees and teenagers, found neither hope nor purpose with their current life situations.

Taste of being a missionary

Though this was a short-term mission during the Thanksgiving week, our team had been busy raising funds and preparing for the trip since early October with training classes and hours of meetings.  During our trip, we stayed in Panama City most of the time, collaborating with the pastors, brothers, and sisters from Oi Wah Tong (Obarrio Alliance Church) and Ling Fung Tong (La Iglesia Alianza de Cerro Viento). We also visited the Alliance Bible School of Central and South America and a town called Chepo about 60km east of Panama City.

Visit to Alliance Bible School of Central and South America

During our STM, we primarily ministered to the Chinese in Panama through 1) visiting the stores and restaurants owned by Chinese, 2) participating in church worships, small group meetings, and prayer meetings, and 3) teaching Sunday school and vacation bible school (VBS).  We also learned a lot from the workshops by local missionaries.

My particular responsibility in the team was being the coordinator for the logistics of the trip. I also collaborated with Esther and Josephine on Sunday school and vacation bible school (VBS) for the age group 4-7. During the STM, our typical day started out with devotion at 7:30am. We did not get back to our hotel until 10pm or even after midnight. We would then have a debriefing about the day's experience and the plan about the day after. It was a tiring trip for all of us. Some of us felt ill during the trip. Thank God that the illness was not serious.

One of the reasons that I had not joined a STM was that I thought STM would require some special skills. Indeed, there are STM that require medical expertise, musical talent, or English teaching skills. However, after my Panama STM, I realized that anyone of us had the skills to be part of a STM. It is more important to have a caring and serving heart for it is God who is doing the work through us.

Stepping out of comfort zone

Going to Panama offered me a chance to step out of my comfort zone to learn more about God and myself. Two things were particularly challenging to me. First, being an introvert, I felt uneasy talking and witnessing to strangers sometimes. Second, given that I had no previous experience in children ministry, teaching the kids during Sunday school and VBS was more challenging than I had expected.  Little did I know that God used these challenges to teach me more about evangelism.

There is no question that witnessing for Christ can be difficult and we need to rely on God. However, I found that the issue was really in me sometimes.  Unconsciously, I would set up mental roadblocks that would prevent me to take advantage of the opportunity to witness for Christ. For example, while visiting the Chinese stores in Panama, customers would inevitable come in the stores and interrupt our conversation with the store owners. I would politely step aside to let the customers finish their business, waiting up to 15 minutes at times.  However, after the customers were gone, I would hesitate to start explaining the Gospel to the store owners for fear that another customer would interrupt us again. My mind would be more preoccupied with the possibility of inconveniencing the store owners than the need to proclaim the Gospel.  However, through this experience, I learned not to be result oriented in my witnessing but to leave the outcome to God. I am only an agent of God's love by showing genuine care to the people I encounter.

Before the mission trip, our STM team had decided to try to spend time with our Sunday school and VBS students individually to care about them and to introduce Christ to them.  During the trip, Josephine, Esther, and I got a chance to explain the Gospel to our Sunday school students. Afterward, Esther and I led two students, Luis and Stephanie, who were brother and sister, to Christ.  At that time, I was skeptical whether their acceptances to Christ were valid since they were only 7 and 8 years old. During VBS on the Saturday after, Robert tried to preach the Gospel to Luis again. However, Luis told Robert that he had accepted Christ the Sunday before. When Robert told me about this incident and that he himself accepted Christ when he was small, I realized that I should seize the opportunity to witness to children and have faith in God for the children's salvation.

More lessons learned

STM is more than spreading the Gospel. God speaks to us in many ways through our mission experience. During my trip, one thing that impressed me was the dedication and enthusiasm of the brothers and sisters at Panama in church ministry and serving people both inside and outside their churches.  At one occasion, I asked a sister whether she found it exhausting to serve in so many different ministries at church while working long hours. Her answer was a resounding no because she considered her ministry as an assignment from God and as an honor.  Reflecting on this, I realized that sometimes I had chosen my ministry based on what fitted me rather than God. If I step out of my comfort zone to obey God's will, God will empower me through the Holy Spirit to serve Him and to experience Him in new ways. I gained the God-centered perspective of ministry through this incident.  At another occasion, through a conversation with a seminary student, I learned that I should diversify my ministry at church as much possible as to gain the variety of experience for God's work in the future.

The term is short but the impact is long lasting

People may expect immediate dramatic personal and spiritual changes upon returning from a mission trip.  However, we may not know God's will and the impact of our mission experience until years later. Mission trips often conjured up the images of suffering, sacrifice and challenge. The small sacrifices I made were well worth the joy I received from the trip, the opportunity to work with brothers and sisters of other churches, and the opportunity to witness God's work on others and me. I treasured the time I spent working with our STM teammates and connecting with the students.  This trip revived my relationship with God and broadened my perspective spiritually. In some sense, much of what I learned in the trip was not new. I had heard the STM experience of other brothers and sisters before. However, there was no match to gaining first-hand mission experience in person.