The Lighter Side of Ministry

Are there perks and pitfalls to serving in Panama？ Yes, often in unexpected ways.

* Clothing 衣：Shop at Steven’s or Dorians, two department stores with very good prices.

* Food 食：We never had so much fresh mangoes and papayas in our life, as church members would give us fruit from trees in their backyard, or small eyed fish if they go to the fish market themselves. Chinese rice/noodles/rice noodles 粉麪飯 dishes are fairly standard across restaurants at $5-6 each. We haven’t found a restaurant that serves congee yet, possibly because of the hot weather. If you order “a la carte” dinner, plan on $15 to 20 per person. But don’t count on fast service. Even a bowl of wonton noodle may take up to half an hour. There is a local BBQ chain called Leons which serves excellent beef brochette, grilled just right and very tasty.

* Accommodation 住：We never spent so much time together since our honeymoon! While in Toronto, each goes to work and there wasn’t much time together, not even dinner, as I have to do visitation or prayer meeting or training, and Ellen has to work overtime. Now it’s every moment! This is a double–edged sword, depending on whether you get on each other’s nerves. So if you want a second honeymoon as a fringe benefit, or alternatively a training course in patient endurance, consider a longer mission trip 🙂

* Travel 行：Driving needs extra care, not just because of aggressive drivers, but also due to huge holes in the roads. This is because petty thieves stole the drainage man–hole covers to sell as scrap iron, leaving holes up to 2 ft. in diameter in the middle of the street! Once I took a wrong turn and ended up on a highway leading out–of-town. We have to make a u–turn at a toll–booth to get back to the city. By God’s grace as soon as I exited the highway we saw we were only several hundred meters from the guest house! It is dangerous if you end up in the wrong part of town at night. But if you go to Jane-Finch at the wrong time, I guess you would be in similar danger even in Toronto.

There are rewards as well as frustrations: consolation when brothers and sisters are comforted by what you shared with them, and frustration when you, as a non-technical person, tried to make AV work and it doesn’t. As I corresponded with brothers and sisters, taking a longer mission trip is very different from a 1–2 week STM. The latter is packed with programs and activities, after which you have very little time to really interact with the people you are ministering to. The former is more leisurely if you prepare in advance. You get a taste of what local life is like, and you begin to appreciate what your “flock” is up against. If you can afford the time away, I would recommend that you give it a try. Who knows, it may be the beginning of your second career.

Visitation Photos

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1. Laudromat 1
2. Food manufacturing plant
3. Food wholesaling distributor
4. Electrical retail and repair shop
5. Small supermarket, note armed security guard on right, 24 hours a day
6. Laudromat 2

We will be visiting other families, but have to rely on church sisters to take us around as we don’t know the way.

Day 9 and 10

Day 9
Three sisters came to the Wed. bible study. Ellen led them through a study of courageous women in the Bible who held up under pressure, using the case of the midwives and Jochebed, Moses’ mother, in Ex. 1. We booked two of them to be our guide to visit the families of church members the next day, the mother-in-law who came to the bible study, plus the sister who responded to the altar call on dedication night.

Day 10
Fruitful day visiting church members and building bridges to their unsaved family members：

1. A sister who operates a laundromat but whose non-believing husband does not support her attending church.
2. An entrepreneur who started a food manufacturing plant from scratch and built it into a business supplying many restaurants and supermarkets and employing over 30 people. A smart, self-made man who needs to be convinced that he needs Jesus.
3. A baptized couple who runs a food wholesaling business employing a dozen people.
4. A second baptized couple who owns an electrical small appliances and repair shop, but whose husband no longer attends church.
5. The brother who owns two convenience stores and an adjoining fast-food store [大排檔] who treated us to dim sum last week. Not yet baptized as he feels it may hinder him in his competitive business.
6. Another sister who runs a laundromat and whose situation is similar to the first sister.

We also get to know our guides much better as they shared their stories. The younger sister had run several businesses throughout the years, including a caged convenient store in a poor part of town, a bakery where she worked till midnight and got up at 4 AM everyday etc. The kitchen was hot like an oven and she felt she herself was baked like a dough. Her husband was involved in gambling. She would cry and sometimes the tears would get into the dough she’s kneading. Each one has a sad story to tell, often of struggles in the midst of difficult circumstances in a new land, making a living which harsh realities put their faith to the test.

Are they right in limiting their commitment to the Lord’s work？ Of course not！ But after listening to their stories you understand what they went through and learn to be more sympathetic. We in North America have an easier time than our countrymen in Central and South America. We are what we are only by the grace of God. I hope we all learn to be less judgmental and more encouraging.

Other Photos from Week 1

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Selected photos to give a glimpse of life in Panama:

* View of Panama City downtown skyline from our host’s 21/F condo veranda
* A food court in Albrook Mall, one of the largest malls in Panama City. Some packaged tours charge $40 to take tourists to this mall for all-day shopping.
* Mango tree in front of our guest house apartment. There are mango trees everywhere. Tree-ripened mangoes are sweeter and more fragrant than the warehouse ripened ones we get in Canada. You can also buy jugs of fresh-squeezed Panama orange or pineapple juice in supermarkets. They are fantastic. In general if you buy local fruits and vegetables the prices are very good e.g. pineapples costs $1 each, not $6 in Toronto! There is a fish called “細眼魚 small eye fish” which is very tender. And a dish called “炭燒肉 charcoal broiled meat” 〔honey glazed〕is also excellent. I think even Jacob would approve! But don’t get imported stuff, which are expensive. A box of Kleenex costs $3.25, not $0.99. Use generic substitutes instead.

Photos of Guest House

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Selected photos of the PCBC guest house, a 2-bedroom furnished apartment in El Dorado, the same neighbourhood as the church:

* living room and office
* dining room
* master bedroom

There is also a second bedroom, plus a maid’s room or study. The unit has air-conditioning, washer-dryer, wi-fi, parking, and is quite comfortable.

Missionary life does not necessarily mean impoverished living. If you have pension income of $1,100 per month and does not need to rely on the Panamanian government, you are eligible to apply to become a landed immigrant. Seniors’ (62 for men, 57 for women) discount is 25% on many things, including airfare, restaurants etc. You can have a meaningful ministry with decent living. Anybody interested?

Unlike the recently arrived young people 〔i.e. poor〕we met in Colon, many of the members in PCBC have been in Panama for over 20 years 〔老華僑〕and are well established. Some are bosses of one or more businesses and own rental property, with children attending private schools. The church has the potential to be financially self-sufficient but has not learned to tithe. Mammon is competing with God for the heart of the people. If Satan is unsuccessful with hard, frontal attack, he often use the soft approach to lure people away from God. So far this seems to be working. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

Photos of PCBC

Selected photos of the church, occupying 2 units on the first floor of a commercial building in El Dorado, a nicer part of town:
* pulpit
* sanctuary
* baptistry (designed by our hostess)

Our hosts initially rented one unit, then added more space for children’s program. However, when the landlord wanted to sell and did not renew their lease, they raised funds to purchase the units outright. The 2 units, with an area of approx. 200 sq. meters, cost US$180,000 or US$900 per sq. meter (roughly $100 per sq. ft.). The landlord won’t provide a long-term vendor take-back, but required everything to be paid up in 8 months. Since they put down $60,000 accumulated in their missionary capital account as deposit, this means paying $15,000 each month to close the transaction. Our hosts went to their personal friends to raise this support, and by God’s grace were able to fully pay off the building within the time frame. This is quite a remarkable accomplishment, as there is little support from the local congregation. Bear in mind this is on top of starting a new church from scratch, doing evangelism, nurturing, caring, administration. Many church members don’t have a clue what a pastor or missionary does, and criticize from a narrow perspective. We need to walk in their shoes before boasting we can do a better job.

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Day 8：Ministry in Panama

What I Learned continued
Today marks the end of the “honeymoon”, as our hosts returns to Toronto and we are without our “tour guides” and translator. Pray that everything works out.

The second thing a new missionary or pastor has to establish quickly in a new field or assignment is to be accepted. If the people do not consider you part of them, or don’t like you, you can’t have an impact even if you have the truth that they need. That is why a worker new to the community has to go out of his/her way to become part of the group he’s trying to serve. Jesus was among sinners and tax collectors；so should we.

An out going, Type A personality has an advantage in this case, but that does not mean an introvert cannot have an effective ministry. You just need to put in extra effort to reach out. You have a need to get to know them. They do not have a need to know you. The responsibility is on the missionary to establish bridges.

Besides the drop in center, which is passive, our hosts have tried actively calling on Chinese stores in the area. This won’t be new for those who have learned the social network in Evangelism Explosion. You just have to systematically go through all your contacts. It’s like playing baseball. If you have a batting average of 300 i.e. 3 people respond for every 10 you call, that’s a pretty good response rate. It’s the law of averages；the more calls you make, the more responses you’ll get. Sooner or later someone will respond positively to the gospel. We just need to use our brains to think the strategy through.

Aside from outreach, they have also provided caring to people who would not be coming to church. There are two prisons in Panama City, one “luxurious” for inmates with “connections”, another like “hell” for those who broke the law but have no political support. The latter typically has more than a dozen Chinese in them each time they visited. Some are in there for serious crimes like extortion. There are no beds, with many people locked up in each cell, sleeping on newspapers on the floor. It isn’t difficult to get “decisions for Christ” from them, but practically impossible to follow them up as many are transferred elsewhere or deported and you never see them again.

Is Panama a hard field？From my limited experience, no harder or easier than many places in the world. Not as hard as in some closed countries hostile to the gospel, and not as easy as on home turf when you don’t have to go beyond your comfort zone. As a minimum, the standard of living is only somewhat lower than in Toronto. Don’t expect the same as in North America, but it’s not as if you are living in rural Africa either, where even basic facilities are lacking. Once you master Spanish, the lifestyle isn’t too bad. Of course there are give and take. You give up the comfort of being close to your family and friends, and your sense of security. In return you gain warm sunny weather all year round. In the end, I believe what’s needed is a missionary heart, without which you won’t and don’t want to pay the price.

Day 7：Life in Panama

A church family invited us to dim sum, and we learned a bit more about the life of the Chinese in Panama. They have been in Panama nearly 30 years, and are in the convenience store/supermarket business. They started out with only a few thousand dollars capital and a small store, but penny by penny, managed to grow the business into two large supermarkets, an adjacent fast food store, plus a fourth one to be opened soon. Most Chinese from 花縣 are in that business, as they trade hard work for good profit. Even a small store in a run down part of town could earn $2000 net profit a month. In comparison, a pastor earns $1000 a month including benefits. No wonder most of the men gave up the ministry.

The earnings, however, are not without risks. Almost all convenience store owners have been robbed at least once or twice. Those who have not are the exception, not the rule. He said the worst times are pay periods when they have lots of cash on hand. One time 5 robbers waited in 2 cars till closing time, then pushed their way in, locked the glass doors, punched him, and handcuffed him and his brother. They then pistol whipped his brother’s wife, and forced her to open the safe. She was very afraid and entered the wrong combination. They ended up hauling the safe away. Another time his wife was going to deposit the day’s earnings into the bank. The armed robbers took her car and sped off. Ten minutes later the stolen car was found, completely wrecked.

I asked him why would they risk their lives like that. He explained that because the start-up capital is small. Even if you have as little as $2000, they can afford the rent in a poor part of town and be their own boss. And if a person doesn’t mind the long hours, the money to be made is good. It’s a little like gambling. The risks are high, but so are the returns. I guess if you lack education and language skills, this is what you are restricted to.

The costs are not just risks to personal safety, but also paid by the family well-being. As mentioned, many marriages are a matter of convenience, not love. With long hours seven days a week, many have not taken time off in years. When the church organized its first church picnic, some folks indicated that this is the first time they have been away from their store, even though they have been in Panama for years! Reminds me of Mk 8：36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? The mind-set is that of Romans 8：5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires. That’s why it is very difficult to disciple those who made profession of faith, because their world view have not been changed. Unless we strike at the value system, we will have little success in growing leaders to multiply the work.

Days 5 and 6

What we missed：
1 Our grandchildren － even though we managed to install a webcam and Skype, nothing beats meeting face to face.

2 My daily power walk － the weather is just too hot and humid to do brisk walking, plus we did not have much free time. Our hosts will be with us for just one week to show us the operations of the church, after which they’ll leave, so we need to take advantage of the time overlap.

What we learned：
1 More on the dynamics of the Panamanian Chinese. I think the biggest hurdle some face is the lack of command of Spanish. If you can’t speak the language, you can’t integrate into mainstream society, and are relegated to making a living among the ethnic Chinese. Automatically you are locked into a second class citizen category. The importance of being able to communicate cannot be over emphasized. In the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, when the people wanted to make a name for themselves and ignore God, He confused their language and they were forced to scatter. Their plot failed. This showed the significance of communication. So the first challenge of a missionary is to learn the language asap.

2 Grass roots missionary work. I asked our hosts how they started from scratch to build the church. They said they began seven years ago with a drop in center where people can come to read, chat or borrow CDs and videos. A few of the current members were contacted this way. They also visited the Chinese stores in the neighbourhood to introduce themselves and make the reading center known. This also attracted a few members. So it is basic pioneer work to plough the field. Nothing comes easy. If you want results, be prepared to do laborious ministry and wait patiently for the harvest. Our hosts have been at it for seven years already, but still consider themselves in startup mode.

Day 4

Today we continue with the joint retreat. During lunch we again sat with the man who was shot, Mr. M. I told him perhaps God spared his life to give him time to do something important, and encouraged him to pay close attention to the evangelistic message in the afternoon. I also met a couple whom I knew from my first visit to Panama 9 years ago. The husband Mr. L invited a middle-aged friend Mr Y, a Catholic, to hear the good news. He said he had never been to an evangelistic meeting before, but would like to find out what’s the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. Again I told him to listen carefully first, and I’ll be glad to answer any questions afterwards.

We were drafted to be counselor team leaders, but were assigned to a different section of the hall. Praise be to God. Both these friends responded to the altar call. When I saw that there were no men responding in my assigned rows, but Mr. M stood up to walk forward, I quickly followed to stand next to him in front of the platform. Unknown to me, Mr. Y also came forward, and Mr. L sought me out to follow him up as well. I thank the Lord that I had the privilege to lead both of them to pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Altogether there were 325 people attending the meeting, with 39 first time decisions and 9 dedications!

In the evening commitment meeting 献心會 Rev. Maak challenged the brothers and sisters who are willing to follow wherever God leads to come forward. We were very glad to see that one of the nearly 30 who responded was a sister who came to our Wed. women’s Bible study! Please pray for Mr. M, Mr. Y and Ms A, that their decisions are genuine, and that they would follow through with their commitment. The enemy will try to discourage them, but pray that they will persevere to the end. The Lord is gracious. The soil is often stony and full of weeds, but pray that they are good soil that bears fruit.