More pictures from Tuesday...

We're nearing the end. We started out the day with a little tourism...a boat ride down the Panama Canal (pictures to follow tonight). We saw crocodiles (Coach even got to hold a baby croc the guide scooped out of the water), a green iguanna, a couple of sloths, and coolest of all, the monkeys. Everyone got to have a wild monkey take a bananna from their hand as they lept from the trees to our boat. We then headed to the Artesan Mall for a little souvenir shopping.

Today was also our last clinic, another elementary school in San Miguelito. We ran out of beads for our wordless book bracelets...we gave 1500 away at our clinics. The kids were great and our team had a hard time wrapping up...they kept signing autographs and you could see the emotion as they got in the van for the last time after a clinic. We then went to the first school we did a clinic at and repainted the lines on their gymnasium floor. The team has done an amazing job with the kids at the clinics...they played with them, hugged them, let them hang all over them, and even with the heat and tiredness never lost their enthusiasm or compassion.

Tonight we're going to the Miresflores Locks for a team dinner. Tomorrow is ocean, shopping, and our final Crossfire. It's hard to believe the trip is almost over. Our team is so close and having to much fun. God has been powerful and nobody wants it to end.

The video is the team singing after our last game...the audio is really bad, but the video is fun...

Monday started our second week here in Panama and it was another busy day. 2 more clinics, a high school in Panama City (our toughest clinic to date) and a junior high clinic (in a tropical rain storm) in San Miguelito. The team worked very hard, and pushed through a lot of weariness to give a great effort with some kids who weren't as willing to participate at first. Ashley K and Erica did a great job sharing their testimonies, and many more kids responded to our invititation and prayed to receive Christ.

After a couple hours of R&R at Diego's (badly needed) we headed off to play the Panamanians 1 more time. Down both bigs (both Slim and Diego fouled out with 9 minutes to go in the game) the team battled hard down the stretch, missing a 3 pointer to tie the game with 9 seconds left. With weary legs the team played as hard as they could. It was really fun, however, to see the relationships our guys have built with the Panamanian players. We gathered together after the game, prayed and sang together, savoring the competitive experience we had shared together. (We also received an invitation to Costa Rica next year if we want to go!).

Tomorrow is our last clinic (the players are sad) and then we paint a gym floor in a school in San Miguelito. Keep praying for us...we're almost done.

God is Good/All the TIme

We been here over a week and everything has been wonderful. Things have been a little rough with the sun, but the man upstairs has giving us enough water, and energy to share basketball and his gospel day in and out. The clinics get better everyday, you never know what your going to get with the kids which is always they best part. They are full of energy and love to dance. I wish we could stay another week and continue to worship with these kids because they are so amazing and believe just like we do. Well we have three days left, so pray for us; that we can reach out to more kids/children with these last 3 day :). God Bless

ZaK

i'm sitting by both ashleys right now!

Hola! Como estas? Estoy en Panama y tengo tiempo bueno. El equipo estan fenomenal y ...eeekkkk.......

Ok ok i don't really know spanish so lets go back to english. or as zach likes to call it inglo.
The past few days have been wonderful. The highlight for me was Friday night. We had a big fundraiser game for a family from the CBC Church we are working with for their upcoming move to Guinea, West Africa to be missionaries. The games we a blast but we raised a lot of money for them. KC made a half court shot which earned them 1000 dollars on the spot! Then yesterday at church we prayed for them and commissioned them. That is one of the many great things that has happened here.

Well, everyone else has lots to say so read up! Keep praying for us that we would finish strong here as we are all getting pretty tired from the heat and long days.

And it's ADAM'S BIRTHDAY!!! FELIZ CUMPLEANOS A ADAM!

Bye...
Erin

Welcome to Panama with Adam Brown

Sooo today is my BIRTHDAY!!! I am 19 and ready for another exciting day with the Panamanians!!!! The last couple days have been A M A Z I N G ! ! ! ! Just playing with the kids and dancing and being silly with them is great. I am actually learning songs in spanish now. The kids love singing and dancing with us its just sooo much fun!! Today we have our last game of the trip and maybe we can redeem ourselves this game. Stay tuned for more of Welcome to Panama with Adam Brown.

Hello to everyone back home... from K.C. ...

Hello to everyone from back home :-) It is hard to believe that we have been in Panama for over a week! It is amazing to see how much we have all grown and become closer in the last 8 days! It has been a wonderful experience and has gone so quickly. Everyday has been filled with one activity after another, and the people here have been wonderful.

This trip has far exceeded any expectations I had. It has truly been life-changing! To be able to combine basketball with ministry work has been a blessing. We have three very busy days coming up. We are actually going to be able to do some sight-seeing and touristy type things Tuesday and Wednesday, which everyone is excited about. It will be a good way to wrap up the trip.

I thank all of you for all of the thoughts and prayers you have sent our way. We appreciate them and ask that you continue to do what you are doing. I cannot wait to get back and share with everyone about what an awesome experience this has been. There are lots of great pictures to show as well ;-) Have a great week!!

K.C.

Panama es muy bueno with Mark Swiontek Dos

HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! LA LA LA!!! Panama is amazing!!! The last couple of days have been so much fun and exhausting. The last couple of clinics have been in Curundu and Arehan. Also yesterday we spent the day just relaxing and attending church services at the Crossroads church and in Curundu. The kids were very happy to see us again. My favorite part of the trip so far has to be when we attended the church service in Arehan. There we sung ¨Lord I lift your name on High¨ in 3 different languages:english, spanish, and kuna. It reminded me the time in Acts when everbody heard the gospel in there own language. Today we get to do more clinics, fallowed by another funfilled day at Diego´s house, and then another bball game. Keep all of us in your prayers. Oh, and HAPPY BRTHDAY A.B.!!!!!!!!

Well, a week has gone by and I can't believe how much we have done since we have been here! I would like to say that I'm getting a lot better at speaking spanish . . . but I'm really not. It was a lot of fun to go back to Curundu yesterday for their service and see how the children responded to us; they treated us like we were old friends. The CBC missions service we went to was great as well. Last night Erin and I ate at a Japenese steakhouse for dinner with our host family. It was really neat to watch the chef cook our meal right in front of us (we even got to crack our own eggs by tossing them in the air and using a spatula to break them)! Having a day with no clinics and nothing to do but worship was really refreshing, but man did I eat way too much. We are off to do two more clinics today. Thanks for all your prayers - Ashley

I can't believe we've been here over a week

Buenas! I hope everyone back home is having as much fun as we all are. Were taking a second to post a blog before we head out to San Miguilito to do more clinics. Last night was a free night to just hang with our host families and so we all were able to relax and get some rest. Tomorrow we will go on a boat to see the panama canal and then do our last clinics. The clinics are a lot of fun even though it's mass chaos a lot of the time. We pretty much just run around and ''try'' to steal the ball from a kid or lift them up to dunk it. Wednesday we get to go to the beach for a while and then go shopping. Wednesday night we will finish up our trip with an awesome worship session with the jr. high and high school youth group. God has definitely been working through us and it is fun to see. It's amazing what God can do with willing people. Coach is telling us we need to go so bye bye for now. Trent

whats up guys..this your boy Cecil checking in with you all... well this is day 8..and we are still going hard for JC....i tell you what, iif it wasnt for God, i dont know how we would be able to last in this heat...but God is are air conditioner if you may say...well the other night we had church and we all sang a lord i lift your name on high in three different languages..which was awesome...God is teaching me some things as well, just its not about pleasing other man, but going 100 for God, and really not caring about what people are saying about you.... It feels like we been here forever, the relationships that we are building with these people is insane..in a good way though..its going to be hard to leave, The best part about this trip by far is, when the other teammates share their testimonies and to see God working in their lives is crazy, i mean for some of the guys this is new, they are out of there comfort zone, but yet they are expressing there self bigtime..and you can see the light of Christ shine off of them...We are not finish yet though..we still have to put in work for Jesus Christ though.....continue to pray for us and our strength....love ya Cecil

Panamá es impresionante y tiene un lugar en mi corazón (panama is awesome and holds a spot in my heart)

HElllllOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! la la la! Well were up early again. Yesterday was a fun day we went to 2 church services and there were both awesome (but the first one was outside and of course it would be very hot day). This has been an awesome trip and as out days get closer to the end I can't help but feel sadness come over me. I feel that I have a calling to be here and continue to do things out here to benefit the church and the children. Not to mention the food is awesome and me being a fatty that calls me to stay 2 lol. The group of people we brought down here is amazing the girls are awesome and the guys are good dudes. You can tell we are all getting closer to each other and will kinda of hard to leave for the summer.

Stay tuned for the next episode of All my Panama! ?
EL SLIMO!!

The Panaman Reporting

Well hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuu...
The Panaman here reporting for everyone that needs some input on how this trip is going back in my hometown haha...It's been going really well so far, we've been impacting a lot of people's lives and it's so fun to be an example for kids and to play with them and share the word of God. It has also been fun to play against all the guys I grew up with playing basketball and having them call me a cheater because I'm in the American team hahaha...I have no regrets of this trip and I guarantee I'll be sad whenever everyone leaves because I'll have to wait until August to share again with these awesome group of people!...I'll continue next time, saying goodbye right now is the Panaman from Panama lol talk to everyone later!

Diego

Hola...

As this trip is wrapping up and everyone has been working hard, I´ve continued to see God work. I feel a lot closer with him than I did from the beginning of this trip. The weekend went by pretty fast. After going to a church service on Saturday night we turned around and went to two on Sunday. It was very relaxing day for most. We got to spend more time with our host family which was very nice. G (Ashley Gasper) and I went to eat at a Greek restaurant where we tried some new kinds of food. Then we went to get ice cream at this Cause Way. It was just really nice to spend some quality time with our families and get to know everyone better. We have three more clinics so keep us in our prayers as we continue to spread the word of God!
Have a wonderful day everyone :)

Erica, Ed, E

Hola!!

Hey everyone...its definitely still hot here!!

The weekend was great! We had clinics and a lot of church services. Its so amazing how God has been working in all of our lives. We are having the greatest time down here. The services that we attended were great. Dancing with the kids, worshiping to the Lord, becoming closer with one another.
Then we finally got our chance to spend a night with our families. Me and Erica had a great time with them. We ate at a Greek restaurant called Panos and then went to the causeway and we got to pick out our own private yacht...well i wish we could have it!! Then we got ice cream and of course that was yummo! It was nice and relaxing but of course we were tired so we went to bed somewhat early!
Well today is going to be another long and fun day. I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for us today and for the rest of the days that we will be here. Adios everyone!!

Love G

Sunday was a day of rest...no basketball, just the missions service at Crossroads and a youth service in Curundu. The missions service was outside, with the commissioning of our team, a children's team to the Embaro people, a youth team to Peru, and the family going to Africa.

The Curundu service was another great experience. The Crossfire band provided the worship, and our group has officially decided that "From the Inside Out" in Spanish may be their favorite worship song of the trip. Pastor David preached and was translated into English for us. Our players served hotdogs afterwards.

The evening was relaxing as each player went with their host family for a fun night.

Please pray for the team...the heat has taken its toll on us, and we've been going so hard we have sore knees, feet, etc. We want to finish strong (3 clinics in the next 2 days, plus a game and painting a gym floor).

We'll get more pictures and video tomorrow...

More pictures from Saturday...

We're finally back after an incredibly taxing and rewarding day. After finally getting all our transportation squared away, we arrived in Arehan, a Kuna Indian community outside of Panama City. Today's clinic was outside in a big field on a concrete court. It was sunny and hot! We worked with kids from Crossfire, the youth group at the church, so players and students simply paired up and walked the town, inviting children, youth, and adults to come to the clinic. The clinic is sponsored by a local church and their minister, Pastor Frederico. It was fun to see lots of kids and adults from the past who we've built a relationship with. KC shared a powerful testimony and again, hearing the prayers of the children touched everyone's hearts.

As soon as the clinic was over we packed up, and headed to a large mall just across from the gym for our game for lunch. Air conditioning and food...just what the doctor ordered. After an hour we went to the gym, just beating a torrential downpour that postponed the game 30 minutes. Our guys played well, coming back from 14 down to take a 6 point lead early the 4th quarter, but their tired legs just couldn't hold it. Zach played a great game, and then was able to share his testimony with the players from the other team and then we all sang together. It is fun seeing the relationships that are being formed between the two teams.

After the game, the guys showered in some interesting showers, then a quick dinner back at the mall, then back to Arehan for a great night. It started with some challenges....pushing a car up a 45 degree hill to a ramp made of a board and rock to get it back on a road with a 16" dropoff was not the ideal way to get ready. Oh yeah...the worship band got lost, so everything was a little crazy. We paired up with the youth worship band from Crossfire, and Coach Jaderston preached with Johnny interpreting. We then worshipped some more, including a powerful "Lord We Lift Your Name on High" sung in 3 languages, English, Spanish, and Kuna, with motions taught by Julie. It was an incredible worship experience that we'll never forget. We celebrated with some ice cream with the youth group, then finally headed home.

Look for pictures tomorrow...we're having a hard time keeping our eyes open. Thanks for your prayers...and please keep them coming! We depend on them.