Panama Mission 2008
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Dear friends and family, I’m writing to you again to ask for your prayer and support. Last year, I had the privilege to go to Colombia to see the country and its people and culture. On the way home, I learned about the need for missionaries to go to Panama. As a group, we visited a Wounaan village (part of the larger Embera tribal clan) living in the canal region near Gamboa (about midway through on the east side of the canal). It was there we met Jennifer and Alex Cabazon. 
Jennifer and Alex met some years ago in this village named San Antonio a short boat ride away from Gamboa, and the two of them later got married. Since our visit last summer, they have had a baby girl they’ve named Abigail, who is doing very well. 
Jennifer is originally from Hinson Church and got interested in missions to Panama and started going while in high school with the YWAM teams being sent down there. Together, Jennifer and Alex head up a ministry to help the rural kids from their own village and some neighboring villages to get education services. The need exists because there are no public schools that far into the jungle, and young people wanting to get an accredited primary education beyond the 6th grade need to enroll in schools in the larger cities. This means they would need to live away from their families and community which puts tremendous pressure on them. 
It has been in Jennifer’s and Alex’s hearts to reach the tribal people of Panama in general for some time now with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So as part of an overall mission strategy, we are going to team up with them to help build a school building so that the children can gather in greater numbers to attend classes at their grade level(s). And in order to address another concern for tribal communities, an outreach ministry is in the works to help them have potable drinking water amidst a growing concern about ground water contamination due to agricultural practices and cultural taboos. 
So this year from June 16 through the 27th we’re going to go and help build some of the school facility in San Antonio the first week (1.), then travel up to the north west part of Panama near Bocas del Toro to stay among the Ngobe people (2.) and build a water purification system based on sand filtration technology. 
What’s encouraging about all this is that I get to go and learn about construction and engineering in an important third-world country and especially about these peoples who are extremely encouraged by our being there—even though we often are quite inept at working within their own methods and with their technologies. The fact that some Christians from the United States would go down and stay among them for a couple of weeks in a humid environment without running water, flush toilets, television, etc., warms their hearts. 
As you look at these photos I’ve been given to share with you, you can relate about how excited I am to go down there to Central America and be there among them, even though it is for only 2 weeks this year. 
What I need from you is your prayers for myself and the missionary team, and your financial support. If you can help me financially, I would truly appreciate it and I believe that God would too. 
My cost of this trip is going to be $2000+ and includes airfare, 1+ night’s hotel accommodations, and the costs of construction materials which we will purchase and have delivered for us to two different sites. If you can support me financially, please send your tax-deductible donation to: MISSION TREK 7112 NE Emerson St., Portland, OR 97218 Ph 503-256-2043 Fax 503-254-8615 May God truly bless you in your heart. Christ is my example. I will follow Him. Sincerely yours, :) Jess Fahland |