The days pass so quickly...

As I empty out my apartment here, I am remembering different things that have happened in the past three and a half years of being in Panama. First of all it's amazing how many things you can accumulate in only three and a half years! I don't know what I was thinking... but I treasure each memory. When we put up our little Christmas tree (I'm not joking, it's only about 2 and 1/2 feet tall), I remembered each outreach as we hung up the ornaments from each different country we have been in. Taiwan, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama... and a few that people have given me. God has taken me to so many places and through so many different experiences that four years ago, I would NEVER have thought I would get to experience. Today as we were walking through the mall we ran into David, who is Chinese and is going to be doing the next DTS. We met him on our DTS three and a half years ago when we were doing a short outreach in Panama. We had been helping out at some English classes and he was taking them. He learned about YWAM and now he will be doing a Discipleship Training School! Sometimes you don't even know the seeds you are planting, other times God allows you to see some of the fruit from those seeds that you have sown. And it is such a privilege.

Panama has left it's print on me. I will never be the same.

Times are changing...

We are excited about this update. Many things are happening that are encouraging. First I will give an update on the baby. Our little bean is moving around and I am loving the feel of God's creation inside of me! I am now 19 weeks and almost halfway done with the pregnancy. It is amazing how quickly the time goes by. I am reading up on everything trying to get ready!

Recently YWAM Panama received a request by the government to be a part of their Christmas program for the children of Panama. They will have three days of programs for around 500-600 kids each day, giving out gifts, watching dance, drama and singing. YWAM was given a one hour slot for each of those days. So Nathaniel has taken on the task of creating, and directing three large dramas! He is working together with a neighboring church down in the town of San Vicente. They have a youth group that will be acting in the dramas. Normally this program is done mostly by the Catholic churches and this is the first time that YWAM Panama has been invited to participate. Please be praying that things will go well, and that the children will go home having learned something new about God. It is a very exciting opportunity!

On Thanksgiving Day while I was teaching science to my second graders, we were going over how God created man differently than animals and how our sin separates us from a perfect and loving God. After talking about this for a while and of course mentioning that there is a way that we can be close to God, two of my students (Angel and Juleisy) asked me anxiously; “What do we need to do?” We talked very seriously about what it would mean to give your life over to God and let Him take control and they quietly prayed and accepted him as their Savior! What a blessing! Peter and Pedro, my other two in second grade were listening carefully and I am still praying for them. I had so many things to be thankful for that day. It's been a long journey with these kids but that was one of the greatest rewards I could have received. The ninth of December is the last day of school, it will soon be time to say goodbye to my class and look to the next season of service working with Good News Christian Center (as youth pastor) in Beloit Wisconsin. But in order to do so, we need to get there first!

We have found a good price for plane tickets coming up on the sixth of January, but we need about $700. Please be praying about if you would be able to help us financially. Anything would be appreciated! We understand that you are doing so much for us already and we are forever grateful. We also love to receive your prayers, because they are powerful!

En Cristo/In Christ,

Elizabeth and Nathaniel Tracy

Send offerings and support to:

Good News Christian Center, 2293 Prairie Ave. Beloit, WI 53511.

Make checks payable to: GNCC with the memo saying 'support for Nathaniel and Elizabeth Tracy'.

Or go to www.paypal.com, press: 'Send Money' and enter: soccer_g_p@yahoo.com

When the baby bump starts...

You'll see it here too. I have been dreadfully slow at getting up blogs. But it is something that I actually like doing, when I put the effort into it. To be quite honest, I get a little worried I will put stuff into my blog that I will need to put into a newsletter later, and people will get sick of hearing the same thing twice!

I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now I am sitting in a hostel while Rich, Debbie, Nathaniel, Cathy and a team are out with machetes cutting down trees, vines and bushes to clear out the land where the new base in Potrerillos, Panama will be. Am I lazy?

Maybe a little. Would I work, yes. Buuuut I guess being pregnant means I am no

t allowed to be in the rain or cutting things down. Now don't get me wrong! I am NOT complaining. No, no. Especially when the one day I went out I got incredibly hungry, had to run to

the 'bathroom' (meaning bushes) two times while I was out there and got bit up by bloodsucking gnats with very

large mouths. Though I did learn the very useful skill of how to sharpen a machete! But I am feeling slightly guilty that I am so warm and not sore.

So to all of those working out there, thank you

for working so hard!

(Rich and I under the shelter he made)

Teams and Teaching

Today was a bustle of running around town with Debbie and Nathaniel's Grandmother, Pam, looking for school books, a flag for the school, a lunch box, a white board (yet to find the white board...), cloth for curtains in our classrooms.... and so on. It is coming so close to the start of school. I found out that the girl I was going to have in 6th grade, is not able to come. So now I will be teaching 2nd - 4th grade. A total of six kids. As I get ready, making lesson plans and getting my classroom ready I get more excited and a bit nervous! Once I have the classroom all set up I will take pictures. The two new classrooms that were being built are almost ready. We will be painting them soon and putting up the finishing touches.

Also we have been getting the apartment that we will be moving into ready. Thanks to Nathaniel's Grandparents, (Pam and Roger Tracy) we will have hot water in our shower! And thanks to a part that was missing...we will have A/C! Thank you God!!! So exciting, you have no idea. :) God blesses us even in the small things. Although, to us it's really not small.

Nathaniel just got back from an indigenous village with the team he was working with from Pepperdine Univeristy in California. The group of 17 has proved to be a great team and eager to minister. He did a great job with the team and will be taking them to the airport on Saturday.

We are excited about the changes that are taking place!

DOULOS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

Way behind....

I can not believe how far behind I am on my blog. I apologize. This is something I will be working on more!

As everyone knows Nathaniel and I were in the States for about a month and a half. we have been back in Panama now for about 2 weeks and we feel so refreshed from our visit!

These last two weeks God has made it so much clearer what we will be doing. It has been a good time to get used to our new roles on base. I of course will be writing a new newsletter soon to show what all we will be doing. We are excited for the things that God has in store for us. We have also been really blessed to see God's provision for us. Who else but God could take us up to the States and back when we didn't even have enough money in the beginning of December to buy half of a plane ticket?! We were blessed with not only more support but even more exciting, a larger group of people who we know are continually praying for us.

I'm just letting you know right now, it is so true that God hears us when we call. That if you ask, he will answer! It may not always be right away and it may not be exactly when we want it to be... but after months of asking God for direction, we know He has put us on the right path.

Highlight from our Outreach Time In Bocas Del Toro

There are sometimes when I would wonder, why I learned certain things. Have you ever wondered that? Why did I have to learn algebra? What was the point of writing all those essays? Stuff like that? Well for a long time, I wondered why God had me learn something like, how to teach swimming lessons. And why would He have me love it so much and then miss it so much?
Well He does everything for a reason and when our DTS heard the story about a little boy who drowned in Bocas Del Toro on his way to school, because he didn't know how to swim...we knew we should help. There were five of us who had history in swimming and four of us had taught before. Nathaniel, Tommy, Justin, Brennen and I Before we even left we started praying that God would bless those days that we would have with the kids. Four days is not really enough to teach a kid how to swim very well. But we prayed that God would use that time to it's fullest and that He would bless it. When we got there and found out about the Jelly Fish in the water, the mud filled area that we would be teaching in, and that we only had two days, we started praying a little harder! It is not fun to be stung by Jelly Fish while swimming and it is even less fun for the kids who are already unsure in the water.
The first day we had the kids for about an hour. Wanting to focus on the basics, we started with floating, treading water, bobs and basic swimming with your face in the water. Our goal was not to make the kids artistic swimmers, but for these kids, who travel by boat everyday to school, to know how to survive if they ended up in the ocean without a boat! I picked the two girls who were the most nervous about entering the water, let alone putting their faces in the water. We worked alot on water comfort. The next day, it was so excitng because by the end of the session, these little kids had improved a lot! Even the teachers who were sitting on the deck were paying very close attention and mimicking our movements. I'm sure they will try it with less of an audience :). The girls I worked with, were floating, treading water, swimming with their heads in the water and jumping in! Trust me, I taught swimming lessons for two and a half years, and that usually doesn't happen! We instructed the kids to teach their brothers and sisters and moms and dads...it is really something that needs to be spread around the island. Please be praying for these kids and for their safety! God really blessed me by allowing that opportunity to use something I love and to be able to minister through it

.

Water, Cool weather, and Moves

I am very behind on my blogging! Last month flew by. We had an exciting day when seven of the Indigenous students and Brennen, one of our DTS students, were baptized in the Chagres river by Rich. It was a great time where almost all of the base was able to be there. To be able to witness the moment when each of them made the public announcement that they believe in Jesus Christ and that He saved them from their sins, is a privilege. The ladies in the DTS have started a Bible study with the indigenous girls here on base that are working on finishing highschool. It has been a really cool thing to watch the ladies taking there place as examples of what it is to follow Christ. Sometimes people don´t realize thatpeople are watching us and taking our example. This past week the DTS did a week of ´Mobile Classes´. Rich taught on spiritual warfare and the students were taken to different places so they could pray and stand in the gap for cities, villages and land. The best part of being a mobile class was that we went to the province of Chiriqui where the climate is much cooler. I actually sang Christmas songs on the way up there because the coolness put me in the Christmas mood! Although a blanket of white snow will never appear there.

YWAM is hoping to start a base up Chiriqui within a year or two. Recently, Nathaniel and I moved to his parents house. It was so nice of them to offer us to live there. They were in that large house all alone. We are very excited about hot showers! :)

Please be praying that the outreach phase goes well!