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

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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!

Already in September

It's amazing to me how fast the months go by. I feel like just the other day I was getting things ready for the DTS to start. Now we are already starting to think about where they are going on outreach phase. We have been to Costa Rica and the students did the NIKO camp. We witnessed Nathaniel's brother, David get married to Cerrita. It's been a really blessed time. There are so many things happening here on base with thoughts of starting new bases and a new focused DTS for Indigenous People groups. God has been doing many new things and it's been really exciting to be able to be a part of it.

The longer I'm here the more I see the importance of saying 'Here I am God. Send me!'

Too often we say 'Here I am God. Send me here! Just NOT over there...' We limit God. When we come to that point of complete surrender and the decision that we will go where ever whenever for our Lord, that is when we give Him control. That's when He can work His big plans for us. If we say we will go, but limit when and where... we are limiting the One who even gave us the ability to go! He gave us this gift of being his Hands and Feet. To procreate with Him and to be a part in the ultimate plan.

But if we are the Body

Why aren't His arms reaching

Why aren't His hands healing

Why aren't His words teaching

And if we are the Body

Why aren't His feet going

Why is His love not showing them there is a way

There is a way

(Casting Crowns)

What a gift! That God can use us to show them there IS a way!

Three weeks have already gone...

The DTS started on the 24th of July and already they have had three weeks of classes. We have started to get to know the students better, and spend more time with them. We are learning about their talents and gifts, and their weaknesses. Even in the beginning of the DTS you can see how much God is starting to work on people. It's not a snap of your fingers and BAM! everything is different but it's a slow and steady change. At times it hurts, and at times it brings more joy, but in the end it is the best because it is the work of a Wonderful Creator. It is so cool to be able to see this and watch this and be a part of this.

The days are again becoming a steady routine. But that will change again at the end of the month when we go to Costa Rica for a Leadership Training and Adventure camp called; NIKO. A whole different type of class for the students.

On the 22nd Nathaniel's older brother gets married, and we are so excited for him and his fiancee Cerrita! That is only in one week!

God is good....all the time!

Mission Adventure teams, DTS...

The last two weeks have been a busy time and a fun time as Nathaniel worked with his Mission Adventures team from Virginia and I worked with a Medical Missions Trip from Connecticut. Since you all know how great Nathaniel is at remembering to take pictures...I have none from his group. But I did take some! So I hope you enjoy them. Three of the photos are of some of the great people we met in the village we went to named; Camaron Arriba (literally translated meaning 'Upper Shrimp'!). The other photo is of me translating for Jess as she did in-take for the patients we saw in the clinic. Jess and I were quite a pair, sometimes we even needed another translator so that we could go from their native language; Nogbe, to Spanish, and then I translated for Jess into English. Nathaniel and I both got to work with some great people. He was able to take his team to two different Embera Villages here in Panama. and also to Avenida Central which is a central location in Panama City where the team was able to do a program and draw quite a crowd!

One exciting moment from my trip was when the team put me on one of the first trucks out of the village since I was still sick with a flu that Richard and I caught up in the village, but we were delayed by a family waving us down from the side of the road. A man had been working with a Machete the night before and had badly cut his foot. He had been bleeding profusely through the night. God knows! We had two doctors and a nurse in the truck with us so they quickly went to work. They got him into the truck and we were able to take him to the local clinic to wait for the 'Ambulance' (really a 4x4 pick up truck) to come and take him to the hospital. I was really amazed at the provision of God. That man wouldn't have made it much longer with out some help.

Tomorrow starts another five months of working with a DTS. The group consists of 14 students, all English speaking! I really look forward to getting to know them. Two couples, seven single girls and three single guys. The majority are from the States but we have a girl from Norway, and a guy from Holland.

Please remember to lift up this group in prayer! Also us as leaders.

Blessings!

Some Days

There are some days when I look back on my life, on OUR life and just examine the things that God has done. I think it is always good to look back every once in a while because they say that 'hindsight' is 20/20. It also reminds me to give thanks. Where I was three years ago was not anywhere close to here. Actually Four years ago I was barely even thinking of being a missionary, but I told God that I did not want to go anywhere hot. Somewhere with a perfect temperature would be just fine. I remember telling God I didn't feel called to the University life, and that I was very confused about where I was even called TO. I don't think people actually teach swimming lessons all of their lives...do they?

But there is that verse:

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV)

And there is also a verse in the Bible:

Isaiah 55:9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." NIV

TRUTH

The plans that God has laid out before us have been better than we would have ever planned for our selves. Although it is still very hot here.... But I look at these past years that I have had, two awesome years with my husband whom I married when I was 18 then we moved to Panama, and it has been awesome. And God has proven to us time and time again that He has brought us here for a reason and that He will take care of us.

I thank God for Nathaniel, I thank Him for our families and our friends, I thank Him for giving someone the brains to invent Skype so that it doesn't feel like I'm quite so far away from home because I can call whenever I need to, I thank Him for the people who are supporting us and allowing us to be here, and I thank Him for never leaving us or forsaking us. I thank Him for giving us life...there are so many things and my list could be huge.

So I will just say 'thank you God'.

'Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever...'

Back To the Daily Grind

(Not normally including coffee...)

After a week of no DTS worries, (rather Nathaniel was working on his Dad's lawn and other's yards making a little money) we are getting back to the daily work on the base. Elizabeth will be starting soon as Secretary of the YWAM Panama base at the same time working as DTS staff and Nathaniel will be preparing for the upcoming school and working with Mission Adventures. Both of us have a Mission Adventures team that we will be working with. Nathaniel's is a group that will be here on the 6th of July and leaving on the 13th and he will be leading that team. Like any other group they will be here to experience a little bit of what it is to be in missions. These groups are great and fun to have on the base. I (Elizabeth) will be working with Rich on a medical missions team. They come on the 10th and leave on the 19th of July.

So we will be keeping pretty busy but we keep praying for this up coming DTS. It is looking like a good group so far.

Today we wish Happy Father's Day to both of our Dads! And I say Happy Birthday to my dad (I love you dad)

In one week my good friend Becky is getting married, I wish I could be there for you girl!

On the 30th Nathaniel and I celebrate 2 years as husband and wife! God brought us together and it has been amazing.

Blessings to you guys!

Video of our the DTS Outreach

This Video was made by our friend Chris Collins who; with his wife are staffing the DTS with us.

If you would like to check out their blog as well it is:

http://panamacollins.blogspot.com/

God Bless and thanks for checking out the video!

Congratulations DTS of January 2009!!

Yesterday on Friday the 5th of June, 14 students from six different nations graduated from the YWAM Discipleship Training School.

God blessed us with a great group and we are privileged to have been a part in their process of coming closer to their Creator and learning better how to serve Him. We are praying that as they go on to this next step in their lives that they will continue learning and teaching others about Jesus Christ. It was amazing to see them step out of their comfort zones and reach out to the people around them who are in need of a meaning and purpose in life. They worked as a team and they went through quarrels like a team but the main point is that they were a TEAM.

We will miss you guys! Many blessings go out to our team and our prayers.

Costa Rica

Pura Vida!
As they say here in Costa Rica, Pure Life.
Our last weeks of outreach here so far have been great. Our first week was spent up in the mountains where the earthquake really hit the people hard. We worked a lot on helping to move many many cement building blocks and cement bags and other things to help rebuild houses that had been just been shaken to pieces. We worked for many hours in the strawberry fields to help salvage the crops when so many had been lost. It was a great opportunity because we were working alongside of a local church that has taken it upon themselves to help their community. Right now we are in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose and we will be working in Homeless shelters and the salvation army....we will do some programs. Our goal is to really be a blessing to our neighbor country.
Thank you for our prayers!

Not What We Expected, But Exactly What God Wanted

Well, our plan was to leave Mexico City on the 9th and return to the base for a couple of days. That worked out great! We got there without any complications and we had some time to rest. Our other plan was to leave on the 11th by bus to Costa Rica.
That didn't work out so well. We got a call from the base director over there saying that we would need to get tested before entering into the country to see if we had the influenza or not. (Since we had just come from Mexico City). He said they might put us into quarentine for a little while once we got up there and the base had no where to put us! So we had to re-think our plans and do some changing.
We took the group to the clinic to get a certificate of health. Almost everyone got it. Although nobody had the influenza, a few people had a cold and Nathaniel had an infection. In the end, the people who were labeled as 'healthy' went up to Costa Rica with Chris and Vanessa on the 13th. Nathaniel, the Glasbrenner family with four kids, Thea (one of the single girls) and I stayed on the base for a little while longer. Tonight we leave for Costa Rica by bus.
We are excited for our time over there. Our group will spend a week up at the earthquake site doing ministry and then a week of ministry in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose. Then on the 30th we will come back to Panama.
Thank you for all of your prayers! If I am around internet I will try to keep the updates coming...

EPIDEMIC!!

It has been a little crazy here in Mexico. News came about this flu that is going around. We started seeing people walking around with little masks on their faces to keep from breathing in the sickness.... They look a little like Power Rangers is what Nathaniel says. Many Mexicans say that the reason the govornment is making this such a big deal is because they are trying to cover up something else that is happening. I don´t know but we are praying and we know that our God is above any sickness that is going around! Our group has been fine and we are healthy. We left for the Mexican State of Oaxaca on Sunday and we have been going village to village visiting the people and doing programs for them. A couple villages would not let us in because they were afraid that we carried the virus with us.

(We don´t, do not worry)

Please be praying for us so that our grup would know what the next step we need to take is. God can use anything and make it an opportunity.

Mexico!!

We are here! We arrived in Mexico on Sunday. Three less students then when we started. One of the couples had to stay behind and start doing their outreach in Panama because Bertilia, the mother is seven months pregnant and not able to travel by plane. Also Salvador from El Salvador needed to stay behind and go to Costa Rica to start his outreach because they denied his visa for Mexico. So we are all praying for them.
One of the students: Roberto from Panama, was taken for questioning in immigration at the airport in Mexico. They didn't think he was Panamanian! For some reason they thought he was a Mexican. But they let him go and we are here and safe.
We are working with a man here, Chevy Cruz who is working with an Assembly of God church here. About six families have offered their hospitality and we have the student seperated into groups and staying with them. They give us breakfast and dinner everyday and take us to and from the church. If you think of it, please pray for them because they have really been a blessing to us. The family that Nathaniel and I are with have five children. We really have felt welcome.
Yesterday we worked with the Director of the YWAM Pachuca base in Mexico. The group did a program in a park and three people accepted Christ into their lives. In the afternoon we went to a small park where there are kids that live on the street. They do drugs, sniffing the plumbing glue among other things. We did a program for them and some dancing. The plan is to return on Thursday and bring them some lunches and then in the nightime go and do some ministry with prostitutes.
Please keep praying for our group. So far it has been a really good time and God has been working!

Well God is just so cool.

After praying more about the outreach our group really felt that we should be going to Mexico City first and then to Costa Rica. So we were worried about the plane tickets being more. But we had a prayer meeting with the students and we all prayed about how to raise support and we told them to pray about the airlines that they would be more helpful. (We had been trying to contact some airlines and they wouldn't write back or call).

About an hour or so after the meeting I got a call from the airline TACA! The lady was very helpful and she said, "You know what? There is actually a promotion that will start tomorrow for flights going from Panama to Mexico City. How interesting. I will call you and let you know a price."

So yesterday after the students took up an offering among themselves and raised almost $6,000 for outreach!!! they called and told me that the promotion was a 2 for 1 deal! So where we would have been paying $550 per person now we are paying $275. Multiply that by 20 and we saved like $5,000. Didn't I tell you? God is so cool! So now we are working on raising a little more money, we just need to raise $4,000 more. It's been really awesome to see how God is confirming this all. Maybe not all of our details are ready or figured out but God is really showing us that He is in control and He has his hand in this.

OUTREACH!

Well! Our group has decided that we are going to go to Costa Rica to help with the Earthquake relief and then head over to Mexico City to do some work there. We are all really excited and I'm working on getting good ticket prices and figuring out a budget and all this stuff. So far it's looking like we will need to raise about $15,000 dollars for the group.

It looks like a big amount but we believe God can do it. The students are going to be doing bake sales and music in the streets to raise money. They have had some really good ideas since we only have 2 and a half weeks to bring this in.

Please be praying! At the same time Nathaniel and I are also finishing up our lecture phase in the SALT school and getting ready to write our final projects and finish our reports that we need to do. Please pray that we don't get overwhelmed. That seems to be one of my problems is getting too stressed out about things.

So the next couple of weeks will be a little crazy and busy.

Bring it on!

Three weeks Left

The DTS has three more weeks now before we start our outreach phase. The group is praying about two different locations and where God specifically wants us to go. It is between an outreach only in Costa Rica or a mixed outreach between Costa Rica and Mexico City. It is always exciting as it comes up to this point and you see the students really seeking direction. We see a lot about people and their characters in these moments. But we know God will be faithful and give us direction, the safest place for the group and for us will always be in God´s will. I still remember from the first DTS that Nathaniel and I staffed there was a couple who had two children. They were given the option of going to Haiti for outreach (which is a pretty dangerous country where young children get kidnapped often and political unrest) and staying in Panama for their outreach. I remember very clearly them saying that they felt God was telling them to go to Haiti and that they knew they would be safe because the safest place for them is in God's will. And they were safe and fine!
Hopefully this week will be good. We have a great teacher coming to teach on Evangelism and Nathaniel and I are going to be house sitting for his parents while they are in Guatamala for a week.
Yay for hot showers!! It should be a restful week, some time for just the two of us.
In His name....
Elizabeth

Radical Generation Camp!

(The 600 During a Meeting)
So last week we took the DTS and most of the people from the base to a camp that we were helping the Four Square church put on. The camp had about 600 participants! It was a five day camp and it was so cool to be a part of it. During that same week the country of Panama has something called 'Carnival'. It is almost like Mardi Gras. A lot of drinking and partying goes on and the church people made a camp so that there would be an alternitave for the young people. It was great how many people came! We are really hoping to see some of these kids from the camp do DTS. We got to watch them as they took in the speakers and the worship. The DTS and us staff worked so hard to help feed them all and clean up after all them. Our group met alot of great people there.

On Tuesday we are going to Costa Rica with the DTS! They have had a lot of flooding and problems up there. So we are going to go and help them out. We will be at the Talamanca base. Please pray for us during this trip! We have six kids on a twelve hour bus ride... So please pray that it all goes well and smoothly.

Blessings!

Elizabeth

Busy Ramblings...

Now, before I run off to dance practice and I become too tired to even write anything here, I thought I should post something. I haven't posted in a while because we have been very busy with the DTS and our SALT school that it is sometimes hard to actually find the time to sit down and answer emails that are our own instead of for a school.
The past few weeks have been going really well! We have been really blessed to have a great group so far with only a few minor problems. They work really hard, they go the extra mile when they are working and they seem to work great as a team. Thank you God!
We have been blessed SO much the past week that I have been so grateful. Just random gifts have come in and God has met our needs in a way that I didn't think He would. (He likes to surprise us!) An envelope under the door marked 'Blessings' Or somebody knocking on your door saying, 'I have something for you'. Those are all God surprising us and gifting us. And for that I am grateful.
Well now it is time and I must go practice.

First Blog!

Hello All!

This is Elizabeth and Nathaniel Tracy and this is our first blog on our first ever website!
We had a Christmas that was warmer than what Elizabeth is used to...but it was great and we had a good time with Nathaniel's family. Right now, Elizabeth's sister; Jessica and good friend; Melissa are down for a visit. It's been great!
Right now we are getting ready for the next DTS school to start here at YWAM Panama. We have 12 students so far from various countries. It will be a really good group.
We are still learning how to navigate and edit our website, but as soon as we get it figured out we will try to keep it updated for everyone.