Top 25 Adjustments needed to live in Panama (for us)

A lot of friends have been emailing asking how is Panama. In our discussions we have mentioned lots of adjustments to get use to...I thought I would put a list together and keep it updated of some of things we are making adjustments in our way of life.(in random order)

1. All children sharing one room. Abby and Sophie sharing a bed. (Until June 11th we move into another house were they will have their own bed for at least 3 months). Has been slightly challenging.
2. Driving down roads that seem undriveable (both in Service and to get around town)
3. No HEB's or Walmarts...have had to learn to shop @ different stores for different items...Use vegetable stands for our fruits and vegetables. We did find some nice stores in David...Pricemart like a Sam's...and a Rey's almost but not quite like an HEB.
4. Speaking lots of Spanish to get around and communicate.
5. No TV.....(we have made arrangements to have Family night on computer watching movies.) Children are actually enjoying playing outside.
6. Taking Military style showers to preserve hot water.
7. Loss of electricity for hours @ a time.
8. To get a oil change...have to go to seperate places to purchase Oil, oil filter, fuel filter etc.
9. No street names in Volcan. Can make service quit the challenge. (go to the house with the blue roof on it...take a left then go to the rock pile where a cow is tied up and take a right...quite funny actually)
10. Here is one that I am really enjoying (in Volcan only)...going to sleep ~ 65 degrees outside....wake up and throughout rest of day nothing above 80 degrees.
11. Dryer and Stove uses propane tank....when empty drive to town and replace. (cost $5.75)
12. Drinking water comes from 5 gallon water tanks that have to get switched out and replaced weekly. ( costs $3.75 each)
13. Waking up to roosters crowing @ crack of dawn. Usually comes around 6am here.
14. Waking up to beautiful mountain scenery. Seeing tons of butterflies and hummingbirds. Fresh air. Don't have to worry about heater or A/C because temperature is perfect.
15. Not being able to find decent clothes to wear. Most Panamians are small. So rare to find shirts or pants in my size (Ralph). I guess if I keep walking in service will be able to fit into their clothes here.
16. Cooking a lot of our own meals @ home. Going out to eat is a rare occassion.
17.  Getting into habit of going to bathroom before we leave the house. It is quite obvious there are no health inspectors in Panama. If you are able to find a somewhat clean bathroom it is very suprising. Also finding one with toilet paper is a rare find. You often have to carry your own toilet paper.
18. Seeing people riding horses down the streets is a everyday sight.
19.  Lots of people walking down highways and streets with small children.
20. Actually finding the majority of the people we meet to have a tremendous respect for the Bible and the preaching work that we do.
21. Driving down the highways can be quite nerve wrecking. Panama could be considered the second autobaun.
22. Small congregation...lots of opportunities for comments and fellowship. Preparation for meetings is necessary.
23. Very laid back attitude about time (example: most stores have extended lunch hours. Even though it states open again @ 1pm could be 2:30 or 3pm before they are back, or sometimes not come back at all.)
24. Lots of poverty around us. Sad to see the conditions that people live in.
25. Lots of stray animals...cats, dogs, chickens. Got to be cautious in service with dogs.

week of 5-17

Another milestone completed...purchasing parts for the car....everything takes work to get things done here....I have been in search for a fuel and oil filter for our car. Finally found a auto parts store that was reasonably priced. Turns out the owner is from the Corpus area in Texas, and speaks english...looking forward to some witnessing opportunities with him. He mentioned that he has been invited over to the Kingdom hall.....I told him to stock up on the parts I needed and that I would purchase them from him....Today went over to the Langan's house for visit....Steve and Adrianna Langan...he is from England and she is from Argentina...she just got baptized 3 weeks ago. She is conducting spanish lessons with Stephanie and the children. Today children lost interest and played Wii instead with Steve....Tomorrow we drive 2 hours to Puerto Armuellos to preach....beach community....we are planning our first visit to Panama beach....I will post some pictures

Okay so we are in rainy season it actually rained on us all day on Thursday in Puerto Armuellos so no beach trip.   The beach isn't anything to write home about anyway, so we will try another beach soon.  We did however get some accomplished in our ministry. I found a family from California who live in a upscale community in Puerto Armuellos (ex-executives of Chiquita Banana plantation use to live in this community).  The banana plantation have packed up and headed out since then. We did have a nice shopping stop on the way back between the Panama and Costa Rica border. Duty free items...some good deals to be found on clothing, liquor, and other items for house and car.

Friday spent day in Boquete...Stephanie found a lady selling bread in the street that use to study. She is originally from Cuba. She said she is interested in studying again. Friday night had family night with Gilby's we saw "Return to me". Ate pizza and had some upbuilding conversations.

Saturday - spent morning out in ministry till around noon time....didn't really find anyone in census work here. I was a little disappointed with Marcos cancelling our study this morning up in Cerra Punta.
We have a get together to go to this afternoon @ 3pm. There is a pioneer couple leaving the spanish congregation and the english congregation was invited. It is raining pretty hard right now here, so hopefully they have good cover to protect from rain...

Other happenings this week......

Got to meet our neighbor this week. (Clemente) He speaks some English, but this has given me a chance to practice Spanish.
I told him he was my hero, after I learned that he works for a local coffee plantation and he is the official coffee taster for the company.  He responded by bringing me bags of coffee the next day to try. They have some wonderful coffee here in Panama.
 He has even offered to give me tour of coffee plantation. I need to find a way to make him a brother :-).

Abby, Sophia and Oliver have spent some time with his children playing in the afternoon. So we are all practicing our Spanish and looking for opportunities to witness to this very nice family.

Preached in Boquete today---

Today's meeting for field service 10 in attendance meet @ Brother Jim Faust house. Retiree from LA.
He accompanied us in the territory. We are basically mapping out the territory for English speakers in the territory. Currently only 4 publishers are supporting the English group in Boquette. Most of the publishers were from Volcan that came to support the preaching work this morning.  It is estimated to be some 4 thousand foreigners living in Boquete that speak English or another language other than Spanish.

After service had lunch @ Jim's house. Meet a sister from the Spanish congregation who Jim hires to clean the house up.....very enjoyable time. Looking forward to our Friday preaching in Boquete.

First day out in ministry

Last night was our first meeting here in Volcan...Total of 11 in attendance....Abigail was householder and she assisted me on an interview part.
Today we went down the mountain to preach in the city of David. The temperature difference is quite drastic from where we are staying. It is about a 45 minute trip down the Mountain where the temperature is around 70 degrees hottest it gets is 85 in Volcan. However, in David the temperature today was 95 degrees with the humidity comparable to Houston. Very nice response in the ministery. We are basically doing a search in the territory for any English speakers.