Christmas, New Years and More!

Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year! (translated from above picture) Here is Father Wally with a niña who recently made her first communion during Christmas Eve mass. I was invited to a friend´s house for Christmas Eve dinner which is customarily served after mass at around midnight. That´s when the fun starts. We sang Christmas carols and danced some salsa, merengue and bachata until the early morning.
Yeah, so life as a missionary in Panamá is rough... Here´s me with my buddy, Elias, who guided my friend Becky and I around San Blas (northern coast of Panamá). We stayed on an island in a Kuna village with his family and were taken around in his boat to different islands and ragging rivers. It was quite the adventure. Becky is a very couragous person to go on a trip like this with her crazy adventurous friend. Not too many people want to sleep in a hut, poop in the ocean and eat lobster on the beach!


So, it´s that time of year again! The rice harvest is in full swing here in Wacuco! I went to harvest rice by hand with one of my friends, Biri, who planted in the ´monte´behind his house. It was a lot of fun working with a bunch of guys in the blistering sun all day; surprisingly. Well, at least I learned something new and was brought closer into panamanian culture, especially the culture of the ´campos.´

These are part of group of ´jovenes´from surrounding parishes. We went to Cerro Azul for a weekend retreat in order to prepare them better for leadership in their youth groups. I had a really fun time hanging out with them all and getting to know them better. Good kids. Cerro Azul was a good preparation for going back to the states. It is very cool there in the night, probably the first time I have been cold in Panamá.









Here is a video from a youth encounter I went to this past week with the sisters and some youth from Alto Bayano. It is basically about 5 or 6 thousand kids going nuts for God. It was a really intense and good experience. Sólo Dios Basta (Only God is Enough) was the title of the program.