"Warning: Bocas report... This is a long one!

One can't compare Boquete and Bocas del Toro. It isn't possible. Try comparing a mango to a granadilla. You can't...., so I won't. I love them both. They both have very desirable aspects. (mangos and Boquete)

You've seen plenty about Boquete... this is about Bocas.

I've heard it said: Mi corazon es en Bocas. I understand. I really love Bocas del Toro. It's not clean and the people are not gentle like here in Boquete... as a matter of fact there are plenty of tattoos, smoking, and other loud things. Carl said it reminded him of Tijuana, Mexico. Of course it's an island, so it is surrounded by water, which is quite beautiful. We stayed on Isla Carenero, which is a 2 minute lancha (water taxi) ride from town. It was fun. Unfortunately, our room didn't have a kitchenette or a fridge. So we ate out a lot. Believe it or not.... that was not fun. Sadly, the island is full of sand flies, and I wasn't prepared for that battle. I lost. It is very hot in Bocas and the sun is muy brilliante. I burned.

BUT we were in the ministry 4 out of the 5 days we were there. AND WE LOVED IT. 

The congregation is another revolving congregation. Many people come and stay for a limited period of time.... like us. (If someone wanted my advice about where to go to serve in Panama, I would say "pick a place and stay there." It seems that the congregations in Panama all have a need for people who can provide permanence.) We didn't get to meet most of the permanent people in Bocas because they were gone. In fact, most of the people we met had only been there for a few months at the most. There is also a Spanish congregation and a Ngobe group.

This is where we stayed: The Careening Cay resort and the Cosmic Crab restaurant

Our first day of service. We worked territory. We were working census work, which is nice because you get to go to every house to see if there are any English speakers. You never know what can change. We met quite a few English speakers and placed literature. After the morning, Raymond had to go to a study, so we decided to have lunch before the afternoon meeting. Unfortunately, we didn't know that you had better plan really well, Because you do not just "go have lunch" in any timely manner. It takes forever! So we never would have made it to the afternoon meeting. Thankfully, Raymond had left his territory with us, so we ventured deep into a Ngobe neighborhood on the water. It was so cool. It looked like just a few houses. Then there was a wooden bridge this way and a wooden bridge that way. There were dozens and dozens, and I really thought we could get lost. Plus Bocas is working on making maps, so we were drawing maps. And I was nervous about taking pictures. So... but it was neat walking over the planks that served as bridges. The tide was high so we could see the benefit of the bridges. And the people are so amenable that they didn't seem to mind us walking around. But walking through these neighborhoods takes on a very personal feel because they don't have windows, just open holes so you can see right in, and their kids run around without clothes... understandable... I just feel like I'm intruding. But they were quite gracious. Come to find out - they knew exactly who we were, Jehovah's Witnesses - and they're fine with that. They actually like us. : ) 

I love watching the kids play. Many people are saddened about the conditions that these people live in. But look at the kids. They are not mistreated, unclean (well these ones are ... playing hard!) or discontent. They make do. We could all learn a lesson.

Recognize this man? He recognized us right away. This was our lancha driver when we went to the meeting. He speaks pretty good English if you listen just right. He kindly invited us in out of the sun and we had a great conversation. One of the brothers used to study with him and then that brother moved to Spanish. Recently another brother found him and has been calling on him. He says" I dona why da peeple don lisen about Jehova!"

this man actually had a curtain over his window. Somehow that made it more uncomfortable. Maybe because by the time we got to him we had gotten used to the other way and now we REALLY felt like we were intruding

This was a really fancy house... I think a gringo bought it and they were working on it. You can see the guy on a ladder that's in the ocean.

This is outside of the Ngobe neighborhood, but we kept running into Jassin. He was in one of the first pictures watching a video. He kept looking for us and yelling "hello"

We did alot of street work, public witnessing. It was so easy to talk to people. This man was so sad. He had left the love of his life when he was a young man and he still wants to try to get back to her. He used to go to meetings when he lived in the United States. Now he makes toy boats and sits on the side of the road selling them to the touristas. I would like to see him again.

The Brennemans graciously invited us to join them for their family worship. We had a lot of fun. It was very well-rounded. We even played some games. We went through the whole alphabet and took turns naming a Bible person: A- Adam, B-Bezalel, C-Cain, etc. Then we drew pictures of animals and renamed them, like Adam had to name them from the beginning. We had to guess each animal by the name. Some families are very creative. They have two young children, who they keep very involved. It was great. And then we joined them for service on the island the next day.

We worked with the Brennemans on Tuesday afternoon, before the meeting. They live on Isla Carenero, so this has become their personal territory. It was fun to work the Ngobe neighborhood on Carenero. We even ran into some English speakers, some of the native people speak English and there are some surfer-type people that have moved to the island. Like many others, they are looking for the filler of their hole. They haven't found it here. 

  

We were heading to the meeting after working with the Brennemans on Isla Carenero (where they also live) and we realized that the electricity was out on the main island, so we hunted high and low for a place. And we found that John's Bakery was running on a generator. While we were there we got the call that the meeting was moved to Friday. Bummer for us because we were leaving on Friday. So I'm sad to report that we only got one meeting while we were there. I began to see that one must be very flexible to live in Bocas.

This may seem like a strange picture to include, but I was so impressed that this man is "trimming" the hedge with a machete. They use machetes for everything here. They just walk around with them. Need a beer opened? machete. Need a giant spider killed? machete. Hedge too large? machete. Haircut? ...... 

We walked around the island. We were supposed to have a boat tour with dophins and snorkeling and beaching... but it was rained out. So we didn't go... instead we went exploring the island. We asked and asked and no one had any good suggestions for finding monkeys or sloths. You won't just find them, they said. And they are never just next to the road. Well, I was already disappointed about our boat ride, so Carl promised he'd find me a monkey and a sloth. That was very brave. But he kept looking. And then he spotted them. It was mid-day and they were taking a siesta. I can't believe he found them... but once he pointed them out they were plain as day. And there were about 20 of them and about 4 babies. SOOO adorable. They were pretty up there. But they didn't seem bothered by us. 

Surprise! Snuck this little guy in. We walked down a road that someone recommended we explore. It was more like a pathway. At the end of the pathway, Carl saw a load of howler monkeys in a distant tree. And we could see their forms moving and swinging through the trees, as well as hear them. Then, after one of the monkeys scared me half to death because he yelled really loud and I felt sure he was running after me, Carl grabbed me and whispered "LOOK!" So after my heart settled down... there about 50 feet from us is this SLOTH in a tree. He scratched for a minute and then covered his face for a nap. We could have walked up and touched him, if we weren't afraid of the snakes that could be slithering through the brush. He never moved again.

This is called a "rainbow tree" It is a type of Eucalyptus. When the bark peels a beautiful striation of color is revealed.

This is an unfortunate part of the history of this people. One of the sisters did some research into the history of this ritual: "demon whipping" It occurs in the weeks leading up to Carnavale, right before Lent. The tradition refers to the days of the slaves when the slavemasters used to whip the slaves. So now the slaves and then the "demon" slavemaster take turns whipping each other. They use real whips and  the kids run around in the streets playing this game. Then in the evening the people come out to the square and the "entertainment" begins when the "demons" come out... in full costume. It makes me wonder how much they believe that the demons are real... or do they just believe that the "demons" are just really bad people. It would explain alot. Either way the air is heavy with the spiritism.

Service on Isla Bastimentos

Every Thursday a group from the congregation head over to the island of Bastimentos. It's a pretty large island and much of the population speaks a form of English. It's more of a creole-type mix, guari-guari or Patois. But if you get used to it you can understand what they're saying. If you're curious, you can go to www.jw.org and look for the Caleb video #1 and 2 and look for Belize Krio. It's not exact, but similar enough to get an idea. There are many on the island that study. Unfortunately, because of the lack of permanence in the congregation, many have been passed around from publisher to publisher... you can imagine that it would be frustrating. But the people are wonderfully kind. 

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Chris and Rebecca have been serving in Bocas for four years. They have really impacted the locals. He now serves as a substitute circuit overseer, so he has much more to be concerned with, the congregation as well as the circuit. This is a tremendous sacrifice and they often wear many different hats. But they are still very welcoming and helpful.

This is the Policia Nationale. We've seen them carting people off in handcuffs in their boats. They drive around the islands keeping an eye on things. It is like the policia nationale that ride around on the motorcycles in Boquete.

Back on Isla Colon, where the main town of Bocas del Toro is. We headed back into the Ngobe neighborhood on the water to hand the territory back to Raymond.

Back to Isla Carenero

Some friends from Boquete were also visiting Bocas. They took us for a little ride on our last day. We met these brothers from the Ngobe group. There are 12 in the group, one elder, one servant... but on average 48 come to the meeting. The Ngobe remind me a little of the Navajo, because their traditions and the family ties are very strong and it makes it very difficult for the ones who come to love Jehovah. It can be a great sacrifice for them to dedicate themselves to serving the true God. But many have and it is SO wonderful. The Ngobe have touched my heart.

This is the Ngobe neighborhood on Bocas where we worked.

The sand flies loved me. They didn't bother Carl too much. 
It feels worse than it even looks. 
I've got a plan for them!

Bocas is the only place I've ever been where someone actually said to me, "Do you have the magazines for me?" Of course he said it in Spanish, and so it really floored me because I was sure I had misunderstood. But he really wanted Spanish magazines. He knew who we were and we had only been there for 4 days.

This is a funny story. On the first day, I left a Spanish tract for the housekeeper. She left it, so I thought, maybe she speaks English. So on the next day I left the Future tract in English. She left it again, but this time she had checked off one of the answers to the question. Wow, Okay, so I left it again with the Bible tract and a note that she can keep them. She left the Bible tract with the answer checked. So on the next day I left the Bible tract and the Good news brochure with notes on them asking if we can get together. The next day our room didn't get cleaned! Then we were talking to the manager (we didn't mention that we didn't get cleaned) and she told us the girls thought we were leaving them quizes and they brought them to her to TRANSLATE THEM. Hilarious. So the manager would translate the tracts and the girls would answer the questions and return them. So on the last day we left Spanish literature and gave the manager the Good News brochure! The brother promises to follow up.