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Hey again friends and family! We are all safe and sound in Panama, but I thought I would let you know what went on from our end!  Here’s what happened:  Yesterday an earthquake happened about 16 miles off the shore of Chile. Here’s a picture:  Panama was protected from any sizable waves by the northern part of South America and the little cove we are situated in.  Additionally, our house is approximately 10 km from the shoreline (we are situated between Las Lajas and San Felix, so we are farther inland than the screenshot below portrays). When the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, the resulting tsunami reached up to 6 miles, or 10 km inland. Given our distance from the earthquake’s epicenter and our distance from the shore, it’s not likely that we would hav…

UPDATE: The tsunami warnings that were issued earlier for Panama have now been cancelled. The girls traveled to San Felix, the main city north of the little beach town Las Lajas, just to be safe. They will be staying the night at a mission house there…and watching Mrs. Doubtfire for entertainment. 😉 Thank you for all the prayers! Continue to lift them up as they minister to the people of Panama!   

We made it!!!  The Central America Expedition team is in Panama!!  We are in a rural [beach] town called Las Lajas.  Our bus only had ten people on it, so we each got our own row.  The border crossing was so easy it’s not even funny.  We had a good day y’al!    This month we’ll be working with a ministry for deaf children and with a Costa Rican missionary who teaches bible classes to local kids. More to come on that later!  We are safe and sound, dear parents! 

  When I say a blocked caller I don’t mean in the sense I didn’t know who was calling, I knew who it was, it was God. I meant I had blocked the calls. For years now he has been calling me but I repeatedly refused to answer. I wasn’t sure want he wanted from me but I was sure that it wouldn’t be anything I would want to give him. I was comfortable in my ways, I was living the college life and loving it. I would tell myself “I can do whatever I want to now, and when I’m older I’ll be a better Christian.” But this past year I’ve become increasingly more convicted and recently come to realize that, that is a lie. God’s voice became louder in my life. So loud I could not help but answer his call. He was calling me to follow him, this I knew. I said “okay I’ll do this God, and for real …

  “The sound of worship woke me up this morning. That sounds cool, right? Let me rephrase… the sound of a kick drum, cymbals, and a snare being pounded at random intervals woke me up this morning. ___________________________________________________________________________________ As the welcome bonds of sleep slowly released themselves from my mind, I slowly and noisily got myself out of bed. Feet on the floor, contacts in my eyes, and coffee on my mind I headed toward the outdoor kitchen with all of last night’s dishes burdening my arms. Maybe I’m being dramatic. Okay. I’m being dramatic, but mornings are hard…”   To read the rest of this article visit DotFrederick.theWorldRace.org  

I serve an athletic God. Which is funny, because I’m not athletic at all. I like to think I am, but unless we’re playing whiffle ball- you don’t want me on your team.  So let’s say you and I are in beautiful Central Park in New York City and you ask me if I want to go for a run… NO, I don’t want to run! Lets take our time! There is no rush, we have plenty of time to just stroll through the park (unless I’m hungry). That situation happens a lot in my relationship with God. I believe it’s those moments, when God wants to run and I’m being uncooperative, those are the times He wants to do great things (and quite possibly punch me). The funny thing is, I want God to work. I’ve told Him time and time again to move, that His will be done, His plans before my flesh but I obvi…

[I know when writing a blog, it’s important to keep it brief but every detail of this adventure is worth telling, so bear with me because I have quite the story to tell.] Today started like a normal day as we headed to the special needs home that we have been working at this week. After a difficult experience on Monday, we weren’t sure what to expect today but we figured we would continue the intense cleaning and had mentally prepared ourselves for a long day ahead. We arrived around 9:00 am and began to mop the courtyard floor. Denika, Nancy, Skylar, and myself were sweeping and mopping the tiled floor when we heard a booming personality coming toward us. Then from around the corner appeared…. Gabriel the Angel. He was a large, charismatic, spanish-speaking Italian-Canadian who real…

It’s no secret that our world is obsessed with “highlight reels.” We only like to show everyone our best. Our best pictures, best stories, best thoughts, etc. We figure any struggle or mundane moment is just not worth sharing, that those moments aren’t important. Wrong. Maybe these times aren’t as exciting but they are certainly important.  I think that’s one thing that I struggle with on this trip. It seems like everyone back home wants to see gorgeous pictures and hear stories of miracles that are happening but it just isn’t like that. Sure I’ve had some absolutely amazing experiences so far, but the truth is a lot of our time is spent driving from place to place or doing basic day to day things. You probably won’t see a picture of every conversation I have with the …

…-7 year old me. Growing up I had all of these adventures planned for myself; I was going to be an international spy, a traveling journalist…my latest adventure up until last year- I was going to teach English in 3rd world countries. (I also said I wasn’t going to learn the languages beforehand, I was just gonna learn it when I got there.) Fast forward to today and wow has God been working in my life. He planted those seeds in me, for travel, for helping people, and for foreign language early on; I was oblivious literally until today. If you read my intro post, you’ll know I’m currently in school majoring in Spanish…hm seems like some preparation from God right there. I’m also pre-occupational therapy. Going into college I thought I’d come out a teacher and move to a third world …

…-7 year old me. Growing up I had all of these adventures planned for myself; I was going to be an international spy, a traveling journalist…my latest adventure up until last year- I was going to teach English in 3rd world countries. (I also said I wasn’t going to learn the languages beforehand, I was just gonna learn it when I got there.) Fast forward to today and wow has God been working in my life. He planted those seeds in me, for travel, for helping people, and for foreign language early on; I was oblivious literally until today. If you read my intro post, you’ll know I’m currently in school majoring in Spanish…hm seems like some preparation from God right there. I’m also pre-occupational therapy. Going into college I thought I’d come out a teacher and move to a third world …