Panama Day 7

Monday, July 5th was our day to start traveling back towards Panama City. David is about 7 hours west of the city so our team had planned on staying a few hours away in a house in Santa Clara owned by the mission board to break up the traveling a little bit.

Right before we left I snapped this pic of the hotel lobby.

The countryside in Panama is absolutely gorgeous!

Pineapple fields

Cattle grazing

Santiago was about 2 hours east of David and is where we stopped to eat lunch.
Santiago is Spanish for the name James. Well....Brian's first name is actually James and I call him that sometimes, so now I just have to call him Santiago! :D



I just loved this tree!

We stopped in the town of Natá and got to see this beautiful old church. It was built in the 16th century and thought to be the oldest church in North America. They were currently doing some restorations on it.

The wood carvings and detail work was beautiful.

The side doors.

"Where ya goin there Santiago?!"

"Come on let's go see the bell tower!"

It was kind of creepy, but had great views!

"Wait, what is that?!"

I snapped this right before a flock of pigeons flew within inches of his head.
It was funny.........after it happened!

A view from the front.

A view over the top of the church. We went up about 4 or 5 flights of stairs and didn't quite make it to the bell. The pigeons kind of scared us back down in a hurry. :)

A baptism bath

The star decorations on the front doors.

Awww...there's the bell!

Brian and me in front of the church. Please don't pay any attention to the red car setting out front! It didn't belong to us!

There, now it's gone!
(Photoshop is my new best friend :)

I thought this cactus was pretty neat.

Late that afternoon/early evening we arrived at the Santa Clara house. It was bought back in the 70's by the mission board and sets right on the Pacific Ocean! This was my first time ever seeing the Pacific. But when we got there it was raining pretty heavy so we just got to enjoy the views from the house. That was okay though, because it gave everybody a little time to relax and unwind from the traveling. The Pan-American Highway that we were traveling on was paved, but it had it's own fair share of potholes and bumps! But it just made the adventure that much more fun! :)

The living room.

The bedroom we stayed in.

Some mini bananas. They were good!

Another view after the rains stopped.

A palm branch.

A weird looking fruit that they (some Panamanians) use for medicinal purposes.

Iron hearts :)

Love this view of palm trees.

Palm tree roots.

That night we ate at a restaurant that is owned by Americans and they had this HUGE flag hanging in the back yard! And we ate cheeseburgers, fries, & homemade pecan pie!

They had all kinds of exotic birds too. This guy was actually saying "hi" and "hello" to us before I started to use my flash. Then he got very angry and just squaked at us. The two Bethany's on our team actually had him dancing to some music.

Here is a view from the ocean side of the house.

The next morning we got up super early to see the sunrise on the Pacific before we started our journey into the city. It was a little strange I know because of the sun rising in the east, but it really did happen!
Stay tuned for Day 8!

Panama Day 6

Day 6 in Panama was also Independance Day in America. The girls had given us a file to open on July the 4th!

Here it is:
Brian opening the folder first thing that Sunday morning!

Some of the goodies they made us.

It was very sweet! When we first realized the dates that we'd be gone, Holly said, "this will be the first 4th of July without you!" But they had a good time watching fireworks with Sissy.

The outside of the hotel where we stayed in David.

There was a park across the street and that morning before we left for church Brian and I walked around for a minute. They had some beautiful trees and flowers.

Another street vendor in David as we were heading back to Pastor Ricardo's house for church and Sunday school.

Brian and me before church started.

Bro. Kenny & Brian

Pastor Ricardo leading in song with his sons, Jeremy and Arnold.

Brian shared his testimony after they sang some worship songs. He did a fantastic job and I got it on video. They released the kiddos for Sunday school while the adults had worship and preaching. We took the kids to Ricardo and Rosa's neighbors home where there was a nice carport with a breeze blowing. I was very grateful! Pastor Ricardo's house got extremely hot with about 20-25 people in there! The lady that owns the house where we borrowed her carport is a new believer and she is also battling breast cancer. She reminded my of my aunt and had such a sweet spirit!

Bro. Larry David sharing a lesson with the class with Jessica translating.

We also had a Bible story. The children are so respectful and attentive!

They also loved the craft time!

Sweet Glenna and Jessica!

This little girl was adorable!

So was this one!

They made signs with scripture for them to hang in their rooms. But I think they liked them better as necklaces.

Cutie!

Mi amigo, Jeremy!

This little boy was fascinated by the glue stick!

Glenna & Keith (our adoptive parents :)

The Sunday School crew! I just loved getting to be with these precious children!

Again with my friend Jeremy!

Pastor Ricardo and Kenny Morris

Arnold, Brian, & Esteban

Pamela and me

It was hard saying goodbye to this precious family.

After we left Ricardo's we went back to the hotel to change clothes and headed back to our favorite eatery of the week!

Our delicious meal that cost about $2.00!

These soda's were about $.40 each. We had drank orange Crush all week and they were out this day, but that Squirt was pretty good!

After lunch we drove up to Boquete. A town up in the mountains about an 1 hour north of David. There were coffee plantations here and the weather was MUCH cooler. It rained on us almost the entire time we were up there, but the temps were in the 70's so we didn't mind!

It reminded us of Gatlinburg!

There is a Christian couple that owns a coffee plantation and coffee shop that have their property open daily for garden tours. It was beautiful! The flowers were all so bright and colorful.

We were able to go up into a little lighthouse lookout tower.

There was also a "love tunnel"...haha!

Here is our attempt of a picture inside the tunnel. I forgot to zoom out!

They had painted cows all throughout the property. I am pretty sure that sign says, please don't touch the cows! Haha!

Some views of the coffee plantation on the side of the mountain.

See - just like the Smokies!

I thought these looked like fireworks. Appropriate for the 4th of July!

Cafe Ruiz

Brian and I both had a capuchino. Very yummy!

After we left Boquete we headed back into David to eat supper, then we had a briefing in the hotel lobby. Day 7 we were to start our journey back to Panama City, but first a quick trip by the Pacific Ocean!