Metropolitan Church

One aspect that I've been wanting to blog about is the church here in Panama City. Ever since we've arrived, we have been welcomed and cared for, by the Metropolitan church. It has been a pleasure to meet Raul, Walter and Elio, three evangelists working with this church. They are zealously evangelistic and want nothing, if they can not reach more people with the gospel of Christ. Immediately, they recognized us as co-workers in the kingdom and have been an encouragement to us. (Especially, when we came down with that horrible virus in January!)

From December to May, the church has met in Walter's house.

Here you can see our group on one Sunday in March. Every service is bilingual. Even prayers are translated into English on most occasions, which Cyndi and I appreciate very much. But as you can see in the photo, there isn't much room for growth in Walter's house and it can get pretty warm in there! (Right Crystal and Lacy?) Here's another view of those sitting behind the house.

One of my favorite things about this church is that they love to sing, especially Elio, pictured beside me. They always ask me to lead the songs they are singing in English. We will sing a verse in Spanish then the same verse in English. I like the way that it flows so well, even though many of us don't speak the same language.

Last week, for the first time, the Metropolitan church has moved out of Walter's house and into a school. There is more space for growth and air conditioning! The greatest benefit of our move is that it is more centrally located in the city. Walter's house was on one end of town which made for a really long commute for many folks. It is very difficult to get around in Panama City because of traffic and construction. I'm going to miss the closeness of meeting in a home, but I can see the benefits of our move.

Well, many of you have been asking about our church situation, here in Panama and I hope this answers a lot of curiosity. We look for great things to continue to happen with our family in Panama.