Changes brewing for the Cabezon family

We aren't leaving Panama, or YWAM, just moving closer to where our vision is. For many years now we have served the indigenous people of Panama, mainly through short term outreaches, and by helping teenagers go to school, through our "Home" program, or "Hogar" as we called it around here.

It was amazing and challenging experience to disciple young people up close and personal, living with us 24 hours a day, getting to teach them, and invest in their lives. It's also been exciting to see many of them go on to university, start their own families, and continue walking with God. Who knows that the next 20 years hold for these young people?

As we prayed about 2012, both Alex and I felt that it was time to put the "Home" program aside for awhile, that God wanted us to focus on something else. Through prayer, seeking counsel and prayer from people we respect both in and outside of YWAM, we felt it was time to move into a Wounaan community.

We had been praying for some time that God would open a door to live in a Wounaan community, even for a few months. While we were picturing one of the more remote communities, when the door finally opened, it was not too far from where we are now.

Alex began partnering with a young youth pastor in the community of Chepo, by the name of Francisco (who also happened to be a cousin). Soon it became apparent that Francisco not only had a similar vision to what Alex wants to see among his people, but that the opportunity was there to work alongside him long term.

As soon as we began looking into this, we were showered with opportunities. Last year, after completing the DTS outreach, visiting 5 Wounaan communities, we were given permission by church leaders to work with any church in their convention (The Iglesia Evangelica Unida, part of the Mennonite Brethren). We also began to meet other missionaries working in nearby areas, with whom we could see ourselves partnering.

We soon saw that this was the right time and the right place. While living on the YWAM base has facilitated our ministry in the past (and been a great blessing), the goals we have now will require us to move out into the community.

So what are those goals? We desire to see leaders trained and raised up to lead the next generation of Wounaan. Alex looks forward to doing lots of one-on-one discipleship with Wounaan men, and passing along lots of what he has learned. I look forward to teaching through oral Bible stories, and facilitating the development of oral bible stories in the Wounaan language. We also hope to come alongside community development projects and other initiatives in the Wounaan communities.

So, what's in Chepo? More about that in the next post.