February 26
After being delayed a day due to weather in Dallas,
I, Kelly Jessen, landed in Panama early this afternoon.
Much to my dismay, but not surprised, my bags did
not make the trip. After filling out the paperwork
I was picked up and quickly taken to my mission field
for the week.
It was hot and dusty as we pulled into the "Red
Zone" which is about 50 multilevel, apartment
complexes in San Joaquin in the Panama City area.
Interesting story about how these buildings came to
being. When 
Panamanian
President Manual Noriega was taken out of power by
US forces, the US military had bombed around the airport.
Many houses were destroyed and families displaced.
So, the US gathered everyone who was affected by the
bombing and built these new apartments for them. After
years of deterioration with out maintenance you now
have the "Red Zone" which has around 5000
people with low income, full of gangs and drugs. Due
to this our activities will wrap up shortly after
dark.
After a meeting to strategize about our plan for
the week we divided up and headed out for our first
attempt at door-to-door evangelism. In just over an
hour 35 people made decisions to follow Christ and
filled out a response card. Praise the Lord. We will
be working to follow up and disciple them through
out the week. We also promoted our sports clinics
which will take place later in the week.
An encouraging point today was time spent visiting
with national church planter Moises Vega who was excited
about the sports clinics which will be taking place.
He said, "Using sports is like watering the ground
before you sow the seeds." I look forward to
what God will do later this week in the Red Zone.
February 27
Today was hot, hot, hot. In 95 degree weather this
Colorado boy is melting away.
This morning we began going door to door again sharing
the gospel. I shared using the Evangecube in four
homes where five people accepted Christ. Later on
as I was sharing with a lady outside I was suddenly
surrounded by twenty kids. As I led the lady through
a prayer of salvation I could also hear a choir of
children echoing the 
prayer.
What a joy. Each person's information is being collected
so the local church will be able to follow up with
them later this week and next. They are also invited
to a church meeting each evening.
In the early evening we watched a championship soccer
match between kids in the area. It was something.
They were out to win. Every time a goal was scored
the team and fans for that team stormed the field
and 
celebrated.
The bleachers we sat in were swaying with the chants
as the dusty game went on. It was quite a sight.
Tomorrow starts our sports clinics in which we expect
at least 100 kids if not more. I currently have two
other girls who will teach soccer. One played soccer
at Baylor and is now a coach in Dallas. I will also
have three translators so please pray for strength
and wisdom on how to handle that many people.
February 28
Today was a day of showing the love of Jesus through
sports. With music playing and fresh new soccer and
basketballs on display kids came out of the woodwork.
Around 120 kids played with us. We divided by age
and then they took turns at soccer and basketball.
My assistant coach today was a player from the national
Panamanian basketball team.
During the clinics I had a flashback to my firefighting
days when I recognized the sound of a wall of flames.
Someone had been clearing the bamboo across the street
and the wind picked up. Flames went as high as 40
feet. Ash blew all over us.
At the end we were able to gather 80 over to hear
the gospel. I used the ball of many colors (www.kingdomsportsproducts.com)
to share the gift of grace. Almost all the hands went
up when I asked them if they would like to ask Jesus
into their heart.
In the afternoon we went door to door and also followed
up with people we visited earlier in the week. Later
we had a church service were everyone was welcome.
One last story about how God began moving even before
we got here. A man in the neighborhood has been trying
to do a good thing for the last several years by organizing
a soccer season for local kids. A couple days before
we arrived he came to the local pastor and said he
had been unable to sleep and felt drawn to the pastor.
After talking a while the man accepted Christ. After
that he realized that even though trying to keep the
local kids out of drugs and gangs by being on soccer
team was a good thing, these kids needed the love
of Christ. So yesterday before the crazy game I was
called out unto the field to address the kids before
the match. I briefly spoke of playing hard but being
respectful. I then invited them to the clinics. Today
was the trophy presentation and they all came to the
church. After the ceremony they all heard the word
of God.
March 1
This morning as we started our clinics we were without
our cloud cover. This made the sun and heat much more
intense. As our e3 team leader describes Panama's
heat he say's it is "killer hot". That term
was fitting today.
The crowds today were smaller but we did have new
kids attend which was encouraging. For those who attended
yesterday and accepted Christ we talked with them
about the importance of reading their Bible, praying
to God, attending church and loving others.
In the evening we had a children's service outside
on the basketball court which was temporarily interrupted
by what sounded like gun fire. The children scattered.
They soon returned after the situation calmed down.
We were unsure of the noise due to conflicting information
so we stayed and shared the story of God's creation
and sang songs.
In closing at our work site I had the privilege to
presenting 20 soccer balls and 10 basketballs to the
pastor of the church so they can continue to use sports
as a tool to reach into their community.
March 2, 2007
This morning all the pastor's our four teams have
been working with all week united to have breakfast
and a closing ceremony with us at our hotel. It was
exciting to hear the stories of what had happened
during the week and how God had moved in so many situations.
The pastor I worked with shared about how big an impact
it had had on his community. He said, "I had
never knew you could share the love of Christ with
a ball", in reference to the ball of many colors.
He ended by describing his community which is impoverished,
run-down high-rises and a high crime rate and therefore
called the "Red Zone". The "Red Zone"
is full of people that need to hear about Jesus because
He loves them. Pastor Dixon closed with, "The
police call this the "Red Zone, but I believe
it is red because of the blood of Christ."
I then was blessed to be able to present soccer ball's
of many colors to nine pastors who were thrilled with
the gift.
As far as our whole team goes for this week, 9 North
Americans joined with 42 national church members and
12 translators to share the Gospel with 414 people.
185 of those heard the good news and professed Jesus
as their Lord. 2 new churches were started and 2 churches
were strengthened. Amen.
After the meeting ended we headed out to do some
sightseeing which included the Panama Canal.
It has been my pleasure this week to partner with
e3 Partners (www.e3partners.org). Their passion for
discipleship and follow up has encouraged me to help
the pastors SportReach works with in taking the next
step beyond evangelism to making disciples.
In the morning I head out to Peru.
Thank you for all your prayers and support while
I was on this trip and may all the glory be given
to God for what He has done during this time.
Until all the nets are full,
Kelly
