Missionary Kenny Morris shares a laugh with church members
While in Panama last week we had the privilege of attending a Wednesday night prayer service in the city of Escobal. After arriving at the church, we were led to a church member’s house for our evening meal. She is a believer, and was honored to have us at her home. The house was too small for all of us to enter, so a serving table was set up at the front door and we sat wherever we could find a spot around the front porch. We were served fried chicken, platacones (sliced, smashed, and fried plantaines), steamed carrots, and fresh pineapple juice for our drink.
The platacones tasted kind of like tough re-fried french fries. They kind of grew on me so I had seconds. Another reason I got more, however, was because the family pet deer came up while I wasn’t looking and helped herself to some of my platacones despite the fact she had already had a nice helping of leaves off the rose bush. But when she gave me that cute “deer in the headlights” look, I couldn’t be angry with her.
- Bambi, the thief. Don’t let the innocent look fool you.
As we were finishing supper I began to notice some people with Bibles in their hands making their way towards the church. It was only 6:15, but the service was scheduled to start at 6:30. I was thankful for that since we had been informed to expect it to last about two hours. As the congregation began to gather inside, we sang praise songs led by the worship leader, a young woman behind the pulpit, and some other members standing in front of the platform with microphones. After about 30 minutes of singing we were asked to number off one-to-three in Spanish. I was one of the ”unos”, which was fortunate since I had a lot of experience yelling “uno” from my years of “UNO” playing. I was grouped with my fellow “uno-ites” for a time of prayer. The worship leader gave each group a specific prayer topic to pray for – ours was the upcoming presidential elections that Sunday – and then we all prayed out loud and simultaneously in our prayer groups. This proceess – singing, grouping, praying – was repeated two more times. Then the Pastor, Moises Alveo, preached a sermon from Numbers that challenged us to not simply have a dream, but to strive to make it a reality. Afterward, we had a good time of fellowship. As promised, the service lasted to 8:30.
