2007 News Archive
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12/7/2007
Feliz Navidad from sunny Panama!
We want to take a few moments to express our deeply felt gratitude for all of you who have walked with us through the last year and have prayed so faithfully for our family and for our work with the Chinese here. We see the results of your prayers in our own lives and ministries as well as in our kids' lives and we thank you for your part in that.
As much as we love Christmas, with its carols, Christmas trees, decorations, presents & goodies to eat, nothing is sadder than seeing people celebrate Christmas without having any knowledge of its meaning. We were brought face to face again with this reality when we asked a group of our Chinese friends what it is that we celebrate at Christmas. It was new information to them that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth. Let us add, though, that it's a great privilege to be the first to explain the significanse of Christmas to someone! Your prayers and financial gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering make that possible. It is your financial sacrifice and faithful praying that empowers God's work among people groups all over the world. Please make it a matter of prayer during this holiday season to see what God would have you do to further His Kingdom work.
We have been invited by Comunidad Cristiana de Nuevo Tocumen to do Chinese ministry in the area of their new church. This invitation follows some speaking we did at their church last spring when we encouraged them to reach out to the Chinese around them. We have now begun to prayer walk in Nuevo Tocumen and are systematically visiting the minisupers. Pray that God will help us to be favorably received by the store owners & workers, that He will guide our conversations & help us develop relationships with them, that He will give them spiritual thirst & understanding/receptivity to the gospel, and that He would indicate a "person of peace" in whose home a bible study/class/church might meet.
Christine's school semester is quickly winding down with only one more week to go before Christmas break. A group of 10 seniors, including Christine, made a trip to one of the inner city areas where there is an outreach ministry and spent the morning leading some Mother's Day activities & crafts with the kids there. Strange as it may seem, Mother's Day is celebrated here on December 8. It is a VERY well-celebrated holiday here, so it makes for very congested stores & streets. We are all looking forward to Nathan & Amanda's arrival on December 20. We appreciate Amanda's parents sharing her with us for Christmas.
I have attached a photo of Christine working in an intercity ministry yesterday in the area of Curundu.
Thanks again for your prayers & encouraging words - they make all the difference in the world! Merry Christmas!
John Mark, Cheryl & Christine
9/30/2007
We just got home from our English classes that we are doing as an outreach to Chinese people in metro Panama City. They are many things: challenging, funny, culturally interesting, a great way to meet & interface with young Chinese people, sometimes frustrating & sometimes exhausting. I'm (Cheryl) praying about a request that several students made to teach them privately. They are two sisters, a brother & a good friend. I like them alot & they seem very sharp & highly motivated. In the past I've found that I enjoy working with small groups because there is so much more freedom to discuss & share ideas about life, culture, faith etc. You can pray for me that God will give me wisdom & direction to know if this is a worthwhile activity to invest myself in.
I've also begun meeting with a young mom from Taiwan for language exchange one morning a week. I'm having a ball with her. She is a real extrovert & the world's most diligent language learner! She is helping me with my Mandarin & I help her with her English. She is the wife of a Taiwanese banker & they have two boys at Christine's school. Tomorrow she is picking me up to walk at the park near her apartment building. We are very pleased that a young man that we have been developing a relationship with & loving on since January has decided to put his faith in Christ & asked if he could be baptized soon. It is always exciting to see the change in people's lives, even in their countenance, when they experience new spiritual life. We're also excited that a fellow missionary who has been working in China for years may be able to minister with us here in Panama for a limited time. He has seen God do tremendous things in China & we're hoping to gain some insights from him. Our son Nathan & his wife Amanda seem to be doing fine. They both have a full schedule of classes so I'm sure they have plenty to keep them busy. Since they are both entertaining the idea of going on to graduate school at some point in time, they are also looking into graduate schools, scholarships, internships, etc. Lots of decisions to make! Nathan recently decided it was finally time to buy his "professional" computer & software for his design graphics work. It sounds like he got a great deal on both the computer ( a MacIntosh) and the software.
We're really looking forward to seeing them at Christmas & appreciate Amanda's parents' willingness to give them their blessing to do it! Christine, our daughter, is "chomping at the bit" to be done with high school & get on with college. She is sometimes bored & tired of everything about highschool. However, at least she is still keeping her grades up! She is excited about the group of eighth grade girls that she is leading in Bible study on Wednesday nights and is challenged by playing the piano this year for the praise band & also is enjoying improving her guitar skills. Volleyball should be starting soon so that will be another positive note. As she has spent more time hanging out with a small group of guys, she is learning to enjoy the things that they like to do, like play tennis and video games, like Wii. Fortunately, they also like to watch movies ( not chick flicks, however) and go out to eat. John Mark is hosting a great group from Summit Church in Rogersville, MO to do prayerwalking various cities in the center of Panama. Christine, I and some of her friends will meet them this weekend and enjoy a joint worship service on Sunday. That's about all of the news from Panama.
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
9/19/2007
I just wanted to let you know what has been happening in the last few days:
On Saturday Cheryl and I joined a group from the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for an outreach project. We prayerwalked and distributed Spanish/Chinese tracts and JESUS dvds among a main highway in Panama City their "base camp". This is the third time we have worked with this DTS and thoughly enjoy ministering with them! Pray for spiritual seeds that were planted.
On Sunday Cheryl, Francisco and I started a four week Chinese English Class at El Dorado Baptist Church. We had 15 students and hope that you will pray for their salvation as we share with them in the coming weeks.
Just yesterday on Tuesday, the head of YWAM, talked about his recent trip to Taiwan. In discussion with YWAM leadership, they have decided to have this DTS do their outreach trip to Taiwan. They are hoping to do a two week practicium with Cheryl and I from October 15th through October 27th. We will continue to utilize them in our prayerwalking, Scripture distribution as well as provide training for the Chinese outreach here and their upcoming mission trip to Taiwan. (They must have decided they like to work with us, too! PTL!) Pray we will plan great activities that will glorify Christ and bring more Chinese to salvation in Him.
This morning, I received a great phone call from a church in Virginia who would like to prayerwalk in Panama next year. Pray for them as they meet to discuss these plans this evening.
Thanks for your prayers,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
9/11/2007
David Tracey reports back that he is doing much and had very involved in ministry in the Middle East. Thank you for remembering him last week. We look forward to hearing his report when he returns to Panama and hope that he is be an inspiration to others here as they respond to God's calling to missions. Continue to remember him!
Crossroads Church has had several people share that they are lead to a missions calling. Therefore, the church is offering special weekly classes to help these brothers and sisters begin servicing Him in ministry. I have been asked to teach a couple sessions along with other cross-cultural missionaries in the area. I will be teaching on "The Transcultural Experience" on October 8th and "Challenges to Missions Service" on November 19th. Would you remember us as we prepare to teach?
Last night we spent some time with Alex Chang and Oh Yeoug, both of these guys joined us August 2006 when we went with a group to El Valle. Both have become Christians. What a difference it has been in their lives! Pray for similar results from our trip to El Valle this last Sunday. Pray especially for Cheryl's new friend Carmen Hong, who she is going to start meeting with this Thursday.
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
8/20/2007
Last week Francisco Yau and I attended the Chinese Pastors' meeting. We were pleased as punch to hear that Brother Yip had started a new small group church start with Mr. Song in Santiago! As you remember Francisco and I travelled three hours each way weekly to Santiago for several months praying, visiting and distributing JESUS film DVDs. Mr. Song was our main contact person. Please pray for Brother Yip, Mr. Song and those they are sharing Christ with in strategic city. Pray that this new start will grow into vital, multiplying church.
Also last week with the encouragment of Director Eduardo Chung; Franciso, Cheryl and I started visiting the families who have children at the Panama Christian Academy here in El Dorado. What a joy it was to see a 10 year old Chinese boy "preview" different language versions of the JESUS film and then choose the Cantonese language JESUS for Children with Spanish subtitles. He started watching it, his face brightened, and he said to me in Mandarin, "I can understand this! Thank you for the gift!" Please pray for this boy and many other families we have and will visit in the next few weeks. Pray that we will discover the best avenues to use to reach these precious people for Christ.
On Saturday, we had 17 missionaries from Mexico, the United States, Canada and Norway join us in pray walking in El Dorado. They are in Panama for a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) . We started with a half hour training session at their base camp near Panama City and then enjoyed a Chinese lunch before dividing into 6 groups and fanning out across El Dorado praying for the Chinese and all the group came in contact with. Does it work? You bet it does! On Sunday morning, a Christian lady in the neighborhood felt the encouragement of the Holy Spirit to rededicate her live to a Christ centered live. She did not and does not know that we prayered specifically for her and her family on Saturday. How many other positive changes are taking place that we do not know about? Pray that the YWAM partnership of prayer walking and Scripture distribution will continue and that God will be glorified in our efforts.
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
6/27/2007
As you know Frank and Kelly Lee are special friends of ours. Frank have been Christine's computer teacher at Crossroads and Cheryl and my Hakka teacher. Presently they are in Florida with Frank's parents to visit his brother. Kelly's dad has been doing chemo treatments here in Panama and we have been taking him in for his doctor visits. On Monday his health took a turn for the worse.
We just checked Jim into the hospital. Because his throat has been sore, he has not been drinking enough water and it is effecting his kidney function and his electrolytes are dangerously low. This is why he is so dizzy. Since he moved over to our house on Monday, Cheryl and I have tried very hard to get him to eat and drink and have not had any success. The sore throat is side effect of the chemo treatment. He was worse today so we made a special appointment to see Dr. Roberto Lopez. They X-rayed Jim's lungs and checked his white cell count and both are fine, he just needs to more fluids. They are putting him on an IV. Please pray for us and Jim. Tomorrow I have a team coming from Springfield, MO and must leave Jim in Cheryl's care.
All for now,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
6/25/2007
Today Cheryl went over to help Frank Lee's father-in-law who is staying at their house here in Panama City. He is in the middle of chemotherpy for cancer. He is not doing well, so we have moved him over to our house until Frank and Kelly get back from the USA. Please be in prayer for this situation.
Christine is "on the road" this week with a volunteer team that is doing Spanish work in Aguadulce. She went along to help with Spanish translation during scripture distribution & backyard bible clubs for children. She was excited about doing it & most of her friends have left town for other activities/travels so this keeps her busy for awhile! Several weeks ago she helped do translation for a basketball team that was here doing sports camps, etc. She had a good experience with that group so thought she'd try it again. She was disappointed that she couldn't go with her youth group on their mission trip to Peru the last week in July so these other mission activities are helping fill that void for her.
We are playing hurry up & wait with the Chinese leadership at the Panamanian Christian Academy. They are really dragging their feet in getting us the names & addresses of the parents so that we can follow up on them. We had been hoping to do as much of the visiting as we could fit in before the Summit team comes on Thursday night, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. We are trying to wait patiently on God's timing for this stuff but end up gnashing our teeth a bit as well! On the bright side, our friend & coworker (Francisco Yau) is answering the phones at the school two mornings a week because they don't have anyone in the school office who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin & Hakka, though vast majority of the students are ethnic Chinese. With those languages, he can communicate with any of the parents & also act as a liaison between teachers & parents. Its a great way to meet the parents, kids, & teachers. We have to keep remembering that its ultimately more important for Francisco to have these opportunities than for us! We are trying to reproduce ourselves, not just do everything......
Cheryl & I stopped for lunch at a Pizza Hut that is new - we've never eaten at one here in Panama before. Too many other interesting places to eat. We were pleasantly surprised that a young lady ( named Monica ) whom we've been stopping to visit with at a local dry cleaners for about a year, happened to be there eating by herself. We invited her to join us and had a very nice time talking with her. Just one of those divine appointments that occur not infrequently. Later the afternoon we spent a couple of hours playing outdoor games like basketball, badminton & soccer with families and singles who showed up at the school yard of the Panamanian Christian Academy, along with our coworker Francisco. Sometimes it is mostly boys, other times it is families with moms & dads participating. We were excited to have both. It is all about building relationships. I took pictures of the day and hope that the Summit team can use them some how. Afterward we went to the Causeway to eat supper and stroll with whoever was interested. Hopefully we weren't so sweaty that we offended the other patrons!
We met up with a group of Chinese singles and young married that totaled about 25! They ranged from folks who have been here for less than two years all the way to people who were born here. We just met some and others I met in the summer of 2005. The group spoke SiYi, Cantonese, Hakka , Mandarin, Spanish and English in different combinations, one guy was hoping that someone would start speaking another language of his home region of China! Everyone spoke at least 3 different languages.
After walking around for a hour or so it was decided that a majority of us would pile into 4 cars and SUVs and go to a different part of town and eat at a traditional Chinese restaurant. We had a private dining room and sing karaoke all the way through ten course meal. We got home after 11:00PM.
Cheryl writing:
After Christine returns from her missions trip she'll have about 4 days until we leave for Guatemala for our AGM (Area Group Meeting). Two days after we return from Guatemala we'll take off for the States. John Mark will be traveling with the video team during that time. I'll be here in Panama City with Christine during most of that time. John Mark & the video team will arrive back in Panama City from their travels the night before we leave for Guatemala. The video team leaves on a very early morning flight & we all leave for Guatemala later the same morning. It all sounds a little crazy to me but it'll all work out, I'm sure. Thanks again for all you do!
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
5/29/2007
Last week we had a great meeting with Peter Trinh and Eduardo Chung of the Panama Christian Academy. PCA recently bought a building next door to our Spanish Baptist church, Iglesia Bautista El Dorado. They have about 120 Chinese families that are sending their children to the school that are not Christians. PCA has asked Cheryl, Franciso Yau and I to try and start activites for the Chinese community in connection to the school. I just put together an English language survey that Eduardo Chung (he is the principal of PCA) will translate. We are looking for volunteers to help us collect the data so that we can decide what activites to offer.
It also gives us a GREAT excuse to visit these precious families in their homes and share gospel materials. Would you be interested in helping with this project?
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
5/11/2007
Los Misioneros Juan Marcos y Cheryl Hansen continúan con sus estudios del idioma para ministrar en Panamá. Por los únicos aspectos culturales y lingüísticos de los chinos en Panamá, ellos tienen asignaciones en español, mandarín y Hakka simultáneamente. Por favor oren por sus estudios de cultura y comunicación. Oren por Cheryl mientras continúa desarrollando amistades con damas chinas y también con EY, su tutor de Hakka. Estas damas no son cristianas. John Mark se reúne con DN los jueves. DN, no cristiano, le dijo a John Mark, "Me gustaría estudiar inglés, pero también cosas espirituales."
Missionaries John Mark and Cheryl Hansen are continuing their Chinese language studies for ministry in Panama. Because of the unique cultural and linguistic aspects of the Chinese in Panama, they are doing assignments in Spanish, Mandarin and Hakka simultaneously. Please pray for their culture and communication studies. Pray for Cheryl as she continues to develop relationships with Chinese young ladies and also EY, the Hansen's Hakka tutor. These ladies are not Christians. John Mark meets with DN on Thursdays. DN, not a Christian, has told John Mark, "I would like to study English, but spiritual things also."
We just met with Campus Crusade leadership here in Panama yesterday and all feel good about the opportunties for distributing The Jesus Movie in Cantonese, Hakka, and Spanish in the Chinese community of Panama. John Grey have been such a blessing in preparing the DVDs and is able to produce them for only $1 each. Many will have both the full version and a special movie version just for children. We are hoping to supply these to other Christian groups in Panama as well. In the next few months we would like to have teams to share these with Chinese households in Panama. If you would like to be part of this project, please let us know.
Last Sunday we shared our mission with a group of children and on Tuesday night with a small group Bible study. Tomorrow morning I will be sharing with a men's prayer breakfast and in the evening will be leading part of a 2 hour missions prayer session as well. Next week I will be hosting a Mideast missions banquet. Please remind us in our prayers!
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
4/29/2007
Hope your spring is going well the raining season is offically here in Panama! We are enjoying having Cheryl's parents here for 12 days beginning last Thursday. One of the couples in our small group last week shared that they have had 6 decisions for Christ in another small group that they started in their neighborhood. She formally was an administrative assistant for a Baptist Association in Tennessee. Last week we trained young people for a month long mission trip to East Asia. About 20 are there new and they come from several different countries including both the USA and Panama. This coming Tuesday we have an evangelistic outing planned for the beach with about 20 Chinese young adults on Panama's Labor Day (May 1st). The next weekend Christine will star in the famous old play "Arsenic and Old Lace" at her school. She is also in a talent show at school also. The grandparents came to see these events. Let us know how to pray for you!
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
3/31/2007
I'm still processing all of the sights, sounds & impressions of a very
unusual week. Let me share just a few.
- I was humbled at the personal sacrifice of money, time
away from family, and the hardships of traveling the back
roads/paths of the Guaymi reserve that our Guaymi coworkers make in
order to minister to the people in those remote areas. God is
honoring those sacrifices & people are responding to the gospel.
About fifty people responded to the gospel this week, alone, after
three nights of movies: La Esperanza, the Jesus film, and the Jesus
film for children. Pray for these new believers as the Guaymi
coworkers continue to follow up & organize Bible studies with these
new believers.
- I felt overwhelmed with the physical needs of the
people. Its hard to express the humbleness of their homes, the
wornness of their clothing, the premature aging & multitude of
health issues caused by a lifetime of hard physical labor under the
sun and to me, the fruitlessness of trying to eek out a living in
their situation.
- I couldn't help but smile at the children enjoying the
same kinds of simple pleasures that all children enjoy, like
climbing trees, playing in the local stream, playing baseball with a
rock & stick, bouncing up & down on a fallen log and expressing
delight over an empty cardboard box to play with.
- I felt the satisfaction of having helped a child with a
broken arm get to a hospital hours away, or of the groups' helping a
very sick newborn get to a hospital and be diagnosed with a serious
heart condition or having helped alleviate intestinal parasites,
infections, and many types of aches & pains, even if only
temporarily.
- My own inadequacies in Spanish were painfully obvious
at times but God was very gracious & surrounded me with patient,
helpful coworkers who were happy to help me learn what I needed to
know!
- In Panama, there is no
place too remote to find Chinese. In the nearest town to our
medical clinic, I shared Chinese/Spanish evangelistic tracts with
the owners of the local grocery, who are Chinese.
- Never having been a big camping enthusiast, I did learn
that using an outdoor "squatty potty", bathing in the stream and
sleeping in tents can be fun, or at least funny, part of the time.
- The local Guaymi ladies can make some awesome food in
their very humble kitchens over an open fire.
- Benedryl does not effectively silence noisy roosters.
Thanks for praying me through this week. I had no problems with
sickness, our vehicles & traveling details worked well, our medical
team was able to treat around 400-500 people and there was great
attendance & response to the movies at night. God is at work & you
have been part of it!
As always,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
3/22/2007
Tomorrow John Mark & Cheryl will be
visiting stores in one of the Chinese neighborhoods here in Panama
City distributing Christian materials. We will be partnering with
Youth With a Mission (YWAM) for this event so will have some of their
young volunteers accompanying us. This will be the first time that we
have tried partnering with them so you can also pray that this event
will be effective at getting God's word into Chinese hands, homes &
hopefully, Chinese hearts!
Recently, a terrible fire destroyed over
700 homes in one of the poorest sections of the city and killed
several children. Many churches & government organizations are
attempting to meet the tremendous needs of these people, most of who
have lost everything & have no money to replace things. The youth
from Christine's church had planned a service day for this Saturday
and some of the youth will be going to this community to help. John
Mark will be providing transportation & helping as well. Christine
would like to help but is not sure if she will be allowed to
participate in that community. Anglos are often a target for crime in
the poorest neighborhoods so Christine (and other Anglo kids) has not
been allowed to participate in the past. However, security is
supposed to be quite high in this area right now so it is probably
safer than usual.
Early Sunday morning Cheryl is leaving
for a medical missions trip to western Panama, close to the Costa
Rican border. Our friend and co-worker, Dr. Nancy Clines, a
pediatrician from Honduras, is leading the team of American doctors
for 3 days of clinics in an indigenous village. Cheryl is being taken
along as one of several translators who will be helping the
communication process between Panamanians & the American doctors &
nurses. Our friend and IMB co-worker Caroline Jordan is also going as
a translator and medical professional as she is physical therapist by
training. We will be camping, in tents on air mattresses & sleeping
bags, in the local schoolyard & will have their bathroom facilities
available. We're not sure if showers will be available but at very
least we will have a large bucket of water for spit baths & washing
hair. This will be a new experience for Cheryl so she would
appreciate your prayers for a joyful & helpful spirit throughout the
week, the effectiveness of the medical trip, decent sleep, good health
and safety both on the road & while we are there. While Cheryl is
gone, John Mark will be Mr. Mom and also entertaining one of our
regional leaders & his wife who are coming to spend 3 weeks in Panama
to learn about the work here. You can pray for him too!
We are studying Hakka with our coworker,
Francisco Iow, for two hours each morning. That's about as much as
our minds can absorb at one sitting. He is proving to be a patient &
pleasant tutor so far and this is also reinforcing our Mandarin, as he
uses Mandarin to explain the Hakka. Cheryl hates to have to miss next
week's classes but she thinks the medical mission trip will be good in
its own way & will probably help her Spanish!
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
3/13/2007
We had a really nice
visit with Aki & Helina Heitaharju from Finland. Helina was a foreign
exchange student at Cheryl's high school in Loop City, Nebraska 30
years ago! They have spent time in Southeast Asia working with the
poorest of the poor and Aki continues to make medical trips into the
region. They are wonderful Christian people and we had a great time
with them here in Panama. On our drive back from Boquete with
them, we found a used bookstore for English language books so we
stopped & browsed. It was an encouragement to introduce them to some
of our Chinese friends as part of the education of the missions work
around the world.
Today we are to meet with Lionzo Diaz the head of the Campus Crusade
organization here in Panama.
We are hoping to get his permission to distribution the Jesus movie in
Cantonese, Mandarin and Hakka here in Panama.
Francisco Yau is going to start teaching us Hakka next week now that
he has more free time. John Mark had an excellent session with David
Wu yesterday and also hauled Christine and her classmates from
Crossroads on a field trip to the Canal Administration Building. Last
night we enjoyed being treated to dinner at a northern Chinese
restaurant by Francisco Yau and saw many Chinese friends. We had
lunch with Joana Wong's parents this weekend and hear that she is
doing well and that she is working with the missionaries in Taichung, Taiwan.
The hard drive of our desk top computer is slowly dying. Fortunately,
it is giving us plenty of time to remove everything important before
it goes down for the last time! We are in the process of explaining
to a volunteer team from Texas what kind of computer we would like them to bring us in their
luggage. They are coming on Thursday! We are so happy that we had
this laptop to work on!
All for now,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
2/22/2007
The Festival de
Esperanza (Festival of Hope) begins today at the Rod Carew National
Stadium in Panama, led by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Pray for missionaries John Mark and Cheryl Hansen, Chinese Team, as
they serve as counselors at the meetings, February 22-24. A number of
Chinese-Panamanians are expected to attend this event. Pray that many
Chinese will respond to the Lord during these three days. Pray for
John Mark and Cheryl as they follow-up with Chinese making decisions
during the festival.
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
2/09/2007
Wu Ing Hau is a
young mother who works at the family's music store in a popular mall.
She is beginning to show interest in the Christian's God, especially
concerning His power over demons. When her infant nephew suddenly
became frightened of taking baths, the family consulted a spiritist,
who blames the situation on a "spirit" who needs to be appeased. As
Chinese New Year quickly approaches, the family must decide who (or
what) to worship. We have encouraged Wu Ing Hau to look to the
Christian God to deliver their nephew, for He is stronger than any
evil spirit. Pray that God will show Wu Ing Hau & her
family His strength in a very clear way. As we share additional
scriptures with her, pray that the eyes of her heart will be opened &
that she can begin to comprehend who God is.
In His Service,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
1/22/2007
It's
BIRTHDAY SEASON
As reported earlier, Christine went out
for her birthday on the 8th with a party afterwards. She was pretty
pooped each night that week after doing planning in the mornings and
then outside backyard bible clubs in the afternoon. She was pleased
to be building relationships and sharing a Christian witnessing. They
had several decisions for the Lord.
John Mark and I helped with a Chinese
children's, youth and young adults activity on the 9th at an outdoor
sports club. We each drove a van load of young people to the "Club de
Montaña" and spent the day swimming, playing tennis, basketball,
soccer, etc. with them. We are VERY tired at the end of the day and
were a little sore the next day!
Amanda (Nathan's bride to be) emailed us
that they were having to conserve energy in the dorms in Kearney for a
few days until all of the power was restored or else they will have
rolling blackouts in the area. Thankfully, they both made it back to
school with no problems. Nathan has been interviewing for
internships in the area.
We are putting together a new
website. It is www.messiahproject.org/latin-chinese.htm Jonathan Kitchin is
doing a wonderful job transfer information and posting new information
and pictures. We would love teams to consider doing prayer walks with
Goal 200.
In the last few weeks, we have been
working with ethnic Chinese Christians on how to develop and feel
comfortable sharing their personal testimonies and would love to work
with other groups or individuals in Panama to do the same. What we
have found works well, is to meet for about an hour and use a third of
the time for training, a third of the time for practice, and another
third for accountability and encouragement. As was shared at the
Crossroads Family Retreat last weekend, we end up like the Dead Sea if
practice, accountability and encouragement are not part of the
training process.
Thanks millions for the thoughtful notes
and "e" cards! We both had great birthdays. John Mark made a pina
colada cake for me and we re-used his "48" candles from last year for
my birthday on the 20th. We attended a Franklin Graham (son of Billy
Graham) training event on Saturday morning and then "Dad", Christine
and I went to TGI Fridays for lunch followed by the movie. John Mark
and I took Christine to her friends' house and then hung around the
neighborhood for awhile, waiting for them to make some plans for the
evening ( we assumed that they would need a ride to wherever they were
going). After dropping them off at the Mall, we went out to the
Causeway for some ice cream and then went for a walk, enjoying the
mild weather and pleasant breeze on the Causeway and the pretty lights
from the skyline and boats. We later picked Christine up and took her
back to her friends' house, where she spent the night. A nice
birthday, all in all!
Love you guys,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
1/08/2007
Christine is having her party even as we speak! A group of her friends
from Crossroads youth group took her to TGI Friday's for dinner after
the backyard Bible clubs today. Now they are playing games and
enjoying the WONDERFUL cake that Kelly Lee made for her birthday. All
her "aunts" and "uncles" in Panama remembered her today also.
She is having a great time!
All for
now,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
1/05/2007
Happy New Year! The
Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham is only 6 weeks away. WOW! Time
has gone so fast. The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association in conjunction with the Festival's Executive
Committee, are offering training for those interested in helping as
counselors during the Festival. The classes (in English) scheduled for
Saturdays -- 20 and 27 January, and 3 February, 2007, will be held
at the Crossroads Bible Church from 9:00 AM - 12:00 noon.
Cheryl and John Mark are hoping to use the English training to do
Chinese follow up during crusade.
The training will
focus on the spiritual vitality of the counselor as well as on
specific techniques related to the festival operation. This is a great
opportunity to open ourselves to getting involved in the follow-up of
new believers, something the Panamanian Church is being summoned by the Holy Spirit to focus into more and more.
The classes will
also challenge and train church members to get involved in their own
local churches' evangelistic outreaches for years to come... We are
trying to reach as many English and BI-lingual speaking people as
possible. The Spanish training is finished and it went very well.
There are about 600
churches involved in the Festival -- it is so rewarding to be a part
of what God is doing in Panama.
Please visit the website for more details about the Festival www.festivalesperanza.org and pray for the Hansens involvement.
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
1/02/2007
Happy New Year! We
celebrated by having another family, the Lee's, over. J.M. & Frank
(the dad) watched the Green Bay Packers game while the rest of us, ie.
Kelly (the mom), Brendan ( the almost 10 yr. old), Christine & I
played some new DVD games that they had gotten for Christmas. We
played "Trivial Pursuit", "$60,000 Pyramid", "Family Feud" and Spades.
Frank and Kelly met in Wisconsin, so Frank
is a Chinese guy from Panama who like
Packer football! Christine had a lock-in at the church that night that
began at 11:00pm. We counted down the New year with the folks in Times
Square & then watched a few fireworks in various parts of the Panama
skyline. We had to pick Christine up from her lock-in at 8am the next
morning. You can imagine how much sleep they got!
New Year's day J.M.
had invited another couple, the Millers with two preschoolers over to
watch the Nebraska game at 11:00am.
Their two girls, ages 2 & 3, "helped" me take down a few of the
Christmas decorations from the tree! Reg Miller is from Oklahoma and was
watching the Nebraska game to humor his wife, Angel who is from
Hooper, Nebraska.
After they left, it
was time to head for the Lee's for a mid-afternoon dinner with their
family, which included Frank's mom & dad, his sister & her husband,
and another sister, her son & her boyfriend. After watching "Cars",
(or in my case, sleeping through "Cars") we played a bunch more games
& then headed home. I was zonked. Especially after to listening to
conversations in Hakka, Mandarin, Spanish and English all day! I am
also nursing a head cold right now, so I'm not running on all 4
cylinders!
We had to go to
Immigration this morning to start over on our Visas. It worked pretty
smoothly today. We got 3 month visas that will, Lord willing, be
changed into year visas after three months. Then we begin the whole
process again next year. Tomorrow, we will go get new driver's
licenses. Each time we get a new visa, we need a new driver's license
too.
Today, Christine had
youth praise band practice, followed by walking with a friend,
followed by a movie. We will pick her up later tonight. Tomorrow, she
will begin preparing for next week's backyard bible clubs that they
will be doing in a number of different neighborhoods. That should
pretty much keep her busy until school starts again.
That's about all
that's new here. We received money from family for Christmas. We made
a couple of different shopping excursions this last week & I bought
three or four more summer tops; however, I still have lots more to
spend! Amanda (Nathan's fiancee) wrote us a nice email just after
Christmas - one of the advantages of having an English major as a
future daughter-in-law!
Much love,
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
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