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frequently for the latest updates for our ministry in Panama.
October 13, 2008
Nathan was offered a job with Intuit (the people who brought you TurboTax and Quicken) as an Internet Product and Support Specialist in Englewood, CO. This on the same bus route as Amanda's job at the Lifeway Bookstore. Thank you SOOOOO much for remembering them in your prayers!
In Appreciation,
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
October 9, 2008
We received this email last night from our son Nathan:
Just thought I'd send you a quick note...
Good News! I heard back from Intuit and Colorado Technical University; I've interviewed with Intuit (it went VERY well) I am supposed to hear back from them later this week. This a job called Internet Product and Support Specialist Colorado Technical University is interviewing me tomorrow (Thursday)! They are looking for an admissions representative.
Bad News! The transmission on my car is bad! I took your advice and got it checked: The pump went bad and there's some plate damage. It will cost $4000 to repair at the Mazda dealership, so I'm thinking it'll be best to park the car next to our building, and just stick with public transportation. This all seems a great waste considering we just got plates, registration, and a new water pump ($760).
Good News! It's not really my fault; I went online and checked out what it said about the Mazda 626 transmission. They all go bad at some point, regardless of the upkeep; I'm in good company, and I got mine checked while the fluid was only slightly dark (meaning that the transmission was going regardless of a previous routine check saying it was okay). I also got to meet with Dr. Gene Selander, and I might be going to his businessmen's study.
Anyhoo, I'd appreciate any advice you could give me on my car. Hope your week's been going well.
Love,
Nathan
____________________________________________
Prayer:
1. Nathan will be offered a job.
2. Amanda will do well in school and work at Lifeway
3. They manage to use public transportation, fix the car for much less money or find a different car.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS! We are SOO proud of them and hope for God's best for their lives.
John Mark Hansen
September 4, 2008
Wednesday evening Cheryl and I received an email from a young Chinese man that I baptized a few months ago. He told us that the group of Chinese young adults that we have been meeting with for months had decided that they want to start a new church! Yesterday he brought us a list of those that are interested in being in this congregation. They are already working on a website to reach out into the Chinese community here in Panama. Today we will meet again with him and we are hoping that Holy Spirit will motivate and encourage the group in God's perfect will.
We appreciate you,
John Mark Hansen
August 10, 2008
Tomorrow night Christine, Cheryl and I are flying to Virginia for her to start at Liberty University. We are sooo grateful for the wonderful support we have received from so many different quarters for her opportunity to attend university! Christine returned from her mission trip to Peru earlier this week. She surprised herself and was very involved in children's ministry, usually she has been more focused on youth and adults. It was a great trip- the big outreach concerts they performed in were awesome.
She has been busy visiting all her many friends in Panama City this week. Bowling, eating out, dinner with Frank and Kelly, coffee with the girls, a trip to the beach and Joana Wong's Bible study have all been part of saying good-bye to this phase of her life. Please pray for our adjustment to this change.
We have had a great week of get togethers with Chinese-Panamanian friends. Pray for the new Mandarin club at Florida State and the English classes at our house.
Finally, we ask for your prayers as we work with YWAM and PAAM in the coming weeks. We will do training in Church Planting Movements, Prayer Walking and Cross-cultural outreach.
We appreciate you,
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
August 5, 2008
A couple of months ago I got an interesting phone call. The young lady said, "Hi this is Christie, I am with the World Race. We have been ministering around the world for several months. Can we help you in your ministry in Panama next week?" Immediately I responded that I could use they for prayerwalking. We talked further and I found out that she was a graduate of California Baptist University (CBU) and that she knew some of the CBU team that were part of a strategic coordinator church working in David, Panama.
Well, they arrived from Costa Rica the next week and we started prayerwalking at different sites around Panama. One day we went to the area around Villareal near Aguadulce. I knew that fellow missionaries, Cheryl and Kenny Morris were planning prayerwalking, giving out the Gospel of John and outreach events in that area using short term teams from the States. The "World Racers" and I divided into two teams of four and four. my group went one way and the other group headed out of town towards the public school.
As they were praying and walking, an older lady saw them and offered them some mangos from her tree. The "mango lady" had just moved back to Panama from abroad to retire. She was quite pleased when the group offered to prayer for her. They also told her to be watching for the short term teams that would be coming in the next few weeks. In the following weeks some great short term mission teams came and worked in area. Christine, our daughter, was able to join one of the groups as a translator. I have attached a photo of her.
Fast forward to last night. I called Kenny and Cheryl Morris. They excited about the new Bible study that had started in Villareal. 7 people had come the first night. Where did they meet? The home of the "MANGO LADY"!
Prayer changes things. Please pray for the great ministry that Kenny and Cheryl Morris have started in Villareal.
July 8 , 2008
Please pray for pray for a new Chinese training center I just heard about the week in a country near us. The students are from mainland China and are on short term visas in our region. A friend has travelled to the remote area and "scout out" the situation. Hopefully, Cheryl and I will be able to help with this ministry in the near future.... I will travel there on the 20th.
Frank Lee did a great job blending the videos together. As you know she is going to Liberty University this next month as a Worship major. Here is the link for the video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_pPePELpKBQ
Enjoy,
John Mark and Chery
June 17, 2008
Did I see what I thought I saw... The first young man came across the street with a menacing expression on his face. He was quickly followed by another guy who as he got in front of me pulled a hunting knife out! As fast as they came they were gone and all I was left with of the surge of adrenaline and surreal feeling that God is in control.
Incense…myrrh…pepper…. cinnamon….pots and pans of all sizes….shops for East Indian, Chinese and Western medicine….stacks of used books and magazines….porn theaters and cheap bars…..Supplies for the occult and statues of strange and foreign gods. All these and other sights and smells along with the crime are part of "Barrio Chino" – the old Chinatown of Panama City.
Cheryl and I had a busy week of prayerwalking, touring and evangelistic activities last week with three different group from the States and Latin America. On Monday we finished with the World Race group and worked with YWAM Guatemala on Wednesday through Friday. We finished with the folks from Troutman Baptist Church on Sunday.
But back to Friday- I knew we were in for a rough time of it as we started our afternoon "walk" from the traditional Chinese Arch. As we walked past the popular cantina Zomby (Yes, they do practice Voodoo in the area) on Avenida Eloy Alfaro, out comes the owner of a Chinese convenience store yelling at the top of his lungs and chasing down a deadbeat customer who "forgot" to pay before he left with his grocery.
We spilt into two groups to make sure we had a enough men in each group to protect the "women folks." Just last week four guys were picked up in the area with AK 47s and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Off we went, weaved through the busy alleys and passageways. We were all struck by the physically and spiritual darkness of the area.
As we were ending the afternoon, God seemed to be adding an explanation point with our knife incident- "I am in control." "These people need a relationship with Me." "I am the answer."
Prayer for Barrio Chino and the rest of Panama's 300,000+ Chinese that need to direction and purpose that only Christ can give.
John Mark and Cheryl
June 8, 2008
Here the professional portrait of Christine in her cap and gown by our dear friend Francisco Lee. Frank has other great pictures from both the graduation and the spring banquet at http://www.ccapanama.com/ This the website of the school that Christine just graduated from this weekend. Look at the section marked proof selection. Christine is in several of the photos.
Crossroads Christian Academy is looking for teachers for the fall term. If you or someone you who is interested, look at the employment session on the website.
Christine is hoping to be involved in several missions projects this summer and will be attending Liberty University in the fall. She is planning on majoring in Worship with an overseas emphasis.
Please continue to pray that we will see more Chinese people in Panama come to Christ. We are continuing to lead both Mandarin and English classes as outreach tools. We have just started a new Mandarin class. We will be praywalking in Chinese areas with teams from both Adventures in Missions and YWAM this week. Thanks for listening, Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
June 7, 2008
Good Morning! Christine graduated from Crossroads Christian Academy last night. She is now officially ready for university. I have attached photos to prove it, HA!
Pray for her summer as she (and her parents, too!) have several missions projects to work on. On Monday, Christine and Cheryl will visit the U. S. Embassy to pick up her new passport. After that they must pay a visit to the National Police Headquarters to report Christine's Panamanian identifcation card stolen, then we begin that long process of getting a replacement for it......
I will be going praywalking with the World Race group again on Monday. I am planning on going to area around Nuevo Tocumen. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we will be working with the YWAM team from Guatemala. So it will be a busy week! We appreciate you, Christine, Cheryl, John Mark Hansen
5/27/08
We can use all the prayer that we can get!
Tomorrow I start working with group of 6 young adults from the Adventures in Missions called the World Race (www.theworldrace.org). Check out Christie, Cameron, Haley Pam Sarah and Brandon on their website. We will be doing prayerwalking together until the 8th of June throughout central Panama. We will specifically looking for Chinese in the towns and cities.
This week we again meet with our Mandarin class twice near the Florida State Univerisity campus here in Panama City. Please pray for our students in our class as they have started a new summer semester at the University. Special thanks for Joana Wong for her help with the class. Joana Wong's dad, Tito, is a trustee with Universidad Latina here in the city. He is hoping to get permission for us to offer Mandarin tutoring at that school also as a way to reach out for Christ.
I spent three more days with the YWAM group from Estonia and Norway. They have been a joy to minister with. They flew home on Friday. Chris Collins of YWAM has asked us to work with a Discipleship Training School from Guatemala. We will use them to do prayerwalking and JESUS film distribution here in Panama during the second week of June.
This week Cheryl has had the opportunity to visit with Carmen, Monica, and Patricia. Please pray for these dear ladies. We are continuing some specialized outreach through English classes as last Sunday was our last week of English classes at Igleisa Bautista El Dorado for this term. Cheryl cleaned up the "basement office" for the class this week.
Remember the many outreaches that Brett and Rachelle Roberts are involved in. They are our university interns from Southwest Baptist University. They are reaching out to Chinese people in many different ways including convenient stores and even video arcades! They will be traveling across the country with their Spanish teacher and her family for a fun time away from the city.
Pray for son Nathan and daughter in law Amanda. After a couple weeks with family in Omaha, they are moving to Denver this weekend. Amanda will start a Masters program in teaching English as a Second Language in August.
As you can imagine, we are proud of all of our "kids" even though they are responsible adults now!
Two weekends ago, Christine went with a girlfriend to visit their orange groves in west/central Panama and then a day at the beach. Pray for Amanda and Nathan as they are in Denver for job interviews. Cleide Cooper, who is involved in campus ministry at FSL, is also the manager of the orange grove that Christine is visiting. She also went to seminary in Denver and suggested many people that Nathan and Amanda should meet during their "job hunting adventure" in Colorado. It is a small world!
Last week, Christine was at the beach with the rest of her senior class for their senior "sneak trip" (or whatever the current terminology is for that activity). They are a great group of kids & have some super chaperons along so we were not worried at all.
A baptist pastor's wife in Appomattox, VA heard that Christine would be coming to Lynchburg, VA to attend Liberty University so she is arranging a dorm shower for Christine & they will present her with gift certificates from stores in Lynchburg when she arrives so she can outfit her dorm room! We are constantly amazed & humbled at how wonderfully we are taken care of by our Baptist people, and that includes being able to stay in the mission house in Omaha during our furlough! Let me shout it from the rooftop. . .Y'ALL ARE FANTASTIC!
We are excited about the "new" mission car we got this week. It is about 10 years old, but it has an automatic transmission! Thanks for thinking of us!
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
5/17/2008
I have been working with David Wu for many months and last Sunday was a very special day. He was baptized after sharing his story of how he became a Christian in Cantonese. My good friend Frank Lee translated it for the congregation so they could hear it in Spanish and English also. Brendan Lee, Frank and Kelly Lee's son, was also baptized last Sunday so it was a very special day for our family of faith.
This week we met with our Mandarin class twice near the Florida State campus here in Panama City. Please pray for our students in our class as they have started a new summer semester at the University. Special thanks for Joana Wong for her help with the class. Joana Wong's dad, Tito, is a trustee with Universidad Latina here in the city. He is hoping to get permission for us to offer Mandarin tutoring at that school also as a way to reach out for Christ.
I spent three more days with the YWAM group from Estonia and Norway. They have been a joy to minister with. They flew home yesterday. Chris Collins of YWAM has asked us to work with a Discipleship Training School from Guatemala. We will use them to do prayerwalking and JESUS film distribution here in Panama during the first week of June.
This week Cheryl has had the opportunity to visit with Carmen, Monica, and Patricia. Please pray for these dear ladies. We a hoping to continue some specialized outreach through English classes as last Sunday was our last week of English classes at Igleisa Bautista El Dorado for this term.
Remember the many outreaches that Brett and Rachelle Roberts are involved in. They are reaching out to Chinese people in many different ways including convenient stores and even video arcades! Today they traveling across the country with their Spanish teacher and her family for a fun time away from the city.
Christine is going with a girlfriend to visit their orange groves in west/central Panama and then a day at the beach. Pray for Amanda and Nathan as they travel to Denver on Tuesday for job interviews. Cleide Cooper, who is involved in campus ministry at FSL, is also the manager of the orange grove that Christine is visiting. She also went to school in Denver and suggested many people that Nathan and Amanda should meet during their "job hunting adventure" in Colorado. It is a small world! Thanks for thinking of us!
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
5/10/2008
Hi,
We have posted a photo of Christine and her date Christian Diaz for the Crossroads Academy Spring Banquet. It was a nice affair at the Evergreen Hotel which is owned by a large Taiwanese shipping company. She had a great time. Today she is off working with an intercity ministry with her youth group.
Our son Nathan and his wife Amanda graduated yesterday from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Amanda graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA degree in English and Nathan graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA degree in Visual Communications and Design. After a couple weeks with family in Omaha, they are moving to Denver to start house and job hunting. Amanda will start a Masters program in teaching English as a Second Language in August.
As you can imagine, we are proud of all of our "kids" even though they are responsible adults now!
Love,
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
4/13/2008
We had a fun and interesting day of prayer walking with our Norwegian YWAM-ers (Youth with a Mission) on Tuesday. We are trying to begin some outreach Mandarin tutoring on the Florida State campus in order to meet Chinese students. We had the Norwegian group prayer walk all around the Florida State campus and the neighborhoods surrounding it. Afterward, we climbed Cerro Ancon (the historical landmark hill nearby) and prayed for a number of different areas of town as we enjoyed the panoramic view from the top. It was quite interesting to hear about life in Norway from their perspective, about their own testimonies and how they came to trust in Christ and their plans for the future. We will have another day of prayer walking with them this coming Tuesday.
In response to our posted advertisements on campus and the prayer walking, we had two students meet with us to plan times for Mandarin tutoring. The end of their semester is in only two weeks, so they will have lots of time for tutoring after that. This is an entirely new approach for us so we would appreciate your prayers as we plan class sessions and develop relationships with them. We have several others who have shown interest. We hope others will join us.
Thursday, John Mark met with a young man that we have been working with for about 15 months. He seems to have made a genuine committment to Christ and can't wait to be baptized. He is such a hard worker and a very sweet young man. We felt terrible for him when someone reached inside the display case of the store where he works and stole a $500 iphone. He has to pay for the stolen phone out of his paycheck, which means he is basically losing a month's pay.
Several of the young people from our Sunday afternoon English classes made decisions for Christ over Easter weekend so we are also trying to do some basic discipleship training with them. It is challenging because one of them has just moved to David, which is closer to the Costa Rican border. Another girl has only one free day a week - on Wednesdays; however, when business is booming and no one else wants to work, she has to skip her free day. That all being said, it makes them challenging to follow up! Really the work is much harder here than it was in Taiwan. The Chinese are driven by money and speak several languages.
Christine has a serious case of senioritis! Even so, she is still keeping up her grades (as far as we know) and is really had a great youth group's spring retreat this weekend. She sang and played the piano during worship as well as lead her 8th grade girls' bible study time.
That's about it for now. Say "hi" to all we know. Wish we could hop, skip and jump to the kids' graduations for a day! Son Nathan and his wife Amanda will start a new adventure. They graduate from UNK on May 9th. These are the occasions that its hard to miss. :(
Thanks for thinking of us,
John Mark and Cheryl Hansen
2/22/2008
This week we had an English language children's camp for the Chinese young people in and around Nuevo Tocumen. Brett and Rachelle Roberts, our university interns, + Francisco Yau joined us in leading this activity. Francisco translated into Hakka while Cheryl, Brett, Rachelle and John Mark took turns preparing the lessons in English and Spanish. We also threw in some Mandarin for good measure, HA!
We received a special gift from Summit Church in Rogersville, Missouri that provided the funds to buy materials, supplies and snacks for the camp. Thanks Summit! We wrote material to celebrate different holidays during this time of the year in the United States. They were Chinese New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Easter. John Mark found some genuine Celtic caps for only 79 cents each, much cheaper than T shirts and the kids loved them! They worked great for the day we studied the great church planter, Patrick. Did you know he was English, not Irish? He started thousands of churches in Ireland and baptized over 100,000 people during his ministry.
We tried to parallel holiday with a Bible lesson. We average about 12 in the camp. We were hosted by Communidad Cristano Nuevo Tocumen. It is a new Baptist church in this fast growing area on the east side of Panama City. Next week as part of our Chinese Roundtable Discussion in Panama, we will visit each family that had children in the camp and present them with a copy of the Jesus video.
John Mark Hansen
1/25/2008
Oren por los misioneros Juan Marcos y Cheryl Hansen mientras oran caminando en Nuevo Tocumen, Panamá. Ellos también harán visitas iniciales a tiendas de conveniencia chinas y trazarán un complejo habitacional de pequeñas casas de hormigón. Los mini-supers son fáciles de identificar por sus techos de metal azules. Oren que Dios dé un conocimiento profundo en orar por Nuevo Tocumen para que la palabra del Señor se extienda pronto en esta área.
Pray for missionaries John Mark and Cheryl Hansen as they prayerwalk in Nuevo Tocumen, Panama. They will also make initial visits to Chinese convenience stores and map a
housing development of little concrete houses sitting right next to each other. The 'mini supers' (convenience stores) are easy to spot because of their blue metal roofs. Pray that God will give insight in praying for Nuevo Tocumen that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly in this area.
Únanse en orar por el impacto que un equipo estadounidense de Kingsport, Tenneessee tenga al trabajar hasta el 4 de febrero con los miembros de la Iglesia Bautista Las Margaritas en Panamá. Ellos estarán alcanzando a niños de una escuela pública local a través de diferentes actividades evangelísticas. Por favor oren que produzcan mucho fruto entre este precioso grupo de niños.
Join in praying for the impact a US partner team from Kingsport, Teneessee will have working through February 4th with the members of Las Americas Baptist church in Panama. They will be reaching out to the children of a local public school through different evangelistic activities. Please pray that they will bear much fruit among this precious group of young people.
1/22/2008
Hi friends!
It was an unusual birthday for Cheryl on Sunday - about 15 of our Chinese (ESL) students came over & cooked an 8 or 9 course Chinese meal for her birthday. Great food but the kitchen required a bit of clean up afterward! On Friday night the Lees invited us over to their house for dinner and fun. They give John Mark a gift certificate for a meal on the causeway and Cheryl some pretty clothes.
John Mark got some money from Summit Church in Springfield, MO and is hoping to use the money in ministry later this year in the fall. John Mark's birthday a week ago was much less eventful. Though he did buy a model car for my collection in his office.
Franciso, John Mark and Cheryl had some great visits on Friday in Nuevo Tocumen and are planning on going out there again today with Ruth Grille from YWAM. Pastor Jerry Acosta is using the "Five Fives" outreach/disciple plan in the area. We are hoping to have a vacation Bible school in the area in February and are looking for help.
Christine is planning on helping with a big missions conference at YWAM in early February. We are helping them with some videos that we have.
We bought plane tickets to Reagan National in Washington on 8/12/08 and return to Panama on 8/21/08. This is to take Christine to Liberty for the start of classes this fall. We got some good prices on Spirit Airlines which will start flying into Panama in February.
We appreciate your prayers!
1/21/2008
The Latin Chinese Team is excited about the arrival of university interns, Brett and Rachelle Roberts, who will be working in Panama for six months. Please pray for their rapid understanding of Spanish and their effective involvement in ministry with Spanish speaking Chinese.
Mira/Try www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ls_vsjWtiE , Latin Chinese Missions in La Chorrera for a look at our new video! Thanks to our friends at Summit, especially Jonathan. While you are on You Tube, look at George Lou's video on La Chorrera, Panama also. We also have two other videos on Latin Chinese. One is an overview and the other is a nice music video of our work. Look around and enjoy!
John Mark and Cheryl Hansen
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