In Panama it's

August 2007

Cheryl and John Mark have the following prayer requests:   

We are back from the USA! Thanks for your prayer support for us.

• We have received the names of 120 Chinese families who send their children to the Panama Christian Academy (PCA), but are not involved in any church. This an ethnic Chinese K-12 school next door to our church Iglesia Bautista El Dorado. There is another 15 Spanish speaking families that need the Lord also. Please start praying for them. We have developed an interest survey form in different languages to use to try to start serving them and building a relationship with them. We have also been pray walking around the area.
  
  
• After we get a feel for what activities would interest them, we hope we can coordinate missions outreach with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) personnel and local churches in Panama to help with the different activities.
  
  
• On Sunday afternoons we play basketball, badminton, soceer and other games with Chinese and Panamanian families that join us at PCA in the afternoon. This week we made several new contacts. Please pray for that ministry.
  
  
• We believe that Brett and Rachelle Roberts will be coming to work with us nest year in January for six months as missions interns. Brett is the son of our pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Madison, NE. As you know our son Nathan was married last weekend in Omaha to Amanda Morse. If you would like a photo (or several) I will be happy to send you some! I know some of you have trouble with the photos clogging up your computer!

February 2007

Cheryl and John Mark have the following prayer requests:    

• Pastor Edwin Martinez of the Bill Graham Evangelistic Association has asked us to explore if there is any interest in providing counselor training for ethnic Chinese people for the Festival de Esperanza (Festival of Hope) at the Rod Carew National Stadium of February 22, 23, and 24.  There is a strong possibility that a number of Chinese-Panamanians will attend this event and it would great to provide counseling in Chinese languages.  If there is an interest in seeing this people come to know the Lord, we would be willing to organize the required training.  

• Joana Wong started a bible study at our house last Thursday night.  Please pray for people to come.

• Franicsco Yau will be starting a bible study at our house on Wednesday night.  Please pray for God' will to be done.

• John Mark has started meeting with Dave Ng on Thursdays.  He says, "I would like to study English, but spiritual things also."

• Cheryl is continuing to develop several relationships in area with Chinese young ladies,  please pray for other contacts also.

January 2007

Thanks for remembering us in your prayers in January!  Cheryl's birthday in on the 20th, John Mark's is on the 13th, Christine's is on the 8th and Nathan's was on December 30th!  So you see all our birthdays are within 3 weeks of Christmas.

Cheryl and John Mark have the following prayer requests:    

• Cheryl and John Mark are working everyday on the mission orientation requirements. Because of the unique cultural and linguistic aspects of the Chinese in Panama, we are doing assignments in Spanish, Mandarin and Hakka all at the same time. Please pray for our culture and communication studies.

• Pray for the contacts that we have cultivated in the Chinese community. Pray that they will come to know Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.

• On January 9th we will be involved in a youth camp for Chinese young people in the Panama City area. Pray for the camp, our co-workers, and that decisions will be made for Christ. Tomorrow night we will have a planning meeting for the camp.

• Pray that the Hakka evangelistic recordings will be finished soon. Pray for Chinese Christian radio programming through our sponsoring church, Iglesia Bautista Eldorado.

• Pray for direction in our Chinese outreach in Santiago, Panama.  There are 600 Chinese in the area and no Christian outreach in the province.

• Pray for our children Christine and Nathan. Praise God that Christine continues to be involved in ministry through her school Crossroads Christian Academy and that she continues to make progress in Spanish. Pray for her time management during the next semester and choices for college in fall of 2008. Pray for Nathan and Amanda Morse as they plan their wedding for August 4, 2007. Pray for their classes next semster at the University of Nebraska - Kearney. Thank God for their growing relationship in Christ together!

• Final note:  This holiday season has been hard for us as it is the first year that Nathan has not been with us for Christmas or his birthday. Our ministry here in Panama is on the front end and many established Chinese churches are not interested in starting new works that would lead to a Church Planting Movement. It has been a slow go so far, yet we have enjoyed a number of relationships with Chinese Christians and hope to see new Hakka work in the future.    

December 2006

• Pray for the continued outreach in Santiago, Panama among the Han Chinese. Pray that the Holy Spirit will allow us to start a church in the area. We have started a Bible study at Mrs. Chio's home. Currently there are not Chinese churches in the area, though over 600 Chinese people live in the area.

• Pray for evangelistic outreach parties among the Chinese people in Panama that have yet to make a decision for Christ. Pray for Monica and her friends.

• Pray for Cheryl and John Mark Hansen's continued study of the Hakka language. The majority of the Chinese in Panama speak Hakka as a primary heart language. Praise God for our teacher Frank Lee.