Welcome to
our web site. Through this site we hope to encourage prayer and
support for our mission to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Chinese people within
Latin America. Recent research has found that of the 300,000 ethnic
Chinese in Panama, only about 500 have discovered what it means to
have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
We hope that you will
enjoy browsing this website as you learn more about our ministry.
God Bless!
John Mark and
Cheryl Hansen
News
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Latest Update |
November 21, 2008
Hi,
Well, this is how it happened. We left the house a 5:45 PM to meet our friends the Bells for supper and got home at 8:20PM. In the meantime the thief broke or unscrewed the security lights in the back of the house. He then broke off and bend the bars on the window to our bedroom and dug through all the drawers in the bedrooms and the office.
Missing: most of Cheryl's jewelry, the digital camera and a pillow case. Still here: (PRAISE GOD!) Computers, passports, credit cards, ID for the USA and dirty footprints on the floor.
Thanks for God's protection!
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
November 6, 2008
Hi,
Today is one of those "once-in-awhiles" when I sit down & catch up with my correspondence. Hope you are all doing well! Now that we're older, we can start talking about our health problems! The good news is that John Mark has been medically cleared for return to service next year. The bad news is that John Mark is still trying to lower his cholesterol - he is doing diet + walking and will try other treatments if that doesn't work. Cheryl is still waiting for news on her clearance since she didn't get all of her records translated from Spanish as fast.
We talked to Nathan last night. He & Amanda are doing well. I is in his second/third week of work at his new job. He is really appreciating what a good company he was working for with many nice benefits. They even had Halloween dress up day at work last Friday! After this entry level training, it is possible that he could transfer to another department within the company to a position more directly related to graphic design. We will see what the future holds. We hope that the economy will begin to stabilize & improve. As "low man on the totum pole" we're afraid that he would be one of those most at risk to be laid off in an economic downturn. There again, we must trust that God is in control.
Amanda continues to plug away at her graduate classes & at the Lifeway Christian Bookstore. Management at work is wondering when Amanda will be done with graduate school for the semster so they schedule her for more hours at Christmas time. Amanda and Nathan are enjoying their time at Central Baptist in Aurora, though they don't get to all the activities they would like to using the bus! We, of course, a just pleased as punch with them both!
Christine reports that things are going well for her at Liberty University. She is trying to adjust to the increasingly cold weather but would sure like a day at the beach occasionally! She recently had a weekend retreat with a group of young women from her dormitory who are all bible study/prayer leaders with small groups of girls who live in the dorm. She carved an impressive jack-o-lantern for Halloween & we saw some cute pictures of her dressed up as a leopard for a Halloween party. She is enjoying the company of a nice variety of friends on campus. Pray for her as she is making arrangements for job opportunities next summer.
We are planning a 6 day trip to Denver before Christmas. Christine will have returned to Nebraska by the 13th for her Christmas break so she will ride along with us. Since both Nathan & Amanda are new to their jobs, neither of them will have much more than Christmas day off of work. They will also be singing together in a Christmas program at their church in Denver on the 21st. I think this will be a fun way of celebrating Christmas together. Christine is dying to get a driver's license & has already said she wants to take her driver's test in December while she is at "home". I hope she has enough time & good weather to improve on her skills! Before I forget, our address & phone # in Omaha after December 1 will be:
9616 Spaulding
Omaha, NE 68134
(402) 573-1896
Just this last weekend we went on a field trip with our Mandarin Club (on Friday) and then a three day retreat with our Chinese church group (Sat-Mon). The Mandarin club went to El Valle and we did the mud bath at the thermal springs (you smear mud all over yourself, let it dry, rinse it off, then soak in the mineral water for 45 minutes). After lunch, we took a hike up past the petroglyph carvings & past a series of waterfalls. It was a nice hike and pretty much wore them out! We took the Chinese church group to Santa Clara so they could enjoy the beach for a couple of days. They are now experienced enough at beach-stuff that they know to bring lots of water equipment in order to maximize their fun. And, of course, some people always end up with a sunburn! The group did quite well cooking for themselves, which took a lot of pressure off of me. We had a very good worship time together with good participation in the interactive bible teaching time & lots of singing.
November is a month of many patriotic holidays in Panama. Lots of flags everywhere and small parades with little marching bands of drums, bell lyres and occasional cornets. Traffic in town is actually lighter because everyone has gone on vacation out of town. Today it will be back to business as usual.
We're trying to remember all of the little things that we need to do this month to close down everything here and prepare what we will need on stateside. But we're excited to finally be counting down the days! Take care. . .
Love,
John Mark and Cheryl Hansen
November 1, 2008
This is a recent article on the Mandaring outreach through Florida State. You can see the article at http://www.pananole.org/content/view/100/2/
Please pray for Ionna Wong for this outreach and her Thursday group after we leave at the end of the month!
October 31 , 2008
Pray for us as we take the Mandarin Club from Florida State on an outing to El Valle to the hot springs to throw mud at them!
Pray for the the outing to Santa Clara with the new "QQ" Chinese Church this weekend. Pray will lift up Christ in both of these events.
Thanks,
Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
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