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3-5-06
As you know we have been in Panama City, Panama for about 6 months. Last
week we had a the top missions researcher, Dr. Jim Slack, from the International
Mission Board come and spend 10 days with us to develop a interview questionnaire
to find out the best ways to communicate the love of Jesus Christ to the
hundreds of thousands of Chinese people that live in Panama. We have access
to a group of 7 high school seniors from 1st Baptist Gainesville, Texas.
They can spend March 15th through March 17th here in Panama working with
us to help complete the survey instrument.
How are we hoping to use them?
Several high schools in the Panama City area offer English classes. These
young people from Texas would be available to practice English with Chinese
Panamanian students. The suggested format would be as follows: One of
the Texas students would share about their life as a high schooler in
the States and then two local students would share about their lives in
Panama in the same way. This would allow them to learn about each other's
worlds. It would be suggested that they exchange email addresses or MSN
addresses if they like and continue the dialogue in the future. I am suggesting
a 2 to 1 ratio so that the local students can help each other with any
problems they have communicating their thoughts in English.
The purpose is two fold: First, I am hoping that these Christian young
people from the USA can broaden their world view and perhaps share a brief
personal Christian testimony. It would be nice if at least some of the
local students were not from Christian homes. Secondly, as you know, Cheryl
and I are doing research into the cultural of Chinese population in Panama.
I would like to get a sampling of Chinese-Panamanian youths' personal
experiences as we develop an action plan to reach out these young people
with the good news of Christ. This last week we have done 75 interviews
in different areas of Panama among ethnic Chinese adults with the help
of several dear Chinese friends. Yesterday Cheryl and I did 10 interviews
using both Mandarin and Spanish. We are hoping to collect at least 200
interviews, which according to Dr. Slack (our researcher) is more than
enough for an accurate representation of the Chinese population in Panama.
It is very important to see if the language, culture and attitudes of
the younger generation are similar or different than the older generation.
We will also compare the ethnic Chinese student's experiences with those
of other Panamanian students that we interview.
As we bring the results in, we would like to share the information with
the local Chinese Christian community.
All that to say, we don't have any firm commitments yet from schools or
churches to help us do this project.
Would you pray that we can find the needed number
of Chinese Panamanian students to do the interviews?
Thank you for your help in advance!
Sincerely,
John Mark Hansen
3/18/06
This has been such a busy & somewhat stressful week! We began working
with the youth team from Gainesville, Texas on Monday the 13th. On Monday,
we joined with a team of workers from Iglesia Bautista Filadefia in La
Chorrera to do door to door evangelism in a targeted neighborhood called
La Pesa. We enjoyed meeting the other workers and were very impressed
with their boldness, knowledge of the scriptures and their willingness
to take time away from their busy daily lives to do this work. We had
many decisions for Christ and were excited to know that the church was
planning on following up in the area with a small group bible study. On
Tuesday we returned to the same area only Cheryl & I, a couple of
people from the Texas team and a Panamanian coworker targeted the Chinese
shop owners who live in this area. My main goal for the week was to complete
as many language/culture interviews as possible. On Wednesday the entire
Texas team, our country coordinator, Dave Clines, a Chinese Panamanian
friend & his wife and Cheryl & I spent the day walking the business
district of La Chorrera interviewing Chinese business owners & workers
and inviting them to an English event that evening. Hardly anyone showed
up for the "English Language Party" (2), BUT we did 26 interviews
as we handed out flyers! It didn't work the way we thought it would, but
it got the interviews we were looking for! On Thursday we took the Texas
team to Las Americas ( a private Christian school) where they helped interview
the Chinese students. In the afternoon, we arranged interviews with Chinese
Panamanian students from another of the private schools in town. On Friday
the Texas team spent the day at Christine's school interviewing students
and ended with a volleyball game. After a day of play at the beach &
in the rain forest today, the team will be with us on Sunday morning for
worship at the Chinese church and then will leave on Monday.
Christine was a little nervous meeting all these seniors from Gainesville,
but it was still a good experience for her to spend some time with them.
If nothing else, she has now experienced a different subculture within
the USA and they have a clearer picture of her life here in Panama and
the people she hangs out with.
Nathan spent spring break this week with his grandparents in Omaha. Of
course he also found his way to his girlfriend's house in Omaha as well!
We hope to meet her one of these times.
That's about all of the latest from here. . .keep us posted!
Christine, Cheryl and John Mark Hansen
Team sharing Christ in La Pesa.
Chinese interviews. Cheryl is with Dave Clines, our country coordinator,
and the students both fromTexas and Panama.
3/25/06
Kelly and Frank Lee came over last night. Kelly took Cheryl and Christine
shopping yesterday and found some great deals. Kelly is a great shopper!
She is also a professional dessert maker and made a fancy cake last night
with Christine.
Frank and the "boys" Justin and Brandon came over too! Frank
is the keyboarding and artist teacher at Christine's school. He also works
with the yearbook staff.
John Mark and Frank worked on Hakka together. John Mark and Cheryl hope
to start working with Franicso Chio next week on Hakka also. Please pray
as we try to finish up the remainder of surveys we need for the research
project.
Thanks,
Cheryl, Christine, John Mark
3/25/06
Hi!
We think that rainy season has begun. We've had two days of big rains
after several months of dry. The nice thing about rain is that it cools
things down considerably. I had just recently told John Mark how nice
it is that the rain in Panama isn't acompanied by wind & the next
morning I woke up with a wet sofa & rug where it had rained in the
windows. They may dry out by November! It's raining again now...
Christine had a day off of school yesterday so a friend of ours, Kelly
Lee, went clothes shopping with us. She has lived in Panama for 8 or 9
years and loves to shop for bargains. It was fun to let her shop with
Christine while I shopped for myself. Christine found some great deals
so she was quite happy. The same friend is also a caterer, especially
of desserts, so Christine had asked her to show her how to make something
called "fondant", which is a type of decorating frosting. After
spending several hours messing with the stuff, Christine decided that
once was enough.
John Mark has been poking around looking for someone to teach us Hakka,
as well as looking for materials with which to study it. Thanks to IMB
friends in Taiwan and Alabama, we should be getting some Hakka language
study guides with special vocabulary to tell Bible stories in Hakka. Hey,
30+ million people can't be wrong! Kelly's husband, Frank is already helping
us with some simple Hakka phases like: I am studying Hakka. That is all
I can say in Hakka today! (Nye choy hoe-keen Hakka va. Nye kee-ong hay
heow gong nye-a kee va.) It could be fun, although tiring. I still feel
less than brainy in Spanish & don't know if I have the energy to start
another language! (Editorial comment: we will both try to continue taking
Spanish classes also to try and keep all the languages between our ears,
HA!... JMH)
That's all of the excitement here for now. Take care. . .
Cheryl & all
4/2/06
John Mark & I have begun dabbling in Hakka, John Mark more seriously
than I. I have a psychological need to do things in an systematic way,
therefore, I am going to wait until we receive some of the materials that
we have requested before I really start working seriously. Random words
& phrases, heard orally, appeal more to John Mark's learning style.
I listen in on their discussions but I'm not writing anything down yet
or trying to memorize anything. I am still working on Spanish every day
with reading, writing, listening to radio & TV and having conversation
practice every morning. Progress is slow & steady.
Christine is very pleased that her school has put together a girls' volleyball
team & they will begin practicing this week. They may skirmish a bit
before the end of the school year but will not have any "real"
games until next fall. Right now she is enjoying practicing several times
a week for the upcoming Easter program. A formal spring banquet is in
the "maybe" stage at school so Christine and I, along with a
friend of ours, had fun shopping for formals.
This week the Richmond Associates for Middle America & the Carribean
are visiting Panama & we will be eating supper with them on Tuesday
evening. They are based out of the International Mission Board for Southern
Baptists in Richmond, VA and their job is to represent our region to prospective
candidates & those already in the appointment process. Because they
are new in their job, this visit to Panama will help acquaint them with
Panama & the types of ministries that we do here as well as the needs.
That's about
all of the news from here. Take care.
Cheryl & all
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