Letters from the Hansens

8/7/05

Things are winding down here for this trimester. We still technically have two weeks of classes left this trimester but the final week is broken up by a holiday on Monday & graduation ceremonies on Friday. John Mark & I have both had our Oral Proficiency Interviews for this trimester and will get the results back within several weeks. John Mark will continue his tutoring at home next trimester and I will still be studying at the Instituto de Lengua Espanola, however, with a significant change. Instead of a group conversation class, I will be meeting with a conversation teacher one-on-one. I requested this change in order to get more intensive conversation practice. Pray that God will arrange teachers that are just right for our needs.

Nathan left on a GO Project this morning that will keep him busy in the province of Liberia for 6 days. He is joining a volunteer team from Michigan. You can pray for fruitful ministry this week, good relationships with the other workers, safety, good health, & good weather. He has not been mooning constantly over Amanda, at least not aloud, but we know he is looking forward to seeing her again. His time with us is winding down fast. By the time he comes back from this mission trip he will only have about 5 more days with us. We have enjoyed having him around.

My parent's visit is coming up soon. The tour guide whom we will be using while her mom & dad are here finalized most of our plans this week. Lord willing, we will take them to the Pacific coast for a couple days and then take some shorter trips to sites around San Jose. Since we don't have a car at our disposal & my mom can't walk for long periods of time, we are trying to keep from over booking our time together. Since this will be the first time that my mom has been outside of the United States, you can pray for good health & safety during their visit as well as for their adjustment to experiencing life outside of the "norm".

We language students had a conference on Friday evening & Saturday morning sponsored by our regional leadership. The topic was "Healthy Families". We appreciate that they care about us & are trying to prevent problems. Christine had a youth group function, called a "Fun Night", on Friday night & then stayed overnight with one of the other girls. She is singing up front with the praise team on Saturday nights now. She is already experiencing some of the highs & lows that accompany that kind of ministry!

That's about all for us. Here a picture about what we did earlier this week.

Love,

John Mark & Cheryl Hansen

8/29/05

Hi Everybody!

The big news is that we are moving to Panama City, Panama next Sunday, September 4th! Let me share some excerpts of a letter we got from Ken Sorrell of our regional office:

"This week you requested that we allow you guys to exit language school after two trimesters and go ahead and make your transition to Panama. I have consulted a wide variety of folks who need to have input into this decision. A key person, of course, is Wilma Mann, who gives you a positive recommendation to go ahead and go. Panama, although not expecting to see you for another several months, is willing to work with us on this as well. Therefore, since no one that I have spoken with has raised any objection to this idea, you are approved to go ahead and make your move to Panama as soon as all of the logistical arrangements can be made. Congratulations on your excellent language study efforts in Costa Rica. You guys have done extremely well for two trimesters and we are all proud and excited for you. We continue to pray that God will use you in a mighty way among the Chinese speaking population of Panama and that through your efforts, a ripple effect will indeed touch the entire world. Based upon when you can get out, I may or may not see you in a couple of weeks. In the event that I don't, God speed as you travel and move. It was a joy to get to see you a while back and to get to know you better."

We will continue Spanish language learning with Dave Clines, as our immediate supervisor to overseeing and holding us accountable during this extended language study time.

Our e-mail will be john.hansen@macregion.org , though we will be without e-mail service for a while this next week. Let me give you some addresses and some phone numbers:

800X Julio Linares
Balboa, Ancón
Panamá
507-228-0836

Mailing address:
Misión Bautista de Panamá
John Mark Hansen
Apartado E
Balboa, Ancón
Panamá

Business Manager's phone # 507-228-0798
Office: 507-228-4613
Cell: 507-6614-9924

The morning after we found out about the move Cheryl's parents came for a visit. We have enjoyed having them here. They will be leaving in the morning for their return to Nebraska. We have sold most of the things we had for sale so we are our preparations are on way. We are to pick up travel documents later this morning from the Panamanian Embassy. Please keep us in your prayers this week!

The Hansens

9/10/05

Christine has started her classes are Crossroads Christine Academy about 10 minutes from the guest apartment where we are staying until our house in Bethania is finished. (Mary, the business manager as been wonderful to work with). Christine has 10 sophomores in her class. She is one of three girls and the rest are boys. (Hopefully, Christine will like the odds). We had a parent-teacher conference yesterday afternoon with all of her different teachers. The school has an excellent facility and is just finishing a beautiful education facility behind the church. She is planning on attending youth group at Crossroad next Wednesday night. She will need tutoring to get caught up in geometry, but has a good attitude towards the whole experience. The school is starting team sports and will play other private schools in the metro area. After the U. S. military left five years ago, many school building were freed up and many have been turned into private schools for different language and religious populations. For example, one school is just for Mandarin-speaking students. In the Spanish paper this week, one of the legislators proposed that Mandarin be required for all students in the country because of the rising Chinese population and the growing importance of China in world trade.

There are about 50 junior high and high school students in Crossroads and the school under the direction of Dr. Marten, is working to get full accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. This is the first year that high school has teachers for every class rather than video teaching for some as in previous years. Christine will also have the opportunity to attend the Florida State University campus about 10 minutes walk from where we are now in their Institute for Advanced Students program.

The city is wonderful with many malls and a great infrastructure. We have bought almost ALL our furniture at a couple of different stores on the Via Espanol and El Dorado. Selecta and Furniture City are the names of the stores.

We have been involved in Spanish meetings and Cantonese meetings. The IMB people have been just wonderful. Our supervisor is helping us to continue our Spanish study ............WELL, got to go. More later.......We have got to go the beach at Santa Clara......................... (Just for orientation purposes........we promise to have a bad time........................)

John Mark Hansen