I recognized the name "Schneeberger" from fulfilling my regional role in support of coworker Ashley Lehr, the "me" of Puerto Rico. She'd hosted the team from Fergus Falls, MN, twice previously, so I was excited for my turn to spend a week with the four couples plus Pastor Bill who escaped subzero temps for Panama earlier this month.
Knowing my prep would involve grocery shopping AND a marathon of hardware stores, I arrived two days before the team. My go-to hostel is permanently closed and I don't have a new one yet, so we stayed in the Bella Vista area; I took full advantage of its walkability and Google's ability to find "coffee shops near me" :)
I had the same acai bowl from AMARA coffee & flowers (left) for breakfast two days in a row.
A first for me was that the team landed in-country before I did for a few days of solo sightseeing; we met up for orientation over lunch on a Saturday. Later that afternoon, I Uber-ed to the airport to pick up Jon, arriving late due to a situation back home, while the remaining eight did one more pre-trip activity, a food tour. He & I arrived in the area just in time to connect with the group at their last stop, a 28th floor rooftop bar around the corner from the hotel.
Our first of many Metro rides took us to worship at Iglesia Luterana Castillo Fuerte (Mighty Fortress). True confessions: I had a moment of panic when I realized the booth to buy a reloadable metro card was closed on Sunday mornings, until a security guard clued me into the fact that one of the turnstiles accepted credit cards.
Erin explores Casco Viejo, Panama City's answer to Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone:
Predictably, I loooooooved it. I checked out a museum I'd been wanting to visit, just wandered, and then found...shocker, I know...a coffee shop. I caught up with the team in time for a 4 pm chocolate tour, which was similar in many ways to others I've done in the DR and Belize. A chocolate-tempering demo was new to me, though, as was the prosecco we got with various samples at the end.
Mornings looked the same all week: breakfast & devotions in 907 (my room). Evening devotions were in 901; twice we then migrated to 903 for ice cream.
The team & I (OK, let's be real: the team) set out to do a drop ceiling, a tile floor, and assorted other leftover projects. There was lots to do straightaway on Monday morning in terms of prepping the spaces and wrapping up a painting project the church members hadn't quite finished.
By Tuesday, though, we'd realized it didn't make sense to start the floor until we'd finished the ceiling...and we weren't going to finish the ceiling. There was room for 2-3 people on the scaffolding (Dave never once relinquished his post at the top), but I was grasping at straws to keep the rest occupied in meaningful ways.
#flexibility meant heading back to shower before dinner and having the bus pick us up from the hotel.
Wednesday morning, it was clear I needn't have worried. I couldn't translate as fast as Pastor Raphael Voigt rattled off things we could add to our to-do list. We were grateful for the help of the Josés (clockwise from top: a contractor who spearheaded the ceiling project; neighbor Jessica's fifth-grade son; and the church's 70 yr. old gardener who barely broke a sweat after hauling rocks for hours straight.
#2 (who has a little brother named José José) wanted to pitch in however he could. When he wasn't demonstrating his karate skills, you could find him helping his mom with lunch or passing out Gatorade or duros (juice pops).
Jon deserves a shoutout for pushing the scaffolding around ALL. WEEK. I told him he was like Moses, holding up the prophet's hands (c.f. Exodus 17).
We didn't have dinner IN Casco Viejo Sunday or our chocolate bars would have melted on the bus (this ain't my first rodeo), so I incorporated some fun dinner spots in the area into our agenda later in the week, like a taco joint on the 6th floor of a hipster hostel.
I finally remembered to take a picture of the church as seen from the Metro station on our final workday.
The team requested two group pictures on arrival: a posed one in front of the church, and one of everyone on - or hanging onto - the scaffolding in some way. I then requested one I'd been itching to have someone take of me allllll week ;)
We have ceiling panels!!!
Finishing touches (chicken wire so escapist dog Katalina stays where she belongs):
We didn't go out for dinner on our last night; rather, the congregation put together an asado of grilled chicken, steak, and sausage plus a traditional potato salad with boiled carrots and hard-cooked eggs. Before we left, Pastor Voigt presented the team with a framed Luther's Rose canvas.
L to R: José (gardener), Pastor Voigt, Pastor Bill, and José (contractor).
Though much remained to be done when we left, Castillo Fuerte was definitely a few notches
más bonito. The team's blood (only a little), sweat, and tears (not really, just go with it) directly contributed to OIM's central pillar of Planting Lutheran Churches in helping provide current members with a more attractive, reverent space and drawing the community's attention to a house of worship uniquely situated for outreach. The
Josés continue to work furiously as I write this; I know because Pastor Voigt sends me photo updates almost daily. I knew when I left that I'd be back in Panama for another team in a couple weeks - I leave 2/20 - but didn't find out later that I'll be able to stay through the "rededication" service planned for March 1, during FORO weekend!
Until next time, blessings in Christ!
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