The title is just to contradict any theories that I may have died due to my long gap without journal entries...sorry..it´s been kind of hectic!...

So Last week we had the seminario...it was basically a missions conference at the church at Santiago...which is now called ¨Iglesia Bautista El Camino¨...(The Way Baptist Church). We worked on music, made decorations, did electrical and painting work, and mucho más...We had probably 75 or so guests for seminario...some from hours away...some that had to walk for hours to get there...It was great to hear from some people from different works we have in different parts of the country. I got to interact with people from different works...some of whom asked me what our church (their mother church) is like and what they can pray for and stuff and I likewise learned things to pray about for them. During the conference we used that big mud stove (the one whose construction almost got me killed by the viper)...to cook vast amounts of rice and other good food...it´s pretty great that I never get tired of chicken and rice because it´s pretty much the national dish...it´s not like the states...I mean there is some variety here...but the pallet is pretty much always Panamanian...In the states we´re like...oh no I had chinese last night and mexican earlier in the week--let´s go to an Italian place...or something like that...we expect lots of variety in our diet in America but most people don´t vary their food that much here. 
The one thing I really haven´t gotten used to is fish for breakfast...I eat it but I don´t like it as a first meal...maybe that will change:)
Overall I´m definitely grateful to have food and be provided for. And people have been very hospitable and kids love me so I´m having a great time...and even though my Spanish is much more Mexican than Panamanian--I´m doing pretty well getting along...I feel totally at home by myself(as in without help) most places we go and pretty much never have trouble understanding anyone...if it´s a word I don´t know I learn it...I love it here...I love it in Fayetteville too...but I do love it here and in some ways leaving will be very hard...maybe God will call me back down here at some point...and I definitely love speaking Spanish all the time...I know some people get tired of it or their head hurts after speaking spanish all day long...that hasn´t happened to me. Actually the opposite...when other brethren are here that are bilingual...they usually speak to me in English and I´m kind of like...uh, can we go back to Spanish now? But I´d never say that cuz it would sound like....¨I don´t need your stinking English...I speak Spanish¨...cuz that´s not what I want to say ....but honestly I´d rather be speaking Spanish every second of every day down here...:)...Of course I love translating so class or other translating is fine...but when someone wants to converse...I´d rather just speak in Spanish ...even if our first language is English...I love Spanish and being down here I´d rather be lost in it...not confused but ...swallowed by it...in that I don´t want to be that English Speaker that also speaks Spanish or that American guy who happens to be in Panamá...but I want to be the guy who is both English and Spanish speaking...or that guy named Windsor ...without even needing to say where I´m from...whenever I´m learning a language or interacting with people...I don´t want to feel like an outsider...so to me...I´d rather blend in...and I don´t ever get tired of Spanish so....we´ll see...I don´t really know what to do about that...

In Seminario we heard from many brothers in various places and heard many special songs and testimonies...Also Bro Robert Creech and Bro Oscar Chavez preached quite a bit. I played piano/guitar (not at the same time) and led all the music...I had a really good time. 
And, we had people getting there each day so we had lots of late nights dealing with all the details and giving peeps rides to their lodgings...:)

I don´t really remember what happened monday...but yesterday...(tuesday)...Robert Creech, Juan Suazo, and I left at about six in the morning to head up to Cañazas (about an hour from Santiago) and then rode in a truck up and down the mountain excuse for a road for an hour or so...we had chains on but it still got stuck in the mud so we got to push it out:=). We crossed two rivers and a bunch of creeks and drove through bumpy roads that were more hole than road...it actually was decent excercise just trying to hold onto the truck as we went careening around the mountains. I couldn´t believe how steep some of the roads were...it definitely felt like the truck was about to tip over a bazillion times or so...then it got to the point where the truck couldn´t ¨safely¨ make it any further and then we walked for about an hour and a half to arrive at the pueblo of San Juan de Dios. It is the home of some brethren who came to the Seminario...Cristobal won them to Christ some time back when he was traveling more...They usually walk the whole three to four hour trip...I´ll be super up for that sometime...I really loved hiking up and down muddy dangerous mountain roads...and it was great exercise! We are actually going somewhere about as far away tomorrow...so hopefully I´ll have a great time again. 

Arriving into the pueblo of San Juan de Dios was kind of like arriving at the Shire in Lord of the Rings...in that it was so isolated and there were people who basically live out their entire lives in a fairly small radius...I couldn´t imagine living like that...but I was priveleged to meet them and see how they live off the land. It´s kind of like swiss family robinson because they have built their own homes...fences...everything...and it´s so cool to see the set up for their kitchens and what not...And the kids LOVED having guests...the boys in the family took me all around their property. Also...the digital camera was a big hit with the kids...as it has been everywhere in Panama...they love taking pictures and then looking at them in the little screen. 

That night we had service at the family´s house...they have made a special meeting place connected to the house. Many people came out to hear but they don´t have electricity out there so by the time service started it was pitch black outside. They of course are all pros so several people turned on their flashlights to read their Bibles...It was still pretty dark but it was cool...we sang some songs I´d worked on during seminario and Bro Juan Suazo and Bro robert both got to speak. It was a great experience for me. The only real downside was that they have wooden beds. So you basically sleep on a hard wooden slab with a sheet over it...It was my second time to sleep on something like that. I could only sleep in pieces and I kept waking up from my own discomfort. So my sleep was not very restful:) but I still had a great time there...It´s crazy how well you can get to know a family when you spend 24 continuous hours with them in their house...

After breakfast this morning we said our goodbyes and headed off the way we came...I gave a cool little canteen thing to one of the brothers before I left...the other brother accompanied us part of the way...well, all the way out of the village and up to the messed up bridge. Then I gave that brother a hoodie I really liked to him...I think it made his day so it was worth it...:) 

The messed up bridge was one that was half-carried away by rising waters the other day The bridges have iron bottoms with heavy wire holding them from cement to cement on the two sides...But the waters ripped one side mostly off. So they had taken the pieces that were still there and set them on the section of the bridge that had been ripped apart. so you had to jump up from the cement that hadn´t been washed away to land on the loose pieces of iron board that were not actually connected to the bridge anymore and walk carefully. then on the part that was still connected it liked shifting from side to side a lot. It was a blast. Then we walked up and down the mountains for more like two hours today...I guess we got up before the truck guys...I loved it...I wanted to go even further...maybe I´ll get to some day...then the truck took us the rest of the bumpy way back...only crossing one river this time (since we had already crossed one). 

Then we got to talk to some people in Cañazas for a bit before heading back home to Santiago. I got home still pretty energized from it all and I hadn´t really worked my upper body that much...so I went to my room and did my abs and arms part of my little routine...Then I stopped by the Super99 to get my first blessed taste of Coca Cola light in a few days...Ahhh the cool refreshing taste of civilization and artificial sweetners.

Then we did stuff at the Institute for a while. then I gave rides to Manuel and later Elequín. then I came back to the house...I´ve been trying to catch up on all of my picture uploading, email-responding, etc, etc...

They had a Bible study here at the house tonight too...it was great...also...On the way back from Cañazas today...one the things I got to read in my Bible was in Mark 14 and 15 where Jesus from last supper through Him being taken before Pilate and all of that...I noticed something that hadn´t stuck out to me before. I had never really payed much attention to Barrabas. Whenever I´d read the suffering and death of Christ before I was alway so focused on Christ that to me Barrabas was just a detail...When they released the murderer Barrabas and crucified the innocent Jesus I just thought of it as one more thing that happened to Jesus like the nails or the spear in His side...etc...I´d never thought much about Barrabas´ state. The reality is that Barrabas represents every sinner (which according to Rom 3:23 =all people). When Pilate fulfilled the custom by allowing them to choose to release Barrabas or Jesus...the answer should have been obvious. Barrabas was clearly guilty. He was a murderer amongst other things. The Bible teaches us that if anyone breaks the law in any point he is guilty of breaking it all (James 2:10). Before a Holy God, every sinner is equally guilty. Barrabas represents you and I. We deserved justice. Crucifiction would´ve been justice for Barrabas but Jesus took his place...and in so doing--took the place of every sinner who would ever believe in Him and trust Him for salvation. Jesus´ suffering should´ve belonged to Barrabas (us) but Jesus took it upon Himself. I´ve always thought of the whole thing as that nebulous group of profecies and things that just had to come to pass to save us...but sometimes it´s good to see where we fit in the story. We are murderers. We are Barrabas. We should´ve payed that penalty. But the Mercy of Christ caused Him to take our place. 
Love you guys and hopefully I´ll write more this weekend (cuz we´ll be going out into the wilderness again tomorrow:)
¨O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest  my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.¨ Psalm 139:1-6