Dr. Steve Stokes, radiation oncologist at the Medical Center, is leading a medical team from Covenant United Methodist Church in Dothan this week in the Republic of Panama.

It is part of the church’s ongoing ministry with the city of David. The church makes the trek to David annually to work with the Ngobe people. They are indigenous to the region and live outside the city of David. David is a bustling town about the size of Dothan with Internet cafes, restaurants and shops on every corner. The Ngobe, however, are the poorest of the poor and have been labeled the forgotten people.

During this week, the team will work to make a difference in the lives of the Ngobe by distributing medications and working on projects within the village.

Mission Trip Blog

Setting Up Camp   Hello all, the internet here is not cooperating with our American system very well, so we can neither get our pictures to work or my very entertaining blog I wrote last night. Hopefully, it will be sent eventually it might just be after we got home. So, I will just start with today. We set up camp at the community center, and the first thing that was done was the pharmacy. Everyone helped set it up, and the four doctors each had a station. We also had an eyeglass station and a photo taking station. We stayed til five in the afternoon (with a short lunch break in between), and then had a delicious dinner of salad, rice (with hot sauce), chicken, and plantanos. We are all back at the hotel and excited for tomorrow! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

-Brooke Spivey and Maggie Brown                    Monday, August 4^th, 2008

A Busy Second Day   Hello all, my internet is being muy complicatado again. We have two computers in the hotel lobby, but generally only one works when I need it, and then it is still difficult. I still can't get pictures up, but we are getting some good ones! Hopefully when we get back, we can still post them up. It will be a post post. Today was our second day on the work force. We have a whole team here working, and it is really great because everyone, and I do mean everyone has something to be doing. We have all the doctor stations, and some people help the doctors; we have an eyeglass center and a photo center. Also, there is lots of work still to be done on a house we are building on the property. There is lots of painting to be done! We are a team, and everyone looks out for one another. Today was much slower than yesterday, and we got our work done a lot earlier. We even got to catch a movie for our friend Jesus´s (Hay-sus) birthday. It was in English, but we had Spanish subtitles! We are having a wonderful time and helping people while we are at it. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and more to come tomorrow!

-Brooke Spivey                    Tuesday, August 5^th, 2008

Stressed But Pulling Through   Today was a very exciting day. We woke up to a flat tire. So, we had to wait for about an hour for the tire to be changed. Then, on the way to the center our water supply, which is tied to the top of the bus, started to spill out, and we had to stop and secure it. At one point, Adam, our driver had his door open and he was almost hit by an oncoming bus! Thankfully, we warned him in the nick of time to ensure he was safe. We finished treating the people early again today, but right before we were to leave a woman fainted down the road. So before getting our end of the day soda, we carried the woman to the hospital. It was raining and thunder storming all the way, but thankfully for us, we have a professional for a driver, not exactly sure what kind of professional, but I was told that he is one. We had our nightly rice and meat for supper at the church, and a few of us even caught a movie, The Mummy this time, in English again. It was a little bit of stressful day for everyone, but we kept it all together as a team and pulled through! Again, keep us in your thoughts and prayers and more to come tomorrow! Hopefully some pictures!

-Brooke Spivey                    Wednesday, August 6^th, 2008

An Exciting Day   I am very excited that I was able to upload pictures today. Once again, we had an exciting day. Not quite as much as yesterday, however. We took a truck up the mountains and looked at where the Nobe Indians live. They live in thatched roof huts. Some have wooden houses, which mean they are wealthy, and some even have concrete houses which mean they are extremely wealthy in their culture. They have stores that sell rice, beans, corn and necessities. They also have a radio station. I took a few pictures to show you, but wasn’t able to upload those. It was quite a challenge getting there; however we had to take a muddy dirt road. We were slipping and sliding on the way there, and on the way back we almost got stuck in the mud. Our wonderful driver Adam kept safe and moving. Maggie Brown and I started a Vacation Bible School for the children today. However, due to the language barrier, they mostly colored. We had to show many of them how to color, as a lot of them had never done it. Then, we hung their drawings on the wall until we ran out of tape. It was really amazing to see how happy those colors made the children. We gave each kid two crayons and paper, so they could color at home. They were so proud of their pictures; they each wanted to give it to us. I collected a few that couldn’t be hung on the wall to bring home with us. Seeing them smile gave me a really wonderful feeling of accomplishment and hope. Tomorrow is the big day when the Nobes set up their market and hopefully dance for us. Also, we leave to go back to Panama City tomorrow afternoon. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

The team boards the bus headed to the Nobe reservation.	Mission team in front of the Community Center	Members of the mission team join in a soccer game	"Can you hear me now."

-Brooke Spivey                    Thursday, August 7^th, 2008