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Looking Back and Looking Forward
Looking back over the last 24 years, I am amazed at all the different experiences of ministry in which I have taken part. Some of these ministries have been short term, a year or two or three. Others have continued to be a part of my commitments to the present day.
From the beginning of my work with the Methodist Church of Panama, one of my main responsibilities has been to provide pastoral leadership in the local church: preaching, teaching, administering the sacraments, counseling, visiting the sick and elderly, working with children, youth and families. Having to deal with families going through different life crises led me to do a Master's in Family Counseling, a degree which I received from the Catholic University of Panama in the year 2000.
Back in the beginning of the 1990's I was moved from a small town church in the Chiriqui Province (near the Costa Rican border) to an inner city church in a low income neighborhood in the heart of Panama City. In 1993 as a way to connect with the families in the tenement buildings that surround the church, we began a preschool which soon became the full day Walter Reitz Child Development Center, named after a beloved former pastor. Mary Robinson and Marlene Rodriquez continue to provide leadership of this outreach ministry. We also began an after school study program for elementary students. Hundreds of "at risk" children and youth have passed through the center whose stated purpose is to "enable the children to experience the love of God through the caring attention of the teachers of the center# as well as to receive a high quality and low cost early childhood education.
Also en the early 1990's I was involved in a Prison Ministry led by one of our lay pastors, Victoria de Gonzalez. Every Thursday afternoon for several years, we descended into the bowels of Panama City's notorious central prison (Carcel Modelo) to hold worship services for many of the 1300 inmates who were crammed into a facility built for 242. We still sometimes run into former inmates who greet us enthusiastically, many of whom came to know Christ in that facility.
Curing the same time, I was involved in a ministry to the families whose homes were destroyed by a firestorm ignited by the bombs that fell on their neighborhood when the U.S. invaded Panama at the end of 1989. In one of the neighborhoods where some of the families were resettled, we began a small mission. About two years ago when I was appointed to the Pedregal church, I also assumed pastoral supervision fo the Belen church. We organized a small community preschool in ]Belen as well.
In Pedregal we have an outreach ministry to "at risk" teens. In a neighborhood where drugs and juvenile delinquency abound, the motto of the ministry "Dare to be Different" is especially relevant.
We are also in the process of establishing a chapter of the Methodist Men. We have a small but enthusiastic group of men whose mission is to grow together as disciples of Christ, share the Gospel with other men and strive for excellence as husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and servants of Christ.
As a member of the Camp Ministry Team, I am involved in the dual process of the development of a Camp Ministry on a national level as well as the construction of what will be our version of Camp Sumatanga. My role as National Coordinator of our Volunteers in Mission Program has played a large role in the development of the camp which we began in 2007. Since that time, I have accompanied over 15 teams that have worked at the site, helping to build the first six cabins and conducting Vacation Bible School for the children of the rural community where the new camp is located.
I also accompany UMVIM medical teams to the Ngobe Indian Mission two or three times a year. We also have an ongoing Comprehensive Community Based Heath Care Program. One of the teams trained a group of Ngobe as community health promoters to provide first aid and teach hygiene and other preventive health measures. In cooperation with the communities, we are also helping to build latrines and rural aqueducts to enhance the health of the entire community. Our pastor in David, Benita de Del Cid, conducts worship services in the community of Cienaguita on a regular basis in recognition of the fact that spiritual wellbeing is a key part of overall health.
I have been involved in helping the churches of Panama respond to the AIDS epidemic since 1994. We have also worked in partnership with other nongovernment organizations in order to enhance the government's response to this crisis.
I could continue to recall the many rich and rewarding experiences that God has blessed me with over the years, but this overview gives the basic idea. In many ways, my original sense of calling to be a medical missionary has found fulfillment in the diverse involvement through UMVIM medical teams and other ministries. There have been difficult moments, but always the conviction that I am in the place where God has called me. For that and for all the wonderful people from both Panama and the USA who have been partners in ministry. I am truly thankful.Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. I Corinthians 15:58
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 March 2010 Ismael's Prayer
Panama Chose Me
Looking Back and Looking Forward
November 2008 Letter
May 2008 Letter
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