Called For a Purpose

Panama: Day 5.



Things are getting more comfortable here as we all get to know each other and get the feel for class expectations and routine.
It's a pretty laid back atmosphere in Gamboa. We have been taking a lot of hikes into the rainforest and learning about tropical ecosystems, biodiversity, species adaptation, evolution, and mammals. Evolution is an interesting one for me. It's not that I don't see where plants and animals can evolve and adapt to their surroundings, I do and that probably did happen some but WE did NOT evolve from anything. Humans were created in God's image to fulfill a purpose. We are called to share the word and bring disciples to Jesus. We are called to love and serve others before ourselves. We are called to do God's will and follow his path for our lives. It hurts me to know that people believe that we as humans, God's most precious and amazing creation, have evolved from apes and just exist because of a mechanism that had nothing to do with God or any sort of creator. But anyway, it has been really cool to learn more about evolution and find the holes in it. For one thing it has made me more passionate about being able to defend my faith and really learn about apologetics. We have had some really interesting lectures and I have enjoyed stretching my brain to see both viewpoints and perspectives.







Today we took a field trip to summit zoo and got to explore the exhibits there. The zoo had a lot of land but not as many animals as a zoo in America would. My favorite thing that we saw were the monkeys. There are so many different kinds of monkeys in Panama and they are just so curious and cute and I really enjoy watching them interact with each other. We also got to see a tapir, ocelote, crocodile and various birds. I had fun walking around and getting to know some of the girls in my group better. After the zoo we took another hike into a the rainforest but this time there was a beautiful stream that flowed by the trial. The water was cloudy which really surprised me but apparently thats what the water looks like in the rainy season here. There were a few waterfalls too and I really wanted to jump in the water but we didn't have the chance.

The food here is good and we have a chef that cooks three meals a day for us. There is rice at almost every meal. We have had chicken, beef, and some other meats. We have a lot of salad and vegetables with interesting flavors mixed into them or added to them. I like when they fry plantains for us or make fries out of them. We'll see how long it takes me to really start missing American food. So far I've been able to have soda from the local tienda which has been fulfilling my craving :)

Well that's it for now. Thanks always for everyone who is praying for me and being so loving. I love you all!

Shelby