September 14, 2025 • 39 mins
Beth Shields shares her family's journey as missionaries in Panama, including their unexpected path from Mexico, cultural adjustments, and ministry to indigenous communities in remote mountain regions.
• Third-generation missionary family serving in Panama for the past nine years
• Ministry focuses on discipling indigenous pastors in remote mountain communities
• Homeschooling four children (ages 9-18) while managing mission responsibilities
• Raising children on the mission field provides unique cultural awareness and ministry opportunities
Please pray for the Shields family's health concerns, and their ministry to indigenous communities.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Simply Edifies podcast.
Our goal is to encourage womenas we navigate the messiness of
life through biblical studies,personal stories and practical
tips that bolster our walk withJesus daily.
Thank you for joining us in ourepisode today.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We are going to continue our series on missions
here and we have Beth Shieldshere from Panama to talk to us
about their life on the missionfield.
So thank you for joining us,beth, and I look forward to
(00:40):
learning a little bit more aboutyour work myself.
I know Esty is familiar, morefamiliar with you guys.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I have got to meet Beth and her beautiful family I.
They came to our church a whileback and our church got to go
to Panama and a missions trip.
I did not get to go but funfact I don't know if you know
this, beth I got entire week offof school as a teacher because
so many of our staff came to seeyou that we had a whole week
(01:09):
off, which was very enjoyablefor us.
I would have rather been withyou guys, but we also have a lot
of mutual friends, and whydon't you tell us about just
your ministry background andyour family?
Just give everybody else alittle bit of an idea of who you
are and what you guys are doing.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
So I'm Beth Shields, my husband is Ethan and we have
four kids Elena, Noah, Sophiaand Julia and they're all about
to have birthdays soon andthey're all going to range from
18 down to nine, and my husbandis a third generation missionary
.
His mom was raised on themission field in Mexico, he was
raised in Mexico and then wehave been missionaries living
full time on the mission fieldsince 2012.
(01:51):
We were in Mexico for severalyears and then we've been in
Panama now for the last nine.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Wow, I did not know that about Mexico.
I did not know.
So, was that just somethinglike as soon as you guys met,
you knew you guys were going tobe back on the mission field.
That had always just been kindof Ethan's plan.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
He just felt since he was in his late teens that God
was kind of leading him back toMexico and everything.
So when we first were likegetting interested in each other
and stuff, and he kind of letme know, literally said, I like
you and it, and if I, and if Ilike you, I would want to like,
date you and maybe even marryyou.
(02:30):
I just need you to know I'd beserious about this, because
we've both been in seriousrelationships before and he's
like, and so just need you toknow that, like I would be, I
want to go back to Mexico as amissionary and that's a hard
life.
Are you up for that?
Like this is what you would besigning up for if we go down
this road.
And the Lord had already beenworking in my heart about some
different things and I didn'tknow if I'd ever end up on the
mission field or not.
(02:50):
But I was totally open to itand I'd already been learning
Spanish for several years justbecause I didn't know I was
going to use it at all.
But I'm very thankful for allthat time I was learning it
before I had to come and use itand stuff.
But so, yeah, we knew thatthat's what we wanted to do and
originally we were going to goand work with his parents for a
while and then kind of move downon our own and work in a
(03:13):
different place.
And God changed a lot ofdifferent things and so we went
to a place further South inMexico right from the beginning
and we tried for several yearsto do everything we're doing
here in Panama but do there andthe Lord was just shutting, door
after door after door afterdoor, and I think it was
definitely a from point A topoint B to get you to point C.
(03:38):
But there's a lot to do at pointB while you're there.
And, um, some of the friendsthat we made, some of the people
that we saw saved, are stillpeople that we love and talk to
on a regular basis andeverything.
And it's so neat to see theirlife changed by the gospel and
know that we had a part in that.
And you know, you don't alwayshave to see the effects of why
(04:00):
God asks you to do something ordoesn't lead necessarily in a
straight path, but it's always anice reminder that even when it
doesn't seem like things areworking the way that you think
they ought to work, or going asquickly as you think they ought
to go, that God's working andusing you for a reason along the
way.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's really interesting.
Well, when we were talking toMelissa on our last podcast, her
story was very different, butalso similar.
It didn't.
It wasn't just a direct leapinto their final destination.
It was a lot of time that wasleading up to it, but it was
purposeful.
Um, but just.
It's not always, you know, frompoint a to point b, just nice
(04:37):
and clear.
So that's interesting.
What were you gonna say?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
um so like from mexico to panama.
How did that happen?
How did that like like leaphappen?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
well, that was very much a a totally god thing,
because we try to keep it reallyshort.
But so we, we built an airplane.
While we were doing deputationstuff, my husband built an
airplane, knowing that that's.
We wanted to use it to be ableto reach the places that maybe
didn't have roads to them ordidn't have electricity into
(05:11):
them.
They weren't easy to get to,kind of a thing just really off
the beaten path.
And so we were in Mexico and,like I said, god closed many,
many doors, very specificallywith aviation and all this kind
of stuff, and so we knew that hewas changing our path entirely
somehow, and we ended up and putthe airplane up for sale as a
(05:32):
very clear okay, god, you'regoing to have to do whatever you
want to do with this.
And if it was only to teach usthe things that we've learned
and to now, if we sell theairplane, have this money to
invest in a property and achurch we'd already been like
serving an entire city and wherewe were going to put a church
in an area that didn't have oneand all this kind of stuff put
the airplane up for sale andwithin a few days we get a phone
(05:55):
call and this guy loves it,wants to buy it, and he was
really like this is great, theprice, full asking price and
everything.
And he was really like this isgreat, the price, full asking
price and everything.
But at the same time, whileEthan's talking to this man, we
(06:15):
got an email and I'm telling I'min the back going because the
our, a friend, a mutual friend,had your brother, ethan's, all
of Ethan's siblings are in theministry as well.
They're on the mission field inMexico and in Aruba and
everything.
And he's he was a friend of hisand he's like I just got back
from taking a group ofuniversity students on a
(06:36):
missions trip to Panama and I'ma pilot too and I'm telling you
I think God could use you inyour airplane here in Panama.
And we were like no, don't wantto do that, that's not on our
bingo card for this year, kindof a thing, and but we couldn't
forget about it, we couldn'tforget about it, we couldn't
forget about it.
And he, basically we, we met upwith him, we talked to him and
(06:57):
all this kind of stuff, and Ijust started crying because I
didn't want to go.
We had a plan, we were workingthe plan kind of a thing, and I
don't do well with changingplans, obviously, but this was a
really big change plan.
My life was very steady until wegot married and went to the
mission field.
Right, lived in the same housemy entire life until we got
married, and then I knew it wasgoing to be an adventure.
(07:18):
I just didn't know how much bigof an adventure, right.
So we ended up and we're like,ok, we're going to go to Panama
and we're going to check thisout, but there has to be a yes
to every single thing or we'renot going to invest years, money
, time, whatever into all ofthis just to see the same thing
(07:38):
happen.
That happened in Mexico.
And we came and we got yesafter yes after yes after yes,
open door after open door afteropen door.
The missionaries that he came tovisit here are missionaries
from Costa Rica and justdoctrinally lined up the exact
same way, all this kind of stuff.
And so within a few weeks wewere back in Mexico, we were
(07:59):
packing up our stuff, we werehaving a yard sale, and then we
headed back to the States for ayear of furlough and then we
moved down here and thingshaven't gone near as quickly as
we would have liked, obviously,but even now we see the reasons
why God's been doing it at thepace he's been doing it, and and
I have to keep telling myselfthat, even if things never work
(08:20):
out the way that I think thatthey should work out, they're
still working out the way hewants them to.
And so just trying to bepatient and then also just be in
the moment, ministry is not allthose things that we're
planning to do, all those thingsthat we want to do or that we
think God wants us to do, orwhatever.
It's in the moment, it's in theeveryday, it's with the people
(08:41):
that we already have here withus that is such a great reminder
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
So what was your hesitation with, with going to
panama?
Was it, um, just because it wasdifferent, or was there
something in particular thatmade you nervous about that area
?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
no, it was just more very unknown, and I didn't want
to make a giant move again.
And we, when we moved, I was,let's see our youngest no, our
youngest, our third child wasjust under two years old when we
left Mexico and then that yearof furlough and then came here,
(09:20):
and so I think I just was in thethroes of I'd gone through some
postpartum depression and Ithink that was really affecting
a lot of everything.
I didn't want to this.
I didn't want to do this.
I wanted to do this thing thatwas going to settle us and I was
going to be happy, becausewhere we were living in Mexico
was two and a half hours awayfrom the city, so it was two and
(09:41):
a half hours away from ourpediatrician.
It was two and a half hours awayfrom the city, so it was two
and a half hours away from ourpediatrician.
It was two and a half hoursaway from large grocery stores,
from a dentist that did morethan a few things, you know that
kind of stuff, and so I thinkwe already had contacts there.
We already had people that wewere doing Bible studies with
and everything in the area, andso I think it was just more the
fact that I wanted thatstability and I didn't want to
(10:04):
uproot my entire life again togo somewhere else.
But it's definitely somethingthat God wanted us to do and I'm
so thankful we did.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
I mean, I think back to whenApril and I had so many toddlers
amongst us running around andthere were things that just was.
It just seemed like too much.
You know so many things, butlike too much, and I can only
imagine trying to wrap my brainaround an entire move to a brand
new country and yeah, even thefurlough.
(10:36):
I was just thinking of you guyson furlough traveling with a
two-year-old and that's a lotyeah.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, it really is.
Now that we're here and we'resettled and stuff, it's been a
lot nicer because we only goback all of us if there's
something else to go to.
If the church is going to flyall of us in we'll go, obviously
, or if there is a familywedding or something really
important that we all need to goto, then we've all gone before.
(11:07):
My mom passed away from cancerseveral years ago and so we went
and we spent several monthswith her before she passed away
and stuff like that.
But for the most part now, withthe kids all being bigger, it
would be easier to go.
But now school, school.
It's really hard to stay up inschool and so we've been just
doing smaller trips or Ethan'sbeen going by himself, and
(11:28):
that's been so much nicer.
What do your kids do for school?
Bob Jones University Press.
Okay, so you do homeschool them?
Yeah, we do homeschool.
There are some good schoolshere in Panama.
There are, but there are nonein our area.
There are several publicschools.
They're just not as nice assome of the other school
districts that are around andyeah, so I'm very, very, very
(11:52):
thankful for the opportunity tohomeschool our kids, even though
it might drive me insane somedays.
I am very thankful for it.
There was a lady in the churchthat I grew up with that I just
love to pieces.
She was she is the best thingever and she told me that she
thought I'd be a good teacherand I had to interview her for
(12:16):
something before I left highschool.
And she said she grew up in themission field and she said that
she had studied to be a teacherin case God ever called her
back to the mission field, thatshe would be more equipped to
teach her own children becauseshe had been sent off to like a
boarding school.
And I thought that's reallycool.
I guess that's really practicaland that's why I studied to be
(12:39):
a teacher is because of her.
And it's been so nice, becauseI don't always feel adequate
anyway with all the things thatI'm doing with the kids, but at
least I feel a little bit moreprepared.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, that's really cool.
I figured you probably did, butI wasn't 100% sure.
Your whole life has been alittle uprooted recently with
the house moving and everything,but I can imagine trying to be
in traditional school would bevery difficult right now oh yeah
with your kids, like how dothey do like with the different
(13:13):
culture?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I mean, they've been, you've been there for a while
now.
I'm sure they've kind of gottenadjusted and all the things.
But how, how is that?
Speaker 4 (13:20):
um, in some ways we are still different.
We're always going to be reallydifferent, and partially
because the kids have gone backand forth to the States a lot in
their lives, but for the mostpart we're all really used to
living here.
My youngest is the one who wasborn here.
She is definitely very muchfrom here in a lot of ways
(13:41):
because she when we first got sofor those who don't know we
just built a house finally andwe just moved in about a month
ago and now we have airconditioning for the first time
in forever and my youngest-.
It took forever to get used tothe air conditioning.
She was so cute.
We have it set at.
It's probably, I think, 76-ish,something like that.
(14:04):
I don't know what theequivalent is, but Anne, she's
always like Mommy, Mommy, I amso cold.
Do we have long sleeves or ablanket somewhere?
So she's definitely myPanamanian baby.
We went to Mexico last year tovisit my in-laws because it was
their 50th wedding anniversaryand like a ministry anniversary
(14:27):
as well, and so the thing wasthe whole family got together,
from all the different countries, all got together, and it was
amazing and she the youngest,she just struggled with the food
, Like she liked it okay, butshe kept going can't we just
have like some plain rice andbeans?
And they eat a lot of rice andbeans in Mexico too, but it just
wasn't the same kind and shejust was like I just miss the
(14:47):
food from home.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
They're so cute.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Can you say again what someone from Panama is
called?
You said she's your.
Yeah, I don't think I wouldhave said that.
I think I would have said.
I don't know what I would havesaid now, but that just struck
me like I.
It just sounded different thanI was expecting.
That's so funny.
I wish my children would askfor rice and beans chicken
(15:17):
nuggets.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I think her and my son would get along, because he
loves rice, but which he does.
He didn't love rice until wemoved to hawaii and they have a
lot of rice here, like a ton ofrice, like you can get rice as a
side at mcdonald's instead offries.
Yeah, he loves rice, it's justall.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
So what was the hardest thing, like culturally?
I know you you had spent timein Mexico so you'd already had
one kind of culture change what?
What was the hardest thingcoming to Panama for you?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I don't know, I mean you know, I think for me,
because the only two places I'dever spent a lot of time
obviously was the US, where Igrew up, and then Mexico.
But Panama is very much a mixof both of those cultures for me
, because it's the Latinoculture, but yet Panama has such
(16:12):
a history with the UnitedStates that there's a lot of
American influence, and sothere's a lot of things that I
was really familiar with whichwas really nice to come to.
We can still find certainMexican products or even certain
American products, which isreally nice.
So where we lived and where myhusband grew up are both like
cold climates in Mexico, and sopeople there typically build
(16:35):
their houses and everything muchbigger, because they're going
to live inside their houses andtry to stay warm inside their
houses, and so they're very warmand inviting, like they invite
people in and people just comeby and will knock and come and
visit and all that kind of stuff, and here it's not really like
that at all.
It's very, very, very hot.
So people here the cheapest wayto build is block walls and a
(16:59):
tin roof, no insulation of anykind, and so it's always really,
really hot inside the house.
So people build their houses alot smaller, but then they have,
like maybe, a larger porch orthey'll just make an outdoor
area, or even they'll go to thepoint where they're just going
to cook outside.
They'll have like an outdoorkitchen, you know, where they
just cook with firewood and cookoutside and everything, and so
(17:22):
there isn't near as much of ainvite you in kind of a culture
here.
So it kind of took us a littlewhile longer to get used to that
that people.
People seemed at first not asfriendly, but that's because we
were used to people beingfriendly and inviting in a
different way.
People here are friendly andinviting.
(17:42):
It's just in a different waythan we had expected it, and so
it took us a long while to seethat.
But there's just a lot oflittle things that are different
.
When, like when people are upsetabout something or they want
something, people will get agroup, whether it's like 10
people or whether it's a couplehundred people and they'll go
out to the Pan American Highway.
(18:04):
It's the only road that runseast to west through Panama,
because Panama is narrow andskinny and you've got the
Atlantic Ocean, you've got themountains and then you've got
the Pacific Ocean, and sothere's really only one place
really, that the road can go,and so people will go up to the
highway and they'll block it,and that can last anywhere from
30 minutes to the longest we'vehad was six weeks and you can't
(18:27):
get in and out of town.
No supplies come in, anythinglike that, and that that was
really frustrating because itsometimes it doesn't happen for
months and then other times ithappens, like I said, nonstop
for weeks, or it'll happen everycouple of days or and so it was
really hard to find thatbalance between stocking up on
(18:47):
different things but not takingit to an extreme, or like
stocking up and being preparedfor all those kinds of things,
but then not freaking myself outand hyperventilating about the
fact that, oh my goodness, Ican't get out, as if I had some
weird trauma in the past aboutthat, you know, or whatever.
But um, it just really itreally has been something that's
(19:10):
been kind of hard to get usedto yeah, that would be for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I get claustrophobic just watching, like whenever
there's a hurricane in floridaor something like that and the
traffic is blocked, I panic.
I don't live anywhere nearthere.
There's like 10 roads beside.
I could go five differentdirections from my house, you
know.
But that stresses me out justto watch those like news updates
(19:36):
.
So I I can see why that wouldbe very, very frustrating.
And you gave me a little bit ofgeography lesson because I
haven't really thought too muchabout how animals laid out, so
that was so interesting too.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
You understand, like hawaii is a little bit like that
too, isn't it april as far as,like the roads are kind of yeah,
there's like um, basically liketwo I guess, if you count the
other one is three but threemain roads here in oahu.
So it is kind of one of thoselike the traffic gets backed up
(20:11):
like crazy and there's certaintimes where you're just like I'm
not even going to bother, I'mnot going to go anywhere, but no
, not like the aspect of peopleprotesting type thing.
But yes, definitely with youknow, you're kind of trapped,
you're like, oh well, I guessthat road's no longer able to be
(20:31):
used.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
So do you is the area where you live, somewhere that
you drive most of the time Doyou walk mostly?
Speaker 4 (20:41):
It's mostly driving.
Everything here is a little bitmore spread out because we are
not in the city.
So Panama City is about five,six hours to the east of us, and
then one of I don't know ifit's the second or third largest
city in the country is about anhour west of us, and so we're
in a really rural area.
We're in a cattle province.
(21:01):
A lot of cattle, a lot of rice,a lot of just anything that
they can grow and cultivate.
This whole area does that.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So what are the people like in a more rural area
as opposed to the city area,like do you have different
struggles, I guess, as far aslike reaching them, as than you
would with in the city, or is itkind of not much of a
difference?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I do think it is kind of different because we do have
several friends, because we goto we go to the city that's
nearest us on a pretty regularbasis for different things or
for doctors or the hospital.
Is there that kind of a thing?
And the poor of the person?
It seems to us in ourexperience that they just seem
(21:50):
to be more open, typically tothe gospel, because they know
they have needs.
You know, or the people a lotof people that we work with are
so poor that they're used toasking for help and so when it
comes to you know, the gospeland this and that and the other,
they realize, oh, oh, I have aproblem and I need Christ.
(22:13):
Yeah, that tracks Like I have alot of problems in my life.
I have needs, yeah, okay, butthe more money that people have,
it seems like they're moreclosed off to that thing because
they feel like they canprobably fix it themselves.
They're more used to gettingsolutions, like paying for
solutions or or you know thatkind of a thing.
I don't know if that makes anysense.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah for sure, definitely Jesus dealt with that
.
So so, yeah, it makes sense.
But I know when our church wasdown there they said um,
specifically like the ladies,when they were speaking with the
ladies they loved the girlladies very much, um, but they
said they don't typically likeopen up very easily.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
yeah, they're pretty quiet um until they get to know
you really well.
Now it's a lot different.
Now it's like they'll share orthey'll hug or this or that and
the other.
But when you try to because weso we have a main church that we
work with our Costa Ricancoworkers he's the pastor of the
(23:15):
church and then my husband'sthe assistant pastor, and that
kind of allows us to be able togo out and minister into a whole
bunch of churches that are upin this indigenous reservation
to the north of us.
And so anytime we go into thesedifferent churches up in the
indigenous reservation and stuffand try to, you know, have
different classes or whatnot,when it's one of the first times
that they're seeing me or evenmy husband or something, they,
(23:36):
they really they don'tparticipate very much.
They really they don'tparticipate very much.
They don't, they don't talk awhole lot.
Of course, the further that yougo into the mountains too,
though, the less Spanish thatthey know.
They speak their nativelanguage and stuff like that.
So that also has to do with ita little bit as well.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Oh yeah for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
How often do you guys go up into those different
areas with the more nativespeaking peoples and stuff?
Speaker 4 (23:59):
It really just depends.
Our summer here is from Januarythrough May and then the rains
start and then the rains runthrough December pretty much.
So we typically are up there alot more in the summertime just
because you can get there on theroads a lot better.
Some of the roads are paved, alot of the roads are paved, a
lot of the roads are not, andthen a lot of the places past
(24:20):
that don't have roads at all,and so we go up a lot more
during the summer and then theyhave like a pastor's Bible
Institute.
Every two weeks or so myhusband's involved in an
association of pastors and stufflike that, and so just trying
to disciple these pastors alittle bit more, because a lot
(24:41):
of them are pastors because theywere willing and because they
had been saved longer than otherpeople had been saved, and so
when this group of you knowbelievers wanted to pastor,
they're like, well, he should doit because he's been a
Christian the longest orsomething like that.
So that's one of the mainfocuses that we have is just
trying to really help educatethem and to ground them in sound
(25:01):
doctrine and stuff.
And then occasionally myhusband will go and he will
drive in as far as he can parkhis truck, walk, spend the night
with one of the pastors attheir village, and then he'll go
on.
He'll walk all the next day togo on to other places and then
they'll hold like a bigconference or something and
he'll stay for a good four days,maybe a week sometimes, and
(25:23):
he'll they'll do classes andstuff up there.
Those are the ones that I do notgo to.
I cannot, I am.
I am not a walk through thewilderness kind of a missionary
wife.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Oh man, I couldn't imagine especially.
I mean, I've not done extensiveresearch on the animal life and
insect life of Panama, but Icould imagine that it would be
pretty interesting.
It's not stuff that I wouldwant to deal with.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
That's one of the things.
Like we have the Fertilance,it's one of the deadliest snakes
in Latin America and they'revery prevalent up there in the
mountains and stuff, and so theindigenous people have a lot of
beliefs about snakes.
That's how many snakes thereare.
A lot of their native religionbeliefs are based around snakes,
so it's not a place I like tobe, very often off of the beaten
(26:21):
path, you know.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So when he's out there, do you have any?
Speaker 4 (26:31):
communication with him we do now.
Um, when they would first start, when he would first start
going and stuff, we didn't nearas much.
But now the government's made alot more effort in the last six
, five, six years to putinternet like starlink in the
schools and stuff in thesecommunities.
So kids might have to walkhours from multiple communities
to get to a larger one, butthere they will have internet
(26:54):
access and stuff like that andso he's never been further than
about an hour walk from internetaccess, which is really nice.
So because those first fewtrips I was, I was a lot more of
a mess, but now that he cankind of talk to me at different
times he just has to get to theschool and access the internet.
It's really nice.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
When you said four days to like a week, I'm like
okay.
So she's sitting there like Idon't know when.
I'll see him again sometimemaybe.
Yeah, that's not my forte.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
I am a worst case scenario a lot of times person.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
I can relate with that I'm not, but I probably
would be in that situation.
So do you think?
I know one of the questionsthat we had kind of written down
was just being a mom on themission field.
Do you think that there's well,I'm sure there are what are
some challenges or somethingthat you've learned about just
motherhood?
That might be different fromyour perspective.
(27:54):
I think.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Well, I don't know if this is it, but I've.
One of the things that I reallylike is that just by me having
had to learn a second language,it really has opened up a whole
new world to me withunderstanding the Bible, just
understanding words more indepth and this and that and the
other, and I think that's beenreally great for my kids as well
, to grow up around multiplecultures, because we have
(28:22):
Mexican family my three oldestwere born in Mexico and some of
my in-laws are Mexican and so wehave a Mexican family and we
live here in Panama and we haveCosta Rican co-workers and we
have so many, so many differentnationalities in our little tiny
town that it's just reallyopened up a whole different
(28:46):
world for them that I didn'thave growing up in rural Ohio
and I just think it's beenreally neat.
We wanted the kids to be bornin Mexico because we knew we
were going to Mexico asmissionaries anyway, and so we
wanted the kids to be born thereto give them another passport,
because Americans are allowed somany places in the world but
not everywhere, and so I don'tknow what the Lord's going to do
(29:11):
with them eventually.
But I love that they have theopportunity through the
different passports that theyhave, but also just through the
upbringing that they're havingto.
You know, do whatever the Lordmight have them do, and it might
just be to go back to theStates and be faithful in church
, and that would be great too.
Just keep trying to tell thekids that they there's nothing
specific that they have to do,but that they just need to
(29:33):
follow the Lord, and I loveseeing how the different
opportunities though here on themission field and ministry and
stuff has just given them moreof a love for the ministry, and
the older that they get, themore they want to be involved,
and I love that because of thenecessity of having needing more
, you know, sunday schoolteachers or whatever.
(29:54):
My oldest daughter has beenteaching Sunday school for a
couple of years now, and now myson, who's the next oldest, he
is start, he's going to startgetting involved and both of
them will teach classes.
When we go up into themountains to churches, they'll
do kids classes and stuff likethat.
Anytime that we host groups,they're translators and it'll
take people, you know, to go outshopping and they'll help them
(30:15):
barter and things like that, andso I don't even know what it
would be like to be a mom in theStates, because I wasn't really
for very long at all, but Ijust think that it's been so
neat having an entirelydifferent worldview than I grew
up with Not that the one I grewup with is bad at all, but just
(30:36):
I just feel like it's so muchmore open and I think that
that's been really awesome forme to get to experience, but
then also really great for thekids.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
I don't know if that answered your question at all,
but no, definitely it does, andI think anytime kids can see a
world that's bigger thanthemselves and bigger than what
their comfort zone, it's goodfor them and benefits them in
the long run.
My, my daughter just went on.
It's so funny.
(31:06):
She went on a missions trip andpeople go, oh where did you go?
And she goes Tennessee.
Oh, but our church did send agroup, our youth went to
Tennessee to help with like avacation, bible school and just
like helping a ministry out um.
But they got to also go intolike memphis and see, just see
(31:28):
things that she would have neverlike, just experienced things
she would have never experiencedbefore.
And even just helping um.
I got a lot of pictures of herlike mopping and and weed eating
and it's just like it's just acouple states over.
But even that I'm like I knowthat just that little bit of her
mind being open to more isgoing to benefit her and seeing
(31:50):
the need for service.
It's not just our church, it'severywhere, everybody there's a
spot for everyone to dosomething.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
And two, you know you're talking about her mopping
and doing all those things likethat is service, that is
ministry.
You know, I think a lot ofpeople come down here sometimes
thinking that they're going todo wonders and thunders, um, and
they end up and they do a lotof grunt work, or you know
they'll, they'll help us pullweeds or they'll help us run the
(32:20):
mower or whatever the thing is,and but it's just because this
is our life, this is just normallife too, but because life is
the same everywhere to a point,and yeah, we still have to mop,
we still have to do all thosethings, and it's, you know, not
to glorify it just because it'shere or anything like that.
But but yeah, I mean, all ofthose little things are service.
(32:41):
We all need to be serving andthat's.
That's great that she got tosee that.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, and I just feel like, when you were saying that
, like that's such a bigger,broader scope and the language
thing, I think is really good,and I wish I had personally
learned another language.
There's just I did, I didSpanish in high school, but
that's about it, so it's goodfor your brain.
If nothing else, it's just goodfor your brain.
There's a lot of people there'sa lot of people at hope's point
(33:05):
though, um, who are trying tolearn spanish right now, just so
you know good, so have to comeback.
Yeah, they were inspired, so,um, I don't know what they're
saying, but I know they'reworking on it I appreciate that
that point of view as well,especially with military.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
I feel like that's kind of a same similar thing
that I have with my kids, likeexperiences that.
Like, like you were saying, Igrew up in New York like one
place, one house, one you know,permanent location, my whole
life, and that's not theexperience that my kids have and
I'm, you know, I can see just alot of different, uh, positive
(33:48):
things that come.
There's negative too, butpositive things that have come
from having a broader scope.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, so what are, what are some ways that we can
specifically pray for you andyour family?
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Uh, definitely some health things.
I am going through a whole lotof random health things that all
stem back to, like geneticconnective tissue disorder thing
that we found out that I havesome answers, which is really
(34:23):
nice.
But also, now that we know thatthey have it too, it's good to
help them figure out how to pacethemselves and not hurt
themselves and whatever.
But also my youngest she'sabout to turn nine.
The doctor thinks that shemight have a tethered spinal
cord.
She's just had a lot of painand a lot of problems and um and
(34:46):
stuff, and so we're trying toget into a neurologist for her.
We're trying to get into aneurologist for me too, for
migraines and stuff like that.
So we just have a whole lot ofrandom health issues that we're
trying to take care of.
But, um, the healthcare systemhere is really different.
And my youngest does haveaccess to the public health care
system because she's a citizenand it would be free.
(35:08):
But public health care, it'sgreat that it's free when they
can actually see you.
If they actually see you, ifthey don't just put you off and
let you die and all the horrorstories that we know with
friends here and stuff like thatyou have to start lining up
before the sun comes up and allthis kind of stuff.
So we're not going to do thatwith her.
But that means that we have togo to a private hospital, which
(35:31):
is obviously more expensive thanfree.
And the nice thing is is wedon't have to go through a
general doctor, get a referraland go to somebody else and get
a referral, like we don't haveto do anything like that.
But but then that means that wehave to.
We'll figure out which one thatwe want to go to.
We have to find it ourselves,we have to.
Okay, we've seen this doctor.
Now let's keep all of thathealth information.
(35:51):
Now we've got to go to thisdoctor and we're going to take
all that health.
Like there's nobody necessarilycentral to go back to um, or at
least not in our case, and soit's just kind of a hard thing
to deal with um on top ofeverything else that we're
dealing with.
So definitely for the healthstuff going on, and then just
also for extended family.
(36:12):
We have extended family on bothsides that are dealing with
some pretty heavy healthsituations and personal
situations that are just reallyheavy on us.
You know you hate they can't bethere for everything, and I
know it doesn't matter where youlive, you can't be there for
everything, but I hate that wecan't be closer than everything.
(36:33):
But speaking about a little bitof that, I am actually going to
Ohio here in just a couple ofdays.
My dad is moving to be near downnear my brother.
He's going to be moving to acouple of states away, so I am
going to go.
I'm going to go do all that Iget to see my grandparents,
which is really nice.
They're going to celebratetheir 70th anniversary, so it'll
(36:55):
be a good trip.
It's going to be kind of a hardtrip but cause we're selling
the house that I grew up in,that stability that I had, so
but um, but it's good, it needsto happen, it's the best, it's
the best for my dad and andeverything like that.
It's just still kind of goingto be a heavy trip.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yeah, are you going by yourself?
Are you taking any of the kidsor?
Speaker 4 (37:17):
I'm going to go by myself.
I'm going to be gone for aboutthree weeks and again, the whole
school thing.
They just got to keep up onschool, exactly.
The nice thing withhomeschooling is is that we take
breaks when we need to, and sowe kind of homeschool year round
, and then, whenever we havegroups come, we take some time
off.
We take off independence daysfor all of the countries that we
(37:37):
belong to, kind of a thing, andbirthdays.
I mean.
If we can choose our days off,why not?
So?
But that means that no one'sgoing with me and they just have
to stay here and do school, sothey're not too thrilled about
that.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Yeah, yeah, those are some pretty pretty heavy prayer
requests.
I know health issues arefrustrating, let alone having to
deal with such a healthcaresituation as far as that stuff
is concerned.
So we will definitely pray foryou all on that, those points.
(38:11):
And also, um, I know we askedMelissa too, but we would like
to ask you guys if somebodywould like who's listening,
would like to give you afinancial gift, um, or something
like that.
Is there some sort of a way wecould like put a link to a place
or whatever where we can sendthem to if they would like to do
(38:34):
that?
Speaker 4 (38:34):
We don't have like a PayPal or Venmo or anything like
that, but we do have onlinegiving through our mission board
.
So yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Well, we will post that, that, and I just want to
say thank you again for beingwilling to sit and talk with us,
and I really appreciate it.
I enjoy learning more aboutyour mission there and it seems
like you, our guys, are reallydoing a great work there, and
it's I mean just being able togo out and reach those people,
(39:06):
groups that are, you know, likeyou were saying, off the beaten
path and stuff.
That's amazing and, yeah, we'lldefinitely continue to keep you
in our purse.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you, and we willsee you guys next time.
Hello and welcome to Simply Edifies podcast.
Our goal is to encourage womenas we navigate the messiness of
life through biblical studies,personal stories and practical
tips that bolster our walk withJesus daily.
Thank you for joining us in ourepisode today.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We are going to continue our series on missions
here and we have Beth Shieldshere from Panama to talk to us
about their life on the missionfield.
So thank you for joining us,beth, and I look forward to
(00:40):
learning a little bit more aboutyour work myself.
I know Esty is familiar, morefamiliar with you guys.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I have got to meet Beth and her beautiful family I.
They came to our church a whileback and our church got to go
to Panama and a missions trip.
I did not get to go but funfact I don't know if you know
this, beth I got entire week offof school as a teacher because
so many of our staff came to seeyou that we had a whole week
(01:09):
off, which was very enjoyablefor us.
I would have rather been withyou guys, but we also have a lot
of mutual friends, and whydon't you tell us about just
your ministry background andyour family?
Just give everybody else alittle bit of an idea of who you
are and what you guys are doing.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
So I'm Beth Shields, my husband is Ethan and we have
four kids Elena, Noah, Sophiaand Julia and they're all about
to have birthdays soon andthey're all going to range from
18 down to nine, and my husbandis a third generation missionary
.
His mom was raised on themission field in Mexico, he was
raised in Mexico and then wehave been missionaries living
full time on the mission fieldsince 2012.
(01:51):
We were in Mexico for severalyears and then we've been in
Panama now for the last nine.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Wow, I did not know that about Mexico.
I did not know.
So, was that just somethinglike as soon as you guys met,
you knew you guys were going tobe back on the mission field.
That had always just been kindof Ethan's plan.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
He just felt since he was in his late teens that God
was kind of leading him back toMexico and everything.
So when we first were likegetting interested in each other
and stuff, and he kind of letme know, literally said, I like
you and it, and if I, and if Ilike you, I would want to like,
date you and maybe even marryyou.
(02:30):
I just need you to know I'd beserious about this, because
we've both been in seriousrelationships before and he's
like, and so just need you toknow that, like I would be, I
want to go back to Mexico as amissionary and that's a hard
life.
Are you up for that?
Like this is what you would besigning up for if we go down
this road.
And the Lord had already beenworking in my heart about some
different things and I didn'tknow if I'd ever end up on the
mission field or not.
(02:50):
But I was totally open to itand I'd already been learning
Spanish for several years justbecause I didn't know I was
going to use it at all.
But I'm very thankful for allthat time I was learning it
before I had to come and use itand stuff.
But so, yeah, we knew thatthat's what we wanted to do and
originally we were going to goand work with his parents for a
while and then kind of move downon our own and work in a
(03:13):
different place.
And God changed a lot ofdifferent things and so we went
to a place further South inMexico right from the beginning
and we tried for several yearsto do everything we're doing
here in Panama but do there andthe Lord was just shutting, door
after door after door afterdoor, and I think it was
definitely a from point A topoint B to get you to point C.
(03:38):
But there's a lot to do at pointB while you're there.
And, um, some of the friendsthat we made, some of the people
that we saw saved, are stillpeople that we love and talk to
on a regular basis andeverything.
And it's so neat to see theirlife changed by the gospel and
know that we had a part in that.
And you know, you don't alwayshave to see the effects of why
(04:00):
God asks you to do something ordoesn't lead necessarily in a
straight path, but it's always anice reminder that even when it
doesn't seem like things areworking the way that you think
they ought to work, or going asquickly as you think they ought
to go, that God's working andusing you for a reason along the
way.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's really interesting.
Well, when we were talking toMelissa on our last podcast, her
story was very different, butalso similar.
It didn't.
It wasn't just a direct leapinto their final destination.
It was a lot of time that wasleading up to it, but it was
purposeful.
Um, but just.
It's not always, you know, frompoint a to point b, just nice
(04:37):
and clear.
So that's interesting.
What were you gonna say?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
um so like from mexico to panama.
How did that happen?
How did that like like leaphappen?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
well, that was very much a a totally god thing,
because we try to keep it reallyshort.
But so we, we built an airplane.
While we were doing deputationstuff, my husband built an
airplane, knowing that that's.
We wanted to use it to be ableto reach the places that maybe
didn't have roads to them ordidn't have electricity into
(05:11):
them.
They weren't easy to get to,kind of a thing just really off
the beaten path.
And so we were in Mexico and,like I said, god closed many,
many doors, very specificallywith aviation and all this kind
of stuff, and so we knew that hewas changing our path entirely
somehow, and we ended up and putthe airplane up for sale as a
(05:32):
very clear okay, god, you'regoing to have to do whatever you
want to do with this.
And if it was only to teach usthe things that we've learned
and to now, if we sell theairplane, have this money to
invest in a property and achurch we'd already been like
serving an entire city and wherewe were going to put a church
in an area that didn't have oneand all this kind of stuff put
the airplane up for sale andwithin a few days we get a phone
(05:55):
call and this guy loves it,wants to buy it, and he was
really like this is great, theprice, full asking price and
everything.
And he was really like this isgreat, the price, full asking
price and everything.
But at the same time, whileEthan's talking to this man, we
(06:15):
got an email and I'm telling I'min the back going because the
our, a friend, a mutual friend,had your brother, ethan's, all
of Ethan's siblings are in theministry as well.
They're on the mission field inMexico and in Aruba and
everything.
And he's he was a friend of hisand he's like I just got back
from taking a group ofuniversity students on a
(06:36):
missions trip to Panama and I'ma pilot too and I'm telling you
I think God could use you inyour airplane here in Panama.
And we were like no, don't wantto do that, that's not on our
bingo card for this year, kindof a thing, and but we couldn't
forget about it, we couldn'tforget about it, we couldn't
forget about it.
And he, basically we, we met upwith him, we talked to him and
(06:57):
all this kind of stuff, and Ijust started crying because I
didn't want to go.
We had a plan, we were workingthe plan kind of a thing, and I
don't do well with changingplans, obviously, but this was a
really big change plan.
My life was very steady until wegot married and went to the
mission field.
Right, lived in the same housemy entire life until we got
married, and then I knew it wasgoing to be an adventure.
(07:18):
I just didn't know how much bigof an adventure, right.
So we ended up and we're like,ok, we're going to go to Panama
and we're going to check thisout, but there has to be a yes
to every single thing or we'renot going to invest years, money
, time, whatever into all ofthis just to see the same thing
(07:38):
happen.
That happened in Mexico.
And we came and we got yesafter yes after yes after yes,
open door after open door afteropen door.
The missionaries that he came tovisit here are missionaries
from Costa Rica and justdoctrinally lined up the exact
same way, all this kind of stuff.
And so within a few weeks wewere back in Mexico, we were
(07:59):
packing up our stuff, we werehaving a yard sale, and then we
headed back to the States for ayear of furlough and then we
moved down here and thingshaven't gone near as quickly as
we would have liked, obviously,but even now we see the reasons
why God's been doing it at thepace he's been doing it, and and
I have to keep telling myselfthat, even if things never work
(08:20):
out the way that I think thatthey should work out, they're
still working out the way hewants them to.
And so just trying to bepatient and then also just be in
the moment, ministry is not allthose things that we're
planning to do, all those thingsthat we want to do or that we
think God wants us to do, orwhatever.
It's in the moment, it's in theeveryday, it's with the people
(08:41):
that we already have here withus that is such a great reminder
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
So what was your hesitation with, with going to
panama?
Was it, um, just because it wasdifferent, or was there
something in particular thatmade you nervous about that area
?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
no, it was just more very unknown, and I didn't want
to make a giant move again.
And we, when we moved, I was,let's see our youngest no, our
youngest, our third child wasjust under two years old when we
left Mexico and then that yearof furlough and then came here,
(09:20):
and so I think I just was in thethroes of I'd gone through some
postpartum depression and Ithink that was really affecting
a lot of everything.
I didn't want to this.
I didn't want to do this.
I wanted to do this thing thatwas going to settle us and I was
going to be happy, becausewhere we were living in Mexico
was two and a half hours awayfrom the city, so it was two and
(09:41):
a half hours away from ourpediatrician.
It was two and a half hours awayfrom the city, so it was two
and a half hours away from ourpediatrician.
It was two and a half hoursaway from large grocery stores,
from a dentist that did morethan a few things, you know that
kind of stuff, and so I thinkwe already had contacts there.
We already had people that wewere doing Bible studies with
and everything in the area, andso I think it was just more the
fact that I wanted thatstability and I didn't want to
(10:04):
uproot my entire life again togo somewhere else.
But it's definitely somethingthat God wanted us to do and I'm
so thankful we did.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
I mean, I think back to whenApril and I had so many toddlers
amongst us running around andthere were things that just was.
It just seemed like too much.
You know so many things, butlike too much, and I can only
imagine trying to wrap my brainaround an entire move to a brand
new country and yeah, even thefurlough.
(10:36):
I was just thinking of you guyson furlough traveling with a
two-year-old and that's a lotyeah.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, it really is.
Now that we're here and we'resettled and stuff, it's been a
lot nicer because we only goback all of us if there's
something else to go to.
If the church is going to flyall of us in we'll go, obviously
, or if there is a familywedding or something really
important that we all need to goto, then we've all gone before.
(11:07):
My mom passed away from cancerseveral years ago and so we went
and we spent several monthswith her before she passed away
and stuff like that.
But for the most part now, withthe kids all being bigger, it
would be easier to go.
But now school, school.
It's really hard to stay up inschool and so we've been just
doing smaller trips or Ethan'sbeen going by himself, and
(11:28):
that's been so much nicer.
What do your kids do for school?
Bob Jones University Press.
Okay, so you do homeschool them?
Yeah, we do homeschool.
There are some good schoolshere in Panama.
There are, but there are nonein our area.
There are several publicschools.
They're just not as nice assome of the other school
districts that are around andyeah, so I'm very, very, very
(11:52):
thankful for the opportunity tohomeschool our kids, even though
it might drive me insane somedays.
I am very thankful for it.
There was a lady in the churchthat I grew up with that I just
love to pieces.
She was she is the best thingever and she told me that she
thought I'd be a good teacherand I had to interview her for
(12:16):
something before I left highschool.
And she said she grew up in themission field and she said that
she had studied to be a teacherin case God ever called her
back to the mission field, thatshe would be more equipped to
teach her own children becauseshe had been sent off to like a
boarding school.
And I thought that's reallycool.
I guess that's really practicaland that's why I studied to be
(12:39):
a teacher is because of her.
And it's been so nice, becauseI don't always feel adequate
anyway with all the things thatI'm doing with the kids, but at
least I feel a little bit moreprepared.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, that's really cool.
I figured you probably did, butI wasn't 100% sure.
Your whole life has been alittle uprooted recently with
the house moving and everything,but I can imagine trying to be
in traditional school would bevery difficult right now oh yeah
with your kids, like how dothey do like with the different
(13:13):
culture?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I mean, they've been, you've been there for a while
now.
I'm sure they've kind of gottenadjusted and all the things.
But how, how is that?
Speaker 4 (13:20):
um, in some ways we are still different.
We're always going to be reallydifferent, and partially
because the kids have gone backand forth to the States a lot in
their lives, but for the mostpart we're all really used to
living here.
My youngest is the one who wasborn here.
She is definitely very muchfrom here in a lot of ways
(13:41):
because she when we first got sofor those who don't know we
just built a house finally andwe just moved in about a month
ago and now we have airconditioning for the first time
in forever and my youngest-.
It took forever to get used tothe air conditioning.
She was so cute.
We have it set at.
It's probably, I think, 76-ish,something like that.
(14:04):
I don't know what theequivalent is, but Anne, she's
always like Mommy, Mommy, I amso cold.
Do we have long sleeves or ablanket somewhere?
So she's definitely myPanamanian baby.
We went to Mexico last year tovisit my in-laws because it was
their 50th wedding anniversaryand like a ministry anniversary
(14:27):
as well, and so the thing wasthe whole family got together,
from all the different countries, all got together, and it was
amazing and she the youngest,she just struggled with the food
, Like she liked it okay, butshe kept going can't we just
have like some plain rice andbeans?
And they eat a lot of rice andbeans in Mexico too, but it just
wasn't the same kind and shejust was like I just miss the
(14:47):
food from home.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
They're so cute.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Can you say again what someone from Panama is
called?
You said she's your.
Yeah, I don't think I wouldhave said that.
I think I would have said.
I don't know what I would havesaid now, but that just struck
me like I.
It just sounded different thanI was expecting.
That's so funny.
I wish my children would askfor rice and beans chicken
(15:17):
nuggets.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I think her and my son would get along, because he
loves rice, but which he does.
He didn't love rice until wemoved to hawaii and they have a
lot of rice here, like a ton ofrice, like you can get rice as a
side at mcdonald's instead offries.
Yeah, he loves rice, it's justall.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
So what was the hardest thing, like culturally?
I know you you had spent timein Mexico so you'd already had
one kind of culture change what?
What was the hardest thingcoming to Panama for you?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I don't know, I mean you know, I think for me,
because the only two places I'dever spent a lot of time
obviously was the US, where Igrew up, and then Mexico.
But Panama is very much a mixof both of those cultures for me
, because it's the Latinoculture, but yet Panama has such
(16:12):
a history with the UnitedStates that there's a lot of
American influence, and sothere's a lot of things that I
was really familiar with whichwas really nice to come to.
We can still find certainMexican products or even certain
American products, which isreally nice.
So where we lived and where myhusband grew up are both like
cold climates in Mexico, and sopeople there typically build
(16:35):
their houses and everything muchbigger, because they're going
to live inside their houses andtry to stay warm inside their
houses, and so they're very warmand inviting, like they invite
people in and people just comeby and will knock and come and
visit and all that kind of stuff, and here it's not really like
that at all.
It's very, very, very hot.
So people here the cheapest wayto build is block walls and a
(16:59):
tin roof, no insulation of anykind, and so it's always really,
really hot inside the house.
So people build their houses alot smaller, but then they have,
like maybe, a larger porch orthey'll just make an outdoor
area, or even they'll go to thepoint where they're just going
to cook outside.
They'll have like an outdoorkitchen, you know, where they
just cook with firewood and cookoutside and everything, and so
(17:22):
there isn't near as much of ainvite you in kind of a culture
here.
So it kind of took us a littlewhile longer to get used to that
that people.
People seemed at first not asfriendly, but that's because we
were used to people beingfriendly and inviting in a
different way.
People here are friendly andinviting.
(17:42):
It's just in a different waythan we had expected it, and so
it took us a long while to seethat.
But there's just a lot oflittle things that are different
.
When, like when people are upsetabout something or they want
something, people will get agroup, whether it's like 10
people or whether it's a couplehundred people and they'll go
out to the Pan American Highway.
(18:04):
It's the only road that runseast to west through Panama,
because Panama is narrow andskinny and you've got the
Atlantic Ocean, you've got themountains and then you've got
the Pacific Ocean, and sothere's really only one place
really, that the road can go,and so people will go up to the
highway and they'll block it,and that can last anywhere from
30 minutes to the longest we'vehad was six weeks and you can't
(18:27):
get in and out of town.
No supplies come in, anythinglike that, and that that was
really frustrating because itsometimes it doesn't happen for
months and then other times ithappens, like I said, nonstop
for weeks, or it'll happen everycouple of days or and so it was
really hard to find thatbalance between stocking up on
(18:47):
different things but not takingit to an extreme, or like
stocking up and being preparedfor all those kinds of things,
but then not freaking myself outand hyperventilating about the
fact that, oh my goodness, Ican't get out, as if I had some
weird trauma in the past aboutthat, you know, or whatever.
But um, it just really itreally has been something that's
(19:10):
been kind of hard to get usedto yeah, that would be for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I get claustrophobic just watching, like whenever
there's a hurricane in floridaor something like that and the
traffic is blocked, I panic.
I don't live anywhere nearthere.
There's like 10 roads beside.
I could go five differentdirections from my house, you
know.
But that stresses me out justto watch those like news updates
(19:36):
.
So I I can see why that wouldbe very, very frustrating.
And you gave me a little bit ofgeography lesson because I
haven't really thought too muchabout how animals laid out, so
that was so interesting too.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
You understand, like hawaii is a little bit like that
too, isn't it april as far as,like the roads are kind of yeah,
there's like um, basically liketwo I guess, if you count the
other one is three but threemain roads here in oahu.
So it is kind of one of thoselike the traffic gets backed up
(20:11):
like crazy and there's certaintimes where you're just like I'm
not even going to bother, I'mnot going to go anywhere, but no
, not like the aspect of peopleprotesting type thing.
But yes, definitely with youknow, you're kind of trapped,
you're like, oh well, I guessthat road's no longer able to be
(20:31):
used.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
So do you is the area where you live, somewhere that
you drive most of the time Doyou walk mostly?
Speaker 4 (20:41):
It's mostly driving.
Everything here is a little bitmore spread out because we are
not in the city.
So Panama City is about five,six hours to the east of us, and
then one of I don't know ifit's the second or third largest
city in the country is about anhour west of us, and so we're
in a really rural area.
We're in a cattle province.
(21:01):
A lot of cattle, a lot of rice,a lot of just anything that
they can grow and cultivate.
This whole area does that.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So what are the people like in a more rural area
as opposed to the city area,like do you have different
struggles, I guess, as far aslike reaching them, as than you
would with in the city, or is itkind of not much of a
difference?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I do think it is kind of different because we do have
several friends, because we goto we go to the city that's
nearest us on a pretty regularbasis for different things or
for doctors or the hospital.
Is there that kind of a thing?
And the poor of the person?
It seems to us in ourexperience that they just seem
(21:50):
to be more open, typically tothe gospel, because they know
they have needs.
You know, or the people a lotof people that we work with are
so poor that they're used toasking for help and so when it
comes to you know, the gospeland this and that and the other,
they realize, oh, oh, I have aproblem and I need Christ.
(22:13):
Yeah, that tracks Like I have alot of problems in my life.
I have needs, yeah, okay, butthe more money that people have,
it seems like they're moreclosed off to that thing because
they feel like they canprobably fix it themselves.
They're more used to gettingsolutions, like paying for
solutions or or you know thatkind of a thing.
I don't know if that makes anysense.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah for sure, definitely Jesus dealt with that
.
So so, yeah, it makes sense.
But I know when our church wasdown there they said um,
specifically like the ladies,when they were speaking with the
ladies they loved the girlladies very much, um, but they
said they don't typically likeopen up very easily.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
yeah, they're pretty quiet um until they get to know
you really well.
Now it's a lot different.
Now it's like they'll share orthey'll hug or this or that and
the other.
But when you try to because weso we have a main church that we
work with our Costa Ricancoworkers he's the pastor of the
(23:15):
church and then my husband'sthe assistant pastor, and that
kind of allows us to be able togo out and minister into a whole
bunch of churches that are upin this indigenous reservation
to the north of us.
And so anytime we go into thesedifferent churches up in the
indigenous reservation and stuffand try to, you know, have
different classes or whatnot,when it's one of the first times
that they're seeing me or evenmy husband or something, they,
(23:36):
they really they don'tparticipate very much.
They really they don'tparticipate very much.
They don't, they don't talk awhole lot.
Of course, the further that yougo into the mountains too,
though, the less Spanish thatthey know.
They speak their nativelanguage and stuff like that.
So that also has to do with ita little bit as well.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Oh yeah for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
How often do you guys go up into those different
areas with the more nativespeaking peoples and stuff?
Speaker 4 (23:59):
It really just depends.
Our summer here is from Januarythrough May and then the rains
start and then the rains runthrough December pretty much.
So we typically are up there alot more in the summertime just
because you can get there on theroads a lot better.
Some of the roads are paved, alot of the roads are paved, a
lot of the roads are not, andthen a lot of the places past
(24:20):
that don't have roads at all,and so we go up a lot more
during the summer and then theyhave like a pastor's Bible
Institute.
Every two weeks or so myhusband's involved in an
association of pastors and stufflike that, and so just trying
to disciple these pastors alittle bit more, because a lot
(24:41):
of them are pastors because theywere willing and because they
had been saved longer than otherpeople had been saved, and so
when this group of you knowbelievers wanted to pastor,
they're like, well, he should doit because he's been a
Christian the longest orsomething like that.
So that's one of the mainfocuses that we have is just
trying to really help educatethem and to ground them in sound
(25:01):
doctrine and stuff.
And then occasionally myhusband will go and he will
drive in as far as he can parkhis truck, walk, spend the night
with one of the pastors attheir village, and then he'll go
on.
He'll walk all the next day togo on to other places and then
they'll hold like a bigconference or something and
he'll stay for a good four days,maybe a week sometimes, and
(25:23):
he'll they'll do classes andstuff up there.
Those are the ones that I do notgo to.
I cannot, I am.
I am not a walk through thewilderness kind of a missionary
wife.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Oh man, I couldn't imagine especially.
I mean, I've not done extensiveresearch on the animal life and
insect life of Panama, but Icould imagine that it would be
pretty interesting.
It's not stuff that I wouldwant to deal with.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
That's one of the things.
Like we have the Fertilance,it's one of the deadliest snakes
in Latin America and they'revery prevalent up there in the
mountains and stuff, and so theindigenous people have a lot of
beliefs about snakes.
That's how many snakes thereare.
A lot of their native religionbeliefs are based around snakes,
so it's not a place I like tobe, very often off of the beaten
(26:21):
path, you know.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So when he's out there, do you have any?
Speaker 4 (26:31):
communication with him we do now.
Um, when they would first start, when he would first start
going and stuff, we didn't nearas much.
But now the government's made alot more effort in the last six
, five, six years to putinternet like starlink in the
schools and stuff in thesecommunities.
So kids might have to walkhours from multiple communities
to get to a larger one, butthere they will have internet
(26:54):
access and stuff like that andso he's never been further than
about an hour walk from internetaccess, which is really nice.
So because those first fewtrips I was, I was a lot more of
a mess, but now that he cankind of talk to me at different
times he just has to get to theschool and access the internet.
It's really nice.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
When you said four days to like a week, I'm like
okay.
So she's sitting there like Idon't know when.
I'll see him again sometimemaybe.
Yeah, that's not my forte.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
I am a worst case scenario a lot of times person.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
I can relate with that I'm not, but I probably
would be in that situation.
So do you think?
I know one of the questionsthat we had kind of written down
was just being a mom on themission field.
Do you think that there's well,I'm sure there are what are
some challenges or somethingthat you've learned about just
motherhood?
That might be different fromyour perspective.
(27:54):
I think.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Well, I don't know if this is it, but I've.
One of the things that I reallylike is that just by me having
had to learn a second language,it really has opened up a whole
new world to me withunderstanding the Bible, just
understanding words more indepth and this and that and the
other, and I think that's beenreally great for my kids as well
, to grow up around multiplecultures, because we have
(28:22):
Mexican family my three oldestwere born in Mexico and some of
my in-laws are Mexican and so wehave a Mexican family and we
live here in Panama and we haveCosta Rican co-workers and we
have so many, so many differentnationalities in our little tiny
town that it's just reallyopened up a whole different
(28:46):
world for them that I didn'thave growing up in rural Ohio
and I just think it's beenreally neat.
We wanted the kids to be bornin Mexico because we knew we
were going to Mexico asmissionaries anyway, and so we
wanted the kids to be born thereto give them another passport,
because Americans are allowed somany places in the world but
not everywhere, and so I don'tknow what the Lord's going to do
(29:11):
with them eventually.
But I love that they have theopportunity through the
different passports that theyhave, but also just through the
upbringing that they're havingto.
You know, do whatever the Lordmight have them do, and it might
just be to go back to theStates and be faithful in church
, and that would be great too.
Just keep trying to tell thekids that they there's nothing
specific that they have to do,but that they just need to
(29:33):
follow the Lord, and I loveseeing how the different
opportunities though here on themission field and ministry and
stuff has just given them moreof a love for the ministry, and
the older that they get, themore they want to be involved,
and I love that because of thenecessity of having needing more
, you know, sunday schoolteachers or whatever.
(29:54):
My oldest daughter has beenteaching Sunday school for a
couple of years now, and now myson, who's the next oldest, he
is start, he's going to startgetting involved and both of
them will teach classes.
When we go up into themountains to churches, they'll
do kids classes and stuff likethat.
Anytime that we host groups,they're translators and it'll
take people, you know, to go outshopping and they'll help them
(30:15):
barter and things like that, andso I don't even know what it
would be like to be a mom in theStates, because I wasn't really
for very long at all, but Ijust think that it's been so
neat having an entirelydifferent worldview than I grew
up with Not that the one I grewup with is bad at all, but just
(30:36):
I just feel like it's so muchmore open and I think that
that's been really awesome forme to get to experience, but
then also really great for thekids.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
I don't know if that answered your question at all,
but no, definitely it does, andI think anytime kids can see a
world that's bigger thanthemselves and bigger than what
their comfort zone, it's goodfor them and benefits them in
the long run.
My, my daughter just went on.
It's so funny.
(31:06):
She went on a missions trip andpeople go, oh where did you go?
And she goes Tennessee.
Oh, but our church did send agroup, our youth went to
Tennessee to help with like avacation, bible school and just
like helping a ministry out um.
But they got to also go intolike memphis and see, just see
(31:28):
things that she would have neverlike, just experienced things
she would have never experiencedbefore.
And even just helping um.
I got a lot of pictures of herlike mopping and and weed eating
and it's just like it's just acouple states over.
But even that I'm like I knowthat just that little bit of her
mind being open to more isgoing to benefit her and seeing
(31:50):
the need for service.
It's not just our church, it'severywhere, everybody there's a
spot for everyone to dosomething.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
And two, you know you're talking about her mopping
and doing all those things likethat is service, that is
ministry.
You know, I think a lot ofpeople come down here sometimes
thinking that they're going todo wonders and thunders, um, and
they end up and they do a lotof grunt work, or you know
they'll, they'll help us pullweeds or they'll help us run the
(32:20):
mower or whatever the thing is,and but it's just because this
is our life, this is just normallife too, but because life is
the same everywhere to a point,and yeah, we still have to mop,
we still have to do all thosethings, and it's, you know, not
to glorify it just because it'shere or anything like that.
But but yeah, I mean, all ofthose little things are service.
(32:41):
We all need to be serving andthat's.
That's great that she got tosee that.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, and I just feel like, when you were saying that
, like that's such a bigger,broader scope and the language
thing, I think is really good,and I wish I had personally
learned another language.
There's just I did, I didSpanish in high school, but
that's about it, so it's goodfor your brain.
If nothing else, it's just goodfor your brain.
There's a lot of people there'sa lot of people at hope's point
(33:05):
though, um, who are trying tolearn spanish right now, just so
you know good, so have to comeback.
Yeah, they were inspired, so,um, I don't know what they're
saying, but I know they'reworking on it I appreciate that
that point of view as well,especially with military.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
I feel like that's kind of a same similar thing
that I have with my kids, likeexperiences that.
Like, like you were saying, Igrew up in New York like one
place, one house, one you know,permanent location, my whole
life, and that's not theexperience that my kids have and
I'm, you know, I can see just alot of different, uh, positive
(33:48):
things that come.
There's negative too, butpositive things that have come
from having a broader scope.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, so what are, what are some ways that we can
specifically pray for you andyour family?
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Uh, definitely some health things.
I am going through a whole lotof random health things that all
stem back to, like geneticconnective tissue disorder thing
that we found out that I havesome answers, which is really
(34:23):
nice.
But also, now that we know thatthey have it too, it's good to
help them figure out how to pacethemselves and not hurt
themselves and whatever.
But also my youngest she'sabout to turn nine.
The doctor thinks that shemight have a tethered spinal
cord.
She's just had a lot of painand a lot of problems and um and
(34:46):
stuff, and so we're trying toget into a neurologist for her.
We're trying to get into aneurologist for me too, for
migraines and stuff like that.
So we just have a whole lot ofrandom health issues that we're
trying to take care of.
But, um, the healthcare systemhere is really different.
And my youngest does haveaccess to the public health care
system because she's a citizenand it would be free.
(35:08):
But public health care, it'sgreat that it's free when they
can actually see you.
If they actually see you, ifthey don't just put you off and
let you die and all the horrorstories that we know with
friends here and stuff like thatyou have to start lining up
before the sun comes up and allthis kind of stuff.
So we're not going to do thatwith her.
But that means that we have togo to a private hospital, which
(35:31):
is obviously more expensive thanfree.
And the nice thing is is wedon't have to go through a
general doctor, get a referraland go to somebody else and get
a referral, like we don't haveto do anything like that.
But but then that means that wehave to.
We'll figure out which one thatwe want to go to.
We have to find it ourselves,we have to.
Okay, we've seen this doctor.
Now let's keep all of thathealth information.
(35:51):
Now we've got to go to thisdoctor and we're going to take
all that health.
Like there's nobody necessarilycentral to go back to um, or at
least not in our case, and soit's just kind of a hard thing
to deal with um on top ofeverything else that we're
dealing with.
So definitely for the healthstuff going on, and then just
also for extended family.
(36:12):
We have extended family on bothsides that are dealing with
some pretty heavy healthsituations and personal
situations that are just reallyheavy on us.
You know you hate they can't bethere for everything, and I
know it doesn't matter where youlive, you can't be there for
everything, but I hate that wecan't be closer than everything.
(36:33):
But speaking about a little bitof that, I am actually going to
Ohio here in just a couple ofdays.
My dad is moving to be near downnear my brother.
He's going to be moving to acouple of states away, so I am
going to go.
I'm going to go do all that Iget to see my grandparents,
which is really nice.
They're going to celebratetheir 70th anniversary, so it'll
(36:55):
be a good trip.
It's going to be kind of a hardtrip but cause we're selling
the house that I grew up in,that stability that I had, so
but um, but it's good, it needsto happen, it's the best, it's
the best for my dad and andeverything like that.
It's just still kind of goingto be a heavy trip.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yeah, are you going by yourself?
Are you taking any of the kidsor?
Speaker 4 (37:17):
I'm going to go by myself.
I'm going to be gone for aboutthree weeks and again, the whole
school thing.
They just got to keep up onschool, exactly.
The nice thing withhomeschooling is is that we take
breaks when we need to, and sowe kind of homeschool year round
, and then, whenever we havegroups come, we take some time
off.
We take off independence daysfor all of the countries that we
(37:37):
belong to, kind of a thing, andbirthdays.
I mean.
If we can choose our days off,why not?
So?
But that means that no one'sgoing with me and they just have
to stay here and do school, sothey're not too thrilled about
that.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Yeah, yeah, those are some pretty pretty heavy prayer
requests.
I know health issues arefrustrating, let alone having to
deal with such a healthcaresituation as far as that stuff
is concerned.
So we will definitely pray foryou all on that, those points.
(38:11):
And also, um, I know we askedMelissa too, but we would like
to ask you guys if somebodywould like who's listening,
would like to give you afinancial gift, um, or something
like that.
Is there some sort of a way wecould like put a link to a place
or whatever where we can sendthem to if they would like to do
(38:34):
that?
Speaker 4 (38:34):
We don't have like a PayPal or Venmo or anything like
that, but we do have onlinegiving through our mission board
.
So yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Well, we will post that, that, and I just want to
say thank you again for beingwilling to sit and talk with us,
and I really appreciate it.
I enjoy learning more aboutyour mission there and it seems
like you, our guys, are reallydoing a great work there, and
it's I mean just being able togo out and reach those people,
(39:06):
groups that are, you know, likeyou were saying, off the beaten
path and stuff.
That's amazing and, yeah, we'lldefinitely continue to keep you
in our purse.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you, and we willsee you guys next time.
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