Sueños palpan paredes oscuras
Duermen serenos ensueños
Hablan dormidos los sentimientos
Juegan su juego de amadas locuras
Implacables bocas susurran lamentos.
*
Silencio nocturno en un párpado abierto
Empaña una lagrima escapada
Deslumbre del alma embelesada
Que llora, que clama en su desdichado lecho
Ven pronto mi pedacito de cielo.
*
Calmada piel exhausta despierta
Encendida en una avalancha de amor
Inunda su sediento huerto un cándido deseo
Arrodillado llora junto a una puerta
Sellada con un misterioso beso
Nacido en el corazón.
*
Disimulado anhelo abraza un espíritu
Reza el alma un triste soneto
Adornando su altar aromado en ilusión
Ensartado en una espina cristalina
Agua y sangre mezclan su sabor
*
*
Sueños palpan paredes oscuras
Irradiando lo negro de la noche.
*
*

Margarita GTZ

“Toco tu boca, con un dedo toco el borde de tu boca, voy dibujándola como si saliera de mi mano, como si por primera vez tu boca se entreabriera, y me basta cerrar los ojos para deshacerlo todo y recomenzar, hago nacer cada vez la boca que deseo, la boca que mi mano elige y te dibuja en la cara, una boca elegida entre todas, con soberana libertad elegida por mí, para dibujarla con mi mano en tu cara, y que por un azar que no busco comprender, coincide exactamente con tu boca que sonríe por debajo de la que mi mano te dibuja.

Me miras, de cerca me miras, cada vez más de cerca, y entonces jugamos al cíclope, nos miramos cada vez más de cerca y los ojos se agrandan, se acercan entre sí, se superponen y los cíclopes se miran, respirando confundidos, las bocas se encuentran y luchan tibiamente, mordiéndose con los labios, apoyando apenas la lengua en los dientes, jugando en sus recintos donde un aire pesado va y viene con perfume viejo y un silencio. Entonces mis manos buscan hundirse en tu pelo, acariciar lentamente la profundidad de tu pelo mientras nos besamos como si tuviéramos la boca llena de flores o de peces, de movimientos vivos, de fragancia oscura. Y si nos mordemos, el dolor es dulce, y si nos ahogamos en un breve y terrible absorber simultáneo de aliento, esa instantánea muerte es bella. Y hay una sola saliva y un solo sabor a fruta madura, y yo te siento temblar contra mí como una luna en el agua”.

Julio Cortázar (Argentina, 1914- 1984 )
Texto tomado de Rayuela

Imagen: El beso de Gustav Klimt

¨Gustav Klimt (14 de julio, 1862 – 6 de febrero, 1918) fue un pintor simbolista austríaco,  y uno de los más conspicuos representantes del movimiento modernista de la secesión vienesa.  Klimt pintó lienzos y murales con un estilo personal muy ornamentado, que también manifestó a través de objetos de artesanía, como los que se encuentran reunidos en la Galería de la Secesión vienesa.  Intelectualmente afín a cierto ideario romántico, Klimt encontró en el desnudo femenino una de sus más recurrentes fuentes de inspiración.  Sus obras están dotadas de una intensa energía sensual, reflejada con especial claridad en sus numerosos apuntes y esbozos a lápiz, en cierto modo herederos de la tradición de dibujos eróticos de Rodin e Ingres. Klimt se convirtió en un personaje muy notable en la alta sociedad vienesa, y estuvo relacionado de un modo u otro con los más notables círculos intelectuales del momento, en una época en la que Viena estaba dejando de ser la capital mundial del arte¨.

People believe that your face will “freeze” and never go back to normal again!
If it is not the face, at least a finger or two.
The same you might hear for trying to open a fridge after a good exercise session, right when you need a little cold sip of water.
Even a hot shower is too hot! SO be careful, you might get harmed by a Panamanian fridge.

People  actually know people to really proof for it.
It always is their moms’ sisters’ best friends’ daughters’ father or some other strange connection but it really is that way.

Pretty hard to believe for me, I remember myself going to the sauna a lot. Especially in winter. After 5-10 minutes in the 100C° sauna we used to jump into a freezing pool. My face is still fine.

It’s supposed to be the high temperature difference.

So how do people in northern Europe look? Their faces should be really messed up after so many winters, -10C° outside, 20C° inside the house. That’s 30°C of difference to me…

Well yes, just another thing to think about…

gotta love Panama,

always a fun thing to discuss

In my posts last week I focused on spiritual thoughts because that is the important part of our trips. Tonight I want to describe some of the fun stuff.

Bocas is a beautiful town. I described it in an earlier post. However, Bocas Del Toro is a town on the island of Colon. It is a very touristy town. Lots of young people vacation there. The cost of living is very comparable to the United States.

Several times during the week we were asked if we wanted to buy marijuana. Prostitution is also very prevalent. This is one of the reasons so many young people go there. Alcoholism is also a problem among the locals.

There are two main cultures, Jamaican and central American Indian. Lots of people have parents from both cultures. Most of the Jamaican folks speak Spanish and English.

Our hotel was owned and run by a nice lady named Carla. The staff was extremely nice and helpful. The hotel sits right on the waterfront. It has 11 rooms with 4 having balconies. Our room had a balcony over the water. I got up early on three mornings and watched the sun rise. It was amazing!

We ate a number of meals in the hotel restaurant. On several nights a guy named Calypso Joe played guitar for tips. ( http://db.tt/dVxHfV5 )

There were several other restaurants in town that we frequented. One was called the Golden Grill. It was owned by a man from Georgia.

The booths along the street selling souvenirs were neat. Lots of tshirts and bracelets along with carvings and other items.

I’ve attached several photos of the group having fun. Tomorrow I’ll post about the Panama Canal.

In Him,
Heath

We are now on our way home. We are at the hotel in Panama City tonight and tomorrow night. We’ll be back in East Ridge by.     5 p. m. on Saturday.

Today has been fairly easy. We left Bocas at around 9 and were checked into the hotel by noon. While swimming was not allowed, somehow some of us ‘fell’ in the pool fully clothed. So, we were obligated to play volleyball in the pool.

In my opinion, this has been a great trip. I got to know some new friends in Panama and made some new friends among our group. There are some really special young people on this trip. I feel very fortunate to be on this trip. I saw some beautiful places and did some fun things. However, the greatest part of this trip has been watching the power of the Gospel.

At the airport this morning, the congregation showed up to see us off. We held an impromptu singing in the airport. It gave me chills. Several people stopped to listen. After the singing, there were lots of tears and hugs as we said our goodbyes.

This past few months I’ve quietly taken inventory of certain things in my life. This trip helped confirm some things I was already thinking about. Focusing on material things is pointless. Appreciating those around you and enjoying serving the Lord is the point. He gave us a purpose and He created us to be our happiest when we live our lives by His agenda. I’m not where I want to be in this area, but each day is a new day.

Loving Him and His,
Heath

Today seemed to go by too quickly. Some folks went by boat to the island where the building campaign was held earlier this year. Some folks travelled by bus to Bocas Del Drago. (Translated ‘mouth of the dragon’)

Four of us remained in Bocas to round out the final day of evangelism. We continued to hand out flyers for the campaign on the street and from house to house.

We hired a boat to take us to a close island so we could hand out flyers there as well. While there I met two Bama fans. They were young guys who started their own software consulting business while in college. They are working via the internet and living in the tropics.

I also met a young lady whose pet was a sloth. (See the picture.) It was kind of cute.

Tonight we held the last meeting. Allen Pitchford from East Ridge spoke. There were 4 or 5 restorations and 4 baptisms! That brings the total to 6 or 7 restorations and 5 or 6 baptisms. Hearts were definitely touched by this campaign.

So many thanks go out to the congregations that gave us financial support and prayers. This is your work to God’s glory.

Tomorrow we will fly back to Panama City and rest at the hotel. We will tour the Panama Canal on Friday and then fly home on Saturday.

It was sad to say goodbye to our new friends tonight. It’s amazing how quickly bonds are formed on these trips. Even with a language barrier, common ground in Christ creates love that cannot be explained outside of the Lord.

Missing Bocas Already,
Heath

i want to tell stories about the differences of culture im living every single day.
i write about things that make me laugh, wonder or just make me wanne catch the next plane back to europe.

Panamas’  culture is so different to where i come from and sometimes its just hard to believe and react to things that people say, do and actually believe in.

i created this to share it with someone. someone who might be interested in it, someone who feels the same.

but in the end
- you just Gotta Love Panama

Thanks for all the prayers for safe travel. We are all checked in Are the hotel in Bocas. The hotel is beautiful and the people are very friendly.

4:00 came too early this morning. We rode on buses to another airport for the flight to Bocas. As you can see by the photos,  Andrew and I were arrested… just kidding. The flight went well. The air strip in Bocas goes right through the center of town. It was pretty interesting.

The hotel is beautiful. Our room has a balcony right over the water! What a view!

We are going to eat in a little while and will hold our first vbs this afternoon.

More to come later. Until then, I’m kicking back on the dock watching Paradise!

In Him,
Heath

We are on our way to Atlanta! Pray for our  safe travel. We will get to our hotel at 11 tonight if things go as planned.

We rise at 4 tomorrow morning for our flight to Bocas.

I’ll try to post more pics and details from the airport hotel tonight.

Please pray for our travels to be safe.

In Him,
Heath

We are all very excited about this trip. Three of us have  been on mission trips to Central America. Yet, this will be a very different type of trip. Our previous trips have been medical mission trips to Nicaragua. On those trips we set up a medical clinic and operation for four very full days providing much needed care to the community. In Panama, we will be traveling by boat each day to one or two islands conducting Vacation Bible Schools for the young children and Youth Rallies for the teens. In addition, Tim and I will be specifically involved in home Bible studies. We will team up with local preachers and interpreters so that these studies can be conducted in the most effective means possible.

While these trips are very enjoyable, they are also filled with lots of hard work. The heat is very extreme compared to Tennessee and requires us to hydrate often. There are lots of opportunities to serve that fall outside of our plans. We hope that you will pray for our efforts that we can plant lots of ‘seed’ for the Lord to water.

I plan on updating this blog on a daily basis, most often in the evenings before we go to bed. Feel free to check back for updates, pass the link to those who may be interested, and add comments of encouragement to our team.

To His glory,

Heath

So our bus ride got cut a little short this morning. All through the night I tossed and turned as the bus swerved around sharp corner in the mountian. At 6am, 10 hours after the beginning of 10 hour trip, I noticed that I was deep asleep and the bus had stopped moving. People were getting off the bus to see what was happening. We were apparently no more than 40km from our destination but something was blocking the road.

A group of local people had cut down large trees and blockaded the road to Chingiloua. Be adventurous ethnographers, die and I went down to the blockade to try and get an idea of how long we were going to be stuck. In the end we found out that there was some sort of protest going on and we were not gonna be getting through anytime soon.

The only solution was to break the line to the other side and catch the buses that were turning around. As we passed through the contested area I noticed the protesters drinking what looked like jet black coffee out of bottles of water fashioned into cups. We made it to the other side without incident and a short bus ride and 20 min boat ride we are here at hostel Heike eating pancakes and looking for our apartment

La lucha sigue!

I’m on the bus to bocas right now typing away trying to stay sane on this 10 hour bus ride!

Food was a welcome improvement today. For 2 bucks me dieski and I made a pretty rocking pasta dish that did the trick for lunch. Dinner was got dogs Panamanian style, topped with onions, mayo, ketchup and mustard, yummmm. The dogs were really a work of art and the only non U.S. franchise in the food court of the bus station.

Hot dogs are a lot like baseball to me. We associate both hot dogs and baseball with being very emblematic of America but both are vastly more popular out side the good ol’ U S of A. The Yanks seem to be the big team here but for my money I still like our boys from dallas, Go Rangers!