Panama

El Progreso Church
& Child Development Center

El Progreso, Chorrera, Panama

 

Work & Witness Team, Spring 2018 Update

  • Thirty team members, aged 12 to 70+, spent nine days doing construction, hosting Vacation Bible School, delivering medical help and distributing much-needed shoes.

  • Collectively, we carried about 1,200 pounds of medicines, 500 pairs of The Shoe That Grows, Bibles, backpacks full of school supplies, and construction tools all in our luggage.

  • 389 patients were seen in 4 days of medical clinics at 3 locations, with nearly all receiving some amount of vitamins or medications

  • 280 pairs of Shoes That Grow distributed at 3 locations including Playa Chiquita (where about 100 of the shoes were distributed) as well as being distributed at the medical clinics

  • 144 backpacks with school supplies were distributed, primarily at El Progreso

  • 140 Spanish language Bibles provided to the El Progreso Church for use by the congregation or to be distributed to those who don’t own one

  • 4 days of Vacation Bible School held, with 80-120 children each day. Most importantly, 30 children and 5 mothers committed their lives to Christ as part of the VBS program!

  • The ongoing construction continues to take place.

Work & Witness Team, 2017 Summary

  • El Progreso is a church outside of Panama City, serving the community for 30 years.

  • They have planted five churches from this location, and would like to expand part of their facility into a two story addition, to increase their ministry to the community, with similarities to our church’s prior project in Rancho Arriba, Dominican Republic.

  • The Village is currently participating with El Progreso’s Child Development Center in Panama, as well, where children come for a hot meal, tutoring, Christian education, and a bi-monthly health checkup.

  • Renovations have been completed to stabilize and maintain the existing building, and construction on a two story addition has begun.

  • The Village will be taking teams to work on the construction of the project, to have classrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, dining area, preschool care, office and meeting space for the children.

  • There will be at least six Work & Witness trips from 2017 through 2019.