What difference could 8 teenagers, a senior pastor, a youth pastor and NMI president make in just 7 days?

That is exactly what the group that traveled from Redland Church of the Nazarene in Miami, Florida to Panama City, Panama asked themselves. The Redland group embarked on a journey to partner with the Samaria Church of the Nazarene to help fix the one and only Sunday School room in the church. This 15×15 room needed to be repurposed to better serve the church and the community of Samaria through a soon to open Child Development Center. The Redland group needed to help plaster walls, re-layer and tile the floor, replace windows and doors and add a small kitchen and bathroom to the back of the structure.

When they arrived to the Samaria Church on Sunday March 22nd, the task seemed daunting. However through great enthusiasm and a lot of hard work, not only was the team able to help with the refurbishing of the SS room, they also helped with the remodeling of the sanctuary, visited an orphanage, participated on a kids evangelistic event and took much needed supplies to a nearby orphanage.

At the conclusion of the trip, there was great satisfaction on the work that was completed. Also, new friendships were forged within the two churches.

“We are very grateful to the Redland Church (Pastor Treavor Pound, Pastor Ricardo Barrera and Maria Kircshner) for all their efforts in bringing such a formidable group to help us complete this much needed project. We will forever be grateful that you came, helped us and showed us your love and support.” – Pastor Amable Polanco, Senior Pastor of Samaria Church

Information Provided by Wendy Lopez (member of the Redland church and missionary assigned to Panama)