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On March 18-21, 2010  I had the honor to travel to 3 islands off of the Caribbean side of Panama.  A team of 8 of us left the city at 5 AM for a 2 hour ride over the mountains of Panamá to the city of Cartí.  From there it was a 3 hour WET boat ride to the islands of “El Corazón de Jesús” and “Narganá”.  These 2 islands are now attached by this footbridge. 

The first day we ministered in the high school for the islands                                                     and held a service that evening in the church. 

The next day we had another service in the AM  followed by break-out workshops in which I led one for the leaders of the churches.  In the afternoon we went to the prison to speak with the 22 inmates, most of whom were youth that we caught either with drugs (Cocaine) or theft.  God moved in a great way as Pastor Juan Carlos shared his story how God rescued him from a life of prison and is now a Pastor and that Christ can do the same for them!

That night we held a movie night in the local village square and a short message that followed.  On Saturday we headed to “El Tigre” which is another  island that is about 30 minutes away by boat.  There we held services for the kids and youth followed by a service for  the adults. Here I am pictured with the wife of the pastor.  That afternoon we spent a few hours on another one of the close to 400 islands in Kuna Yala.  This time it was for a little rest and relaxation before heading back to “Narganá” for our final service.   I was given to honor to preach in this service which was for the youth of the church.  God moved as I challenged them that they have the power to change their islands for Christ.  It was great to be able to meet and work with the 3 pastors there and to see the work that God is doing in Kuna Yala!      

Here I am with part of the national youth ministry team.  From Left to right: Juan Carlos Torres, Frank Perez , Me ‘the gringo’, and Rogelio Batista.  We are pictured in the new church plant on the island of El Corazón de Jesús. 

Just a little update on what the kids are currently up to.  Two weeks ago Jakob’s soccer season started for his school.  Right now he has practice 2 days a weeks and is is slowly getting into shape.  I (Terry) am serving as the assistant coach when my schedule permits.  Both Amber and Jakob started swimming lessons during their gym time at school.  Amber is, to say the least, very excited  for this opportunity and counts down the days until her next “swim lesson”!

Here is an over due update of what we have been up to here in Panama.  If you click somewhere on the letter it will enlarge so you can read it.

                                                                            We don’t know if the kids were happy for this, but mom and dad were very excited to get the kids off to their first day of school! They both took their entrance exams and did fine in placing them in fourth grade for Jakob and first grade for Amber. It is now a couple of weeks later and the both LOVE school and are fitting in quite well.

 Praise God!!!!

Yes, in case you have not heard, we are here in Panama! We arrived Monday, August 17th and are busy getting settled in. The next day seemed extremly surreal for me. God called me to missions about 22 years ago, and although we have been traveling raising our support and attending language school, we did not feel like ‘real missionaries’ until our arrival and settling in here in Panama. now it’s on to getting the kids in school, looking for a house and starting to define ministry.

Costa Rica update on Youtube

Just a quick update.  Last week I preached my first sermon in Spanish at my school, after the chapel my Pastor asked me to preach it on Sunday.  I was a little nervous to say the least.  You can click the above link to see a video slideshow of those two days along with some other updates.   Hope you enjoy and feel free to share it with others.  Also if you would like to download it, go to www.acidplanet.com . Do a search by artist name and type in Terry Rosch.  You will see my name and after you click on it you will see my videos.  Right now there is only one called “First Spanish sermon”  after you click on the you will have the option to play, or download if you would like in order to show in your churches or other gatherings.  It is there for you to use.  Hope it blesses and encourages you, that with your prayers and support, you are making a difference!

I know this is a little late coming, but on March 13-15 I had the  privilege to hook up with Pastor Barden, Missionary Jay Dickerson and a great team from Living Word A/G from Ontario NY.

Here are three of the guys that kept the welders fed with rebar.   Notice the guy on the left, the on/off switch was broken on the saw, so he had to plug and unplug the saw for every cut… the fun teams have working in other countries!  Below are the welders making a roof joist on our high tech jig.  All in all it turned out great because of the brains and work of the guys and of course the faithfullness of God.

 Here is the evidence that Pastor Barden worked hard on the trip!

And who said Jonathan Cartledge sat in the shade all day?  Here he is doing a little work. (It took me all weekend to get this shot of him working though)  Just kidding of course.

Where there is a will there is a way.  I don’t know if this was OSHA approved or not, what do you think?

All in all the team worked really hard and it was a joy to get away from San Jose and school for the weekend and we able to help out with a church and to put into practice what I have learned in the class room.

On February 8th about 10 churches came together to hold an evening service in a city outside San Jose called Desamperados. Over 2000 people attended this ground breaking service in which there has been an almost 7 year lapse of these churches doing anything of this magnitude.  Before the start of the “adult service”, there was a service for the children and teens were about 40  prayed to invite Jesus to be the Lord of their lives!

In case you did not hear, Costa Rica suffered a 6.2 Earthquake on January 8th, 2009.  For us this was our first earthquake.  The epicenter was about 25-30 miles from where we live in San Jose.  Thank the Lord there was not any damage to our apartment, however many people lost their lives and also everything the own.  As of now the “official” count of those who died is in the 20’s, but there are about 100 people that are sill missing.

On January 25th there was a group from our school that went to help those who lost everything.

Seen here are tents that are set up for those without homes. There are 100’s of people living there.  You can only image the issues that could arise in those types of situations.  It was a very sad sight to see and experience.  To make matters worse, it has been unseasonable cold and rainy in this region, and many do not have adequate clothing.

 As we traveled up the mountain, and closer to the epicenter, we came across these houses.

They we built in a gully type landscape and as you can see the sides gave way and destroyed homes, or left them unsafe to be lived in.  We also learned that here an 18 month old baby died as a result of the Earthquake.  A very sad and surreal time for our team. It was here that our team leaders decided to give away the new clothing and food that had been collected!

Please pray for this community and many others like it that are still suffering as a result of the earthquake.

 Here are 2 more picture of our trip.

On the left you can see a house that is now partially hanging over a cliff.

On the right this is taken from the main road and you can see the ground is cracked and will possibly give way at any moment. 

Again please pray for the people of Costa Rica who are going through tough times right now!