One of the greatest things about all of our team members is our ability to do service projects alongside our work here at Highland Outdoor.

Last month I was so blessed to be able to take my 3rd trip Panama on a mission’s trip through the Assembly of God Church in Paola, KS.  I flew into Panama City and traveled for 5 hours into the mountains of Chiriqui to share with an indigenous tribe called the Guaymi Indians.

Upon arriving at the conference that is held every February, I was greeted by more than 3,000 Guaymi Indians with smiling faces coated in dirt and runny noses.  The Indians are always so curious and spend a lot of their time “watching” us as we are there for 4 days.  The Guaymi are ministered to throughout the year by what they call “gringos” but are still intrigued with our pale skin and foreign language every year.  Most of the children walk around barefoot with one or two pairs of clothes if they are “lucky”.  Their diet consists of rice and beans and the average family income is around $500-$1,000 a year depending on what type of farming they do.  If you can imagine 12 “gringos” standing around a self made kitchen cooking macaroni and cheese or making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with children and parents staring at you because they are so hungry.  Try to imagine if you will the guilty feeling that would conjure up in the pit of your stomach as you are constantly being watched while eating anything.

The most rewarding part of the trip was being able to give to these gracious people who have nothing - no cells phones, no toilet - a house made of twigs and cloth.  With the little that they do have, their faith is very strong.  Anyone going on a mission’s trip probably has the thoughts in their mind that they are a huge blessing to these people, but in retrospect, these people in fact are far more of a blessing to us than we are to them.  They taught me life long lessons without them even realizing, touched my heart in ways they will probably never know, and have made me aware of how much I have-which leads me to the question of  - Do the material things that I have really make me happy? I have come to the conclusion that my possessions don’t really matter and that is not what should make me happy, instead I am grateful for what I have and have learned that serving others is what makes me happy more than anything.