Friendsgiving

Every year the Peace Corps Panama Volunteer Advisory Council (VAC) holds a Thanksgiving event for volunteers all over the country to come together and share a delicious meal in a beautiful location. This year I was not allowed to go, not me specifically but our entire G75 group because it was technically within our first 3 months. Your first three months you are not allowed to take vacation so we could not take the vacation days to go to Thanksgiving. This was obviously disappointing. We decided to do our own thing though, and make up for missing Thanksgiving with having a Friendsgiving a few days afterwards.

We all met in the city and spent the first day greeting each other and catching up. The second day was the delicious day. We cooked two turkeys and had everyone from our group responsible for bringing a different item, pot luck style. The food was delicious! What was nicer was getting to see everyone, hang out, and catch up with each other to see how life is going out in our communities. In honor of Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving I have decided to have a short post about things I am thankful for.

Thanksgiving List

• God: I am thankful for my salvation through Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the chance I have at life because of the sacrifice made through Him to atone for my sins, and for the chance I have everyday to glorify Him and live in a manner that may bring others to Him as well.
• My Parents and Family: I am thankful for the support they give me and how many opportunities they have provided me within life. I am thankful that even though I am hundreds of miles away they are still there for me anytime I need them.
• Peace Corps: It may not be perfect all the time, but the opportunity given to me here by the Peace Corps is unlike any other in the world. To be able to come into a community and share my life and my culture with them while absorbing everything of theirs that I can makes everyday a beautiful gift no matter how good or bad it may go.
• Friends Back Home: I am thankful for all my friends back home that can keep me updated on life in the states and seem interested in my stories from here. I could probably post a blog page about each friend and all the things they have done but I promised this would be a short post.
• Fellow PCVs: The network here of PCVs is pretty great and I doubt I could survive without their support. Their hilarious stories are always great for brightening a dreary day as well.
• The United States of America: Seriously, that place is great.
• Panama: Panama is a beautiful country and although many things are a bit wonky socioeconomically, the generosity of the people is sensational. They would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it.

I have a million more things I  could write up in here, but I just wanted to hit some of the main ones real quick. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and have no fear I gorged plenty on turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce in Friendsgiving.



Psalm 95:2-3 -- Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.