What Living on a Remote Island is Really Like

Yes, you read that title right. I am currently living on an island that doesn’t even exist on a map! Last Wednesday my team and I had our final ministry switch and traveled from the mountains in Boqueté to a little island right outside of Bocas Del Toro, Panama. Life here, like most of my race, is something that I’ve never experienced before and man I’m grateful for it! This island life already holds such a special place in my heart, and I am so excited to let all of you in on what it looks like.

LIVING CONDITIONS

We are 100% solar powered. All of the solar energy goes towards running the refrigerator, security alarms, and common room, meaning that everywhere else here has zero electricity! The girls and I walk around our room with headlamps on, which is actually quite fun! We also get all of our water from the rain, and, lucky for us, it pours nightly meaning that all five of our water tanks are full, but we do take bucket showers and do our laundry in the creek to conserve the water for strictly necessities. All of these fun quirks about island life are really the things that make living here so sweet. Every single day I wake up in awe of the Lord and His creation and am consistently reminded that the only thing that makes me worthy to be here is the cross. 

MINISTRY

The ministry here looks much different from anything else that I’ve done on the race. There are two YWAM groups here from Hawaii, both consisting of people around my age. They are doing ministry in and around our island. This base only has one full time staff member, and the need for people to come and serve the base is huge, so that’s what me and the two other teams (17 of us total) are here for! We have people cooking, cleaning, gardening, running hospitality, doing boat maintenance, and everything in between!

In full transparency, when I first heard that this is what our ministry would be, I was less than thrilled. The first thought to enter my mind was, “What do you mean I’m running a base? That is not what I signed up for.” But the act of coming under a base and serving the people here, pouring into them and doing work behind the scenes in order for the YWAM teams to go out and bring Kingdom to the islands is the most humbling thing I could be doing. The YWAM trip is much shorter than mine, so coming here with five months of experience has provided such a fun opportunity to love the teams here and share with them what I’ve learned so that they will be as filled up as possible when they leave the base! Along with building relationships with the YWAM students, my ministry is cooking breakfast and going grocery shopping.

BREAKFAST CREW:

My teammate Callie and I are on breakfast together and it really is my favorite time of the day! We wake up with the sun at 5:00am and cook enough breakfast for the 50 people on the base. Our friend Asa has been helping us out in the mornings which makes things so fun! Cooking has become the sweetest time and I’m so spoiled to get to start my day in the kitchen with Asa and Callie. We listen to music and laugh and talk about what Jesus is doing in and around us and man I am one lucky girl to get to spend the next 5 weeks doing this with them. After we cook breakfast, we’re free for the day, except for the days that we go shopping.

GROCERY SHOPPING:

The other part of me and Callie’s ministry is going grocery shopping. Rain or shine, we take a tiny little boat into Bocas every Tuesday and Friday and shop for the whole base! We go to three different grocery stores to get the quantities of everything needed, and then load all of the groceries into the boat. Last week we did this in the pouring rain which made things even more of an adventure, and just yesterday I was carrying, and almost dropping, a propane tank all through town. It was definitely a sight to see; I know this because all of the islanders were honking and waving to me as I stumbled across town, LOL!

Okay, I know that was a lot, but I wanted to make sure I shared all the aspects of living here with you! This is a beautiful place and I believe that the Lord has provided me with these slower days so that I can take time to truly process my time on the race. The past five months have consisted of 6–8-hour workdays which grew me in crazy ways, and now the Lord is asking me to actually sit with Him in the ways that I’ve grown, what a blessing! Every day I wake up and rest in the fact that He has placed me in this exact place for a reason, so even when ministry isn’t what I thought it would look like, even with no AC or electricity, I can press into the Lord and into the plans that He has for me here.