|
From the time I was small, I had a dream of going to Africa. I was always told to finish my food because children in Africa were starving. I wanted to know why?
I grew up in a Godly home. I never knew you could have a personal relationship with Jesus. Twenty three years ago I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. My life has never been the same. I want everyone I meet to know about my Lord and what living life for Him is about. When we began going on short term missions I prayed Lord, if I am faithful in what you give me, will you someday give me Africa? My husband would say, "Read my lips, I am not going to Africa." Then God changed Ron's heart and the Lord answered my prayers in 2001 at Skagit Valley College. I met a young man who was returning his books because he couldn't pay for his schooling. When I asked where he was from, he said Kenya. I was so excited and came home telling Ron, God gave me Africa today. I told him about this man and said I was going to raise funds for his tuition. That night at bible study, one lady wrote out a check and he was able to stay in school. Then one evening, Edward Wesakania was having dinner at our house and said God told him we would build a church in Kesogon, Kenya. Ron told me to pack my bags, we were going to Kenya. In September of 2002, we took a team to Kenya and built the church."
  Joyce Panzero, the founder of TREK Ministries and Rehema Ministries, has over 20 years of experience in the mission field as a short-term missionary. Joyce and her husband Ron helped lead youth teams to Mexico with His Place Foursquare Church, in Burlington, Washington. They were under the leadership of Pastor Kurt Langstraat. Joyce said, "Because of God's calling on Kurt's life to touch the hearts of the youth, there are now 16 pastors and missionaries that have come out of his ministry. We are blessed to have been a part of that and to have him as a friend and Board Member."
Joyce and Ron were also involved with adult missions to the Philippines with Pastor Nick Harris of His Place Community Church. He is both a friend and Board Member with Rehema Ministries. Joyce was Children's Pastor for nine years at His Place Church. She says, "I don't know which was the most rewarding part of my job, the children or the people I worked with. God has blessed me with the best of both worlds."
After coming on staff at Christ the King Community Church (CTK) in 2000, she founded the Missions program. Her dream was to continue short-term missions at CTK. Pastor Dave Browning gave his blessing and the covering of CTK 501c3. The first trip with CTK was to Australia with a team of 20, 4 leaders and 16 youth. This was truly a faith-building trip and would forever change the lives of those who went (see magazine article below).
Back to Top
********
Joyce and Ron Panzero
Joyce and Ron with their grandchildren
Back to Top
********
Joyce and Ron were married in 1963. They began their ministry work in 1983. They have three children and seven grandchildren. Three of their grandchildren have spent time in the mission field with them going to Mexico, Australia and Africa. Joyce said, "We plan to serve the Lord to our last breath and when we leave this Earth, we want to be remembered by our family and friends because we made a difference in their lives. I want future generations to know that loving and serving the Lord is what brings life to a family and friendships."
Ron retired from 27 years in law enforcement. He now owns R&R Charters (www.rrcharters.com) and is a board member and Pastor for Rehema Ministries and a Team Leader for the mission trips to Kenya. Joyce was blessed to be at home with the children until they entered Junior High School. She worked for the phone company and was a supervisor at Specialty Seafoods sales department before becoming children's pastor and founder of Rehema Ministries.
Anyone interested in going on a mission trip, please write or call them. They would be happy to send you information and give you an estimate of the cost of a trip.
by Claire Colvin with Joyce Panzero, 2000
"In a day of dispassionate youth and faceless corporate giants comes a story of compassion and of circumstances that cannot be written off as coincidence. A chance to reaffirm your faith in humanity, and perhaps in something more, this is the story of a group of teens from Skagit County, Washington and a trip to Australia that didn't exactly go according to plan."
"Just a few weeks ago on July 7th they left for the airport to fly to Australia for a Mission Trip. Tickets in hand, cameras packed, the sixteen youth and four leaders headed off. A quick stop for lunch changed the entire trip. Returning to the car after lunch they found that they had been robbed. All the tickets, all the passports and about $12,000 in cash were gone. Their plane was set to leave that afternoon."
"The first reaction was, quite naturally, one of disbelief and devastation but remarkably, not anger. Arriving at the airport those in the car had the job of telling the others what had happened and facing the prospect of telling everyone back home. But far from ending, their trip had just begun."
"As they stood in the airport the attitude among the teens who range in age from 15-18, was one of hope and action. They gathered together and prayed and then started singing right there in the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, a busy, international port. A passerby saw the group and asked if he could phone the local television station suggesting that "sometimes criminals have a heart and if they know who they hurt they might at least return the passports." The TV crew arrived and pictures of this group of teenagers not ranting with frustration, but singing, formed the lead story for four days."
"The group was then contacted by United Airlines and told that while Australia could not let them into the country without passports, if they could get the passports replaced the airline would honor all the tickets. Joyce Panzero who lead the group along with her husband Ron says, "this was the first of what I call miracles. . . the airlines do not honor stolen tickets." In this case not only did the airline agree to honor the tickets, they did it at no cost to the group. Right around this time donations began to come in and thus far $9000 of the stolen $12 000 has been replaced by donors. The next step was to try and get passports."
Back to Top
********
"Phone calls were made. A local photographer was contacted to take new passport pictures and offered not only to rush them, but to donate them to the group. Through the assistance of two US Senators and a notary public the group arrived at the Federal Building Monday morning where they were ushered into a separate room and saw all 20 passports processed in three hours! The considerable cost of these new passports was covered by a local church and it looked like the group would be on its way. At this point it was time to book another flight but the next available flight to Australia didn't leave until the following evening. Committed to not going home until the trip was over the group was contemplating spending the night in the airport when someone suggested phoning a local hotel to see if they could get some kind of discount."
"Joyce phoned a friend who works as a travel agent, told her their situation and asked her if she could try to find them a discount on four rooms close to the airport. The friend promised to "see what she could do" but that hardly prepared Joyce and the group for the phone call they got half an hour later. The friend phoned back to say that she had got them four rooms at the Marriot Hotel [for those of you outside North America, Marriot is one of the finer chains of hotels, catering mostly to business class travelers]. Joyce remembers thinking "even with a BIG discount we couldn't afford the Marriot" but the friend assured her that the hotel had given them a great deal: all four rooms free of charge and a free shuttle to and from the airport."
"The next day the group boarded the plane and did arrive in Australia, safe and sound and with quite a story to tell. The group all attend Christ the King Community Church Youth Group, and were traveling to Australia to attend "Youth Torrent" a Christian youth outreach. As they describe the events, "God just took over". As Joyce notes, "the lives and the hearts of our group have been changed forever because we saw first hand God restoring what was taken away". It was their faith in God and a personal relationship with Him that gave them the ability to sing when it looked like the trip was over before it had even started. And it is God that they credit with bringing so many events together to get them on that plane."
Back to Top
********
|
