In 1996, a plane landed in Ohoi and members of the mission team returned to their homes with the desire to share their travel impressions with their families and the church family. Firefighter Mark Mavar, who lives in Mentor, Ohio, had traveled with his crew to a Christian camp in Panama to do construction work. As the weeks passed after the trip to Panama, Mark realized that even though he had left Panama, Panama had not left his heart. He shared his burden with his pastor, who suggested, “Well, Mark, pray.”
While Mark was praying in Ohio, a Christian was praying in Valle Dorado, a town near Panama City. This man begged the Lord for someone to come to his place and start a church there. In January 2002, missionaries Mark and Carol Mavar landed in Panama with their four children and 18 suitcases to start a new life.
Six months later, a group of young people arrived at the Word of Life camp in Bejuca de Chame, a camp Mark had helped build 6 years earlier. Among the eager teenagers was a 17-year-old high school student from a devout Catholic family. David enjoyed reading the Old Testament and had begun to question some of his beliefs. God led him to attend a week-long Christian camp with a friend who had invited him there.
Mark didn’t speak Spanish fluently yet, but he started going to different parts of the city to meet people and share the gospel. He prayed for the Lord’s guidance on where to direct his efforts to plant a new church in Panama. His brother in Christ, Valle Dorado, continued to pray at the same time.
While Mark was evangelizing and looking for open doors to plant a church, God was working in David, a teenager from the camp. David writes in his testimony: “I attended a Word of Life camp where the [Argentinean] missionary . . . shared the gospel with us and invited us to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. On that day, July 27, 2002, knowing that I did not deserve to go to heaven, I repented of my sins and believed in Christ as my only and sufficient Savior. I still remember a card with the following verse they gave me that day: “For with You is the source of life; In your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9). Since then, the Lord has changed me.”
While God’s Spirit was transforming and sanctifying David, He was guiding Mark to His perfect place to plant the church. Mark and his son Caleb were exploring Valle Dorado and Mark thought, “Hey! This is just the area.” At first the work was slow, but God brought Raquel and her daughter to salvation. Studying the Bible with these ladies grew into a small group that later became Valle Dorado Grace Church.
One day there was a knock on the door of a house in Valle Dorado. On the other side of the door stood an athletic man in his forties with an American accent. “I want to invite you to the new church we are opening here in Valle Dorado. We meet next door every Sunday. But I want to assure you that we will not play loud music or disturb you in any way.” After the American left, the family of the house decided to visit a nearby church.
On the first Sunday when the congregation met, the neighbors were also present. They also came on other Sundays after that. The neighbor then explained to Mark that he had been praying for a church in his area for years and God had planted it right in his neighborhood!
A brother in Panama began to pray for the church. God heard his prayer and sent Mark Mavar to build the camp. While working at the camp, Mark prayed fervently that God would use the camp to change the lives of the campers who would ever hear the gospel there, and later Mark and his family prayed fervently for godly men to lead the church they were planting. Without realizing it, Mark and his Panamanian brother prayed together for David. Six months after the Moors landed in Panama, the teenager who came to Christ was appointed pastor of Valle Dorado Grace Church on April 25, 2021.
What we see now in the beautiful tapestry of providence woven by God in Valle Dorado is surely only a small part of that magnificent tapestry of providence that will be unfolded before our eyes in the future.
Author: Andrea Crocker
Source: Gospel Fellowship Association Missions (gfamissions.org)
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