“I can almost remember how I felt coming out of seminary and getting my first call. I could not have foreseen what would have come after that. It has been a pretty incredible journey.” That was an observation by retiring Pastor Linda Motley last week, as she reflected on her 28 years in the ministry.
Motley has spent the last 9 years as pastor of the Floyd- Willis Lutheran Parish, comprised of Zion Lutheran Church in Floyd and St. Mark in Willis. On Sunday, August 26, she will be leading her last Sunday service as part of St. Mark’s homecoming. The homecoming, a once a year event, will also be a joint service with Zion. The 10:30 service will be followed by a potluck lunch.
“It has been a wonderful 9 years, both in Floyd and with these two congregations,” Motley remarked. “I will miss both tremendously, even more than I realize now. Floyd is the most unique place I’ve ever lived in, my favorite place I think. And I’ve lived in a lot of places. I never thought I’d live in a town this small and love it as much as I do.”
Motley’s love of Floyd goes back to her college years at Virginia Tech, from which she graduated in 1978. She remembers trips to the town and stops at Schoolhouse Fabrics and other places. She went on to graduate in 1990 from Lutheran Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina and served as pastor in Roanoke and campus pastor at the University of South Carolina. In 1998, she again returned to the area, initially serving a congregation in Blacksburg. She then served a congregation in Pearisburg before coming to Floyd.
With her retirement, Motley and husband Billy, who has been working at Citizens Telephone in Floyd, are going to make a major move, from Floyd to Puerto Armuelles in Panama.
“It’s off the beaten path, away from the tourists ,” Motley commented. The secluded area “is kind of like a town time forgot.” At one time, Chiquita Banana contributed to the economy of the town by providing jobs; after Chiquita left the area in 2003, the population of the town dropped.
Located on the southwestern coast of Panama, Puerto Armuelles is almost at the coast of the Costa Rican border on the Pacific Ocean.
“It doesn’t rain as much there as in the surrounding areas,” Motley noted. The mountains, rain forests, jungle, flat farmland and coastline make it an interesting area, she added. Also distinguishing it are micro climates. “In a couple of hours driving you can go from 75 degrees to 100. We’re in more of the 90-degree range.”
Puerto Armuelles is the only town in Panama on the water, and that was definitely a deciding factor for Motley. “I grew up in Southern California, but was 40 miles from the beach,” she explained. “My dream was to someday live at the beach. I’m finally getting to do it.”
Living out of the country will require some adjustments. The economy does use the U.S. dollar, but Motley said there are no American-based banks in Panama and it’s not that easy to open a bank account there if you’re not a citizen, so the couple will be doing online banking with an American bank.
“It’s pretty much a cash society,” Motley added. ATMs are guarded with armed guards to make sure customers leave safely with their withdrawals.
Also, there is no mail service; the Motleys said they will rely on email to keep in touch.
The couple plans to secure a Panama Pensionado Visa, designated for retirees or persons with “lifetime” pensions and giving them permanent residence indefinitely. Motley said some of the perks include discounts on travel and food. They must be represented by a lawyer in Panama.
The language in Puerto Armuelles is almost exclusively Spanish, Motley said. “There are a few people who speak English, including one doctor and some professionals.”
Motley knows the language “enough to get by” or “get in trouble”. She now has the Google Translate app on her phone and is taking online classes. Billy is just learning the language. “I think immersing ourselves in it is going to make that process easier and faster,” Linda Motley said. “We’re going to have to make ourselves understood in order to get along every day. Fortunately, people are very patient, and they appreciate when you try to speak the language and most people know a few words of English, so that along with sign language helps. Usually we can get things done that way.”
The Motleys will initially be renting a home for 8 months, while they explore neighborhoods.
Buying property in Panama is also quite a process. Not all land is titled. A lot of it is Rights of Possession, and homebuyers have to make sure they properly research ownership history of property before they purchase real estate. Motley said they have talked to expats who bought property right away. “Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn’t.”
In the last 5 years, the Motleys have traveled to Spain 3 times, she said. “It was a place my mother loved to go, and she introduced us to it.
“My mother had a great sense of adventure. She really started traveling a lot in her 60s, so it might be in my DNA. She was from England. British people love especially the southern part of Spain, so she started going there, and in 20 years, went there 16 times to the same town, same hotel.” Motley said that got her to thinking “when I retire, I want to be like mom. She went to 6 continents in the course of 20 years before she died.”
Motley said she fortunate to have a husband who is also adventurous and is “sort of a vagabond,” too.
One of Motley’s interests through the years has been making jewelry. She has 30 years of beach glass in jars and boxes she has collected. “This town (Puerto Armuelles) has gorgeous beach glass, so I’ll be leaving the beach glass here and collecting down there. I will be taking jewelry supplies, but will make jewelry and give it away (since with the type of Visa they will have, they will be unable to start a business or bring in additional income).”
As Motley looked back on her years in the ministry, she pointed out that she had gone from an almost 1,000-member congregation to progressively smaller and smaller churches, “which is the opposite of how most pastors’ careers evolve. But it has been the way I’ve grown as a pastor.” Motley said the smaller congregations have enabled her to focus on relationships and getting to know people, and that seems to have suited her. “It seems like that was the way it was supposed to be.”
Motley said she has definitely been guided and led and called to each situation she has been in. “Now as I look back, it seems the progression has made sense. This was the way God was leading me all along.”