Friends and Family!!
We have been here for one week today, yet it feels like a month already. We arrived last Tues. at about 230 or something. Our outreach coordinator came to the airport with two other guys and picked us up, our first Chilean greeting! The family we are staying (our outreach coordinator’s family) with is so cool I like them a lot. There are two boys (14, 4) and one girl (7), real good kids. We have fun together. The first day consisted of a lot of interpreting trying to learn ages, names, and things like that in Spanish, lol pretty interesting. :p Since we’ve been here I can definitely tell I know tons more Spanish then I did the first day.
Anyways, the first couple days we visited a few people, and got living situation under control. Then on Friday, we got up early and traveled to an Island called Chiloe for an all-night prayer and worship vigil. Getting there was walk, bus ride, bus ride, bus ride that also went on a ferry, bus ride, walk, walk, spend the night at a Woman’s and her Son’s house, walk, ride on a fishing boat for hour and 15 min with a bunch of other people going to the vigil. I thought it was tons of fun! J Also in between there we visited like 3 houses. Every time we visit a house whether they’re excepting us or not the hostess always serves bread, and Mate (cup of tea we pass around the room and everyone takes a drink). Very hospitable. Also, the Prayer vigil thingy was very good, yet very very long. Although it was quite hard to stay awake and to be honest I don’t really remember the last 3 hours, I did learn a lot about culture, language and endurance. I think that it would have been easier to be focused for the whole 9 hours (9pm-6am), if we could have understood all the way what was being said, and known the songs and stuff. Good experience for sure, and many more to come. We were gone for 4 days, oh yeah and I think we will be doing a lot of that while we are here (traveling).
Our coordinator said, December is for getting to know the language, and culture well. Then in January we start working. I’m really really excited, but I’m also enjoying learning a bunch of things. For example today, we start with breakfast at 8, then devotions 830, then we have a Spanish teacher that comes at 9 for an hour of class (btw all of this is quite flexible as far as times). Then today after that we just kinda hung out and worked on more Spanish stuff, until the kids got home from school at like 1230 and we split up to go visit people’s houses (which is all part of the getting to know culture and thins). The girls went with wife, and the boys went with husband to some peoples house to visit. At the house we visited there was a Mama home with her 7 year old boy and she was 8 months pregnant. They were very nice and we talked to her awhile (which we spent a lot of time just listening catching more or less of the conversation) then shared some scripture with her. We also prayed with her, which I think is super cool, because I’m learning that it doesn’t matter what language it is that your praying, but God knows both hearts and languages and makes up the difference. Two believers can minister to each other with language barriers, because it is not how you are talking, but that your sprits are syncing. Sigh* I love God J So yeah, I will know more about more outreach stuff we will be doing by ourselves in January, and also when I can understand what he’s saying that we’re doing lol. For now we are just kinda shadowing other missionaries, learning, which I think is very good thing and very helpful, to gain the peoples respect first in this way.
Welp tomorrow we head off to a marriage conference a long ways from here, which I think the husband is speaking at. Then coming back on thurs. night late.
So yeah… Until next time! Thank you for reading my blog. If you have more Q’s my email is commited91@gmail.com. Hopefully my next blog will be sooner than later. J Good day People!
