we live amidst God’s creation
everyday, we hear screaming hawks
and see cattle ripping, chewing, at the grass
it rains and rains
…
and rains
but we still get to enjoy the sun,
a little almost everyday
it hails regularly
and we delight in
the regular rainbows that make appearances
reminding us of God’s faithfulness
***
We’ve been meeting more people. Yesterday, we were invited into Ana and Carlos’s home for coffee and a snack and conversation and to meet their son Juan Carlos who is 14 and wants to become an English teacher. We met Ana and Carlos through buying food at their store. They were incredibly hospitable, and it’ll be neat to continue that relationship. Their daughter is 21; she drove us home and opened up about some struggles she is having.
Next week we’re going to start meeting with Ernan and Cristina for coffee & conversation time – Ernan wants to learn more English, and Travis wants to learn more Spanish, so it’ll be a time of trading languages and fun.
God’s really been opening up doors, and we get to walk through them. It’s been incredible. I know that missions work definitely has difficult times, but so far we’ve been really having a good time and it’s been enjoyable. We wake up in the mornings and spend the mornings praying together and having individual prayer and devotion times.
And it’s just like… i almost think, “yikes, once it gets hard, it’s going to be REALLY hard, ‘cuz right now things are just so nice!” Not that there aren’t difficulties – i miss my family a whole lot; as of right now there isn’t a way to call them from Quemchi (unless you pay an arm and a leg… figuratively, of course). It’s hard to come by dry wood which makes keeping a fire going to heat your cabin a bit of a challenge. But really…
i have felt so blessed here by the people. I came to be a blessing in Quemchi, and i’ve been receiving so many blessings.
That’s all for now.
Lovingly…
6/15/2007
6/08/2007
Quemchi
The above is me on Tito´s horse. Tito is one of 4 believers on the island of Butachauques. We stay with him and his wife Sara when we are there to visit the believers and teach in the school.Hello dear friends from a very rainy and very gray Quemchi.
We are now settled into our cabana in Quemchi on the island of Chiloe. Wednesday was our first day of English class in the school. Wednesday we were with 6th graders. We had a good time. Afterwards, we talked some with the teacher who was extremely excited that we were there. She is a very neat lady. She was telling us, though, how she would love to learn English better. The wild thing is, she’s teaching English, but she has had to teach herself from books! I can’t imagine how hard that would be! She has been teaching for 34 years in this school.
Thursday we were with 8th graders. Both teachers, Teresa and Marcia, with whom we’re working are very positive women who care about their students. It will be a blessing to work alongside them these next few months. We invited Teresa up to our home for dinner or coffee and she also invited us to her home; she is only available over the week-long vacation the end of this month though. The school is trying to get a whole school year crammed into less months because of construction and a new school, so the days are a bit longer, and they have classes on Saturday, too. On top of that, many of the teachers come from the city of Castro everyday, which is an hour and a half drive each way! So, as you can imagine, they are all a bit overwhelmed right now.
We are getting familiar with the town and starting to meet people.
We know God is here in Quemchi, and we are keeping our eyes open to see just what all He’s up to here.
Time to put on my rain gear and tromp on down the hillside to the internet café!
(P.S. We have discovered how out-of-shape we are… the return trip from downtown is all straight uphill, and we have yet to make it up without panting.)
We are now settled into our cabana in Quemchi on the island of Chiloe. Wednesday was our first day of English class in the school. Wednesday we were with 6th graders. We had a good time. Afterwards, we talked some with the teacher who was extremely excited that we were there. She is a very neat lady. She was telling us, though, how she would love to learn English better. The wild thing is, she’s teaching English, but she has had to teach herself from books! I can’t imagine how hard that would be! She has been teaching for 34 years in this school.
Thursday we were with 8th graders. Both teachers, Teresa and Marcia, with whom we’re working are very positive women who care about their students. It will be a blessing to work alongside them these next few months. We invited Teresa up to our home for dinner or coffee and she also invited us to her home; she is only available over the week-long vacation the end of this month though. The school is trying to get a whole school year crammed into less months because of construction and a new school, so the days are a bit longer, and they have classes on Saturday, too. On top of that, many of the teachers come from the city of Castro everyday, which is an hour and a half drive each way! So, as you can imagine, they are all a bit overwhelmed right now.
We are getting familiar with the town and starting to meet people.
We know God is here in Quemchi, and we are keeping our eyes open to see just what all He’s up to here.
Time to put on my rain gear and tromp on down the hillside to the internet café!
(P.S. We have discovered how out-of-shape we are… the return trip from downtown is all straight uphill, and we have yet to make it up without panting.)
6/01/2007
the great rejoicing
I would love to share about our 3 day trip to the island of Butachauques, but we had such an incredible experience tonight, that i'll save the Island Narrative for another time.
Tonight we went to Ricardo and Eleana's house for small group. While we were opening up in prayer, their neighbors Carlos and Carolina came. Ricardo and Eleana have been sharing with them and inviting them to small group - last week they came to the marriage seminar the church held. They're a young couple with a little 2 year old daughter. Well, after the Bible study and time of sharing, we shared prayer requests and prayed for one another and also prayed for and over Carolina and Carlos, their family and work and everything the Spirit led us. God's Holy Presence really started moving in all of our hearts and their hearts, too, during this time. It was just so powerful; they shared some more of how they were feeling and what God was really stirring in them and they wanted to make the decision to confess Jesus as their Savior. Eleana led Carolina in praying; then, Carlos spoke some more and Mike led him in praying. It was just so powerful, and we prayed for them more, and it was just... INCREDIBLE!! It was amazing to get to be present when my brother and sister were adopted into the family. I was so blessed to be there, and i continue to be wowed by it. At one point during the evening i really realized "Wow, i am in the presence of Holiness right now," and there aren't words to describe that. And then thinking of the celebration in Heaven! Wow!
God's love and holiness met perfectly on the cross, and death was made unvictorious when Jesus came back to life, and well...
here we are
humbly accepting the bounty
of ourselves being captured
made servants and friends
to the One with love enraptured
and we fall for the One who owns us
not fearing a great demise
for in knowledge of His love for us
we are seeking to be wise
Tonight we went to Ricardo and Eleana's house for small group. While we were opening up in prayer, their neighbors Carlos and Carolina came. Ricardo and Eleana have been sharing with them and inviting them to small group - last week they came to the marriage seminar the church held. They're a young couple with a little 2 year old daughter. Well, after the Bible study and time of sharing, we shared prayer requests and prayed for one another and also prayed for and over Carolina and Carlos, their family and work and everything the Spirit led us. God's Holy Presence really started moving in all of our hearts and their hearts, too, during this time. It was just so powerful; they shared some more of how they were feeling and what God was really stirring in them and they wanted to make the decision to confess Jesus as their Savior. Eleana led Carolina in praying; then, Carlos spoke some more and Mike led him in praying. It was just so powerful, and we prayed for them more, and it was just... INCREDIBLE!! It was amazing to get to be present when my brother and sister were adopted into the family. I was so blessed to be there, and i continue to be wowed by it. At one point during the evening i really realized "Wow, i am in the presence of Holiness right now," and there aren't words to describe that. And then thinking of the celebration in Heaven! Wow!
God's love and holiness met perfectly on the cross, and death was made unvictorious when Jesus came back to life, and well...
here we are
humbly accepting the bounty
of ourselves being captured
made servants and friends
to the One with love enraptured
and we fall for the One who owns us
not fearing a great demise
for in knowledge of His love for us
we are seeking to be wise
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