1 Week Left!

This is very likely my last blog update from Chile! It’s incredible how fast the time has flown by! We have even begun thinking, “This is our last visit to our friend __________.” Or, “I can’t believe this will be our last B-bl- study.” Or, “I wonder if we’ll ever see so-and-so again.” This is definitely the beginning of the end for our team here. We can count the number of days on our fingers!

Over the past month or so, I began to search for jobs that would tell me a little bit more about what my near future would look like. If you know me at all, you know that I love to plan, and have as many things figured out as possible. Being a hemisphere away, and having 1 hour of personal internet time each week, has made that process difficult. I had been hoping that I could come home with news of a new plan; I would have everything figured out, and make a somewhat seamless transition. Unfortunately, it looks as if that will not be the case. G-d continues to bring me lessons in patience, trust, and waiting on His plan. 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what G-d has prepared for those who love Him.” “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well. It is well with my soul.’”

A friend recently shared with me some information about butterflies. It is an intense struggle for a butterfly to emerge from its cocoon. Sometimes when people observe the butterfly struggling so deeply, they try to help by cutting or tearing the restricting casing of the cocoon. Once the butterfly emerges, it may fly for a few seconds, but then it falls, and eventually dies. Because it didn’t strengthen its wings through the struggle, it’s not strong enough to live. There is a purpose to the struggle.

Soon after this butterfly story was shared with me, a beautiful and timely song came on my iPod. The beginning lines softly say, “Hush now baby don’t you cry. Rest your wings my butterfly. Peace will come to you in time. And I will sing this lullaby” (“Lullaby” – Josh Groban). Peace will come to me in time. Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pr-y about everything. Tell G-d what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience G-d’s PEACE, which exceeds anything we can understand. His PEACE will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Chr-st J-s-s.”

This past week our friend Rebekah came back to stay with us for a few days. She has been staying with different m-ss--n-ry families in southern Chile, and came back to be with us as she got baptized! It was a very exciting milestone in her new walk with Chr-st, and it was fun to be able to share that with her. She is learning and growing a lot, and we all hope to keep in touch with her to hear the rest of the story G-d is unfolding in her life.

We also had a very fun little slumber party at our (mine, Kirsten, and Jean; aka, “Tias” (the aunts)) house this week! We invited our little host sister (Elizabeth – 7), and the daughters of the elders of our ch-rch (Anais – 12, and Jasmin – 7). We played, did somersaults, made popcorn, played with hair, and watched a movie. The entire kitchen area was filled with foam mattresses and sleeping bags, and we had a really nice time. We are certainly going to miss these girls!

As the time is wrapping up, there are things that make us all very excited about being back home. Things like: families, friends, independence, hot showers, telling stories, cars, summertime, good food, speaking English, no fleas, clothes dryers, etc. On the other hand, there are many many many things that we will be missing from our time here as well. We have made some very good friends here, and there are some things about the warm and friendly Chilean culture that I’m sure will be a shock to our systems when we remember that things aren’t always like that in the States.

To wrap up the rest of our time here, we will be putting some finishing touches on building projects we’ve started, visiting our friends for the last times, having a special gathering for us to say goodbye on Sunday, and making an American meal for our close friends here to thank them for everything they have so kindly done for us. There will also be a return trip to Purranque, where we visited our friend Coty’s family a few weeks ago. Her father and sister accepted Chr-st, and we think maybe some of her other family members are hoping to do the same thing. It should be a great time of encouragement, for sure. Beyond that, we will be cleaning up our little house, and packing our bags!

See you very soon, everyone! As we close our time here, you can be pr-ying for travel safeties, re-acclimation to North American culture, and for G-d’s direction in our lives.

LOTS of things

Heavens to Betsy (whoever she is), it has been FAR too long since an update! That must just mean that as the time dwindles down here in Chile, we have been travelling a LOT, and too busy to write about it. This rainy, windy, drizzly day will be perfect for filling you in.

On Easter, the team and Rebekah and I made our own little service. It was such a nice, small time together to reflect on the price that was paid on our behalf. We read “The Rag Man” reading - a beautiful story of J-s-s’ grace and sacrifice, as well as the Easter story from the g-sp-ls. We threw in a little bit of American culture, too, by painting “eggs,” but since Easter is about as popular as Christmas in Chile (you really have to be looking for it to find it), we used tempera paint on rocks. J Though Easter isn’t widely celebrated in Chile with pastel-colored candies, baskets, and plastic eggs, Eduardo reminded us that, “Easter is nice, but Jesus is alive every day.”

After Easter, the team and Rebekah went on a week-long trip back to the island of Chiloe, spending a few days in different locations. This was the first time that we went back to visit a site that we had been to before, so it was exciting to catch up with some of the same people, and encourage them further.

On the beginning of that trip, Jeff, Jean, Eduardo and I went to visit a man with terminal cancer. We talked to him around his bed for a while, and it was evident that he was grateful to have company. He has some fears and concerns, but we were able to reassure him of whose hands hold his future; the same hands that are holding him even now. Jean pr-y-d for his healing, and though nothing miraculous happened immediately, we are looking forward to hearing updates from his family about his health in the near future.

Following that visit, we met up with the rest of the team, and visited a young North American missionary couple in another part of the island. This visit was particularly encouraging to me. Travis and Bekii have been living in Quemchi for a few years, and are heavily involved in a children and youth ministry there.  We met some of the neighbors in the area, watched a soccer match at a friend’s house, and did  a pr-y-r walk throughout the community. Beyond the refreshment the team and I felt by sharing English conversation with people who understand what it feels like to be working in the islands as a North American, I personally had a great connection with Bekii. She and I share a lot of the same interests, and even know some of the same people! We also share the connection of being rare non-Mennonites in a Mennonite program. Our time together was extremely refreshing for me.

After Quemchi, we headed to Montemar, where we had been previously. I was even able to stay with the same hospitable family as I had before. While in Montemar, we met someone new as well. Maria lives by herself, and has done so for 23 years since her husband died. She is 73 years old, has 12 children, a lot of grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren. She does everything by herself - cooks, cuts and stores firewood, cultivates a big garden, and harvests potatoes to sell. There are so many things she does by herself! Her home is also very much secluded, and I can only imagine how lonely she gets. We also discovered that Maria never learned how to read or write, so we were very excited to read some Bible passages for her. A funny part of our visit - it is very customary for a hostess to prepare a meal or “once” (tea and bread) for guests. Maria began preparing a big lunch for us, but she couldn’t cut through a piece of frozen meat. Her solution? Go outside and chop it with a hatchet. J

While we are in Montemar, we often help with ch-rch services each night. One night, Eduardo said something that I wanted to be sure to remember. He was talking about people who claim a “generational f--th,” meaning one that is inherited from parents or other relatives. He said, “G-d doesn’t have grandchildren, just children.” John 1:12, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of G-d.”

In Montemar, Clay and I were asked to paint a large painting to be put on display in their s-nct--ry. I forget the actual dimensions, but it was something close to 5 feet by 6 feet. They asked that the painting be based off Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.” AND they wanted the river of life. AND a dove. J Clay designed it, and we painted it together within the span of 6 short hours. The ch-rch was very pleased with the work, and the painting will live in that ch-rch for a long time.

Every week, our team does something to intentionally spend time together. During the week after our trip to Chiloe, while working back in Alerce on building projects and visiting our neighbors, we took an afternoon trip to Puerto Varas. In the states, my friends and I have enjoyed geocacheing at times. Since my team had never been introduced to geocacheing, and since I was informed of this scavenger-hunt-style object hiding in Puerto Varas, we went out on a search. We knew that it was located in a specific park, near a large cross. After wandering around for quite a while in search of big crosses, we found the right one (second try), but there was a locked gate around it. Having come so far to be locked out, Jean climbed the fence, and began to look, while the rest of us watched from behind the gate. Pretty soon, Jeff joined her. While they were searching, a man with a key came to unlock the gate for the rest of us. He said, “Just don’t climb on the cross.” Well… we looked and looked and looked, but it just wasn’t there. Like Ecclesiastes says, “A time to search and a time to quit searching.”

After that week, we were on our way to our most southern trip - a week-long adventure to Porcelana. Porcelana is a small island, where we were told to expect colder temperatures, glaciers, hot springs, and even penguins! Our expectations were satisfied when we accomplished 2 ½ out of 4! To get to Porcelana, we took a 5 hour bus ride, followed by about an hour wait, and a 4 hour boat ride. The boat took us right up to the front door of our host home, the home of Boris and Gabby, a very memorable couple, who gave us a lot of laughs, warm and comfy beds, and hot showers. Their home was in the middle of a computer desktop background - super beautiful. We had the sea and snow-capped mountains in the front, and Chilean jungle, with a waterfall in the back. While we were there, we helped Eduardo scuba dive for oysters and crabs, and even shared raw sea urchin meat (a supposed delicacy, though we all agreed it tasted more like salty snot). Add that to the list of other weird things we’ve eaten while in Chile: brain/heart sausage (sliced like salami), pieces of boiled pig skin/fat with hair still in it, and a barely cooked egg (poached maybe?) on top of a pile of mashed potatoes.

Most of our m-n-stry there was to help clear a new path on the property, cut firewood, and encourage our host couple. They are very new in their f--th, and Gabby just loves to talk. We could only imagine how lonely it must be to not have anyone else to talk to for months at a time. Gabby even taught me how to communicate with the other boat captains with the CB radio. I’m basically a professional now. J

The most adventurous part of our trip happened on the second day, while we went with Boris to explore the jungle where he found some hot springs and a geyser. To get there, we hiked for 9 hours (round-trip) through the jungle (Boris was in the lead with a machete), and we were told to be on the lookout for pumas. We climbed over huge mossy rocks, trudged through 3 waist-high icy cold rivers (with rapids), shuffled across a slippery hanging bridge, and climbed up/down small cliffs with ropes. We were so happy to get to the hot springs, especially after being in the cold rivers. The water was even a little bit too hot! On our way back, I even slipped on a rock through one of the rapids, and fell face-first into the white water. Though I was sopping wet and very cold, I was completely fine. Our muscles were all very tired the next day!

The trip to Porcelana, and back again, both held very embarrassing and uncomfortable moments for me. This will be your treat for reading this monumentally long and overdue update. J On the 5 hour bus ride to the island, I had to go to the bathroom pretty badly. I usually avoid those if I can, but that was one long ride! I convinced myself that the bus bathroom was the way to go, and when I got there, I played with the door lock for a little while until the closet let me in. Once I was inside, I noticed that the toilet seat was stuck in the up position. While I was thinking about how I could go about fixing that, the bus hit a bump, and I went flying through the door, and onto the floor of the aisle. Thank the L-rd I had all of my clothes on (seriously, thank Him - it was only a matter of seconds). A nice man helped me up, and I was so flustered that I said, “Thank you” (in English). I shook it off, and gave it another try. This time, I couldn’t get the door to close, so I thought it best to just give up, and return to my seat. My team and I laughed and laughed. We looked back a few times, and my helper was laughing, too.

On our way back, I wasn’t feeling very well. We had just started the 5 hour bus ride. The road was very bumpy, the bus was a little bit too hot, and the music was a bit too loud. To top it off, it was dark and rainy, but the inside bus lights were on, which made it difficult to look outside. All of these things combined, I wound up vomiting into my hands, my clothes, the window, and the back of the head of the man sitting in front of me. I did what I could to clean up with a few squares of toilet paper, but I had to sit in the majority of it for the remaining hours of the trip. Eduardo (who was sitting next to me, with some splatter on his pants) had a great time laughing about it, and helping to distract me from worrying about it. It is a funny story now, but at the time… not so much.

We have been doing a lot of other great things since then as well, but this update has gone long enough.

Until next time, readers!

So there I was...

It's true - time still works, which means I am now a year older. Hopefully that equates to a year wiser as well. The story of my birthday... a very strange day. The punchline found me in the middle of Puerto Montt, barefoot. We'll get to that a little later.

We recently took a trip to Calvuco to help re-build a house that had been burned down. There is a young couple (24 yrs. old) who have 4 small boys. Before the fire, they had been all living in a very small "house" that was basically one room where they ate and slept. One of their boys, the second oldest, was in kindergarten last year. He brought home a piece of work with a frowny face on it, and he was ashamed. To hide it, he found a plastic plate, and put the paper on top of it, and set it on fire. As he was doing this, his older brother came into the room. To hide what he was doing, the kindergartner set the burning paper/plate underneath the bed, and pretty soon, all that was left of the house was ashes. Now, the family is living in unbelievably small quarters. While we were there, we made a lot of progress on a new house addition for them that is 2 floors high. Though it is far from fancy, they will finally be able to spread out a little bit.

Last week, we also set out to climb one of the snow-capped volcanoes that is featured in the unreal painting-like scene that we see from our neighborhood. It was a great day, with lots of sun, and windy little roads that snaked us closer to the top. We brought a nice picnic with us, and hiked as far as our legs carried us. Our goal was to reach the snow, but it was just SO far away. G-d's creation here in Chile truly is remarkable.

So now, the birthday story. My birthday just so happened to fall on a Monday, our free days. During these free days, we spend a bit of intentional time together as a team. This week, it was Jeff's turn to do the planning. In the morning, the girls made me some oatmeal pancakes (the only thing I had asked for for my birthday), and the boys went to run a few errands with Eduardo. During that time, the girls and Rebekah wanted to go to the artisan district to do some shopping. To keep me from being alone after getting some business done, we planned to meet up (the girls and I) later on. I caught a bus as soon as I could, but it was a different route than I was used to. It still took me to town, but entered from a different direction. I got off in a familiar place, but it was FAR from where I needed to be. About 5 minutes into my 25 minute walk, my flip flop broke. Just flat-out broke. So there I was... in Chile... in the middle of the city... barefoot... on my birthday. I finally met up with the girls, and we were soon on our way to the Chilean equivalent to Wal-Mart for a fun scavenger hunt Jeff had planned. Having picked up a new pair of shoes (strange ones at that), we went back to Eduardo's house where there was a nice gathering of friends from ch-rch to celebrate 3 birthdays.

Just yesterday, the team and Rebekah and Eduardo went to visit the father and sisters of one of our friends from ch-rch. While we were there, we helped this widower with his firewood, and shared some sandwiches. We played a few songs together, and Eduardo led us in a time of talking about what J-s-s did for us, and how we can respond. At the end of that time, he asked them if they wanted to accept J-s-s as their L-rd and S-v--r, and they said yes! How exciting! This man, alone and working for a cemetery where he is surrounded by death all the time, and he is now being offered eternal life! It was a very exciting and humbling experience to watch G-d do that right in front of us. I'm sure it's something my team and I won't quickly forget.

Our Australian friend, Rebekah, is still with us, and is learning more and more every day. If you're keeping track, you'll notice that her visit that began as a one-night thing, has now lasted for 2 full weeks, and is still going strong. She meets with Clay and Eduardo and I almost every night, and we've been working our way through the g-spels, as well as her growing list of questions. Like our friend's family members, she too has accepted the l-rdship of J-s-s, and it's been so great to watch her grow. Right under our noses! Please pr-y that G-d will continue to reveal Himself to her in real ways as she tries to figure out where to go from here, and how to explain her change to the people that she loves.

Until next time!

Pick-pockets, islands, and Aussies

This past week has been pretty eventful. This particular bit of news is older than a week, but exciting nonetheless: On St. Patrick’s Day, our Hopey dog had her puppies! We think she had some difficulty in her delivery (we didn’t observe this process), because only 2 survived. One is all black with a few small white markings, and the other is white, with some tan markings. They both still look a bit like little pigs, but they are very cute little pigs. Our current biggest challenge is to keep the neighbor girls from coming into our yard and putting their silly bands around their small bodies/necks. Things could be much worse. J

For 3 days we visited the island of Tabón to help with the construction of a small church building. We also tore down a LOT of thorn bushes from a public school property, helped prepare meals, and Clay and I even saw a poor pig be castrated (very gross). It was a great little trip, and we enjoyed the family that was hosting us very much. We had an evening of sharing those “too creepy/coincidental to not be G-d” stories, which left us all feeling very undeservedly loved by a very huge G-d. How can it be that the Creator of the beautiful island we were on knows us all so personally when we are so small? I still don’t have an answer for that one.

Crazy little side note: On our way home, on our way to catch our final bus, I felt a movement in my backpack. I turned around to see a man with his hand in my outermost pocket. I said the Chilean equivalent to, “Hey!” and whipped my bag around to the front. The man looked at me as if to say, “What?!” I saw that my pocket was still open, and I thought I had put my camera in there, but it was now gone. The scariest part of this story is that just that morning I had placed the pouch with all of our team’s finances, as well as my own, into that pocket. Praise the L-rd I had moved it for some unknown reason. We traveled the rest of the way home, and I had done a pretty good job of telling myself that there were worse things to be lost than a camera, though I was saddened that I had lost some of our photo memories. However! - the “missing” camera was found in yet another pocket! Nothing was lost, and I learned a good lesson about bus stations. J Eduardo was actually surprised that this was the first time we had problems with that, seeing as we are targets because of our foreign appearance.

The most exciting piece of this week comes in the form of a long story, so prepare ye.

While our team was taking our mid-way break in Bariloche, Argentina, we met a girl at our hostel. Her name is Rebecca, she is 19 years old, is from Australia, and is traveling all of South America by herself. While we were at the hostel, we had some great conversations, and we learned that she was planning to come to our region of Chile near the end of March. We said, “Great! Maybe we can see you again!” Lo and behold, she wrote to us and questioned if she could stay with us for a night as she was passing through. Of course!

Through our conversations, we’ve learned that Rebecca has been to ch-rch in the past, but has been hurt by some people there whose actions don’t match their words. This has caused her to feel very distant from G-d, and to search for something else to fill that place in her. What is interesting to me, though, is that she has been reading a book that includes G-d quite a bit, and came with an especially “coincidental” (I don’t really like that word) story of amazing protection during a visit to Peru where the taxi she and her sister were riding was robbed while they were inside it. These pieces, as well as her good questions made us excited about what G-d might be doing by placing us together again.

She has joined us for the youth group B-bl- lesson, lots of deep conversations, our host brother Nacho’s birthday party, and even stayed for ch-rch on Sunday. One night turned into two, which turned into three. Rebecca just came back from a hike, where she showed us some pictures of her poor blistered feet. She had borrowed her mom’s hiking shoes, which have served her for the past 7 months of traveling, but are a poor fit, and are falling apart (literally - she is about to RE-superglue them back together). During our conversations I sneakily asked her if they have European sizes in Australia, or another size system. I said, “For example, I wear a size 8 ½ or 9 shoe, but that is something like 40 or so in European sizes! That’s a big difference. What size do you wear?” Wouldn’t you know… we wear the same size. I asked her to try on my hiking shoes, and they fit her like a glove. It took some convincing, but  I was finally able to give them to her. She plans to hike a volcano next in her travels, and since I won’t be hiking any volcanos, she clearly needs them more than I do. It makes me think of a few verses. Though it is not quite spot-on, this comes from Matthew 5:40-42, "If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow." It is fun to think of all the adventures my shoes may have during their time with Rebecca.

Yesterday (Sunday) after ch-rch, Rebecca was really touched by the service, and Eduardo had been wanting to talk to her for a little while. That evening, Clay (who had been using his knowledge of Spanish to translate things for her - she knows very little), Eduardo, Rebecca, and I sat around the kitchen table talking about G-d’s big love, and how much He loves Rebecca. She was moved to tears, and is interested in walking on the right path again. In addition to her past pains from her church, we’ve had discussions about her family relationships and some hurts that exist there, as well as some ways she has tried to find fulfillment in worldly things, but has been disappointed. At the end of our kitchen table discussion, Eduardo asked if she wanted to say anything. She asked, “Would it be possible to stay longer?” We said, “Of course!”

We aren’t sure how long our friend Rebecca will be staying with us (she is currently asleep on a mattress on my bedroom floor), but we are excited to have her. In addition to her company, Rebecca is a great cook, and is teaching us how to have an Australian accent. J

In other news, things are coming down the wire for those of us who are being presented with forks in the road concerning decisions that need to be made regarding our futures. It’s safe to say that with only about a month and a half left, we are all thinking about what comes next. Please pr-y that G-d makes his leading abundantly clear to us, that we would have ears to hear His whispers, and that we would move forward in confidence of who is leading us. Additionally, that we wouldn’t let thoughts of the future deter us from what is happening right here, right now. In one respect, a month and a half feels like a blink of time, but in another, we know that we still have a lot to do, and a lot more to learn. May we always be tuned to listen to what G-d is teaching us through H-s Word, H-s church, and H-s creation.

Congratulations on making it to the bottom! Maybe next time I write, I will be a year older and a year wiser. J

Trash

First of all, I’m glad to report that I am feeling 100% healthy again. After about a week and a half of feeling under the weather, it’s nice to be back to normal. Please continue to pr-y for the health of my team. In the past 2 weeks, Jeff got bit by a dog, I visited the hospital, both Clay and Kirsten were feeling sick, and Jean injured her thumb pretty badly. Don’t misunderstand - this team is extremely tough, and very little keeps us down for long. We are optimistic and hopeful, but not naive enough to not recognize that someone isn’t happy about what we’re doing here, and is doing his best to distract or disable us. Continue to join us in pr-ying that we would be strengthened and covered by the right kind of armor.

This week was a bit different than usual, due to the death of a family member of an elder of the ch-rch. We had to change a few plans, including a trip to an island we’ve never been to, which will now happen next week. Instead, we had the opportunity to do a few things that were a bit out of the ordinary, but a fun change of pace. For example, yesterday the team and I walked around our neighborhood with black trash bags and collected only a fraction of the ice cream wrappers and empty cigarette cartons that line the streets of our neighborhood. The amount of street trash in our area, which itself is less than 10 years old, is just simply impressive. In about an hour’s time, we collected about 8 full-sized trash bags full of litter from about a block and a half. Cleaning it up has been something that I’ve wanted to do to contribute to the betterment of our neighborhood for a long time.

During our time in our neighborhood, Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope), we have been told (and noticed first-hand) just how much we are being watched. For our team, it is very important that we always remember what kinds of names we are carrying and representing on a daily basis (gringos, our churches, our families, and most importantly, Chr-st). This was made very evident while we were picking up trash, especially during interactions with some of our neighbors that we have not yet met. Several people stopped to thank us, and to tell us that we are setting a good example for the people here, especially the children. There was a group of women in particular who began by asking us if we were members of the “organization” (a group that works for the government on minor construction projects in the area). We obviously aren’t, but were able to inform them about our ch-rch services that are held right in the neighborhood every Sunday morning, in a familiar community center.

As we were sifting through discarded diapers and cast-off cans, I couldn’t help but think about J-s-s’ m-n-stry in meeting the people’s needs - both the physical as well as the sp-r-t--l. It’s through His concern for physical health by way of healings and miraculous feedings that J-s-s opened the ears and hearts of the people to His message. It’s through things like picking up trash on the side of the road that we are given opportunities for conversations with people who don’t know the love of J-s-s; conversations that we may not have had otherwise.

If none of those things, or simply for the fact that we were caring for creation were enough, we are told in Matthew that when we do things for the benefit of others, we are doing them unto Chr-st himself.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘L-rd, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”

Take a minute today to pick up a piece of trash on the side of the road, or to talk to someone who needs a friend. Do something for the benefit of someone else. You never know how simple things will end; make the effort to do something seemingly simple today.

The Hospital Story

Last week I spent a little while discovering the ins and outs of the Chilean heath care system, in an all-too-personal way.

Below is the full story, as notated to my parents in an e-mail. Suffice to say, I was quite sick, for quite a while, which resulted in my first ever hospital visit. In a foreign country. Where I don't have a big enough vocabulary to fully communicate with doctors. That's really all you need to know. If you want to know the gross details and promise not to judge... please continue.

-----

I talked to you on Saturday for Dad’s birthday. On Thursday, Kirsten had felt led to pr-y and fast for someone, and I felt like it was the right thing to join her and support her in that. Jean decided to as well, so the three of us fasted over lunch, and then our team’s time of fasting and -nt-rc-ss--n was over dinner, so the three of us were operating off of just our morning cereal all day. We’ve done this sort of thing in DTS before, so we weren’t too concerned. On Friday morning I had a small piece of bread for breakfast, and made spaghetti and a lettuce salad for lunch. After lunch, I began to feel… not good. Like every Friday, I taught my English class in the afternoon, and then right after, Jeff and Eduardo and I went into the city to do two more visits. We usually don’t get home until very late, and this week was no exception. I began to feel progressively worse, and even fell asleep on a couch during our last visit. Food didn’t sound good, and I was feeling pretty warm. When I got home, the girls weren’t there yet (they were on another visit), and I took my temperature with a disposable thermometer: 100.4.

The next morning was a little bit better, so I went over to Eduardo’s house to get a few things accomplished for the directors, and to make your birthday call. During our call, Juanita was making a really nice cultural meal with oysters and clams and everything, but I only wanted water. Then the explosions began. From that point on, everything that I put in my mouth (mostly just water), came right out the other end, in the form of complete liquid. I visited the bathroom a LOT on Saturday. In the evening, the girls were really sweet and sat on my bed to keep me company, and they got me a popsicle (that resulted in about 5 trips to the bathroom, but it tasted great). I was ridiculously hot all day. We didn’t have any more thermometers, but everyone who touched me was concerned. Sometimes I felt like I was hot, but mostly I felt cold (but hot to the touch). Eduardo and Juanita came over and pr-yed for me, and told me that they were going to come back at 11:30. If I wasn’t better by then, they were taking me to the hospital. I REALLY didn’t want that to happen. At all. I was imagining trying to explain the situation in broken Spanish, and them treating me for the wrong thing, or just being uncertain of Chilean hospitals and their protocol. It sounded horrible to me. Juanita came back a little while later with some medicine, and she said that I felt cooler. I had been lying on my bed with the window open, so I’m not sure if that was why or not. I was so excited to not have to go to the hospital, but what came next proved that I wasn’t moving in the right direction.

We all went to sleep, and Jeff was sleeping in our kitchen because we are borrowing a friend’s car, and it is safer with Jeff here (another story for another time - the gist: while we were on vacation, a friend kept an extra car from his business in our yard, and it was stolen). I got up in the middle of the night with horrible stomach pain. My head had been hurting a lot, too, probably because I couldn’t eat anything. The best I could describe it was that my head felt like a balloon, but with a brick helmet on. I was in the bathroom for a long long time, and I started to feel like I did when I used to pass out in the shower - remember that? My ears started ringing and crackling, and my vision started to get dark. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to compose myself before I passed out. Thank goodness I was able to take care of business, but then I spent some extra time just lying on the bathroom floor. The cold tile felt good on my skin (gross, but true). Jeff asked if I was ok, and I said yeah, but I probably shouldn’t have. That was probably a lie. I didn’t want anyone to have to go to great lengths in the middle of the night. I stumbled back into bed, and Sunday was more of the same. Eduardo said, “No questions. After church you are going to the hospital.” Kirsten’s stomach was hurting by now, but with a little less intensity than mine, so the two of us stayed back from church. At about 2:30 I went with Jean and Jeff and Eduardo to “the hospital.”

G-d really had my back this time, because we had been borrowing our friend Fernando’s car since Friday night. That meant that I didn’t have to get myself to a bus, or make bus switches. SO much less complicated. Plus I was just feeling weak by then since I hadn’t really had much to eat in 3ish days.

The first place we went to was a little health clinic in Alerce. I didn’t like it as soon as I saw it. It looked a bit like a run-down school building, and all of the employees were grumpy. Nobody was wearing uniforms, and there were hand-made posters falling off the walls. Eduardo and Jeff and Jean were so great during this entire day. Eduardo was explaining my situation for me to the people and had my passport, Jeff handled all the money, and Jean kept me company and carried my purse. We waited for a little while and they called me back into a little room. A lady took my blood pressure, and put a thermometer under my armpit - the old glass mercury kind; just reached right down my shirt and everything. I have no idea what the result was (Update: I do, now. It was in the neighborhood of 101.5). Then it was back out into the waiting area to wait some more. I was then called into another room, and Eduardo went with me. This room looked a little bit like a blood drive - purple curtained cubicles with one little bed in each. They asked me a couple questions that Eduard made more simple for me. I was glad to have him there.

The lady then told me to lay down on the bed, and she whipped my shirt up and began poking around really forcefully. She asked me if it hurt, and I said, “Yes.” Of course it hurt! She was jabbing her fingers into my sensitive stomach. She then said, “Yep. Appendicitis.” Eduardo and I shared a skeptical glance. Then Eduardo told me he was going to leave, but after he did, I needed to take down my pants. I really had no idea what was going to happen, but I trust him, so I did, but not before asking, “Are you sure?!”

I buried my face in the wall, and my back side was just open to the world because the curtain wasn’t even closed to my purple cubicle. The waiting room couldn’t see, but still. I’m not exactly sure what she did, but I’m thinking she was taking my temperature. I don’t know (Update: She was. The result: 102). A very horrible experience that I don’t want to do again anytime soon.

That clinic place didn’t charge us anything, and they suggested I go to the real hospital to get my appendix removed. We said, “See ya later,” and immediately Eduardo said, we’re going somewhere else. I don’t trust them here. So we went to another place, this time in the city, that looked much more official and much more hospital-y. Very clean, lots of uniforms, and sliding doors. I didn’t have to wait for very long, and they took me back to a room that looked much more legit. They look my temperature (under the armpit again), and blood pressure again. This time the temperature was 101.7. This doctor was very nice and gentle, and he did the whole feel your abdomen thing, and said that he wasn’t worried because it felt very soft. He recommended that I stay for a while and they would give me an IV of fluids and wait until my temperature went down. I have been looking forward to whenever I would have to have my first IV for my entire life (NOT). I’m sure you can imagine how well I handled that. Eduardo was still with me, and was very kind and understanding. First they tried to put the needle in my right wrist, below my thumb. The nurse guy was having a hard time trying to find my veins, because he said they were so dry. He gave up on that part, and found another place on the top of my left hand instead. I had to lay there for close to an hour. They checked my blood pressure and temperature again, and this time it was normal.

We left with 2 prescriptions, and I was feeling a lot better. It almost felt like I had just woken up. Since it was a Sunday, it was a bit difficult to find a pharmacy that was open. Eduardo was a champ. Jeff drove throughout the city, and Eduardo ran in and out of 4 different pharmacies trying to find what I needed. At the last stop, he got exactly what I needed. And it was very inexpensive, too, since Eduardo is some sort of member at this pharmacy. 

I also have to “lay low” for 3 days, and I have a paper that says what I can and can’t eat for the next 6 days. I can’t have: milk, cream, cheese, butter, pig, lamb, duck, goose, fruits, vegetables, beans, condiments, legumes, fried foods, coffee, chocolate, or alcoholic drinks. I can have: toast, soda crackers, beef, brothy soups, fish, noodles, rice, eggs, jell-o, sugar in moderation, salt, tea, and cinnamon water. And some other things that I don’ t understand, and aren’t in my dictionary. Weird. For the next 6 days. We think that maybe the lettuce we ate made our stomachs feel gross, so we got rid of that, and are a bit leery of produce now. The official diagnosis was, enterovirosis: “WholeVirus.”

I’m still having some trouble keeping things down, well… anything down. But my whole self doesn’t hurt quite as much as before. I have more energy than yesterday, too. It was hard to sleep last night. I woke up at 3:45, and couldn’t sleep for the next 2 hours. I literally listened to my insides gurgle as if there were foam in there, just going up and down my digestive system.

The team just went to get groceries, so I’m all stocked up on jell-o, crackers, and a little bit of Gatorade. We’re going to watch “The Help” tonight, and just hang out, which sounds just perfect to me. They are being super helpful in trying to make me feel comfortable. In Jean’s words they’re being “sweetie pumpkins.”

Don’t worry too much. I feel ok; not very comfortable, but not going to die. In a few days it will all just be a funny story.

Argentina

Nice to meet you, Argentina! I have enjoyed your chocolates and mountain views, but please... don't cry for me.

We're just finishing up our vacation to Argentina, which means we are halfway through our time in Chile! Crazy! We had to leave Chile in order to enter again, and re-new our visas for another 90 days. So here we are, in Bariloche, Argentina, and we have been here for about a week. It has been a great time to relax and reflect, and figure out how we can squeeze every last bit out of our last 3 months in South America.

We have also enjoyed many things here at our charming little hostel, that we hadn't experienced in a while: HOT showers (!!! the first of which was about an hour long for me), wifi, movies, and speaking to other English-speakers. We met people from all over the world at our hostel: Canada, Czech Republic, Australia, Germany, California, and even Southfield, MI! It truly is a small world.

Argentina is known for its chocolate, so of course we had to enjoy every free sample we could find, and we pet a few Saint Bernards while we were here, too (I guess Bariloche is known for those, too). Also on the list of adventures: beach visiting, mountain hikes, and waterfall chasing.

BUT... most excitingly of all, our team wanted to experience something daring and fun together, so we all decided to go paragliding off the Andes mountains! It was simply incredible! Flying through the air over the mountains, looking at the shore line, going up and down and sideways with the currents... I felt like a kite. Absolutely spectacular.

It's a nice, blue sky, sunny day here in Argentina, and we're looking forward to going across the Andes again to get "home," and to see the people that we miss there. Our next big, big trip, will be home to see YOU!