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!

We Broke in and ate Spaghetti

"Oh my gravy," as my mom would say... it's been forever since a post!

Buckle up, everyone, this is going to be a long one, but I think it will be worth it. In this episode you'll hear some of my favorite Chile stories to date!

Last time we left off after a trip to Chiloe. Since then, we've hiked in the Andes, spent a few more days in Alerce, and now we're all the way in Argentina to renew our visas, and take a tiny rest before the second half of our m-n-stry abroad.

Let's start with the Cordillera (the trip into the Andes). Actually... the day before. Since it was very close to Valentine's Day, my team and I wanted to give our coordinator and his wife a blessing of time with each other. Their lives are so devoted to serving others, that they rarely have alone time together. With a money gift for a nice dinner, and the promise to take good care of their children, we sent them on their way into the city. While they were gone, we helped the little ones make valentines for their parents, and we made cards for each other as well. We had also bought a delicious cake, and the kids enjoyed decorating it with sprinkles. Our coordinator and his wife were so grateful - they said that they hadn't had a dinner out in years! How cool that we could help them in that way!

I occasionally check my e-mail inbox for messages from our directors, and sometimes it awfully tempting to check personal messages, but my allotted time hasn't come yet. The night before our trip, I checked one last time, and I could tell by the subject lines of the messages waiting for me that a sad milestone had occurred for my family - our sweet almost 13 yr. old dog, Kazoo, had died. Kazoo had been a faithful friend to me since she had been born at our house, and she has been my buddy for half of my life. I'm still living in a bit of denial, since I haven't been home yet, but she is already missed incredibly. Not long after I had found out, a family that we enjoy visiting came over and invited us to watch fireworks in Puerto Montt, a celebration of the city's anniversary... it was 11pm. Of course we agreed, and we raced into town to catch only the last few. I pretended they were in Kazoo's honor.

Back to the Cordillera... Our coordinator's whole family (including the 4 yr. old, and the 7 yr. old), packed up, and the 10 of us hit the road early in the morning. A 25 minute bus ride, a 4 (that turned into 5) hour bus ride, a 1 hour boat ride, waiting 3 more hours for another bus (since the one we were planning on was just too full), and finally a last 1 hour bus ride. That made for a looooong day of traveling. During our 3 hour wait, I even met a Chilean guy who was asking us where we are from (very common). When we told him we were from the states, he said, "Which one?" When I told him, "Michigan," he said, "Oh really? I have an aunt who works at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. I'm going there in August." How crazy is that?! We even saw him again on our return trip a few days later.

After our last bus ride, all of us except our coordinator and Jeff were dropped off at the house we were planning to stay at. It belongs to a friend of our coordinator, who lives near us in Alerce. His son was going to be using it before us, so our coordinator and Jeff kept riding the bus to go find the keys, as the house was locked up tight, and so was the gate. The rest of us and all 10 million bags/boxes (we brought all of our food with us for the trip, too) climbed over the barbed wire fence, and made ourselves comfy in the grass while we waited. And waited. And waited. After a few hours of nothing, we were getting tired from the travel, hungry, and just ready to be inside. We noticed a second-floor window that was ajar, and found a rickety (and I mean rickety) old homemade ladder, and Jean shimmied up there, and climbed right in. We heard some clanking around, and she opened the front door triumphantly and exclaimed, "Guys! It wasn't even locked this whole time!" and she closed it behind her to prove her point. Well... it was. It was locked the whole time. SO up she went again. This time, we all entered before the door was closed, and we started setting up shop.

Our coordinator's wife got busy making a fire in the wood stove in order to prepare dinner, and the rest of us started to set up tents in the front yard, while we could still take advantage of the dwindling daylight. Once the spaghetti was ready for our dinner, we all gathered inside, and hoped that Jeff and our coordinator would be back soon to enjoy it with us. Just as soon as we had taken our first bites, Jeff and our coordinator rolled up to the gate (still locked) in a pick-up truck. Some Spanish words were said, but the gist of it was... we aren't allowed to be there. In a hurried frenzy, we packed up all the tents and the spaghetti (still hot), and we fit 12 of us and all of our things in the pick-up truck, and drove to another house. When we arrived, it was dark, and we tried our best to set up our mixed up tents and make things cozy outside right next to the pigs and chickens. Have I ever mentioned how incredible the stars are in Chile?! It's the clearest sky I've ever seen.

We joined the owners of the property in their home for some tea, and heard on their walky talkie (the preferred form of communication amongst neighbors there) that the people who were SUPPOSED to be in the first house were enjoying our leftover spaghetti. Thank goodness they weren't upset!

So basically... we broke into a house and ate spaghetti in it!

The next few days were spent meeting/visiting friends there, which meant a LOT of walking. An hour and a half or more in one direction, with the little kids also. They were such troopers.

During one of our visits, we even had an... exotic food item: brain and heart sausage, sliced like salami. Of which animal, I'm not entirely sure. My guess is sheep. It was kinda squeaky in your teeth. We washed it down with water that had been collected from a waterfall!

While we were in the mountains, it rained a LOT. By the time we were finished with our 1 1/2 hour walks, we were drenched; and so were the tents. But the visits were definitely worth it. We were able to visit for 2 afternoons with the family of a 16 yr. old boy who lives with our coordinator's family during the school year. He goes to school in the city, and it would be outrageous for him to travel back to the mountains every day. His grandparents and his parents live deep in the forest, and have a small farm. His dad works somewhere else for weeks at a time, and his mom stays home with her 8 yr. old daughter, who has Down Syndrome. This woman, our friend's mom, hasn't left her house in years; it's just too complicated. What a cool opportunity to be able to spend some time encouraging her, and bringing her some fresh faces to talk to. I absolutely loved spending time with her daughter, Luz (Light). She and I danced and sang and just spent time hugging eachother (she was a very forceful hugger). There is most definitely a special place in my heart for the special needs population. Everyone, all people, bear the image of our Creator. Everyone. I am convinced that the most evident piece of G-d's character that is displayed through my Down friends is joy. Joy and completely unconditional love. Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."

While we were in the Cordillera, we also saw a rooster in a tree, and a duck bite a pig.

Once we arrived home, we were grateful to be done travelling (another trip that took most of the day... wet), and especially to be dry.
We are currently on vacation to renew our visas in Argentina! A great time to relax and catch up on the mental to-do list. I'll have to save those adventures for another post... be looking for that one soon!

6 Day Trip to Chiloe

So much to tell you since last time! Sorry it has been a while since the last post - my team and I recently spent 6 days on the island of Chiloe (a much more rural environment than usual, as you will soon tell), doing various things for a ch-rch there.

Before we left on our trip, one of my teammates, Kirsten, told me that she had been pr-y-ng that I would feel an extra amount of support. It has been hard for me, at times, being here without the support of a ch-rch body like the rest of my friends. Simply due to my life phase and the fact that that involved a few rounds of moving, and long spaces of time, before this experience, I found myself disconnected from congregations I was close to in the past. ANYWAY… Kirsten told me that, and that evening Jean was talking to her family. They asked her if anyone on the team needed some extra encouragement, because a woman from their ch-rch was wanting to correspond with one of us. Wow! If that weren’t enough, I’ve been receiving some “out of the blue” e-mails from good friends. It’s so comforting to know that not only am I not being forgotten, but I’m being thoughtfully and pr-y-rf-lly remembered! AND (here comes a big one) some lifelong family friends wanted to bless me by supporting me with a generous financial gift! I was blown away by their thoughtfulness and generosity! Even now, about a week later, it is still incredible to me. Thanks be to G-d for all the ways He is using my friends to bless me.

Some interesting conversations have been occurring this week, also. It all began by our coordinator joking with me about the verses in 2 Timothy 2: 11 - 15 that say that women are not saved until they bear children. (Note: He was not being serious, but loves to jokingly jab at me with “women in the church” things. We both agree that there is a cultural context that needs to be considered for such restricting verses. For example, he can often be found saying to me, “Hey you! Submit!” I give him a little Galatians 3:28 - “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, MALE AND FEMALE. For you are all one in Chr-st J-s-s,” and that usually does it for a little while. He also likes to tell me that I’m going to be married soon, and likes to talk about things of that nature in a joking way as well. I replied saying, “That is why I need a husband! I need him to talk for me in ch-rch!” [regarding women being silent in 1 Corinthians 14:34] Kirsten says it well when she says, “G-d created man… then He had a better idea.” J) All that to say… this led to some very interesting conversations about theological differences. I was telling our coordinator that it makes me sad to see so many divisions in the ch-rch. As someone who has experienced w-rsh-p and community with several different denominations, it makes me sad and angry when Chr-st--ns are more focused on their differences than on their similarities. With REACH being a M-nn-n-t- program, I get plenty of non-M-nn-n-t- jokes thrown my way (I do tend to do my share to bring them on, I’m sure). About the ways the B-bl- is interpreted so differently among denominations, our coordinator wisely said, “The B-bl- isn’t wrong/confused, we are.” Chew on that for a while; I will be.

Our time on the island was… interesting. There were 10 of us in all - the 5 of us from my team, plus our coordinator and his eldest son, and 3 other teens from our ch-rch. We were being hosted by a small ch-rch there, but we needed to immediately be split into 2 smaller groups. Clay and Jean went with our friend Camila (one of the teens) to a completely different part of the island, where we wouldn’t see them again until the end of our trip. They have some pretty crazy stories, so hopefully one of them will type them up for you soon! Kirsten stayed with the p-st-r and his wife (such a quirky, funny couple!), Jeff and our coordinator stayed at the p-st-r’s son’s house with his family, I stayed with a family that lives right next door to the ch-rch, and the 3 teen boys stayed in a tent that they set up inside a back room of the ch-rch. Now, when I say ch-rch, I really mean small sanctuary with lawn chairs, and a back room. That’s it.

On our first night there, Jeff and I were asked to get up and play some songs, which we’ve grown more and more accustomed to since our first experience with this. It was a good thing we brought along the notebook with some handwritten songs we know in Spanish! We ended up having a ch-rch service every single night we were there (our coordinator spoke for most of them), and I even gave a message one night completely in Spanish! Actually… one night our coordinator asked me to pr-y to end the service. As I was returning to my seat he says to the whole congregation, “Tomorrow she is going to be giving the message!” Surprise to me! It must have totally been a G-d thing, because the next night I was blabbering on in Spanish about something from James 3 and Romans 12 and Galatians 6:8, without an interpreter! No way could I have done that on my own.

The family I stayed with was so nice. A mom and a dad, a 19 yr. old son, a 16 yr. old son, an 8 yr. old son, and a 6 yr. old daughter. It was EXTREMELY hard to communicate while we were there. The people on the island speak even faster, and MUCH more mumbly than we are used to (it’s like they try to talk without moving their lips or opening their mouth). Many times, after I asked the mom to repeat what she had said but slower, they would just give up if I couldn’t understand right away. And when I tried to start a conversation in Spanish (which has been going well for me in Alerce), they would look at me as if I were speaking Mandarin or something. Frustrating for sure, but not impossible. I especially enjoyed the company of the 6 yr. old girl, Carlita. We didn’t do a whole lot of talking, but we played with bubbles and kittens and random tree berries. Good friends don’t need to say a whole lot, I guess. J

Funny part of speaking - I was trying my best to describe my teammates to them, and they said, “We know. We have the video.” They pulled out and watched (twice!) a video of my team that had been recorded during our first week in Chile, singing in English at the all-night pr-y-r conference on another part of the island. Crazy. The family and I watched a few other videos during my time there, including a Spanish Chr-st--n ventriloquist, and the whole family (I mean the WHOLE family) was singing along to kids’ songs from “Biper y sus Amigos!” - a kids’ program featuring a group of people in mascot suits with huge heads… in Spanish. Some songs included, “The Train of S-lv-t--n!” and “Mommy” (“mami, mami mami mami, mami no hay otro como tu!” - mommy there is no other like you).

We also learned a few more cultural things during our time in Chiloe. One thing - since I was the guest at my house, that oftentimes meant that I would eat first, before the family, all by myself. This is so that the guest has the best portion (lots of meat and potatoes), and eats their fill before the rest of the food is divided amongst the family. It’s also rude to not accept seconds. That was SO hard, because we’ve grown accustomed to not eating very much in Alerce, and the first portions I received in Chiloe were HUGE! There were times when I was offered more, but I simply had to say, “Impossible, but thank you.”

The house was a bit interesting, too. I thought that I had been missing hot water since being here, but on Chiloe, I just missed water in general. The water that comes out of the tap looks like tea, and smells very foul. To be consumed, it must be boiled, but is then still a funky color. While I was there, the water had been turned off for some reason, which meant that I didn’t take a shower for an impressive 6 days. Don’t worry - I took a nice long cold shower when we got home. J Kirsten was able to shower while we were there, but there were little pigs right outside the open bathroom window. My teammates at the other location, however, got hot baths! Something I’m definitely looking forward to when I get home!

Other than ch-rch services, our team did a lot of visiting to houses, and sharing the Word. This, for me, was not so fun. We did this for 2 days. The first day, Jeff and I went with a Chilean m-ss--n-ry named Rolando, the p-stor’s son, Oscar, and one of the teens, Antonio. Rolando has good intentions and an incredible memory full of Scr-pt-r- and references, but his approach makes me cringe. We would go house to house, to families none of us knew, and Rolando would use us “de los Estado Unidos” (from the U.S.) to be invited into homes. Once we were there, he would tell the people to get their B-bl- because he wanted to share with them a word from G-d. He is nice, but just very forceful. We listened to him tell these people (almost the whole island is Catholic) about the dangers of idol w-rs-p and what kind of fate is awaiting them, in a very abrupt manner. After the first house of this he turned to Jeff and I and said, “Ok, now your turn!” We politely shared different messages of G-d’s love and invitation for a relationship with the people, but before long Rolando was back to his bag of tricks. This day was very difficult for Jeff and I. In 1 Corinthians 13 it says that we can know everything, or do anything, but if it’s not done with love, it’s just noise. At one point I told Rolando that I wish I knew more about the personal lives of the individuals we were talking to. If I don’t even know the name of the person I’m sharing Chr-st with, what reason do they have to believe what I say, or even listen?

The second day I went with Kirsten, a couple of the teens, and the p-st-r to visit people they already knew. This day was much better, but still a little fire and brimstone for my preferences. We did a lot of listening, and politely smiling.

Other highlights of the trip - 3 people were b-pt-z-d on Sunday morning in a nearby lake, Jeff and our coordinator got to help a cow give birth, 2 people came to know Chr-st through a conversation with our coordinator, we all got to ride a horse, touch a pig, pet the day-old calf, see a flock of wild parrots, and play ping pong and soccer with some natives.

Now that we’re all back and showered, things are moving along like they used to. I taught “this, that, these, and those” in my English class this week, and tomorrow we’ll be helping an American m-ss--n-ry family move into a new house (the same one we were painting and sanding a while ago). Next week we’ll be heading into the mountains for the first time with our coordinator and his family, and soon after that we’ll be heading to Argentina to renew our visas, and to rest for a couple days. It’s hard to believe the midway point is approaching so quickly!

Please pr-y for our continuing m-n-stry in Alerce with the youth in the area, our kids’ program, house visits, music, and work projects. Also pr-y that I’ll be able to smoothly figure out our vacation travel plans, and that G-d continues to reveal His plan for my life after Chile. I’m starting the job searching process, which I’m sure is going to be more complicated while a whole hemisphere away.