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.