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
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