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.