The Base

 Well, it is a relaxing Saturday afternoon here in sunny Pichilemu.  It is cool and fall-like, but the kids are enjoying playing outside.  So I thought I would post a few pictures of the base so that you can see where we spend most of our day. 



Our classroom is in the second floor of this building.
This is where we spend many hours each day.



The hill that the kids like to play on,
with the soccer field in the foreground.



The dining hall where we eat all of our meals

This is the view from the base, out over town, towards the ocean. 
The beach is about a 10 minute walk away. 



This is the picnic shelter where we usually sit to check
our e-mails or write blog posts.




A great big swingset for the kids

 So now you can imagine where we are a bit better.  Things are going well, and we are keeping very busy.  Thank you all for your continued prayers.  It is a blessing to be able to be in class for 3 hours every day learning about God, and our relationship with him.   For example, this past week we talked about our self-image.  I felt challenged to remember that my image is based in God and what he has done.  My value and who I am don't come from my job as a wife or a mother.  It doesn't come from the fact that I'm a missionary kid, or an American or anything else.  My value comes from being a wonderful creation of God.  I am worth Jesus' blood on the cross.  I don't need anything else besides that to make me valuable and special.   So I praise the Lord for his love and for the sacrifice of Jesus. May each of you remember that you are specially created by God, and you are so special to him that he sacrificed Jesus for you.  You are a beautiful poem written by God.  Have a great day! 

You can also be praying for us in the next few weeks as we decide where we are going to go on our outreach.  We only have about 6 more weeks of class and then we divide into 3 groups and go practice what we have been learning.  So we are praying that God will lead us to the place that he has prepared for us to go during this 2 month outreach time.  You can also pray for me on Tuesday because it is my turn to give the morning devotional/testimony before we start class. 

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Jonathan celebrated his first birthday shortly after we got here.  It was a special time for us to be able to celebrate his first birthday with all of his new "aunts" and "uncles".  He is now walking on his own and getting all around.  He is so active now that he isn't content to sit quietly with me in my class.  So he has begun going to the kids' class with them.  I think it was harder for mom and dad to let him go than it was for Jonathan.  He is doing very well and we are getting more out of our classes.  We praise the Lord for answering our prayers regarding the childcare situation here at the school.  There is a small class for the kids of the students and teachers (about 12 kids in all).   Each day they learn the same topic that we are discussing in our class.  So it is a neat way for all of the family to participate in the learning and growing experience here at the DTS. 


Jonathan is one!





The kids with "Uncle Pedro" - the director of the school



Welcome to Pichilemu



Thanks you so much for your prayers.  God is faithful and is answering.  We had a safe, but VERY long trip down here.  It took us 21 hours to get to Tacna, in southern Peru.  We were so happy to get off the bus and spend the night in a real bed. 



This is basically what the scenery looked like the whole trip down
-the Atacama desert

 The next morning we got up early and took a taxi across the border into Arica, Chile.  From there we bought bus tickets to Santiago and spent another 31 hours on the bus.  It is a good thing that we didn't know how long the trip would be before we made it, or we may never have gotten on the bus. We arrived in Santiago, Chile at 2:00 AM and fell into bed.  Finally, last Wednesday we took the 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Santiago to Pichilemu. 




Welcome to the Republic of Chile

 

The flag of Chile

After what we had been through, the 3 1/2 hour ride to Pichilemu seemed like a breeze.  How exciting it was to finally arrive and see the town we had been talking about for several weeks now.  We are learning how to pronounce it (Pee-chee-LAY-moo).  It is a sleepy little beach town of about 12,000 people.  In the summer it fills up with tourists, since this is the best surfing spot in Chile.  But now that it is fall, there aren't many people here.  The weather is similar to Oregon in the fall, cool and sunny.  It is beautiful weather, but can get really windy in the afternoons and pretty cold at night.  Half of the roads here are unpaved, and it is the kind of place that you can just walk down the middle of the road, because there isn't much traffic (and there isn't a sidewalk anyway).

We are living in a small rental house about 2 blocks from the base.  Almost the whole town is small "cabanas" that are for tourists to rent.  Since it is the low season, most of the places are empty, and we can get good rates on a small house.   God is really good, because he answered our prayers in regards to the housing.




Our cute little cabana

  I was praying for a bookshelf (so we could store all our homeschooling books), room for the kids to play, and wooden floors.  Jonathan is learning to walk and the cement floors in Lima were so hard.  God graciously answered every one of those prayers and it was such a neat blessing.  It made me think that I really need to be specific in my prayers because He certainly pays attention to details. 

I apologize for not having posted earlier, but when we first arrived there were problems with the internet.  Then we started classes this week, so we have gotten super busy.  We have class for three hours, and then other activities throughout the day, plus homeschooling.  So these will be a busy few months, but we will just take it one day at a time. 



Wooden floors that Jonathan has taken his first steps on



A big yard for the kids to play in



A built in bookshelf that fits all of our schoolbooks!



We are so thankful for the support and prayers of each one of you.  It is a blessing to be here and we all feel that God has a reason for bringing us here.  I will give more details later about the base and our life here, but for now I just wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived and are doing well.  Praise the Lord for his goodness and faithfulness.