Mini Outreach

I can't believe that it has been three weeks since my last post.  The time is flying by.  These past two weeks have been our mini outreach time.  Most of the students were divided into 3 groups that traveled to towns in southern Chile to do evangelism work.  All of the students with children made up the fourth group,and we were assigned to stay here in Pichilemu to do our outreach work.  We ended up working with a local church doing various activities.  Alexis and I helped with a mothers day event for the church.  They hold  a weekly kids club in a poor section of town called Widow's City.  Just the name of it sounded discouraging.  But we had a fun time with the kids and moms doing a few skits, sharing the love of Jesus, and providing refreshements.  



Enjoying the snacks




Alexis and I both participated in the skit,
and Alexis was a natural. 


One of the other activities that I was involved in was helping to host an hour long radio show in the afternoon.  I have never been on the radio, and don't consider myself a natural "talker" (unlike other talkative members in my family).  So this was a stretching experience.  At first I dreaded it, but by the end I must admit I actually began to enjoy it.  We picked different topics each day and shared and taught from the Bible about things such as friendship with God, the paternity of God, and the tongue. 


Here I am with the two ladies I worked with.
They were great and it was such a joy to get to know
them better by working together.




This is the small radio room and the pastor's wife on the
right is the one that worked the controls for us.


While I was working at the radio or the kids club, Junior stayed home to take care of the kids.  Then he would have his turn in the mornings to go work in construction while I stayed home and did school with the kids.  The church we were working with is pretty small, and for now they are meeting in the pastor's house.  They are constructing a church, so for these two weeks Junior and the other guys worked on getting the trusses made and put up.  He really enjoyed being back in construction work and spending time with the men from the church. 


Junior working hard



The church at the end of the two weeks



A few of the guys

So it has been a busy two weeks, but was a nice change of pace from our regular schedule of classes and activities.  Tomorrow we go back to class for the last 4 weeks.  We are still praying about whether we should do the 11 week outreach, and if so where.  So thanks for praying with us about that. 

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.

On the Road Again

Today we are hitting the road on our way to Chile.  It is quite a long trip, so we ask for your prayers that things would go smoothly with the children, luggage, buses, taxis, etc.  We have decided to go by bus, since it is considerably cheaper than flying.  It is a very long trip, however, so we have chosen to break it up a bit.   First we will take a bus to the Peruvian border city of Tacna.  We will spend a night there to recover from that 19 hour ride, before crossing into Chile and getting on another bus that will take us on the approximately 24 hour bus ride to Santiago.  From there we will catch a third bus that will take us to our final destination of Pichilemu.  So it should definitely be an adventure, and we just pray for patience and good health for everyone.  Our next post should be from Chile!  We are all excited to get there and find out what awaits us.  We don't really know much about the details of what these next few months will entail, so it should be interesting.  We'll be sure to keep you posted on what happens next.

A Bunch of Grapes

We have good news.  God has opened the doors for us to go to a Discipleship Training School in Chile.  We have been in contact with many YWAM bases in South America, and finally found one in Pichilemu, Chile, that has enough room for our family.  So we are very excited to report that in about 2 weeks we will be heading down there.  We have recently sent out a letter updating our friends on our situation.  If you did not receive a letter from us, it is probably because we don’t have your mailing address.  If you are interested in reading it, see the next post.  The main thing left to do before we begin our classes (besides finding tickets to get there) is to raise the remaining support that we need.  It is truly a humbling experience to be asking people to send you money, when so many people are in need all over the world.  We know, however, that God can work through any means he desires to provide for his children.  God recently reminded me in a simple way about his provision in our lives.  We went to the market to buy fruit, and as we finished making our purchases, the owner of the fruit stall gave us a large bunch of grapes.  She told us that since we were “servants of God” she wanted to give us those grapes.  I’m not sure why she chose to call us that.  We had mentioned in passing that we were Christians, but hadn’t said any more than that.  She didn’t know that we are preparing to go to a training school, or praying about working with YWAM.  She simply wanted to bless us with what she had.  It was just a small thing, but it really made an impact on me.  Her simple act of generosity reminded me that God can bless us in ways that we never even expected.   He knows our needs and he is looking out for us wherever we go. 

Besides the plans for YWAM, we have also been keeping busy in other activities.  Junior had the opportunity to preach at his dad’s church one Sunday.  That was a special time of sharing and feeling God’s presence among the people.  He has also been to a small church up in the mountains outside of Lima.  There is no pastor in that town, only an itinerate pastor that comes when he can.  So Junior went up with him one day to preach and spend time with the brothers and sister in the town of Culpe.   

Making frosting with a drill!



Diego recently celebrated his 8^th birthday.  Making his birthday cake here was a bit of an adventure since it isn’t my kitchen with the normal appliances, pans, ingredients, etc.   Junior's mom’s mixer had recently stopped working, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the frosting.  But my creative husband had the idea of using their electric drill to mix the frosting.  So he hooked one of the beaters to the drill and helped me whip up the butter and powdered sugar.  What a mess!  But the cake turned out pretty good despite it all, and Diego had an enjoyable birthday. 



Happy Birthday Diego!



Finally, Jonathan got his first haircut.   His hair was beginning to hang into his eyes and over his ears, so we cut off the baby curls. 



Before....



....After



In case you didn't get our prayer letter...

March, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from sunny Peru!  A lot has changed in our lives since we wrote you last, so we wanted to give everyone a quick update of where we are now.  In July we wrote asking for prayer as we were trying to sell our house.  Shortly after we sent out that letter, we received an offer on the house.  We praise the Lord that everything went smoothly and quickly throughout the whole process.  We truly count it as God’s work in our lives that we were able to sell our house during the current conditions.  We moved out at the end of November.  God is so good that He miraculously provided a house for us to stay in for the month of December as we transitioned out of our previous home and packed up for our trip to Peru.  It also gave us the opportunity to be able to stay in the US to spend Christmas with my family.  This house clearly was God’s provision in our lives, because the situation was so perfect for what we needed. The house was available for exactly the dates we would need it, nothing more and nothing less.  An added benefit is that the house was only about 6 blocks from my parents' house, so it was the perfect place to be for the holidays.  Praise the Lord because He knows what we need even better than we do ourselves.  This has served as a good reminder to us, that through it all, we need to trust him.  He has something better in mind for us, than even we are thinking of. 

The Lord opened the doors for us to leave the US on January 1, 2011.  The start of a new year seemed like a fitting time to begin this new journey in our lives as well.  We have spent the past 2 months visiting with Junior’s family, adjusting to life in Peru, preaching in several churches, and sharing the gospel with taxi drivers wherever we go.  We have also been waiting on the Lord to open the door for us to go to a YWAM training school.  The schools that we had thought were options, didn’t work out for various reasons, so we have been seeking another place to go. God has opened a door in Chile for a class that starts the 25th of March. So we are applying for that school, looking forward to the possibility of going there and praying that God will continue to lead us. It is a bit scary because we don’t really know what the living situation or childcare will be like. But as we look back at how God has taken care of us so far, we know that His plans are for our good.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your financial support.  It is humbling to see God working in our lives.  So far we have raised  1/4 of the total estimated cost of our room, board, tuition and transportation for all seven of us during the five month period.  We have already seen that God is faithful, and He gives us exactly what we need, when we need it.  So we are excitedly waiting to see how He will continue to provide for us as we step out in faith and obedience to Him.  Please keep praying with us for God’s provision, our time in Chile, and His guidance in our lives.

We would love to keep in touch with all of you. Since we will be moving around a lot in the next few months, e-mail is probably the best way to get in touch with us.  We will also be updating our blog as we are able.  We do have a permanent US address (my parent’s house) where we can receive mail as well as donations.  Also, please let us know how God is working in your lives and how we can be praying for each of you.

 

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.”  Isaiah 12:2

Trusting Him,

Junior, Kristen, Alexis, Diego, Lucas, Joshua and Jonathan