Fire News
Heaven, Baseball, and EnglishWhy reinvent the wheel...especially when I could never do as good of a job? Click HERE to read Elise's amazing blog, with some great pictures, about the immeasurable blessings of the two VBS we were able to have during January. Odds & EndsJust a quick reminder that I'm coming to visit...maybe to a town near you! ;) (I am currently in Miami...and it is proving to be a wonderful stop on the way up north...not only because of wonderful friends, but because it is just a little bit colder... and it is obviously the United States but everyone speaks Spanish!) During my visit, I will be doing a few different presentations about life in Chile at different schools and churches. Below you will find 3 different places where the presentations are open to the general public. Feel free to contact me if you'd like more specifics for any of them! The first one coming up is this Sunday, February 5th @ 9:15 am. Church services are at 8 am & 10:30 am. Also, I sadly won't be able to go around and see all your lovely faces while visiting in the USA, but I still would love to see as many of you as possible! If you live near southeastern Wisconsin, please come and share a few hours or even just a few minutes! :) ♥ P.S. I guess I should tell you...because it makes me laugh (now, after the fact)...that my dog at my passport. I'm not even kidding. Guess she didn't want me to leave? Thankfully, it was Sunday morning and I didn't leave until Tuesday evening...so I had time to throw my things together, get on a bus to Santiago, and get an emergency passport from the USA Embassy! Phew! #closecall
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Southern Central Chile is on fire. Literally. Yes, this is the region where I live, but thankfully and prayerfully the city of Linares should be safe from the fires, so please don't worry for my safety. However, towns just a short bus ride away are suffering. Where I usually can look and see the beauty of the mountains is covered by a dark sad smoke cloud. Yes, there are some fires every year, but this has become the greatest forest disaster in the history of Chile. Here are some facts that I know:
So do not fear, for I am with you; This is what "people are saying":
Here is what I ask:
Wow, I haven't written to you guys since last year!
I'm guessing/hoping that with the busy-ness of the holidays you didn't even notice?! Either way, here is a little overview to get us up to date: uno). No more school, no more books...!
dos). Celebrate good times, come on!
tres). New year...new me?
cuatro). I'm but a stranger here...heaven is my home!
cinco). Party in the U.S.A!
TreesYes, I put my Christmas tree up....on October 24th to be exact. Be a Scrooge if you must, but you will not squelch my Christmas joy! I now will have over 2 full months to enjoy the twinkling lights, romantic glow, and general Christmas cheer. TripsThe last weekend in October included a two-day extension of fun because both Monday and Tuesday were national holidays in Chile! (Oct. 31: Evangelical Church Day / Nov. 1: All Saints Day) The weekend quickly got packed with fun activities! Check them out here: 1) Mountain School Visit Tucked away up in the mountains way beyond the city of Longaví is a place called Loma de Vásquez {lo-ma-day-vahz-kez}. Along the dirt road you will find a small school for the children who live "nearby". There are 11 students from 1st to 6th grade who will greet you with warm smiles and send you off with hugs and a smile. Something that makes this primary school special is that because most of them live too far to travel every day, there is a dormitory where they stay during the week. We were honored to be received there as guests...and I am considering putting in my application! ;-) You can see more pictures and read more about our visit on Jon & Elise's blog post HERE...and as you may have guessed, Jon made a video about the trip and it is posted below. Enjoy! 2) Beach For Saturday, some church members organized a bus to take a trip to the beach! We had a great group and I had lots of fun flying my kite, building sand castles, relaxing, and having great conversations! 3) To the mountains again! Monday a group of 13 friends (and friends of friends) got together to explore the beauty of the Andes. Our destinations included: a border crossing with Argentina, Laguna del Maule, and the Inverted Waterfall. (And we saw another amazing bonus waterfall on our way to the inverted!) Yes, you read that correctly...an inverted waterfall! The wind that blows is so strong that it pushes the water right back up, producing a really cool effect! Another name for the waterfall is "Rainbow Falls"...but unfortunately it was too cloudy, so I guess we'll have to go back another day! HERE is a link to lots more fun pictures! TortillaWhen you ask for a tortilla in Chile, you will NOT get either of these: In Chile, the word tortilla is used for a delicious bread that is popular especially during the cold winter months. This dense bread's full name is Tortilla al rescoldo {tor-tee-ah-all-race-cold-oh} and it is traditionally baked in ashes. For those of you visual learners, here is a neat 2-minute video showing the whole process! (If you're feeling short on time or patience, fast-forward to about 1:30!) But, now to the REAL reason that I want to tell you about tortilla: This cute little guy showed up on the streets of our neighborhood a few weeks ago. I decided to name him Tortilla both because I love the food and he kind of has that coloring. Tortilla follows us to the park nearly every day and plays with Choripan. He is a sweet doggie, is always smiling, and loves to chase Choripan around. The other day he waited at the bus stop with me and sometimes he accompanies me when I walk downtown. It makes me so sad to think that someone tossed him out of their house but thankfully someone in the neighborhood puts food and water out for him every day. Does anybody want to come to Chile and adopt him? TeethI had been having a metallic-ish taste in my mouth for about a week, so this past Thursday I went in to the dentist to get it checked out. I found out that part of one of my wisdom teeth was infected and basically falling apart. The lovely Dr. Sandra asked if I wanted her to take it out right away and so I said "Sure, why not?" Neither of us realized that it would take an hour and a half and a large stack of nearly every tool in her office to accomplish the task. The tooth was so far back and only half there that it was hard for her to grab onto. We bonded over the pain, tears, sweat, blood, saliva, and laughter and now I feel like we are pretty much besties for life.
But aside from making a new friend, do you wanna know what the best part is? It only cost 40,000 Chilean Pesos = $60 USD (and without going through any insurance)! I would leave a picture of the event here...but since I am trying to keep the blog child-friendly, here's a picture of a happy tooth: For a few months now I have been blessed to spend many of my Saturday mornings volunteering with a community organization here in Linares. They started a project called "Escuelita We Liwen". Escuelita {es-kweh-lee-tah} means "school" in Spanish and we liwen {way-lee-when} means "new dawn" in the language of the native people of Chile. It is called New Dawn because it takes place in the neighborhood of Linares that carries that name: Nuevo Amanecer {Nu-eh-voh-Ah-mahn-eh-ser}. While the neighborhood may officially be named Nuevo Amanecer, most people in Linares refer to it by its old name of Huapi {wah-pee}. Often when I hear residents of Linares talk about Huapi, it is said with, well, a certain tone...allow me to help you imagine that tone: Huapi is "on the other side of the tracks" and has been known for poverty, crime, and violence. People are always advising to "watch your purse" and "don't go there at night". Can you imagine the tone? "Huaaapi." Yeah, that's it. (Don't worry, Mom...I only venture out there during the day and I have NEVER felt unsafe!) In recent years the city has been trying to help the image of the neighborhood in different ways, one of them being using the name "Nuevo Amanecer". The non-profit organization I am volunteering with hopes to offer encouragement and provide enthusiasm for the youth living in the Nuevo Amanecer neighborhood. They offer 2 services to the neighborhood: 1) Tuesday After-School Homework Help Lots of high school and college students as well as some adults offer their assistance on Tuesday evenings. Any student with any question in any school subject or needing reinforcement can come and receive help for free! 2) Saturday Workshops The volunteers who come on Saturday offer a variety of workshops for both youth and adults. Currently the workshops offered include: Kinesiology, Community Garden, and English. (Can you guess which one I help with?) The Kinesiologist helps people learn to stretch and advises them on different health topics. The community garden leader has worked with the youth to: dig space for the garden, plant different flowers and vegetables, build a fence, and start a community compost area. In the English workshop we play a lot of different games to review colors, numbers, animals, days of the week, etc. If students need specific help reviewing for a test, we try to focus on that as well. The leaders of the group organized an extra special Saturday activity in October. Together everyone walked down to a small park that is by a river at the edge of the community. They discussed the importance of taking care of the environment around us, had a healthy snack, and then worked to pick up the garbage around the river. I am excited to watch what happens with this program and I pray that it continues to grow! My schedule right now doesn't allow me to help every Saturday, but I do go whenever possible! And to be honest, I am not always thrilled about getting up and spending my entire Saturday morning teaching. But you know what? Once I get there, I am always happy that I went and I thank God for the blessing it is to be there! God is so good! All of these pictures are from the organization's Facebook page. If you're on Facebook, you can see/read more about them and their work HERE.
And while you're on Facebook, why not check out and give a thumbs up to our church page HERE. You can keep updated on our building project and other fun events! |
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