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:
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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! ...the winner of the 100th Copa America!For those of you who don't follow soccer, this was a big deal. Not only did Chile win the title during the 100th year anniversary celebration year, this is the second year in a row they have taken the title...after never having won before....beating Argentina, the #1 ranked soccer team in the world (and conveniently Chile's arch nemesis). It was a nerve-racking-yet-exciting game and after winning it seemed as though almost all of Linares went to the plaza with gigantic smiles to celebrate with cheers, songs, fireworks, and dancing. Parades of cars filled with proud fans drove through the streets shouting, honking, and making noise in any way possible. It was a beautiful sea of contagious chaos. P.S. The United States took 4th place. P.P.S. For the first time ever, the USA hosted the tournament. ...a place you need to visit!"Chile is just like one big National Park." These incredibly true words are from my friend Maria who just finished one month of traveling through southern and central Chile. And just in case you don't trust Maria (which you should), here are a few pictures to prove what she means: I was fortunate enough to have Maria stay with me for a couple of weeks. Apart from the warmth she brought to my heart, I also loved coming home to a warm house and a roaring fire! We hung out with some friends, watched lots of fútbol, traveled a bit in the area, and enjoyed lots of good conversation. ...building a new church! Our congregation here in Linares "broke ground" this last weekend on a new church building! (Well, technically we broke a wall, moved some plants, and ate lots of meat...) The new building will be on the same property where the worship space is currently. We have so many wonderful talents within our church family and it was absolutely amazing what was accomplished in just one afternoon! The big items on the agenda for the day were: 1) to move some plants as well as do some other needed landscaping and 2) knock down a piece of the wall and put up a gate so that needed materials and machinery could easily be brought into the work area. Our congregation's president owns his own welding business...very handy to have around when doing a building project! Check out some more of these photos on our church Facebook page (and don't forget to click that little "like" button)! Are you interested in helping with the construction of our new worship space? There are 3 great ways that you can get involved from afar: 1) prayers and sharing our story with those you know, 2) sending a letter of encouragement that I can share with the members here, and 3) if you're interested in donating funds, contact me and I will get you connected. ...your opportunity to give!Chile is your opportunity to be a part of a world mission! Our Kingdom Workers team is raising some funds to help support our work during the 2016 year. We have set our team goal at $25,000 and appreciate any help you have given or might be able to give! Check out the video below or click the link to read more and donate: http://www.kingdomworkers.com/chile.php *(Click "I'm not a robot" to activate the donation bar.) This past week our church held a Vacation Bible School (Escuela Biblica) where we were able to focus on being Jesus' disciples. Every day included a devotion, songs, games, snacks, and a craft. Let's start by testing your Spanish...how much do you understand? (Try not to peek!) lunes: Jesús nos llama para ser sus discípulos martes: Somos sus discípulos porque Él nos salvó miércoles: Los primeros discípulos jueves: Sus discípulos tienen talentos distintos viernes: Jesús nos da la fuerza para ser sus discípulos Let's see how well you did! Monday: Jesus calls us to be His disciples Tuesday: We are His disciples because He saved us Wednesday: The first disciples Thursday: His disciples have different talents Friday: Jesus gives us the strength to be his disciples We sang some fun songs:
We did lots of teamwork activities/games: And of course snacks and crafts! We ended the week with a special outing Friday afternoon to a place out in the country with a pool, four-wheelers, kayaks, zip-line, and pretty much any other fun activity you can imagine! What a blessing it was to be able to share this time together, even if our group was on the small side. We were not discouraged because God promises us that wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, there He is with us and will bless work done in His name! A few months ago at a presentation, the speaker said "Our service as Christians can be summed up like this: We need more people telling more people about Jesus." Boom. Amazingly concise and spot-on summary. I love it. So, today, I ask that you take some time to reflect on how you already are a disciple of Jesus. What talents has He given you to serve Him with? How can you use those talents to serve Him even more? Think of other people in your life...what talents and gifts do they have to serve? How can you encourage others to serve Him together with you? 1 Corintians 12 ~ God wants you today. Matthew 28:19 ~ He wants you for His work right now & He is always there with you. GO AND BE THE DISCIPLE HE HAS MADE YOU TO BE! P.S. All photo credits go to the artistic Mr. Jonathan W. Gross.
Keep watch because he is sure to have some amazing videos coming up soon! A lot of people have been asking: "How was your first Christmas in Chile?" The answer? Lovely. Relaxing. Delicious. Hot. Bittersweet. New. Different. Fun. December 24 I "got to" begin Christmas Eve Day by going to school...hooray? I was a bit less than thrilled, but some of the teachers put together a convivencia (little party) together for everyone and then we got to go home around noon. I then spent the afternoon getting my house ready for our party that evening and I even had time to squeeze in a nap! And I would also like to take this opportunity to debut my back patio set-up and decorations I have been working on...what do you think so far?! Later that afternoon I headed to church for our outdoor Christmas Eve Service/Pageant. We read the story of Jesus' birth and sang song after song remembering our Savior's coming to this world to save us! "Goooooo tell it in Linares! Over the hills and everywhere! Go tell it in Linares that Jesus Christ is born!" After the church service, a few fellow immigrants found their way to my house and we had a "Gringo Navidad"! Jon's sister and a friend have come to visit for a few weeks (and so lovingly brought down a few gifts from our families...thanks again, ladies!) We were very excited to have Pastor Tim & Ellen here in Linares to celebrate with us as well! We feasted on lots of meat, played a game, exchanged some gifts, listened to Christmas music, watched the dogs chase each other, and enjoyed some homemade cookies sent from the states! As my guests walked out the gate around 2am...some Chilean friends pulled up in a taxi and we stayed up chatting until about 4:30am...have I mentioned that there are a lot of night-owls in Chile? December 25 After a nice morning of sleeping in with NO alarm clock set (best gift ever!), we drove out to Lago Colbún with the visitors and ended the day eating homemade ice cream in the plaza of Panimávida. Did I mention that it got up to 90 degrees? Not bad, Christmas in Chile, not bad... (I think the dogs had the most fun though!) If you're looking to be warm next Christmas, now you know where to come!
One more week of school work for me and then it is time for Summer Vacation!!!! Bring on 2016! |
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