My favorite and most memorable experience in Chile was camping on an island for a week. My team worked with a missionary couple who is church planting on the small Chilean island of Quenac.
Quenac has about 300 people living on it. I am confident there were more sheep than humans on this island. We lived with a married couple from the island, Jose and Norma, who are the first Christians on the island. They now desire to be missionaries to the whole island! My team was helping build the foundation of their new house and the eventual church- which will be the first church on the island.
This is a log, of ‘The Great Chilean Island Adventure’ brought to you by Team Desperados– in all it’s hilarity, joy, and simplicity.
Day 1:
Today we arrived to the island, after a series of buses and ferry rides. John and Norma’s house is simple– surrounded by farmland and sheep, but I love it. The girls on my team set up the giant tent we borrowed from our pastor to camp-out in. We discovered all the poles were disconnected and in pieces. We basically had to re-build another tent around our broken tent using rope, tarps, and ingenuity. Good thing it’s only going to be between 30 and 40 degrees every night. I watched Norma wrangle one of their rogue sheep back into the pen by literally picking it up and carrying it home.
Day 2:
Went to the beach this morning to fill up bags with sand and rocks to build the foundation of the house. The weather is beautiful and the sun is out which makes the yellow flowers all over the island look even brighter. We started to move more than a ton of dirt to level the ground for the foundation of the house. It was really challenging work. Discovered the bathroom is a squatty, but don’t worry, it is a two-seater- so you can always bring a friend if you’re nervous.
Day 3:
Learned how to make homemade bread from Norma, which she bakes in the woodstove every morning for us. We eat a lot of bread, like every meal. We shoveled more sand today on the beach, but it was raining and extremely windy. So, by the end we were wind-burnt and covered in sand. I also ripped my pants while shoveling. I guess it is inevitable when you have two pairs of pants for a year. We had team time tonight in our giant tent and played games– I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Day 4:
Today we rested and went on home-visits to families on the island, spending time with them and praying for them. At one of the houses we met a woman with a pet sheep, similar to how people have dogs and cats for pets. She kept picking it up and carrying it around, after we fed it with a bottle. The sheep also followed us to the car to say goodbye. The landscape views of this island are astounding. Took a shower today for the first time on the island- we heated water on the woodstove and bucket showered, crouched in a closet-sized room. Also, I took the polar plunge today.
Day 5:
It was really rainy and cold today– and we ate a lot of bread, like we do every day. It was a harder day on the island. But, I am grateful for the woodstove to sit by on cold days.
Day 6:
The power went out this morning, so we had to mix all the concrete by hand. I also played soccer and failed to block or score a single goal, but still had a blast. I helped gather wood with Norma and ripped my jeans, my only other pants. I don’t think any of my clothes will make it off the island! We also walked to the beach and scaled a cliff to gather giant leaves for our clambake. Apparently that’s the way to do it in the Chilean Islands.
Day 7:
Today was our last full day on the island. We finished laying the cement for the foundation of Norma and Jose’s house. We celebrated by having a clam bake- a traditional Chilean Island meal. And by clam bake I mean oysters, potato cakes filled with meat, sausage, and more bread. There also was home-church at Jose and Norma’s and I had the opportunity to preach to the community. My team played Jeopardy for team time- girls vs. boys. We lost because I said the wrong city for the capital of Cambodia. I’m still mad at myself.
Day 8:
Left the island this morning on the ferry. Although I am ready to return to mainland, I will miss the island life: living in the tent, the two-seater squatty, Norma’s bread, team time in the tent, waking up to the sounds of sheep, sitting by the wood-stove, talking in broken Spanish to Norma, the beautiful ocean, the kind community, and literally building the Kingdom.
My team and I were able to visit a part of Chile that many people will never see. Life was simple on the island and it makes me celebrate ‘the Simple Gospel’- that once you know the love of Jesus, it is all you really need and want to share that with others. I am grateful to be a part of church-planting on the island of Quenac, building a foundation, and building relationships.
So ends the Great Chilean Island Adventure!
