“Dear Lord, please let me never have an Unsung Heroes month on the race.” – Me, every time Unsung Heroes was discussed at Training Camp & Launch
Well, here we are. Month 3. And my prayer was ignored. Praise the Lord!
Before I get into my little story, let me explained what Unsung Heroes is. Essentially, this month while the rest of our squad is in Bolivia, my team and I are in Chilé looking for new contacts for Adventures in Missions. Our hope is to create the start of a lasting relationship for future Racers, missionaries, and other mission trips run by AIM. We are sent with a budget, no plan, and a lot of prayer. Sometimes, Unsung Heroes month pertains to teams following up with contacts found by previous teams…but seeing as my team is the first one to successfully reach Santiago, Chile everything is, well, new.
Reaching Santiago was nothing short of a feat, spending approximately 90 hours on busses alone. Hey, it’s 30 less hours than projected! For a girl that loves a solid plan while traveling, this was terrifying. I spent a lot of time in prayer, and when a bus dropped my team and I off at their office instead of the bus terminal at 4:30/5:30 in the morning (not sure with time change) it’s a miracle I didn’t find a corner to hyperventilate. Did I mention we hadn’t been able to exchange currency yet for a taxi? God was good, because not only did we find our first female Taxi driver, but one of my teammates was able to convince her to take american currency. My team leader was cool as a cucumber and handled everything with such care, making sure we were all taken care of. Want to spice things up even more? This month I’m on an all girl’s team because of “manistry” month where all of our men are off serving together. Thank you, lovely South Americans for taking care of all us ladies so well. Seriously, we have been blessed with some really wonderful & helpful people. I have yet to feel truly unsafe. I can’t lie and say that I haven’t stared down some shady men, but I have felt peace each step of the way.
Once we reached Santiago, we were able to find short term housing until we were rejoined by one of our teammates. Once reunited, we met with two american missionaries, James & Colletta who are serving the middle class here in Santiago. Luckily, they are friends with one of our squadmates and helped us find housing at a local camp run by Word of Life. I still have no in-depth clue what Word of Life is, but they love Jesus, have a few bible institutes, and some of the most welcoming staff & missionaries I’ve ever met. We are able to enjoy camp life, cook our own meals, help out with the needs of the camp, and build relationships. Heck yes!
As for connections, God has been opening doors left and right. Not only is this camp an excellent connection, but James & Colletta have been gracious hosts to us for dinner and have helped connect us with other local pastors. Parents & friends from home have sent information for people for us to meet with, and our cups feel like they are constantly overflowing.
This is the first time on the race where I truly feel able to see how God is leading us & the narrative being written by the Lord in Chile. Nothing is planned, and God is filling in the gaps. As soon as we found out our assignment I felt the Lord say “I’m sending you to Chile because I love you.” Man, has this been true.
For the first time on the race, I have also been able to sleep in my hammock each night. Do you hear the hallelujah chorus? I do. This week the camp is hosting 50something Americans from the Word of Life Bible Institute in New York, and explaining to them the glory of hammock sleeping has been entertaining for sure. I’ve also befriended a stray dog for the second time this month. This first was at the bus terminal & we named her snowflake. This second one goes by many names…and only responds to bad Spanish. She’s great, but she has taken it upon herself to protect my hammock each night. At 6:30 this morning, she decided to bark and growl at anything remotely close to me. Sweet, but extremely annoying. Give it a rest, dog. You intimidate no one.
Please continue to pray for my team as we finish this month. Pray that God continues to bring connections and for the missionaries here to be blessed. Also, pray for traveling mercies as we head back to Bolivia & then to India. We feel so loved and are so thankful for everything happening. To God be all the glory, none of this would be possible through our own strength.
Peace, blessings, hammocks & normal food,
Jennie
