Hola! Buenos dias de Chile!
This month my team and I are partnered with a ministry in Santiago, Chile called Vision for Children- Chile and the House of Hope. The vision of the ministry is to be Christ and be an example of healthy, functioning humans to the children and young girls in the house. We are staying in a very low-income, high-crime rate area of town. It is saturated with drugs, alcohol and abuse. The ministry is involved with a few orphanages and schools in the area. Since the government funds them both, we can’t openly evangelize. We CAN encourage the kids to come to the events hosted by Vision for Chile (which is privately funded) where we can legally share Jesus.
Our Ministry site has three houses. One holds the directors family, another for the volunteers (us), and the third houses several girls approximately ages 18-23. All staff and volunteers are constantly setting examples to these girls of a healthy lifestyle that most have not been exposed to. The House of Hope offers the girls a safe place to stay to set them up well for the next chapter in their lives. Most grew up in an orphanage, have suffered abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual) and have lived in addiction.
There is a huge language barrier, as English is not taught in schools here. I am thanking the Lord every day for Google Translate and my 3 years of high school Spanish classes. Sometimes I forget that no matter how many times I say a word in English, they still wont understand. I’m laughing at myself as I sit here.
My team and I are doing well with intentional living in community. We have had the greatest time in navigating how this next year is going to work. I haven’t checked in a couple days, but I’m almost positive I have a 6-pack from laughing so dang hard.
We have no Wi-Fi for the month, so we will be making weekly trips to the mall (a 45 min bus and subway ride) to get access. Keep posted for more updates!
