What a beautiful week! This past week was a busy week but a very blessed one. We got to do quite a few different things. On Sunday, our team sang a few songs at church, one of them was completely in Spanish. I’m so happy to learn Spanish. I’ve wanted to speak it for a while now. It is sometimes hard trying to communicate with people when you don’t really understand what they’re saying, but with what we’ve learned so far and Google translate, we are getting by just fine. We also have a translator sometimes so that helps a lot. Half of our team led Bible study one evening at the church here and we also participated in the women’s Bible study. I’ve been able to give my testimony in Spanish to 2 different women’s groups and encourage them to trust God with their lives. It has been such a joy and pleasuse to be staying with our hosts, Juan and Elvira. They have taken such good care of us and are some of the most caring people I know. I’ve really enjoyed building relationships with people here and look forward to what God has for us in the future.
One of my favorite things that we’ve done so far is walking around the neighborhood here and praying for people. We were able to encourage a lot of people and one of the guys we talked to came to church Sunday. I pray that the Lord would continue to reveal Himself to the people that we met on the streets. One of the ladies we met encouraged us with her testimony. We also got to pray for 2 police officers we met at a park. I’m so thankful for my team and how much they love the Lord and others. I have learned so much from them and am so glad that they are able to put up with me. They know I love them. Obviamente.
Half of our team goes to an Elementary school to teach English 3-4 days a week and the other half (me included) goes to a High school and English Institute to teach English 3-4 days a week. I really have enjoyed doing this and getting to know so many people from here in Los Andes. I have met such wonderful and caring people here. One of the days, Hana Beth (our squad leader) and I got to go visit with a student and teacher at the English Institute. We got to share the gospel with both of them. The girl is a Jehovah’s witness and the teacher is Catholic. It was so nice how the conversation slowly went from getting know each other to religion and the door just opened perfectly to where we could share with them and they both listened and understood what we were saying. It was so amazing! I believe the Lord is not done with them and that we were able to plant some seeds. Thank You Lord!
I have loved and enjoyed so much the scenery and landscape in Chile. There are beautiful mountains all around us. We got to visit a few beautiful places last week. One of the places is called Paidahuen Archaeological Park in San Esteban, Chile. There we hiked up a mountain full of cacti and had lunch overlooking beautiful Los Andes. It was an absolutely incredible day, until we started walking back down the mountain. I guess I was flailing my arms around too much and got poked by a cactus thorn in my hand. Yeah, I had a hole in my hand. It was very painful yet interesting looking into the hole in my hand. Then my wonderful friend decided it would be a good idea to squeeze the hole so that blood would come out in case it was poisonous or something like that. All I know is that the pain got 10 times worse and I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Then she decided to squeeze it again because she said the hole won’t close up until blood came out of the hole. That’s when I did scream and almost hit her….Let’s just say, it was an unpleasant experience. My hand hurt for a few days and I wasn’t able to grip things really well, but I thank God that it finally healed up and now you can’t even tell where the hole was. Thank you Carolina….That same day we also visited a beautiful vineyard in San Esteban. Another day, we hiked up the hill that is right next to Los Andes. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of the hill. We made it all the way to the top, however, we got a ride in the back of someone’s truck halfway up the hill. It was absolutely beautiful! We had so much fun and have had so many pleasant experiences. I thank God everyday for the time we’ve had in Chile so far and I look forward to what He has planned for the remaining 2 weeks.
