Hola!
My first seven days in Chile have been filled with new friends, open hearts, and copious amounts of coffee. That’s something I very much appreciate about the Chilean people – their love for coffee!
We started ministry with Pastor David on Monday, October 16th, and it already feels like I’ve been living and working in Chile for a year. I’ve spent much of my time here loving on the people of this city and building relationships. This has certainly been challenging since I don’t speak Spanish, but thankfully, Google translator works without wifi. I’ve been able to utilize the app wherever we go. The people of Tocopilla have been excited to meet and chat with my team because they’re not used to seeing “gringos” walking around their city. They want to know what we are doing in their small town of 25,000 people.
On Monday, we began working on Pastor David’s church. The church has sustained quite a bit of damage due to the high frequency of earthquakes in Tocopilla. They actually have 2 to 3 low grade earthquakes a week! We felt one the other night as we were falling sleep. Luckily, most of these quakes are not dangerous, but one hit in 2007 that caused damage to the infrastructure of the town. They are still suffering from the damages. My team is helping David fill cracks and repaint the church’s interior and exterior walls. Here’s some pictures of our initial work.
Iglesia Evangelica Bautista: The church we’re helping to update during our stay in Chile.
The boys, hard at work chipping paint.
The beautiful Kelsey and Emily.
We cook and eat all our meals in the church kitchen we’re restoring.
The rest of our time this week has been filled with outreach to the people of this city. We’ve gone door-to-door to meet, talk with and pray for the locals. We’ve also invited many people to attend the church’s Sunday service. What has been so surprising to me is how almost every time we knock on a door we are met with open arms and open hearts. Multiple times I have been ushered into a stranger’s house and invited to sit down. I have hugged and kissed the cheek (not weird, that’s what they do here) of dozens of people that I met only moments before. Yesterday, I was walking down the road with my teammates Jon, Kelsey, and Pastor David when a little boy peaked his head out from behind a door. His grandmother opened it up the rest of the way and asked us who we were and why we were there. She then invited us into her home, and we sat on her couch and learned about her life. She began to cry as she told us about the turmoil in her family and the pain that resulted. Although I couldn’t understand everything she was saying, I was brought to tears at her vulnerability and openness to a group of strangers. We prayed with her and promised to come back and visit soon.
Praying with a sweet man named Nelson.
Jon, Pastor David, myself and Kelsey with our new friend Magdalena.
She knew how to say, “I love you” in English and it was the cutest thing ever!
I already feel myself falling in love with the kindness and sweet curiosity of the people of Tocopilla, and there’s still so much to come! Today, we visited and played with children in a high-risk neighborhood, and it was definitely the best day I’ve had in Tocopilla so far. My next post will feature these children and details from the day!
<3 Hasta luego!
“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:11-12
