I have been silent in the blogging world for a while, but I am happy to say that is because life here in Chile has been overwhelming in the best of ways. Each time I blog I am made acutely aware of the limited space and medium that I have to convey all that is going on in my life. Southern Chile is the most beautiful place I have ever been! Mountains and volcanos cut into the crisp blue sky, pine trees blanket the hills and there are flowers everywhere (especially every variety of roses which are my favorite). It is rather cold here and I am realizing that the Lord had me downsize so that I could make room for the thick, oversized pink and white sweater that I purchased at a local thrift store in Pucon (for all my college friends: tourist towns in the mountains of Chile hold treasure troves of thrift stores with discarded flannels, sweaters and all the other fun hipster things that we like filling our closets with)
Getting into the rhythm of this month has been a little challenging since it is characterized by the lack of rhythm; however, I am discovering that I haven’t lost the rhythm, just transitioned to a new song with a new beat. The theme song of last month could have been John Thurlow’s “Take Your Place”, think piano with slow buildup and dramatic drum interludes. The vocals sound like the singer can barely put one foot in front of the other. The theme song of this month could be Rend Collectives “Burn Like a Star”. This is full tilt banjo and guitar and the vocalist practically shouts with exuberance. If the first song was a slow, almost torturous walk, the second is a free sprint (these songs are amazing if you get the chance to listen to them)
Why the transition? This month my team and I are doing Unsung Heroes. Unsung Heroes are, “men and women who are dedicated to serving some of the most impoverished populations in the world, yet rarely receive recognition for their sacrifice. Ultimately, they build the Kingdom of God.” So for the month of April we are traveling through the southern region of Chile meeting with pastors and missionaries to hear about and document their ministry as well as see if they could be a potential host for a future world race team. While we plan our route with transportation and lodging budget in mind, we ultimately are following the Holy Spirit wherever He is leading us. We are finding that sometimes He leads us through a word or picture and other times through a person of peace giving us a list of people to visit and the locations that they are in.
In the past week and a half I have traveled to Los Andes, Santiago, Pucon and here to Puerto Mont where my team and I will stay for the next few days. There have been night buses, loud hostels and many frustrating Spanglish conversations, but no meetings or contacts. I was becoming discouraged and the enemy used that discouragement to attack me spiritually, but our Father is an amazing provider and far wiser and more powerful than anything of this world. In His perfect timing, He sent us encouragement in the form of a Chilean Grandmother inviting us into her home and feeding us delicious food, a translator when we needed him most and for the past two nights we have had the opportunity to meet with a pastor who works as a professor, electrician, is taking theological courses, pastoring full time and has a family on top of all of that. He is passionate about reaching out to the impoverished people in the suburb of Puerto Mont where his church is located and has taken the past couple evenings to help us get in touch with other pastors and missionaries in the surrounding area.
It has been a whirlwind and I am amazed that we are already halfway through month four!
Life Updates:
I laughed when…we thought that we were going to be deported after a hostel owner said she was going to call the police when we didn’t have a specific slip of paper in our passports. Turns out it was just to get tax free if we spent USD. Translation probs!
I cried when…I facetimed my dad after several nights of little sleep and a tough Gospel sharing conversation with a group of guys who were really lost.
Jesus grew me when… on that same day I facetimed my dad, I ended up sharing the Gospel with three very different types of people throughout the day.
My favorite place to go so far has been…a monastery set up on the hillsides of Pucon that looks out over the lake and town. I took off by myself to explore, found a secret staircase up to the monastery and climbed up to the veranda that was surrounded with pink amyrillis, blackberry bushes, lavender and roses.
My favorite music moment of the race so far was…Singing Elvis Presley songs with another musician on the streets of Pucon. I was so excited I could barely keep my voice on key:)
