We finally made it to Chile. After a total of 48-50 hours, with 24 of those hours being on 4 flights (one 2-hour flight across Ukraine, another 2-hour flight down to Turkey, one 14-hour flight to Colombia, and finally one 6-hour flight to Chile), we made it to Santiago, Chile.
We arrived on Friday, November 10th and spent the weekend about an hour north in the city of Los Andes for a Leadership Development Weekend (LDW). LDW is a time when the whole squad spends a weekend together and we have various opportunities where people can step into leadership roles for the weekend. For example, some people led worship, some people led devotionals, some people led prayer rooms, etc.. That lasted for Saturday and Sunday. We left for our respective ministry sites on Monday morning.
Monday morning, our team arrived here at our ministry location, La Iglesia de Baptista here in Santiago. We will be spending two months here, rather than just one. We are also spending the next two months with a fellow Gap L team called Humbly United. Our two teams share team leaders, Mason and Emily Alpert. Below are the links to Humbly United’s blogs:
Colby Field: colbyfield.theworldrace.org
Emma Colón: emmacolon.theworldrace.org
Jenna Rose White: jennarosewhite.theworldrace.org
Jacob Pourroy: jacobpourroy.theworlrace.org
Alec DuBree: alecdubree.theworldrace.org
Camryn McKinnon: camrynmckinnon.theworldrace.org
On Monday and Tuesday (our adventure day and Sabbath, respectively) we rested, recharged, and refilled for our upcoming ministry. Our ministry here for the first month is going to be mainly working in the local schools and assisting the teachers. That will be from Wednesday to Friday. We will also have English classes in the evening and on Thursdays we will have tutoring for the students that we meet at the school or are from the church. Saturdays will be directed mostly toward working with the youth in sports. Sundays will be church.
Now it’s time for the good stuff. It’s only been three days and I already have an abundance of stories to tell.
Let me start off by saying that the primary reason I chose this specific Gap Year route is because we spend two months in Chile and two months in Peru. Throughout high school I learned (to be honest, it’s more that God gave me the ability) and practiced Spanish. I wanted to continue practicing here and possibly become fluent after all four months. It has already been an immense help being able to communicate with our hosts because not everyone speaks the best English. It has also been so great to bond with people in their native language. I love it so much and I thank God for the ability He has given me to speak Spanish.
We are currently living at the church and will live here for the duration of our stay. The men sleep outside in the finished, fully insulated, and tile floor shed whereas the women sleep inside the church. Quite frankly, I think the men got the better end of the stick because our “room” is completely detached from the church. It’s pretty large (no, really, it’s bigger than the entire apartment that our team had in Ukraine), it’s almost completely soundproof, and only the men are allowed to go into it. It’s a nice little place of solitude sometimes and it’s also big enough for me to dribble my basketball around with a big enough space. I personally love it. The women have just one little room at the end of the church. If the guys had to sleep in there, we wouldn’t fit. 6 men that are 5’10+ vs. 6 women who are no taller than 5’7. I’m happy with what the men got.
The majority of our meals here are cooked for us. We will almost never have to buy groceries during our stay here in Chile. Normally the lovely women here cook enough food for us to have a lot of leftovers and therefore whenever they aren’t able to cook, we have PLENTY of food. It’s incredible.
Now it’s time to talk about the people that we’ve met so far.
We have our primary host, Pastor Daniel. He is the one that took us to our ministry sites today and is the one who sets up all of our ministry. He is very friendly and is always willing to help us with whatever we need. He is the best English speaker that we’ve met so far.
Next we have Jared and Gabriela. They are a married couple from the church in their early 30s and they have also helped us a lot. Gabriela is one of the women that cooks here. She is an amazing cook. She doesn’t speak much English which is perfect because she only speaks to me in Spanish and is very avid in helping me learn as much as possible. Jared just started learning English in October and he is already very advanced for someone that has just started. He has a huge vocabulary of words and the main things he has troubles with are pronunciation and forming proper sentences. Other than that, he is absolutely stellar for someone who just started learning. Jared and Gabriela have opened their home to us if we ever want to come over (they live within a 3 minute walking distance of the church) and they also allow us to use their WiFi. Here at the church, we don’t have any WiFi at all. So, if we ever need WiFi for the next two months, we must go to Jared and Gabriela’s house. I’m very grateful for them opening up their home to us and also for being very open to us in general. Jared and Gabriela are expecting their first child in February.
Lauda is also another woman that comes and helps cook too. Gabriela and Lauda cook together most of the time when we have meals.
Last, but most certainly not least, we have Iglesia Mamá (Mama Church). She is this sweet abuela that lives with us here at the church. She cooks for us, spends time with us, lets us use her washing machine and shower, and ALWAYS makes sure we’re taken care of. She loves on us so much and it’s incredible. She speaks minimal English but it works out perfectly because we can still communicate through Spanish. She, like Gabriela, is also very avid in helping me learn as much Spanish as possible. Sometimes, when I don’t know specific words or have trouble with sentences, she is super patient with me and we have a lot of laughs trying to figure out some words sometimes. This morning she told me to make sure we always eat because she never wants us to go hungry. If we ever have the slightest bit of hunger, we MUST eat. We laughed about it and she was just showing how much she cares for us and wants us to be sure that hunger will never be a problem. When we arrived here three days ago, the refrigerator in the church kitchen was completely empty. As of this afternoon, it’s stocked to the brim with leftovers, yet we still keep cooking.
Oh and we also have a little dog here named Nugget that just kinda waddles around nonchalantly and he’s the sweetest little pup. He is ten years old, about a foot and a half tall, and has an underbite the length of a small grape. He’s so much fun to pet and play with. He’s always relaxed and okay with literally whatever (unless you try to pick him up…then he bites you).
All in all, the people here are so sweet and kind. We couldn’t have asked for better hosts. They are the most loving people (I’m starting to notice this as a trend on the World Race, which I am totally okay with).
As we continue on in our journey here in Chile, please pray that God would use us in ways that only He can do. Also please pray that my Spanish would continue to get better and I would be able to use it as a tool for the Lord.
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