Oh I havn't written in this blog for over a week! It has been a very busy couple of weeks with preparing things before we leave for our CULTURAL EXPERIENCE! Woo, which is very exciting but SCARY! Basically we are all going to live with different Chilean families for a week, it is designed to show us how a local family lives, to bless the family by helping them out around the house, and to improve our Spanish! It will be very difficult I think, the family I am going to stay with speak no words of English. So it could be quite slow to have a conversation, but I am armed with my dictionary and my Spanish excercise book.

I actually have some really bad news, last Tuesday we visited the prostitutes like normal, had a really good night. Something was slightly different in the atmosphere, but we didn't think too much of it. Then yesterday we recieved the really awful news that one of the men were actually murdered that night a couple of hours after we had left. We didn't know the man really well, but the men we speak to more are very good friends with him. It breaks my heart because we were really making progress with these people, on that night one of them actually prayed the salvation prayer, and I'm worried that after this sort of thing happens they will put up walls again and won't want to know. As far as I know he was murdered by another prostitute, something to do with territory. It really is aweful, and I am anticipating what next week will hold. Another factor that's on my mind is that I'm sure the man who did it will end up in prison, and I cannot imagine how awful prison is for a transvestite. Also, one of the men we do speak to was badly injured and stabbed numerous times, he is stil in hospital.

On a more positive note, we have been given the go ahead to start a gardening project at the hogar. We are planning on transforming a section of their yard into a garden with vegetables, herbs, flowers and strawberries. I am really excited to do this, as it will be something that we can connect more with the older boys through. The area really is a mess, there is rubble everywhere and bricks, and ivy growing everywhere and trees that are just enormous. But then in the middle of all this mess we found a really beautiful rose plant. It kind of spoke to us about how we must find goodness in situations that look so difficult. It was at a time where some of our team are getting really frustrated with workng at the hogar. Our Monday programme really did not go very well, the boys were being so cruel, and deliberatly doing everything we said not to do. It was a difficult day. But then to find this rose, it kind of showed us God's promise to change this place.

Last night I had a couple of the girls from church over, I probably say this all the time, but I really am happy here, I really feel I am making good friends with these people, they are so accepting and it's true that once you're their friend they do not forget about you. In the next week we have to chose a 'Chilean friend', it sounds really silly, but we have to chose somebody and dedicate to meet up with them atleast once every two weeks. I think it will be a really positive thing and will make sure that I am staying involved with the local community.

Prayer points
+ please pray for my cultural experience, I am worried about it, but pray that God will calm me and will use this time to teach me things, and show me more of his character. Pray that I will be able to help out with the family and bless them even if just in a small way.
+ Please pray for the situation with the prostitutes that somehow God's name will be glorified through what has happened. Please pray that we will have wisdom in how to communicate with the men after this, and pray for the person who did it. Pray that they will be changed and will see what they have done, but that they will be protected in prison.
+ Pray for the man who is stil in hospital, that he will have a fast recovery.
+ Please pray for the work that we are doing at the Hogar, pray our Garden will be a success and that the boys will learn responsibility, teamwork and will see how God can transform things in the same way he can transform their lives.
+ Pray for chosing my Chilean friend! Pray that I will make the right choice and that it will really be someone who I can have a good time with and can share and learn with.

Speak to you all after my cultural experience!
Love you lots xxx

Last Thursday we really got an experience of what it means to be flexible. We are currently running a programme in the boys Hogar about travelling and what it means to travel with God, and we had prepared a craft where we were planning on making hats to show different countries, and how each person it different. We had an idea of how the afternoon was going to run, and were excited to do the craft with the boys! Then we got there and were told that it was 5 boys birthadys, and that they had visitors coming to visit to do a birthday party for them, and that could we maybe do our programme afterwards. So we thought this would just be a short thing. So we helped them out and sat with the boys, and got to speak to a few of them quite well. The party actually lasted a long time, and they had food and pop and cake, and it was a much bigger thing that we expected. By the time 6.35 came we decided that we would just leave and do the programme another time. It really taught us how to be patient and to be prepared to change our plans at any point! We actually had a really nice afternoon and we got to relax and enjoy the party too! We also saw how other people attempted to control the boys! One of the ladies who runs the home (one of the Tias) at the end was really quite upset because she is getting frustrated with not being listened to by the boys. She spoke with Lise and was getting quite upset. It is clear that it is not just with us that the boys misbehave, I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like for them to constantly struggle with the boys day in, day out.

On Friday we had the Isreal and Silvano with us for the Art ministry, they are boys from a local church who are interested in the work that we want to do and are helping us along. After the meeting for the art ministry, they ended up staying all evening, they were giving us a lesson in Chilean slang! There is sooo much! It was very funny for them to translate some of their phrases into English because they make noooo sense!

This weekend we had a long weekend because it was a national holiday on Monday (the Chileans really seem to like having national holidays!.. suits me!) So on Monday we to a national park just outside of Santiago, it was so good to get out of the city. The boys were away on a retreat with a church, and so it was just us girls. We did a bit of climbing up a mountain (not all the way to the top this time though) and ate icecreaaammmmmm, and went on a massive 30m swing. It was amazing! I have a video of when Sheridyn and I went on it and there is lots of screaming let me tell you. We had quite a crowd gathering by the time we had finished! Then in the evening we went to Corrines house and a girls evening with a movie and pizzaaaaaa. Great memories!

Tonight we go to the prostitutes again. Time really is flying by! It does NOT feel like a week since we last went! I left home almost 8 weeks ago, it really does not feel that long! Two months next Tuesday. Madness. I mean.. alot is happening, and really great things are happening, and i guess that is why time is going so quickly.

Please pray
+ That tonight will go well, and that God will speak to the men we meet through us, and that our attitude towards them and the way we are with them, if not our language, will speak of Jesus' love for them.
+ Please pray that we can be a blessing in the Childrens home, and that we can help to relieve some of the stress that the Tias experience living with these boys. Also thank God that he gave us a really stress-free afternoon last Thursday that we could enjoy the time with the boys, and not think too much about keeping to a programme.
+ Pleeeease continue to pray for my Spanish, on Sunday I felt I understood alot more than before, I am getting there, but quite slowly. Pray I don't get disheartened when other move faster than me.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers. They really are making a difference in my life and also in our ministries and the lives around us.
Love Emma xxx

Sunday was such a great day for me :) I have now chosen my church, and it is going to be the second one I went to called 'Presencia de Dios' - the presence of God. So last Sunday we went to church, and sat through the preach and worship with our Spanish/English dictionaries searching for words! haha. We have been told that people would be happy to translate for us, but by doing it ourselves we might actually learn something! Once the service was over, we were talking with some of the girls there and they wanted to take us to an icecream cafe and show us around an area of Santiago that we hadn't been to yet. So we went, and had the greatest icecream I've had in a very long time. The area we visited was clearly more of a tourist area because when we walked along the street we saw WHITEEE PEOOOPLLEEEE!! Amazing! There were also alot of gay couples. The girls and I thought it would be nice to spend more time here seeing as we wouldn't get too much attention. After having our incredible icecream we went to explore one of the art museums. We saw some funny sculptures in the human art section, alot of hands and bums! After spending a couple of hours looking around the museum and taking pictures together the girls came back to our house. We had such a nice super girly evening, with pizza, tea and 'truth or dare'! (and you thought this year would be maturing.. pfft!) I really feel I have made the right decision with my church, and feel really accepted within the youth group. I think I will even really miss that church when I have to leave in less than 8 months!

On Monday we went to the Hogar, we had planned some games for them to play with the theme of travelling. We are doing a series of 4 programmes about travelling in which we will compare actual travel with travelling with God. For example, the equipment we need, and the equipment we need in our Christian life. The road we take, and also the destination. The games went quite well, each time we go, we are learning new things about how the boys will react to certain things. It was difficult at times, and I found it quite stressful because when things began to get out of control, I didn't know enough Spanish to calm people down again. However, they did calm down, and play the games really well at the end.

On Tuesday night it was back to the prostitue ministry. It was such a good night! I actually love Tuesday nights. Before going out, we shared with the other volunteers we work with about what is on our hearts and why we are here. We prayed together and sang some songs. I love starting the ministry in this way, and they really do soak everything in prayer! There is NO trying to do things in our own strenght, which I think is really amazing, and such an encouragement. When we did go out, we managed to get to the three different areas again, and we spoke to alot of the men that we had seen before. Their Spanish is so so sooooo FAST! They also use loads of slang and grammar that we are just not taught. I do not tend to get everything in a conversation, but I am able to have simple conversation with them, and the whole time we cannot speak, we can stil pray. It really is amazing, within 5 minutes of us being there, the atmosphere can really change. It was difficult as we drove up and one of the men didn't recognise us and tried to sell themselves to us, it felt like a really shameful and dark place when we got out. However, after speaking for a while, and sharing a bible passage with them and praying with them, it was like a light had come on in the area. Although we might not see any phisical results in the time we are here in Chile because this kind of transformation can take such a long time, we can see a result every time we go there, just from their attitudes.

Today I had another Spanish class, the Spanish teacher really is such a lovely woman. We are getting on really well! My Spanish is improving slowly. I am finding it difficult to pick up vocabulary, but hey I can conjugate verbs haha! Which is really useful in conversation.. hmm. Or maybe not! Nah, I'm sure that it will pick up soon, this really feels like a mountain infront of me, but Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed can move whole mountains!

*Please thank God that I have found such a great Church where I fit in, and can be encouraged and loved.
*Pray for the Hogar programme tomorrow, we are just doing a craft with them, and it would be really nice if they reacted well to it. Ask God to guide us in what we should be doing with the boys to engage with them in the most effective way.
*Praise God for the work he is doing with the prostitues. Pray that men who were touched by God on Tuesday night will continue to feel him throughout the week, and it won't just be when we are there.
*Again.. pray my Spanish will continue to improve!
*Pray for my team, because I'M COOKING TOMORROWWWW!!