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!!