So last weekend we went to Mendoza, Argentina! It was a great weekend just us 10, and we had alot of fun! We didn't have an agenda and were just hanging out, and it was really nice because we havn't really done much of this so far. We ate some really good food, and the weather was perfect, but my favorite part of the trip had to be the journey. Although we were so cramped up on a tiny bus for 9 hours it was amazing, the views over the andes were indescribable. I tried to take a video of it, but it doesn't capture a fraction of the beauty! I loved it. On the way back we had to stop of at the border for about an hour before we were allowed back in, but it was just stunning, Jona played Christmas music, and we made the most of watching the snow seeing as this Christmas I am pretty certain we won't be getting any snow on the beach!
On Monday we began a course about Relationship training. We were talking about how relationships in your past with your family and friends can effect how we are today, and it will lead up to a weekend away going through some dammaged emotions seminars which Steve will lead. I think that is some time in December. We never get information until about 2 weeks before they happen :) So everything is a bit of a surprise!
Whilst we were away Lise stil went to the hogar with some of the others and they continued with the garden project and prepared all the soil to be planted in this week. So on Monday we thought we would go and have a look and see how the garden looked to see if it had be ruined! But we were faced with a completly different problem! One of the boys had planted in all of the space that had been prepared to plant in this Thursday with the other boys! it is a difficult situation because he is really keen, and it is so great that he is so involved and really cares about the garden, and apparently he is the one who is watering the garden when none of the other boys wants to. So we are encouraged, but at the same time we were in a bit of a difficult situation because the others wanted to plant as well this week. But we managed to just prepare some more soil and they planted in another area. The garden is looking so good now! I am so impressed with them, the boys have worked so hard with us, and I am so happy with the way we can bond with them during this time.
On Thursday night we went to see Hillsong :) It was SO MUCH FUN! They played half in Spanish and half in English and many of the songs they played I knew better in Spanish! They played really well, and I'm pretty sure all the Christians I know here in Santiago were there! It was a late night though considering the next morning I had a Spanish class at 9 o'clock which means we had to leave at 8.15! I was very tired.
Then on Saturday we had a conference about the work that OM do in India with the Dalits. Steve did some teaching about other religions, and they did some fund raising, and it was mostly an awareness raising thing. We also performed our drama again that we had been practicing with the art ministry. We had a good day, and also made friends with a lady who is a hairdresser who says she will come to our house and cut all of our hair and pamper us a bit! We made a good friend there I think! :D Unfortunatly, not many people came, I have found this in a couple of events now, I guess it comes with the spontinaity of the people, that if things change at last minute, the won't let anyone know they can't go, and will simply not turn up. Probably less than 20 people turned up, which is a shame because I know the organisers put alot of effort into it.
Please pray
For the Relationship training were doing, and the weekend away next month, that we will all think honestly and will be open to the teaching, and that God will help us through any thing that comes up.
For the other lessons we will be having this week, the lessons about other religions, the evangelism training, Spanish classes, just pray that we will learn well and that we will be refreshed enough from the weekend to have energy throughout the week.
Pray for the people who came to the Dalits conference, pray that they will remember what they have learned and that it will be on their mind to pray for the situation, or help financially with the work.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Wow, last week just flew by! Whilst we're here we have to read 10 books and write reviews about what we have learnt from them. So last week was spent catching up with that because in true Emma form I had left reading two books till last minute! I got them done though.
It is strange without Yerko and Corrine here, Lise is currently the big boss for a couple of weeks, and she is doing a great great job, but we do miss them lots! I hear they are having a good time with the adventure team in the south though.
Last week we had a meeting as the group of people who go to Hogar Sion about what we need to be doing. The work is very difficult here and the group does seem to be getting discouraged. The boys have very little respect for us, and we have had some really difficult times here. We really spent a long time discussing about what the problems were and what we should change about the set up, or the topics, but I think the thing that hit me most was realising how little I pray for or commit time for the work here. I am planning the programmes, and pray for it when we pray as a group, but am not really praying for a change in that place day to day. I was challenged to take it alot more seriously and really believe that God wants to do more here. I have noticed a change in my attitude since I first arrived here, when I first got here I was so passionate for the work here, and would remember the people in my prayers regularly, but I guess after a while I lost enthusiasm. So I have stuck a poster up in the bathroom with a reminder to pray for the boys every time I go to the toilet!!! I am trying to drink more water at the moment anyway, so I think I will be.. praying.. alot!
We made a start to the garden project with them last thursday, we were just cleaning the area and chopping some branches down to let more light in. The boys worked so hard, and were so respectful, and wanted to help, it was really great to see them get into something so much! At the end the boys had to go to get their dinner, and Lise said to one boy as he was leaving that she was very proud of him. He looked at her almost shocked and froze in his tracks, as if he had never heard those words before, his eyes lit up and I could tell it really touched him. Ahh, I wish I could get these boys to see how much they are worth!
We have a girl staying with us who is originally from uruguay but who has been living in Canada for a couple of years, she is here with a guy called Steven who is a messianic jew who works for OM and has come to Chile with his wife to preach. She is translating for him. Jona and I have a spare bed in our room so she gets to stay with us, and it's been great :) It's a bit more crouded now, but she is so lovely, and we have had some good times already! It's a shame she's only going to be here for 6 weeks! Steven is a great guy too, he lived in England for quite alot of his life (he has lived in so many places) and he will be doing some lessons with us. Today he did some evangelism training, and spoke about why we should evangelise. It's something that seems so basic, and when he said he was going to speak about it I figured there would be nothing new, but the way he presented it was so new, I dunno.. i felt challenged. He is really living everything he preaches out in his life, which i think is the biggest challenge, because I can see how it is possible to live like that, and speak to people daily about Jesus. He is a good guy, and it is going to be a good 6 weeks.
Tomorrow we start a leadership training course, which I am really looking forward to :)
Then on Thursday we are going to ARGENTINAAA for the weekend! We have to go out of the country to come back in to get a new visa, so hey we HAVE to go hang out in Mendoza! I am so excited, it will be nice to have a holiday!
Anyway, I have to go we're about to eat and have pray for this evening when we are going to see the prostitues.
Some quick prayer points
* Pray that God will really continue to break my heart for the boys in the hogar and that I will be reminded to pray for them regulaly.
* Pray that through the garden project they will be encouraged and will see how they CAN do things successfully, and have worth.
* Pray that God will really use Steven in this time he is here and that he will challenge the Chilean church to be active, and to step out in faith.
* Pray for the leadership course
* Pray for our safety in Mendoza, and that we have a good relaxing time :)
It is strange without Yerko and Corrine here, Lise is currently the big boss for a couple of weeks, and she is doing a great great job, but we do miss them lots! I hear they are having a good time with the adventure team in the south though.
Last week we had a meeting as the group of people who go to Hogar Sion about what we need to be doing. The work is very difficult here and the group does seem to be getting discouraged. The boys have very little respect for us, and we have had some really difficult times here. We really spent a long time discussing about what the problems were and what we should change about the set up, or the topics, but I think the thing that hit me most was realising how little I pray for or commit time for the work here. I am planning the programmes, and pray for it when we pray as a group, but am not really praying for a change in that place day to day. I was challenged to take it alot more seriously and really believe that God wants to do more here. I have noticed a change in my attitude since I first arrived here, when I first got here I was so passionate for the work here, and would remember the people in my prayers regularly, but I guess after a while I lost enthusiasm. So I have stuck a poster up in the bathroom with a reminder to pray for the boys every time I go to the toilet!!! I am trying to drink more water at the moment anyway, so I think I will be.. praying.. alot!
We made a start to the garden project with them last thursday, we were just cleaning the area and chopping some branches down to let more light in. The boys worked so hard, and were so respectful, and wanted to help, it was really great to see them get into something so much! At the end the boys had to go to get their dinner, and Lise said to one boy as he was leaving that she was very proud of him. He looked at her almost shocked and froze in his tracks, as if he had never heard those words before, his eyes lit up and I could tell it really touched him. Ahh, I wish I could get these boys to see how much they are worth!
We have a girl staying with us who is originally from uruguay but who has been living in Canada for a couple of years, she is here with a guy called Steven who is a messianic jew who works for OM and has come to Chile with his wife to preach. She is translating for him. Jona and I have a spare bed in our room so she gets to stay with us, and it's been great :) It's a bit more crouded now, but she is so lovely, and we have had some good times already! It's a shame she's only going to be here for 6 weeks! Steven is a great guy too, he lived in England for quite alot of his life (he has lived in so many places) and he will be doing some lessons with us. Today he did some evangelism training, and spoke about why we should evangelise. It's something that seems so basic, and when he said he was going to speak about it I figured there would be nothing new, but the way he presented it was so new, I dunno.. i felt challenged. He is really living everything he preaches out in his life, which i think is the biggest challenge, because I can see how it is possible to live like that, and speak to people daily about Jesus. He is a good guy, and it is going to be a good 6 weeks.
Tomorrow we start a leadership training course, which I am really looking forward to :)
Then on Thursday we are going to ARGENTINAAA for the weekend! We have to go out of the country to come back in to get a new visa, so hey we HAVE to go hang out in Mendoza! I am so excited, it will be nice to have a holiday!
Anyway, I have to go we're about to eat and have pray for this evening when we are going to see the prostitues.
Some quick prayer points
* Pray that God will really continue to break my heart for the boys in the hogar and that I will be reminded to pray for them regulaly.
* Pray that through the garden project they will be encouraged and will see how they CAN do things successfully, and have worth.
* Pray that God will really use Steven in this time he is here and that he will challenge the Chilean church to be active, and to step out in faith.
* Pray for the leadership course
* Pray for our safety in Mendoza, and that we have a good relaxing time :)
Sunday, 1 November 2009
My Cultural experience
So.. here I am at the end of my 'Cultural experience'. Well.. it definatly was an experience. At first I was not very happy because I realised just how poor my Spanish was, I found it so difficult to communicate, and understood very very little without using the dictionary. It was really frustrated because I was staying with a really lovely lady and she really enjoyed a good conversation and would ask me questions about my ideas about God etc, and I just wouldn't be able to express what I really wanted to say. It was an experience that I have been in before. I began to doubt whether I would be able to ever learn the language and began to doubt why I was here, did I even have the energy to try? However, on Monday on the bus I was looking at the mountains that we were passing, and I mananged to start a conversation about how if God can move these huge mountains, he can help me to learn. She understood me! And I understood her! Then in the evening we went out to watch the stars and pray together, and I saw the brightest shooting star I had ever seen, it was really a super cheesy moment, but it spoke to me about how God is really huge and powerful, but he does care about me, and he wants me to be content and he will look after me in this experience. This week I really saw how I cannot do this on my own, not for one minute. Every morning I had to pray that God would give me just the strength and the energy for the day, and again at about lunch time, and again all through the day! Ahh, it requires so much energy to constantly be working out what people are saying. It was a difficult week, yeah, but eventually I have come to understand more and more Spanish, and it's been really useful, but also I've made a really good friend in Alicia. She had so much patience with me and was so kind and generous.
During our time in the Chilean homes, another group of people doing the 'adventure team programme' stayed in our house. They basically do a little bit of what we do, and go to the South, but just do it for three weeks. I think they had a really good week here, and they have gone to the West coast now, and then I think they will make their way South after that. yerko and Corrine have gone with them, so they won't be with us for another 2 weeks. We will miss them very much!
It's back to work as usual for us though thsi week, it will be nice and comfortable to go back to speaking English!! Although I have seen I will need to practice more in the house..
It was Ben's birthday on Thursday so i think we're having a party with some of them from the church today which will be nice!
Prayer points
+Thank God for my Culurtal experience, pray that God will bless Alicia and will give her good rest (I think she also got quite tired with me staying with her) Pray that the lessons I learnt will not be lost now that I am back in my comfortable home!
+Pray for the Adventure team, pray that God will give them a really great two weeks and that he will mould and change them through this experience. Pray that they will be safe in their travelling, and pray for Yerko and Corrine that they won't miss us tooooooo much!! :P
During our time in the Chilean homes, another group of people doing the 'adventure team programme' stayed in our house. They basically do a little bit of what we do, and go to the South, but just do it for three weeks. I think they had a really good week here, and they have gone to the West coast now, and then I think they will make their way South after that. yerko and Corrine have gone with them, so they won't be with us for another 2 weeks. We will miss them very much!
It's back to work as usual for us though thsi week, it will be nice and comfortable to go back to speaking English!! Although I have seen I will need to practice more in the house..
It was Ben's birthday on Thursday so i think we're having a party with some of them from the church today which will be nice!
Prayer points
+Thank God for my Culurtal experience, pray that God will bless Alicia and will give her good rest (I think she also got quite tired with me staying with her) Pray that the lessons I learnt will not be lost now that I am back in my comfortable home!
+Pray for the Adventure team, pray that God will give them a really great two weeks and that he will mould and change them through this experience. Pray that they will be safe in their travelling, and pray for Yerko and Corrine that they won't miss us tooooooo much!! :P
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