I'm coming up to some major crossroads in my life.. and my days are quite scary, quite daunting, quite exciting, but also.. through everything God gives me peace. I was talking with a friend about how when you might feel like you're in a boat out at sea in amongst a storm and you don't know where is north, where is south, its just darkness and all you can see is the rain.. yet in these times, we can have peace that comes from knowing that God is so much bigger than us, so much bigger than the storm.. and he is protecting, and guiding us. And that no matter where we end up, he will still be there, and he will still be bigger and greater than anything!

It is difficult when trying to make decisions, especially for me, because I always just want to please people.. I hate to see people upset or worried about things I might be doing. But at the same time, I think that in these times God is really teaching me what is it to trust him.. and that maybe this is more like how my life will be in the future. People will not also understand why we do things, or what we are doing.. but if it is something that God calls us to do.. then it is completely the best thing for us. Without a doubt. I mean... God will always use us, no matter where we are, but I believe he does have special plans for each of us.

"I get to love you through whatever comes.. what a privilege.. how sweet it is.."

Please pray for clarity from God.. pray that I might be able to distinguish between wisdom, and between feelings of fear..

Thank-you so much

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps

Counting the cost..

Today in church, there was a preach about counting the cost.. about how faith, if it is real faith, costs something. Sitting there listening to him, I was hearing things that I already knew, but it suddenly struck me how easy it is to become comfortable. How in just a few months of living back in europe, the luxuries of life had almost taken over again and I was in danger of living with a very luke-warm faith! I realised that I was walking down the path towards what was my biggest fear after leaving Chile! There is nothing I want more than to live with every part of my life for my Jesus.. but actually.. I am seeing that just to want that, does not make it easy.. just to want something does not make it happen.

I am praying that God would teach me what it means to put Him first again.. and I am aware that this is one of those "dangerous prayers" that if you pray them, bad things could come around the corner. But the thing is, when I sing things like 'Jesus I give you my life' or 'I give you my dreams' I REALLY do mean it! But them somehow, once I have left church, I lose this heavenly perspective again.. or.. I don't know. But sometimes it is so easy to forget the promises that are said in the heart. So I am asking God to teach me, and am putting it in His hands.. if there are things in my life that may come between us, I ask that He might take them away. I am sure that He will not forget!!

This year, if I had to choose one thing that I have learnt, it would be that there is nothing else worth living for apart from God. He is the only one who will not leave me, or who will not let me down. Yet I find myself now, living for myself. How foolish!

God.. today things change. Change me. Do whatever you need to do.

"I don't want to talk about you, like you're not in the room.. I want to look right at you, I want to sing right to you.."

"I'm giving you my heart.. and all that is within.. I'm laying it all down.. for the sake of you my king. I'm giving you my dreams.. I'm laying down my rights.. I'm giving up my pride for the promise of new life.. I surrender all to you"

"You won't relent until you have it all.. my heart is yours.."

"love that is a strong as death, jealousy demanding as the grave, and many waters cannot quench this love"

"vengo ante ti postrado.. con todo mi ser te quiero ver.. TUYO SOY SENOR.. mi vida pongo en tus manos."

"clame...... me oiste"

"he is jealous for me.."

"there is no love, sweeter than the love you pour on me"

"all to you, I surrender.. everything.. every part of me"

"Senor conoces mi corazon.. "

"here you are... beautiful one, who came like the sun.. here you are.. so we lift up our voices, open our hands, to CLING TO THE LOVE THAT WE CANNOT COMPREHEND.."

"He is the remedy.."

1 Peter 4:2

From NOW ON then, you must live the REST OF YOUR EARTHY LIVES controlled by God's will and NOT by human desires."

Wow, here I am! In London! There were points when I didn't think this day would come! Basically, in my last week before I was due to move to London, everything went wrong! My accommodation, my finances, my bank account, my course application, everything! It was a very stressful time and I sometimes thought about whether I should just cancel my application and just come next year. But, after talking to some amazing friends, and very determined, wonderful women from my church, I decided to just keep going, being backed up by a lot of prayer!!!

When a Christian moves away to be a "missionary", there are always many issues coming up before they can leave, and often they are put there by the enemy to distract and confuse us as to our direction, and to demotivate us. So, when I had all of this opposition, it actually gave me a huge confirmation that God was going to do big things in London! And I would have the incredible privilege of being some small part of it!

I did eventually find a place to live, and saw Gods faithfulness, as it is such a perfect location, and although it is not in Student owned accommodation, I am sure God has a plan through that. It really is an amazing find, and I have no doubt that God had this place ready for me before I could even imagine!

I went to church on Sunday, and went to ChristChurch London, and it was amazing. I really loved it, I met some really lovely people, and even though the "oficial welcome" to new people is next week, I still felt very welcome :) It is quite a big church, but not huge, and I have been told it is a very exciting time for the church because many of the ministries are really developing, and the main church meeting will split into two meetings as of next week. The idea being that then there will be more space for new people to come! It really felt like a very genuine church.

On Sunday after the church meeting, I walked along the river towards my home, past the London Eye, saw the houses of Parliment, Big Ben, The tate, haha, i am so incredibly lucky. But the most incredible thing is that God has called me here. I know that. Without his calling, this would just be another empty city, but I get so excited when I pray for this city, I just want to shout about it!

^{Exodus 33:13-17} If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

**Please join me in praying for London, it is such a city of influence, and I really feel god wants us to pray for the Government, the Houses of Parliment, the rulers of this country.

**Please pray for my first weeks, pray that I may get settled, and find my place in this big city!

The adventure has by no means ended :) hahaha!!

How amazing is God's love!! Howww amazing!

We have had some difficulties within our group, and yesterday I really hit a point where it was really a lot bigger than I am, and I went to bed feeling concerned, but I just prayed a simple prayer 'God please give me a good day tomorrow', and you know what? He did..

Tom came to visit me from Sheffield (guy from my team back in Chile) and it was just so great to make jokes with him and to be with a very good friend. He was a big encouragement. But also, all the ministries went really well and even though there was not always loads of people, there were many very beneficial conversations. All the people I know here in Warwick were especially extra amazing today! I don't know.. it was such a beautiful day.. and to top it off, as I walked home from the train station I was walking into a stunning sunset, the bright blue sky appeared to be on fire behind bright white whispy clouds. Amazing. Amazing amazing amazing. God sends us things like this, just to make us smile. :)

Thank-you God so much for this day. Thank-you that you care about little me, and that you hear my simple prayers. God help me in these next couple of weeks :)

Pray requests

- please pray for my remaining time in Warwick, that I will be wise with my time, and that I will hear Gods will.

-Please pray for Wednesday as we will go to a friends house to help her work in her garden, it could be interesting, so just pray we have a good day together :)

- Pray for my church, St Pauls, that they will listen to the voice of God and will act accordingly.

- Thank God for all the little precious things he puts in our path - just to make us smile!

So last night I went for a walk with a friend, and we were in the park a little later than I usually am.. and we saw groups of young people sat together, people who were probably about 12-13, and they were just sat drinking vodka together.. barely talking.. And we found this BMX park that I didn't know existed.. the guys in the park were really skilled.. and I can see how they had passion for what they do, but they were still missing the point really.. i.e. Jesus Christ. I saw how much these young people need something to live for.. they need a purpose, and they need hope. They need someone to say that they are worth it. And I know God is so desperate to reach them. In these places is where we should be as a church..

I don't know how much I can do in the last 3 weeks of my time here, but I also know that kids like them are all over the country, there is no shortage of a need..

Pray for these young people, pray that maybe I can help them in some way, or encourage others to do it.. I think I might go some others churches in the evenings to try and find some young people or youth workers, who ARE passionate for God, who could help to reach out to these people..

Pray that God will give me wisdom and show me the right people to contact.

Pray for the skate ministry in Chile, that Yerko will be able to continue to reach many people through his work :) That God will keep him motivated and give him energy and everything he needs when it is difficult.

Here is a video of Yerko and the work he does in Chile with the skaters..

http://www.omnitube.org/chile-skateboarders.html

Ohhh England, England, England, the land of tea and cake, the land of brick houses, the land of beautiful green hills, the land of the comfortable church.. The land of the lonely people with nobody to share with, the land of the elderly people dying in their houses completly un-noticed by society, the land that is crazy to save a tree yet does not have a problem with killing an unborn baby..

This country is in such a messsss, yet the church is sitting so comfortably! Too concerned with politics to notice the people crying out for something real! The church in England needs to learn to not be afraid to confront people.. I know it is so important to show love and grace, but also it is important to help each other when we see that people are struggling, that after all, is love. The church is slowly dying, and is full of Christians who just like to go on a Sunday, but don't like it when Christ tries to be a part of their everyday life.. Why are we so desperate not to offend, and to keep the few remaining people in our old churches? What are we afraid of? I know for a fact that people are searching in this country, but people are searching for something that is truth. They are not finding it. Why do they not find Christianity? Because we do not act as if this is the truth! Maybe if we really spoke out about the things we wanted to, then people would see that Gods love is something that is powerful and compels us to action! Why are we so afraid to offend?

Smells.. Paul talks about us being the "fragrance of Christ" and this means so much, it means to be love.. It means to be abundantly loving. To love to the extreme. To love even when it hurts. To love even when it is spat back in your face. When buying a perfume, people do not search for an odourless brand.. there is no point in it! Why would you put on perfume if it did not smell of anything? Why would people turn to Christ, if the Christians are no different? We may defend ourselves saying that we are not "bad smells", but we may as well be..

I hope that you are sitting there nodding your head. But I hope that you do not forget this in 5 minutes.. I hope I can shock you a little.. Christians in England.. please.. rock the boat.. wake up.. at risk of sounding super cheesy YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!!!

Ohhh, church, I pray for you!

Hey, so here is my catch up on what I've been doing in warwick, what will be happening next, and what you lovely people can pray for :)

I mentioned that I am working for a church here in Warwick, a very small anglican church. It was very difficult at first to get into the work because it was just so difficult. I was feeling very much in culture shock when I first got back in the country, and was feeling the culture shock moving back to the UK. But I was getting used to seeing friends and family, and then I was moved again to Warwick. At first it was a difficult time because the team did not click as well as I had hoped at first, they are much older than my last team, and there were no young people in my church that I could make friends with. It was just very different to get used to, but I got there eventually!

Our main ministry here is something called Coffee Stop, which is twice a week, and the church is open and the front is set out like a coffee shop, and people are welcome to come in and have free tea, coffee and cake. It is really good, and there are many new people who have come through this to the church. It is a time where they can get to know many women in the church (and a few men as well!) and they can see that the church is also full of normal people, just like them!

Another thing that we spend a lot of time doing is a community survery, where we walk around the local area and ask people questions about the community and what we as a church can do to help. To be honest, the answers have not been so new, most people either say something for the young people, or something for elderly people. But what has been the amazing thing, is some of the conversations we have had with people, some of the friendships that have started because of this. It is amazing. Many people have such a bad image of church, and actually for them to see that the church is interested in them, and in their area, and wants to be part of the community.

We have a couple of friends at the moment from our church who are very good friends of ours, and we are trying to share as much of the gospel and of Gods love with them as we can, but they need your prayers, they have some health struggles, and sometimes it is difficult to really explain to them the hope that God brings.. they have suffered a lot in their lives. Please pray for them. For respect of their privacy I cannot give any more information than this, but please do pray, God knows exactly who I am talking about! :)

The team is growing closer each day, and we are working through some differences and some issues that have come up, so please pray for us. It is great that God is working in us, and is helping us deal with these things, but just pray that everything gets said that needs to be said, so we can sort out all the miscommunications.

Tomorrow we are doing a school asembally, which I am looking forward to. This school is a bit funny really.. we are doing "religious education" asemballys, but have been given topics such as "how to deal with unexpected change"... so it is difficult to get a Christian message in there, especially as we are not really allowed to talk directly about Jesus, we must just refer to "God" so that it is accessable for all the children. Last time we went the head master finished with a prayer, which felt very new-age, there was no mention of God, there was no 'amen' at the end, it was just along the lines of "help us to work hard and to preserve this earth for future generations..." it was very strange... so please pray for us tomorrow, pray for the school, pray for God to show HIMSELF and not anything else through their religious teachings.

On friday we will have a womens evening at the church, which will be really really nice, one of the ladies on our team is doing a cooking demenstration. I am really hoping and praying that many new faces will come along, and they will have a really fun evening! :)

Please continue to pray for all that we are involved in, and all the connections we have here.
I am also looking to start up some kind of aerobix club here in the church, so pray for that! i would love to do it, but I just need God to bless my plans so that they might come to a reality.

Thanks for everything
Lots of love Emma xxx

eek. So I may have not posted in a while, but I'm back! The last month in Santiago was a crazy one, full of things to do, finishing off and saying goodbye! It was a really great time with good people, but very sad to leave! very very sad, Chile will have a place in my heart forever I think.

To finish off our work with the Childrens home we took them bowling, and we went to a bowling centre that is super old and pretty naff, but it was great to be there with them. There were no other people in the place, and so we could have the whole place for the boys to go crazy and have fun! It worked out really well, and they all enjoyed it so so much. After that we could go back to the hogar and we had made a cake to eat with them, and we said our goodbyes. One thing I really like about Chileans (one of many things) is that they really appreciate the value of saying goodbye well. Many of the boys shared their thanks and experiences they had with us, and it was a very emotional time! I was expecting to just get the boot like we usually do! But it is good to be able to tell them how important they are to us before we go. I hope and pray that even if they forget our faces, that they will remember the time we shared with them, and that they will remember how loved they are.

For the last week going to the streets we planned a bit of a party for them. It was really great actually. We had clowns doing some funny things at the beginning, we had worship music, a drama a small preach, and time to pray together. It really was great fun, and an amazing night to finish on. Although I did not make such strong friends here as with the children, I have still seen changes in people, and seen how just being there has meant something to them. Just to hand out the food and drinks and to greet them, is more than many people do.

On our last Sunday in Chile (which is actually last sunday! Woah, feels like ages ago!) the youth of our church organised a special goodbye for us before we left, which was amazing. They created a video of our time here, and each said really lovely things. It again, was very emotional, and a difficult goodbye. There are many loved ones in that church

Arriving home, was... strange! A combination of being extremly tired and just leaving many good friends in Chile, meant that I was kind of just floating around for a day or so. I had some time to see my family, and some friends, but was very aware that I would be leaving again very shortly. It was a great couple of days, but there really were difficulties at first getting back into the british culture, which I still feel even to this day!

Then on Friday I left for Halesowen, and when I arrived, after a couple of hours I heard I would be heading to Warwick! So I am now living in Warwick (a little closer to home than Chile!). I am working in a very small anglican church, which is a little different to say the least! But it is very full of lovely people. It's funny how my world can just be turn right upside-down over the space of a week. But it gives me comfort to know that God is still the same. He has plans for me here in Warwick the same as he had plans for me in Chile, and this is just the next chapter! Bring it on!

I would really appreciate all your prayers in this time, trying to get my feet again!

Thank-you for all your love and support.

Emma xxxx

Okay! so I figured it was about time to write another blog for you guys, about the last few weeks.

About 2 weeks ago I received some quite difficult news regarding my mums health. This year has really had its difficult times, but I think this was the hardest thing to hear about because it made me feel so far away. But oh my goodness, how God held me close. The weekend after we left we were able to visit a beautiful part of the south of Chile called Pucon. It was kind of our holiday seeing as we were not able to do what we had really planned due to the earthquake. The timing was perfect. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen and I couldnt help and stop and look at the big mountains, the volcano, the still lakes and see how God is so so so loving, and he is so in control of it all. One particular day we went to a lake, and had an hour or so by ourselves to spend time with God. I was just wondering around listening to some worship music and climbing over some rocks, and asking God questions about what was happening, and how I could deal with this thing that seemed so huge. One song really stuck out to me the lyrics go like this

Its the sweetest thing, to trust you, just to know youve got everything under control

you are making me a mountain, making me a mountain that cannot be shaken.

high up on a rock looking out at the horizon,

watching a storm roll in wondering if my heart will survive it

and as the waves crash all around me

and i cant remember what it feels like to be free

i know youre making me a mountain

making me a mountain, that cannot be moved

you say, i've got you my baby, oh i've got you

its quite the mess you're in but it's nothing love can't fix

so sit here, upon my shoulders

and watch as it all unwinds

When I was singing to God next to this lake, I just knew that he had taken the worry from me. There is no good in worrying, I asked God to be in control of the situation, and I trust that he is. I trust that there is nothing that will happen that he does not permit. God is so so loving, and I know that whatever happens it will be out of an incredible love for us, and for my beautiful mum. I learnt many things through the time of the earthquake, which now are all just ringing true in this time. I learnt how God is firm, God is dependable, and yeah in this time God has completly been my rock. When I felt scared, he strengthened me, when I felt lonely, he sent the right people, when I felt angry, he was there to hear my thoughts. He is there. He is so here. I have no idea how people find the strength to go through these things without the hope that I have found.

So yeah, due to finding out this information, it also had a knock on effect. I will not be going to Ecuador as I was planning to do. I will be coming to work for OM in Birmingham, so that I may be closer to my mum. But it works well as a comprimise because I didn't want to be so far away from my family in this time, but also i didn't want to just finish my programme so early. I really felt there was more for me to do. So this opportunity in Birmingham is just perfect. Its just kind of a bit weird for it all to change so suddenly, and with only 4 weeks left here in Chile! I will have to deal with things 3 months earlier than I was expecting to. but I am excited non the less, so so excited. It is a shame not to see the beautiful country of Ecuador, but I will have pleanty of time to see beautiful things, my family is a lot more important to me than ticking off another country on my list!

But yeah with all these things going on, time is just slipping away you know! I am staying with a friend from tonight to Monday afternoon as part of our cultural experience thing, and then next Tuesday we are going away as the whole of OM Chile for a retreat where we will receive training about how to help people in times of crisis. Specificaly the earthquake, we will also get debreifing about all that and receive some counselling ourselves for those who still feel effected by all that happened. Which is very good of OM to do that. But yeah... then after that week we have about 1 more normal week, and then for the last couple of weeks it is all saying goodbye, doing special things with our minstries and wrapping things up! I am so glad that I have been here in Chile, God has taught me so much more than I could ever have imagined. He has been faithful and taking me through experiences that bring me closer to him. He has given me dreams for the future, and a new excitement for my life. It will be sad to leave, but I also feel it is the time, I feel God has many more things planned for me, and I am excited to put the things I have learnt into practice.

God has just taught me again and again this year, how he is God, and how I am not. How I will be so much stronger if I place all I have in his hands. He takes good care of it. I can trust him.

How this means me knows me, I do not have to pretend to be something else to get his attention, or his approval.

"Praise the LORD oh my soul, and let all that's within me praise his name. For I will not die I will live, and I will tell of the works of the LORD, I will sing of his wonders. I will not die I will live, for he's a great God. I get to love you through whatever comes, what a privilidge it is. Oh how sweet it is, that I get to love you through whatever comes. Nothing is going to take your praise out my mouth, as long as I shall live. Nothings going to take your praise out of my mouth as long as I shall live."

- Kristene Mueller, Praise the LORD

Please pray for the last few weeks left here in Chile, that the whole team will be able to finish well, and that we will say goodbye properly, which will be difficult especially with the Hogar. Pray that in the next steps God will continue to guide me, and will prepare me for Birmingham

Have an amazing few weeks.

Sending loads of hugs from Chile, Emma xx

Hey, hope you all had a great Easter and beginning of the month! I can't believe we are already half way through April. In about 7 weeks we will be leaving Chile! Craziness.

I have to kind of write this blog backwards because I'm just so excited to share what happened today. We have been planning as a group to visit Plaza de Armas (a square in the center) and so an out reach there for ages and ages, but each time we dont get permission, or we cant do it for some reason or another, but today we just decided we would go and pray that the police didnt mind! It was such an amazing time. We split into three groups mainly, there were two guys doing a mime pose, and next to them were questions, things like 'where is God in this?' for example when the mime showed suffering or pain. There were also people around the mimes and when others came to stop and look at what was going on they would start conversations with them about what they thought and their view on God. I heard there were some amazing conversations with Chileans, and I am so excited about that, from what i heard people were really interested in sharing their opinions. There were also some girls doing face painting for free for children, and the idea was that they talked with the parents and things whilst we had them trapped! This also went so so well, the girls barely got a rest for the three hours we were there! And then Jona and I were clowns and went around handing out sweets and tracks and invitations to our churches. The idea was that we would give them to children, but there was not so many children, and the ones that were there really were quite scared of us.. but the adults liked us the best. We had great fun playing with random people, and were both amazed at how easily people open up to clowns! Many people were very happy to recieve from us and felt very blessed, and they said that to see the joy we have was really great! God is so good. He really put exactly the right people in our way. There are so many stories I could share, but one man in particular I really want you to pray for, so I will share about what he told us.

His name is Juan- Carlos, and he was from Constitucion,he had lost his house, his job and everything, and had a wife and children there. He came to Santiago looking for help I think, but was robbed and so did not have money for a trip back to his home. I could tell he was feeling hopeless, and he was tired, and he was telling us that he felt lonely because he did not know anybody, my heart really broke for him. We had the opportunity to pray for him, and I invited him to come to my church. He saw the girls face painting and also spoke with them, and they went to buy food for him and his family and also decided that we could pay for him to get a new ticket home. He will be leaving tomorrow morning, so will not be at my church, but please please pray for him. In the conversation we were talking about how God can provide and God can take care of him, and I really pray that in this situation he can see how it was the love of God working through us. I would love you to pray for his salvation. In fact no, for him and his family and for their salvation. God still works miracles.

Oh also I have to tell you the response of another man after he received the flyer explaining who Jesus is. He immediately read the first page and looked so surprised and pointed at the verse and said that it is incredible, and asked if it was the truth? It was amazing that we could give him this flyer and tell him what the truth is. We are here in this capital city in a highly catholic country, but there are still many people who just do not know who Jesus was!

Please pray for all the people we had contact with this day, pray that the church invitation, the conversation we had, the flyer that might just be sitting in their pockets, pray that some day they will remember what happened and that it will not just get forgotten. Pray that God will continue to speak to these people.

Other than that, this month has been a normal month. Going to the Hogar de ninos, going to the street. Oh we also went to Mendoza again to renew our visas, which was not the most exciting trip (There is not loads to do in Mendoza) but still so incredible to drive through the Andes, they will never fail to take my breath away. But there was time to read, and to chill out in the park, and I got to spend a lot of time with God. It is so easy in the last part of our time here, to just make ourselves so busy busy, but God is still the most important part of it all, and so it was awesome to focus on that again.

We had another kind of difficult time on Monday at the hogar, but still I cannot be frustrated with them or annoyed, each time I see them i really see how much they need love. Argh, we have seen some of the women who work there treat some of the boys so badly recently, I do not want to say more than that, but please please pray. It really breaks my heart and it would break yours too if you could see. I am certain.

God is a good God, and even when I am feeling tired and unenthusiastic about something, when I pray to him and give him the time, he never fails to amaze me and lift me right up.

Woohoo.

:) Thanks everyone for reading. May you have an amazing amazing week and as my good friend Jona likes to say - I pray God will hug you each day!

I have really had a great weekend and past couple of days. At the weekend I went with Jona to downtown, and we had a great time. We always take the metro if we want to go there, but we decided to walk and I realised actually how close it is! It is such a shame that we hardly ever go there! But yeah.. we had some great chats, and I really really enjoyed myself. Jona I know you will read this, but yeah you're amazing and I love our conversations. When we were there I bought myself some art supplies because we have been doing some art recently in a couple of classes and I have been loving it. Back home I used to do a little, and I have missed it here, it is great to have a hobbie being here.

Yesterday we went to the hogar and I had so much fun. God really blessed me whilst we were there, and although the boys were a little crazy for some of the time, God really helped me to communicate with them and to control them. I had a great time talking with one boy Jonathan, and another who does not usually say much more than hi to me, a boy called Byron. I think back to our time when we first got here and how I just used to want to leave as soon as possible because I would get so tired and stressed being there, but now I hate to leave. It's great how much they trust us and how they know us so much more now. It's such a shame we only have 2 months left before we have to leave them, like so many people have done in their lives. It's really going to be difficult to say goodbye!

Today I was pretty tired, and was getting frustrated with a few things throughout the day. We had the homeless ministry this evening, which I find really difficult and tiring still, the atmosphere is so heavy it really does take a lot out of you, but yeah.. so I really didn't feel like going for various reasons, but Tom from the team, and also Karin prayed for me, and I really felt so much more full of energy, and so much more enthusiastic again. God really cares for us, God wants us to enjoy ourselves and to not be down in the dumps. I felt God saying that when I go I will have a good night and that he will help me with what I need. I also prayed that there might be some children to play with near the beginning of the night, just to cheer me up, and because there Spanish is no barrier, and, as faithfully as always, God provided. As soon as we got out of the metro we met some of the people we usually meet further along the route, and there was a family with them with two of the most gorgeous children. Sherry and I had a lot of fun actually just playing with rubbish.. with a cardboard box and many bottle lids.

But I do have a big prayer request for the homeless people, tonight just as we were about to pray a big fight broke out over territory and we had to leave straight away. It was a wise decision because of our safety, but it is such a shame we could not pray with them, and also I would love to know that everybody is safe. Please pray for the violence there, I know that fights like this break out all the time, but to see it made it much more vivid in my mind. There are people who begin to fight and beat people with metal rods simply because they are frustrated with life. There are people so needing the love of Jesus and the hope that it brings, it really breaks my heart.

Anyway, I'm not sure this is really making much sense, I am very tired and should go to bed.

Thank-you all for reading my blog, and I pray that God will bless you in this coming week.

Love Emma xx

So for those who do not know, we did get the chance to head slightly to the south to a place called Pichilemu where we were going to work with Youth With A Mission, YWAM (JuCUM in Chile) and do some relief work for those effected by the earthquake. We were there from Monday 8th- Tuesday 16th of this month. On the first couple of days we went to one house where we could help some builders to rebuild an old families house. There was pretty much nothing left of this house, but we had to break down a few remaining walls and then we layed the foundations and made some walls. It was a really good time, and felt very productive, but then one of the men from the family got very upset because one of the rooms had been designed wrong and there was a mistake with where the doors were. At first I was kind of upset to see him like this, here we were rebuilding his house for him, for free, trying to get his life back on track and he was in fits of anger and tears at the first mistake. But God really was teaching me a lot through this time. How our motivation to do these things should be for him, and not for the appreciation or the gratitude of others. Like it says in Matthew 25, ⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Whatever I do in my life, I do for Jesus. I may not always receive a positive reaction, but God will always see what I do, and he will always see my heart and he is all the appreciation I should need.

Whilst we were at Pichilemu, you might have heard, or maybe not, but we were in another pretty strong after shock. It measured 6.9, but felt like a 7.2 because it was very close to the surface and we were around 20km from the epicentre. At the time many of us were in one of the YWAM buildings where we were preparing a meal in the second story. The building we were in was not a stable building and we were told that it moved a lot even just in the wind. I found it a much worse experience that the first one because with the other one I was barely awake and did not really have the time to think about it afterwards as I just wanted to get back to my bed! but with this one it was in the middle of the day, and we had so so soooo many more strong aftershocks after that. It was also much more disconcerting as we were outside for many of them, and then you can tell that it is not just the building moving, but it is the earth. When your knees buckle because the earth jerks away from under you, I cannot explain the feeling. God was the only thing that I could cling onto in this time. He has been so present in this whole time. I have heard people telling me that I seem very strong despite these things happening, well.. I am not.. the only reason I do not fear is because I know God is with me, and he is in control even when we can do nothing but brace ourselves for the impact of the earth going crazy. In the words of our Bible teacher 'if I'll be a pancake, It's time for me to be a pancake!'.

Isaiah 54:10 (New International Version)

¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

But enough talk about earthquakes.. life this week carried on as usual. We went to the hogar on Monday, and shared the last programme about the armour of God. Today we were talking about the helmet of Salvation. It was not too bad... but it was not great. There are many restless and frightened boys in that hogar, they are still not able to live in most of the building and so they are all squashed up in one half of it. I can also feel there is a spiritual battle there as we had a great time with the boys before we started, and afterwards we played and really had fun, but as soon as Lise began to speak it was as if they really could not stay focused. There was always something happening. We shared a prayer of salvation with them, and they repeated it. I am just praying that at least one boy said that prayer and really understood the message, and one boy knows that he is saved. Please pray for them and that the message will stay on their minds so they continue to think about Gods amazing grace, and come to accept him to their lives.

We also went to the homeless ministry last night, I was part of a team praying for the evening again. We are a large group and so we are able to do this each week I believe. it is something that I really enjoy a lot. God revealed so much hope for that place to us, and we were just declaring his name at four corners of the square we go to, and we were just feeling the power behind that. Although we can feel the heaviness of that area, I know that there is a lot of violence, sexual abuse, drugs and alcohol in these places, but even though we walk to these places God tells us that we do not need to be afraid. He is so much stronger than any power of hell.

At the moment the prostitutes ministry is not restarting, this is something we would love your prayer about as well. The leader of this ministry has lost her job, and many situations have changed which means that there may be difficulties when restarting the ministry. Pray that God will show where he wants it to go, what he wants us to do.

Also please pray for OM Chile who are searching for a new base for the IT and the offices. At the moment they are wasting a lot of money from travelling the IT to all the different ministries, and to the offices and to Spanish classes. Also we have three rented buildings, and this is obviously not the most cost effective way of doing it. OM would like to bring the boys house, girls house and offices closer, even in the same property. There are many people coming to work next year, which is really exciting, but at the moment there is no room for them! So prayers would really be appreciated, we have found a couple of places, but they tend to be way out of budget.

Thank-you for reading and praying for me :)

Wishing you all a great week

Emma xxx

Yesterday I got the opportunity to go and help out at a ladies house who has to move house because hers had been so badly damaged from the earthquake. When we got there, from outside it didn't look so bad, but I was still happy to help out, but when we got inside we could see the damage that it had caused. The woman's son was there who told us her amazing story of how God protected her. She was lying in Bed and about 10 minutes before the earthquake she got up out of bed and went to another room, which was very not like her. Then during the earthquake the ceiling of two stories and the roof fell down in that room, we saw pictures of a huge pile of rubble and bricks on top of the bed, if she was there, there is no chance she could have survived. She was then in another room and felt she should move because she saw the ceiling was also not very secure and she stepped out the room and a few seconds later that ceiling also fell down. Everybody in the house was okay, even though there was so much damage. If it was slightly stronger here in Santiago, I am sure that the whole thing would have fallen down.

When we were helping we were just wrapping things up and packing it away in boxes. It was not too much hard work because we were with Chileans and so their priority is to just be with eachother and have a nice time and so there were pleantly of breaks for drinks and sandwhiches! haha. But it was good because the son of the woman who lives there was living there at the moment to protect her things, and I think he was very grateful of the company. I think I would go crazy just seeing the dammage every day and being reminded how different it could have been!

Yesterday Yerko and Carlos also returned from their trip. I was not in the house when they went but the others tell me that Yerko showed a video of the area, and that it was really quite shocking. They saw broken down houses, roads with huge gaps in them that had buckeled up, a big bridge that had fallen down, and other things like this. They really want us to go down to try and help, and we will go down probably with either the salvation army or with another christian volunteer company, or maybe just as our group. We are still not sure when we can go, it may be tomorrow or it may be in a month. It is just a time where we have to be flexible. Our leaders said that this week we will try to help out as much as we can here in Santiago, and so maybe will have a strange schedual this week, with more free time in the mornings, but going to help load lorrys of supplies to send down south, or things like that in the afternoon and evenings.

It feels good to be able to help in some way. Yesterday it all became a lot more real for me, seeing somebodys house and hearing first hand what had happened to them really affected me.I am really praying this is a time where we can show the love of Christ and help out in any way we can, small or large, all for God's glory and not for our own conscience.

I have some new news, our new field leader Carlos, and our team leader Yerko are going to concepcion today and another area about 3 hours away that was very badly affected by the earthquake. They will take some food, and see if they can help the local churches, but the main point of their trip is to try to set up connections with the churches so that we might go and do some relief work. Our 'adventure trip' has been cancelled as we felt we could not go to the south and have a nice time, and sit in a restaurant when there are people half an hour away from where we would be fighting to get food for themselves and their families. We really feel God has us here for a reason, and God protected us and so we might go out and serve others. We are so grateful that we are all still in a position to give.

I am getting itchy feet wanting to do something about what's happened. The initial reaction is just to get to the epicenter and just help people in any way we can, but this is not actually the wisest, as many are without food and water, and having us there would just add to the pressure. We would be more of a hinderance.

Please pray for the trip, that they will have wisdom and will see places where we really can help in a good way. Pray that they can also share hope whilst being there.

Thank-you all so much for praying, I believe that God really can and should be lifted up in this time. Only he is constant, and I have seen so much now how we can only rely on him.

Pray for one of our OM workers here in Chile, Mario whose wife is coming back from concepcion today. We think she was there during the quake, but couldn't quite understand all he was saying in the meeting as he was clearly very upset. It would have been crazy to have been there during the quake. It was the city most affected in Chile. We think that she may have had her 2 year old son with her, but again I am not sure. Either way, pray for her safe return, and pray for the effect it would have had on her and the rest of the family. I know that Mario was extremly concerned about her.

The quake

So you may have heard that this morning (27th February) there was an earthquake here in Chile. The epicenter was about 200 miles away close to the city concepcion. It measured 8.8 on the rictor scale.

I woke up from my room mate Jona saying my name and speaking about the fact that we had to get up, my first reaction was just confusion, but then once my slow brain got into gear and I realised the house was shaking I could see what she was talking about! All of us girls stood in our doorways next to eachother for the duration of the shaking. I would love to say that I was all brave and collected, but once it didn't stop after around 30 seconds, I grabbed Jona, shut my eyes and just prayed with all my might untill it was over. It is such a surreal feeling when the house is moving so much. The noises were the most unnerving part, glass was smashing downstairs, pans were falling off the shelves, and the house was groaning alot as it moved. But other than having to clear up the mess, and not getting much sleep between aftershocks, helecopters going past and sirens all night, we are were all fine. God really protected us, and it was clear that he was there with us, even though it was scary!

It really stuck me how confusing it was for the house to be moving. We are so confident in the things we build, and that they are good, and sturdy, but then the earth moves, and the house feels about as strong as paper in the wind.

I would love it if you could join us in prayer.

There are still some people we know here who we have not been able to contact. Please pray that they are all well, and that they will be able to find some communication soon.

As the death toll rises I can't help but think about all the people whos lives will be completly changed from something that only lasted a few seconds, please pray for them and for the rebuilding of their lives which will continue for a long time after the story is no longer in the headlines.

Pray for two of our friends Roel and Natty, who were heading towards the south in a bus, and who are stuck somewhere as it is not safe for the bus to pass on some of the bridges, and they are without water, Pray that God will have his hand upon them, and will protect them.

Pray for the Tsunami that is due to hit Hawaii and New Zealand. Pray that the countries will be well prepared, and pray with faith that God might calm the seas, and more disaster will be prevented!

Pray for the groups of workers who have already left to help with relief work, pray that they will be effective and pray for Christians to act in this time. Pray that God opens doors for us to reach out to people effected by this devistation.

Pray for the aftershocks, which even as I write this are stil occuring. At the epicenter, the aftershocks are stil at about 5-6, which can cause more destruction to already weakened buildings.

Pray that in amongst this event God's name will be lifted up, and that people will turn to him and not away from him.

Many prayer points, but we really need your support here in Chile.
God bless you all,
Emma xx

Goodevening amazing friends and family!



Sooo.. yeah I guess I can start with mentioning about a guest that we've had with us in Chile for the past week and a bit, Peter from Sweeden. He is the international co-ordinator for all teenstreets over the world. A guy with alot of experience with youth work! He gave us some teachings about mentoring and counselling with youth, and what the youth of today are asking for and needing. He was a very interesting man, and had alot of practical advice and really knew what he was talking about.



Last thursday was a really great day, we went to the hogar and were a little nervous because Lise was away with her church and so could not come with us. We decided just to have an afternoon of facepainting and playing games, to keep it simple. God blessed us enormously, we had such a good time with the boys, they were respectful and wanted to be around us. We all really enjoyed ourselves, I really loved doing the face paint because there was an oportunity for conversation, and also just the opportunity to give one boy so much attention at one time, which is really what they need.

Last thursday we also had a group time. Our leader set us a task which is designed to bring up group dynamics. We had to discuss the design of a new city, and we each had our different priorities about what had to be in the city etc. It was a pretty mundane task, but it causes quite a discussion. It brough up some issues within the group and was quite a painful time for some people to bring these things up. It was a difficult time for all of us, and I know I stuggled as confrontation is really really not my thing. But I really felt God was there in the conversation, things came up that really should have done, and although it may have hurt, now we are looking at how we can begin to mend the cracks that are appearing. I have to say, alot of the things were quite a surprise to me, we all have a very good ability to pretend everything is really great when actually things are not. I was happy, and I assumed everybody else was happy because I wasn't getting any other signals. I was glad we could discuss these things, but was upset that people were hurting like they were and could not have said anything before. I really love everybody on my team, we are all getting really close and have begun to really share the real things that are happening. I can see how after the discussion things have gotten even better though. God really knows what he is doing eh.

On Tuesday we went to a bible study group at a local English speaking church. I was really looking forward to giong because we had a really good programme, and we would be able to speak in English, and it would just be nice and easy! But I was surprised how much being around these people really broke my heart. These lovely business men who seemed to have everything, but there was something when I spoke to them that just felt as if they really had nothing. Very few of them were really using their resources effectively, and it felt like such a waste of a blessing! I am praying against judging them, and really forcing myself not to, but my heart really breaks when I see how much potential they have, but they really are not tapping in to it. They seem to have a very warm welcome to the church, but a very cold exterior to the rest of the city. If they had concern for some of the people we work with, it came across more as a concern because they are dirtying the streets. It really reminded me of some of the attitudes of people in Europe, and actually really brought to my mind how much I want to help these people. I saw more poverty there than I did in the evening in the homeless ministry. There is one man whom we see each week on the streets called Hugo, he is such a legend. He used to be in prison, and became a believer when missionaries visited the prison, then when he was released he went back to prisons.. to speak about the gospel. He is stil living on the street, but he is living for God with everything he has. Each week he tells us of how God has provided food for him, and clothes, and last week he even spoke about how he found a newspaper and wanted to do the crossword because he loves doing them, but didn't have a pen, he prayed for one, and found this really really posh looking pen! Amazing! When we rely on God for everything, he will provide abundantly. This is the kind of blessing I want. I do not want blessings from this world that may make me feel like I am secure, or that I have everything I need. I want blessings from God! I would rather live like Hugo each day, and know my God as intimatly as he does, than to live in a big house like one of the men I met at that study and not be using my everything for the glory of God.



I have also been thinking alot recently about dreams.. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before on my blog, but God has really been speaking to me about my future alot. I am starting to see that God can really do much bigger things through me that I was expecting. And he will. Some of the thoughts that I have in my head seem so crazy, but so exciting, I would love to do something that there is no chance I can do on my own. That way it can show others how God is doing these things and not anybody else. I think God quite often does things in a way that this is the case. If there is an opportunity for God to do something and show his glory and power through it, he quite often will do that thing! For example when Gideon is called to defeat the Midianites God asks him to reduce his army down to an embarassing amount just to show that nothing can limit his power, and that he can make greatness out of seamingly impossible situations.



* Please pray for the team, that we can continue to grow closer together and that any other issues will be resolved in this period before it gets so close to the end of our time here

* Please pray for the work in the hogar, pray that we can have more times where we really connect with the boys.

* Pray for the bible study group that we went to visit. pray for one of our teachers called Hal who is working with them. He is also a part of OM. Pray that God gives him patience, wisdom and determination to reach these men.

*Pray for the continued work of Peter within OM preparing TeenStreets all over the world. Pray that God will continue to work through him and give him wisdom and insight as to how to keep these conferences running.

*Pray for God's direction through my life. Pray that God will reveal to me more of his plans for my future. Pray that he will open doors where he wants to, but also to close them where things are not of him.

Another month gone by, where I havn't posted a blog. So much has happened, and I'm not going to bore you with all the details. To sum up, we went to a youth camp called 'super-action' and went to a missions conference in Argentina called CIMA. Instead of talking about the state of the toilets and how many bites I got, I will get straight into what God is teaching me recently.

The conference really was a big eye opener for me. It was amazing to see so many youth south americans so excited to go for missions, and thirsty to hear God's call for their lives. I saw how Europe looks like from over here, and how much we need people from South America to come over and help us. Europe is in a sorry state, and it breaks my heart. I guess I could not see it before, when one is surrounded by Christian influence it's difficult to see the big picture. I pray that the people who went to the conference will not forget what they have learned, but will be moved into action. The workers really are few, and the work is harder than ever. South America has alot of offer us.

I was also thinking about my own future whilst I was at this conference, there were many evenings talking about different needs in the world, and speaking about different countries, and I could have felt myself being called to all of them. I felt so hopeless, what difference could I make when people are needed so much everywhere? But I was thinking about how modern society has so many choices in life. I went to buy olive oil the other day and there was an entire isle for it. How am I supposed to make any decisions when there is so much choice? But at the end of the day.. oil is oil. Mission is mission. God being glorified is God being glorified. I am not trying to say that people are not called to specific areas and are gifted to work in certain countries, but if I really have no clue, then surely to step out and do something is better than to sit and worry about what God's almighty plan is for me? God can use somebody regardless of where they are, if their heart is in the right place. And if he wants you somewhere else, he will take you there. But it is so much easier to be taken if you have already stepped out, and started with something.

God also challenged me as to how brave I am. How uncomfortable am I willing to be for him? We heard testimony of people who are working in remote areas of Africa, and whom are constantly being hunted for their lives by people of other religion. At first this made me really excited for what they are doing, and then God scared me with a challenge. Would I be prepared to live like this? Would I be prepared to live a life of comfort for him? A life of danger? A life of adventure!

God expand my boundaries. I am currently reading a devotional book about the prayer of Jabez. It is really good. I am reading about God expanding my boundaries, about supersizing my dreams and hopes. About putting my future in God's hands and watching him increase the scale like I never thought possible. I want God to do big things through me, and if I'm honest before I left for Chile I don't think I did. I would have loved to be a background person, who just keeps things going. (these people are amazing, and I am not saying that their dreams are small), but God has something else for me.

At the youth camp I did a short preach, and this weekend I am preaching again, this time slightly longer, at a church. I am very excited. I really love it.

That is all :) I'm sure I will think of more things that I am learning, and will post another like this, but I am tired now, and need some sleep.
Goodnight everyone, and thankyou for your prayers. God is doing great things. :)
Emma xx

So here I am, back after a Chilean Christmas and New year! We had time off over Christmas to recouperate before the busy next few months. For Christmas day we celebrated as the IT team, just the 10 of us. We decorated the garden, put "snowflakes" in the trees, fairy lights around and had a barbeque together. Later that night we used the OM projector and sat on the skate ramp and projected faulty towers on to the wall :) Good times. Then the day after Christmas day us girls went to Vina del Mar for a beach holiday, it was a really good bonding time and it really made me appreciate how important these girls are to me. We relaxed on the beach, burnt and swam. The water was ICE cold! Colder than Cornwall I can tell you! Then after a few days on our own the boys and the leaders came and joined us in Vina and we did some more organised things, such as we went surfing and we went on a tour around Valparaiso (another older city right next to Vina, Yerko took us around this area because it was actually where he was born). Then on new years eve we spent the evening on the beach and at midnight there was a huge fireworks display! There was about 6 different platforms in the sea, and each had fireworks coming off them. it lasted about 20 minutes, and I loved every second. It really was a time to remember.. my New Years in Chile :)

Now we have the weekend off and start work again on Monday, back in head first. The next month is going to be very fast because we are going to a youth camp of one of the local churches on Thursday I think, and thats for about 4 days.. then after being back for only a few days we are off to Argentina again for a huge youth conference called Cima (http://www.cima2010.com/es.html). Then it's my birttthdaaayyyyy after this month! Crazy how fast time flies.

I have been looking at applying for university accommodation, and student finances, and it just feels really weird. It's weird to think that I'm not going to be in Chile one day. I really will miss it here, but I am happy because I know God has a big plan for me in London aswell and he has pleanty of things for me to do there! My adventure is not going to be over :)

I am currently reading the book 'the shack'. God is really teaching me things at the moment about his character and about how close he is. How much he knows about me. I think I often think of the quote about God knowing how many hairs I have on my head, but don't so often think about God knowing the inner desires of my heart, or the things that really trouble me, or my insecurities. He knows them better than I do, I often try to pretend things aren't there when I'm spending time with God which is so rediculous, because he already knows exactly what's going on. But he stil loves who I am, he stil loves me with all my problems and things, and he wants to pour his blessings on me. I am also doing a devotional book at the moment about the prayer of Jabez, and it's really challenging me to look at God as a God who wishes to bless, and a God who wants us to walk in his path, not because we can help him, or not because it fulfills him, he is already completly fulfilled, it is simply because we will be blessed, and WE will be fulfilled whilst bringing him glory. It is something that I thought I understood, but each time I am learning a little more and glimpsing a little bit more of his love. His insain incomprehensable love!

Please pray
*For the Children in the Hogar, alot of them went home over Christmas, and alot of them would have had bad experiences with their families, please pray that we will be sensitive to that whilst visiting them this week and that we will be able to comfort them in a way that theyw ill be able to accept. Pray that in their hurt they will open up to us and not push us away.

*For the youth camp this weekend, we are performing an old drama, so pray that goes well, but mostly just pray it can be a time where we can really bless and serve this church and that people will hear God and will be touched by his word.

*Please pray for all the people doing final arrangements for Cima, pray that all will go smoothly in the run up. Pray that God will prepare our hearts already before we leave and that he will begin teaching us things that he wants us to learn there.

Thank-you all,
Take care, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! xxxx