When you leave Guyana at 100 degrees plus humidity and fly to Chile
where it is about 40 degrees, it is a shock to the system. Keira, Sarah,
and I flew into Santiago on July 17. We watched the sun rise over snow
capped mountains. It was so strange to see snow in the middle of July.
We grabbed some coffee and breakfast, and then headed to our next flight
to Concepcion. It seemed even colder in Concepcion. After being picked
up at the airport by Bro. Nate Saint, we were taken to the church
apartment where we stayed for three weeks.
Disclaimer- This is
not a complaint of any kind.We were well taken care of in Chile. I
simply want to share our experiences so that people can understand that
missions is not always easy, so if you plan to be a missionary, be ready
to adjust to anything.
As I mentioned, it was about 40 degrees on
arrival in Chile. There were a few days where there was actually a hard
frost. The church and apartment above the church where we stayed was
not fully finished out as the church is gathering funds to complete
the various projects such as insulation, walls... Because of this, our
apartment was very cold. Bro. Nate provided us with a propane heater and
lots of warm blankets. Due to the ceiling height, the heater could not
keep up with the cold very well. Mornings and shower times were the
hardest because cold floors are not a fun wake up call no matter where
you are in the world. Keira was already sick from something she caught
in Guyana, so I told her and Sarah to rest since we had such a long few
days of traveling. I went to the Saint's house and began helping prepare
meals and helped with their six children, one who was only a month old.
On Thursday morning, I went over and helped cook breakfast, and Sarah
came a bit later and cared for the kids while I cleaned and started on
lunch. On Friday, the morning and lunch were the same, but it was the
week that the Saints traveled two hours away to another town in the
mountains to hold church for a family who did not have a good church to
attend. Because Keira was sick, I stayed with her and Sarah traveled
with the Saints.
After spending the day resting on Friday, I
walked to the Chile version of Walmart called Lider. I bought a king-sized bedspread, thumb tacks, and a few other things to try to retain
heat in the bedroom and bathroom areas as much as possible. Keira and I
found a ladder in a closet downstairs, and carried it up to the
apartment. We then proceeded to wrestle with it to try to get it
unfolded so I could climb up and hang the king sized comforter from the
rafters. We finally figured out the ladder and got the comforter hung,
but we were laughing the whole time. I then hung an extra blanket from
the doorways of our rooms and the bathroom in order to keep the heat
lower to the floor and push it into our rooms. I hung a smaller blanket
over my doorway and attached it to my rafters to try to keep the heat
flowing towards my bed. Although the space looked like a gypsy or hobo
camp, we finally had the heat getting into our rooms enough to be
comfortable. Some might think that this kind of experience is bad for
people on a missions trip, but this was a mild inconvenience compared to
what many missionaries face everyday.
On Saturday, I did some
laundry and cleaning at the Saints and prepped dinner for when they
arrived home from Canyete. Sarah and I helped get the kids ready for
baths and bed, and held the baby to keep him calm. Sunday, I went and
prepped breakfast and helped get kids ready for church. During the 11 am
service, I sang a special. After church, I helped serve lunch. At 5pm,
we returned to church for Sunday school, and then had the 6 pm service.
During the services, Sarah helped keep the baby and the one year old
happy and quiet. After church we went to the Saints and had a typical
Chilean supper of yogurt, sandwiches, and chips.
The daily
schedule was basically the same. I would arrive between 8 am and 8:30 to
prepare breakfast. Keira (once she was better) and Sarah would arrive
between 9am and 10 am to help with the kids or work on school with the
older girls. ) I would then do the cleanup and prep lunch, clean up
lunch, and then help watch kids until supper time, then clean up from supper.
After supper Sarah and I would help the kids get ready for bed. Each
day, Sarah worked with the kids motivating them to clean up and behave
with a competition to get a perfect score.
The Saints stay
very busy with ministry. Not only do they have two churches, but they
also have Bible study groups, visits during the week, and more. Besides
ministry, they have the six kids, homeschool, have doctors appointments
for the new baby...They do not have all the resources and easy meal
solutions, family or friends that we have in America that make life
easier.
On the second Monday, Sarah, Keira, and I went to
Talcahuano which is a port town. We had a couple exciting moments when
someone told us we seemed to be followed by a man at the port, and then
again followed by a young guy who seemed high on something and wanted to
flirt. A couple told us about the first man, and after talking for a
few minutes, we asked if they knew a good place to eat. They took us to
an amazing restaurant with fried fish (Talcahuano is known for their
fried fish). We also had soup, french fries, and tomatoes with cilantro.
We found out the couple were Christians, we enjoyed talking with them
using google translate as our Spanish was pretty bad, and they knew no
English. We really enjoyed the day.
On Tuesday, we went to the big
market. We tried various kinds of olives and cheese. We then had
Colombian sandwiches for lunch. Sarah was extremely impressed by the
food. She and Keira split a sandwich made with green plantains as the
bread. I had a sandwich on an arepa. Both sandwiches had ham, steak,
avocado, tomato, and then we picked various sauces to put on. I also
ordered loaded tostones (fried green plantains).
The rest of the week
was spent doing a regular schedule, and then on Friday we all went to
Canyete.The drive to Canyete was beautiful. We traveled through
mountains and along the Pacific coast. Due to the trees, I wasn't able
to get very many good pictures. I saw a Chilean Condor, but again was
not able to get a picture. While waiting for supper, we had a
traditional Chilean treat called Mote con Huesillos. It is made with
barley soaked in a sweet juice and dried peaches and plums. It was
delicious. I was taking pictures outside between rain storms, and I came
in after everyone else was served. They asked me did I want a big glass
or small one. I saw all the cups the adults were using, so I thought
that was a big glass, so I asked for grande. They brought out a big
round glass that was much taller than the others. I drank that one, and
they asked me if I wanted more. It was so good, I said yes. Everyone
laughed because of my big glass.
We ladies were given a cabin to
sleep in. It had a heater, so we were able to stay warm. It also had
spiders!. I had just told the family that I had a fear of spiders and
snakes. I got dressed in the bathroom first and was sitting on my bed. I
told the other girls to watch for spiders because I had seen some in
the bathroom. Keira came out, and as she went to get on her bed, I saw a
huge, shiny, black spider on her back. It looked exactly the shape of a
black widow. I said "Oh my word," and Keira said, "Where is it?" She
was looking at her bed. I said, "No it is on your back." I swatted that
spider off so hard that afterwards, I apologized for hitting Keira that
hard. The spider landed on a dark comforter on my bed. Keira saw where
it was and got me a shoe. I swatted the spider across the room to the
wall, and then killed it. We then began checking our beds. I picked up
my pillow, and inside the case was a small spider. I quickly killed it
and then removed the pillows from the bed. I proceeded to pull the
blankets all back and check the rest of the bed. I had brought a pillow
and two blankets with me, so I slept with those. We pulled our beds
away from the walls, and made sure our blankets didn't touch the floor.
We did not have any more spiders show up, but Keira did have a
nightmare about scorpions, and we slept with the light on. All of us
were tired because we kept waking up and checking for spiders. It was
funny the next day, but Keira did look up the big spider, and it was a
black widow. When I saw it, it was crawling towards her neck and would
have most likely startled her and ended up biting her had I not seen it.
On
Saturday Morning, we went to the little house where the church was
being held. We ladies and the missionary's daughter sang a special. You
could tell that the other family was glad to be in church. Due to a
children's activity back in San Pedro, we had to leave earlier on
Saturday from Canyete. We were served Completos for lunch which are hot
dogs with numerous toppings. They were very good. These are a tradition
in Chile, and there are whole areas of nothing but Completos shops.
The
children's activity was fun to watch. The kids had earned points in
Sunday school, and were being rewarded with prizes. They dressed up as
Bible characters, played several games, answered Bible trivia
questions... It was pretty late when we got done. We went to the Saints,
had supper, helped get kids ready for bed, and then crashed at the
apartment. We sang the same song on Sunday morning that we had sung in
Canyete. We went to the Saints, had lunch, and then proceeded to finish
our packing. Sarah and Keira cleaned the apartment while I prepped
lunch.
We had church and supper as usual, and then went back to
the apartment to rest a little before we had to catch a 12am bus to
Santiago. This bus had seats that folded down to a bed. We rested pretty
well until a very loud child got on the bus and was talking incessantly
for two hours while watching a movie.
I had booked a hotel in Santiago
so we could rest in the evening before our very early flight. The hotel
allowed us to go to the room early. Sarah was not feeling well, so this
worked out great. After checking in for our flight, Keira and I headed
out to explore Santiago. We went to the tallest building in South
America, Sky Costanera, and we went to San Pedro Hill. We were able to
take some beautiful pictures of Santiago and its surrounding snow-capped
mountains. It was crazy to see palm trees and snow in the same place. We
then all met back at the hotel and had an amazing dinner.
After
resting for a while, we gathered our things and headed out to our 2 am
flight. We did a little shopping in the airport. Thankfully, our flights
went very smoothly. We landed in Panama about 7:30 am. We only had
about an hour layover, so we rushed to the gate only to find that we
couldn't enter until we cleared the security check point there. We then
proceeded to get coffees which we had to drink quickly so that we
wouldn't waste any when we went through security because they wouldn't
allow it to go through. We then went through security and waited for our
group number to be called. We all got settled in our seats, and
proceeded to fall asleep. We arrived safely in Tampa, Florida where we
parted ways. I was staying to visit family. Keira left for New Mexico,
and Sarah left for Indiana. We all made it safely to our destinations.
I
learned a lot on this trip which will help me to be ready to travel
with other people on more trips. God definitely put the right young
ladies with me as they were very easy going and worked well together.
Please pray that God will continue to give me opportunities to show
people how they can be used on the mission field without taking years of
time for deputation, finishing college...
Please pray that I can
either raise more support or that I can find an online job that allows me
to schedule my own hours so that I will have the funds to care for cost
of living when I am in the states.
