¡Hola! Sorry for the slowness on an actual blog post. Every day that I've mentally thought "I'll write a blog update today" something has come up. But today I have time, and today begins the first day of my fourth week here. Three weeks are complete of my nine week stay so today I'll give y'all a rundown of the first third of my stay here in this beautiful city in this beautiful country filled with beautiful people.
I arrived on the 21st of May, worn out from flying in overnight. I spent the first few days enjoying the gracious hospitality of the Hayes family, recuperating from jet lag, learning about cultural differences etc. That Sunday was a big day. I went to my first service here in Concepcion (the church is in a suburb of sorts called Talcahuano) and had the opportunity to greet the church. Bro. Hayes preached and there was a great move of the Holy Ghost. The church here in Talcahuano is a beautiful church - not in terms of the beauty of the building or other things like that (which it is pretty, I'm not saying it's not) but in that it is a made up of beautiful people who love God and love people. They love to worship and tell people about Jesus. After service we went to eat at the Firmani house and moved my stuff in. Pastor Firmani is the pastor here in Talcahuano. I'm living with his family and primarily helping here in this church. If you'd like to view any of our services you can catch them live at about 8:30 CDT or archived with the following link http://www.vidasinlimite.cl/concepcion/index.php/ustream-online
Since I have been here I have had the opportunity to help in several of the cell groups within the church. In addition to their regular services the church has a system of small groups that meet within houses. The groups are designed to be very small so that people can really get to know each other. The groups meet weekly in different houses and normally begin with a time of worship and testimony, then a lesson from a member of the group followed by prayer and then conclude with food. The idea is that you can bring friends and there they can really connect personally with the church and then hopefully will become a member of the church, receive the Holy Ghost etc. This has been working very well for them. I've been blessed with the chance to teach in two of these groups and visit a couple others. I've visited and/or taught in the young ladies group, the campus ministry group, and two ladies groups so far. These groups are a blessing to the church and every person who comes into contact with them.
Another interesting thing I'm currently doing is helping at the University of the Bio Bio with their English program. Through a series of random events I've ended up helping with an English conversation circle twice a week at the University. One of the students has already promised to come to an event at the church later this month. Wasn't something I was expecting to do but it's been interesting nonetheless. Outreach doesn't always look like we expect it to.
I've also had the opportunity to speak in a service, praise sing, teach in a really cool Sunday School event and muddle through a really awful solo in church on Sunday. When someone asks if you sing, do not assume they mean "with a group" because they probably mean a solo for which you'll also have to play haha. Teaching is Spanish is an interesting new experience. It's hard not to just rely completely on reading my notes aloud but I think I'm starting to get better at it. It's easy to forget important words when you're speaking for longer than a couple minutes but I'm learning!
The Sunday School event was especially interesting because I got to learn about a different culture as well. Here near the church is a Gypsy camp and the church has been doing some outreach. Many Gypsy children came to the Sunday School event. We played games, sang, worshipped, ate, and had a lesson about when Jesus ate with sinners, and how He loves everyone, not just the perfect people and wants to share more than just our food but our lives as well. Many children were praying and I pray lives were changed. Please pray that God would continue to open doors into the Gypsy community here.
Everyone here is very friendly so when I have down time it's easy to find someone to go exploring with. There are beautiful beaches and wonderful food to be had here and even though it seems like I'm just relaxing, every time I go out with friends I learn a lot of new Spanish words so I'm going to call them educational adventures. It's lots of fun to make new friends from new cultures and countries.
Some awesome things are coming up and I promise to update the blog more often. My first official monthly report will be due next week so be looking for that! Though it'll include some of the same things as this blog, so be prepared for some deja vu. I'll leave you with this gorgeous photo I took yesterday. Please continue to pray for the beautiful country of Chile.
