We have finally arrived in Pichilemu Chile!! We have made it to the Ywam base here in Pichilemu and I already love it so much :D After 6 days of travelling by plane, bus, and taxis, and spending 3 nights in Lima Peru, Arica Chile, and Santiago, we have finally been able to settle into Pichilemu. The travelling experience actually went really well. Being that I felt like I never was really able to sleep on any moving vehicle, I am quite pleased with how much I slept on the buses! We started out on Wednesday and flew to Lima Peru. The flight was about 3 hours and it was one of the best planes I have been on. We each had our own tvs and were able to watch movies.. plus we got a meal on the plane and it was only a 3 hour flight. When we arrived in Lima we stayed in a hostel called Pariwana. It was quite a nice hostel with really comfortable beds and was located in the center of a plaza area. We arrived around 630pm and had time to grab something to eat and look around the city a bit. In the morning we headed off to the bus station to begin our long journey of bus rides. The bus we took out of Peru brought us to Arica Chile, which is just on the border of Peru and Chile. This bus ride was about 19 hours. Arica is very beautiful and is located right on the coast.We arrived in Arica in the afternoon on the 20, which was Kelsey's birthday, and stayed one night at a hostel called Sunny Days. Being that it was Kelsey's birthday we went out for dinner and ice cream! After, we took a walk along the ocean and prayed for the city. It was a really good break from the bus and was so nice to be able to see more of Chile. In the morning on the 21 we started our 29 hour bus ride out of Arica to Santiago. During this bus ride we ended up having to change buses 2 times because they told us the first bus was going too slow :s We ended up arriving in Santiago around 730 pm on the 22. The last bus out of Santiago to Pichilemu was at 800, so technically we could have just changed buses and go straight to Pichilemu, but because my team is so nice to me they decided we would stay the night in Santiago so that I could see Hannah :D I was actually able to go and spend the night with Hannah while the rest of the team stayed at a hotel near the bus station. It was so nice to be able to see Hannah and spend time with her, and meet Julio. I am so thankful to God for this trip so far, I can't even believe how blessed our team has been throughout our time in Bogota, then our travels, and now just how amazing Pichilemu has been so far. Just little bit about Pichilemu so far... The ywam base that we are staying at is very sports orientated and community base. There vision is to see the community completely involved with all the activities that happen here. It is a sports center where the focus is completely on knowing God and growing in your relationship with him. The director of the base is huge into surfing as well as his kids (his daughter is in the number one spot in Chile for women's surfing). Much of what we will be doing is related to sports! I am enjoying my time here so much so far :) It is very beautiful, warm, and welcoming.
I won't have internet that much while I am here and it will be more difficult to upload pictures so I may have to update everyone more in detail when I come home
Thanks!
Chau :D
Rachael
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Getting Ready!
I thought being that we are leaving Colombia tomorrow to head to Chile I would just recap our trip here with some pictures!
Week One - Getting acquainted with Bogota
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| The base where we stayed |
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| The kitchen |
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| During our bike tour we stopped at a coffee factory! |
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| Poured rain at the end of the bike tour, but was definitely worth it:) So much fun! |
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| Market! |
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| Fruit :D |
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| Rise and Shine Daycare |
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| Breakfast Time |
Week Two - Pastor Javiers! Here we got to do a VBS and spend Christmas with the Pastors family :D
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| The streets in Paríso |
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| Playing soccer with the kids |
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| Looking over the community |
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| Colombian Santa! |
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| Our team Christmas :) |
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| At a museum we visited |
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| Someone we got to talk and pray with |
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| Worshipping on the Catholic church steps in the city square |
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| Doing the Daniel and the Lions Den skit |
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| Painting the church |
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| Everything skit |
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| Soccer tournament |
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| Family Skit |
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| Kids Church |
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| We took a tram up a mountain that overlooks Bogota |
Thank you all for all your prayers :)
Rachael
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Jamundí!
This week we went to a community that is about 10 bus ride south of the base here in Bogota. The bus ride there anyway was 10 hours, the way back was more like 15... We had to stop for 2 hours while the road was being cleared from a mudslide, and then their was quite a bit of traffic, so it was a bit slower on the way back. This bus ride is nothing though compared to what we have coming up in the next two weeks as we leave for Chile on January 18!
Sunday night we left for Jamundí with the plan of helping out a pastor with his church that is fairly new. He wanted us to come and help with encouraging the community to come to the church. Being that Sunday night we drove all night on the bus, we were all pretty tired so Monday was a pretty calm day. We got acquainted with the area, met the pastor and his family, started planning for the next few days, and got settled into where we were staying. Tuesday we had a day with the kids of the community. We set up in the park across the church and had a day filled with singing songs, playing games, performances including a dance and play of Daniel and the Lions Den, and ended the time with the kids with sharing the gospel through bracelets that we made and were able to give out to each one of them. That afternoon we helped with practical stuff around the church. I helped with painting the inside of the church. That evening we went around the community and invited people to the church to come and watch the movie 'Courageous'. Wednesday we woke up early and met the pastor at the church and prayed over the church and his ministry within the community. After breakfast we organized some activities and headed to the city center area where many people are often out relaxing and spending time with friends and family. Here we did the 'everything skit', did the 'glow' dance that we all learned during dts, the pastor and another girl from the church did a puppet show, and then we went around sharing the gospel to people with the bracelets that we made. I have never done evangelism in this type of way, in that I straight up go and tell people about God and then ask them if they want to ask Jesus into their life and I have to admit it was a bit hard... as I very much believe that you have to invest time into peoples lives and build relationships, and it seems that when people do say they will accept Jesus, they may just be saying it because we are white people coming up and talking to them (something that doesn't happen a lot here), but one thing that one of my teammates said that made me feel better about it, is that no matter what their response may be at the time, we don't know what God can do with what we have done in obeying Him in going and telling people about Him. I was kinda feeling that it wasn't very affective to go and tell people about Him in this way as you don't see the transformation happen, but we never know what God is doing in their lives, and this may just be one seed that is starting to affect the persons life. We just have to be obedient when God tell us to move, whatever way that may be, no matter how we might think or feel about it. Wednesday evening we played soccer in the park, well some of the team, and just spent time hanging out with the people in the community. Thursday we spent most of the morning preparing skits and planning for the church service/coffee get together that evening. I was in a skit called the clincher that was about all the sins that we are tempted with in the world and how Jesus took on all our sins through his sacrifice of dying on the cross and how we can now live without the weight of the sin on our lives when we accept what He has done and believe in Him. The church service went really well. Lots of people showed up and were really receptive to the skits and the message that the pastor shared. During the evening I was part of the first skit, got to help serve coffee, and then got to hang out with the 2 year olds up stairs! Right after the event we headed to the bus station and started our 15 hour drive back to the base. The drive wasn't that bad... the seats pretty much laid down into a bed :D I was actually able to sleep for quite a bit of the time and then got to read and listen to music the rest of the time. This week was really good as it was fun, encouraging, stretching, and we got to meet some really amazing people. What I really loved was being able to spend time and work with the people that are working in this community long term. It is easy for us to just come in and pump up the community for a week, but the hard work is the people that are dedicated to the community and really care for the people and want to see change happen!
A prayer request for this week would definitely be for the community of Jamundí and Pastor Hernandez's ministry in the community. Prayer that it would continually grow and that the community would come to be known as one that is after the Lord completely and that the pastor and his family would be blessed for all that they are doing!
Thanks so much!
Rachael :D
Sunday night we left for Jamundí with the plan of helping out a pastor with his church that is fairly new. He wanted us to come and help with encouraging the community to come to the church. Being that Sunday night we drove all night on the bus, we were all pretty tired so Monday was a pretty calm day. We got acquainted with the area, met the pastor and his family, started planning for the next few days, and got settled into where we were staying. Tuesday we had a day with the kids of the community. We set up in the park across the church and had a day filled with singing songs, playing games, performances including a dance and play of Daniel and the Lions Den, and ended the time with the kids with sharing the gospel through bracelets that we made and were able to give out to each one of them. That afternoon we helped with practical stuff around the church. I helped with painting the inside of the church. That evening we went around the community and invited people to the church to come and watch the movie 'Courageous'. Wednesday we woke up early and met the pastor at the church and prayed over the church and his ministry within the community. After breakfast we organized some activities and headed to the city center area where many people are often out relaxing and spending time with friends and family. Here we did the 'everything skit', did the 'glow' dance that we all learned during dts, the pastor and another girl from the church did a puppet show, and then we went around sharing the gospel to people with the bracelets that we made. I have never done evangelism in this type of way, in that I straight up go and tell people about God and then ask them if they want to ask Jesus into their life and I have to admit it was a bit hard... as I very much believe that you have to invest time into peoples lives and build relationships, and it seems that when people do say they will accept Jesus, they may just be saying it because we are white people coming up and talking to them (something that doesn't happen a lot here), but one thing that one of my teammates said that made me feel better about it, is that no matter what their response may be at the time, we don't know what God can do with what we have done in obeying Him in going and telling people about Him. I was kinda feeling that it wasn't very affective to go and tell people about Him in this way as you don't see the transformation happen, but we never know what God is doing in their lives, and this may just be one seed that is starting to affect the persons life. We just have to be obedient when God tell us to move, whatever way that may be, no matter how we might think or feel about it. Wednesday evening we played soccer in the park, well some of the team, and just spent time hanging out with the people in the community. Thursday we spent most of the morning preparing skits and planning for the church service/coffee get together that evening. I was in a skit called the clincher that was about all the sins that we are tempted with in the world and how Jesus took on all our sins through his sacrifice of dying on the cross and how we can now live without the weight of the sin on our lives when we accept what He has done and believe in Him. The church service went really well. Lots of people showed up and were really receptive to the skits and the message that the pastor shared. During the evening I was part of the first skit, got to help serve coffee, and then got to hang out with the 2 year olds up stairs! Right after the event we headed to the bus station and started our 15 hour drive back to the base. The drive wasn't that bad... the seats pretty much laid down into a bed :D I was actually able to sleep for quite a bit of the time and then got to read and listen to music the rest of the time. This week was really good as it was fun, encouraging, stretching, and we got to meet some really amazing people. What I really loved was being able to spend time and work with the people that are working in this community long term. It is easy for us to just come in and pump up the community for a week, but the hard work is the people that are dedicated to the community and really care for the people and want to see change happen!
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| Doing the Daniel and the Lions Den play |
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| To get around we often rode in the back of the pastor's truck |
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| Painting bricks! |
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| Everything skit in the city square |
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| delicious fruit dessert! |
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| watching the soccer game! gringos versus colombians :D |
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| Family skit at the coffee night |
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| Kids activities upstairs of the church |
A prayer request for this week would definitely be for the community of Jamundí and Pastor Hernandez's ministry in the community. Prayer that it would continually grow and that the community would come to be known as one that is after the Lord completely and that the pastor and his family would be blessed for all that they are doing!
Thanks so much!
Rachael :D
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