Sorry for the long pause! Our adventure during Chile’s independence celebration on the 18th of September was nothing less that interesting. We awoke to 5 dead goats hanging outside of our home a couple hours shy of when the festivities began. Surprisingly I wasn’t bothered by this at all. Only when we actually saw a goat being killed for dinner that night did I consider rethinking my carnivore ways. I won’t let you in on all the detail but it was traumatic enough for me to not be able to eat goat that night, or every night since then. I was also able to eat what they call a blood sausage. And yes it tastes like blood; I’m not sure why I expected it to taste like something else besides the obvious. haha. Dancing would go on until around 4 in the morning and could be heard from our rooms all weekend. It is a cultural experience I won’t forget! I also now know how to make empanadas and bread. I’m becoming quite domesticated over here. hahhaa. We also do our own laundry, which consists of a lot of scrubbing and wringing out. Let’s see what else has happened... we are going to learn how to kite surf sometime this week and hopefully kayak around the lake. Our English classes are going well and have met some great people who are closer to our age. The classes at our school in Gualliguaica are going great as well! We get an hour and a half to teach Bible, which still boggles my mind, knowing that it’s a public school. So we have been teaching kids bible stories and songs in Spanish and English. The San Carlos school is a little different. I would compare the boys at the school to the boys in the book ¨Lord of the Flies¨. I have no doubt if they were on an island they would kill each other (they almost do now). San Carlos school is a rougher town then Gualliguaica. The kid’s don’t really connect to us as they do there. We are warming up to them though through these couple of months. We have hitch hiked about ten times now. Don’t worry, it’s with people we don’t know. hahha. We only hitch hit the 51 minute walk between the town and the main road. Sorry mom! :) My favorite so far has been in the back of a truck carrying fruits, vegetables and supplies to the town. The grape vines have finally blossomed and we might be able to pick them with the rest of the harvesters! They think we are crazy for wanting to do this when we told them our plan. I also dream in Spanish now. Not all the time and it’s only the people talking in Spanish to me. Go figure. hahah. The teachers in Chile right now are on strike. Not our school but everyone else seems to be. Something about them not getting paid awhile back. Not sure but everyone is talking about it down here. Hope all is well back in the states! I miss everyone so much!
Pauls love for his brothers was so great. For the people who rejected God he had ¨unceasing anguish¨. Romans 9:2 ¨that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.¨ God has lead me to this verse and has convicted me about this. About the people of Gualliguaica. They are so close to the truth and yet so far from it. Tradition holds more than the Bible here. This makes it quite difficult when talking about God, Jesus and Mary. We had such a talk with our teacher, Don René, in Spanish of course which doesn’t help. Pray for him as we continue talking to him about the bible and God. Here are the names of our students we work with in his class. They are all great kids!
Don René
Diego
Manuel
Claudia
Jeremy (twin 1)
Jerody (twin 2)
Michael
Matias
Maria
Thiare
Daire
Alan
Kevin
Andrea
David
Remón
Karina
Atolina
José
Tiare
