All over the place

This blog that you are about to read, is one of my favorite types to write, simply because I'm writing it on my iPhone in the back of a car. Classic. On top of it bent a fun blog to write, I have oodles to write about (or should write about, but surely won't get to) because it's been so long since my last entry. As best as I can remember without a calendar, this is what the past two weeks have looked like in the life of, well, me of course! We left the 21st with the new team from California to a Iloca. (we being the two other interns, Jeremy and Megan, church elder David, missionary Brad, and church planter extraordinaire and his daughter Doug and Nikki). 

Iloca is a little pueblo south of Santiago about 5 hours on the coast. They were hit hard by both the earthquake and the tsunamis that followed a couple years ago. The church has been built over 50 houses there since then, and we helped to finish 3 of them. On top of successful projects the new team was hilarious and we had great times laughing and playing together. Plus, Iloca is an absolutely gorgeous place filled with wonderful people. An example of their mentality: the church was there simply doing relief work, and the people asked if they could build a church for them. 

I think that priority shows where their hearts are at. Beautiful. Other cool things about Iloca: I got to help lead worship in Spanish with songs I had never sung before, 

see the most beautiful stars ever, 

go out the country side for pig bbq, 

chase around chickens, 

ride around in the back of a truck, 

go swimming in the extremely cold ocean (remember, it's winter here),

paint on scaffolding that I'm sure was super secure,

get to ride on the bus with Tío David (who is far more hilarious than I would have ever previously guessed), 

get to know my fellow interns as well as Doug and Niki better, and lots of other wonderful things. Worst part about Iloca: we finished our work early, so we left Wednesday instead of Saturday. 

This meant we got to work in a church outside of Santiago called El Monte. Our main project was to tile the sanctuary. I, being unskilled in the field, spent two days breaking apart a concrete sidewalk in order to put in a new sidewalk. 

Example of how my body felt about this, three days later I still couldn't hold a pen, spoon, or anything of the like without shaking. That's all I've got to say about that. I suppose we'll call it a good growing experience. Saturday I got to help lead the classic downtown tour for the team, but before we started, we got to see all of the other churches in Santiago, most of which I hadn't see yet or hear the history behind. 

Awesome to see the growth.  Sunday was a great day spent with my host family. With them being Peruvian, we celebrated Peru's independence day downtown with all the thousands of other Peruvians in Santiago. I ate so much food. Even a cow heart! 

But the most precious part was probably watching baby Sofia be a adorable and whatnot. 

Here's a little video of some of what was mentioned above:

Monday I took for myself and Tuesday I became an electrician and helped to wire La Farfana. Fun new skill set I now posses. Alright, finally, Wednesday. Wednesday we began the trip that we are currently returning from as a I write. The south south before you go to the super south of Chile. Eight hours from Santiago in a city called Lautaro. Part of the ministry I work with is a bible institute and masters program. 

Doug was going down to teach a class and us interns tagged along for the ride. The class was called 'theology of ministry'. Basically covering the differences between Greek and Hebrew cultures in order to understand the old and new covenants better. When we weren't in class, we kept busy. Jeremy and I did a home stay in a house that had twin boys, 3 years old. 

That was hilarious, gross, and a blessing all at the same time. Such a sweet family. Rita and Jorge, Edwardo, and Jorge. We spent time with the pastor and missionaries who are there and went with them to do some home visits. There are several unique things about the south, one of which is that it is heavily populated with natives, called the Mapuche tribe (another 'unique' aspect is the rain, but come on, I think I know my rain)(but seriously, the south really reminded me of western Washington and even Alaska). On Friday, we spent the day east of Lautaro at the foot of an active volcano near the Argentina border at another church. 

This was pretty fantastic to say the least. Saturday was a day that probably defines our time in Lautaro. We bought a lamb. And when you're in the south with a lamb, it means you get to drink the blood before you eat it. Now, I'm with you, this immediately makes me go, 'Why would I ever want to do this???' but it was far more moving than I anticipated. The bible is filled with references to sheep, especially with Christ being called the lamb of God. Christ accepted his fate and died on the cross for us. The lamb, unlike any other animal doesn't make a sound when it's being killed, accepting it's fate to serve as nutrition for us. Killing the lamb and then drinking the blood just got a lot more meaningful. It's already changed communion for me. We literally ate the body and drank the blood. We killed the lamb in the morning, and that's when we drank the blood. They prepare it with a few things right on the spot into something called 'Nache'. 

Here's a video of the whole thing, low quality... sorry... but probably for the better.

It turns into a jelly like substance so you eat it with a spoon as opposed to just drinking it. You drink it with wine as well so that way it doesn't mess with your stomach. And all this before 9am! We went to the last session of our class while the rest of the sheep cooked, and then we had it for lunch. Quite a way to spend our last day in Lautaro. Not to mention I made a couple amazing jokes in Spanish (extremely proud moment for me). 

When we finished, we drove a couple hours north to Los Angeles where there is another church. I fell asleep on the couch watching the Olympics. (ps. I just saw that Murray beat Fed! What!!! I bet the fans what a moment for him and for Britain!) today we went to church, which was basically in the mountains. Afterwards we drove even farther into the mountains into pure native territory. Beautiful. 

It reminded me of Costa Rica, when we hiked through a beautiful valley to a river. Now I'm here, headed back north. So many beautiful places, people, and experiences. Most of which were painfully omitted. But I hope you get the idea! This coming week looks like one of the few 'normal' weeks I have here. How about that? 

Here's another short video of these happy times:

Now, here's what I want to leave you with. Before I left for Iloca, I was eating breakfast with my host mom pulled out her bible and started reading Philippians 4:13 (see first blog to appreciate what this means to me). Then she taught me a beautiful lesson, that went a little something like this: Jesus is like a glass of water. We might know an infinite amount of things about that water. It might now a bunch of science behind it, where it came from, but most importantly, we know that it is healthy and that it is good for us. But what good does all of this knowledge about the water do for us if it is in a glass with us and not in us? We need to be filled with it for it to do any good. Like our relationship with Christ, we might know some things about him, and he might even be with us, but we should be filled with Christ in order to truly receive his love and mercy. Peace my friends.