Well thank the Lord it´s stopped raining this week and has in fact brighten up a bit, and today its actually feeling pretty warm!
We´ve had a really productive week, after demolishing the shed, we´ve rebuilt the walls and the roof, covering it all in new tin and filling in lots of holes! And the garden is looking cracking! I need to take some up to date pictures of it all, as we´ve now got flower beds along the side of the fences, all bordered and ready for planting up! The guys have all been working hard under the direction of Rocky as our gardening leader and hopefully its all gonna turn out looking beautiful!
And that´s pretty much been everyday this week, just working every day at the school and generally colapsing in the evenings with really aching muscles!
But I did remember the other day that I haven´t written about a very ...interesting episode that happened a week or so back, so I shall tell you now!
On the 13th of May, Nathan, Jonny, Jack and I went to collect our washing from the laundrette at about 8pm. We don´t have a washing machine in use at this house, so we general get all our washing done up the road at the laundrette. Anyway, we went downt he main street towards the shopping centre andf there were a lot of people around, and police redirecting traffic and a LOT of shouting and students around. As we got closer to Jumbo (the big supermarket), we realised there were a lot of people running away from the shopping centre and the road was blocked off, but we didn´t really think about it. That was until we started to go over the little bridge just outside Jumbo, only to find we were blocked in by riot police!!! We tried to get out of their way, but clearly they thought that Jonny was involved in the protests that we later found out were happening. They grabbed him from behind and started to take him down the bridge. It was at this point we realised that maybe collecting the washing tonight was a bad idea! We tried to follow them, but they dragged him through a hedge towards their riot van and wouldn´t let us through. At this point, Jonny decided he didn´t want to go into the riot van so grab the hedge and tried to get the police to explain what was happening (probably not the best idea!!) We were all trying our best to explain that we are English and literally had no idea what was happening! But they were having none of it, and took Jonny into the van... At this point someone asked me what was happening, and I explained that they´d taken our friend and we were English, so the whole crowd started to shout out the police :-/ But all we could do was wait until they let Jonny back out the van, which they thankfully did, and he was greeted by a round of applause by the surrounding Chileans and they sang their national anthem to him as we walked away. Safe to say we didn´t get our washing :P
All fun and games :P
Well until next time :) x
Friday, 27 May 2011
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Rain Mud Rain Wind Rain...
We´re getting well into our second project now and have been working a pretty long week! We´re up most mornings at quarter to 7 for breakfast at 7.15....and yes... it´s still porridge! Yum. We have devotions and team time from quarter to 8 and then at quarter to 9 we head off for school, work there until 12, go home for lunch, back to school for 2, work till 5... and then.... home for dinner and collapse for the evening!
And that´s pretty much every day! We´re still building the woodshed - which has been an interesting experience! A few conflicting ideas and a lot of rain has meant the progress has been a little slow! We´ve been rained off working outside about 3 days this week, and have worked inside instead, doing some painting and measuring up to build a load of shelves. All I can say is that I think my dad would be quite proud of the DIY skills I´ve picked up from him! :P Maybe I can help you with the house when I´m back dad ??? :P LOL!
We´ve also started working in the garden area outside and around the school. Rocky has taken charge of this as his area of expertise, and we have been doing lots and lots of digging, in the mud and rain, and slowly making progress with digging the ground and turning over the beds. We´re gonna build some raised flower beds to plant some non toxic plants and flowers in for the kids. The playground at the moment is so bland and boring that it´ll be nice to put a bit of colour in and some toys or something - like hopscotch on the floor etc.
The standard of living here is a big contrast to Santa Rosa, but also the area we live in and the area we work in has a big difference too. The kids at the school tend to have pretty basic clothes etc whereas a lot of the people we live near are wearing up to date fashion. It´s quite bizarre. It´s interesting to see how much people can be oblivious to what is coming on around them.
We´re living in an area with a lot of european influence and you can see that in the food. We´ve been round a couple of houses for seriously delicious food, like fondue and some other kinda french/swiss food with melted cheese in a tray... it was reeeeaal yummy. And a lot of people in this area are thinner and I haven´t seen a soppaipilla in weeks! Although I´m kinda glad about that tho!! The less fried food the better really!!!! LOL!
Ahhh yesss... and its getting so much colder here! It´s moving quickly into winter and temperatures are dropping like mad in the morning and in the evening. We´ve got a little ´estufa´ in our bedroom, which I managed to burn myself on the other day - bad times!! But it warms the room up well! :D
Well... I think that´s it for today! :) until next week :) x
And that´s pretty much every day! We´re still building the woodshed - which has been an interesting experience! A few conflicting ideas and a lot of rain has meant the progress has been a little slow! We´ve been rained off working outside about 3 days this week, and have worked inside instead, doing some painting and measuring up to build a load of shelves. All I can say is that I think my dad would be quite proud of the DIY skills I´ve picked up from him! :P Maybe I can help you with the house when I´m back dad ??? :P LOL!
We´ve also started working in the garden area outside and around the school. Rocky has taken charge of this as his area of expertise, and we have been doing lots and lots of digging, in the mud and rain, and slowly making progress with digging the ground and turning over the beds. We´re gonna build some raised flower beds to plant some non toxic plants and flowers in for the kids. The playground at the moment is so bland and boring that it´ll be nice to put a bit of colour in and some toys or something - like hopscotch on the floor etc.
The standard of living here is a big contrast to Santa Rosa, but also the area we live in and the area we work in has a big difference too. The kids at the school tend to have pretty basic clothes etc whereas a lot of the people we live near are wearing up to date fashion. It´s quite bizarre. It´s interesting to see how much people can be oblivious to what is coming on around them.
We´re living in an area with a lot of european influence and you can see that in the food. We´ve been round a couple of houses for seriously delicious food, like fondue and some other kinda french/swiss food with melted cheese in a tray... it was reeeeaal yummy. And a lot of people in this area are thinner and I haven´t seen a soppaipilla in weeks! Although I´m kinda glad about that tho!! The less fried food the better really!!!! LOL!
Ahhh yesss... and its getting so much colder here! It´s moving quickly into winter and temperatures are dropping like mad in the morning and in the evening. We´ve got a little ´estufa´ in our bedroom, which I managed to burn myself on the other day - bad times!! But it warms the room up well! :D
Well... I think that´s it for today! :) until next week :) x
Friday, 13 May 2011
Second Project...
After a couple of days back in Temuco, we pack everything up and moved into our new project. We{re now living in a two storey massive house which a little old german lady called Ruth. It was quite an emotional goodbye to Pastor Ezekiel but we´re still able to stay in contact with him because we´re in the same city, so that´s quite cool. We´ve got a really big kitchen with an oven and a fridge - ohh its like luxury! lol!
This project is very heavlity involved in a local school, about 20 minutes walk away. We´re gonna be working there everyday, either in classes in the morning or in workshops in the afternoon. The kids at the school are from really rough backgrounds and basically have no discipline and their parents don´t really care about them or what they do. A lot of the kids are from broken families often with one of the parents being in prison. The kids live lives of stealing and drug taken even from such a young age. We´ve been warned not to take anything valuable to the school - so I dunno how many picture I´ll have from this project! But even to the extent of watching your jumper if you put it down, coz it might not be there when you turn around again!
So this wekk we´ve started with this! We´ve been to the school everyday, except today, working in the classrooms and getting to know the kids. Yesterday we spent the day demolishing a wood shed and prepping the ground for a new one which we´re gonna hopefully put up tomorrow. It´s a very different way of building here, pretty much, cut it if it doesn´t fit, add another bit, bang a flip load of nails in and hope it holds! So we´re trying to make a bit more of a sturdy structure with good foundations! I´ll let you know how it goes!
I´ve also been thrown in the deep end already, with the head teacher (directora) coming and asking for one person to help her... so I went.... She took me into a class and introduced me to the kids and said that I was there to have conversation with them and that they could ask me whatever they liked. And then she turned to me and said "okay, you´re the teacher!" and left me in the room on my own with 12 chilean kids! LOL! That was a fun hour! But it was deffo good practice for my language!
Yeah, so that´s the project we´re on at the moment, and I think it´s deffo gonna be busy. But it´s awesome that we´re in the same school the whole time so that we´re gonna be able to make a really impact on these kids lives and the school as well.
And we´re all having to get up earlier and getting used to sharing a house with someone else, but it´s all good! And having a oven is BRILLANT! Made cottage pie on Tuesday and it was flippin lush! Mmmmmm hmmmm... speaking of food... I should get some!
Will write again soon :) x
This project is very heavlity involved in a local school, about 20 minutes walk away. We´re gonna be working there everyday, either in classes in the morning or in workshops in the afternoon. The kids at the school are from really rough backgrounds and basically have no discipline and their parents don´t really care about them or what they do. A lot of the kids are from broken families often with one of the parents being in prison. The kids live lives of stealing and drug taken even from such a young age. We´ve been warned not to take anything valuable to the school - so I dunno how many picture I´ll have from this project! But even to the extent of watching your jumper if you put it down, coz it might not be there when you turn around again!
So this wekk we´ve started with this! We´ve been to the school everyday, except today, working in the classrooms and getting to know the kids. Yesterday we spent the day demolishing a wood shed and prepping the ground for a new one which we´re gonna hopefully put up tomorrow. It´s a very different way of building here, pretty much, cut it if it doesn´t fit, add another bit, bang a flip load of nails in and hope it holds! So we´re trying to make a bit more of a sturdy structure with good foundations! I´ll let you know how it goes!
I´ve also been thrown in the deep end already, with the head teacher (directora) coming and asking for one person to help her... so I went.... She took me into a class and introduced me to the kids and said that I was there to have conversation with them and that they could ask me whatever they liked. And then she turned to me and said "okay, you´re the teacher!" and left me in the room on my own with 12 chilean kids! LOL! That was a fun hour! But it was deffo good practice for my language!
Yeah, so that´s the project we´re on at the moment, and I think it´s deffo gonna be busy. But it´s awesome that we´re in the same school the whole time so that we´re gonna be able to make a really impact on these kids lives and the school as well.
And we´re all having to get up earlier and getting used to sharing a house with someone else, but it´s all good! And having a oven is BRILLANT! Made cottage pie on Tuesday and it was flippin lush! Mmmmmm hmmmm... speaking of food... I should get some!
Will write again soon :) x
Bariloche - Ohhhh Yehh!
So here´s the Bariloche run down!!
We got up at 4.30am on the 30th of April to set off to Argentina and Bariloche. We took a bus down to Osorno in Chile to change buses to travel over the mountains to Argentina. Only one problem... when we arrived at Osorno, it was discovered that Jonny had left his passport in Temuco... and there was no way he was getting into Argentina without it! So Dave and Jonny had to buy new tickets back to Temuco and change the tickets to Bariloche for the next day - there´s only one bus over the boarder a day.
So the rest of us set off over the boarder getting in trouble for not sitting in the right seats and forgetting some papers on the way! But its all fun and games. We got checked out of Chile into no man´s land, before being checked into Argentina. Such beautiful scenery and mountains all around, it was amazing! We reached Bariloche and Hostel 41 Below at about 5pm and it was lush - proper beds and a hot shower! winner!!
We spent Sunday chilling and resting, taking a couple of walks around the town and seeing the lake and the scenery. It was Holy Day - which was kinda like Labour Day, so not a lot was open, but we found a cafe and had a nice little cup of tea and some cake. The boys arrived in from Temuco at about 4pm and so we went out for steak to celebrate! And I cannot explain just how good the meat was that we ate in Argentina! It was insane just how good it was!!!
Monday was our bike ride day! We set off at about 9 to get the bus out to the hire place and went off on the 14km ride, that went round a big lake, up and down so many hills, finding hidden lakes and incredible views. Every corner we took just got more beautiful! And the final push up the biggest hill gave us the most stunningly amazing breathtaking view I´ve ever seen - it literally took my breath away! It looked something out of Neverland! It was amazing! No picture will ever do it justice!!
Tuesday was Bariloche day which was a full on parade day - the most ´interesting´ parade I´ve ever seen! They literally had every school, pre school, college, group, association, club, sport group, old people´s group, army regiment, police force, dog groups, fire engine, dancers, countries represented.... and it went on for HOURS! lol! But we got to have a look around some of the shops which we open and in the evening there was a dance exhibition in the town square. It was awesome - they had a suspended stage from which they suspended dancers who were dancing and doing acrobats in the air, and then a pair of people on wires who would dance up and down the clock tower, and they alternated between the two ´stages´. It was incredible to watch! And then it all finished off with a firework display, lovely :)
We had a couple more chilled days, eating lots of good food and steak and generally relaxing which was really lovely. We celebrated Jonnys birthday on´Thursday, and everybody went out for steak in the evening, and it was soooo good I nearly cried LOL! It was amazing!
I think everyone deffo enjoyed the break, especially as now we´re back into a hectic schedule! But I will tell you about that in a minute!!!
Much love
xxx
We got up at 4.30am on the 30th of April to set off to Argentina and Bariloche. We took a bus down to Osorno in Chile to change buses to travel over the mountains to Argentina. Only one problem... when we arrived at Osorno, it was discovered that Jonny had left his passport in Temuco... and there was no way he was getting into Argentina without it! So Dave and Jonny had to buy new tickets back to Temuco and change the tickets to Bariloche for the next day - there´s only one bus over the boarder a day.
So the rest of us set off over the boarder getting in trouble for not sitting in the right seats and forgetting some papers on the way! But its all fun and games. We got checked out of Chile into no man´s land, before being checked into Argentina. Such beautiful scenery and mountains all around, it was amazing! We reached Bariloche and Hostel 41 Below at about 5pm and it was lush - proper beds and a hot shower! winner!!
We spent Sunday chilling and resting, taking a couple of walks around the town and seeing the lake and the scenery. It was Holy Day - which was kinda like Labour Day, so not a lot was open, but we found a cafe and had a nice little cup of tea and some cake. The boys arrived in from Temuco at about 4pm and so we went out for steak to celebrate! And I cannot explain just how good the meat was that we ate in Argentina! It was insane just how good it was!!!
Monday was our bike ride day! We set off at about 9 to get the bus out to the hire place and went off on the 14km ride, that went round a big lake, up and down so many hills, finding hidden lakes and incredible views. Every corner we took just got more beautiful! And the final push up the biggest hill gave us the most stunningly amazing breathtaking view I´ve ever seen - it literally took my breath away! It looked something out of Neverland! It was amazing! No picture will ever do it justice!!
Tuesday was Bariloche day which was a full on parade day - the most ´interesting´ parade I´ve ever seen! They literally had every school, pre school, college, group, association, club, sport group, old people´s group, army regiment, police force, dog groups, fire engine, dancers, countries represented.... and it went on for HOURS! lol! But we got to have a look around some of the shops which we open and in the evening there was a dance exhibition in the town square. It was awesome - they had a suspended stage from which they suspended dancers who were dancing and doing acrobats in the air, and then a pair of people on wires who would dance up and down the clock tower, and they alternated between the two ´stages´. It was incredible to watch! And then it all finished off with a firework display, lovely :)
We had a couple more chilled days, eating lots of good food and steak and generally relaxing which was really lovely. We celebrated Jonnys birthday on´Thursday, and everybody went out for steak in the evening, and it was soooo good I nearly cried LOL! It was amazing!
I think everyone deffo enjoyed the break, especially as now we´re back into a hectic schedule! But I will tell you about that in a minute!!!
Much love
xxx
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Another Massive Overview!!
Okay, man alive... time seems to pass so quickly when it comes to writing on here, so I´m gonna do another overview of the last bit of time at our first project!
20th Apr - We went off to a village called Haulpin... although actually ended up near a place called Tolten. After a long journey filled with bits of sleep and getting woken up by rather large chileans knocking my arm off the arm rest!! :P Long drop toilet again :P We went to a local boarding school, did a little presentation to them, then drove to another school where we stayed for one night - all the girls cramped into one room!
21st Apr - Dave´s birthday! We did an assembly in the school that we stayed in and then packed up our things and moved back to the previous school as we´d be staying there the rest of the weekend! We did a few bits of shopping and visited a new church (where we prayed) and a lady in the village (who we prayed with) and then we went to a radio station where Jonny and Emily and Pastor chatted for a bit, until there was a power cut!!! Everything was in the dark for the rest of the night!!
22nd Apr - 3 of the boys went off the help fix some electrics at a local house, while the rest of us tidied the school and made some posters to go up. And generally had a restful afternoon as at 9.30pm we went down to the church for the start of the 8 hour service... which turned out to be nine hours!!! So at 7am we crawled into bed!!! It was a good service though, full of praise and prayer!
23rd Apr - after 5 hours sleep we were all up and heading to the coast, climbed some rocks, found some weird jellyfish things that apparently kill you, ate some seaweed, and saw some of the new town, as the old town had been devestated in the tsunami last year. There´s still evidence of it in a grove of trees were some are upside down the ground, with their roots looking like branches!! Half the team then went to be on the radio again for an hour, while myself and few others went to a local lady´s house to pray with her.
24th Apr - we got up early and set off back to Temuco, where the whole church was waiting to have lunch with us - asado disco and lots of salads and meat!! We got settled back in and then has another service at Puntilla, all about the message of the cross.
25th Apr - Domestic Day!! Rocky and I were on domestics and cooked some good old porridge for breakfast!! mmmm. The guys all went off to a school to work with some kids, while Rocky and I cleaned and prepped an awesome vegetable filled lunch! We all went out to celebrate Dave´s birthday again at a restuarant called Boca de Lobo in the evening - there was so much meat is was crazy! This is also the day I discovered Turkey Hill Peanut Butter Ripple ice-cream... it was magical!
26th Apr - We went to a girls school today to spend a class with them (very good spanish practice) and all the girls went gah gah for the blonde boys in the team! We came back did the first day of the kids club, but not a lot turned up as it was the first day.
27th Apr - we went again to the same school as yesterday and had a really good time with them all. We got to see where the girls stay and gave us a bit of an insight into their lives. Jonny also got given a white bear by one of the girls... manly. We had a good plan for the kids club, and even though it was raining, we got a good number who came and played games and made some bits and pieces and took home the message of God coming to be their friend.
28th Apr - Some of us popped round to the nursery next door to play with the kids - absolutely MENTAL! loads of running and playing with a parachute but well fun!! We planned the kids club and ran it a more outside coz the weather was better. Got a bit crazy at some points, but we had some good convos too. Went over to Yasmina´s in the evening and wacthed a film and got even beautiful momentos from her and her family!
29th Apr - Today we did a lot of cleaning in prep for leaving to go to Argentina, as well as planning and running the final day of the kids club! We made a load of goodie bags up to give out to the kids filled with sweeties and toys and paper and pens and teddies and all kinds of stuff, so that we could leave them with a present from us. The kids club went really well, and it was actually really sad to be saying good bye! On another note... Rocky and I made apple crumble in the little electric oven and it was wicked! LOL!
We then set off for Bariloche in Argentina....
20th Apr - We went off to a village called Haulpin... although actually ended up near a place called Tolten. After a long journey filled with bits of sleep and getting woken up by rather large chileans knocking my arm off the arm rest!! :P Long drop toilet again :P We went to a local boarding school, did a little presentation to them, then drove to another school where we stayed for one night - all the girls cramped into one room!
21st Apr - Dave´s birthday! We did an assembly in the school that we stayed in and then packed up our things and moved back to the previous school as we´d be staying there the rest of the weekend! We did a few bits of shopping and visited a new church (where we prayed) and a lady in the village (who we prayed with) and then we went to a radio station where Jonny and Emily and Pastor chatted for a bit, until there was a power cut!!! Everything was in the dark for the rest of the night!!
22nd Apr - 3 of the boys went off the help fix some electrics at a local house, while the rest of us tidied the school and made some posters to go up. And generally had a restful afternoon as at 9.30pm we went down to the church for the start of the 8 hour service... which turned out to be nine hours!!! So at 7am we crawled into bed!!! It was a good service though, full of praise and prayer!
23rd Apr - after 5 hours sleep we were all up and heading to the coast, climbed some rocks, found some weird jellyfish things that apparently kill you, ate some seaweed, and saw some of the new town, as the old town had been devestated in the tsunami last year. There´s still evidence of it in a grove of trees were some are upside down the ground, with their roots looking like branches!! Half the team then went to be on the radio again for an hour, while myself and few others went to a local lady´s house to pray with her.
24th Apr - we got up early and set off back to Temuco, where the whole church was waiting to have lunch with us - asado disco and lots of salads and meat!! We got settled back in and then has another service at Puntilla, all about the message of the cross.
25th Apr - Domestic Day!! Rocky and I were on domestics and cooked some good old porridge for breakfast!! mmmm. The guys all went off to a school to work with some kids, while Rocky and I cleaned and prepped an awesome vegetable filled lunch! We all went out to celebrate Dave´s birthday again at a restuarant called Boca de Lobo in the evening - there was so much meat is was crazy! This is also the day I discovered Turkey Hill Peanut Butter Ripple ice-cream... it was magical!
26th Apr - We went to a girls school today to spend a class with them (very good spanish practice) and all the girls went gah gah for the blonde boys in the team! We came back did the first day of the kids club, but not a lot turned up as it was the first day.
27th Apr - we went again to the same school as yesterday and had a really good time with them all. We got to see where the girls stay and gave us a bit of an insight into their lives. Jonny also got given a white bear by one of the girls... manly. We had a good plan for the kids club, and even though it was raining, we got a good number who came and played games and made some bits and pieces and took home the message of God coming to be their friend.
28th Apr - Some of us popped round to the nursery next door to play with the kids - absolutely MENTAL! loads of running and playing with a parachute but well fun!! We planned the kids club and ran it a more outside coz the weather was better. Got a bit crazy at some points, but we had some good convos too. Went over to Yasmina´s in the evening and wacthed a film and got even beautiful momentos from her and her family!
29th Apr - Today we did a lot of cleaning in prep for leaving to go to Argentina, as well as planning and running the final day of the kids club! We made a load of goodie bags up to give out to the kids filled with sweeties and toys and paper and pens and teddies and all kinds of stuff, so that we could leave them with a present from us. The kids club went really well, and it was actually really sad to be saying good bye! On another note... Rocky and I made apple crumble in the little electric oven and it was wicked! LOL!
We then set off for Bariloche in Argentina....
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Major Overview of the last weeks....
Okay, so I´m gona try and do a quick run down of the last few weeks since the 8th of April... :P
9-Apr Sat - We went to an area of Temuco to distrubute some boxes from Operation Christmas Child - totally amazing to see the end result of something I´ve been involved in at home! Then went round Luciano´s house to have asado disco (meat cooked on a massive hot disc over an open fire) which was deeeeelicious!
10-Apr Sun - Church for the kids in the morning and for adults in the evening, pretty full on day prepping and doing things
11-Apr Mon - We went with Yasmina round to some houses in the community and tidied their gardens, creating a path for one lady just generally making things tidier! Managed to hold a got hour long conversation with Luciano in Spanish :P wo0op!
12-Apr Tues - Day off! :D MAde lots of tiny fairy cakes and then went to Yasmina´s to watch a film :)
13-Apr Wed - We were meant to go with Pastor Ezekiel to the school that his wife works at...everyone was ready at 11 to go.... at 12 we got a phone call saying he wasn´t coming and we weren´t going there today... gota love Chilean timing :P So we went to the playgroup next door to the church and sang songs with them and played with them instead :)
14-Apr Thurs - Porridge for breakfast...as always, just thought I´d mention it again :P We went to the university and shared a bible study with some of the students, in English to help them inprove their language. Then jumped on a bus to Champulli... a village just outside Teodoro Schmitt, arrived and went straight into a service, before meeting Juanita, who was the girls host of the weekend - One of the most loveliest, warmest ladies I´ve ever met!!
15-Apr Fri - Got up and headed off to the church to start work on the kitchen there...only to find the kitchen was locked and the pastors had gone out.... soooooo we weeded the entire church garden :P And also were able to help with building a house nearby, and brought a load of stuff to start work on the kitchen tomorrow....
16-Apr Sat - did a bit of work on the kitchen and the garden of the church, and also visited a some ill people to pray with them and talk with their families. We´ve done that quite a bit, and it always amazes me to see Pastor Ezekiel´s hearts for these people, so reflective of God´s heart and of His love. We then had an 8 hour praise meeting from 8pm till 4am... wooooooooo..... that was mad!
17-Apr - Sun - Everyone was SO tired today! Shared breakfast with all the church members, and had to say goodbye... amazing how much they were saddened to see us go, it was like a member of their family was leaving... incredible love and warmth for people. Sarah, Emily, Jonny, Nathan and I travelled to Poucolon (another little village nearby) to visit a couple of families and pray with them, and then we went to a churhc service there to share with the people.
18-Apr - Mon - DAY OFF! wo0op!
And then we´re at today! We´ve been working in a school today, doing assemblies and getting mobbed by children as we tried to leave... that´s always fun! They all call us tia /tio (for girl /boy) and wouldn´t let go of us! Kinda scary LOL! But it was good fun.
We´re off to another village from tomorrow until Sunday called Haulpin, which is about 2 hours south of Temuco... and it´s gonna be cold! It was cold in Champulli, and Haulpin is further south... So thermal vests and mass amounts of layers me thinks! So the weather here´s been great, it´s so cold in the morning and at night! So glad I have a four season sleeping bag!!!
Anyway, hope that´s given a bit of an update to the events here :)
Much love
Sarah
xx
9-Apr Sat - We went to an area of Temuco to distrubute some boxes from Operation Christmas Child - totally amazing to see the end result of something I´ve been involved in at home! Then went round Luciano´s house to have asado disco (meat cooked on a massive hot disc over an open fire) which was deeeeelicious!
10-Apr Sun - Church for the kids in the morning and for adults in the evening, pretty full on day prepping and doing things
11-Apr Mon - We went with Yasmina round to some houses in the community and tidied their gardens, creating a path for one lady just generally making things tidier! Managed to hold a got hour long conversation with Luciano in Spanish :P wo0op!
12-Apr Tues - Day off! :D MAde lots of tiny fairy cakes and then went to Yasmina´s to watch a film :)
13-Apr Wed - We were meant to go with Pastor Ezekiel to the school that his wife works at...everyone was ready at 11 to go.... at 12 we got a phone call saying he wasn´t coming and we weren´t going there today... gota love Chilean timing :P So we went to the playgroup next door to the church and sang songs with them and played with them instead :)
14-Apr Thurs - Porridge for breakfast...as always, just thought I´d mention it again :P We went to the university and shared a bible study with some of the students, in English to help them inprove their language. Then jumped on a bus to Champulli... a village just outside Teodoro Schmitt, arrived and went straight into a service, before meeting Juanita, who was the girls host of the weekend - One of the most loveliest, warmest ladies I´ve ever met!!
15-Apr Fri - Got up and headed off to the church to start work on the kitchen there...only to find the kitchen was locked and the pastors had gone out.... soooooo we weeded the entire church garden :P And also were able to help with building a house nearby, and brought a load of stuff to start work on the kitchen tomorrow....
16-Apr Sat - did a bit of work on the kitchen and the garden of the church, and also visited a some ill people to pray with them and talk with their families. We´ve done that quite a bit, and it always amazes me to see Pastor Ezekiel´s hearts for these people, so reflective of God´s heart and of His love. We then had an 8 hour praise meeting from 8pm till 4am... wooooooooo..... that was mad!
17-Apr - Sun - Everyone was SO tired today! Shared breakfast with all the church members, and had to say goodbye... amazing how much they were saddened to see us go, it was like a member of their family was leaving... incredible love and warmth for people. Sarah, Emily, Jonny, Nathan and I travelled to Poucolon (another little village nearby) to visit a couple of families and pray with them, and then we went to a churhc service there to share with the people.
18-Apr - Mon - DAY OFF! wo0op!
And then we´re at today! We´ve been working in a school today, doing assemblies and getting mobbed by children as we tried to leave... that´s always fun! They all call us tia /tio (for girl /boy) and wouldn´t let go of us! Kinda scary LOL! But it was good fun.
We´re off to another village from tomorrow until Sunday called Haulpin, which is about 2 hours south of Temuco... and it´s gonna be cold! It was cold in Champulli, and Haulpin is further south... So thermal vests and mass amounts of layers me thinks! So the weather here´s been great, it´s so cold in the morning and at night! So glad I have a four season sleeping bag!!!
Anyway, hope that´s given a bit of an update to the events here :)
Much love
Sarah
xx
Friday, 8 April 2011
Uppddaaaaaaaate....
Wow, sorry its been so long since I´ve written on here, it´s amazing how fast time goes and before you know it a week full of events has gone by and you haven´t written about anything!
I´ll try and give a rough overview of the last couple of weeks!
The good news is we now have a hot shower! Which means we all smell better and are generally cleaner! We´ve also now got a washing machine that works so we can get our clothes clean :D double yay!
We took a trip last weekend to Teodoro Schmitt, a village about an hour away, to work in a church there - a bit of painting and visiting people in their homes as well as singing a lot of songs at church services!
We´ve done a lot more painting in the place where we´re saying as well starting some work in the community more practically.
After the local kids trying to break in a few times, they seem to have calmed down a bit. They don´t come over the gate anymore, but I think they think we have loads of money...which I guess in comparison to them, we probably do. But I´ve found out that we´re actually in quite a tough area of Temuco, it´s called Santa Rosa, and a lot of the families have quite complicated lives - no dads around for a lot of them because they´ve either left or died. Which is really sad, and produces some pretty desperate kids.
But it´s hard to know what to do to help, but at the church we´re working with at the moment, there aren´t any young people and there´s no kids work at all. So anything we satar, will just fall on its ass unless someone here carries it on.... Ive been praying about what it is God wants us to do... and today I think we´ve seen the first fruit of that.
Last week we went out into the community to ask if we could do anything to help people (Love Horsham style :P) And we found a plot of land that is public land, but people have dumped stuff there and its overgrown. So we started cleaning it today and were discussing how it would be nice to do something with it, like make it into a park or something... when.... A random guy walked down the street who happens to work in the council... or with the council or summit... anyway, basically he was amazed by what we were doing and said that he has a groupd of young people who could help and would like to... so i think we´re gona talk to the pastor here and see if we can intiate this as a community project,. for and with the community :D
We´ve not got very long left at this project now, and the weeks are filling up fast, but hopefully we´ll be able to make a lasting difference here that goes beyond a group of westerns coming to take pictures and then leaving again.
I´ll try and get some more up to date news and events here in the next couple of days
Much love to all
xxxx
I´ll try and give a rough overview of the last couple of weeks!
The good news is we now have a hot shower! Which means we all smell better and are generally cleaner! We´ve also now got a washing machine that works so we can get our clothes clean :D double yay!
We took a trip last weekend to Teodoro Schmitt, a village about an hour away, to work in a church there - a bit of painting and visiting people in their homes as well as singing a lot of songs at church services!
We´ve done a lot more painting in the place where we´re saying as well starting some work in the community more practically.
After the local kids trying to break in a few times, they seem to have calmed down a bit. They don´t come over the gate anymore, but I think they think we have loads of money...which I guess in comparison to them, we probably do. But I´ve found out that we´re actually in quite a tough area of Temuco, it´s called Santa Rosa, and a lot of the families have quite complicated lives - no dads around for a lot of them because they´ve either left or died. Which is really sad, and produces some pretty desperate kids.
But it´s hard to know what to do to help, but at the church we´re working with at the moment, there aren´t any young people and there´s no kids work at all. So anything we satar, will just fall on its ass unless someone here carries it on.... Ive been praying about what it is God wants us to do... and today I think we´ve seen the first fruit of that.
Last week we went out into the community to ask if we could do anything to help people (Love Horsham style :P) And we found a plot of land that is public land, but people have dumped stuff there and its overgrown. So we started cleaning it today and were discussing how it would be nice to do something with it, like make it into a park or something... when.... A random guy walked down the street who happens to work in the council... or with the council or summit... anyway, basically he was amazed by what we were doing and said that he has a groupd of young people who could help and would like to... so i think we´re gona talk to the pastor here and see if we can intiate this as a community project,. for and with the community :D
We´ve not got very long left at this project now, and the weeks are filling up fast, but hopefully we´ll be able to make a lasting difference here that goes beyond a group of westerns coming to take pictures and then leaving again.
I´ll try and get some more up to date news and events here in the next couple of days
Much love to all
xxxx
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