Hola from Chile

Sorry that it has been so long since I blogged. We have been pretty busy and so I just haven’t had a chance to update it. Today we were supposed to go to Putre, which is about four hours away, up 12,000 feet. There are two volcanoes there; it’s supposed to be really beautiful. But this morning when I woke up, I was feeling really nauseous and when I would stand up I would get dizzy. As a result I decided to stay back because a lot of times people who are well get sick going there due to the elevation. Therefore I decided to wouldn’t be wise to go up there already feeling really sick. So Brian and Mike went with our American friend Ehrich. I was really disappointed that I couldn’t go because it is supposed to be simply majestic, but I know that the Lord is in control and I can rest in that. When the tour people found out I didn’t go, they called Mrs. Bjur and said they heard I didn’t go because I was sick. They then told her that they have a no refund policy but since I was a student and it was a last minute cancellation they would give me half of my money back. I am really thankful for that because I wasn’t expecting to get anything back! I know that it was the Lord’s doing because there was no reason why they should have given me anything back. Anyway, I will have either Brian or Mike blog about going to Putre in the next couple of days so you can hear how awesome it is.

We are really enjoying ourselves here. It has been a real blessing getting to know the Bjur’s. There story is pretty cool, but I think one of the coolest realizations that I have come to is they are normal people doing extraordinary things for God. I feel like when we think of missionaries we always think of really extraordinary people who are so far above the normal person but this trip has shown me that it isn’t the case. The Bjur’s are really awesome people but they aren’t any different than anyone else. They just obeyed God’s command to bring His Word to a foreign land. Here is an example of how they are normal people. When they first came to Chile they didn’t know any Spanish. As a result they hired a tutor to teach them. Well after two months of trying to learn Spanish, the tutor quit saying Mr. Jim Bjur was a lost cause. To me that doesn’t sound like an extraordinary person. But that didn’t stop them; from there they learned the language on their own. They have now been here 18 years and Mrs. Melody speaks Spanish without an English accent. Mr. Jim still struggles some, but the Lord has used him to further His kingdom anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to downplay the Bjur’s, they are really awesome people. But so many times as Christians we think God only uses really awesome people who have it all together, but the truth is He will use anyone who has a willing heart. As a matter of fact He loves using people despite their deficiencies. So don’t let your “normalcy” keep you from doing great things for God.

Alright, I am done preaching at you (I am preaching at myself too) for now. I am sure you are wondering what it is we are doing here. Our average day consists of doing work around the church in the morning and early afternoon. We have sanded and repainted all the bars on the windows around the church and also we plastered the walls on stairs up to our room and also the walls of the balcony. Now that we finished plastering we will probably paint over them soon. It doesn’t feel like we have done much work around the church but the Bjur’s are really grateful because it would be really hard for Mr. Jim to do it himself. After we finish working around the house we go over to the Bjur’s for lunch, here in Chile lunch is the biggest meal of the day. After lunch we have done a number of different things, we have gone downtown to shop, a lot of times we go play basketball at the gym next door and give tracts to anyone who is there playing with us. On the Fourth of July the Bjur’s did some special stuff with us which was nice because that was one of the things I was most disappointed about missing. That morning we had pancakes with them at their house (we normally just eat breakfast by ourselves at the church) and then we went to these absolutely beautiful caves! Here are a couple of pictures of them, but I will be honest, the pictures don’t do justice to God’s beautiful creation!

The first picture is of Sea Lions! It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat! They are mostly on the left side of the picture, there was a ton of them!

The second picture is looking through one of the smaller caves.

The last picture is one of my favorites! I don't know why but I absolutely love that picture!

After the caves, we had a cookout which was really delicious! Then we had the youth meeting that night.

Yesterday we taught English to a couple of girls, which was pretty interesting, I felt like a failure but they said they learned some stuff. Hopefully we will do that a couple more times because a lot of the people here want to learn some English. One of the girls we taught yesterday wants to go to Bob Jones University but to do so she has to pass an English literacy test. So pray that she will learn enough English to be able to do that. We have also been hanging out with the youth a lot, which has been a lot of fun! On Wednesday nights we have a Bible Study that is similar to the ones in the States. Friday nights there is “Bible Club” which is for the younger kids; it’s always a lot of fun attending that. Saturday nights is the youth meeting, last week I presented the devotion, and I think it went pretty well, although it was shorter than I had planned. On Sunday there is church of course. They do it a lot differently here than at home though. The morning service is Sunday School and then the evening service is a typical service. For Sunday School everyone meets in the sanctuary where they sing a few songs then they dismiss each class and then after the Sunday School classes are over they gather back together and sing a couple more songs, and then they split up in groups of 3 and pray together. Then they sing a couple more songs before dismissing. The evening service is a lot like services are at home. It starts out with some singing, and then they ask if anyone has any praises, then more singing, then they ask for prayer requests, then they pray, then the sermon, and then a couple more songs. Mr. Jim gives us a copy of his sermon in English for us to follow along with. That is a big blessing because without it we wouldn’t have a clue of what he is talking about.

We are so grateful for all of your prayers! It means so much to us to know that we are being prayed for daily! We love and miss all of you!