I see people; they look like trees

One thing I've repeatedly asked prayer for is that I will be a help to the people around me during this in-between time, and that God will give me the creativity, insight and discernment to work out what my future ministry might look like. Looking back over the last six months (it's six months to the day today!!!!!!), I can see that I've made the most of a stringful of little opportunities that have come my way, and I'm thankful for it. It's also starting to get a little clearer looking forward, thanks to some helpful counsel, nudges in the right direction, and small epiphanies.

Because it helps so much to get to know people here, I can see that having my own place and being able to invite people round for lunch, supper or afternoon tea will be the first step to all sorts of possibilities - though it's also been great to invite people round to share in my Chilean family's life. For starters, I need to be doing this with the Arme/Desarme team I'm already responsible for. Obviously, I also need to be keeping in touch with the non-Christian friends I've made, foreigners and locals alike. And I think I can finally envisage a gentle way-in to helping the women's group be all it can be. And while I'm glad to have the chance to disciple my Australian friend this year, I'm stoked that the Chilean discipleship (/reading the Bible /practising Spanish) I've been wanting to kick off all year finally looks like it's going to happen, thanks to some local ideas and initiative. If I can get these last two things going before the end of the year, I'll be thrilled. I think that from there it would be wise to mostly just try and disciple a fair few of the Cristo Redentor women over the next couple of years (if the church still wants me!!! obviously I need to talk to my pastor about this!) - so I can get the hang of ministry here, develop some deep relationships, see how that model goes and where it leads me next.

The mountains from Macul one sunny day

I have chosen you out of the world, that is why

Yesterday evening I visited a church here in Macul. So far, I've only been to one other church, the one that the people I live with are part of, but it's something I'm planning to do once each month. This church (which I think was Metodista) is the church of the lady who each Wednesday comes and cleans our house, so one day I asked if I could come along. She picked me up from my place, which meant we all got to meet her daughter and she got to meet Felipe and Emy's Mum, so that alone was good. My friend who I disciple came along too.

It was a Pentecostal church so I didn't know what to expect. My aim was to observe and be respectful, and only if something was clearly anti-Gospel to make a stand. We had walked much of the way there, through the dodgy part 'of town', when a gentleman from the church very kindly stopped to give us a lift the rest of the way. The church is in a pretty building and we were warmly welcomed. We got there early, so sat and watched it slowly fill-up. My friend is in the choir, so when the service started, she left us with her daughter and son (her husband had to work). The seats for the choir and band ran along one side of the building, at right angles to the rest. There were a million mandolins, half a million guitars, a couple of saxophones and a piano. It sounded a lot like this, only on a much smaller scale...

Throughout the service there were a fair few songs, sometimes lengthy, which was good. The main pastor was an elderly man, who looked pretty tired. They had a few traditions I hadn't come across before, like kneeling down to pray at a couple of points (I have of course done this in formal Anglican services at highschool, but never in a more casual setting) and frequent raising of hands to say "Glory to God, glory to God!". These things are unusual but unusual can be good if it says something about the identity of God. The only thing I felt a bit uncomfortable about was the number of times people called out "Amen!" or "Praise his Name!" or whatever throughout the service. It felt a little chaotic to me, and the cries seemed to bear little connection to what was being said from the front. The sermon began with the preacher saying that he had prepared another message, but this morning God directed him to change - never a good sign, in my book. His new talk was based on John 15:18-25, about the persecution that came to Jesus, and that we must also expect - and it was good. He didn't really spend much time helping us understand that particular passage, but he spoke about the Gospel and about evangelism and everything he said was true and with a right emphasis and good.

There was only one real down-point in the whole service and it may be a major one - it's hard to know from only one visit - the 'Prosperity Gospel'. There were two offerings - a regular one, and another for the upkeep of the church. The song we sung before the first offering was pure Prosperity Gospel (if I give generously to God he will bless me with health and wealth). And the words that were said (and the public nature of the giving - people walked up to the front so everyone saw who was and wasn't giving) during the time to give, to me, were pressure-filled and, at the very least, strongly suggestive of the reciporical nature of this offering. And this in a church with a lot of poorer people, who are no doubt struggling to afford anything like decent healthcare :/. So I was left wondering if this is a big part of church life, if people might be coming along with false hopes and for what in the end are small blessings. But I hope not!! I hope that the true Gospel of reconciliation with God and eternal hope that I did hear proclaimed and celebrated in the rest of the service is what rings out!! Please join me in praying for this church and others like it.

Arme/Desarme

In this time before I can communicate well, I've been helping out my church in less expressive ways. So I said yes to heading up a small team that sets up and takes down (arme y desarme) all the chairs and other equipment in the school gym where we have church. There are a few other teams, so mine is on about once a month. It's been something of a small introduction to Chilean culture. For most of the year, I haven't gone to very much effort to remind my team or get them to confirm (I don't like talking on the phone), but then the chairs were always stacked up at the back of the gym so it wasn't a big deal if one or two people didn't show. But lately the chairs have been in another part of the school, a million miles away. We still get the job done but it means that the ol' faithfuls who are always there early, responsible for other stuff, have to pitch in.

Yesterday the Arme/Desarme leaders all (or mostly all) had lunch at the coordinator's house. Juan Esteban stopped in and told us to:

• aim for excellence and hard work, because we are serving God;
• remember that, like ourselves, our team-members are 'jars of clay' - so that, as we encourage or even gently admonish them, we can do it without judging them;
• pray these things for our team;
• create a sense of identity, first of all by having them over to lunch and encouraging them in the work.

So that's what you do in this culture! Not so very different a response from Australia afterall :).

Precioso Chile

Here's a gorgeously beautiful video of all the places I haven't been in Chile.
a story for tomorrow. from gnarly bay productions, Inc. on Vimeo.

Club Preguntas

Club Preguntas is back on! This time it doesn't get a special time and place; instead each home group is running its very own. This is a totally new thing for Iglesia Cristo Redentor and for the home group leaders in particular. In preparation, the groups are spending this month looking at what the Bible has to say about sharing your faith. Please pray that our security in the Lord will enable us to boldly, gladly invite our friends and neighbours; that people won't just say they're coming, but will actually make it along; that as we answer questions, we will be intelligent, humble, gracious representatives of Christ; and that many people's lives will be changed over these six weeks. Here's my (possibly shoddy) translation of how Juan Esteban has taught us to deal with peoples' questions...

1st With a lot of calmness and empathy. Even if the person asks brusquely or is irritated. Don't take anything personally. It's understandable that someone might react with surprise or annoyance when they hear the Word of God.

2nd With a lot of humility. Not wishing to enter into a discussion or argument so you can beat the other person. But with the desire to show that the Bible is trustworthy and reasonable. To be able to have humility and patience in these situations, it helps to remember that God is the only one who can give understanding and it was he who gave understanding to us.

3rd Often you don't know the answer and it's better to say that you don't have a good answer to the question but promise to find out more information for the next meeting. Many people far from faith are pleasantly surprised when they come across honesty like this and it generates more credibility.

Snow photos

Random photos

Here are a few photos I've taken here-and-there now-and-then...

                                        back in summer (Emy practising what her Mapuchean abuela taught her)

                                        hard work being a missionary

                                        muy mal

                                         streetdog friends

                                        a winter gift for a streetdog

                                        sitting in the backyard (actually the front-yard) on a sunny afternoon

                                       exhibition at the National Library about what Chile's poets read

                           inside the National Library

                           National Museum of Natural History

                           park with the cordillera behind

                          olive oil shop in the super-classy Barrio Italia

                          big family almuerzo at Iglesia Cristo Redentor's 2nd year anniversary

                            amazing graffiti

El fin de semana

Went to a wonderful, wonderful conference for women last Saturday (LAEL: La que pertenece a Dios). The speaker (Jo Charles, a CMS missionary) taught us that knowing God is better for us than any changed circumstance, that it's better to spend our time on things that have value in God's eyes; and encouraged us, instead of just resolving to do better, to stop and think about what our bad behaviour says about where our heart is at. And so much more. We had time to talk with each other about how these things look in our lives. And we got to sing together all of us with that gorgeous latin intensity and joy.

Then on Sunday Iglesia Cristo Redentor celebrated our second anniversary!!!!!! with a special service and a precious new cross. After the service we got out a whole heap of tables and shared lunch together. So good to look around and see people of different ages, resources, backgrounds and abilities chatting away together. Lots of photos here.

Spanish is like posh English

This is what English would sound like if we used the same words as Spanish...

"Okay, that's sufficient - your mother is feeling really infirm."

"I'm in agreement with everything you say."
"Marvellous! I'm enchanted by the idea."

Bueno, está suficiente - tu madre se siento muy enferma.
Estoy de acuerdo con todo lo que dices.
¡Maravilloso! Me encanta la idea.