la mitad-halfway

To begin, know that i am going to try to avoid typing any words that use my left pinkie finger. So far that’s pretty hard. But yesterday I found an awesome swing set and the seats were made out of rubber and had cheerful designs in them, so of course I started pumping away before I realized the chain was almost rusted through, so then I fell and now I have a hurt finger. But that’s really not important. I have no huge escapades to report in the past two weeks, mainly we have been getting to know a lot of people better and been spending time with them. One of the lessons I have been learning over and over again is that even the best intentions, or grandest expectations, are not always kept. One day we tried to organize a Frisbee game for the children. (here they play Frisbee, but only as a hobby, not a sport). After we finally round everyone up and try to explain, and break into teams, I think it should be pretty fun, after all, pretty much the only rules are dont run with the Frisbee, if you drop the Frisbee, it goes to the other team. But man, did it turn into utter chaos immediately. We had several small fights, a few collisions, people randomly stopping to get water or because they had their feelings hurt. The girls were getting the hang of it, but the boys, just like back home, like to show off with long throws, which is bad news in a wind tunnel.

Later that week Jenny and I had a double date with some twins who live in our town. We were going to cook for them and they were supposed to show up at 5:30. Everything went according to plan, except for the part about them showing up. We weren’t surprised that they didn’t come right on time, but, after an hour of figuring out how to keep the food hot, I was nominated to go look for them. They were almost ready when I got to their house, were freshly showered and, as is normal around here, doused with cologne. On the way back we saw their friend alan, so he came along too. Afterd dinner they wanted to watch ¨Ironman´, but we had to go teach English class, and so went our first date in chile. Did I mention they were all 9 years old?

On a more serious note, the following day I had a conversation that pushed the limits of my Spanish with don rene, the teacher at our school in gualliguiaca, about mary and the catholic practice of praying to her and other saints. Overall, it was enlightening, because he has had such a different background than I have, and I cannot ask anyone to accept a practice just because it is what im used to, but I tried to encourage to him just read the Bible and see for himself what direction it gives regarding prayer and our relationship with God.

Hmm, what else. We had a pet baby bird for 24 hours that we tried to save. The boys at san carlos had found and tormented it, so I took it home and dug some worms for it and fed it, but I think the boys had banged it up too badly, so I had to bury O´Henry in our backyard. (I wasn’t going to name it but it lived through the first night, and that was the naming checkpoint.)

Two Friday nights ago jenny and I had the 8 girsl from our class over to our house. I had ideas of a fun night of eating pizza and ice cream, watching a movie with all of us lumped on the couch, and sharing a short gospel presentation with the girls. However, that went out the chimney. The pizza took longer than it should have, and by the time I got back the girls had already devoured all the chips, soda, and eaten through our bowl of fruit. After the pizza and icecream and peanuts, one girl looked up at me and said, very genuinely ¨when are we going to eat dinner¨. So that was a test of my patience. It was like taking care of 8 very hungry caterpillars. Then the moving watching lasted all of 5 minutes. Instead, they wanted to have a dance party and fashion show, and invaded adelina´s house and it was all very crazy. Through its been 11 years since I was 9, I guess that might be normal.

I have several praises to report at the school in gualliguiaca. First being that two women who were at first fairly cold towards us, are now quite friendly. I don’t know exactly how or why it has changed, but it is encouraging to know that they seem to want to be friends now. Earlier on we sat in the classroom a lot, but now we have taken to, after we teach, spending time with other people in the school.

One day we helped weed the flower beds (which is the best chore around because the flowers are so pretty and the birds so chatty), and most every day we now help in the kitchen, washing trays (they don’t use any Styrofoam or plastic throw away stuff here, hooray!) and cups and cutting vegetables and sweeping and wiping. The woman who works in the kitchen is very fun and we chat while cutting or mixing. - the other day we cut so many onions and were crying so hard we couldn’t help but think how sad our lives must be. They don’t use cutting boards here, so I am learning to cut potatoes and carrots and onions all in my hands! All kinds of exciting adventures pop up there- on Friday I was rinsing a spoon when all of a sudden the faucet just fell right off and so begins my second shower of the day, this time in a fountain. Also on Friday, for teacher´s day, I tried to concoct an American lasagne, using my mom´s recipe, or what I could remember of it, main problem being that we couldn’t find cottage cheese, but it still turned out okay, and most of the teachers had seconds, so I count that as a success.

We are also beginning to build a friendship with the ´principal´ , as we have gone to her house for dessert and played with her daughter and also this big sort-of-like-a-bull-dog dog named Minnie.

We are no longer doing our own bible study on Tuesday nights, but now jerry (our supervisor), and a member of the church in la serena come and lead first a short bible study then a craft. Watching jerry teach this past week was so encouraging because he has so mastered the language that those listening really seemed to understand and were interested in learning. As this is already the normal overwhelming length, here are the quick point prayer requests:

1- continued development of friendships. Boldness and courage to speak out about the message of god´s love, without worrying over language problems or fear of rejection.

2- Willingness to bless others wherever we are. It is often temping to try and control our schedules, and get frustrated if we get stuck at some get together when we wanted to go somewhere else or go to the store or have a nap, but I try to remind myself that I do not know what the big plan is, and if I find myself in a given situation, is should use it joyfully instead o wishing I was somewhere else. This goes along with using even simple opportunities, like washing the dishes or sweeping, to do it all in joy, knowing that God does not always call us to do great awesome acts, but sometimes just to persevere in our desire and efforts to bless others and bring glory to Him. For we are not here helping just from a humanitarian viewpoint, but with the goal to soften people´s hearts towards Christ.

3- As we have reached, and now passed, the midway point, please pray that I would really focus my mind on His will, and make time to spend in His word and in prayer, seeking how best to spend the remaining time. About a week ago I was feeling pretty down, missing friends and family, sort of feeling like I wanted to come home, but now I feel rebooted, so to speak, and am excited about the remaining time. Pray that, each day, I would give over to His will, not my own mood or feelings, and that, at the end of the trip, that I will feel like I have given everything I was asked to give, that I did not hold anything back.

Please do write me if there is something I could pray for you. This is not a one way street.

Psalm 19:14- may the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, o lord, my rock and my redeemer.

I have been trying to remember this to guard both my actions and thoughts, and, earlier this week, when flustered, was encouraged that He is our rock.

With much thanks, rubia

(many people here have stopped using my name, they just call me rubia (blond))

chile 2 (134 photos), by Rebecca Williams

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Chile 1 10\02\09 (449 photos), by Rebecca Williams

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

early october escapades

Where to begin- its been almost two weeks since the last epic, and while it seems like things are really settling into a rhythm, we are at no loss for adventures. This weekend we, all 5 chile girls, are discovering Ovalle, a larger town SE of us, while staying with an older missionary couple. Things today were pretty relaxing- shadow michelle around and daphnie around their schools while they teach. Everything was pretty routine, whistles and cat calls included- which continues to puzzle me-if only they knew that, due to a gas run out=cold water dominates, jenny and I have,,, lets just say we have not showered all that recently. They use several songs to teach various English words, using tunes ranging from fra ra ja quais sp?? to the adams family. Next we ate lunch, (then another lunch) at a smallish restaurant that played beatles music and served huge portions. Also had a wildlife adventure- just as we were sitting down- I was just getting settled, saw something out of the periphery of my eye and felt just a hint on my left cheek, then on my right, was slightly confused, and decided it must have been my hair, which would make sense considering how unkempt looking it was. I said something to the girls, and wiped my face with my sleeve, and forgot all about it. That is until two minutes later, when we saw a smallish spider scurrying across the table. Putting my face and 8 together, I realized the spider had just used my face as a runway to launch itself midtable. I don’t think we killed it, I hope not, since it certainly had the opportunity to wreck havoc on my face but instead passed right on through. I cannot really complain- there are no snakes here, which is nice considering how easy it would be to step on them- even while running here the slippery gravel and rocks, combined with turbine strength winds, add a whole new thrill to running. I have a small mountainish/hill thing that I have been running up (semi) regularly- the going up is painful, but on the way down you can see the surrounding valleys and the lake and larger mountains rising in the distance. Just gotta be careful on this one spot- the wind whips through so fast I sincerely believe I could be a human kite if I was in the habit of running in ankle length dresses, with arm flaps of course. On the way up I usually try to review verses (take my mind off the mountain-goat-ready steep hills), but on the way I down I try to pray. It has been useful to spend just that hour by myself, seeing the huge mountains and the huge expanse- several times it has been a great reminder to adjust my attitude- one of the things I wanted to start practicing during my time here. If, while trotting along, I feel downtrodden or depressed, the heaving hills and valleys remind of me our God’s greatness; if my ego is kite high, I am reminded of my tiny-ness, that, no matter how much I feel like I may accomplish, really it is not me who is going to change anything or anyone. Daphnie said something that really caught my attention today during team meeting- she wants people not to remember her, persay, but rather the message she brings-the good news of the gospel of Christ Jesus. I think this caught my attention because, in the midst of trying to teach English, and befriend the community, and learn the way of rural peasant life, it is easy to forget why we are actually here. I think I have oftentimes fallen into the habit of putting myself first, wanting to make a good impression of Rebecca on the people of Gualliaguica, but the most important thing is that we represent Christ faithfully.

Rejoice that in the Gualliguica schools, this past week, we have had open opportunities to share parts of the Bible. I first read a passage from one of the gospels, while Jenny illustrates with her awesome art-minor skills, followed by a discussion on the lessons- both moral and theological, with much help from the professor Don Rene. I sort of get us pointed on the right track, then he takes over. Then we assign roles, go over the story one more time, and the children act it out. On Monday we did Jesus healing the paralytic that was lowered through the roof, and on Wednesday we did Jesus’ birth and the angels appearing to the shepherds-we even have two students, maria and josa (mary and joseph, in English) and we taught the angels to sing the song ‘alelu, alelu, alelu, alleluia, praise, ye the lord’. The funniest thing was that we used Pepito, wrapped in my scarf, as baby jesus. Pepito is the classroom anatomy manaquin torso-armless, legless; with his chest and stomach and half his brain open and ready for inspection, but he served the purpose well.

Our Tuesday night bible study has been not quite so successful- no one came last week, but we think its because one woman had a sick child, and the other girl didn’t want to come by herself, but it was sort of taxing to prepare, then wait, not knowing if they were just late, or were not coming at all, or if we had miscommunicated- but when we talked to the girl she still seemed interested so perhaps this coming week.

INTERMISSION-time for popcorn and cucumbers

While walking around downtown Ovalle today, (now Saturday) there was a make-me-want-to-dance band playing in the street, five guys with long hair and prize-worthy beards playing all kinds of ethnic flutes and the pan flute and tambourines and cymbals and acoustic guitars and drums and singing-after listening for a while I went up and talked to them- we even got invited to an ‘asado’ (cookout) they were having tonight but, alas, couldn’t go. Oh the frustrations of having to ‘be wise and cautious’- I guess that’s why they didn’t just send me out completely on my own into the heart of skinny ol’ chile- but I did buy one of their cds to break out at dance parties back in the US.

I think part of my struggle now, as I begin to miss friends and family more, is to make sure that I am living completely here, instead of spending time thinking about returning to life back in the US. I am somewhat surprised that I do look forward to coming back- I guess I find more joy in living in Auburn than I even realized, but then I am like ‘how in the world can I even think about wanting to go back- here I am, being stretched in all kinds of ways- (several times each day I have to remind myself ‘do hard things’) while having great adventures, meeting hordes of people, and getting to know well quite a few, surrounded by volumptuous vineyards (enough to supply southern Baptists with a lifetime supply of wine, haha). I also now have a pet chicken named Genghis Khan, who was supposed to be a ‘pio pio’ (little chick) but is actually a full grown chicken who lays eggs- yes, a girl named Genghis but she has less than friendly looking eyes so the name suits her. We have had one chicken chasing festival in our backyard so far- really it was me chasing the chickens and Jenny and Katrina laughing, but, after twenty minutes of failure, I didn’t manage to catch the most sissy chicken. Next time I am going to christen it and name it formally. I was explaining to my teacher’s family (while at her house for lunch) that I was going to ‘bautizar’ (baptize, I don’t know the word for christen) my new chicken, laughing between words, but the family just gave me a look which was hard to read, but I think it might have meant something like ‘is this a weird part of her religion, baptizing chickens?’ We have also adopted a cat, named Francis, because for a while we didn’t know if it was girl or boy, but now it’s a girl, and its sort of like I am a pirate and she my parrot, because, immediately upon being picked up, she insists on climbing up and perching on my shoulder. We gave her a bath last week- boy was that wet, because she wouldn’t stay in the tub so we she had a bath while sitting on my shoulders- but hey, it was warmer that day. Once she was clean I let her sleep with me, but once again, she is less than normal and prefers to sleep ON my neck. Out of goodwill, she licks my neck but sometimes gets carried away and takes a nibble. But back to the point, that I have such a unique opportunity here in chile, and I don’t want to miss any of it. I want to be focused on Chile, not preoccupied with the future, but living each day here, focused on doing whatever comes along to the best of my ability. Please ask God to give both Jenny and I courage- courage to use the friendships we have built to glorify Him and present the gospel. It is so easy to just never talk about spiritual things- but pray that not only that God would provide opportunities, but that I would be eager to talk about Him, not anxious, but trusting that He will provide the words and guide me, and that I would take every chance to speak about Him, and not wait until it is staring me in the face. Specifically, you can pray for our Chilean grandparents, Adelina and Orozimbo- that we would have opportunities to speak with them, perhaps over supper or dominoes, or maybe even a game of Dutch Blitz, which I have been trying to teach them (sort of ironic, Chileans playing dutch blitz). Also for Don Rene, our teacher at school- joyful praise that he is so open to the bible- on Wednesday he commented on how he was sort of surprised that we had not yet taught anything contradictory to what the catholic church teaches. Pray that he would have an increased desire to know more, and that even the simple stories we use with the children would spark an increased interest in the life of faith in Jesus Christ.

So here’s the quick prayer list:

1. making a clear and true representation of Jesus Christ and the gospel, my focus, not simply making a good impression myself
2. Adelina and Orozimbo and Don Rene
3. active courage to speak openly about Christ in various friendships
4. seeking God’s will each day, being fully IN chile, not becoming preoccupied with stuff back in the US

good news- pictures are up- all almost 500 of them. (I had to clean off my camera memory card). They are on snapfish but I will try and send you an email invite so you can go see as many as you want without being overwhelmed.