Chile Mission Trip: Workday and VBS January 31

Hello again from San Fernando, Chile!

It was another beautiful day in Chile, Central as the weathermen call this region. We're roughly 100 kilometers south of Santiago which is not only the capital city, but pretty much the center of the country.

We've learned San Fernando is indeed a prosperous city serving 250,000 people in the area. As we mentioned earlier our Hotel Mercando is downtown next to a supermarcado and "Doggis" a nice place for ice cream. I should also mention although longitude, Chile is due south of Miami, time change is 3 hours earlier than Houston because it's summer time and we have to account for daylight savings. Right now its 8:45 p.m. or 5:45 back home.

For us our day began bright and early at 7:35 a.m. with breakfast and a short team meeting. The breakfast is sufficient, a toasted bun with cheese, fruit juice and coffee. We decided we would work until lunch, and then break. The task was pretty much a continuation of day one. Carl steadily worked on lifting the roof which is quite an impressive task. He's using two small hydraulic jacks and negotiating them at points where the rafters meet the joists. It's quite an operation to watch. Often one of the jacks will be positioned on the first floor with a long joist balanced with a series of cut 2x4's to the spot where Carl wants the roof lifted. Then the count begins as Bill jacks up the contraption and the roof so that Carl can fit some other boards under the spot lifting the roof about six inches off its mount. Imagine repeating this process at 32 critical points, and you can appreciate the engineering of the task.

While Carl was working on the lifting the roof, several "attic mice," Susan Patterson and Carleen Woods are scurring on top of the ceiling joists continuing the process of knocking down the sheetrock which we mentioned yesterday. By lunch the task was completed as Vicki Roussel joined the "mice" and lent her skills. "Crowbar" Kay Kelley and Bob "The Basher" Lassalle continued their work at the front door running into a very difficult horizontal joist which seemed like it would never break. But finally after Bob's persistence he was able to "bash" it from below and the wood split like kindling.

Lunch was another Chilean speciality. It is called "Pastel de Chocle," basically a corn based pot pie. Corn meal is carefully pressed in a "Conzelva Bowl" and then vegatables, olives and a chicken leg are added. The corn meal is then added to the top and the entire bowl is baked. The meal was quite filling and very delicious.

We spent a couple of hours after lunch preparing for Vacation Bible School. The church building is located across from a small park with some benches and green area. We first policed it, which was badly needed since all kinds of papers and trash had been left behind by others. With little ones coming we didn't want anything to detract from the fun. The day had been very well planned out by Vicki. There were seven stations for the children; necklace making, music, crayon coloring, a craft, tatoos, frisbee, and photos, each with a Biblic context. Each was eloborate in its own right. For instance while a photo was taken on a digital camera and printed, the children made a frame. Then the photos were processed and each child could take the picture home. In that craft session, each child made a lamb using cotton balls and a cut out from a paper plate. We all lost count of how many children came, but it was made even more special when John, the gentleman we met yesterday, brought his wife and three young boys to take part.

As we always say on these trips there's always a "God moment" and for Susan Patterson it came while making necklaces. One of the women who came brought her own three children and four others. While her children were making the bead necklaces, it was clear she had never heard about Christ before. She was able to hear about Jesus with the assistance for Nydia who was a pastor here in Chile before she and her husband were sent to serve in the Rio Grande Valley. Nydia was not only able to share Christ's love with her, but also introduced her to Diana who is the youth pastor at the church we are working on. We understand the family will be back with Diana at next Saturday's service.

Following VBS we had dinner and headed back to the hotel to rest up for another long day tomorrow.