Church Hopping

Today was a great day in the Vineyard churches in Chile! What an amazing opportunity it was to have our school share in so many churches in one day.

We haven’t heard from Andrew and Isaiah yet. They are at the Union church in Vina Del Mar, on the coast of Chile about two hours from here. Both guys have shown some real maturity during this trip in different arenas. I will be excited to hear how their sharing went.

The church that they are sharing in is very unique. It is the oldest evangelical church on the west coast of South America. When the Catholic church gave permission for the church to exist it was limited to the Europeans in Chile. But things have changed in the past 150 years. To make a long story short, the church became a Vineyard a few years ago and is open for everyone to attend. But since the church is so historic, they have decided to keep the name Union. That Andrew and Isaiah get to share at this church is a privilege beyond belief.

Linda and Alyssa went to Vineyard La Florida today. The pastor’s wife of this church, Marcella, was one of our team members to Paraguay. She opened the morning by sharing a whole bunch of pictures and stories about the trip. Then Alyssa was given the opportunity to share the story about God getting us back across the Argentine/Paraguayan border on the ferry. Linda shared her heart about taking what we learn from mission trips and applying it to our every day lives. Linda was just beaming when she told us her story. When she was finished the pastor came to the pulpit and announced that instead of sharing his prepared message he just wanted to reiterate what Linda had just shared. Pretty nice honor!

I had the opportunity to speak in two churches today. It was a great experience. Stacyann went with me and got to share about some of her mission trip moments in the second church.

Then we went to the homes of some of our team members from Chile. Linda and Alyssa went to Marcella’s home where they were presented with a wonderful meal.

Stacyann and I went to Francesca’s home where we were joined by two other team members Ada and Victor and other members of the church about 16 in all. Francesca’s parents fixed us a feast! We sat at a table and laughed and ate and visited together for over two hours. The Latin’s really know how to be relational at a meal. I wish we were more like this at home.

Apparently Matt and Elyce are having a good time with their hosts too. Last thing we heard they were being taken to the movies with them and wouldn’t be home till midnight. You will have to hear about their church experience later!

Tomorrow is our day off. We are going to the coast to pick up Isaiah and Andrew at Vina Del Mar. We will do some sight seeing, eat a meal together and then spend the afternoon on the beach. I think the students all want to come home with Chilean summer tans when they get back to winter in the states. Several of our Chilean friends are coming with us tomorrow. I think they like the beach and hanging out with us.