Family Reunion in South America!

So welcome to the wonderful experience of Chile, and the adventure to and from Paraguay- a few countries that i had no idea i would EVER be able to experience in my life...

<---This is a picture of a woman with God's heart of love, that shined through as pure gold in my eyes. We got to stay together in Santiago the first 2 days we were there before heading out for Paraguay. Alejandra along with 2 other women from Southern Chile named Margarita and Veronica completely took Alyssa and i under their wings. We stayed up talking and laughing, and making great use of my Spanish-English dictionary. They introduced us to many things, including putting mayonnaise on your rice!!! It was actually quite yummy. Alejandra and her 2 friends were the first impression I received of Chile; and I would go back in a heartbeat on simply the love and compassion and excitement she had for life, and that she poured into mine. The constant sweet comments she would express to me made me confident and more willing to be flexible because I knew I was taken care of. I have never been more at peace in my life! I honestly felt like I went to a family reunion and we all met in Chile, except this was family i had never met.

This is a picture of an amazing girl that i met named Romina. She lives in Chile, and also went to Paraguay with us. She acted as our translator and soon became one of my best friends! Her and her dad took us on a tour of Chile the first full day we were there, sacrificing their time to educate us and share the day with us. The day that we were at the bus station, preparing to leave to Paraguay, she could choose ANYONE to sit with, and we had barely met from the days before and she chose me. Thank you God! We spent the first part of the trip sleeping because we both experience the amazing effect of driving on mountain rodes....Car/Bus Sickness. She taught me so much, we were either talking, laughing or sleeping. A few people asked if we ever slept, Mrs. Stevens said she fell asleep to us laughing, it was better than the crazy movie that they were playing on the bus. We would talk while everyone else would sleep and we would sleep during the day, so just a little opposite of the crowd is how you might describe us. This girl has amazing faith, and wisdom beyond belief. She encouraged me so much with every day battles and situations i shared with her.

This is a picture of the place that we went to lunch almost every day in Paraguay, so we didn't eat as bad as i thought we would. No monkey noses, or cow who knows what, simply great food with tons of choices, it was a Buffet in Paraguay- little taste of heaven i would say. It was very inexpensive also, we did the math and it was about 4 American dollars for plenty of amazing food, including my favorite- italian ice cream, again in Paraguay where you sweat every minute of the day, what more could you ask for!?

This is a precious little girl named Jessica that i met while we were having a play day with a bunch of kids in a park. She was so beautiful, she seemed to always be wherever i was, just waiting to talk, waiting to play.

A few other precious ones

All in all, God showed me and gave me the opportunity to lead, something that i have always wanted to do, but always let someone else do instead. God showed me that it is possible and that i am capable of leading. I was so encouraged and respected by my peers and by complete strangers, i was constantly looked after, completely loved and so emotionally and spiritually lifted by almost everyone i came into contact with.

On the last Sunday we were in Chile, Matt and i got the opportunity to go to another Vineyard church in Chile called the Provencia Vineyard. It was a recently planted church within the last year, aimed towards the drug population and hurting families in the area. We shared about our trip to Paraguay, and were immediately welcomed and completely loved. Unlike everyone else, we went to a church where there was no one from the Chilean team; therefore we knew no one! We went to Pastor Isaac's house for dinner afterwards, and got to spend the day with his kids, and their friends. We ended up catching the subway and going to a movie "Pursuit of Happiness" which was conveniently and surprisingly in English, i guess all the movies there are, so of course we loved it, we didn't have to read sub titles, and no wonder the people CAN speak english they hear it through the whole movie! We ended up staying out quite late, it was amazing because of the completely different culture, it's not that big of a deal... it was amazing when Pastor Isaac dropped up off at Pastor Rodrigo's house at about 12:30 am, Pastor Rodrigo came outside and greets him "Pastor" at almost one in the morning. I think that there might be different words than that here at that late! But only a thought....