Anniversary of the Conaripe Church

Dear everybody,

May 21st in Chile is a national holiday. It was a special day for our family for two different reasons. First of all it was Morgan's 3rd birthday. Second, it was the anniversary of our new church in Conaripe. The congregation held an all-day get together and special meals at the church. We celebrated Morgan's birthday the day before knowing that we would not be around to celebrate it on the day of.

Yesterday was a stormy, rainy day. The church in Conaripe is located around lake Calafquen, about a fifteen minute drive from the camp. It is much closer to the mountains and therefore usually has cooler temperatures.



The church celebrated 16 years of worshiping in their current building. The congregation used to count 70 to 80 people in attendance but now, only a handful come to the services. They had been without a pastor for 2 years and are starved for good teaching from the Word of God.


Yesterday, however, was a day of remembering the past and looking toward the future.

How do Chileans celebrate?

Well, they celebrate by eating together, drinking mate together and laughing together!

We were served a typical Chilean soup called Casuela, along with different salads and home-baked pastries. Delicious!

We drank enormous quantities of sweet Mate (loose leaf special tea).

After lunch, the ladies cleaned up the dishes and got ready for the service. Many people shared testimonies of years past and then Danny gave a message from God's Word, sharing about the two fold purpose of the believers on earth, namely to be salt and light in this world.

He admonished the congregation to also look toward the future and not dwell on the past!

Nehemias (Nehemiah)

We are praying for the church in Conaripe to bear fruit. We want to invest our lives, not only in the current generation but also in the next.

Belen (Bethlehem)

After the service, we sat down once again for a meal! This time it was an "asado" (barbecue).

It was pouring down rain and the storm was raging outside but that didn't dampen spirits any. They built their fire and put the "disco" (metal disc)on the hot coals ready to grill.

The meat ends up being stir-fried with onions, bell peppers and carrots and cooks in its own juices.

YUM!!!!!

God opened up this opportunity for us to minister in this church. We are getting to know our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pray with us that we can be a blessing to the church and that God would do a work in hearts and transform lives for His glory.

Liz

Part 3 of our vacation trip to Chiloe

Dear everybody,

Our family really enjoyed our time in the islands. For Dan it brought back many memories and to see his kids walk the same streets he walked as a child was neat. Micah, Matthias and Morgan LOVED the ferry rides and spotting porpoises and seals in the cold waters of the pacific.

The wind on the ferry was cold but the kids were nice and warm in their wool sweaters and knit hats purchased in Dalcahue.

Above: The kids are sitting on the dock on one of our daily walks. We were glad to have brought their rubber boots along for the trip so that they could tromp along on the muddy beaches.

Here the kids are standing on a version of an old anchor system used in the past in the islands.

Micah wore his "chilote" sweater like a second skin. It kept him toasty warm, even if he did smell like a sheep!
Thanks for following the blog.
I'm hoping that the articles give you a glimpse of our life here in Chile.
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Liz

Part II of our vacation trip to Chiloe

Dear everybody,

We spent four days in the Chiloe Islands. Every day we walked down to the docks. On the way we noticed many different things.

One of the differences we noticed was the siding on the houses. Most of the houses have wood shingles - all different shapes and sizes.

Reaching the docks, the boys loved looking at all the boats and smelling the fishy sea air. The salmon and shell fish industries keep the islands alive economically.

Below - Here are a bunch of clams ready for shipment to the mainland.

Here is a fish market store. Can you recognize some of the different types of fish or seafood offered on the menu?

The islands have a beauty all their own. Danny was glad that we had rainy and windy weather because that is the typical weather down there.

Our hosts during our time were Rafael and Paola Arroyo. They are Chilean but from the capital city of Santiago. At age fifteen Rafa took a trip down to the Islands and God called him to ministry during that time. He met Paola during his years in Bible Institute and soon after they were married they moved down to the islands to minister. They have served the Lord for 17 years, preaching and teaching in the islands.

Above, is the church in Dalcahue where they minister. We enjoyed a Sunday service worshiping the Lord together. I shared my testimony and Danny preached in the evening service.

What a neat experience to visit the islands and gain a fresh perspective of the Lord's work in a different part of Chile.

Come back soon to view more pictures of our time in Chiloe,

Liz

Our vacation trip to the Chiloe Islands

Dear everybody,

Last week, Dan returned from a two day pastor's retreat held three hours south of where we live, in Puerto Montt. He walked in the door and announced that he was ready to take our family on a vacation and that we should go to the Chiloe Islands. Some of you know that Dan was born in the islands, in the town of Achao. He hadn't been back to visit in 13 years. So I packed up our bags and we set off on our vacation.

The kids traveled well for us. The scenery was beautiful. The farther south we got, the greener the grass.

We traveled all the way to Dalcahue. Can you find it on the map? We took a ferry to cross over from the mainland to the Island of Chiloe.

Gospel Mission of South America has had many years of ministry in the islands. The majority of the islands were very remote and it was not uncommon to meet people who had never stepped foot onto the mainland.

Dan's folks, Terry and Carol Thompson, held evangelistic meetings using a boat to travel and carry all their equipment (tents, etc...) to and from all the different islands.

This ministry still continues today with "El Mensajero II" with its captain Misael Avendano.

Misael and Dan had some good opportunities to talk about the boat and its ministry. Unfortunately for the past year, the boat has been on shore because of motor problems.

Would you pray that a solution would be found in order for the gospel to reach people on the islands?

The Catholic Church has had a major stronghold in the islands. Hundreds of years ago, Jesuit priests came and built huge catholic churches which still stand today.

This is the catholic church in Achao, the town where Dan was born.

Come back to the blog soon to meet Rafael and his wife Paola who have been national missionaries in the islands for 17 years and to hear what else we saw and did during our trip.

Liz