By Chile Mission Team on 8/15/2010 7:36 AM

I woke up this morning and my stomach is stillfull from our lunch with the school staff at Donde Augusto.  This morning we are off to worship with Reconciliation Lutheran Church.  Worship will be in Spanish and in English.  Patti is reading the prayers and others will read the lessons.  We will share communion together which is such a moving experience regardless of the language.

After worship, lunch with the church and then to market for final souvenir shopping. Tito will take us to the airport and we will board our flight home around 8:00pm. 

 

We will continue to write and offer insight about our trip to chile--especially more pictures--when we return.  We miss you and look forward toseeing you soon.

Danielle

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/14/2010 1:03 PM

Friday was another great day! After breakfast we spent a couple of hours with Patricia, the ESL teacher. We worked with 6th graders doing crafts. Bunny and Roger taught them how to make bead crosses, Peggy taught them how to make star bead bracelets and Patti taught them how to work with the scratch off butterflies. Bill was in the kindergarten classroom with Serita, the beautiful brown-eyed little girl that stole his heart!! The 6th graders even spent their recess with us so they were able to continue doing the crafts. School dismisses every Friday at 1:00 instead of 3:45. So, about 12 NOON, the entire school had a celebration for us. Children dressed in native costumes and dance the “cueca” – Chile`s national dance. Then they took all seven us out into the middle of the dancing area where they tried to teach us the dance. It was all great fun trying to learn! The school presented each of us with a journal complete with photos of the school on the front and back. The children all stayed around at the end of school hugging and kissing us and saying good-bye. They all knew it was the last time we would see them on this trip. After lunch, we spent a while packing up school supplies as gifts for the teachers. 

Later in the afternoon we had a service in the chapel with the entire staff. It was mostly in Spanish with a little in English. It was a high energy service! Afterwards, we all went to a fiesta with the staff. Most of us ate empanadas for the very first time! WOW!! They were delicious! They are bread filled with shredded meat, cheese, grilled onions, a half hard boiled egg and 1 olive (with a pit!!) We all are looking forward to Sunday lunch when we will again eat these delicious treats! After eating, we gave the teachers their gifts. Their eyes were wide with delight. It looked like children on Christmas morning when they were going through the school supplies we gave them. It was a wonderful, warm feeling to see how much they appreciated their gifts. They showed each other what they had received because each bag was different. They oohed and aahed over everything! It was a beautiful response to what they received and it warmed our hearts! What an awesome ending to a fabulous Friday!   Patti Neptun

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/14/2010 12:01 PM

Everyday we anxiously check the blog to see if anyone is reading. We want to hear from you!

Be home Monday.

 

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/14/2010 8:13 AM

We are headed off for our last day at the school in just a few minutes.  AFter stopping by Sodimac (My Favorite Construction Store!), we will be painting the inside of the chapel.  The mural still stands prominently in the space making it beautiful.  After our last trip, the school who had been using the chapel for storage, began a monthly worship service for the staff on Fridays.  What a beautiful legacy left by the first team that we were able to participate in yesterday.  In worship here in Chile, passing the peace is like our contemporary service on steroids--you kiss and hug everyone!

After several hours of painting, we are being taken for lunch in downtown Santiago and then to see some of the sights. 

danielle

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/13/2010 4:50 PM

This morning the students danced the cueca for us (Our own Matias was part of the group) and then taught us the dance (or at least tried to). We have pictures and video of their performance. Here are the results of ours:

 

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/13/2010 9:49 AM

Yesterday evening the group was able to meet the ELCA missionary, Karen Anderson, whom CTK supports.  She is the founder of EPES and Director of their international training course. We left the school in the later afternoon and traveled to the EPES office in Santiago. 

Karen shared with us how EPES was founded.  After working with Chilean refugees in New York,  this idealistic 25 year old flew to Chile to make an impact on community health.  Working with the Lutheran Church of Chile (IELCH), Karen and several other women started organizing community health teams which became EPES.  Her first community health team was in the O´Higgins area with what used to be the daycare that is now the Belen O´Higgins School we are working in.  EPES has done amazing work in Chile as well as in Concepcion.  Karen shared that after the earthquake, EPES provided water to the entire Hualpen neighborhood in Concepcion.  They also began a program, in partnership with Mercy Corps, to attend to the emotional needs of the students by giving a comfort bags (including a stuffed animal, flash light, toothpaste, etc.).

After hearing the stories, we sat down to a wonderful meal in a very small kitchen--it was very much like family!  At dinner, we shared our background and the employees of EPES shared theirs.  Several of the employees were detained and tortured during the dictatorship of Pinochet and had difficult stories to tell and hear.  Several of the employees that traveled to Concepcion after the earthquake which was being run by the military, stated that it was very reminiscent of the times during the dictatorship. 

One of the men, Jorge, who is the librarian, thanked us for coming and said that our presence is a reminder that we are all in solidarity in our pursuit of justice and equality.  To end our time together, Karen printed off the lyrics for the song Ël Perdon¨ by John McCutcheon.  John is a muscian who has done several benefit concerts for EPES.  In 2007 he visited the Mapucho River and heard the story of a priest who was killed during the dictatorship.  Before he was killed, the priest said to the soliders, take off my blindfold so that I can see you and forgive you.  We gathered in a small room at EPES, listened and sang the words together.   The song ends, ¨En la villa Grimaldi la memoria vive, Hoy el Parque por la Paz en Auchwitz, en Darfur, Argentina y Chile, We cry, ¨Nunca mas, nunca mas!¨  There were very few dry eyes inthe room. 

Oh and the people at EPES did not believe that Danielle was a pastor but after explaining that I was a Diaconal MInister, they gave her a new name....Pastora Clandestina.

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/12/2010 1:05 PM

God is good.  After a cold rainy day in Santiago yesterday, we awoke to a beautiful and sunny day!  After a breakfast of Norma´s homemade bread, we were taken to the teacher´s lounge.  There we were introduced to all the teachers--that place is full of laughter. 

After meeting the staff, we joined English teacher Patricia in the kindergarten class.  We played red light, green light complete with a yellow caution light during which the kids danced!  We then played with the parachute. They loved it!  Lastly, we colored pictures with the students and shared stickers.  We recognized some similar faces in the classes.  All of the kids were hugging on Bill and calling him Tio.  Patti, Peggy and Bunny were in their element.  The students wanted to play baseball and Roger helped lead a very rousing game!

Here are some pictures of our time in the school. 

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/11/2010 4:21 PM

What a wonderful day!  La Escuela Belen O´Higgins has been a very welcoming place.  We have received hugs and kisses from teachers, children, and other staff.  The welcome has been exceptional.  I have connected with the teacher who teaches English to the children.  Her name is Patricia, which was an immediate connection for us.  We have been labeling classrooms for her with the Spanish word first followed by the word in English.  We have also made a set of colors for each classroom - Spanish color followed by the color in English.  Tomorrow, we will continue to label rooms, passageways, offices, etc.  Patricia's English is good and she has been our translator, which has been wonderful.  She and I spent some time talking about her family and she had many questions about the United States.  She lived and worked in California for 5 months and loved it!  She said she would love to go back.  She has a 6 year old son and she is very proud of him.  The boys hooked up an amplifier and played some very loud music during recess on the "patio" (playground).  I went outside to take a break and started dancing and they thought I was "loco".  Some of the younger boys found the balls and bats we brought.  We have been trying all day to keep them for tomorrow when we work with the English teacher and the PE teacher, but some of the boys tried to get them out of the room and play with them today.  Matias, 12 years old, was our security for the bats and balls.  **Rod - Matias and the boys cannot wait to play baseball again!!**  Matias is a delightful child and very talkative.  He is teaching us Spanish and trying very hard to learn some English.  Today has been heartwarming, uplifting, fulfilling, outreaching and educational.  We are more than likely learning more than we are teaching.  Listening to their stories is delightful and many times entertaining because we cannot always understand each other´s words.  Sign language is a big part of our day.  More and more Spanish words creep into my conversation and it does get a bit easier.  I am loving my time in Chile.  It is more than I could have hoped for in so many ways.  My experiences here will be carried in my heart forever.  Patti Neptun

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/11/2010 1:14 PM

We are rested from our long bus ride from Concepcion. Last night Pastor Buschert and his family welcomed us into their home. We have been welcomed graciously everywhere we have gone. From the wonderful hospitality at EPES and the precious families that were in the camps that we visited. They had lost all their posessions from the tsunami, were living in unheated wooden shelters, but had smiles, kisses, and hugs for us. We are anxious to tell you their stories when we return. Now we are surrounded by energetic, laughing chldren as we work at the school. Their enthusiam is contagious. Continue to keep us all in your prayers. Roger and Bunny

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By Chile Mission Team on 8/11/2010 11:42 AM

...and still on Chileano time.  

It is the same here but different. Many more kids and staff here this time. Lots of laughter, even in the rain. Many hugs and kisses. Many familiar faces. Miguel, Carlos, Andrea, Norma. The first person asked for was Renee. Will let you know as we see more.

Back soon...

 

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