Knitting Ministry

Well, looking back over the past few posts, we've got a lot of food going on in this blog - so I thought I'd add something different today!

Yesterday I went to visit our dear friend Denis in the hospital, for more info on Denis go here. Anyway, she has been in the hospital for about 3 weeks now, and we are praying that her stay will not be too much longer. At this point things are just moving slowly...as many public hospitals just don't have the staff/resources/etc. to move super quick. I snapped a few pictures of the hospital so you can get an idea of what one of top hospitals in the Concepcion area looks like. 

Heading toward the visitor entrance, I believe that new front entrance is more more ER stuff and day visits...because we always just head to these back buildings where they have the long-term patients

Jordan and I were able to visit her a few weeks ago, and I also was able to go last Friday for a visit - unfortunately this hospital is about an hour away by bus, so it isn't the easiest to get to. After our initial visit, I really felt like I would be cool to get a knitting ministry going like the one we have at our church back home. I set out to knit Denis a scarf, all the while praying for her as I worked. I was able to give it to her yesterday - and explain to her the idea behind a "prayer scarf." 

I added a little tag, with a Bible verse on the back for encouragement. 

After visiting her a few times (which has been a bit of a challenge from the Lord - I'm not the best "hospital visitor" so to speak, never knowing what to say, worrying about what to do, etc.) I realize that she is a little discouraged, and how could you not be? There's no tv or anything to distract you, you've got 7 other women in your room with varying degrees of serious illnesses. And while sitting in a bed all day could sound like a vacation, it probably gets really old really fast...so pray for speedy recovery!

Overall, to sum things up: please continue to prayer for Denis, for encouragement, blessings each day, and health. She is such a wonderful woman, I don't want to have to travel an hour to see her! :) Also, new ministry - knitting prayer scarves! I think we will be having a knitting session next week with some of the women, which will be a really good time of fellowship. Have a great Tuesday.

Blessings,

Missy

Prayer for Chiki D

Our dear dear friend, Denis, has been in the hospital for a little over a week now. We thought we'd blog this prayer request so that anyone who sees this can be praying for our "Chilean grandmother." She is a fabulous woman, but unfortunately has been hospitalized with fluid in her lungs. She has recooperated greatly from when she was initially sent to the hosptal, but she still needs more tests so that they can understand how to fix the problem. Thanks to all of you who have some time to pray for her...we thought we'd put up some pictures of her so you could get to know our Chiki-D!

This is from when we all went to see Harry Potter, Chiki may have fallen asleep for some of the movie, but she reassured us she was "just listening"...we had a good time teasing her about her sudden ability to speak English because the movie was spoken in English with Spanish subtitles :)

This is from one of the times Denis came over for lunch at our house - shortly after Rudy and Ida (her grandson and his wife) left for Sweden.

This is Paty, Denis's daughter. Paty has been our Chilean mom since we arrived, always having us over for her delicious cooking. It's always a super fun-filled day when we hang out at their house, we usually spend Sundays with them.

This is Pancha, Denis, and Ida at the mall. Same trip to see Harry Potter. Everyone is eating Swedish candy that Pancha brought back from Sweden- YUM!

This is at Thanksgiving, Rudy made sure he was awarded Best-Dressed for this particular party. It was a good day...we taught the Chileans about the gluttony that is our fantastic holiday.

This was taken last February when Missy came down with a group from Capstone. Two of the students stayed at Paty's house, and from this picture you can get an idea of just how cute our little Chiki is!


We love you Chiki, get better soon!
Jordan and Missy

30 Days More

Today we were approved for 30 day visas, as we have yet to get all the paperwork together for our semi-permanent missionary visas. Thankfully, the man at the foreign embassy office was feeling full of grace today and even gave us a few days extra because we pleaded our case with him.

To explain further, for all of you out there that don't know, you can only apply for a tourist visa once in Chile. Yes, maybe you already knew that, but we unfortunately didn't. That said, we went into the visa office yesterday planning to simply renew our visas another 90 days, so that the church here could get all the paperwork done for our extended stay as missionaries. Welp, we were quickly informed we couldn't just ask for more time, but again - very gracefully - the man told us we could have 30 days (No More!) to get our act (and paperwork) together. Of course, we waited until the EXACT day that our old visas expired, so we definitely would have had to high-tail it out of the country for a few days had we not been given this temporary visa. Living on the edge is just our style I guess.

So, now here we are, thankful that we didn't have to leave for Argentina for a few days, but also praying that the church documents don't take too long to get together.

Hope your Tuesday has been a blast!

Blessings,

Missy and Jordan

Another Anniversary

In thinking about all the things that were happening this time last year, it is also the “anniversary” of when we felt the call to come down here for long-term missions work. When Missy left for Chile last year for the month of February, we had already been seeking the Lord for months as to what He desired from us – since both of us felt the desire to serve abroad. While she was there, doors began to open in our hearts for the people of Chile and the ministries that were here. When she arrived home, only leaving Santiago 4 hours before the earthquake hit, it became a prayer-marathon of intercession for the people of Chile.

Something happens when you spend extended time in prayer for someone, your heart becomes entwined in theirs, you love them and care for them – even if you don't actually know them. This is what happened to us, our hearts yearned to be in Chile, serving the people, but for the next few months our call was to sit, wait, and simply pray for them unceasingly.

We waited for 7 months, and though it seemed like forever, God was preparing us in those days to be in His timing, not our own. September we finally got to board a plane to come down here, and now that we've been here for 6 months, we can both say that that time of preparation was completely necessary and served such a purpose. All that to say, thank you so much for all of your prayers and intercession on our behalf, we truly feel the blessings of the faithful day to day down here.

Some prayer requests we have:

• Continued guidance for the future, very broad, but that we would be in the Lord's will for the timing of our stay down here and how we spend our days serving

• We are traveling with Jordan's mom up to Santiago this Friday, she will be leaving for Oregon on Saturday, pray safety over her and our travels

• Pray for the upcoming soccer tournament our church is hosting

• For the construction of the church building that has begun, for the Preuniversity that the church runs, that the Lord would provide for both of these ministries

• All the ministries that are happening in our church: women, youth, discipleship, married, prayer

• For our visas, which we need to renew by March 15^th

The Last few days...

So there has been a lot going on lately around here. we will start with this video clip



So in case you hadn't heard, we had our first official earthquake since we have been here on Friday the 14th (somewhere between 6.8 -7.1 depending on your source), it was really odd because we were out working in a field (as you can see in the video). Before this weekend, we have felt tremors, and they have been a little weird, but to be standing on dirt and feel an earthquake was all together a weird experience. in the 72 hours since this earthquake there have been a lot of tremors, and a lot of strong ones nearly 10 over 6 on the Richter scale.

Panchi, Paula, Missy, and Alejandra at the camp

Pastor Luciano drinking juice with lunch

The youth pastor, Fernando, head pastor, Luciano, and I discuss something important.

The amazing thing is that people just go on with their daily business as if nothing is going on. Saturday we went back out to the church camp for the bible classes for the youth, then ate, and played soccer for a while. Today (Sunday the 14th) church was canceled because many people went to other cities to be with their families over the weekend, so Pastor Luciano and I went up once again to the camp to start cutting trees down for firewood.

one of the piles of wood we cut today, we need around 1500-2000 pieces to make it through the winter

All in all things are slowing down a bit, as it seems the summer is slowly winding down to a close. It is about time for the students to head back to their classes, parents are also are finishing up vacation time. We are looking forward to a different season of work down here!

We have a few prayer requests:
-Sleep for us
-Church building, We are building a new building as a church down here, are they are a few funds issues right now, Pray the and mis-understandings would be resolved.
-Peace for the people of Tome and the whole region, and us about all the tremors.
-Unity for the body of Christ in Chile

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support
Jordan and Missy

Prayer Requests from the Other Side of the World

Part of the Predio, where we are currently building the new church

This week has already been super busy! Jordan is working everyday at the Christian University in Concepcion, they have just moved buildings and are fixing up the new one for the students who will start classes in March. Once they have finished there, they will begin working again on the church building to house our congregation each Sunday. They have already completed the foundation, and are now working on the walls. (Construction pictures to come!)

Youth Group at the Predio

Prayer Requests for this week:

- For the water project in Dichato to be completed. The contractor just has to transfer the connection from one water tower to the new one that was built, this is a little more complicated than it sounds, so pray for a smooth finish – so that the people of the community can have running water to their houses!
- For the work projects in Concepcion and in the Predio (the location of our new church)
- For the upcoming visit of Jordan's mom, she will be coming at the end of February
- Tonight I leave for 2 days on a camping trip for the Evangelical Christian Youth of the region, it is supposed to be a bunch of fun, pray for growth in the group and safety
- For Jordan and I, that we would continue to find our daily strength from the Lord and not ourselves, that we could really rest in Him each evening
- For future preparations, that the Lord would continue to lead us in what our future here in Tome holds
- Finally, we will be purchasing a few pieces of media equipment that we have been praying about getting, so if you could be praying for continued guidance on what equipment is best for our situation/the church here/and even for good deals! :)

Thanks so much for your prayers, we are so encouraged by your encouragement both in prayer and comments/emails! Let us know if you have any prayer requests as well – we have prayer meetings at our house every Thursday, with a bunch of Chileans who love to lift up the needs of God's people!

Have a wonderful Tuesday,
Missy (and Jordan)