South America Travels: LA SERENA

We are having a nice time with Warry and Debora. The girls have John wrapped around their little fingers. I mainly help with homework and when John is otherwise occupied. They prefer their "Tata," which is an afectionate term for Grandpa. Last night John preached in church, preaching again on Habakkuk. He is getting very good. The building has been improved a lot since our last visit four years ago. It is nice to see how the Lord has blessed this congregation.

Church four years ago

Church today

I received an email from one of the women in Florida where we shared last summer. She remembered my testimony and asked me to call her mother-in-law who is going through a similar situation with her son. I told her that I was in Chile, but that I would try. I called and found the lady at home. I talked to her from a mother's heart and prayed with her. Hopefully, I was able to encourage her. One never knows how the Lord uses our experiences fro his glory. Today John had the opportunity to talk to a Christian who lost his wife. He and his son are very sad. Today also happens to be John's mother birthday, so John shared with him about how he dealt with the pain.

This afternoon we went to do the beauty treatments workshop. Debora went to beauty school to earn a certificate in order to do this. Then she applied for a government grant to fund the supplies and to provide a place to teach young women to do nails and facials. This kind of job training is encouraged by the government, and Christ for the City also encourages using local funds to do community work as a door to present the Gospel. Debora started with twenty women, but it is a twelve week program, and obviously in this high risk population, it is hard to get consistency from everybody. She usually has about ten students, but today only four showed up. I had my nails done! :) Debora has told them that she is doing this because she is a Christian. In Chile, as in most Spanish-speaking countries we say "Evangelical." One of the girls asked what she needed to do to be an Evangelical. Well, I presented the plan of salvation, and I stressed the fact that we are talking about a relationship with God, not a religion. She asked me is we have to wear skirts and no make up. It was kind of a funny question because we were all wearing jeans and make up and doing our nails. Deborah invited her to church, but her church is far. She would have to take two buses to make it. Debora will connect with her next Friday again and, hopefully, they can work something out.

Today we took the family to McDonalds. It is quite a treat for the girls. Tonight we are going to the young peoples meeting because Warry, as German in Argentina, is the young people's pastor. The pastor invited all of us to go to a typical restaurant for a BBQ. It will probably be about 10:00 by the time to eat dinner tonight.