La Union Church

Today was one of joy and other emotions as we re-visited Union Church where we pastored for 4-5 years during our sojourn in Chile more than 16 years ago. We met up with so many old friends and lamented the loss of others who have either fallen by the wayside, died or moved to other churches or cities.

It was a cold and bleak day weather-wise, but Union Church was full to standing room only with so many who had heard of our arrival. Gone were the old formalities and "english only" service, as I preached through an interpreter, Annie Gutierrez, who was just a child of 11 when we arrived, but who is now a mother of two and a wonderful Christian woman.

Meeting special old friends, like our first convert Patricio in the photo with his wife and three children and Carlos, Paola and THIER three children. Carlos is his usual clowning self and I kidded him about his extra weight - although he tried to say that it was just the layers of clothing against the cold day.

The church responded warmly to my message and will come out again on Weds night when we have a healing meeting. I look forward to that.

Back to Olmue

When we first arrived in Chile in 1987, we located to the countryside village of Olmue to learn Spanish. Olmue is nestled below an imposing mountain, la Campana, which gets a snow-covered peak at this time of year.

Today we re-visited Olmue, where horses and cowboys have right of way. It hasn't changed much and one of the things that one does in Olmue is to eat the famous "empanadas." So, as you can see we went right ahead and did so.

The cool weather has been quite a shock to our system - around 11 degrees - but it was nice and sunny at Olmue, where we dined in the lovely country air. We visited the place that we stayed in '87, a church retreat centre, only to find it overgrown and run-down. A shame and a bit sad, but not unexpected.

Eating and drinking seem to be the main things on our agenda at present, so at some stage that will have to change.... not today though!!!!!

Yikes!! Spanish

We are being absolutely spoiled rotten by our friends here in Chile. The view from their apartment building is spectacular, looking down on the Chilean Coast. We are being taken to dine in all the lovely places and the Chilean cuisine is deliciously remembered.

Somehow word has got out that we are here and pastors are calling wanting me to preach for them. I am graciously declining and have set up a time to meet them altogether for coffee and thus avoid meeting them all individually. It was a bit daunting to have to speak on the phone in Spanish and each time I opened my mouth to begin a sentence I wondered whether I'd be able to complete it!! So far so good. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. I'll so find out if I made myself understood on Thursday at 4pm when they should all turn up at the same place for coffee!!

Bienvenidos a Chile! (Welcome to Chile)

21 hours after driving away from our Brisbane home on Monday morning, we had a rude welcome back to Chile. Judy had packed a few snack nuts in her cabin bag and forgot to declare them. We were made to endure an awful couple hours filling out forms and paying an $80 fine (I'm calling Judy "Schappelle" for the next few days as punishment).
But worse than the fine was the discovery that our friend, who had driven all the way down from the coast to pick us up, thought that we had missed the plane and started home. With the wonderful provision of mobile phones, we caught her just 30minutes away and she returned for us.


The pictures are of us waiting for her outside the terminal in Santiago's 6 degree cold, with the snow draped Andes mountains behind.

We had a lovely drive back to our old coastal home and the wonderful luxury of a bath and a good sleep. Chile is 14 hours behind Brisbane. We look forward to seeing our old town today (Tuesday) and having some authentic Chilean cuisine for lunch.

Chao amigos.

Almost Blastoff Time...

Just two more sleeps and we're Chile bound...!!!
It has been a full and stressful few weeks as we moved into a new house, landscaped and fenced it, built two decks and wound up things at Church and the office. but we're there and tomorrow we can begin packing with only Sunday to negotiate.

Stay posted for news from Chile.