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Published: April 15th 2007
Vina Del Mar
The famous flower clock Wow its been a long time since I have written on this thing. I can’t remember where I left off last time so I will just start at the end of my outreach in Colombia. So in Colombia we went to a few different places. We were in Bogotá for about a month which wasn’t the greatest then we went to Melgar and a few surrounding cities also. I can’t remember how to spell them so no sense in trying. In Melgar there is about 5000 pools and about 20000 people in the city. So you can imagine how hot it actually was. Sweat all day every day. So while here we were working a lot and I mean a lot. Like going t 5 different schools a day and then maybe giving a sermon at night. So it was crazy. We were so tired. After every school the kids treated us like rock stars for real. It was different. We signed everything. At one school I signed like 40 kids arms. So always signing papers or bodies and of course pictures. It was mad mad mad. Especially for us white people. They loved us a lot so that was
Mini Niagara
Salta De Laja cool. We got a cool chance to bless them in different ways. We also went to Cartago I think it is spelled and at this place no different. Tons of kids but we got the awesome opportunity to go to a deaf kids school. We did dramas for those kids and talked to them through signs of course but got to minister to their parents a lot I guess. So I learned a little bit of sign language also. But they way those kids communicate is so cool and just there personalities rule. I love hat the Brasilians call people with handicaps, as we refer to them in America. The brasilians call them exceptional people. Its so true they may not be perfect in our eyes but they are exceptional people. There is something that is different in them. In other words it was a real privilege to work with those kids. So after that, at the beginning of march we were making our way back to the land of chi chi chi, le le le, viva Chile. So we were all super excited about that. So on our way home some of us were going to make a nice
National Park in Pucon
This in the National Park in Pucon with the Volcano in the volcano in the background. It called Volcan Villarica. little stop in Santa Cruz in Bolivia. It turned out to be a real crappy stop. We had to stay a night in some hotel, wasn’t too bad, but the worst part was when we got to Buenos Aires my bag was torn open, the zipper broken and my buddies bag also opened. So we started to look into our bags to see what indeed was missing. So I started to look for my knife, my leatherman. Sure enough it was gone but lucky they were nice enough to let me keep the sheath. Same thing in my buddies bag and they also stole about 3 dollars from him, so we were pretty pissed. I also found some of his stuff in my bag. Not to happy. Then we made it back to Pichilemu and all was well once again. One adventure ended and another beginning. Traveling… I think.
So in about my last week of outreach I was trying to figure something out. Weather or not to go traveling around South America like I had planned for the last few months. I just didn’t feel at peace with it anymore. So I started to talk to God more
Pucon and Lago Villarica
This is taken from on top of the volcano witha view of Pucon, the city, and lago, or lake, villarica about it and see what his opinion was. So I went to neutrality on the decision. It was hard to do but then he started to talk to me about doing the counseling school. I didn’t want to do it because I wanted to go traveling. So I said I need confirmation in this thing. So the day before I had to make the decision I was reading in 1 Cor 9 and this just so happens to have my favorite versus in the Bible. So I got to the end of the ch and one part says I do not run like a man running aimlessly and God just kind of stopped me there and said that is what is was doing by going traveling without thinking about him. So the I was like wow that is so true. Anything without God is aimless. Its pointless, life without God has no meaning. So that kind of hit me back and I was like yah I guess I cant do this whole traveling thing anymore. I need to obey God. He commands us to do it. I want to obey him because I know him and I know that he
Classic Pichilemu
Beach and surfer. Thats all you need to see or say to describe Pichilemu knows whats best for me. So I decided to do they counseling school that would start 10 days later. So I was pretty excited to do it because I knew that he had some big plans in this school. But I still really wanted to travel. So I did.
Me and a few friends we went to Vina Del Mar and Valparaiso first off. We went there with a friends because he is from there. So we got to stay in some of his friends houses and he gave us a tour of the two cities. Great and beautiful place but the weather wasn’t the greatest. It reminded me of the coast of Cali. Kind of cold and foggy all the time but it was still gorgeous. So that was fun, we were there for about 3 days then we headed south to Yumbel to another friends city. Oh yah and yes dad I did go to the same place you went to with the fisherman. Except one problem they have now changed that place and are making it more modern. Its not like you would remember it anymore. So Yumbel. That was a breath of fresh air. It
This is Colombia
No big deal, just a few guys with guns on the side of the road. Just in case some guerillas come. was so relaxed in this little town. We just hung out and ate fruit that grew off the land. It was nice and we went t this beautiful waterfall called Salta de Laja. For me it reminds me of a mini Niagara Falls. Then we went for a swim in the river which was freezing. We spent about 3 days there also and that was about 5 of us. Then Keri and I wanted to go a little more south and go to Pucon. Or I wanted to go and she wanted to come cause she loves traveling and the outdoors and all. So we both went down together. We got to Pucon at 12 at night and there was this cool guy at the station so we went and stayed at his hostel. Nice little comfy place. The next day we decided to go for a hike to the national park there that is really old. An old growth forest. It was pretty nice and had some beautiful lakes. It was a great day and I hadn’t gotten a lot of water in me due to the previous day of bus rides and I started to crap up. So
Crazy Surfers
This is in Pichilemu its called Puenta De Lobos. These guys surf moster waves, sometimes like 10 to 15 meters, 30 to 40 feets, right in front of those two monster rock stacks. You can imagin what happens when you fall. that sucked but I went for a swim and it got a bit better. But I kept thinking about the next day because we planned to go hike a volcano that day. To hike the volcano takes like 6 hours of walking or hiking. So I was like I am not going to make it tomorrow but whatever. So we hung out at a few lakes and then we were going to go back to take the bus back and the bus driver said 6:30 it the bus but we had heard before that it was at 5:30, but we trusted the bus driver cause he was driving that day. So we were just hanging out a the lake and really enjoying out time and yah me being the guy said no lets chill ad relax. No hurry right. But Keri wanted to go so we compromised and stayed for 5 more minutes. I thought what are the chances I will leave right at 5:30. Like this is South America here. Thy never do thing on time. So we started to run now because we thought we heard the bus and sure enough we had and he left 3 minutes before we got there. It actually left at 5:30. Now we had no way of getting back to the city which is like a hour car ride. Then some guy was driving back and he gave us a ride. So yah go God, it was a nice gift. Now next day we planned to go up this volcano thing. We booked it with some company and they left at 4 in the morning if I remember correctly so that we could be half way up and catch the sunrise. So we got up nice and early and we started to climb this volcano. About half way up there is snow so we had to put on the spikes and use out ice axe. It was tons of fun. So we were going like no problem. Well except one. I had drank a ton of water that night and morning so I wouldn’t cramp up this day. So I had to go pee really bad. So about half way up the winds really started to pick up. Like they got really fast and were only going to get faster the higher we went. They were at like 100mph the guy said. So it was no joke. Like people were falling because they are so fast and we are going up some steep steep parts. So a few people had to wait while us better younger stranger ones went on. So we just went and got to the top. I did get to take a pee a ways up and after that was climbing ever easier. At the top it was great. The view was awesome. Like really spectacular. On this day we didn’t get to see into the volcano because there was a lot of wind and a lot of sulfur smoke so we couldn’t see lava but they do very often see lava. That sulfur smoke kills ya. I mean your eyes burn and you can’t breath. So we didn’t stay up there to long. Then we started to go down and we just basically skied down on our boots. It was fun and we got down in like 2 hours when it took us like 6 go get up. After that we went and got some food and went to the beach for a bit. The next day we again went to the beach and swam and walked and that about it. Saw more of the city and got a nice tan. Then Keri and I went back home, or back to Pichilemu to start the counseling school.
So the counseling school is about a month into it now. It has been going great. I have been learning a lot about myself and the plan that God had originally intended for me to have. The way the he really wanted me to be. They call it the plumb line. A perfectly straight line. So I started to identify a lot of things in my life of why was the way I was and what I needed to change. For example I am a really competitive person. I am really prideful, I look down on others and I try to prove that I am better than other through all things that I do. I was on a 15 year rampage, as I like to call it, proving to the world that I am better then them. I am a superior breed and no one could take that away and no one was going to help me either cause I waned all the glory. So in that I was rejecting God because I was so independent and prideful and didn’t see the need for others and I was in a way saying I was better then God. I just wanted to show people that I wasn’t a spoiled brat. So right now I am really learning a lot about humility and the power of words. They are really powerful because after a while you will start believing what other people say about you. Good or bad. Overconfidence or no confidence. Two bad extremes. Most of us are on one side. So I was identifying a lot with some things. Then for the last two weeks we have had classes on deliverance. They have been great but one class was really cool. It was the gift giving class. Before the class my mom and dad called me and I had kind of forgotten about the class. Then one of my leaders came in and said we got to go. So I went. It was great to see people giving gifts and receiving gifts. For my receiving gifts is harder than giving gifts because I think why do they need to give me a gift. I can just get it myself. I don’t need their help. Just keep it, is what I always think. But God was doing things in my life that night. I got some gifts. I got like one time 2 dollars, then another time a dollar, then some shoes, which actually are awesome, and in this time God was showing me how to accept and give at the same time. Cause these people here are giving me these little gifts, as I see them but lots of the time that’s all the money they have left. They have just given me everything that they have left. They don’t even have money to buy toilet paper anymore. Even more than that they were giving it to someone they know has a lot of money, they know I don’t really need it but in a way I really do. I don’t need it to buy stuff I need to it as a lesson to stop being to bloody prideful and accept with a gracious heart. Then God showed me that how can I accept his gifts if I can’t accept the gifts from people here on earth. That one hit me hard. Pride is a terrible thing. Satan is Satan because of pride, man fell in Genesis because of pride. So back to the rest of the night. Then our teacher got up as the last person. Then he started to talk to me. He said his watch is for me because I was late to the class. Which was a joke. Then he said its because it is an Addidas watch and I like sports so that way its for me. Also a joke. Then he got real serious. He said and I don’t think I had told him any of this information before but, he said I am a person who loves to travel. Check right on the money. Then he said this watch represents two things. Time because it is a watch and that what its function is and the world because it has a map in the center of the watch of the world. He said I had given up a big trip to be here, check again, and that God was going to honor that. He told me this watch, with the world and the time, is a symbol that I have them both in my hands. God is giving me the world in time. In the time that I want it basically. That I have Gods blessing and the favor of God in this area because I obeyed him. When we obey him he will bless us. We can read this in Deut 28. So I was pretty taken back by that and I shed a few tears also because I really felt like that was what God was saying to me. There is nothing more beautiful then getting words from him. So that about brings me to today. So I don’t think I have anything left to share. This has been way to long and it will probably be just as long next time. I don’t seem to get to write in this to often but Keri has been great and let me borrow her computer this whole week. So girl thanks for that if you are reading this. Well family and friends I love you guys a ton and I will see a lot of you in July I guess. I send you my greeting, blessing, love and prayers from the great nation of CHILE. Much love and SHALOM.
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Jamie
non-member comment
Nice work bro. That is awesome. Good chattin with you yesterday. Its funny how God changes our plans because a year ago you and i were going to travel SA, but God showed me and you both that that wasn't going to happen. Crazy. Love yah big guy