ok, brief rundown of our time in Cabana leading up to now:
*helping out in English classes
*exploring the hidden trails and getting to know all of the various thorny plants(and their fruits!) in the rich valley and steep rocky hills
*the hope of our stomachs shrinking so we would eat less and maybe shed a few Chilean bread pounds has been dashed...peruvian food is delicious and almost always has an enormous base of rice or potatoes.
*bonfire with hotdogs, stagazing, and guitar on a ridge overlooking the valley
*sunrise from the same ridge a few days later
*peruvian cooking lessons. i can now cook pollo estufado
*22 people in a 15 passenger combi from Cabana to Puquio, which took 4 hours but with a lot of time wasted with conversations like:
-hey i paid for my ticket
-well i have a baby
-well i want a window seat
-well i paid my 12 soles
-but i have a baby
-hey i bought htis yesterday and it says seat 3
-well mine says 3 too
-look i´ve got a baby and i need to sit here
-i bought this in Cabana
-they shouldnt have sold yuo that ticket
-well what am i supposed to do, i´ve got this baby
and so on and so forth
*11 hours in the somewhat affectionately named "pee pee bus" which smelled slightly of llama from Puquio to Cusco, arriving this morning
* settled for a nice hostal in the touristy part of town, dspite our usual tendenies to stay as far off the beaten track as possible. but its really cute, relatively cheap, has a kitchen where we can cook, really big really friendly dogs, and lots of Chilean guests(i could tell as soon as i heard them speak!) that we hope to make friend with.right now we´re just a little weirded out by the touristy-ness but understand that its just where we need to be since we have no friends or connections here and venturing awayfrom it could be dangerous...which sucks. but i know there´s a reason we´re here. im not sure what it is yet, but there is someone we´re supposed to meet, some conversation we´re supposed to have, some realization that is to take place and all of these little peices like our red room at the tippy top of the sunny yellow hostal, taxi drivers, camping arrangements and many other things that we can´t possibly forsee. so for now it´s just down to feeling out the "onda" (wavelength, feel) of this new place, living life, finding the life here that made the Incas consider this city the naval of th world. and most importantly, listening.
chau for now!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
"If you put lime on the octupus, it tastes better"
IM IN PERU!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok. just had to get that out of my system. we flew into Arica (the Chile side of the border) yetsterday and taxied over the border with a super nice man who took care of all the paper work and made sure we knew where we were and what we were doing, and gave us some helpful tips on not getting attacked or stolen from while we´re here. He was Chilean, and one can pretty much draw the conclusion from his opinions that most Chileans are not super fond of the Peruvians, partly because they had a war with them a century ago and some of those old tensions still flare up, but also because the Peruvians are poor and mostly of indigenous blood. if you tell a Chilean this, they will of course deny it, but I have heard entirely too many "I´m not racsit, but those Peruvians....¨comments to not believe that they come from a real place inside them where they believe they are better.
anyway, needless to say we had a bit of aprehension coming into this foreign place from another foreign place where there only say bad things about it. but from what we have seen, Peruvians are the loveliest most helpful people ever. yes, there is obviously a lot more poverty here, it´s dirtier and all that, but it seems as thought the whole country has come together to watch out for us, give us advice, and make sure we know what´s going on. taxi drivers, waiters, possibly shady man who got us a sweet discount on our bus tickets, people on the bus...all very kind and helpful.
anyway, back to events. crossed the border bought our pasajes for Nazca, went to the plaza, ate some kinda crazy good seafood soup(from which came the title of this blog - yes, i ate octopus soup my first afternoon in peru and it was really good!) wandered a little, watched small children play with pigeons and taxied back to the bus terminal. i then had the most AWFUL 20 minutes of my life during which i used more profanities than i have my entire life combined because i thought i had lost my wallet with EVERYTHING in it(except my passport). i was just about to call my dad to cancel the credit cards when my wallet fell out. it just fell. from the heavens. as a gift from the lord. it was actually stuck in between my butt and my backpack and had stayed wedged in there while we walked along a very bust street and through the bus terminal. if it had fallen out any sooner it surely would have been a gonner. luckily it turned out to be a really mean joke form God to teach me to keep up with my crap better. i think it worked. anyway, much laughter and joyful squealing and almost tears ensued. we finally got on a bus to ride for 12 hours to Nasca, our current location. we found a nice hostal which seems to be run by lovely 15-year olds and we will stay there tonight and head out for Puquio and then Cabana (where kim is) in the morning.
all in all, Peru is amazing. I can´t wait to get to know it´s quirks, street foods, heritage, and of course people. more to come soon!
Quick list of fun things:
*people thing we´re Chilean! it´s so fun! i guess its the accent!!! yaaaay! i have succeeded!!!
*the more purple the octopus meat, the less like rubber and therefore more tasty it is
*keep your wallet VERY close at all times!!!
*always note the number on the taxi to make sure it´s a legit taxi, but also in case you get attacked or something, you can say whose taxi you were in
*the customs office for entering Peru by car is actually an hour or so past the border town. kinda weird.
*Peruvians really do speak quite well and clearly and are easy to undrstand. well at least easier than it was to understand Chileans when we first got there.
ok that´s all for now! pray for our safety, and that our hearts will be open to whatever it is Peru has to teach us. BESOS!!!
ok. just had to get that out of my system. we flew into Arica (the Chile side of the border) yetsterday and taxied over the border with a super nice man who took care of all the paper work and made sure we knew where we were and what we were doing, and gave us some helpful tips on not getting attacked or stolen from while we´re here. He was Chilean, and one can pretty much draw the conclusion from his opinions that most Chileans are not super fond of the Peruvians, partly because they had a war with them a century ago and some of those old tensions still flare up, but also because the Peruvians are poor and mostly of indigenous blood. if you tell a Chilean this, they will of course deny it, but I have heard entirely too many "I´m not racsit, but those Peruvians....¨comments to not believe that they come from a real place inside them where they believe they are better.
anyway, needless to say we had a bit of aprehension coming into this foreign place from another foreign place where there only say bad things about it. but from what we have seen, Peruvians are the loveliest most helpful people ever. yes, there is obviously a lot more poverty here, it´s dirtier and all that, but it seems as thought the whole country has come together to watch out for us, give us advice, and make sure we know what´s going on. taxi drivers, waiters, possibly shady man who got us a sweet discount on our bus tickets, people on the bus...all very kind and helpful.
anyway, back to events. crossed the border bought our pasajes for Nazca, went to the plaza, ate some kinda crazy good seafood soup(from which came the title of this blog - yes, i ate octopus soup my first afternoon in peru and it was really good!) wandered a little, watched small children play with pigeons and taxied back to the bus terminal. i then had the most AWFUL 20 minutes of my life during which i used more profanities than i have my entire life combined because i thought i had lost my wallet with EVERYTHING in it(except my passport). i was just about to call my dad to cancel the credit cards when my wallet fell out. it just fell. from the heavens. as a gift from the lord. it was actually stuck in between my butt and my backpack and had stayed wedged in there while we walked along a very bust street and through the bus terminal. if it had fallen out any sooner it surely would have been a gonner. luckily it turned out to be a really mean joke form God to teach me to keep up with my crap better. i think it worked. anyway, much laughter and joyful squealing and almost tears ensued. we finally got on a bus to ride for 12 hours to Nasca, our current location. we found a nice hostal which seems to be run by lovely 15-year olds and we will stay there tonight and head out for Puquio and then Cabana (where kim is) in the morning.
all in all, Peru is amazing. I can´t wait to get to know it´s quirks, street foods, heritage, and of course people. more to come soon!
Quick list of fun things:
*people thing we´re Chilean! it´s so fun! i guess its the accent!!! yaaaay! i have succeeded!!!
*the more purple the octopus meat, the less like rubber and therefore more tasty it is
*keep your wallet VERY close at all times!!!
*always note the number on the taxi to make sure it´s a legit taxi, but also in case you get attacked or something, you can say whose taxi you were in
*the customs office for entering Peru by car is actually an hour or so past the border town. kinda weird.
*Peruvians really do speak quite well and clearly and are easy to undrstand. well at least easier than it was to understand Chileans when we first got there.
ok that´s all for now! pray for our safety, and that our hearts will be open to whatever it is Peru has to teach us. BESOS!!!
Friday, June 26, 2009
al tiro! (to the bullet...point)
* I HAVE FINISHED!!!! no more school work! I completed and emailed my last essay this morning! I am no longer enslaved to poetry, italian, or this stupid computer! i am freeeeeeeeee! well until my mom and sister come on saturday, then i'll be playing tour guide and getting mommy hugs! yaaaay!!!!
*Cold is a lot less bearable when you know there's not a big chance that you're going to be warm soon. they don't have central heat or air here and the use of space heaters is not super common. so it's just damp and cold all the time and there's not usually a whole lot of relief upon going indoors, especially in my room which always seems to be 5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. or rather, I should say my old room. My host family's abuelo(grandpa) is real old and sickly and is coming to live with us for a while. But he can't do stairs, so he's taking my room, I moved into Anita's(little sister) room upstairs and she is sharing with Sandra. So I am currently surrounded by an intense amount of Jonas brothers posters and magazine cutouts, Hannah Montana memorabilia and stuffed animals. AND the keep the awesome propane heater on up here! so i get warm! yeah!
*I wrote that last bullet point a week or so ago and then saved the blog to come back to. I have since moved back into my downstairs shoebox room and abuelo took took the Jonas Bros shrine. BUT I now have a space heater that they got for abuelo that he doesn't need since he's upstairs! yeah!
*There are crap tons of injustices against and violations of the rights of indigenous people in South America. In Peru, the majority of the population is indigenous(by a pretty wide margain) and yet they have NO representation in the government. AND due to the free trade agreement with the US, the government can sell their land without notifying them, US companies can come in and extract whatever we want with out any permission and without paying taxes. It's alllll kinds of messed up. And in Chile, the indigenous population is completely marginalized and discriminated against. They are not even considered citizens technically. So if a member of a Mapuche tribe were to commit some crime like arson they would receive 10 years in prison because it is considered terrorism against the state because they are apparently not Chilean, while a regular citizen would receive only 3 years for the exact same crime.
*shooting stars never stop being exciting. looking at tiny beacons of light that are so far away that even the fastest thing(if you can call light a thing) we know of takes millions of years to get there just never gets old. stargazing never stops inspiring us to wonder, to ask, to end up having deep and beautiful conversations. climbing on sketchy structures in the dark and laying on the tin roof in order to accomplish such things also never looses its awesomeness.
*puppies are always welcome.
*as are LOLcats. yes. you read correctly. i have fallen into the trap pf the LOLcats. sure i'm 2 years late on getting sucked into one of the interweb's most obnoxious fads, but i love them all the same.
* i think i want to move to Valparaiso someday, open up a hostel, let homeless people, backpackers, families, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, Rastas, Americans, Chileans, Israelis and whomever else stay there for whatever price they are able to pay and chill all day and cook and clean and love and talk about God. it'll be awesome. you can stay there too!
*Ever since I arrived in Chile, all I have heard about is the rain and how when it comes it's terrible and it never stops for like 5 months and it's soooo cold and blahblahblah. So every time it got a little cold or looked like it might rain, I was sure that it was going to be the end of nice lovely days forever! but then the rain never came. and never came. and never came. they say it usually starts around mid April or early May, but we had lovely weather, slightly cool, cloudy at times up until last week! and it's true that when it rains it poors. the streets become rivers and one must stand in a lake to board the bus and avoid the wake of cars as they speed through the mucky ocean...but it has yet to rain two days in a row and the days between the rain are fantastic! like today!!! as a matter of fact, it is time for me to stop living in this stupid screen and get outside!
quick things if you want to pray about something
*my brother Drew is moving to "north africa" (yeah gotta be all secret-y and whatnot) for two years on friday(yes the same day my mom is coming here). please pray that he will have a safe 25 hours of travel and the God will humble him, yet give him strength. that he will learn the language he has to learn and just be an awesome servant to the people he loves there!
*we still have no idea what we're doing after my family leaves and we have our 2ish weeks to travel. we know north. peru/bolivia area...but we're just chillin and waiting for God to give us some more hints. so pray that we will be really in tune with God and what he wants to do with us during that time. and that we won't worry about not knowing what we're doing. and that our parents won't worry about no knowing what we're doing.
ok for reals. i'm going outside. and then i'm going to bake apple pie with Catie!!! yaaaa!
ps. tell me something silly you have done lately! please??!?!
*Cold is a lot less bearable when you know there's not a big chance that you're going to be warm soon. they don't have central heat or air here and the use of space heaters is not super common. so it's just damp and cold all the time and there's not usually a whole lot of relief upon going indoors, especially in my room which always seems to be 5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. or rather, I should say my old room. My host family's abuelo(grandpa) is real old and sickly and is coming to live with us for a while. But he can't do stairs, so he's taking my room, I moved into Anita's(little sister) room upstairs and she is sharing with Sandra. So I am currently surrounded by an intense amount of Jonas brothers posters and magazine cutouts, Hannah Montana memorabilia and stuffed animals. AND the keep the awesome propane heater on up here! so i get warm! yeah!
*I wrote that last bullet point a week or so ago and then saved the blog to come back to. I have since moved back into my downstairs shoebox room and abuelo took took the Jonas Bros shrine. BUT I now have a space heater that they got for abuelo that he doesn't need since he's upstairs! yeah!
*There are crap tons of injustices against and violations of the rights of indigenous people in South America. In Peru, the majority of the population is indigenous(by a pretty wide margain) and yet they have NO representation in the government. AND due to the free trade agreement with the US, the government can sell their land without notifying them, US companies can come in and extract whatever we want with out any permission and without paying taxes. It's alllll kinds of messed up. And in Chile, the indigenous population is completely marginalized and discriminated against. They are not even considered citizens technically. So if a member of a Mapuche tribe were to commit some crime like arson they would receive 10 years in prison because it is considered terrorism against the state because they are apparently not Chilean, while a regular citizen would receive only 3 years for the exact same crime.
*shooting stars never stop being exciting. looking at tiny beacons of light that are so far away that even the fastest thing(if you can call light a thing) we know of takes millions of years to get there just never gets old. stargazing never stops inspiring us to wonder, to ask, to end up having deep and beautiful conversations. climbing on sketchy structures in the dark and laying on the tin roof in order to accomplish such things also never looses its awesomeness.
*puppies are always welcome.
*as are LOLcats. yes. you read correctly. i have fallen into the trap pf the LOLcats. sure i'm 2 years late on getting sucked into one of the interweb's most obnoxious fads, but i love them all the same.
* i think i want to move to Valparaiso someday, open up a hostel, let homeless people, backpackers, families, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, Rastas, Americans, Chileans, Israelis and whomever else stay there for whatever price they are able to pay and chill all day and cook and clean and love and talk about God. it'll be awesome. you can stay there too!
*Ever since I arrived in Chile, all I have heard about is the rain and how when it comes it's terrible and it never stops for like 5 months and it's soooo cold and blahblahblah. So every time it got a little cold or looked like it might rain, I was sure that it was going to be the end of nice lovely days forever! but then the rain never came. and never came. and never came. they say it usually starts around mid April or early May, but we had lovely weather, slightly cool, cloudy at times up until last week! and it's true that when it rains it poors. the streets become rivers and one must stand in a lake to board the bus and avoid the wake of cars as they speed through the mucky ocean...but it has yet to rain two days in a row and the days between the rain are fantastic! like today!!! as a matter of fact, it is time for me to stop living in this stupid screen and get outside!
quick things if you want to pray about something
*my brother Drew is moving to "north africa" (yeah gotta be all secret-y and whatnot) for two years on friday(yes the same day my mom is coming here). please pray that he will have a safe 25 hours of travel and the God will humble him, yet give him strength. that he will learn the language he has to learn and just be an awesome servant to the people he loves there!
*we still have no idea what we're doing after my family leaves and we have our 2ish weeks to travel. we know north. peru/bolivia area...but we're just chillin and waiting for God to give us some more hints. so pray that we will be really in tune with God and what he wants to do with us during that time. and that we won't worry about not knowing what we're doing. and that our parents won't worry about no knowing what we're doing.
ok for reals. i'm going outside. and then i'm going to bake apple pie with Catie!!! yaaaa!
ps. tell me something silly you have done lately! please??!?!
hey look! it's brown now!
so I am about to do a very dangerous thing that could turn out to be really good or really unfortunate. I am starting a post with no purpose or subject in mind...i just fell the need to post something since it's been a real long time. and i want to show off the new layout and colors! hee hee!
ok. so. I've been living in Chile for about 5 months. I've got about 1 month left.
weird.
I've been dating a lovely boy back home basically as long as I've been here, which i realize some of you might not have known...
weird.
I will have graduated this time next year.
weird.
I've kindof started the whole looking-back-on-the-journey thing, which is fun. and weird.
i'm very much in the process of picking apart what i believe, examining things i always just accepted as truth, questioning, doubting, tearing down, rebuilding and other such growth gerunds.
i've realized that it's good to question the church, but total and complete disillusionment is not good; that just because I don't agree with some things about the church/organized religion doesn't mean it's bad as a whole or condemned to only lie and bring harm. it's time to come back to the church, to accept it for the imperfect entity that it is and work/pray to make the the perfect entity it can be in Christ.
I have a much broader idea of what it means to pray, to worship, to experience God, to BE with him, of salvation. I have had times of intense communion with the father, where every breath was a prayer and every event was a direct action from his hand. i've had times where i was so lacking in any spiritual motivation or hope or joy that i didn't want to get out of bed and just reading the news headlines made me want to straight up leave this world. i've had sweet, brisk, cool breezes of clarity where for a brief moment everything made sense and foggy, ugly hazes of doubt that encompassed everything so that i could barely function in any capacity.
I went though a time of hating everything about myself and the way i experience life and God. all i wanted was to see God the way Catie does or see life the way so and so does. i was comparing myself constantly and basing all of my worth in other imperfect humans. it was awful.
but little by little, through the breaking of my spirit and the cleansing of unbelief from inside of me and rediscovery of joy and the blessed Holy Spirit that lives inside me, God lead me out of that. he showed me my sins of idolatry and pride, and reminded me that I am new and clean and forgiven in him, that those sins are no longer a part of me but Satan tricks me into thinking they are ingrained in me by showing me a warped image of myself in a faulty mirror. so i am slowly letting go if the idea that i am defined by my tendency to idolize people and relationships(and other sins) and finding my identity as a saint, guiltless and free with the liberty of Christ.
I've also picked up on the fact that there is a time to be ok with wondering and never knowing, and there is a time to actively seek answers. and i've been in wondering and stay on the fence stage for too long. time to dig in, pray, read, ask, think, listen. listen. that's a big one. just shuttup and listen to what the Lord is telling me. how he speaks to me though scripture, music, nature, church, friends...through life.
if you also happen to be a reader of Catie's blog, you may notice that our revelations and even some growth patterns seem to be very parallel...that's because they are. God totally gave us to each other to grow with, to experience life with. it's quite ridiculous really. plus we sat in a coffee shop last(while she drank a coffee called "amor perfecto" and i drank something called "romance" which involved hearts made out of raspberry syrup in the foam on top - awesome) taking about our souls and asking questions and such.
so there's a big fat soul update...sweet.
LOVELOVELOVE from the frigid southern hemisphere. any warm cozy thoughts and vibes are greatly appreciated. as are warm fuzzy comments.
ok. so. I've been living in Chile for about 5 months. I've got about 1 month left.
weird.
I've been dating a lovely boy back home basically as long as I've been here, which i realize some of you might not have known...
weird.
I will have graduated this time next year.
weird.
I've kindof started the whole looking-back-on-the-journey thing, which is fun. and weird.
i'm very much in the process of picking apart what i believe, examining things i always just accepted as truth, questioning, doubting, tearing down, rebuilding and other such growth gerunds.
i've realized that it's good to question the church, but total and complete disillusionment is not good; that just because I don't agree with some things about the church/organized religion doesn't mean it's bad as a whole or condemned to only lie and bring harm. it's time to come back to the church, to accept it for the imperfect entity that it is and work/pray to make the the perfect entity it can be in Christ.
I have a much broader idea of what it means to pray, to worship, to experience God, to BE with him, of salvation. I have had times of intense communion with the father, where every breath was a prayer and every event was a direct action from his hand. i've had times where i was so lacking in any spiritual motivation or hope or joy that i didn't want to get out of bed and just reading the news headlines made me want to straight up leave this world. i've had sweet, brisk, cool breezes of clarity where for a brief moment everything made sense and foggy, ugly hazes of doubt that encompassed everything so that i could barely function in any capacity.
I went though a time of hating everything about myself and the way i experience life and God. all i wanted was to see God the way Catie does or see life the way so and so does. i was comparing myself constantly and basing all of my worth in other imperfect humans. it was awful.
but little by little, through the breaking of my spirit and the cleansing of unbelief from inside of me and rediscovery of joy and the blessed Holy Spirit that lives inside me, God lead me out of that. he showed me my sins of idolatry and pride, and reminded me that I am new and clean and forgiven in him, that those sins are no longer a part of me but Satan tricks me into thinking they are ingrained in me by showing me a warped image of myself in a faulty mirror. so i am slowly letting go if the idea that i am defined by my tendency to idolize people and relationships(and other sins) and finding my identity as a saint, guiltless and free with the liberty of Christ.
I've also picked up on the fact that there is a time to be ok with wondering and never knowing, and there is a time to actively seek answers. and i've been in wondering and stay on the fence stage for too long. time to dig in, pray, read, ask, think, listen. listen. that's a big one. just shuttup and listen to what the Lord is telling me. how he speaks to me though scripture, music, nature, church, friends...through life.
if you also happen to be a reader of Catie's blog, you may notice that our revelations and even some growth patterns seem to be very parallel...that's because they are. God totally gave us to each other to grow with, to experience life with. it's quite ridiculous really. plus we sat in a coffee shop last(while she drank a coffee called "amor perfecto" and i drank something called "romance" which involved hearts made out of raspberry syrup in the foam on top - awesome) taking about our souls and asking questions and such.
so there's a big fat soul update...sweet.
LOVELOVELOVE from the frigid southern hemisphere. any warm cozy thoughts and vibes are greatly appreciated. as are warm fuzzy comments.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
that they might know Love
the leaves have mostly fallen
making a mulchy carpet for the garden city
but the few that cling to their branches by night
cast only eerie shadows
the streetlamps' attempts at golden light
are thwarted by this shroud
and made to look like distant haloed beacons
of a morning that might never come.
not for him
he does not know Love
his breath is tainted with wine and whiskey
but it comes out grey and fades into the fog
the fog that characterizes not only the air
but his heart, his mind, his spirit
his eyes
there is no joy in them
for he does not know Love
"love," he says, "is only bad.
It only brings bad. It is hurt.
It is pain. It is bitter.
Don't listen to it.
I see it in your eyes, but don't listen to it!
it will put you in the street like me!"
But he does not know Love
he has many years of laughter
making tracks on his face
but those deep cracks in the corners
are now only channels for tears
he will sleep here in the dirt tonight
sleep off the drink and start again tomorrow
and he will still not know Love
there are countless others
mangled reflections of men
all over this manicured city
they sleep in shopping carts
outside the department stores
where "normal people" pass every day
confusing them with the dogs that keep them warm
and none of them know Love
nor have I told them.
This is a poem for the homeless in Vina del Mar, Chile. Please join me in praying that the Lord will reveal his Truth and Love to them, that I will become a pure vessel for the Spirit to them, and yet praising God that when I fail, He will find another way to reveal Himself.
making a mulchy carpet for the garden city
but the few that cling to their branches by night
cast only eerie shadows
the streetlamps' attempts at golden light
are thwarted by this shroud
and made to look like distant haloed beacons
of a morning that might never come.
not for him
he does not know Love
his breath is tainted with wine and whiskey
but it comes out grey and fades into the fog
the fog that characterizes not only the air
but his heart, his mind, his spirit
his eyes
there is no joy in them
for he does not know Love
"love," he says, "is only bad.
It only brings bad. It is hurt.
It is pain. It is bitter.
Don't listen to it.
I see it in your eyes, but don't listen to it!
it will put you in the street like me!"
But he does not know Love
he has many years of laughter
making tracks on his face
but those deep cracks in the corners
are now only channels for tears
he will sleep here in the dirt tonight
sleep off the drink and start again tomorrow
and he will still not know Love
there are countless others
mangled reflections of men
all over this manicured city
they sleep in shopping carts
outside the department stores
where "normal people" pass every day
confusing them with the dogs that keep them warm
and none of them know Love
nor have I told them.
This is a poem for the homeless in Vina del Mar, Chile. Please join me in praying that the Lord will reveal his Truth and Love to them, that I will become a pure vessel for the Spirit to them, and yet praising God that when I fail, He will find another way to reveal Himself.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
an attempt at roping the last few weeks into something coherent...
I've discovered that bullet points are the way to go when there's entirely too much to express and entirely too much time to cover. so:
* I like church. Union Cristiana is a lovely fellowship of believers that I have been going to on Sundays and they have a youth/college worship/Bible study thing on Friday nights as well. I spent the first half of my time here running away from the church, most of the time without even realizing it. but I was. And I think part of me needed to do that. I learned a lot during that time. I learned how to see God in everything, not just in words on a screen. I learned how to be alone. I learned how God seeks me. But now that I am actively in the Body again, I am learning too. I had forgotten how wonderfully sweet it is to be surrounded by people who love Jesus, how it feels when the whole room swells in unison when everybody's favorite part in the praise song comes, how beautiful it is to be taught, how precious new sisters can be. and it is good.
* I only have about 2 months left...and I'm kinda not ok with it. I feel like there's so much I want to do, people I wish I had been building relationships with, places I want to travel to, beautiful days I wasted...but I know when the time comes, I will be ready. I will be ready for Texas August heat, my Pandora stations, dogs that I can pet and love on without getting funny looks,
and MY family, not a pretend one that mostly just gives me food.
* I am going to miss speaking Spanish...weird.
* That post I made about Joy still rings true. I haven't lost her yet and I don't plan on it. and it's making life so much fuller.
* I have a cold again. Even though I don't believe what all the Chileans say about not wearing shoes or socks and having wet hair and going outside without a scarf and their direct corellation to colds, I think maybe the virus has started to believe it and function as such. "When in Rome" I suppose...
* I am in love with The Weepies
* Catie and I are looking for somewhere to go serve(not be tourists) the last half of July after my family leaves and before we come home. I emailed a Canadian missionary family in Bolivia that has an awesome ministry digging wells in super rural areas and other development things to see if we could come chill with them and see their life and help with some of their well projects. But if that doesn't work we might go to Peru and maybe meet up with our friend Kim who will be in the Andes somewhere with her team from IMB(International Mission Board) for a bit...basically we have no idea, we just know that we need to take advantage of that time to go somewhere and do something of worth. so we're just praying in faith that God in his goodness and wisdom will take us somewhere awesome. you can join us in that prayer if you like. also pray for our dear Kim as she just arrived in Peru yesterday and will be there for the next 10 weeks hanging out and talking about Jesus in rural villages.
* One of the first Chileanisms that I learned was the term "pololo" which means boyfriend(Polola for girlfriend), but which translates literally to bumblebee. The gerund form for dating, "pololeando," means to be bumblebeeing. adorable, right? well I learned the history of this lovely idiom the other day from some new firefighter friends: In the first fire house in Santiago way back when, the firemen had all these pins and medals and stuff on their uniforms, one of which was a little bee. When the firemen whould go away to Europe to study law or medicine, as was the custom, they would leave their girlfriends with this "pololo" pin so that she and everyone would know she was off limits and was dating a fireman. kinda the same concept as "getting pinned" in the 50's in the sates. fun, right?
* all firefighters in Chile are volunteers except the drivers of the firetruck. crazy.
* I can't seem to think af anything else at the moment and this is long enough, but hopefully I will be posting slightly more regularly and with more substance...
* I like church. Union Cristiana is a lovely fellowship of believers that I have been going to on Sundays and they have a youth/college worship/Bible study thing on Friday nights as well. I spent the first half of my time here running away from the church, most of the time without even realizing it. but I was. And I think part of me needed to do that. I learned a lot during that time. I learned how to see God in everything, not just in words on a screen. I learned how to be alone. I learned how God seeks me. But now that I am actively in the Body again, I am learning too. I had forgotten how wonderfully sweet it is to be surrounded by people who love Jesus, how it feels when the whole room swells in unison when everybody's favorite part in the praise song comes, how beautiful it is to be taught, how precious new sisters can be. and it is good.
* I only have about 2 months left...and I'm kinda not ok with it. I feel like there's so much I want to do, people I wish I had been building relationships with, places I want to travel to, beautiful days I wasted...but I know when the time comes, I will be ready. I will be ready for Texas August heat, my Pandora stations, dogs that I can pet and love on without getting funny looks,
and MY family, not a pretend one that mostly just gives me food.
* I am going to miss speaking Spanish...weird.
* That post I made about Joy still rings true. I haven't lost her yet and I don't plan on it. and it's making life so much fuller.
* I have a cold again. Even though I don't believe what all the Chileans say about not wearing shoes or socks and having wet hair and going outside without a scarf and their direct corellation to colds, I think maybe the virus has started to believe it and function as such. "When in Rome" I suppose...
* I am in love with The Weepies
* Catie and I are looking for somewhere to go serve(not be tourists) the last half of July after my family leaves and before we come home. I emailed a Canadian missionary family in Bolivia that has an awesome ministry digging wells in super rural areas and other development things to see if we could come chill with them and see their life and help with some of their well projects. But if that doesn't work we might go to Peru and maybe meet up with our friend Kim who will be in the Andes somewhere with her team from IMB(International Mission Board) for a bit...basically we have no idea, we just know that we need to take advantage of that time to go somewhere and do something of worth. so we're just praying in faith that God in his goodness and wisdom will take us somewhere awesome. you can join us in that prayer if you like. also pray for our dear Kim as she just arrived in Peru yesterday and will be there for the next 10 weeks hanging out and talking about Jesus in rural villages.
* One of the first Chileanisms that I learned was the term "pololo" which means boyfriend(Polola for girlfriend), but which translates literally to bumblebee. The gerund form for dating, "pololeando," means to be bumblebeeing. adorable, right? well I learned the history of this lovely idiom the other day from some new firefighter friends: In the first fire house in Santiago way back when, the firemen had all these pins and medals and stuff on their uniforms, one of which was a little bee. When the firemen whould go away to Europe to study law or medicine, as was the custom, they would leave their girlfriends with this "pololo" pin so that she and everyone would know she was off limits and was dating a fireman. kinda the same concept as "getting pinned" in the 50's in the sates. fun, right?
* all firefighters in Chile are volunteers except the drivers of the firetruck. crazy.
* I can't seem to think af anything else at the moment and this is long enough, but hopefully I will be posting slightly more regularly and with more substance...
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Gift
I went to put the sun to bed tonight
I walked down to the edge of the Earth
to tuck her into her watery cradle
though I went to serve her she gave me a gift
The gift of every shape that exists
and some that don't
of the richest hues eyes can comprehend
and some they can't
words dance through my mind
like the colors reflected in the waves
like the pigtailed girl who runs and squeals
at the seafoam lapping at her tiny toes
A lilac litany of lavender limericks
the color that fresh blackberries leave on your fingers
crimson knots outlined by a child
with a vivid tangerine crayola
gemstones appear in every cloud
too precious to be caged around someone's neck
the distant city scintillates like a thousand flames
the hills roll like the curves of a Chilean mother
a rainbow hoodied traveler joins me in silence
he too has come to kiss the sun goodnight
she drifts lower into her indigo velvet home
the horizon fades from a line to a monochromatic abyss
the sea and the sky become one rich mystery
taunting those here on the edge of the Earth to venture out
to find the sun, sleeping soundly
amid her folds and ruffles and cushions of night
but the waves keep pounding
the sea is always changing
and the sky will never look the same
as it did tonight when the sun gave me a gift
I walked down to the edge of the Earth
to tuck her into her watery cradle
though I went to serve her she gave me a gift
The gift of every shape that exists
and some that don't
of the richest hues eyes can comprehend
and some they can't
words dance through my mind
like the colors reflected in the waves
like the pigtailed girl who runs and squeals
at the seafoam lapping at her tiny toes
A lilac litany of lavender limericks
the color that fresh blackberries leave on your fingers
crimson knots outlined by a child
with a vivid tangerine crayola
gemstones appear in every cloud
too precious to be caged around someone's neck
the distant city scintillates like a thousand flames
the hills roll like the curves of a Chilean mother
a rainbow hoodied traveler joins me in silence
he too has come to kiss the sun goodnight
she drifts lower into her indigo velvet home
the horizon fades from a line to a monochromatic abyss
the sea and the sky become one rich mystery
taunting those here on the edge of the Earth to venture out
to find the sun, sleeping soundly
amid her folds and ruffles and cushions of night
but the waves keep pounding
the sea is always changing
and the sky will never look the same
as it did tonight when the sun gave me a gift
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