Adventures in Chile

13th April 2010

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The Final Countdown

So this is it - I return home in 9 days.  I’ve been trying to avoid counting down, but the end of April has not complied with my wishes to slow down just a little bit, so it’s time to say goodbye.  Time is flying so fast that I didn’t even realize that this past Sunday was my last meeting at the Kingdom Hall.  I would’ve taken pictures! I would’ve hugged more people!

Well we have the special assembly day on Sunday, there will be plenty of hugging and picture taking then.

If you can’t tell by my reluctance to leave and my spotty updates, this has truly been an experience of a lifetime.  Even if I never get to do it again (but I will do it again! hopefully sooner rather than later!) Everything was different, but many things are the same.  Jehovah’s people are beautiful everywhere.  I’ve made instant family down here.  So while I’m excited to come home to see my family, I’m sad to leave the family I’ve made.

I haven’t updated much about service, but it’s going really well.  As a congregation we have 42 publishers, but we had 82 at the memorial earlier this month.  We’ve continued inviting new ones to the special talk that’s been held April 25 (because of the Special Assembly) so I hope that when I get home I can hear all about who came.

I’ve had some crazy experiences out in service, and some really awesome ones too.  Recently we met a woman named Elena, who we met while canvassing on a Wednesday, and came to the meeting the next day.  And then on Sunday.  And then again on Thursday.  She hasn’t missed a meeting since we’ve met.  She’s had one bible study, and says she can agree with what she’s heard so far because it all comes from the Bible.  We are actually headed to her second study this evening, and if everything goes well I’ll be handing her off to some very capable hands next week.

There was a really great illustration given at a talk a few months ago, and I wanted to make sure I wrote it down so I didn’t forget it.  The brother brought a small guitar on stage and asked if there were any musicians in the audience.  He spoke about how beautiful music can be achieved with the guitar, but every once in awhile you have to tune it to make sure its music, and not noise.  He talked about how we are that guitar, and we need to continue to make sure we are in tune with God’s standards, so our “music” is pleasing to God’s ears.  Then later he spoke about friction in the congregation, and likened it to a duet of a guitar and a piano.  Say your brother is playing a piano that is really out of tune, and sounds awful.  What should you?  Should you put your guitar out of tune, just to make really horrible sounds?  Or isn’t it so much better if even one instrument is in tune?  He said that is what friction is like.  Even if our brother or sister is out of tune with God’s ways, that doesn’t give us an excuse to purposely be out of tune.  

It was a beautiful illustration, one we quoted many times over the past couple of months.  Living with 6 sometimes 7 girls wasn’t always easy, but now being here just the two of us feels wierd.  I guess it prepared us for what might have to happen in the future!

Anyway, I am excited to come home and see everyone.  I look forward to hearing what you’ve been up to the past six months.  And will somebody please warn Tee that I might possibly steal Micah for three weeks?  I’m way behind on my baby-snuggling time.

Love,

Tiff

22nd March 2010

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Time is flying fast and furiously

A few weeks after the earthquake and things are getting back to normal.  Many in our congregation are volunteering to go down to the South of Chile to help with salvaging of wood, roof shingles and other things that can be used to rebuild the brothers houses and Kingdom Halls before they are fully demolished.  My roommate Kylie is down there for two-weeks.  I’m hoping to go the weekend after the Memorial.  Everyone has a wonderful can-do attitude, and everyone who comes back from the south comes back in awe of the positivity and encouragement they recieve from our friends down there.  The branch in Santiago has sent over 20 large trucks of supplies of clothes, diapers, personal items, cleaning products) that were put together by all of the congregations in Santiago.  It was touching to see how everyone really came together to get what was needed, even at great financial sacrifice to them.

The aftershocks were pretty strong for about two weeks, but now we barely notice them.  Locals say we can have them for another year, but you just get used to it.  At first I didn’t think that was possible, but I think they are right.

Otherwise, we’ve been keeping busy with the Memorial campaign.  We are working from our territory cards (all those months of canvassing paying off), and I’ve been able to speak to a couple of foreigners who expressed interest in coming! I’m excited to see who will show up.  This Sunday after the meeting we cleaned the Kingdom Hall and painted the outside and gate.  More than half our congregation was there!

We took a long weekend to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina last weekend.  It was fun, very different than Santiago.  Older more European architecture, bigger population, a more frenetic feel to the city.  I love both Santiago and Buenos Aires but for very different reasons.  I’ve been really slacking on picture taking (I’m with 4 other people and their cameras) but what I’ve took is up on Picasa.

On and maybe you’ve heard from my parents, but I’ve reverted back to my original plan of coming home at the end of April.  Although I would really love to stay here longer, I’m a little bit homesick for my family and dear friends.  I definitely want to make plans to come back and serve, whether it’s Chile or Bolivia or Uraguay… this has really opened up my eyes to all the possibilities that we have within the organization!

See you all in about a month!

xoxo

4th March 2010

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Earthquake-y Updates

Hey everyone!

Hopefully you got my email, or a call from someone to let you know that I was okay.  The earthquake itself was pretty intense.  Around 3:30 in the morning, we felt a rumble and were ready to dismiss it as a big truck driving by the apartment building.  But the shaking continued, and started getting harder, and when we heard (empty) wine bottles shatter in the kitchen we said, “Is this an earthquake?!” From there it was panic for the six of us girls.  Some ran to the bathtub like it was a tornado, I ran into the doorjam, and Candace and I did the nervous laughter thing (which helped relax Tabatha it turned out).  After the shaking finally stopped, we found we had no power or Internet, so we headed outside the apartment to the main floor.  The entire building was evacuated and we just kind of waited around not knowing what to do next.  Cell phone signals were jammed until about 4:30, where we heard from a couple of people from the congregation to make sure we were okay.  They finally let us back in the building around 5:30, but we were too wired to sleep.  Around 7 in the morning we felt another tremor that ended up registering on the richter scale as well.  There is a sister from Rhode Island who lives in our building, so we spent most of that Saturday sharing food and resources until we finally were able to fall asleep and get some rest.  There have been more than 100 aftershocks since the earthquake, and being 5 hours North of the epicenter, we aren’t even feeling the worst of it.

Everyone in the congregation is okay.  The Sunday Watchtower study couldn’t have been more timely, and we went a little overtime as a lot of people gave their personal experiences on how all of our brothers and sisters came to each other’s aid as needed during the crisis.  I must’ve recieved a phone call or text message from everyone the congregation, making sure us gringas were okay, if we needed anything, including just a different place to stay for the night.  We really felt Jehovah’s love and protection in the days after the quake.

Sunday they made an announcement that the branch here in Santiago was already headed down to Concepcion with water and aid for the brothers and sisters who were badly hit down there.  On Tuesday during the meeting for service they read us a letter with more information.  So far there had been no deaths reported among Jehovah’s Witnesses in the affected area.  All this week trucks have been sending boxes of unperishable food, hygenic products, cleaning supplies, water, new and gently used clothes for our friends down there, as well as taking money through Chilean bank transfers.  As a house the five of us girls put together 10 boxes worth of clothes, food, and other supplies.  We are dropping the boxes off at the Kingdom Hall today, and the truck heads down to the South Friday morning at 10am.

Our coordinator also contacted us about helping with the relief work, including the rebuilding effort.  We don’t have too many details now, but I’ll keep you guys informed! Of course the National News sensationalizes a lot of what is going on down here, but that’s not to say bad things are not happening.  Many people are desperate because they lost everything, and have acted out with violence, looting, and general chaos.  A lot of the roads leading to the south from Santiago are broken up or in bad shape, so many people are worried about stores running out of food, so some shelves are scares and prices are rising.  We are not worried though, we know Jehovah will provide for us.

Here’s one quick experience for you, from a sister in our neighboring Spanish congregation.  Once the earthquake hit, she called her fleshly (and spiritual) sister on Robinson Crusoe Island and could only say “Earthquake in Santiago!” before they lost the cell phone signal.  Knowing that an Earthquake in Santiago could mean a tsunami on their small island in a matter of minutes, she sent her kids to run to the houses of witnesses who lived nearby, and they all responded immediately to the warning and took to higher ground.  Not one of them lost their lives.

Love you all!

xoxo

Tiff