Workday and Vacation Bible School January 31

Hello again from San Fernando, Chile!

It was another beautiful day in Chile, Central as the weathermen call this region. We're roughly 100 kilometers south of Santiago which is not only the capital city, but pretty much the center of the country.

We've learned San Fernando is indeed a prosperous city serving 250,000 people in the area. As we mentioned earlier our Hotel Mercando is downtown next to a supermarcado and "Doggis" a nice place for ice cream. I should also mention although longitude, Chile is due south of Miami, time change is 3 hours earlier than Houston because it's summer time and we have to account for daylight savings. Right now its 8:45 p.m. or 5:45 back home.

For us our day began bright and early at 7:35 a.m. with breakfast and a short team meeting. The breakfast is sufficient, a toasted bun with cheese, fruit juice and coffee. We decided we would work until lunch, and then break. The task was pretty much a continuation of day one. Carl steadily worked on lifting the roof which is quite an impressive task. He's using two small hydraulic jacks and negotiating them at points where the rafters meet the joists. It's quite an operation to watch. Often one of the jacks will be positioned on the first floor with a long joist balanced with a series of cut 2x4's to the spot where Carl wants the roof lifted. Then the count begins as Bill jacks up the contraption and the roof so that Carl can fit some other boards under the spot lifting the roof about six inches off its mount. Imagine repeating this process at 32 critical points, and you can appreciate the engineering of the task.

While Carl was working on the lifting the roof, several "attic mice," Susan Patterson and Carleen Woods are scurring on top of the ceiling joists continuing the process of knocking down the sheetrock which we mentioned yesterday. By lunch the task was completed as Vicki Roussel joined the "mice" and lent her skills. "Crowbar" Kay Kelley and Bob "The Basher" Lassalle continued their work at the front door running into a very difficult horizontal joist which seemed like it would never break. But finally after Bob's persistence he was able to "bash" it from below and the wood split like kindling.

Lunch was another Chilean speciality. It is called "Pastel de Chocle," basically a corn based pot pie. Corn meal is carefully pressed in a "Conzelva Bowl" and then vegatables, olives and a chicken leg are added. The corn meal is then added to the top and the entire bowl is baked. The meal was quite filling and very delicious.

We spent a couple of hours after lunch preparing for Vacation Bible School. The church building is located across from a small park with some benches and green area. We first policed it, which was badly needed since all kinds of papers and trash had been left behind by others. With little ones coming we didn't want anything to detract from the fun. The day had been very well planned out by Vicki. There were seven stations for the children; necklace making, music, crayon coloring, a craft, tatoos, frisbee, and photos, each with a Biblic context. Each was eloborate in its own right. For instance while a photo was taken on a digital camera and printed, the children made a frame. Then the photos were processed and each child could take the picture home. In that craft session, each child made a lamb using cotton balls and a cut out from a paper plate. We all lost count of how many children came, but it was made even more special when John, the gentleman we met yesterday, brought his wife and three young boys to take part.

As we always say on these trips there's always a "God moment" and for Susan Patterson it came while making necklaces. One of the women who came brought her own three children and four others. While her children were making the bead necklaces, it was clear she had never heard about Christ before. She was able to hear about Jesus with the assistance for Nydia who was a pastor here in Chile before she and her husband were sent to serve in the Rio Grande Valley. Nydia was not only able to share Christ's love with her, but also introduced her to Diana who is the youth pastor at the church we are working on. We understand the family will be back with Diana at next Saturday's service.

Following VBS we had dinner and headed back to the hotel to rest up for another long day tomorrow.

Our first work day, January 30, 2009

Greetings from a very tired Chile Mission team.

We were up early for a nice breakfast and a short meeting to plan our day. Most of us took the city bus to the worksite while a couple of the team members took a taxi filled with all our work tools. We arrived at 9 a.m. and were soon busy at work.
We hope to put on a second floor to the Church in San Fernando. Right now it's an attic space. This means the entire ceiling needs to be torn down and to make sure the floor boards fit, the roof will be "jacked up" during the construction process. But today would be a day to tear things down.

We learned the ceiling was put up several ways. There is a wooden frame, and attached to most of the joists is sheetrock. This isn't however the kind of sheetrock we would find at the local Home Depot. It's more like a particle board. It doesn't break off easily, and it creates a lot of dust when broken apart. Another area of the ceiling is covered with thin boards, 1"x3" which are slotted to help them stay together. That's all great when the idea is to keep them together. To get them to split apart was much more difficult. Nevertheless it was a "fun" morning. "Crowbar" Kay Kelly, and "Basher" Bob Lassalle were able to come up with a system and much of the ceiling was down by noon.

While Kay and Bob were doing their thing, several team members were able to get into the crawl space and start whacking down the ceiling from above. While the "sheetrock" was coming down with a crowbar and sledgehammer, Carleen Woods, Susan Patterson and Chris Archer were hammering at all the sheet rock. This of course was making a major mess all which is necessary to the process. Bill Bailey came up with a make shift broom made out of joists to clear the big stuff while Ann Allen, Julie Bailey and Pastor Daniel then took the boards and pulled the nails out. This was not only for safety, but most of the framing boards and the 1"x3" were carefully pulled down and will be used later. We were all amazed at the process, and how much we were able to accomplish. We broke for lunch around 12:30.

We are very blessed to be served by a local restaurant. The cook is making meal which traditional Chilean families would eat. We understand soup is a staple, all kinds. Yesterday we were treated to "Conzuelva" a soup ladened with vegatables; corn with the cob, zuchinni and potatoes along side a chicken leg. It was very tasty especially after the long day. Today's lunch was a bowl of Asparagus soup and a plate of spaghetti. On mission trips we try to lose weight with all the physical labor, but I don't think that is going to happen. The food is very good.

While most of us were at the job site, Construction Leader Vicky Roussel and Carl Sandlin went to get supplies. What happend was one of those "God" things which certainly was unexpected. It seems at the hardware store, the manager named John heard about the project and stopped everything to help. He assited Vicky and Carl with getting the best banking exchange rate, the best rate for lumber etc. He even drove Vicky and Carl back to the site and set up the delivery schedule. John had been an exchange student in Springfield, Missouri while he was in high school. He had visited Texas, although he admits it was Dallas not Houston. As a Christian he was delighted we were assisting people in the area, and even stopped by the Hotel this evening to make sure everything was doing well. He let it be known should anything be a problem while we are here, to give him a call at the office and he would be at our aid.

Following lunch we headed back to the worksite continuing the tasks of the morning, and adding a new one as well. Carl Sandlin was able to purchase two hydraulic jacks. They would be used to lift the roof so in the future we will be able to put the decking down on the "second floor." The entire workday ended at six when we headed back to the restaurant for another homecooked meal, pork chops with mashed potatoes. We had our dinner and devotion and relaxed for a half hour enjoying the fellowship.

The day however didn't end there. Upon returning to the Hotel we knew more work would be needed. Besides heading to the church for the construction project, tomorrow is VBS, and plenty of work had to be done to get ready. It was wonderful to sit in the Hotel hallway cutting up paper plates and making "sheep" for tomorrow's lesson. Everyone lent a hand from making sheep tongues to cutting out shapes to insert pictures. It should be another wonderful day tomorrow.

We have arrived in Chile

Hello Chapelwood and Friends!

The Chile Mission Team arrived safely and we are already making new friends!

As with all trips we did have our share of obstacles along the way, but nothing which prevented us from arriving safely and on time.

We left Chapelwood around 3pm Wednesday afternoon with Melissa Maher piloting one of the Turtle Tops to the airport. However when we arrived, we met our first obstacle. American Airlines was having a "mechanical" with our plane to Miami. The first thought was to put us on a Continental flight to Miami, but by the time all the staff members at the American counter decided to proceed, only 10 spots were availalble, meaning two of us would have to stay. The next thought was to fly all of us to Dallas and from there fly to Miami. But again after reviewing all the seats, there weren't enough. Finally one of the receptionists decided, "Let's see just how bad the 'mechanical' is. She asked us to wait patiently for 10 minutes and she would check back with the flight controllers.

We all sat together, and while waiting, we opened the nice mail from our prayer partners. We also prayed as a team for safe travel, and to accept whatever course of action the airline planned. Soon afterward, team leader Beth Dudley took all of our passports and went back to the counter. Within about 15 minutes Beth had a big smile on her face as she said the "mechanical" had been fixed and the plane was in the air. The group would not have to split up and we would all proceed to Miami as planned, but with a little bit of a wait. That was no problem as we had a meal at Bush Intercontinetal, and then waited patiently for our flight to be called. Sure enough we boarded around 7 p.m. and we were off to Miami.

We knew the connection to Santiago would be tight. Originially the itinerary called for 1 1/2 hour layover, but that time had pretty much been eaten up (pardon the pun) back in Houston. Sure enough we landed in Miami and had pretty good walk and then a train ride to the next gate. In this case seconds would count, because as we all reached the gate to Santiago, the plane was just beginning to board. Once again God's timing was perfect. It may have been a little too close for our comfort, but right on time nonetheless.

The flight from Miami to Santiago went well. It was certainly crowded, in fact the gentleman whom I sat next to me said the flight is always full. He was an elderly man from Massachusetts going back to see many of his family members. He was grateful to hear what our team would be doing, and was excited for us.

As with any international trip, going through immigration and customs is always a chore. It's not only the long lines, but it always seems a minor problem can cause a real headache. Before leaving, we had been warned the Chilean government was sticklers when it came to food. No snacks, no gum, no fruit, NOTHING. The tip proved beneficial, sure enough as we collected our bags the agriculutral dog was sniffing all over bags making sure no "contraband" was going to enter the country. All of our team's bags passed the "smell" test. We proceeded to customs door with all the forms filled out and taxes paid, then a customs' officer asked me, "What are you doing here?"

I told him we were visting the "Iglesia Methodista in San Fernando"

"Ah" another replied. "John Wesley, he was a good man!"

I smiled and as the bags went through the X-ray machine. We were high fiving the customs agents as Methodist Brothers as they allowed to pass with ease. You see even in the littlest details God has a plan to see us through.

We then met our bus contact and headed for our two hour trek southwards to San Fernando. We are staying a nice hotel in the center of town with "quaint" rooms. There is a window, but it looks out to the hall. We certainly our not complaing, but the details are here to give you an impression of the place. The drive here reminded me of rural Southern California. It is an agricultural area as you can see vinyards all over the place. There is also a great deal of fruit and vegatables grown all around. San Fernando is more of a "town" than a city, but we've already ridden the bus to the church where our contstruction project will take place.

We have shot some pictures, and when I figure out how to attach them to the blog I will send them. I am very happy the hotel has "Wi Fi", but as you can imagine, it isn't what we back home would call high speed.

That's all for now.

Yours in Christ:

Carleton Cole