Church visit to Curico Sunday Night February 1

Hello again from San Fernando Chile. It is late here as we have returned back from Curico, (pronounced Cud-ee-co) where we had our church service. As I mentioned on an earlier blog, the translator for our team is Pastor Nydia. She served at the church in Curico, before she and her husband were transferred about a year ago to the Rio Grande Valley. So it was a homecoming for her tonight as many members of the church did not know she was coming back.

No question the church had a "Mercy Street" feel. Three guitar players helped lead the worship service. As you can imagine, much of the service was a nice tribute to Nydia, but of course the Chapelwood team was highlighted as the church members enjoyed hosting us. There was plenty of time for fellowship and a sharing of cultures. We enjoyed "Passing the Peace" where the entire congregation really gets involved. It might start with a handshake, but it didn't take long for the hugging to begin. Nydia's message was about Christ's love for us all, and it was expressed by everyone tonight. We were asked to sing as a group, and not to disappoint, we sang the "Chapelwood National Anthem," "Here am I Lord." After we sang, Nydia then translated the words to the congregation.

Curico is roughly 50 kilometers south of San Fernando. As you can imagine from a map of the country, Chile is a long strip on the southeast coast of South America. Ruta 5 is the "Interstate" which runs the enitre 2500 miles of the country, so travel is relatively easy. To get to Curico, we headed out to Ruta 5 which is at the east edge of San Fernando, and then took a turn southward. The Iglesia Methodista was on the corner of Curico, not far from the train tracks which run parallel to Ruta 5, but in a working class area. While Nydia mentioned in her sermon the city is a "poor town" it certainly was not run down. We saw many two wood framed home, some underconstruction which leads us to belive the city is growing. No question the congregation is made up of hard working families who share Christ's love.

The worship service which was conducted in both spanish and english included communion, and it was certainly special to break bread with our brothers and sisters here in Chile.

Tomorrow we will continue our construction project in San Fernando, and 3 members of the team will head back to Curico with Nydia for part one of a two day sewing project.