One Year in Temuco

It was one year ago in April that our family moved to Temuco. We look back on this past year and wonder how it went by so fast. We are thankful for how God providentially lead us to Temuco and put us in a situation of mentorship/orientation during our first full year of missionary service. This past year has had it's highlights and lowlights, as all first years do for missionaries.

I would like to explain several blessings and difficulties that we have experienced this past year, in order to help you understand our situation as new missionaries on the field.

Blessings:
*Our missionary mentors, Daryl & Earlynne Thompson. They have been patient and helpful during this past year. Many questions have been asked. They have attempted to answer those questions as best they know how. They have been an encouragement to our family. We are thankful to God for putting them in our lives, especially during our first year of ministry on the mission field.

*Weekly prayer and fellowship times with our GMSA co-workers. Every Thursday afternoon, we meet for a short time of prayer, singing, a short devotional thought from Scripture, and sometimes for a meal together. This has been more of an encouragement than I can fully express. Times of English conversation and signing is a balm for the new missionary's soul.

*New Chilean friendships

*Proximity to and opportunities to observe various ministries: The Bible Institute, the Bible Camp, local churches, and a new church plant. We have learned a lot by observing. There have been times of frustration during our first year due to feelings of "I'm not involved enough", but now that we look back, we are very thankful for this extended period of learning & observation. The short video below sums up many of the thoughts we've felt during our first year of ministry here in Temuco.



Difficulties:

*Language learning. "What did he say?" "I have no idea what they said?" "Why are they talking so fast?" "Why am I so tired, and it's not even lunchtime yet?" All of these questions stem from the daily battle with the Spanish language. From day to day, there seems to be NO PROGRESS, but looking back over several months, I have always found some encouragement in realizing that I HAVE LEARNED several things.

*Adjusting to life in a new culture with a family of 5 (now 6). Buying stuff takes time. Getting places takes time. Finding parking spots takes time. Standing in line takes time. Greeting and saying goodbye to people takes time.

*Culture shock & stress. While Kristi has a little different experience with culture shock, I have seen my progression from the honeymoon stage (where everything is so new and cool) to the culture shock (where you despise most everything), to the culture stress (where you still are annoyed with many things, but have accepted other things), to mostly fitting in (where you know how people will react before it happens, you accept that Chileans do many things differently, and you're 90% ok with that). While our family is still somewhat in between the stages of culture stress and fitting in, we have been encouraged by the progression of this process during our first year in Chile.

*The unknown. I always remember hearing in my missions classes back in Bible college that a missionary needs to be flexible. I always thought, "yeah, yeah, of course", but after one year on the mission field, I can fully testify to that reality. Missionaries MUST be flexible. Things just don't turn out like you've carefully planned or prepared...pretty much most of the time. Learning to be flexible in my schedule, my pre-planning, my commitments, & my ministry have been a huge difficulty and blessing during this past year.

There are many more items that I could expand on, but for now, I will close this post by saying that we are thankful for God's call in our lives to serve Him in Chile and we are extremely thankful for His provision, protection, and guidance in our family and ministry this past year. We also are thankful for those who have prayed for our family, financially supported our family, and faithfully communicated with our family during this past year. With so many of you, we truly feel like partners in the ministry of the Gospel here in Chile.