So today is Monday and we drove into Concepcion for the day as Jorge´s uncle said that we could use his car, which is a huge blessing and saves us an uncomfortable trip on the bus. Jorge dropped Josiah and I off at his paretns house and then went downtown to run some errands. He is trying to figure out the whole thing with my paperwrok, how to get me my residency here and also how to get Josiah and I covered with healthcare..so we are paying that everything will work out.

Last night we had a really nice church service. There were more people there as it is the main sevice of the week and the brothers and sisters were very kind and welcoming. I got a chance to share a bit of how our trip went and just said that we are happy to be with the church and that we are here to serve them..and that I hope we can get to know each other and enter into this process together, to see what God has in store for us. The people seem very open to grow and know more of Christ in their everyday lives.

I had a strange sensation last night as the service ended. Jorge spoke about patience, about learning to wait on God for His timing in ourlives...it was really good. And at the end he did an altar call and many people came forward, to pray and to be prayed for. I had Josiah, who was running around and whatnot, so I was trying to contain him in my arms and therefore, just stayed in my place, praying for the people. But at the end they all were hugging each other, blessing each other, and I realized something and felt kind of out of place. This church is a family. They have grown together, done life together, cried together, laughed together, worked together and played together. They know each other and have gone through a tough time together and are trying to get through it. Now here come Jorge and Josiah and I, to join this family, and it is hard to know where to fit in. This may sound strange, but I almost had the sensation that a step mother would have, coming into a family and taking over the position that the mother of the family always had...it is an ackward feeling, and I dont even know if I am describing it well, but I hope I am. Don´t get me wrong, I am excited to see what God is going to do and I know that this process will take time. The people will need time to get to know us as a family and we need to get to know them, but it will be a slow process, and we are prepared for that. But it just dawned on me that really, this is a very delicate situation and it must be handled with care.

I was listening to a sermon by Paul Washer last night and he was talking about Busyness and spiritual discipline...wow, it was really what I needed to hear. He was saying that if you are workin in the ministry, you need to spend hours out of your day having your time alone with God, seeking God, because how can we know how to do His work if we are not spending every moment that we can with HIM!! It really hit me like a ton of bricks...espeically when I think about the work that I will do with the ladies in the church. I need to know where to start, what to share with them, different dynamics and activities that we can do together to get to know each other better, but I need the LORD to show me where to begin. If you think of me, please pray for me in that area...God is really working on both Jorge and I, and we need more and more of His Grace to get through each day.

Josiah is doing better...he has had a good couple of days. He began eating a bit more and has gone back to his usual jabbering self, talking and humming as he walks around the house and plays with his farm animals(Mum, I´m soooo glad I brought those with us!!). One of the biggest issues we are having with him is him hitting people and-or throwing things at them. A lot opf people think its funny so they are encouraging him to throw his toys at them and they say ¨we are just playing¨...sigh. The problem is, they dont know my son, and it is a little embarrasing when we are sitting at someones table, talking and sharing with them and my son comes up and whips a big lego blog right at the lady of the house...hhmmm, not my idea of good manners:( LOL but we are working on it...it may take some time. Today he went for a long walk outside with his great grandmother, and they had a great time, looking at all the puppies and sayin g hi to the neighbors as they went along their way...he is getting used to the family again and I know that it means a lot to them:)

Anyways, I must be going. We are going to go to the mall this afternoon and look into buying a highchair for Josiah...having him sit at the table is not working well as he can get off and on the chairs and its impossible to get him to sit still..

will write again soon!

A whole new world...

and a brand new place I never knew...this is the song that I have in my head today, weird, I know. But everything is feeling very "new"to me right now and I am struggling a little bit with all of the emotions that I am feeling, and how I can put those into words. But I will most definitely try to do so.

The trip was long. I don't know what else to say about it. I sent out a letter letting people know how it went, so I'm not going to go into much detail, but to sum it up, the only word I can think of is "long". I knew before going that it would be challenging, but I don't think I realized how emotionally draining it would be for me. I tried to hold it all together for my son...and for the first plane ride I think I did quite well. I even gave myself a little pat on the back as I ran up to the gate of our second flight in Toronto, just in time for boarding, and I thought, "you're doing okay Mandy, everything is going quite well.." Riiiiiiight. Don't get me wrong, I was not depending on my own strength, I knew that God was giving me the strength and I was thankful for that, but I think at that point I thought, "one down, two to go...easy!" Hmmm, not as easy as I had thought. The second flight, the eleven hour flight, was the hardest eleven hours that I have had for a VERY long time. I don't want to exaggerate and make it out worse than it was...but it was very hard for me...emotionally and physically draining. Josiah hated all of the people sitting around him looking at him, and of course, that is what everybody did, haha. (But how can they resist right? I mean he is adorable:) Either way, he was completely attached to me...I could not even put him down to go to the bathroom...he would not get down and walk down the isles, I had to literally be holding him in my arms every second from the moment we took off to the moment we arrived. Some poeple would try to help by saying"come to me baby, come on", and of course, that would make Josiah ten times worse, he would throw himself backwards, and begin to cry and fight....yep, that's my son! Anyway, I did have about three breakdowns, where I just sat there and cried with him...the last was more of a meltdown, as I was getting off the plane. It had landed and all of the people were filing off, and Josiah began to scream, desperate to leave the plane...of course, I still had to pack up all of our stuff, get the bag out from the top compartment and make sure I had all of our documents and papers that I had to fill out and whatnot. So there he was, screaming, throwing himself all over the place, while I am crying, trying to pull this stupid bag out from the top compartment...in the end a few of the stewardess' came and helped me pack it up, looking at me like I'm an absolute nut case, as I am holding Josiah and bawling my eyes out...just wanting to run into a dark corner and hide...it was quite a humbling experience. But nevertheless, an experience it was;) Either way, we arrived here safely and that is all that matters...we got through it, God got us through it, only by His Grace.

These past few days here have been good. It is good to be here, good to be with my son and husband, the three of us together again. And it is good to finally be here in Yumbel, meeting the people that Jorge has already been working with for the past month. We stayed at Jorge's parents house in Concepcion the first night here and then the next day (yesterday afternoon) we came here in bus. In the morning before we left, I went into town with my mother in law and she blessed me so much with buying me things that Josiah and I needed. We went around from store to store, getting me skirts and shoes that I can use for church. Then she also bought Josiah a pair of cute little sandals that he can use, as it is very hot here in Yumbel. We got here around 5 pm yesterday and decided to stay home from the church service as Josiah and I were still so tired from the long trip.

The brothers and sisters from the church are so sweet and have been very welcoming! We have received gifts and big warm hugs....they are very simple people with a lot of love to give, and that makes me want to give them even more love back. Today I met with the ladies of the church, it seemed to really well. They asked me to give the message and I read a few verses from Psalms 40:1-3, and shared what God has done in my life, and a bit of my testimony, to share a bit of who I am with them. I shared how I have been praying for them and for the church, and how I feel that as the women of the church we need to make sure that God is the one who is Glorified through everything we do...to Him be the Glory forever, amen.

After the meeting the ladies had tea with all types of goodies and snacks prepared for Jorge and Josiah and me. It was really sweet, we all sat and ate together, sharing a bit more with them, laughing and getting to know each other. there were probably about 17 ladies there, which they said was the best turnout that they have ever had, normally only a few ladies come, so I encouraged them to come next week so that we can continue to get to know each other...I hope they keep coming. Unfortunately Josiah decided not to take a nap all day, so by this time(5 o'clock) he was pretty grumpy and tired. But the ladies understood that he is going through a tough time and were very sweet about it. He played for the most part with a little boy from the church named Gerson, who is seven years old...Josiah followed him around like a little puppy and they had a good time together.

Anyways, I should probably wrap this up as this post is getting very long...I hope I haven't already lost you at this point! There is so much happening that it is hard to write it all out, that and the fact that we cannot connect to internet that often as we are using his uncles internet until they leave, I can usually only come on at night, when no one else is using it. Next week, however, we will have our own telephone and internet in the house, so that will be nice..

I am feeling a little overwhelmed by everything going on. I feel, at times, confused about why we are here, and wonder what I have to offer these kind people of Yumbel. It is strange to hear the ladies call me their "Pastora", but they say it with so much love and respect, that it also makes me feel very humbled, that God would allow ME the privilege of coming and working alongside these women, I think I have a lot to learn from them.....

May His Name be Glorified here in Yumbel, this is the cry of my heart today...

My very first post...

..on my very own blog!! That's right, I'm giving blogging another shot. I have always enjoyed taking time at the end of my day to sit down and write about the things that have gone on or whatnot, and I love reading my Mum's blog and both of my sisters' and friends' blogs..so I decided the other day that I should get back into blogging myself. The truth is, as a family we have always had some type of blog or website and I am usually the one who has to update on it. But it usually turns into a chore as I have to update people on what we are doing ministerial-wise, and then I post our newsletters and things like that. But I never used them as a place where I could just write daily, like a journal, and share my feelings, thoughts, prayer requests, frustrations, joys, sorrows etc. So, here it is. Not only is it my own personal blog, but I made it all pretty for myself (my cousin gave me an amazing site that has tons of backgrounds and fun things, thanks Cass:), and I intend to use it as a way of communicating more with family and friends while we are living down in Chile. As my son gets older and is starting to do and say new things everyday, I find myself wanting to write them out, or have some type of a place where I can share the funny things that he says and does with family and friends, so here it is. I hope that I will update it as much as I want to. It is hard for me, I won't lie, as I often say I am going to do things like this and then I just let them die and forget about them. But I would really like to keep this up, along with reading everyone's blogs. That way we can all be in touch more and share encouraging words, prayer requests, and just the everyday joys and struggles of life. In other words, let's do life together;)