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...