peace out santiago...here we come foggy london town.

as my two weeks here in santiago comes to an end, i can say that i am very glad that God put this little detour in our trip. when we first arrived here, no one really wanted to be here, myself included. we all just felt like this was some dumb filler before we went to england and thailand. well, it sure is a good thing that God has better plans for us than we have for ourselves. I really believe that God gave us this time to grow as a family. we got to learn more about each other and we all lived together in a small little behind our leader´s house and we all shared one bathroom, needless to say it was all very fun. God really blessed us with our time here. there are two men that we met here, and most of the time we endearingly refer to them as our ¨two angels.¨these two guys just show up to our house every couple of days and it´s like they are speaking directly from God into our lives. One day last week during team time, we were all talking about how we don´t know what our role is suppose to be on this team. well, the very next day these two gentlemen came over and out of nowhere started talking about how God wants us to be unified in the Spirit and then told each of us what our roles are. I am the ¨nose,¨which means that I sense people´s needs and when they need to be talked to and things like that. So that was a pretty awesome answer to prayer. But these guys keep coming back and just speaking really cool things that at least one of us needed to hear at the time. At first we really felt like we weren´t doing much here, but we see now that things aren´t always what they seem. and i think its because we were looking for our actions to bear fruit here in the church, but now we see that it is more like we have planted a seed. God´s just been showing Himself to us in very cool ways here and it´s been really awesome. We´ve been preaching, well I haven´t actually preached in church, but I gave my testimony and have been singing worship multiple times, sometimes in english and sometimes in spanish. Oh ya and we also have to do this thing called punta, and they only do it in chile in the really traditional churches. It´s basically going on the street with this microphone thing and ¨preaching¨ on the street, but its more like saying ÿou´re¨a sinner and you need God, which I´m not really into saying. Anyway, I had to do it in spanish, and I didn´t say much, but I did invite people to church. I have some pictures and I will try to put them on my photobucket sometime tonight or tomorrow before we leave.
i know that i am on the right team. God has affirmed that to me. and I know that I am going to learn a lot from being here on this team with these people. and I really feel like God has special plans for this team. Especially since there are so few of us and that we all speak English, something that none of the other teams have.
tomorrow we leave for england. and I am almost a little sad to leave here, but happy to not be in the scorching heat anymore. I can´t remember the last time I was so hot and couldn´t do anything about it. also, I´ll be glad to not each so much anymore. I think I´ve gained 10 pounds just since we´ve got to santiago. They feed us all the time and about 75% of the food they eat is bread, and its not really good bread, its all thick and dense and made with lard. yum. but i will miss our leader alejandra. she is just with us for this part of the trip and she has been wonderful and so much fun. and the people here are super hospitable and love to have us over to eat.
well, that is all for now. i will try to update when i get to england and tell you how it is there. but i love you all. and please keep praying for us.

Feliz Navidad!

It's so weird for it to be Christmas and also be so hot at the same time, like it's really hot. Here Christmas is nowhere near as big as the states, it's still a big deal but not like the craziness at home, well at least thats how it is where we are staying. And I think that Christmas Eve is a bigger deal than Christmas day.  Last night we had a big dinner with Alejandra's family (she is our leader while we are here, and we are staying at their house), and then at midnight they opened their presents. I guess today is just more of a day for relaxing. We are in charge of the service tonight at church, so we are doing all the worship and sermon and everything. I've already sang in front of the church here once, it was just one song but it was in spanish! I do miss all of you and all of our Christmas traditions, but I think that being here has made me think and reflect more on what Christmas is really about. It's not just a day to give gifts to each other, but it is a day to give something back to God because this is the day he gave us his son. So being here is very different, but it almost doesn't feel like Christmas, which is okay because it makes me miss it less. My team is growing closer and they are quickly becoming like family. It's really cool that we only have five people because we have the opportunity to all grow really close, and everyone on my team speaks english, so we have something that none of the other teams have, and i think that's very cool. I'm sure I have a lot more that I could say, but I should go. Hopefully I will post more soon. 

Much Love.

i´m on my way...

we safely arrived to santiago via bus on wednesday afternoon. it has been interesting so far. we are here until december 31. so far, we haven´t done very much here. there are 5 or 6 churches in this area that are run by the same head pastor, so each day they have been splitting us up and sending us to different churches at night. and during the day we´ve had a lot of free time. our whole team, plus another girl gabriela who is just with us until tomorrow, is staying in a back house. it only has two rooms and one tiny little bathroom. but it´s fun. today the pastor took sussann, gabby, and i to the feria (like a big swap meet type thing). it was cool to look around, but it was so hot. he wanted to buy us something to remember chile so he got us these copper picture things, it was really sweet of him. and then some lady that knows him who was selling empanadas gave us all free empanadas and drinks. the people here are so generous, they are always giving what they have. last night i went to dinner at a lady from the church´s house, she didn´t have much but she was really excited for sam and i to come over and eat with them. tonight we are going to some evangelistic thing and doing dramas, none of us really know what is going on, so i guess we´ll find out. it´s hard to be here and not speak that much spanish, i know the least spanish of anyone on my team, and then scott after me, we are the two that aren´t expected to speak in spanish. i find it really hard to pay attention sometimes because my mind doesn´t want to keep tracking and listening to spanish. oh well, it´s just for another week and a half, then off to england, where i can speak their language! just with a little bit different of an accent.

i´m so excited to be with this team and on this outreach. i know that God put our team together, and we have a special team. we had a great team time today and it was really encouraging. and i can´t wait to see what He is going to do while we are on this trip.

love.

it's time to go...

tomorrow morning i leave on my outreach! first it's off to santiago, chile, then ENGLAND, and then THAILAND. i am so excited. and i got enough money for my outreach, praise the Lord. so i don't have to worry about finances for awhile now. i really miss everyone. and i miss christmas stuff, christmas in pichilemu is really not that exciting here, it's just like a normal day like any other, or so i hear. and i've only seen like 3 different christmas decorations. and i will definitely miss the annual "carroll christmas slumber party." i am sending you all my love and i wish that i had my pajamas and i could wear them with you guys in a few days. but i will be there in spirit and heart. i wish that i had more time to write, but i should be packing, well actually i should be sleeping, but im doing neither. oops. old habits come back quick. this last week has been a whirlwind. and especially these last few days. i've been trying to hang out with all different people ALL the time because i won't see a lot of them for the next 10 weeks. the 2 other outreach teams left today and that was really weird, and kind of sad. i had to say goodbye to some of my really good friends here, but i know that i will be seeing them for years and years to come, and that is a good feeling. well i should go, but i put up some more pictures, so you should check them out. i don't know the next time that i will be able to update. 

so MERRY CHRISTMAS! and HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

love.

almost time for a new chapter.

so our time here in pichilemu is quickly coming to an end. the two other teams leave on december 16 and 17. but we are not quite sure yet when our team is leaving for santiago, but i would assume probably not til at least the 16 or probably later than that. i'm getting sad to say goodbye to some of my friends for 2 1/2 months, really sad actually. i've made some really good friends here, and my closest friend here, kari, is going to ecuador and columbia for her outreach. but i am really excited about my outreach team. we had our last full team meeting last night. our leaders are all leaving tomorrow and we won't see them again til january 1 when we get to england. two of our leaders wallace and tina are married, and she is from england so they are going with their two kids to visit her parents and her family for the holidays because they haven't been there for over 2 years i think. and then our other leader david, is going to germany to visit his fiance and meet her family and then he is meeting us in england. so it's just the five of us for now, which is okay with me. our meeting last night was really good though, it was really relaxed and probably the best meeting we've had so far, even though i thought it was going to be super stressful, it wasn't. we all just partnered up and shared our needs and prayed for each other. i've been trying to hang with a lot of people the last two weeks, or at least the people i know that i won't be on outreach with and we've been having a lot of fun. we've been going out to dinner or ice cream on saturday nights. and there is an unfinished building next to our house and we like to go up on the top and stargaze at night. and last sunday it was really hot so we went to the beach, and the water wasn't that bad actually, it was cold, but i thought it would be way colder. although i didn't go in, i expected to get thrown in, but i didn't oh well. i think we're gonna go back this sunday, if it's sunny again. it says its supposed to be sunny and like 90 degrees on sunday, but it also says that its supposed to be 91 and sunny right now, and i'm looking out the window at and overcast cloudy day, so who knows. it seems to usually be pretty sunny on the weekends. but this saturday is an all base work day. woo hoo. that means we have to work from 10 to 2, blah. but i guess we're supposed to have a "singles" party for one of the girls here who's engaged, ashley, tomorrow night too, which is like the christian equivalent of a bachelorette party. so we'll see how that goes. hmm...what else....i still need a lot more money to pay for my outreach and the rest of my schooling here. i've been praying a lot, multiple times a day about it. and i'm trying to think of things that i could do to raise money, so if anybody has any ideas, let me know. besides that i'm waiting on God. so, the itunes store doesn't work down here and it's really annoying. i downloaded the new version this morning, and i got the store to work then, but for some reason its not working now, and i want to buy some music. ahhh, it's so frustrating. i really want some amy grant. haha. overall i am doing well, but i'm starting to get this throat, coughy thing, so if you could pray that i won't get sick right before outreach i would really appreciate it. and also if you could keep my financial situation in your prayers that would be wonderful too. that is all for now, i will do my best to update again before i leave for outreach. and also, i think i am taking my computer with me to england, but not to thailand, so hopefully i will be able to still keep in contact there. 

love.

time to dream BIG.

so the two weeks after we got back from our mini outreach we had the best teacher. His name was Joseph, and he is from the states! finally someone that taught in english first! that was exciting in itself. He taught us all about "Releasing our Destiny." We learned all about our dreams in life and how God gives us our dreams for a reason. He also taught about all the different things that are a part of us that make us who we are and who God made us. It was really interesting and really cool and he was really fun. I learned a lot from him. We learned about how to make our dreams a reality. 

This week we have another teacher from the u.s. He's from seattle and he's teaching on the attributes of God. The identity, transcendence, character and perfections of God. It's interesting, but his teaching style is a little boring (especially compared to Joseph the last two weeks) and so it's hard to pay attention in class. but supposedly he's more interesting if you talk to him one on one. 

Everyone started to get sick last week. I was one of the first ones. At first it was just like a really bad cold and i was really achey and yucky feeling. but after a few days it progressed. but i'm doing a lot better now. we're pretty sure that its from the water here. we all drank the tap water since we got here and it was fine and no one had any problems. but now that the weather is getting a lot hotter, the bacteria in the water are moving around more or something. i dunno, i just know that its making me sick. and now i get to go and buy bottled water for the next 3 1/2 weeks before i leave for outreach. oh well. 

last friday my wonderful friends back at home threw me a benefit concert to help me raise money for my outreach. and i am very, very thankful to them. you guys are awesome. and i miss  you and i can't wait to come back and give you big hugs. i am so appreciative of all that you guys did. especially jamie for putting it all together. and i am also glad that you reminded everyone that i am still alive. that probably sounds funny. oh well, you know what i mean if you were there. i feel so loved. and from so far away too. 

tomorrow is thanksgiving. and i wish that i was going to be eating ALL day like every other year. and that i was going to be eating all the great food at the Carroll and Garner festivities. i was a little sad because they don't celebrate thanksgiving down here in south america, i don't know if they celebrate it anywhere else besides the united states. but they are having a real thanksgiving dinner (or as close as it gets in pichilemu) for all of the north americans! i am so excited. we are having turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, apple pie, and various other goodies. yum! i can't wait to have food from home. not that i hate the food here, but the food that they feed us does not compare to any food from home, probably cause they have to make food for like 80 people for every meal, but i miss food from home. and i also miss coffee. everyone here drinks instant coffee, and i'm not really a fan. but one of the girls in my house has a french press, and we finally got some real coffee sent to us so now we enjoy it on a pretty regular basis. okay, back to thanksgiving. it'll be really nice to have that dinner tomorrow night. i'm very much looking forward to it.

with a little help from a friend, i got my plane tickets for england and thailand! it's official. i'm going. we leave for england on december 31. we're there until february 3, then it's off to thailand til february 28. and then back to england for a 2 day layover. then back to chile on march 4. we'll be in birmingham and close to lichfield for the first 3 weeks in england, then close to oxford for the last week. and in thailand we'll be in chiang rai the whole time in thailand, other than traveling to and from bangkok. i'm really excited.

well, it's time for dinner. so that is all for now. i love you all and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

i know it's been like 4 weeks since i've written, and i am sorry. i wanted to write before i left for my mini-outreach, but i didn't have time or the internet wasn't working. and then i was gone for 2 weeks with no computer access and this weeks has been really busy since i've been back. i don't really remember all that happened the week before i left. but i'll fill you all in on my two week outreach. 

there was 14 of us including our leaders: brian, ashley, reese, junior, elyse, kelsey, sally, priscilla, nicole, blanca, david, maria, and rafael. it was so much. we went to cerro alto in arauco, chile and worked at a church for 2 weeks. there was a service every night except for monday nights. so we were in charge of the service every night, and different people gave the sermons each night. everyday we would all pray in the morning for God to tell us who should speak and what they should speak about, and it was really cool, cause i've never done anything like that before. and each day God would tell us who and what, and not everyone would get a word from God every single day, but when they did they all matched up and made sense. even i preached one night. i gave a sermon/teaching on blessings and curses. and one day i sang in church too, cause they wanted to hear some of the worship in english. so that was a new experience, i've never sang in front of people before, and well i didn't really know all the words etiher, but it was still good overall. hmm...what else. i stayed in a house with blanca, and we had a great little family for 2 weeks. they fed us SO much everyday, like at least twice as much as we get at the base, and the food was like 10 times better and now i'm a little fatter because of it. we would eat dinner super late at night. because church didn't end til after 10 and then by the time we got home and dinner was ready  it was at least 1045 or 11. the culture is different there, everyone, even the little ones, stay up til at least 12 and then everyone gets up a little later in the morning. not like in the states where the kids go to bed early and get up earlier than everyone else, it was all the same. it was weird. we saw a lot of cool changes in the church in those two weeks we were there, and it was really cool to see some of the bonds be broken and some freedom to be experienced while we were there. okay i want to write more and i know that i really need to post new pictures, and i'm trying but i've been so busy this week. okay so more to come soon. 

28 days later.

i know that it's been a while since i've written. it's hard to keep up. everyday goes by so fast and then they just all start adding up. its crazy to think that i've already been here for 4 weeks. 

let's see, what's happened since i last wrote. last week we had Daniel teaching all week. He was really intense, and has powerful prayers. everyday at the end of class he would pray for at least 40 minutes about whatever subject he talked about that day, and he would pray over everyone and over specific people. there was a lot of crying and things like that. on wednesday he talked about spiritual warfare, which was pretty heavy, and on thursday and friday he talked about blessings and curses, which was also intense. on friday he prayed over me, and for things that i didn't even realize i had in my life. and he prayed for blessings over me. that was really cool, and different than anything else that i've ever experienced. 

On saturdays we have evangelism, it's either in the morning or at night. and last week we had evangelism at 11 and went to the outdoor market and just talked to different people and invited them to super saturday. at the base every saturday they have this thing called super saturday and it's free workshops. they offer dance, soccer, aerobics, theatre, music, guitar, english, and some other things, and its completely free every saturday, and they have a pool here which is really rare to have so they let everyone go swimming at the end, except the pool doesn't open til october 25 because it's still a little cold here. so we invited people to that and then also had the chance to talk to them about Jesus. It was hard for me cause I went in a group with two spanish speakers, so i was a little lost for some of the time. then that night a bunch of us went into town and got empanadas and just hung around. that was fun, because we don't usually get a lot of free time at night. 

On sunday nights we all go to church. we are split up into three different groups. my group goes to the biggest church of the three and our church probably has about 12 to 15 other people besides our group (and our group is about 10 people). so the churches here are really small, and the service lasts for about 2 1/2 hours usually. last week it was only an hour and a half and it was a nice surprise, haha. but the worship band at the church i go to is awesome. there's an old man bass player, a girl about my age who plays the keyboard (and she's kind of a trendy dresser), a guitar player who always has on a turtleneck, another guy who plays a keyboard that is set to some sort of horn (usually sax or trumpet), and two women who are a little off-key that sing. oh man, i can't really explain it, but i love it. 

Each week we have a different work duty. this week mine was evangelism with wallace, one of the staff members here. he's really cool and has a real heart for talking to people about God. our work duty is after lunch for two hours, and we did things like go to the hospital and pray for people, or just go to different people's houses in the neighborhood that wallace knows and just talk and get to know them. one night we went to a house and sang worships songs and shared what God was teaching us in school. i guess wallace goes there every week or two, but i really liked meeting them and getting to know them a little better. yesterday, we just drove around town and looked for people to talk to. and wallace saw a girl that he knew (ok, well he pretty much knows just about everyone in this town) and we gave her and her friend a ride down to punto de lobos. and a bunch of us have been wanting to go there on a weekend, its about an hours walk away and we haven't really gotten a chance to go yet because we've had different things going on. but it was beautiful, i wish that i had my camera. and i guess that its a big surf spot, anyways i would like to go again. some of us we're supposed to go today, but almost everyone had some lame excuse to not go. probably because we have a lot of homework this weekend, we have a book report due on monday. and i of course haven't started it yet, but i have read the book, so it shouldn't be too bad. and its not really a real book report, like we don't have to write a paper or anything just do some project. 

I've been so tired this week, like way more than usual. i think that it could have possibly started because we had daylight savings time last sunday, so we lost an hour. and now i am four hours ahead of home instead of three, and also when you guys change time i think we'll be five hours apart, and i hate that. it was hard enough when there were only 3 hours difference to find a time to talk to people, now who knows when i will. and then i think i've also been tired just because its been a while since i've been here and i'm in the routine of things now so i've just hit a wall i guess.  but i am in the routine of being here now, and now that i am used to it, its a lot easier and i really like it here. i've been becoming better friends with a lot of people and i really enjoy most of the people here. 

Next week we leave on our mini-outreach for two weeks. my group is going to arauco, chile. i don't know much about it there, but i'm really excited to go. i think that we are going to either be staying at churches or being housed by people from the churches that we are going to work at. we learned like 3 or 4 more dramas this week, and i guess we still have 2 or 3 left to learn before next week and another dance. so hopefully we'll get all of that done. there are 15  people in my group, and i'm also excited because the leader of our group is my one-on-one leader, maria. so it will be nice to have her there and also a couple of my closer friends are going with me. we didn't get to pick where we wanted to go for this outreach, they just put us in groups. 

This week God has really been teaching me a lot about obedience. and everyday during class, the teacher has talked about something that God had been trying to tell me to do, but i haven't been wanting to listen to God about it. but this week He really just showed me some things that I haven't been doing, the way he wants or how i am supposed to, and just that i've been doing a lot of things in my life because i want to do them not because God wants me to. so it's been a little bit of a wake-up call for me. and well in regards to that my plans have changed a little bit. I've been planning on going to Ecuador/Columbia for outreach and God has really been telling me that i am not supposed to go there. and for the last week and a half i've been battling with God about going there and struggling with it and pretty much just telling Him to change His mind. well God didn't change His mind and He wants me to go to Thailand and England, so I guess that is where I am going. it's not necessarily my first choice, but i feel pretty good about it because i feel like its where i am supposed to go. and it's gonna be really hard. and its not what i planned for, its a lot more money than i was expecting, but i believe that if its where God wants me then He will provide a way for me to get there. 

I guess thats pretty much all for now, i really need to go and work on some homework now. and as always, i appreciate your prayers. i miss you guys. 

love.

que pasa po?

so, this week at school we have a prophet who is teaching our classes. and well, let's just say it's pretty intense. yesterday class was about discipleship and how God called all of us to be disciples, just because we follow God doesn't mean that we are His disciples, it's a choice that we have to make. and today's class was about the heart and the emotions of the heart. apparently, Daniel, the prophet guy doesn't come til later in the program, and so it's a lot to take in. but it's pretty cool and i like him and i think that he can teach us a lot, if we are open to it. 

let's see, what else is new. we had spanish class again today. it was mostly just review for me, but good none the less. but i'm learning chilean slang! i've been trying to use more spanish in the last couple days, and i think that my spanish is getting better slowly but surely. i feel like i never know what to write on here. what else?...i'm still sick and i thought i was getting better, but than today i felt worse. i went on a beautiful walk to the beach yesterday, i wish the water was warmer so we could actually go in. oh i know, so for our outreaches we have to learn different dances and dramas. in the "everything" drama i am violence. and i am the main girl in "russian roulette." at first i didn't want to be the girl and its kind of weird and it takes some getting used to, but i'll get over it. and the dance is coming along, we definitely need a lot more work. 

i wish i could write more but i have to go. 

love.

pictures!

http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/oo196/_amy_g_/

2 weeks in.

So, i wish that i had more time to keep you all updated, but i am doing the best i can. This week was another full week of classes, and i am exhausted! i have a really bad cold and i don't seem to be getting any better. Today was a work day for the whole base and i spent about 5 to 6 hours in the kitchen today, washing breakfast dishes, making lunch, and then washing lunch dishes. i was ready to get out of there. 

The last two days, I've started to miss home a little and all its comforts. But tonight I felt better after talking to my parents and sarah. it was good to talk to people from home. and i've been making some good friends here. i've gotten pretty close to a few girls here, and that's been exciting. i know that i keep telling all of you that i'm gonna put up pictures soon, but i really am gonna try to tomorrow. but don't get mad if they don't make it up yet. plus i don't have that many good ones on my camera just yet. well i have to go because i need to get to bed, but i love you all. and keep me in your prayers, i need to get better so i am not so tired all the time. 

it's chilly here in chile.

So, i am finally here in south america! It was strange to actually be here after so much anticipation. I already fell like I've been here for quite some time, but it's only been a a week. I share a room with 6 other girls. And in our little house area, there are about 20 girls, 2 bathrooms, and 1 mirror, haha. Needless to say, it's pretty crazy in the morning. It's still pretty cold here, a lot colder than i expected at least. And i've been meeting some really great people here. There are quite a few Americans here, so that hasn't really been helping my spanish speaking abilities at all. There are also people from Switzerland, Germany, Peru, Venezuela, and a few other places. So I am very excited to get to know everyone.

Everyday we get up at 6:30, and have quiet time for an hour outside form 7 to 8, it's really cold in the mornings. Breakfast is at 8, and every morning we have the same thing: a kind of hard roll with butter or jam (kind of like toast, thought of you tobiendo) and tea or (fake) coffee. After breakfast we have worship and/or intercession for a hlaf hour. Class is from 9:45 to 1. So far we have talked about different ways to hear God's voice, intercessory prayer, and other things like that. We have an hour for lunch. Work duty is from 2 to 4. Then we have an hour break. At 5 we either have sports, academic time, one-on-one, or spanish class; it's different from day to day. Then we have the same thing after dinner for another hour and a half. By now its 9:30 and we finally have free time. So the weekdays are pretty much busy. But the weekends are more free. We have some things at night on the weekends, but the days are basically free for the most part.

On Saturday I went to the outdoor market and there was so much good fresh fruit there. It was delicious. I also had my first Chilean empanada on Saturday, also delicious. The food we've been eating doesn't seem that much different from the home. It's not as spicy as I expected or hoped. And they just feed us a lot of carbs, lots of bread and not that much fruit. It's really beautiful here and our base is only about a 10 to 15 minute walk to the beach.  Yesterday a group of us went on a walk to the beach and it was such a beautiful day. Ya, I don't know what else to write about right now, I am tired and it is time to go to bed. I will update more, when I can.