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.