News from Chile, Pichilemu, Wallace, Tina & family April 2008
Happy first day of spring, Happy Easter, Happy April Fools –
delete as appropriate! It seems that hardly any time has gone by since we wrote our last newsletter but nevertheless the months are rolling by unabated! This is a picture of Wallace with his fellow actors and actresses when in February he spent a month learning and presenting a new piece of drama in Santiago. More later!
Spring is in the air
At least foryou! As for us, the autumn beckons sooner than we’d like. On March 9th the day we were due to change our clocks Chile decided to ‘wait a little longer’ in an energy saving effort. The effect of this, at least in YWAM, was complete confusion with half the base on the existing time and half the base an hour behind insisting the clocks had changed. Even the computers changed nationally – makes me wonder if they let air traffic control know in time!
YWAM Swimming Pool’s success and local council’s surprise offer
Not only has our daughter Isabella has taken full advantage of the outdoor pool this summer but so have many others. So successful has the pool been this entire year (the only pool in Pichilemu) that the local council now want to channel all school children in Pichilemu through its swimming programs. That will be some 3,000 children! Not only that but they want YWAM pool staff to teach the children instead of local school P.E staff because of their ‘good principles’ AND they want to pay a YWAM worker to front the P.E lessons. All this from a formerly renowned corrupt local council, whose mayor and deputy are now behind bars for fraud and such like. Mitch Anderson (YWAM base founder and director of community centre & pool) said he nearly fell of his chair when they made the proposal. Mitch now faces the challenge of raising enough funds to complete the roof structure on this semi-Olympic size pool so it can function throughout the year.
Fame, politics and mission!
The national director of YWAM Chile Ricardo Rodriguez has a son (pictured in photo furthest left) who from 28th March will be starring in a TV show here which is pretty much as famous as our beloved soaps in good old Blighty. His name is Pablo and is 19 (I think) and he took part in the same drama course as Wallace in February. Ricardo is involved somewhat in politics in Chile and Argentina and has now had official government approval to spearhead a new sex education program in Chile to promote abstinence as a viable alternative to the contraceptive! Workers needed to go into school if you’re interested (must speak Spanish)
Wallace – ever the dramatic!
Wallace is still active on the football pitch (currently taking part in a tournament) and busy trying to promote his drama group. After his return from his course in Santiago he had the chance to train a group of young women in drama which was part of a local government program (Prodemu) to promote women’s development. As a result of its success they have been offered the chance to present their drama in another town, Rancagua. It’s a good opportunity to work with and for the community and he even got paid (bonus!!).
Mum and Dad fed to the chickens
Not true but got your attention didn’t it? We had a very special time in January when Tina’s parents came out for two weeks. They brought more luggage for us than for themselves (couldn’t see parents for tea bags and chocolate) and they very unselfishly spent the whole time with us and our livestock instead of travelling; Chile is beautiful and they only got to see a small corner of it. Tina’s dad spent his time trying to make our dreary back yard look like a garden by planting all sorts of shrubs and building a small swing for his grandchildren.J The rabbit got a new cage out of it and Tina’s mum did a fair amount of weeding and shovelling dirt herself but also enjoyed trips to the beach and the pool with us. Tina was officially off duty from YWAM for their visit and largely managed to stick to it.
Beyond the fence at the bottom of our garden
Someone suggested Tina let you know what else she gets up to as well as being with the children all morning
(see below). One of the most rewarding aspects of her work is the one to one pastoral time she is given with students here at the base. Whether they are on a DTS or counselling course Tina is usually assigned two or three students who must see her each for an hour a week (usually evenings). She offers advice, prayer or a bit of encouragement (maybe even a cuppa) and follows their progress to the end of the course. They always end up being an encouragement to her too. She also marks academic work two or three times a week and runs a new support group for young mothers with her friend Rosi from Germany. When she can’t take it anymore she watches DVD movies her mum sends her from England!
Hair-Raising Home Schooling
The academic year started here this month (I know, confusing isn’t it?) but Isabella wasn’t one of students
going off to school in her pristinely pressed uniform. Despite Isabella having had a tremendous time at school last year with nothing but good experiences and memories Tina has made the decision to home-school. It wasn’t a decision taken lightly nor one she thought she’d even consider. I mean what better for a woman fully involved and excited about mission to be able to send her children neatly off to school so she can ‘get on’ with ministry? So this is our new adventure and step of obedience despite the misgivings!! Anyone good at math?
Thanks for
Wallace’s safe travels to and from Brazil in November last year. A successful visit all round.
Isabella’s first real friend here, Emily (also 5yrs), who has an American dad and a Chilean mum. This has hailed the inclusion of ‘cool’ into Isabella’s vocab and sparked a couple of interesting discussions between the two of them on the pronunciation of certain words. All very entertaining.
We once asked you to pray for clearer guidance on how to invest our time and gifts! Things are clearer than last time we asked for prayer (e.g homeschooling each morning) so if you keep praying by the next newsletter we should have some more news!!! There are a couple of ideas brewing.
Please help us pray for
A possible October – December-ish visit to the UK (It will be two years this Oct since we left) Pray for finances for flight tickets (a little more than £2000) and wisdom to know how best to use the time.
An increase in our own monthly support. Despite making cuts our outgoings for basics are still more than what comes in regularly so it is the odd offering which keeps us in the black! Please pray for an increase in our monthly commitments in general and coupled with wisdom to be good administrators.
Local missionaries with YWAM. Some families have so little to live on here and really have no regular monthly support. It is still relatively rare for churches to regularly support their missionaries here. I was staggered a couple of months ago when a family I know don’t have much money even for food or clothes for their two young daughters gave their washing machine away to another poor family in a gesture of obedience and generosity. It’s very humbling. If anyone has any ideas how we can help these families by sponsoring or fundraising I’m open to ideas…
At least foryou! As for us, the autumn beckons sooner than we’d like. On March 9th the day we were due to change our clocks Chile decided to ‘wait a little longer’ in an energy saving effort. The effect of this, at least in YWAM, was complete confusion with half the base on the existing time and half the base an hour behind insisting the clocks had changed. Even the computers changed nationally – makes me wonder if they let air traffic control know in time!
YWAM Swimming Pool’s success and local council’s surprise offer
Not only has our daughter Isabella has taken full advantage of the outdoor pool this summer but so have many others. So successful has the pool been this entire year (the only pool in Pichilemu) that the local council now want to channel all school children in Pichilemu through its swimming programs. That will be some 3,000 children! Not only that but they want YWAM pool staff to teach the children instead of local school P.E staff because of their ‘good principles’ AND they want to pay a YWAM worker to front the P.E lessons. All this from a formerly renowned corrupt local council, whose mayor and deputy are now behind bars for fraud and such like. Mitch Anderson (YWAM base founder and director of community centre & pool) said he nearly fell of his chair when they made the proposal. Mitch now faces the challenge of raising enough funds to complete the roof structure on this semi-Olympic size pool so it can function throughout the year.
Fame, politics and mission!
The national director of YWAM Chile Ricardo Rodriguez has a son (pictured in photo furthest left) who from 28th March will be starring in a TV show here which is pretty much as famous as our beloved soaps in good old Blighty. His name is Pablo and is 19 (I think) and he took part in the same drama course as Wallace in February. Ricardo is involved somewhat in politics in Chile and Argentina and has now had official government approval to spearhead a new sex education program in Chile to promote abstinence as a viable alternative to the contraceptive! Workers needed to go into school if you’re interested (must speak Spanish)
Wallace – ever the dramatic!
Wallace is still active on the football pitch (currently taking part in a tournament) and busy trying to promote his drama group. After his return from his course in Santiago he had the chance to train a group of young women in drama which was part of a local government program (Prodemu) to promote women’s development. As a result of its success they have been offered the chance to present their drama in another town, Rancagua. It’s a good opportunity to work with and for the community and he even got paid (bonus!!).
Mum and Dad fed to the chickens
Not true but got your attention didn’t it? We had a very special time in January when Tina’s parents came out for two weeks. They brought more luggage for us than for themselves (couldn’t see parents for tea bags and chocolate) and they very unselfishly spent the whole time with us and our livestock instead of travelling; Chile is beautiful and they only got to see a small corner of it. Tina’s dad spent his time trying to make our dreary back yard look like a garden by planting all sorts of shrubs and building a small swing for his grandchildren.J The rabbit got a new cage out of it and Tina’s mum did a fair amount of weeding and shovelling dirt herself but also enjoyed trips to the beach and the pool with us. Tina was officially off duty from YWAM for their visit and largely managed to stick to it.
Beyond the fence at the bottom of our garden
Someone suggested Tina let you know what else she gets up to as well as being with the children all morning
(see below). One of the most rewarding aspects of her work is the one to one pastoral time she is given with students here at the base. Whether they are on a DTS or counselling course Tina is usually assigned two or three students who must see her each for an hour a week (usually evenings). She offers advice, prayer or a bit of encouragement (maybe even a cuppa) and follows their progress to the end of the course. They always end up being an encouragement to her too. She also marks academic work two or three times a week and runs a new support group for young mothers with her friend Rosi from Germany. When she can’t take it anymore she watches DVD movies her mum sends her from England!
Hair-Raising Home Schooling
The academic year started here this month (I know, confusing isn’t it?) but Isabella wasn’t one of students
going off to school in her pristinely pressed uniform. Despite Isabella having had a tremendous time at school last year with nothing but good experiences and memories Tina has made the decision to home-school. It wasn’t a decision taken lightly nor one she thought she’d even consider. I mean what better for a woman fully involved and excited about mission to be able to send her children neatly off to school so she can ‘get on’ with ministry? So this is our new adventure and step of obedience despite the misgivings!! Anyone good at math?
Thanks for
Wallace’s safe travels to and from Brazil in November last year. A successful visit all round.
Isabella’s first real friend here, Emily (also 5yrs), who has an American dad and a Chilean mum. This has hailed the inclusion of ‘cool’ into Isabella’s vocab and sparked a couple of interesting discussions between the two of them on the pronunciation of certain words. All very entertaining.
We once asked you to pray for clearer guidance on how to invest our time and gifts! Things are clearer than last time we asked for prayer (e.g homeschooling each morning) so if you keep praying by the next newsletter we should have some more news!!! There are a couple of ideas brewing.
Please help us pray for
A possible October – December-ish visit to the UK (It will be two years this Oct since we left) Pray for finances for flight tickets (a little more than £2000) and wisdom to know how best to use the time.
An increase in our own monthly support. Despite making cuts our outgoings for basics are still more than what comes in regularly so it is the odd offering which keeps us in the black! Please pray for an increase in our monthly commitments in general and coupled with wisdom to be good administrators.
Local missionaries with YWAM. Some families have so little to live on here and really have no regular monthly support. It is still relatively rare for churches to regularly support their missionaries here. I was staggered a couple of months ago when a family I know don’t have much money even for food or clothes for their two young daughters gave their washing machine away to another poor family in a gesture of obedience and generosity. It’s very humbling. If anyone has any ideas how we can help these families by sponsoring or fundraising I’m open to ideas…
posted by Tina & Wallace at 8:08 PM
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