Last Weeks in Cajon

¡Hola mis amigos, espero que esten bien! Sorry it´s been a while since I last did one of these- the last few weeks have been really busy. I´m writing to you from a youth hostel in a very rainy Bariloche, Argentina, where we are spending a few days to rest before our new project begins in the centre of Temuco. We had to leave Chile to renew our visas, which is the main reason we came here, but it´s also really exciting seeing another country in South America. Hopefully it will stop raining today as half the team are bike riding and the other half (including me) horse riding :)

Our penultimate week in Cajon was probably the busiest weeks in terms of building, as we were laying bricks. It was quite dangerous when the walls got too high for us to reach, as the scaffolding was only a thin plank of wood resting on more wood. I quite liked risking my life though, and by the end of the week we had built one side of the church!

The last week wasn´t a building week as there was heavy rain and when it rains in Chile, everything stops. We did however ask if there was anything else we could do, and on Wednesday we went to a hospital with a woman who voluntarily visits patients who ordinarily would have no one to visit them. Also on Friday the pastor arranged for us to lead a children´s event, which was held in a field. Which I found quite funny as the forecast was for rain...but thankfully the rain held off for most of the time. We played some team games with them, and then Simon and I did a puppet show for them :) Not only was it fun for the kids, but the event also got the mothers chatting together, some of which had never met before. The pastor wants it to be the beginning of many events like this, as it would be a great opportunity for evangelism.
On Friday evening a youth group from the centre of Temuco came to our church and led a service. They were all really musical, and the highlight for me was definitely singing with them afterwards. I don´t think I´ve ever heard so many spontaneous harmonies sung at once ! :)

Our last weekend in Cajon involved many, many goodbyes. On Saturday the church threw us a surprise leaving party, with quite possibly the biggest barbecue I have ever seen in my life- sooo much meat! So on Sunday we decided to invite the pastor´s family round for a typical English lunch. There were more goodbyes at our last service Sunday evening, and it was then that it really hit me how much our presence meant to the church these past few months.

I´ve learnt so much from the people of Cajon, about their way of life, but perhaps more strikingly about their love for God, and for his people. We were just 10 strangers (some more strange than others) from England, but from the word go they have treated us like their own children. If we needed something, they´d get it for us, if there was even a mention of one of us being ill they would do their best to fix it and I don´t think we were ever hungry. It´s definitely an attitude I´ll be taking home with me.

Birthday Week

Well this has been an eventful few weeks! I have lots to tell so I hope you stay with me and read till the end :) If you have any other questions please email me! The address I´m using is: laura.millyard@hotmail.co.uk

For my birthday we all went (apart from Matt) to a Marco Barrientos gig in Temuco. Marco Barrientos is a Latin American worship leader who is well known by most of the young people I have come across so far in Chile, so it was exciting to actually go and see him live. the gig was held in a school gym, which was a bit like an American basketball court, and we were in the stalls. Leo (the pastor´s nephew) came with us which was good cause we really wouldn´t have known the way otherwise! Once we were sat in the audience I started to feel less like an English tourist and more like a Chilean, which was great :) Everyone really enjoyed the evening, mostly because it was just so different to anything we´ve done so far in Chile, and it was so good to experience something of the Christian youth culture.

On the day of my birthday I was woken by Anna who was dressed like a birthday candle, which was odd...and the breakfast table was covered in gifts from the tacky present shop in Temuco. There were plastic flowers, millions of sweets, a pink pony complete with hairbrush, a family of squeaky hippos and a "te quiero" bear. I also had some clothes from Mum and Dad, which I really needed after living for 5 weeks with the same few clothes! It´s tradition in Chile to have a big cake, and then the birthday boy/girl has to take a big bite out of it, and as they do they get their head pushed in...so of course I had to inkeep with tradition! At church in the evening I had to stand at the front whilst everyone sung "Happy Birthday"...that was embarrasing.

Me and Sally made a campfire in the back garden on Saturday evening, which we were very pleased about, mostly because we did it without any help of the boys :)

On Wednesday evening we finally had a delivery of bricks to the building site!! We are just waiting for a man to come and check that the work we´ve done so far is safe (haha) before we start the brick laying work.

Yesterday (Thursday) I stayed in bed for most of the day as I hit my head on the edge of a table and made a dent in it! It was quite funny admittedly- I can´t believe how a knock on the head could make me feel so unwell, but it did. Ok, I´m exagerrating slightly with the dent....but it really hurts!

This evening the church are throwing a joint birthday party for Abner (Pastor´s son), Claire and me, so most people have gone into Temuco to buy things for it. Me and Antoine have stayed home to get a bit of peace and quiet...it´s nice living with lots of people my age, but sometimes I really crave alone time, so I´m glad I´ve got some today.

Ok, I feel I´ve written enough now! Please stay in touch. If you´d like to write (I love getting letters!) the address is :

C/O Ruth Gardener
Quetru 1044
Millaray
Temuco
Chile