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I announced in my last post that I would be stepping down from my paid position with my church. Last Sunday I was reflecting on my way home after our church service. I was thinking about how nice it will be to just be another person at church. You see, being on the pastoral team means a lot of responsibility. I don't know if my feelings are right or wrong, but they are what I feel.  Being on the pastoral team, having the title of "women's pastor" means a lot of things. It means that if I am having a rough Sunday, it doesn't really matter. Suck it up and serve. Because it's not about you. Granted I've had Sundays where I've hung out in the back where no one can find me for most of the service. But I know that once the service is over and it's coffee time, I need to be on my game. Cristobal preaches, but I am the backstage manager. Through the service I am making sure everything runs smoothly. New people are greeted, those without bibles are given
Recent posts

Changes on the Horizon

(Side note: So sorry for the two and a half month hiatus. Life got a bit busy and while I often thought about writing here, it just never happened.) As you know from previous posts, I am currently employed by three different groups. They are all related, all church focused, and all dream jobs for me. But alas, it IS possible to have too much good in your life. So after much prayer and counsel I decided to leave two of my jobs and go back to English teaching. Wait a second, you hate English teaching . Well, yeah. I don't know if I would say that I hate it, but it's definitely not my favorite thing to do and it will be really hard to go back to it after getting to work in these jobs for a year. But the plan is to work teaching English for a year or two, earn and save money, and hopefully after a while have enough money saved to do something else. Like... open up a cafe. So I gave my notice to two of my jobs. I'll stay with the church planting network job. Mainly because

Second Semester Dreaming

I still have moments of amazement  that I live here in Chile. Who would have known that this california girl would find her home in a country so far away from her own? But here I am. I love my apartment. It has become exactly what I dreamed. A refuge for me, beautiful and tranquil. And at the same time, a center of social life among my community. Every week, dozens of people pass through my apartment. For one-on-one discipleship. For birthday parties. For our weekly bible study. For watching futbol games. I love it. First semester (March- July) was pretty rough for me. There were too many conferences to coordinate. Too many details to remember. Too many events to coordinate. I broke down in tears more or less every week. It wasn't exactly healthy. But second semester has been much more reasonable in terms of pace of life. I am finding that I love my jobs. I love the coordinating. And I love the pastoral work. I love getting to be a part of developing pastoral leadership in the Ch

that same old roller coaster

Over the years I have learned that my relationship with the struggle of singleness is something of a roller coaster. I have seasons where I really deeply struggle and seasons where I am genuinely content with where I am. The seasons can last anywhere from a week to months. I don't think I've stayed in either of the seasons for more than a year. And while it can be exhausting at times, the back and forth, I am actually quite grateful that the Lord has given me this ride. I've been in the content season now for more than six months. In fact, except for a short period of a week or two, it's almost been a year. I was commenting to Ale, my friend who has faithfully loved and discipled me for two years, that while I have enjoyed this season, and it would be easy to pray that God leaves me here, I know that I am still on the roller coaster. I will struggle again. And I am glad for it. Strange. Glad to be struggling? Yes. You see, while the struggle itself is painful, it has

Iglesia Santiago Apostol (assorted photos)

One more blog post before I head to bed. As I just wrote in the previous post, I am working with a church plant here in Santiago. If you have been following the blog for a while (or you just know me!) you know that I love my church. I had no idea when I showed up in Chile over two and a half years ago that I would be a part of this beautiful and messy community of christians. It has been a huge blessing to serve on the pastoral team for the last year and a half. This year in particular has been one of learning dependence on God. Last year our pastoral team had 6 people. And then, in one big hit, we lost 4 of them! Not that anything scandalous happened, but that for good and healthy reasons, they all went back to their home churches (or countries!). Even Max, who is a long termer in ISA had to leave for a year to serve in another church as part of his seminary training. So in the end, Cristobal, the head pastor and church planter, and I were left looking at each other and me nervous

It's Complicated

I get the question all the time: what do you do here? I get it. I must be either a missionary here or an English teacher. Those are the only two boxes to place someone like me into. Sadly, my answer is much more complicated. No, I am not a missionary here. At least I don't think of myself as one. I don't have a sending church, nor am I supported financially by people overseas. I didn't come with a contract from an agency. Not even with a mission really. Except I do have a mission. But I think every christian has a mission, right? And no, I'm not an English teacher. I have taught English on and off for the last 8 years. But, except for one private class, I gave that all up for my current jobs. So the answer? I have three contracts. One is working half time for Fundacion Generacion, a church planting foundation. Another is working two days a week on the pastoral staff at Iglesia Santiago Apostol (ISA), a church plant in downtown Santiago. And the third is as the nat

Top Moments from "Home"

My family somehow finds the excuse every year for me to go "home" to visit them. I have to put home in quotations because I'm not quite sure that where home is. When I am here in Chile I might refer to going home as going to California, but when I am in California, it is quite obvious that my home is in Chile. Just call me confused.  The three weeks I got to be home were nothing short of amazing. I want to share with you my top favorite parts of the trip. These are in chronological order: 1. My grandma. This very special 89 year old birthday girl was my excuse to visit home. My grandma is someone INCREDIBLY special to me. She has been one of my biggest supporters in life and I love her dearly. I flew out to Washington to spend a few days alone with her before we headed out to California together. I treasure her greatly.  2. My birthday breakfast with my mom, Nigel, Aviva and Jeremy. It's not every day that a girl turns 30. I met up w

Some posts to catch up

Are you ready for it? Are you ready for the wave? The wave of blog posts!!! It's been WAY too long and although I have found myself thinking time and time again about various things that I want to share with you my dear blogreaders, I haven't sat down to do such. So here we go... the last few months made up in various posts! (A special thanks to Diana for reminding me to write.)

MOVING!

Today is a big day. Today is the day that I will be handed the keys to my new apartment! Actually, its an old apartment. A beautiful old apartment. High ceilings, hard word floors, and french doors that lead out onto the quiet street. And best of all, its a full 2 minute walk to my favorite street in Santiago, Lastarria. When I first came to Chile, almost 8 years, I had no idea that I would fall in love with this country. I had no idea that I would someday call this country "home". But then I did. And those four years that I was out of Chile, heartbroken and homesick, made my return to Chile all the sweeter. None of my family doubted that I was returning to Chile for the long run. Not only did they understand, but they were happy for me. Funny enough, people here didn't understand that. When you are a foreigner here, people always ask the same questions. Where are you from? what are you doing here? and How long are you staying? I told people time and ti

And then I stopped for a moment to breathe

I really do have intentions to write more. Life just moves a bit too quickly these days. But then again, haven't I been saying that for years? I'm finishing up my third month working in (more than) full time ministry. I say more than full time because between my three jobs, I am actually contracted to work a total of 49 hours a week. Here in Chile, the work week is 44 hours so I'm not that far off. But having three ministry jobs, in a foreign culture that doesn't worship time management like we do in the US, has been quite a challenge. I have to say that my bosses have all been very flexible with me, letting me more or less decide the when and where. And my office is literally a 30 second walk from my apartment building. And I have lots of resources to make things happen. And I work with incredible people who love Jesus. But more than anything, the key to making this whole three crazy jobs fit into one schedule, is that I love my jobs. My jobs are literally a sweet c