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Showing posts from May, 2006

Mormor

Last night, surrounded by her three children, my mormor (grandma) died. She has had cancer for a few years now and this last week she moved out to California where my mom lives to spend her last few days near to her children. Please pray for my mom and the rest of my family as we miss her. This would have to be the worst part of being so far away from home. All I want is to hug my mom, and the most I can do is call her.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

For those of you who don't know, on May 29th 1983 I was born to Dave Lipkowitz and Kimmen Sjolander at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco at 7:57 in the morning. Today is my 23rd birthday and I have to admit that if the year can be predicted at all by the birthday, this will be a great year. Right now it is only 7:30 in the morning and besides the great birthday hug from Ashlee this morning, there hasn't been too much happening today. But really my birthday started friday. As you all know from my previous blog, friday was a great day full for blessings (I consider those to be my presents from God!) After I wrote my blog on friday I went to Youth group at my church, as I do every friday. THis last week I have been praying about the guys at youth group. I really wanted the chance to hang out with them outside of church, but I wanted them to invite Ashlee and I, not the other way around. And friday night they did. Sam, one of the leaders asked me if I would want to hang out some

what a blessed day

Sometimes I just feel so blessed and then as I think about that, I feel even more blessed just for feeling blessed. For example, today. After teaching at Louis Vuitton I headed over to Reñca where I played with some adorable children. I then ran my little tucus over to the office of a man who is basically in the top 10 most imnportant people financially here in Chile. I am always a little nervous teaching him since he seems so important, but today as we were in class he asked me what I did during all my time on Micros (buses). I told him that I studied. When he asked what, I replied theology and pulled out the book I had been reading today on Reformation Church History. This of course triggered a conversation anout our beliefs. He being a stout Catholic explained his beliefs to me (practicing his speaking skills of course) and I in turn explained my beliefs (practicing his listening skills). So basically we talked about the Gospel for most of the class. Is there purgatory? Does the Po

family meeting

So right now I am trying to escape the "family meeting" that is taking place in our house. Basically this means that everyone is talking about the weekend plans, why our sink is always full of dirty dishes, and arguing about grammar(I am not joking!). It is still fairly early in the night (most Chileans go to sleep around 1 in the morning), but I think my bed time is coming up soon. SO I will sign off now.

Tim and Sally

So I have begun to babysit for a couple from Austrailia. The dad Tim is one of the profs at the seminary here and the mom Sally is seriously my newest role model. I basically arrive at their house around 8pm and their 3 kids are already asleep. They sneek out and I am left with a huge library full of books on systematic theology, old classics, Graeme Goldsworthy, and women's devotionals. It is a little piece of heaven for me. Total quiet. No distractions. And all the books I could ever hope for. Last week I read some of Berkhof's systematic theology and a book in feminine christianity, and tonight I covered subjects as far in range as homosexuality, the emergent church, the Churches response to the DaVinci Code, and worship. In any case, I am once again feeling blessed. I am blessed that God gave me the time and ability to bless this couple with babysitting (no charge) and on top of that, i get to spend those two and a half hours every wednesday night in my own little sanctuar

a short one

Sorry, but this one won't be too interesting or exciting. Just an update. Ashlee is now working full time at the school and I have a few more hour that bring me up to 22 hours of work, 37 if you count the travel time. I am liking my job and in all honesty, although I miss my almost free schedule, I know that this fuller schedule will make me more productive with my free time. My birthday is coming up this weekend so we are making all the plans and all. So far here are the plans: Sunday night family dinner at a new Indian food place that just opened Monday night ice cream party (everyone invited) at Bravisimo, which is like a clown/party/cheesy baskin robins type of place Friday (June 2) dance party at our apartment. This is actually a joint a party for my housemate Paula and I, so who knows what will happen...

my desire to wait, once more renewed

So it is 3:30 in the morning and I just got home. I was set up on a blind date by my friend who is worried about my "lack of dating". Well this one didn't encourage me to try harder. First of all, I don't social date. Meaning I don't go out on dates just for the sake of going out on dates. When I go out on a date, it is because I like the guy and I think there is a possibilty of something happening. So when my friend told me that she had set me up on a blind date with one of her students, I was a little hesitant. She told me to relax and just enjoy the fact that I am single (she is not) and to let the guys spoil me. So this guy called me and I told him that I have church until 10 on fridays, but afterwards we could do something. So he called me tonight at 10 and asked if I could come to his part of town (the first no-no). I asked him how I was going to get home afterwards since most public transportation stops at midnight or so. He said he would accompany me to my

a new friend

So I got a random call a few days ago from a girl who had heard that I knew of some ministry opportunities in Santiago. SO I invited her over for some tea and we talked. As we were talking, it came out that she went to a small Christian liberal arts college in Philly. She said the college was very missions oriented and concerned about social issues. i asked her if she had heard of a guy from Philly named Shane Clairborne (he wrote the book Irresistable revolution that my friends and I are so crazy about). She smiled and replied thatshe knows him! Like they were in the same group of friends! I almost died! I told Rachel, she almost died too. i told Ashlee when she got home that night, and she literally started screaming. I was worried that the neighbors might think something was wrong with all the screaming in teh apartment. But no cops were called. anyways, the point is that this girl, Claire is now our new best friend. Seriously! But in truth (en verdad), this is one more blessing in

Smog and Santiago

So the pollution in this city is just gross. At the end of the day, you just feel disgusting. And then you blow your nose and it is all blackness up in there. Cute huh? So this morning I am reading the Santiago Times and they have an article about how bad the pollution is going to be this winter. Here are some quotes: “All our long-term models suggest that climate conditions this year will be less favorable than last year, and last year things were critical,” said Manuel Merino, an environmental academic at the Universidad de Chile’s National Environmental Center. “The situation this year is complicated because it is certain that small particulate matter, what we call PM 2.5 and which is not currently monitored, penetrates respiratory tracts and leads to more cardiopulmonary sickness,” said Dr. Juan Luis Castro, the head of Colegio Medico, Chile’s physicians’ association. “This means more of everything, from allergies to pneumonia.” He added that, as in previous years, young children a

Where did the Gringa go???

That's right folks, i finally got rid of my gringa roots (literally)! I dyed my hair on Saturday a beautiful dark auburn brown. Slowly, but surely I am turning Chilena.

Our favorite cook

Here is Ashlee being n amazing roommate and cooking lunch.

Some quotes about Chile

I am reading abook from the 1960's called Inside South America. It is actually a really interesting view on South America, espeically Chile, since eit was written so long ago. In fact, it was written before the whole Pinochet nightmare. But still, 40 years has not changed everything. Here are some quotes from the book that still hold true about Chile today: "Twenty six hundred miles long,it has a longer Pacific coastline than the United Stqates, and is never broader than 220 miles; the averge width is only about 125 miles, and yet is covers a totaly area as big as Texas." "Chilenos are notorious for liking to stay up all night... I would ask desperatly, as we headed home at 2 am or later in each case, "When to Chileans sleep?" Answer: "Sundays." " "Chile is the one country where it is impossible to be late for anything. Dinner is difficult to procure in a hotel before 10pm or later, which can also happen in Spain, Russia, and Eastern Eur

thanks

I just want to say thanks for the comments on the blog about Graeme Goldsworthy. Those articles were so interesting! If you have any more suggestions, let me know.

alone

I have changed a lot since I got to Chile. Or maybe it is just that here in this country I am learning more about the way I have always been. For example, I have found that I am really content being by myself. For those of you who knew me in high school or college, this statement might sound strange. Wait a sec, you might think, Becka is totally social, a social butterfly, loves being around people, in fact thrives being around people. But the truth is that through all those years, I always had plenty of time alone. I loved going dancing, going down to the bars downtown, and all of the social things a college town offers. but I still returned to a quiet house, or at least a quiet room (anyone remember the year in Avila with the 10 roommates?). I haven't gone out dancing the last two times that my roommates went. I just wanted to stay home and chill. So tonight, my roommates all went out and I stayed home and journaled, painted, and danced my own version of baile on our hardwood flo