Keitt Update - September 2011

Soaking my beans....mmmh

Tracey speaking:  Ever since I traveled to Guatemala when I was 16 with my church, I've acquired a love for black beans.  They're not popular in Chile, but who cares- they're an awesome addition to most meals,  cheap, chuck full of protein and pretty healthy.

I still dream of making a breakfast black bean loaf of the same caliber as Ana, our hostel hostess.  Yeah it sounds a bit strange, but you've got to try it before you knock it.

Right now I've got a bowl full of beans soaking in the kitchen and I've glanced through a few blogs, recipes  and commentaries on how to do this properly.  Who would've known that there's so much love for the black bean.  We'll of course there is, silly!

I'm sure they're not going to be Ana's like tomorrow, but some day for sure.  We've all got dreams :)

Acute, Obtuse & Car Alarms

So I never thought that I would be teaching Geometry, let alone Geometry in Spanish, but that´s what the Lord has placed in my lap.  So not only am I freshening up my math skills, but I´m also adding words like acute, obtuse and right angle to my Spanish vocabulary.

One of our good friends here, Leti, is a single mom with two incredible boys, Andres (11) and Tomas (7).  They are really bright and hilarious, although they can get out of hand with their behavior at times.  They really need a strong male role model to show them the ropes.  So...Leti was looking for someone to tutor Andres in Geometry and I thought, I remember taking math in high school, it can´t be that hard, he´s only in 6th grade!

I now have the blessing of tutoring Andres in Geometry, and in reality the kid is extremely bright so I´m just coaching him along.  So far we´ve really hit it off and I´m looking forward to the influence that I´ll have with this young man.

The other day after an hour of math we decided to take a break and head outside.  We started playing soccer in the street (which is very typical, the streets are really small) and we hit a car and the alarm went off.  We decided to go back inside.

What an influence I´m having already!

Honestly though, please keep our relationship in your prayers, that I´ll be able to teach him, show him what it means to know Christ and give him an overall understanding of the responsibilities of being a solid young man.

Thanks!

And this is why we need you.

In a spiritual sense, missionaries are sent by God. In a practical sense, they are sent by laypersons with a vision for missions. We have God, missionaries and laypersons. Remove any one of these three factors and effective missions work will no longer exist. 
~ Jerry Burgess


It's not just about being actually supported (financially) by others who share our vision.  Don't get me wrong, there is literally no way we could physically be here without that financial support.  But I think so many people (including myself before I was the one being sent out) think that we add the request for prayer support as a way of softening the awkward silence that comes after you ask someone for money.


If you've kept up with our videos, you know that we have GREATLY seen the effects of your prayers.  If you haven't watched our videos, this can be your proof.


Last Thursday night was just rough for me (Christine).  After a long day of lots of little things going wrong, it's like everything collapsed at once and I could only see everything through a dark lens. (If you've ever experienced extreme culture shock or any type of depression, you know exactly what it was like.)  Typically when this happens, I quickly shift into a dysfunctional withdrawal mode.  It's not good, and I've been battling against it for over a year now. 


Something about that night made me keep moving, keep going with the routine, keep walking to small group even though being around people was the last thing I wanted to do.  


Then later that night, for the first time ever, God spoke to me in a dream.  For those of you that know me well, you know that I dream elaborate, vivid dreams almost every night.  While they are often comical, they NEVER mean anything significant.  I have always prayed for God to use my dreams, and Thursday night He did in an unmistakeable way:


I was at some sort of camp with some good friends and family - we were supposed to leave, but we couldn't because there was this lion that was laying out in the yard, and it was like I knew I was supposed to leave and I knew that the lion couldn't actually do anything, but I was still too scared to do anything and too scared to enjoy anything in the cabin.  (I was also real annoyed because whoever was with me, no one else was scared at all, and I kept being like "How can you not be scared of a LION?!?!?!?")  1 Peter 5:8-9


The next morning I get up and get an email from one of Renovatus' intercessory prayer team members.  WIthin the same half hour that we were walking to small group the night before, they had met and were praying for us as a group.  They prayed for our protection - emotional, spiritual, and physical.  They also prayed against the schemes of the devil against us here.    


Perhaps you need to know the extent of my battle with these withdrawal modes in order to appreciate the immensity of the victory.  


I know the devil always wants me to see the world through dark lenses.  I also know the devil is a liar.  But I'm not always strong enough by myself to live like I believe that he is.  And this is why I need you.


To those that have prayed for us in any way, shape, or form, we give our most sincere thanks for sharing in God's vision and always fighting alongside of us.  


God is good.        

Last week: 13 things I am thankful for...

1.  Cooking spree!  Tracey and I both enjoy cooking, and are usually successful at it, but we are definitely recipe followers!  This week I took a U.S. recipe, converted the measurements into metric, realized we don’t even have measuring cups etc. here, also realized Chileans don’t use brown sugar, OR temperature gauges on the oven :)  It was only by the grace of God (literally) that we were able to share some delicious cookies with our students and family.

2.  Healthy food is cheeeeaaaappp!!!!!!!  Both sides of the table = same price.

3.  The unity of IAM and the incredible people that we work with.  Wednesday night we had a Team dinner at Diego’s house-  It’s hard to describe the amount of gratitude we feel for our teammates and our shared vision.  More to come on this later.

4. Walking to the grocery store!  We seriously love not having a car.

5. Learning more and more what it is to truly live in community.

6.  Quoting “Friends” around the table.  Not only did I discover that Fabián shares my same love for the series, but he actually OWNS all 10 seasons.  AMAZING!!!!

7.  A meal without bread!

8.  Getting to attend Institute classes.  This month’s topic = spiritual warfare.

9.  Date night with Tracey.  This week we went to this cute little pizzeria and then walked to the grocery store for fruit snacks :)  This pic is from our first Chilean date - Gracias a Chile for loving sushi as much as we do!  

10.  Saturday night we had some dancing lessons after Jon and Marcela’s engagement party.  (Next Sunday is Independence Day and apparently we are going to start celebrating and dancing Cueca from Thursday on!)  Thanks to our fabulous instructor, Claudio, we were well prepared to show off our new skills when we were pulled up on stage at church Sunday morning :)

11.  An entire living room full of Chilenos learning the Cupid Shuffle.

12.  Learning and teaching new card games all afternoon Sunday.   

13.  Anticipating a week’s worth of celebrating (and a LOT of meat we hear :) to come!    

  

Exactly one month in

  Every other time I’ve traveled abroad I was always counting down to the day in which I would be back in Charlotte, back with Christine, back to the kids at the church, back with friends and family…  It’s been such a strange and yet freeing feeling to not have a “return date.”   I guess this is what it truly feels like to leave one community and join another.

  Early this morning before heading off for church, I was listening to a podcast from Renovatus, our Charlotte church.  While I still feel very connected to our amazing home church, friends and family, our roots here are spreading and sinking in deeper and deeper.  We’ve had such an incredible month of serving and getting to know the amazing Chileans and yet at the same time, we’ve been served and loved in so many ways that we could never imagine by our new community.

  Almost a week ago, Monday night, we went downtown to help out with a homeless ministry that our church heads up.  It’s a ministry very similar to what Mat, Katie, Patrick, Courtney, the Boydstun family and I, along with so many others did for years in downtown Charlotte.  I had my predispositions and thought that it would be nice to just “check it out.”  At the end, Christine and I were the ones being served in such a fresh way, but I’ll let her tell that story later on.

  This past Friday, Doug/Diego and Shelly Kallestad were given (by their kids) a “weekend off” to celebrate their 29^th Anniversary.   If you only knew how incredibly busy and servant minded Diego and Shelly are, then you could grasp how much they deserve this.  And what did they do with this opportunity? 

  Well, they got some well-deserved R & R and yet blessed us at the same time.  They let us watch the house, which gave Christine and I the unique experience of our first ever vacation that we walked to.  We absolutely love the family we’re living with, but it was incredibly refreshing to spend some quality time alone with Christine.

  Obviously I realize and look forward to the day we will have a “return date” to see our loved ones back in the States, but until then I’ll just keep on counting up.