VIDA EN EL SUR

Feeling Purple

2012-02-22T07:26:00.000-08:00

I’ve always kind of felt likesomehow I was born with a Latina heart inside a Gringa body. (And no, it’s not just because I can NEVER beon time :) The first time I traveled toLatin America, I knew there was something about it that was a part of me Ihadn’t met yet. A feeling that canperhaps best be described by one of my favorite moviescenes, when the clouds break in Machu Picchu as Che Guevara sees it forthe first time and says

“How can I feel such nostalgia for a world I’ve neverknown?”

That was meeting Latin America forme. Which explains why I went back everyopportunity I could to teach, travel, work, and now live.

And now we live here.

In Latin America.

But we’re still Gringos.

Or are we?

When we’re around a bunch ofChileans, we feel pretty Gringo.

But when we’re around a bunch ofGringos, we feel VERY Chilean.

There are many things we love abouteach culture.

There are many things we just don’tunderstand about each culture. Somedays it’s the States. Some days it’shere.

I don’t understand why you need tosee 3 people and have 2 receipts for a purchase of something valued less than $2. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t greet every single person whenyou walk in a room. I don’t understandhow schools can just be on strike and kids not get to go for 6 months. I don’t understand (now) every individual ina family owning their own car.

It’s not that we’re miserable, don’tget me wrong. But when it comes to“fitting in” anywhere, we’re learning more everyday that it’s just not gonnahappen. Ever again. To steal a friend’s simple analogy: “If the U.S. is red and Chile is blue, youwon’t ever be either. You will always bepurple.”

And that’s not a bad thing.

Because when you’re purple, you liveout the reality every day that you’re not really home yet. You don’t “fit in” here, in any country,because you weren’t created to. Thisworld is not our home, we are just passing through.

And in the midst of God reaffirmingthis truth to me, He gave me this little gift this morning. It’s when the author of Hebrews is trying todescribe and define what faith is in Chapter 11:

¹³All thesepeople were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive thethings promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴Peoplewho say such things show that they are looking for a country of theirown. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the countrythey had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a bettercountry—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called theirGod, for he has prepared a city for them.

Thank you, Father, for promising usa HOME that we were created for.

Overwhelmed and under prepared

2012-02-18T19:58:00.001-08:00

Exhausted. Christine and I are mentally and physically exhausted. Long story short, you know that house we got, well this past Tues our church was looking for a home to host a family of short term (10 day) workers. For some reason they looked to us. So we've spent the 4 or 5 or how many days it's been busting our butts that had already been working in overdrive to get all of the house done before the school year kicked off. The family has arrived and so has a sharp pain in my back. It feels like a small size bolder or something... too much crown molding and painting along with other lovely house activities.

And to the part about being overwhelmed and under prepared, not the house but joining Facebook. Oh the dreaded evil that it is. I've resisted for however long it's been and absolutely loved it, but after a conversation with Eccles (a friend here that heads up most of the middle school youth group stuff) I decided to take a turn for the dark side :).

It wasn't even one of those profound conversations. I simply realized that state side I don't need to communicate with people through the Face, but here, especially with the youth it's a necessary evil. Can I say that; "the Face", oh well it sounds good to me.

So now after all that time, I stepped into the new, modern, communicative world of the Face and realized that this machine will endless throw names of people that I supposedly know, which I do, and so now I have to say no... no more friend seeking for tonight. It's 1 o'clock and I'm tired, overwhelmed and under prepared.

Maybe I should go back where the grass was greener.

We got a HOUSE!!

2012-02-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

After months of bike-ride-house-hunting, waiting on paperwork, meeting ~~a million times~~ with realtors, we finally have a house!!

Is it the one you saw in our video update? Well, not exactly.

And by not exactly, I mean not at all.

Due to the delay in paperwork, we actually lost the contract and deposit on the house we thought would be ours. Which is quite the bummer, monetarily speaking. But, there doesn't always have to be a known reason for things; God is good because God is good, not because He answers prayers the way we want Him to.

The good news is, He still answered a DEAR need and prayer of ours to have our own home and own space to live in! We have been living with some pretty amazing and very generous people since the middle of last June, (for which we are extremely grateful for,) but it was just time to be on our own again.

SO, after a quick and tranquil trip to the Andes early last week (I love that we live in Chile), we got home and within hours signed a contract to buy this house as soon as we get the bank paperwork situated. In the meantime, we are renting. Which meant we got the keys. In our hands. That night.

It also means that since that first morning of having those keys, Tracey and I have been working 12-16 hour days trying to make it livable/clean/our own. It wasn't in horrible shape (as you will soon see) but enough repairs to take about 2 full weeks of work. Thank goodness for summer here and that we have time out of school!

So we've been and will continue to be a little MIA when it comes to Internet, but hopefully by next weekend we'll be sleeping in our OWN room, complete with Internet!

But until then, it's back to camping out in the living room :)

Keitt Update - January 2012

2012-01-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ralco Mission Trip

2012-01-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

Ralco was a blessing. A blessing filled with backbreaking work that started at 6am everyday. To be honest I´m glad we got up that early to beat the sun out for a few hours of shaded coolness.

Before I get into the explanation of what we were doing let me explain a bit about the church.

Pastor Antonio

Antonio, the old head pastor of Oriente (our church) moved down to Los Ángeles (Chile that is) after feeling called to minister and spread the gospel to the people in the surrounding area. While getting involved with the community and starting his church in Los Ángeles, Antonio got word of a missionary church in Ralco that had imploded and left the congregation in really bad shape.

Long story short the pastor had an affair and left his wife and the church, which we all know can leave a long lasting wake of wreckage. I point this out because of the demographics of Ralco. The quaint town of Ralco has a strong influence and representation of Pewenche people, one of the major indigenous groups of Chile.

Gaining "confianza" or trust with the indigenous groups requires commitment and dedication; I imagine this is the way it is because of the history of being cheated, tricked and burned by outsiders. Not all ¨conquistadores¨ were as charming as John Smith. Seeing as how Ralco is also the center point for almost a dozen more smaller pueblos of unreached people it's a vital place to be investing in, serving and loving.

All that said the work is hard. I give it up to Pastor Antonio and his passion to serve and love this community and sacrifice many a Sunday mornings commuting 3 hours on a bus with his family. By the way, he has his Los Ángeles church services Sunday evening.

So, now we have a beautiful church building on a hill, but without water it was a bit inconvenient. It's ironic/funny/sad what we see as inconvenient at times with our churches. Some are more like the Y or a country club, but “a cada loco, su tema”... to each his own.

We dug a 200 yard trench (2 football fields) down a hill, laid the plumbing and reached the water lines of the city.
After a week of blisters,

back aches,

way to few bathing opportunities,

and man power by each and everyone of these lovely people water has arrived at the church.

We´ve already started on the foundations for the restrooms which will be completed by future teams to come, who will also be involved in many other projects and outreach events. It was exciting to be the ground breaking team to serve in Ralco and set the tempo. We hope that we left a good aftertaste.

Check out more pictures in the gallery to your right.

Love it, Miss it

2012-01-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

I MISS TEACHING KIDS!

Today was my second day in Sunday School and I realize how much I miss being in the classroom with kiddos. I love that we are getting to teach all the time here, don't get me wrong... but there is something so different about teaching kids. Plus, Jesus is a WAY better topic to teach than English :)

Today we made name tags and the kids won stickers for bringing their Bibles and knowing their memory verses. I was pretty amazed by the sneaky-ness (yes, I'm an English teacher) of a one 4 year old who decided she would tell us to write "Javiera" on her name tag, only to find out later her real name is Amanda. Why did she tell us Javiera? Because she likes that name better.

This is the stuff I love!!!

So now I'm googling thematic units and fun songs to sing and games to play. It's made me feel nostalgia for a few things in my past life:

1. Felt boards. I don't care what you say, I love them and always have.

2. Vacation Bible School. What I wouldn't do to get those checks by my name for bringing my Bible!

3. Teaching 5th grade. The days of Ms. Reeve, reading marathons, novel projects, and Friday dance song.

4. My previous students. How great it is to get emails just saying hi!

5. My previous coworkers. LHES family - you know who you are :)

6. The feeling after teaching a really well-planned and creative lesson.

7. Being excited about what you are doing and who you are with...

So, I'm super pumped. And Tracey is too - He'll be working with the middle school class, a little more up his alley :)

Tracey gets back tomorrow morning - Sounds like it has been a great trip! Pictures and details soon to come.

Off to Ralco

2012-01-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

So we're finally done with the craziness of December. I've never experienced such a jam packed Christmas season. Tons of delicious cookouts, dinners, meetings, celebrations, birthdays, an amazing visit from Mere and everything in between. A bit overwhelming at times to be honest, but a lot of fun as well. I'll at least be more prepared for round two of Chilean Christmas this year.

We just got back from an amazing trip to Chiloe with Mere, Becky and Claudio.

We had a blast and really looking forward to going back and venturing into more of the national parks. I'd tell you about it, but I think pictures do a much better job. We just uploaded a bunch on the gallery. Check it out. (The link is on the right side of this page.)

So tonight in oh about 15 minutes I 'm about to head down to Ralco for a building project with a sister church. We got to know a bit of Ralco on our first trip to the south and I'm really looking forward to this week to come.

The church is located in a quaint town in the mountains. It's in the beginning stages and doesn't have any water or restrooms at the church right now so that what's we're going down to do. The beautiful/crazy part of our trip is that the church is located on a hill so although the view is going to be sweet there will be some work to be done as we dig out 200 yard trench up the hill. :)

Please keep us in your prayers in these specific things:

Unity and patience with the team seeing as how the labor is going to suck all the energy out of us :)
Safety with travel and the work
To bring the love, peace and joy of Christ to this community in all that we do

By the way, Christine is going to stay in Santiago and continue to teach English and await our lovely trámites (paper work). It's really getting down to the wire in regards to the house and some other stuff dealing with our carnet (our Chilean social Security card). Please lift those up in prayer as well.

Thanks and I'll be sure to update you guys when I get back! (Mon the 23rd)

Keitt Update - December 2011

2011-12-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

Navidad en Chile

2011-12-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

Just in case you're wondering about the Christmas traditions here in Chile! :)

Living in two worlds is impossible

2011-12-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

So a few blogs ago I was thanking Google for the technology and ways in which it can help in those home sick days...todays a bit different. I'm not exactly sure if I love or hate technology. Let me be a bit more specific, I don't know if I love or hate Skype.

Today's Christmas, of course, and typically we (human beings all over the world) find holidays as a time to share with those who mean the most to us, typically including our family. Last night Christine and I had our first ever Chilean Christmas, which was an amazing blessing, lots of delicious food and lasted into the wee of the morning, 3am to be specific. We're still recuperating. One of the biggest differences between a Chilean and American Christmas is that here, everything is celebrated during Christmas eve. We go to an late night service, have a Christmas dinner at about 10:30pm or so and then we open presents at midnight and conversate and hangout until our eyelids are as heavy and overwhelmed as our stomachs were when we finished eating.

So after waking up at the crack of dawn, 11:30 and spending about 2 hours talking with my family on Skype I just wanted to scream. I absolutely loved it and then again hated it.

(1) The internet down here isn't that reliable and so you're praying and hoping that the video will unfreeze and maybe you'll be able to make sense of the jumble audio that's coming through. (2) Not to mention the fact that your trial group chat is sucking wind and people who you dearly love are trying to skype in at the same time and yet you can't talk with 15 people at once. (3) No matter how much time you spend chatting it up and sharing your life there is no way that you can truly share all your thoughts, emotions and recent happens like you can when lounging in your parents living room talking with your parents and brothers and sisters. It's simply imposible to live in two worlds at the same time, no matter how technologically savvy we become.

No don't get me wrong. Yes I'm complaining right now and yet I'm still grateful for the connection that we get through skype and all the other neat things that didn't exist 30 years ago. I just wish that languages, time, and space weren't such "partying killers" and that we, Americans, Chilean, Ethiopians, Russians etc..., could teleport from living room to living room with out losing a second of any of the experiences of truly being with those we love.

Right now we're all somewhere, in the all so sweet physical present... Where ever you are I pray and hope that you truly enjoy and cherish where ever that may be in the all so fleeting present.

¡Merry Christmas & Feliz Navidad!

When you've heard a story 1,000 times before...

2011-12-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

it's hard to think that you'll find anything new.

This week we were supposed to study a passage for a group discussion on Wednesday. The passage was on Matthew 2, when the wisemen come to visit Jesus. After rereading the passage a few times, I was stuck.

"Um, Tray, how are we supposed to talk about this for 2 hours??" He didn't know either.

I have realized especially over the last few weeks how quick I am to dismiss things that I think I already know. Which is ironic (not really) because in the same time, God has been showing me again and again how much He wants to teach me as soon as I surrender my pride and admit I actually want to be taught.

Sure enough, as soon as I admitted to God that maybe I don't know everything about this Christmas story and I want to be taught by Him, the real learning began.

Here's what I learned:

When we really encounter Jesus, our innate response is worship. The wisemen, who studied stars and did not proclaim to know God, had to find the star to come and worship the King (v.2).

They also reacted with obedience (v.12) by not going back to King Herod after being warned by God in a dream. Why were they obedient? Because they had spent time with the living God. How could they desire to do anything after but be obedient to Him?

When we spend time with God, when we really encounter Him, our natural response is worship. We were created for it. And when we worship Him alone, we are at peace in this crazy world.

It's also the way we get into God's presence. Gratitude and praise to God always preceded a miracle of Jesus. Paul and Silas had the gates of jail opened and the chains fall off all the prisoners... after what? Singing and praising God all night.

We were created to worship.

So what to take from all of this?

1) Don't ever think that God can't teach you something from the Christmas story you've heard since you were a child...

2) Do what you were created to do this Christmas - Rejoice that your Creator, the King of all Kings, wants to know you and came to this earth only to die for you. Worship Him because He is the only one worthy of it!

May your Christmas be full of His peace!

Thanks Google

2011-12-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

So here and again I wake up and I'd pay anything for a simple afternoon back at my parents' house with all my siblings. Obviously I miss them all the time, but these strong yearnings to truly physically be there are more random.

This morning I was emailing my parents, which I guess doesn't make the yearning random, and I really wanted to physically see our house, a house that had been my home for about 22 or so years. Without a picture to look at because who takes pictures of their house, well at least I didn't, off to good ol' google we go.

With stalkerish/incredibly advanced technology that we have today you can do and see some pretty cool stuff. When I search my parents address, zoomed in and got to the street level, this is what I got.

(1) This is creepy that I can actually get this close to their house simply using google. (2) This is cool and exactly what I needed to "feel" like I was at home again. (3) This is sublime to see my old whip/car/vehicle parked out front. Which means I was literally inside the house!

I bought that car right before I headed off to college (for a measly 1250 bucks). Oh how I loved that 89 4-door Dx Honda Civic. All the experiences and struggles I had with that car. But let's be honest, it's a Honda so I had very few struggles...pushing it for all it had to make it up a hill so me and 4 other full size men could go snowboard instead of sliding back down the road (while listening to some good ol' Ben Harper I might add), breaking down with 4 middle school boys during Disciple Now, getting my first kiss from Christine, changing car brakes for the first time, trips all over the place for just over 32mpg...boo koos of goodness to say the least.

Well it finally died about 2 weeks before I graduated with a bit over 215,000 miles. Although Joel Pants and I had to push it down Providence Road for it's last haul at 10:30 at night I can easily classify it as a gem.

How did google know that I needed both, the car and the house in the same picture? Or maybe google hasn't updated their street level pictures in oh I don't know, 3 years at least. Either way I'm smiling.

The Randomness of Our Life

2011-12-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Where's the most random place Tracey could be right now, Wednesday night, at 11:33pm?

If you guessed talking on a Chilean radio show, you are right!

If you know Tracey, you know he doesn't do anything less than 100%. In our Chilean life this has included baking bread, fixing bikes, finding the best fruit combination for banana ice cream, translating for Institute classes, leading small group, and finding the most time and traffic effective route to various points of interest. It is also why he has spent the last week revisiting and researching some of the themes from his bachelor degree to share with a friend from church on his radio show.

The theme: human rights around the world from a Christian perspective.

From his extensive notes and passion for the topic, I know he's doing an amazing job. And I'm sure he will tell you about it later :)

I've grown tired of giving to the poor...

2011-12-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

It's weird, over the past few months I've come to the realization that some of the fundamental parts of my past, I've now become disillusioned with. Not exactly great "missionary" talk...

I remember back when I was in college I would spend every Saturday afternoon giving food to the homeless along with having some pretty interesting and profound conversations with them as well. This was 3 years of a lot of fun, numerous relationships with some really near and dear friends, and experiences that taught me a lot.

So we got to Chile and I was informed that they're doing some of the same style work downtown on Monday nights. Christine and I went out one night to served. It was cool (1) to do it with Christine this time and (2) it sort of sparked some sentiments of nostalgia. But I haven't gone back.

During the last year of serving downtown in Charlotte, I sort of realized that maybe I'm doing more trouble than good. What if through what I thought was love and service, I've been a cause of the problem or at least "enabling"/encouraging these wonderful people do the exact thing I wanted to fight against, homelessness.

The same thing happened in high school when I was super gung-ho for evangelizing; being as studied up as I could on all the apologetics. Somewhere in the midst of that season of life I realized, yes there are those who don't follow/know Christ, yes I desperately want them to know Christ like I know Him, but "explaining"/arguing/persuading them into the kingdom just doesn't seem to be the answer. Was I doing any good to go up to random people who I haven't gained any respect with and begin to question their belief system? Maybe...maybe not.

I became disillusioned with evangelism.

Back to the current train of thought this week.

I've felt Christ telling me, "Maybe it's not that you're disillusioned with evangelism or serving the poor, but with the methods you're using. Try another way Tracey."

I think one of my favorite things to hear is,

"I just preach "the word" (the Bible)"

or,

"Just do what the Bible tells you to do."

Really?! You must be a flippin' genius because I've always felt that interpretation is needed when reading, preaching and living according to the Bible. Which really makes it, "I just preach the word according to my predisposiciones, experiences and world view".

Once again I'm reminded of my need for the Holy Spirit to guide me in all of this and that Christ is always working molding shaping not only my "being" but my understand of how to carry out those Oh So Simple Phrase; "love your neighbor as yourself." It's a process that's messy, filled with ups and downs, corrections, successes and start overs.

So I'm in the process of looking, living, figuring out new ways to serve, share & love. I'm just hoping that my disillusionment streaks don't get the best of me.

30 Books in 30 Days

2011-11-30T04:17:00.000-08:00

Ok so we're about to head out to our morning class but I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH!

This is how grateful/happy we are.

All the books have been bought and I can't wait to get them down here! We honestly can't tell you how grateful we are to have this sort of support. The only thing I'm sad about is that we won't have a countdown on our blog anymore :(. It's fun, for me at least, to see it up there just ticking away. As always we'll keep you guys updated on all the changes, funny moments, joys, frustrations and blessings.

Have an amazing day,
Tracey

Keitt Update - November 2011

2011-11-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

The best way to learn Spanish = Buy a Passat

2011-11-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, so obviously this has nothing to do with what we're doing down here in Santiago, but it just made me laugh. Thanks mom for keeping me up-to-date on the State side commercials.

30 Books in 30 Days

2011-11-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

BAM: 30 Books in 30 Days

2011-11-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

So as we were heading down here, if you had talked with us about our long term plans you probably heard us talking about the possibility of "Business as Missions" or BAM. We weren't really sure how, when or where. Well now we've got a much clearer idea!

The basic idea of "Business as Missions" is to create an ethical, honest & productive business with a focus and concern for the workers, clients and surrounding neighbors. So yes, the business is there to make a profit and in reality to sustain ourselves. It will also allow us to get involved with our community here outside of our church and organization.

As you probably saw in our video, we're pretty excited about this idea. We're hoping that the 30 Books in 30 Days will help us develop a nice start to a library of resources and textbooks.

So if you're interested, let me explain how this all works.

Of course we couldn't find all the books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, so we had to make two Wish Lists that added up to 30 :)

Click on this link: Amazon Wish List
It's ordered according to priority
Everything will be shipped to Cheryl Reeve (Christine's mom), to side step the incredible shipping cost. When you check out at amazon.com, select the shipping address for "Cheryl Reeve" (it will say "Wish List Shipping Address" underneath.)

OR, to shop at Barnes and Noble:

Click on this link: Barnes and Noble Wish List
You have to actually log into our name.

email address : thekeitts@gmail.com
password : 30books

Once you're there, look on the top of the screen under the My Account tab and click Wish List.
It should automatically have Cheryl Reeve as the shipping address.

Yeah, I know if someone out there works for Barnes and Noble, ask them why they created their Wish List like this. Thanks :)

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment here or shoot us an email at thekeitts@gmail.com

Here are some questions that we thought you might have or FAQ:

Will you still work and serve with the organization and the school?
Oh yeah! We're hoping that running this business just part down will be able to raise sufficient funds to sustain ourselves.

So if I'm supporting you monthly what's going to happen?
Ok, so we're hoping that within a certain amount of time we'll get to the point where monthly supports won't have to support us anymore. We'd absolutely love it if you found other missionaries to support in our place. But this is basically all up to how the business runs. We have high expectations and would thoroughly appreciate all prayers in regards to the business.

Should I buy two copies of the same book?
No need. Here in Chile you can legally copy textbooks even with copyright laws. Don't ask me how they do it, but we've already used this amazing copying system Chile has and plan on doing the same with these books.

Where am I shipping these books to?
Ohio! When you check out at amazon.com, select the shipping address for "Cheryl Reeve" (it will say "Wish List Shipping Address" underneath.)

We'll keep you updated on our countdown at the top of our blog!

Avengedo

2011-11-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

It was terrifying the week before, seeing as how this would be my first time interpreting with material at a Seminary level. I felt like a crazy man spending every extra hour during the week and pretty much all weekend in the school library prepping those 111 pages of notes. I remember feeling butterflies in my stomach before I got on the bus Tuesday night, kind of like I felt before high school football games.

Institute

A few more photos in the gallery.

So how'd it go?

Really well. Let me restate that, it went a whole lot better than how I thought it could have turned out. But I honestly thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh yeah, there were times when I looked at Scott and thought, did you really just say...

"avenged"...
"pre-incarnate"...
"as he brought the hot coals and burning incense into the holy of holies."

All of which as you could guess are not part of anyone's everyday vocab. You know how some people just through an "o" or an "a" on the end of an english word and expect it to be Spanish. I definitely tried that with avenged - avengedo. Oh I was so close, but so wrong. I'm smiling now just remembering the faces I got from the audience. It's VENGAR or VENDICAR, in case you're wondering.

Luckily the people of Lautaro were very kind and paciente and we only had a few of these awkward "I have no idea" moments.

Overall I learned a lot and I'm really looking forward to doing it again. It's cool to find new ways to reach out and serve the people of Chile. I could definitely do this as a profession some time in the future.

The family that hosted me in Lautaro.

Funny side note, I don't know who the woman on the left is, she just happened to be eating breakfast with us...what could I say, "Um, mam I don't know you..."

By the way Insitute or Instituto was what I was translating. It basically consists of Seminary Professors usually from the States coming down to teach a jam packed intensive week. It's been an amazing way that our organization can (1) disciple the members of our churches, (2) connect with other churches, because churches always love working together :) and (3) bring in those who are interested in the Bible but don't have a relationship with Christ.

Thanks again for all of you that prayed for me during this experience!

Seat 23 is occupied...

2011-11-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

For the first three or so hours of this delightful 10 hour venture back to Santiago I was living the high life; no one to share the arm rest with! But then we stopped.

I think this is one of the few down side to Chilean buses. Unlike when you take to the sky you're never quite sure if you can really get comfortable with the extra blessing of "land." But honestly I can`t complain. My arm rest sharer seems like a pretty nice bloke and even with the cute little 5 year old making continuous fart noises across the isle I'm gravy. I think I've told you before, but if I haven't Chilean "Charter Buses" are where it's at.

I love to read and rarely get 10 free hours in a day to simply read :). There are very few limitations with this snazzy little kindle we were gifted this past Christmas and I'm pushing it to its limits. If you're wondering, I'm actually writing this soon to be blog on the kindle! Even though its tempting to watch Capitan Jack Sparrow and Penelope Cruz search for the next big treasure on the Caribbean Sea, there's just too much good stuff to read.

Oh wait, is it true... yes it is... my short lived neighbor is already getting off the bus! Back to the double wide.

Ok so to the point. I have really been overwhelmed with the sublime creativity and depth through which God speaks to us; the Bible, literature, nature, relationships... Not that I always understand it or agree with what he's saying, but that's just it: He's God and I'm man. I try to take the lovely right along side with the frustrating. Pray for me with that. Seriously.

Translating the 112 page notes on Génesis and then interpreting 15 hours of class was enough as is, but then there was the

The Hebrew (strong's concordance is Spanish is probably one of my favorite finds right now)
The literary styles (chiasmo)
The intricate webs of connections and symbols

I think I just want to go to seminary right now.

For me it's cool to see His creativity show up in literature.

Paradise Lost - John Milton giving us a fresh and almost eerie beauty of what it was like before the fall.
Jesus the Son of Man - Kahlil Gibran creating a ficticious but surreal look into the lives of those around Christ during the first century.
Erasing Hell - Francis Chan opening up as he always does in a real fresh way to dive into some of the truly difficult questions. (A must read if you haven't already)

Yes I know they're not the Bible, but in one sense or another all things of true beauty and creativity first start with the creator.

Tracey the Translator

2011-11-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Quick prayer request - Tracey just left (it is 10:15pm) to go down south to Lautaro to translate for their Institute classes. He should get there around 6:00am tomorrow morning and will be there until Sunday night.

If you know Tracey, you know he doesn't really get nervous about most things. Well, he is nervous about this! It is really intimidating - Basically he'll be standing up with a seminary professor from the States, translating a lecture sentence by sentence for about 15 hours total. The class schedule is:
-Wed. night
- Thur. night
- Fri. night
- Sat. day

He has worked ridiculously hard to prepare for this - Please pray for clarity of mind, good connection with the professor, safety in traveling, and of course, those "jitters." :) Thanks guys!

Keitt Update - October 2011

2011-10-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Argentina - Undocumented...Documented

2011-10-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

So this past Tuesday we learned that our visas would expire without the paper work going through for our residency visa. These residency visas would give us an indefinite time to live here in Chile. Who would have thought that it would have taken so long?... ME. The lovely "trámites" (paperwork) of chile have a special place in my heart :)

Ok, so our options were: pay for two extensions which cost $100 each or hop out of the country and come back in. We did some research and found that it would be cheaper to go to Argentina.

$50 - bus ticket
$5 - camping permit
+ $10 - dinner, breakfast and dinner
$65 - way better than waiting in line to pay $100 to do nothing

So we left bright and early Wednesday morning.

There were multiple times during this trip where it could have easily gone real bad. Somehow we made it though. I'm not one to say "God is good because ... ". He's good no matter what, but I sure did appreciate the favor he gave us during this trip.

There was a city bus & taxi strike that morning, which led to the Metro being jam packed. We got to our bus just in the nick of time.
As we're getting on the bus, the ticket guy tells us we can't get on because we're missing a sheet of paper from our passports. He ends up letting us on, but explains that when we get to the border the custom agent can send us right back. Depends totally on what kind of mood he or she's in.
HE WAS IN A GOOD MOOD.
Lonely planet typically doesn't let us down, but for some reason bus 110 that they recommend didn't exist anymore. It was getting dark and the camp ground was 4 or 5 miles out of town...luckily we found another bus that went that way.
We get to the campground at 9ish and they tell us that they're filled up. We stare at him, thinking "Ok, you're filled up, but we're out in the middle of no where and it's pitch black."
He's really cool about it and lets us pitch our tent in his front yard!

We've got some pretty cool pictures if you want to check out more of our little adventure in Argentina. On the right column of the blog under the Our Vision Video, you'll see a link to PHOTO GALLERY. Check it out.

The Meeting

2011-10-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we made it back from Argentina safely, stories to come...

So this morning I had to ride over to our real estate agent at 9am (Christine did tell you all that we found a house right?). The ride was awesome and wow can I just say Santiago has amazing bike lanes. So here's the best part. Our real estate agent is a strong Christian who loves, loves Christian music. Not only did we tie up some loose ends in regard to the house, but we listened to and when I say listened, we blasted the following selections -

Kirk Franklin
Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
"Oh Happy Day" Sister Act style

From that list you would of course believe that our real estate agent was Afro-Latino. Nope, it was just a good day for gospel! The first meeting we were blessed with old school 70s & 80s Christian music.

I love it!

Maybe we should go to Argentina tomorrow?

2011-10-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

We are both pretty impromptu-travelers, but this is a new record for us.

We found out this afternoon that our visa paperwork won't get in on time, so we can either pay $100 each to renew them, or leave the country.

(Duh...)

So we'll leave early in the morning for a 6 hour bus ride, go camping tomorrow night just north of the border city, and head back Thursday afternoon to make it back in time for Tracey to lead small group.

God sure has a funny way of answering prayers for our paperwork :)

Veggie Dip

2011-10-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but this is the best veggie dip I've ever had and it doesn't feel right to not share it with the world, or at least our 18 followers :)

4 parts nonfat plain yogurt, 1 part light cream
To taste:
salt
olive oil (tiny bit)
dill

Cheap and super healthy!! Thank you Heidi Phillips!

We Got a House!

2011-10-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

After many people praying and lots of bike rides around the neighborhood looking for signs, we finally found a house!!

It's in the perfect location in between our school/church and the subway, tucked back in a little side street, and within easy walking distance of our friends and host family here.

WHY IT IS AWESOME:

- biggest space we've seen in our price range

- cheapest (by far) we've found in the neighborhood we love

- corner house

- lots of natural light

- upstairs is already built with 2 (big) bedrooms

- we could easily built on more when we want

- there is a side area of 2 small rooms with it's own door outside that could be used for our tutoring business or, if Tracey has his way, our own almacen where we sell wheat bread, homemade peanut butter, and his new discovery: banana ice cream (it's better than it sounds)...

We've definitely got some work to do once we get the keys; the owners weren't the most intentional with upkeep :)

Yesterday we signed a contract to reserve the house for 90 days- Now we just need to wait for our paperwork to come in, get a bank account, and make it official! As soon as that all happens, they have 60 days to give us the keys. So hopefully by January, we will be living in our first house!

Thank you all for praying! This was HUGE!! :)

One Day at a Time

2011-10-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

Whatever it is that forces us to live one day at a time... well, I never like it, but I always (eventually) appreciate the trust it pushes me into.

It reminds me of one of my favorite prayers. I hope you are encouraged by it as I am!

“MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

~Thomas Merton

Medium/Small Un-monumental things

2011-10-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

Before we left a missionary told me that one of the best things to share with your friends and family through your blog is the day to day, the little un-monumental things. "It lets people see your life, the funny, the sad, the weird details, not just the work you're doing."

So here are some medium/small un-monumental things

The crate arrived (as we already posted). They forgot to mention that we had to either use our own forklift to get it off the truck or take everything off piece by piece. Guess what we did? Of course we used our forklift that we always have in our backpocket. Our host family helped us out a ton!

After getting everything off, we packed it all back in to store until we have our house. What a blessing to get the crate, especially with all the craziness that it has been with the paper work and customs issues.

THANK YOU FOR THE PRAYERS!

I got our bikes put back together and we're commuting on bikes now which reduces our transportation cost a lot and we're getting more exercise!

Our host brother was baptized this past sunday!

I got my ~~Chuck Taylors~~ PF Flyers Sandlot Edition out of the crate and I'm feeling like a Champ! By the way Joseph, I can't tell you how useful all of your groomsmen attire has been for me. A good pair of slacks and some smooth sneeks.

Chile's not big on whole wheat anything although all the suplies are super cheap. Here's to our first loaf.

And you thought I'd leave out the review of how my beans are going. They're going really well with the homemade whole wheat bread! I feel like Aunt Jemima.

To Our Teacher Friends

2011-10-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

So we've been observing a lot in all types of schools here in Chile - Trying to get an overall feel for how the education system works and find ways to improve the English programs at our 2 schools.

What we've found so far is a great need for classroom management techniques! Not so much discipline wise, because there aren't real behavior problems in our schools. But there is a HUGE need to improve the time on task and overall attentiveness of the students.

Thankfully, we know a lot of really great teachers...

So we are asking for your help!

We are trying to compile a giant list of as many resources/strategies we can offer them for all grade levels, PreK-12. If you have ever used anything in your classroom that seemed to work for:

- increasing time on task

- having a quiet classroom without having to say anything

- smooth transitions

- individual/small group/whole group motivators

- overall classroom management

if you wouldn't mind emailing them to us, we will add them to our compilation! We are hoping to do some professional development with our teachers here.

Or, if you have any questions or are just curious about our schools, feel free to email us as well! You know how much teachers love to talk about their jobs :)

Thank you for helping us help our teachers and kids!

May your Monday be full of energy and angelic students :)

Best Day Ever

2011-10-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Monday was pretty incredible.

1) We have our CRATE!! Everything made it just fine and they didn't even open it.

2) We got 2 packages in the mail - Bike parts and much needed paperwork for Visas!

3) We are getting a PUPPY!!!!!

I love our life.

Keitt Update - September 2011

2011-09-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

Soaking my beans....mmmh

2011-09-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Keitt Update - August 2011

2011-08-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Three Things that make me laugh (actually four)

2011-08-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had the pleasure to join the men at our church on their annual retreat. The theme this year was, ¨what does it mean to be a noble man?¨ Diego & Miguel did an amazing job of teaching and renewing us, but I'd like to share some comical/goofy things that happened in the last 48 hours.

Me trying to maneuver a spherical object around a muddy field into an incredible annoying net being held up by a metal cage. They call this sport soccer. My love of athletic sports combined with my inexperience in soccer is what drives me mad. Luckily, we're planning on staying down here long term. Who knows maybe I'll improve :)
Waking up to Mauricio's (my roommate at the retreat) alarm playing the delightful toon "Sexual Healing" Marvin Gaye style. We listened to some more of his songs and I've got to say, he's got good taste in the oldies genre. There was just something weird about waking up to that song, in the middle of the mountains, in a cabin, curled up in sleeping bag beside my friend Mauricio. Oh and just to clarify, Mauricio doesn´t speak English, he just likes the way the songs sound.
As we were listening to a Chilean christian radio station on the drive back to Santiago, O' Happy Day from Sister Act came on. This led to the Chilean worship leader and I belting out this wonderful song bright and early as we rode down the highway. You just have to love Lauryn Hill.
I saw this billboard on our drive back and got really excited since (1) it had my name on it and (2) Chileans always have a hard time pronouncing my name, so I could use this company or brand as a reference point. Well, when I asked Juana what it meant, he informed me that it´s basically a company that is know for its laxicatives. What can I say to that?

Tour de Midwest

2011-08-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

So of course this seems a little out of order... Truth is it's taken us a little longer than expected to figure out the best way to post pictures.

But we've got it! We will be creating albums and you can view them by clicking on "Photo Gallery" on the top right side of our blog.

So this was a blog that I wrote in the end of July, and now you can finally read it and see our photos of our incredible Midwest Tour this summer!

(taken from July 31)

37 days, 7 states, 10 cities, 5 churches, 19 houses, 12 beds, 13 dogs.

There really aren’t words to describe this kind of gratitude. Seeing so many close friends - from all phases of my life, and especially in a very short amount of time - is the most tangible reminder of God’s faithfulness to me in the past as well as the present. It only makes me that much more excited and sure about His faithfulness in our future!

Unfortunately, we didn’t get pictures of everything and everyone. But we did want to show you as much as we could! (See "Tour de Midwest" album)

Thank you to all who invited us into their homes, fed our stomachs and our gas tanks, and contributed to an INCREDIBLY joyful 37 days!

Back to School

2011-08-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

And we're back at it! This week we began our ESL classes with the principals and administrative staff of the two elementary schools of IAM: Oriente (also our church) and San Luis. As of now, we have 8 students in our daily classes of an hour each. Since our ultimate goal is helping these two schools to become bilingual, our plan is to start with the principals first, then train the teachers next year (their school year ends in December) and then help facilitate the work with the students.

We absolutely LOVE it. Our students work so hard and are very gracious to these first time ESL teachers :) It's been really cool to see how Tracey's and my experience/training complement each other so well. I am basically teaching reading again, working with phonics and pronunciation. Tracey is taking over grammar and conversation, very similar to how he taught Spanish in the States. I know I'm biased, but it's pretty awesome team-teaching with each other!

AND - because nobody cares about copyright in Chile, we were able to copy our expensive curriculum for everyone!

It's going to be a great school year.

Around the Table

2011-08-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our host family made the most amazing lunch for us! It was in honor of our becoming a part of their family- I don’t know how many times they have already gone out of their way to make sure we are comfortable and know that it is our house, but it has been amazing. And then we get all of this! It was a great day.

First, the food. ¡Increible!

Then, the company. Our host family is very close with the Flores family – soon to be in-laws actually as Marcela (our host-sister) is dating Jon (the middle Flores brother.) We sat around the table for literally 6 hours, telling stories, and laughing SO much!

If any of you prayed specifically for us to find good community and friends in Chile, these people are definitely our answer to that :)

Women's Conference

2011-08-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

You know when you finish a day full of activities and the morning feels a whole lot further away than 12 hours? That was today.

The women's conference took place today at Los Heroes (a church within our organization), which consisted of around 150 amazing Chilean women coming from all over Chile to be filled by the word and encouraged as daughters of Christ.

It all started out with a miraculous blessing from God. One of the church members was leaving and had a horrible wreck right at the corner of the church. Even though their car was completely flipped on it's roof, everyone left without a scratch! What a way to start the conference!

With all the women being filled up, this left us men to the kitchen to serve the women, preparing 2 "breaks" of tea, bread and cookies and an incredible lunch of chicken, rice and these fried mini potatoes. Now I don't know if any of you have ever catered before, but serving 150 people is madness, and a whole heck of a lot of fun.

I've never been more impressed with pastors in my life. 4 of the head pastors of the churches were doing a phenomenal job in the kitchen. The piles of dishes never seemed to end. It was hilarious/a bit scary when we ran out of hot water and the women were wanting their tea/coffee. Our hot drinks here are serious business.

All in all, I had a blast serving and meeting so many new people, especially some pretty cool youth. Christine thoroughly enjoyed the conference.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Fun on the track

2011-08-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

So before we came down to Chile I read a news paper article about a brand new fitness track they built under the new metro line. It's quite similar to the track in the park behind Christine's old house in Pondwoods with "exercise machines" every so often. I was hoping that it would be close to where we would be.

Well, it's super close! Christine and I took a break from the work and went for a run. The excerise machines were pretty fun although some we couldn't figure out how to work. The best thing about it, a bike track that we will be able to use to commute to the office.

SO COOL!
!QUE BACAN!

(In Chile, there's a slang term, bacan, that means cool. It's so crazy how the Spanish is different between latin countries.)

By the way, the weather changes quite dramatically here if you're wondering how we're running around in shorts and t-shirts. The past few days have been really warm.

10 Random Facts about Chile

2011-08-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Christine here. In honor of 2 things I love - random facts and Chile - I have decided to share with you the following post!

10 Random Facts about Chile

1. Chileans do not eat dinner; we have lunch early/mid afternoon, then “once” (pronounced like the number 11 in Spanish) around 9:00 which is tea/coffee and bread.
2. If church starts at 11:00, come at 11:25.
3. No central heating = I wear my winter coat from the time I step out of bed to the time I step back in!!
4. The Andes are BEAUTIFUL!
5. The price difference between houses and apartments is not mucho.
6. You can visit a friend’s house or call at ANY time; it is 11:46pm and someone just called. Last night we had cafecita at midnight.
7. People are genuinely welcoming and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable- More so than any other country I have visited!
8. Everyone is great at soccer.
9. Everyone has a dog.
10. Peanut butter is not so popular. Fortunately for us, some Gringos gifted our host family with a huge jar that nobody here likes, so Tracey can still get his fill ☺

Travel Update - el fin

2011-08-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

WE ARE HERE!!! Made it in safely this morning with all of our luggage and no problem with customs- overall a VERY smooth traveling experience. Got to bed by 6am, up at 1pm - Walked around Maipu, conocered the church/school, the office, and the mall. Even got a cell phone! We are both energized and ecstatic. Spanish has been awesome. Thank you all so much for your prayers for travel and adjustment!! They have already been answered :)

Travel Updates- part dos

2011-08-03T18:29:00.001-07:00

2 flights down, 1 to go! Your prayers have been felt - Going as smoothly as possible so far :) The Spanish immersion is nostalgically familiar, although the metric system has proven to be the language barrier. I have no idea how cold it is outside :/ Taking off in 2 hours to arrive in Santiago at 4:45am!!

Travel Updates- part uno

2011-08-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Made it safely to Florida with our winter coats and boots. Cleared our 200lbs. of luggage with 3.5lbs to spare!! Leaving for Bogota in a few hours. Thanks for all the prayers!!!

An ode to the boys

2011-08-02T06:13:00.002-07:00

My old youth pastor, Mike Powers, once told me, "You move to the beat of your own drum."

I've never understood that more than now being married to my wife. I don't know if it's just a girl thing, but I feel as if Christine is deeply rooted with dozens upon dozens of friends. I mean I'm still learning/meeting all of these incredible people that she has profound relationships with. She even had to draw me a diagram in order to sort out the madness of all the friends as we went along our Midwest Tour.

I love people, chatting it up, meeting new guys and gals, and bouncing around seeing how everyone is doing. But I've found that I typically keep it pretty "surfacey"/silly with most of these interactions.

I only have a handful of those deep, profound, thick "Christine style" friends.

Yesterday was one of the few days I got to spend quality time with most of them. These guys mean the world to me.

Papa Joseph - Running on the treadmill at our old church gym, eating energy beans while talking about everything under the sun.

Cam Wags - Catching up with him on the phone as he drove back to South Eastern Seminary.

Joel Pants - Ate an amazing Jordanian dinner with our wives, took a nostalgic stroll (physically and mentally) through Queen's University (hey there's another University besides Taylor in this clan! j/k) and scooting home quickly to test/realizing that skype without a microphone on one side is quite comical, kind of like an old school silent film. You should try it some time.

I don't know if I'll come near to the frequency or length of conversations with my amigos as Christine's and there's no use competing with the quantity of friends she has either.

But I do believe we deeply love them the same in our own distinct ways.

So yesterday was a blessing and today I get to see my dad and my brother

There is a thickness in my chest, not from saddness nor gloom, but just a gratitude for the love I have with these guys. I'm going to miss them.

Keitt Update - July 2011

2011-07-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

Don't Forget!

2011-07-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

If you’re like me, you tend to get annoyed most with the attributes you see in others that you want to change about yourself. It’s amazing how marriage shows you that; if I find a problem with something that Tracey’s doing, it’s usually a sure indication that it’s a much greater problem in me. Ooohhhh marriage and its endless opportunities for humility ☺

Anyway, I’ve been reading the Old Testament and it’s amazing how painful the process is at times. Of course there’s endless pages of tabernacle dimensions and hundreds of years of genealogy that prove challenging to connect with. But the real pain for me comes with the ever-increasing stupidity of the Israelites. They have a God that actually comes down to them in physical forms, speaking audibly and performing miracles, and they can’t lose those ridiculous Asherah poles. Every other line of 2 Kings is “and they did evil in the eyes of the Lord…” Sons watch their fathers deliberately disobey God and get stoned for it, their mothers do the same and get eaten by dogs, and then they still think it’s a wise path to follow in their parents’ ways. The whole time I’m thinking, “Really God? These are the ones you chose?” Regardless of where I’m at in my walk, reading the Old Testament always makes me feel better about myself.

Until the Lord graciously reminds me that the things that annoy me most about them are exactly what annoys me most about myself.

The Bible tells us 365 times not to be afraid. So why do I still welcome circumstance to tempt me into fear, worry, and doubt? He has personally shown me in unmistakable ways that He will be faithful to meet my needs, so why do I still doubt His provision? It’s like no matter how many times He has given me reasons to trust Him, I am so quick to forget.

Because no matter how much I hate it, I am just like the Israelites- human. And it only gets dangerous when we start to think we are above it all.

So thank you, Chris, for reminding me how important it is to remember. To remember that we serve a God that is good and faithful, and because of that, we don't ever have to surrender to circumstance.

Keitt Update - June 2011

2011-06-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

You can plan a pretty picnic but you can't predict the weather...

2011-06-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

From the critically acclaimed Outkast single "Ms. Jackson" that hit the radio waves early 2001 just in case you're not up on your early 2000 hip-hop lyrics.

I told myself when we started this blog that by no means did I want to "document" every minuscule event that took place. I apologize for multiple blogs in less than 24 hours...

So as an avid mountain biker today was a day of high anticipation. My last day to ride before the bike is packed up to be exported.

Planning the pretty picnic...

Just replaced the bald traction-less rear-tire as well as my 3rd chainring that desperately cried out for retirement.
Packed up all necessary items in the car the night before so I wouldn't forget anything or wake up Christine as I left in the morning.
Fresh nalgene of brita filter water chilling in the fridge.
Coffee maker set on Auto for 6:26am. I don't even drink coffee, that often due to it exponentially increasing my already high energy demeanor, but I knew that I'd be running on little sleep.
Woke up feeling like a champ
Sky is cloudless. Temperature perfect.
Hydrated up with the coffee and 32 ounces of pristine water.
Not to sound all pious but I had an solid conversation/prayer with God on the way out to the White Water Center trails.
Busted through the first section at a solid pace.
Ipod shuffle was doing it's magic.

...but you can't predict the weather

Just as I was about to head into my favorite high adrenaline black diamond section of the trail, my bike abruptly stops.

I look down to see that my chain has popped off. No worries though, it's happened before and I'll just pop the quick snap lock back on.

Wrong.

My entire rear derailleur snapped in half and has found itself rapped around the spokes of my rear tire. This is the beautiful piece of machinery that allows for the gears to shift. Basically a vital part to the enjoyment of the bike in general.

I believe that only the Fink boys can understand the frustration that I'm feeling at this point.

Due to the strangling grip the derailleur has on the rear spokes I mournfully carry my bike up the now not so exhilarating hills and out of the trails. Opportunity for more prayer.

As I'm driving out of the parking lot, I realize that I'm without my auxiliary cord so I'm left trying to find something on the radio to mellow out to. 95% of everything pumping through the FM is quite lame to say the least and Kate Perry and Nicki Minaj were not what I was needing at this point. They aren't worth googling if you haven't been reduced by their music already.

Luckily, Lupe's "The Show Goes On" is finally played which was a nice little pick me up.

Sometimes you've just got to laugh about the absurdity of things. I find all of this quite comical. Seriously :)

At least I'm super hydrated and caffeined up for the massive amount of packing that we'll be doing today. Here we come Chile!

Funness...

2011-06-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

As you can guess this is Tracey, not the 5th Grade English teacher typing.

Funness… grammatically and red squiggly disapproved but still proper for this occasion of fun activities and events that have occurred this week.

Finished creating the shipping crate...just waiting on the animals (in pairs obviously) to show up. I started to think about how devastated Noah would've felt if his ark "titanic-ed"... Just pray that when we arrive to the Chilean warehouse it's still a rectangular box or maybe even a square but no other shapes please.

Learned about the fascinating world of "Space Bags". If you haven't tried these yet, it's a must. (Thank you Jonathan and Lydia for that GREAT idea!)

We had our going away/give everything away party which was a treasure that Christine and I will remember for a long time. Being as hospitable as we could, we thought baking was necessary. Any excuse that calls for baking cookies/chocolate/ice cream is an acceptable one in my book.

I'm pride myself on my superb ability to taste test.

By the way, watching Gabrielle (sister) and Charles (my brother in law) throw down in the kitchen baking some cookies as well was priceless.

Finally, without a bed and much else up stairs we decided to rearrange our humble abode a bit.

The Keitt Combo Room: Living room, dining room, master bedroom.

The Boydstuns

2011-06-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ok so I should really be going to bed right now instead of beginning a blog, but thinking about the amazing time Christine and I just had at the Boydstun's place...well it's worth sharing right now & feeling a little bit tired in the morning.

So Christ has really put amazing people around us in Charlotte and we will miss our community so much more than I can probably understand at this point. So the Boydstuns...

Dennis and Lisa (and their 4 adorable children) are long time friends of mine who moved to Arizona a few years back and have just moved back in the past 6 months. They subletted their house (due to the wonderful housing market) and were able to move right back into their old house & neighborhood.

For some odd and illogical reason they thought it would be a good idea to start a youth group in their neighborhood which equals bunches of youth 8-16 years of age running through their front door, sharing dinner and hanging out with them and their kids on Monday nights.

One of the most beautiful pictures of community, love and service I've seen in a long time. They are such a Holy Spirit lead family that continually inspires Christine and I.

So they had us over to speak to the kids about what we'd be doing in Chile & what being a Christian looks like for them in their day to day lives... amazing evening. We had great dialogue with the kids about their pursuit of loving others, following Christ & everything in between. I think this is one of the only times I felt like I was in a "house church" sort of situation.

The mere location of all these youth was the common denominator. Dennis and Lisa, through the power of the Holy Spirit, were able to create a youth group of blacks, whites, latinos, elementary, middle & high school kids who are learning about the realness of Christ, growing in the Spirit and having a taste of a rare form of community that we don't see much anymore.

I love watching the Spirit move.

Great News!

2011-06-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Because of my lack of skill within the world of Excel spreadsheets, our latest support update (53%) was miscalculated. Thanks to my tech-savvy husband, we were able to fix whatever was wrong with the columns, only to find that we are actually at 60% of our financial support met!!!

Thank you, Lord, for using my ineptitude for blessing :)

Keitt Update - May 2011

2011-05-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Answering prayers

2011-05-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

One of our prayer requests that we have asked many people to lift up in the past month has been the opportunity to share our story. God has answered that one specifically in an incredible way, and I’m looking forward to what other ways he is going to provide.

This past weekend we had the opportunity to share our store at all three services of our church. A bit overwhelming at first, but still such an amazing feeling to be able to connect to a community of people who are excited to hear about us and what God is doing in our lives. We’ll tell you more about how the sharing went later on.

On Monday afternoon we sat down and chatted with the Mission’s Pastor at Myers Park Methodist, Kevin Wright. His genuine interest and excitement for what we were doing was a real boost to our spirits. It wasn’t even that we were feeling down or low in spirits. Not only did the church give us an incredible blessing financially, but I could see that this relationship with Kevin and Myers Park Methodist will be a lasting one.

Hey…I almost forgot, one of our other prayer requests had been to build up a solid group of churches to send us out. God is so faithful.

I’ve been reading through 1 Corinthians, the part were Paul kept telling the church body to stop bickering and creating divisions. Although I know denominations have great significance, it was a breath of fresh air to simply talk with a brother in Christ. Seeing both our and Kevin’s passion for the bringing of the Kingdom of God triumph over the typical divisions and walls of denominations was beautiful.

I think Paul had something right with that thought of unity. Think of how much the Church could do if we just stop cutting each other down, but instead focused on unity under Christ.

Last night we met and spoke with two combined small groups from our Church; Keith and Jennifer’s as well as Dusty’s groups. We had a mouth watering potluck and really got to meet and know some more wonderful people of our congregation. They gave us the floor to share our story and prayed over us, strengthening the thought that we will be leaving with a strong community of prayer warriors at home.

Thank you all for your prayers. As you can see God is still in the business of answering them in mighty ways!

Just thought I'd share a bit

2011-05-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

I (Tracey) absolutely love to read. I don't know how or why I despised it as much as I did as a youngin but I did. Call me a nerd, but I'd almost always rather read a book than go to the movies. Very rarely do I feel as disappointed after I complete a book as I do when I take in other forms of media.

"What is the What" (co written by Dave Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng) was finally completed this Sunday afternoon and I can easily say that it is one of my favorite books. You step into the life of Valentino, a lost boy from Sudan, who bears all through the telling of his life in a profound and heart gripping manner. Although it's not the focus of the novel, the perspective that he has on God and his relationship with Christ was very refreshing. I highly recommend it.

Some other books that I've taken in this year...

Divine Comodity - Skye Jethani

Wow. An interesting look into how our “commodity focused” culture has influenced the way in which we are "churched" and our expectations of God.

La Isla Bajo el Mar - Isabel Allende (for all those Spanish readers)

Amazing book from the perspective of a female slave from Haiti and the story of her life.

Treasure Island - Robert Stevenson

Who doesn't want to be a pirate? Plus, it’s one of the free classics that you can get on your eReader.

Love Wins - Rob Bell

Although I didn't agree with his basic premise, I found his urgency for focusing on the Kingdom of God here and now much needed in the Christian circle. I always feel like I learn the most about my relationship with Christ through people who have very differing opinions than myself.

The Prince – Machiavelli

Just in case you’re thinking about becoming a ruler/dictator of some far off land, you’ve got to know your options. Another classic that is free on the eReader in which Machiavelli goes through the different ways to rule a kingdom. Once again I’m a geek with a background in International Studies. It’s good.

Romans & Hebrews

2011-05-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

So for the past few weeks I have been going through Hebrews and Romans. Before that I was cruising along in the Old Testament doing a “read through the bible in a year,” but took a bit of a New Testament detour that took me right back to Abraham, David and Solomon.

Side Note: Is it just me or does anyone start going a bit nutty after spending too much time in the Old Testament? I got to 2nd Kings and just had to take a breather.

Ok back to Hebrews and Romans. The books, with their strong focus on the faith of those in early Christianity, have been incredibly insightful and encouraging, especially in light of our big move coming up. Hebrews 11, which leads up to the popular “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance…” is a must read. It reminded me that none of the bigwig faith guys and gals ever received what was promised and yet they still continued to follow fervently.

God was right beside them during all of the wild adventures of shutting the mouths of lions, receiving back their dead by resurrection, going from weaknesses to strength, and being tortured, mocked and imprisoned. Then moving along to Romans 4 where Paul brings us back to Abraham and how “in hope against hope he believed…being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to also to perform.”

These reminders just do something good to my soul. At times I can become too confident in my own abilities and at other times I’m wondering how in the world is God going to pull this off. A bit of doubt. But hoping against hope and being fully assured that God is not going to leave us high and dry, that is such a beautiful hope to have.

Keitt Update - April 2011

2011-04-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Resurrection: Live Like You Believe It

2011-04-24T11:04:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I just feel bad for Moses. For whatever reason God decided to hold off on burning bushes in today’s society, it’s almost like we hold that against him. I know Christians look at people in the Bible and think “man, if I knew what God wanted as clearly as if I had a burning bush talking to me, I would totally be able to do it.” It’s just the uncertainty of the call that stops most of us from movement. Or is it?

Because we look at Moses and think “How can a person that experiences God in a way in which he literally talks to Him in the flesh and hears such a specific call to action, admit his fear and doubt verbally back to Him that created him and his purpose. We are envious of his supernatural clarity and therefore think him an idiot for still acting like a human.

Well, on Moses’ behalf, I get it.

Sometimes when I stop and think logically about the events and decisions of my life, it doesn’t make sense and sometimes doesn’t even sound like a good idea. (Actually, this is the best way I’ve learned to discern that it is God’s idea, and not my own. I’ve learned that what makes sense to me always ends up to be a hot mess once I’m through with it.)

This whole moving to Chile thing might as well come through a burning bush, so why would I feel so inadequate and fearful that God wouldn’t give me whatever I need to accomplish His plan for the rest of it? It’s because, as many Easters as I’ve lived through, I don’t always live like I understand the Resurrection.

If you live like you understand the resurrection, you know that the worst thing that could ever happen in this world has already happened – the death of Christ. He has already made a spectacle of death, yet we still fear it! And hundreds of other far less threatening things…

If you live like you understand the resurrection, you do not live reactionary. The rules have already changed, the battle has already been won, and therefore we don’t surrender to circumstance.

If you live like you understand the resurrection, you know that the cross is the ONLY real display of power that the world has ever seen.

We live in world that doesn’t understand the resurrection, one plagued with fear. I hate to say that I fall prey to it on occasion, but I know that it is the truth of His resurrection that will set me free to live the life and calling God designed specifically for me.

So step off Moses, because he didn’t have the Resurrection to free himself yet. But if you see me (Christine) starting to doubt or fear, you have my full permission to kick me (hard) in the butt and redirect me to this simple truth.

(Also, for the best Easter sermon I have heard in 27 years, go here, probably after Tuesday or Wednesday!)

Past few weeks

2011-04-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the feeling that you’re one of the Israelites in the Old Testament and the angel of God’s wrath is setting up camp right outside your measly tent? I kind of feel that way right now, and for the world of me I can’t figure out what Christine or I have done. Maybe he wants our attention to tell us something, or maybe he’s just preparing us for the road ahead.

There has been an eclectic assortment of disappointments/poopy things that have happened to both Christine and I over the past few weeks or so. No, I’m not talking about getting a bad parking spot or stubbing my toe. Yes, I realize that in the big picture that I did wake up in a warm bed, had options for what I’d like to wear, and drank clean water this morning.

Having said that, I must acknowledge that it still hurts to feel disappointed, rejected, and letdown. More than anything I’m seeing the pristine goodness of Christ so much more clearly, mixed with the inevitable sorrow of the world we live in.

I want so desperately to be satisfied in Christ all of the time.

Jabez

2011-03-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

You know how some parts of the bible are tremendously riveting with a rollercoaster of action and inspirational thoughts; well I was beginning 1 Chronicles this morning, which is about the exact opposite. It’s an extremely precise genealogy of Adam all the way through the kings of Israel and Judah. It’s dry, bland and even though I realize the importance of genealogy to the Jewish tradition and to how beautiful it ties together Christ as the messiah, I still wonder, why Lord. Why am I reading this?

Well, as I was dragging through chapter 4 I ran across this section on Jebez.

“Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.”

I actually read this prayer every time I walked into the main office of the church that I grew up in. It hung on an engraved chunk of wood that would always catch my eye as I entered. I never understood it. It felt strangely foreign from what I had understood prayer and the desires of a Christ follower to be. I always thought of Manifest Destiny…give me more stuff, more power, more comfort, in the name of God, and yet “God granted him what he requested.”

With all of this in mind, what made this prayer stand out even more was something my pastor, Jonathan Martin, said during the sermon yesterday. “People typically don’t pray specifically for outlandish miracles to occur because they fear having to wrestle with the thought of receiving a response of no from God and looking like a fool.”

He said yes to Jabez. He says yes to families praying over their baby stricken with cancer, to couple trying to keep their marriage together and then other times the response is no. “No’s” are messy, hard to swallow and may even leave a taste of resentment and anger on the pallet towards God.

I honestly don’t know where I’m going with this, but it has weighed heavily on me ever since I read it this morning. God has definitely provided for my wife and I through outlandish miracles and he continues to baffle us that much more with our new venture into Chile.

How do you pray for God to wreck your life and mold you into a humble, gracious and loving person and yet pray for more; more stuff, more power, more comfort, more outlandish miracles of financial blessing…

I guess all of these thoughts just push me to reevaluate how I pray and how much faith I have in Him.

Two Communities

2011-03-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

Renovatus (our church) had an event out at Birchcroft Apartments where we were serving the large refuge population that lives there. The whole time I had this urge to really dive in and get connected with the families & people I was meeting and yet I knew that Christine and I would be gone by the summer.

Stephen, one of the missionaries who lives in the Birchcroft community made it crystal clear that committed relationships are what this community needs, in place of “quick Christian handouts” from people who haven’t dedicated the time to have a relationship with those they are serving.

I couldn’t agree more with this mentality. Without true relationships I fear that we’re doing the community and ourselves a big disservice, and reducing the greatness of what I believe Christ has in mind when he tells us to love our neighbor, the widow, the orphan and the poor.

I say all of this because today was one of those days when I strongly felt the weight of being divided between “two communities”.

I wake up in the morning and I read La Tercera (a chilean newspaper) to keep up to date on what’s going on, I head off to my school that will be shut down next year to serve and love on those students for a few more months. I skype with our community in Santiago about future plans we’ll be involved in and then I head off to our small group to plan our next service event which I may not be around to participate in.

Christ is teaching me to be mindful and aware of the ever so quickly approaching changes and yet to not forget to still show his love where ever I find myself at a particular moment…

Keitt Update - March 2011

2011-03-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

My first blog :)

2011-01-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

So these are my first steps onto the unknown terrain of the social network that burst from every seam of our society… (Sorry, I felt like my first sentence for blogging/social networking should be magnificent or something, but that’s all I’ve got L)

One more thing before I get “profound”

I’m very humbled to find out that magnet is not spelled “magnete”, which is what I wrote on numerous cards. It’s not a big surprise because I obviously can’t spell and I’d actually go out on a limb and say my Spanish spelling is better than my English. Just thought I’d throw this out there for anyone wondering about my academic level after getting the card :).

…ok, so I’m beyond excited about the next few months and how crazy it is going to be to actually move to Chile. I’ve been madly in love with the Latino culture for about 6 or so years now and its finally coming true. The ability to really get involved and serve in South America is something I’m continually thanking the Lord for providing. Christine and I sat down a few days ago with some Missionaries who just got back from Uruguay; by the way I think this is one of the funniest country names to say especially with the proper Spanish pronunciation.

Its right up there with Djibouti.

After talking with them I came to a strong realization that we’re truly going to be “walking away” from so many strong and vital relationships that we’ve taken for granted to a degree. I guess we only know the extent of the relationships when they are out of hand’s reach. Christine and I are trying to make the most of the next 6 months, but over all it’s a bit of strange mix of emotions, super excited to finally live out a life long dream along while putting a physically barrier between my friends and families that I love so much. It also doesn’t help that I dislike like electronic communication so much, (text message, facebook, blogs, twitter) and yet here is my first post. Aaron and Tracey (the missionaries) really encouraged us to keep up with the “blogging” and stuff, so I’m getting some practice in early.

I feel like this is sufficient.

I’ve incorporated high level vocabulary (thank you little red squiggly line and auto correct), two different smiley faces, various profound thoughts that the world should be made aware of, and I’m attempting to steal the quite catching sporadic spacing of Rob Bell (is it working?)

…just kidding.

Have an amazing day and thank you for your prayers for Christine and I. We truly appreciate them.

Big News! (No, we're not pregnant...)

2011-01-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

If you’ve known Tracey or me for any amount of time, you won’t be surprised to hear we are moving to South America! Many are asking details and we thought we’d take some time to present the little information we have to those inquiring or interested.

Fortunately for me, all my “big” decisions in life have been made before I realized it. I can’t tell you how I came to know Christ, want to teach, love to travel, yearn for Latin America, or wind up in Charlotte, NC. And meet and marry Tracey? If that’s not divine intervention in a near-sighted girl’s life, I don’t know what is. All this to say, I am beyond grateful for the ways God has shown me my heart’s desires in an order I wouldn’t have planned myself. It also makes these “big” decisions much easier :) Now, ask me what type of peanut butter to buy and I’ll go back and forth for days; as far as moving to another continent in a few months, I feel comfortable and confident about it all working out the way it should.

Tracey and I are like-minded in this whole “God’s will” mentality. We believe God gives us opportunities to know Him and His heart through prayer, the Word, and the other infinite ways He speaks to people. Undoubtedly He gives us all direction in life, but we’re also not gonna sit around and pray about what color socks to wear each morning. Because He also gives us passion and drive towards certain things over others. And if we love Him first, we can trust that our passions align with His “will” for us; and if they don’t, we won’t have a problem giving them up.

So we both happen to love Jesus. And Latin America. And traveling to new countries. And speaking Spanish. And being totally put out of our comfort zones. And learning. And serving the marginalized. And working for social justice. And teaching… most days.

The direction’s looking pretty clear, huh?

Well it did to us as soon as we saw it. Thanks to a friend from my childhood church, we found IAM. Once we talked with the founding missionary of the group, we felt that peace that only comes with the realization that God actually figured something out WAY before you did.

I’m not gonna lie, we were hesitant about investigating any path that included support raising. Maybe it’s pride, maybe it’s supporting the whole tent-making philosophy; but you realize when that peace comes the insignificance of figuring out the why.

So we’re not trying to figure out the why. And we don’t really know exactly what we will do when we get to Chile. We have some ideas and a team that is willing to wait patiently and pray alongside us as we figure it out! So we are excited in the waiting. Just like Oswald says:

"To be certain of God is to be uncertain in all our ways, you never know what a day may bring. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation."