Alo!
Hope everyone is doing well! Juan and I have finally arrived at our home destination! The few weeks visiting friends and family was great. We got to spend time at the English congregation in Vina del Mar and goto the meeting and out in service. It was a great few days. Juan got to test out his new and improved English...and weran into a substantial amount of foreigners. It was great! We spent an entire day in Valparaiso which is a city very similiar to San Francisco. We walked numerous hills and streets only to wake up the next day with sore legs. Well worth it!
This past weekend we got to spend time with more of Juans friends from all over. Juan even taught one of his friends how to make sushi and we had a sushi feast on Sunday! So good. We'll attach pictures soon! We had a flight out of Santiago on Tuesday...we sent the majority of our suitcases down in a bus that arrived in Coyhaique a day before us! Grand total of suitcases: 11! Juan says 10 of them are mine. Not true! We tried to travel light, but to no avail. I still had layers of clothing and like 4 carry-ons. Miraculously we didn't have to pay for the excess! Juan knows how to work it. :)Me on the other hand..not so much. I tend to not have myself quite together when I'm travelling.. I thought it would be genius to bring my coffee with me on the way from Donihue to Santiago. I hadn't finished it by the time we got to the airport..so I had it on the side of my backpack. All of a sudden it dropped and splattered everywhere and as I looked behind there was a security guard glaring at me. Oops. I said I was sorry and he smiled and said "No problemo". He got it cleaned up right away. So nice. Yeah.
So our life now. Where are we? a city named Coihayque. There are like 50,000 people here. Not a small little town like Cochrane (population 5,000). The congregation we belong to is called Trapananda. There is around 70ish publishers and 5 pioneers.There is a brother in the hall that looks like my dad as well as a little kid that looks my brother Cameron when he was that age. Its crazy how we can find similiarties with people.We are 45 minutes from the airport in Balmeceda. This region is very mountainous and green at the moment. I can see the snow on the mountaintops still. There are rivers, creeks, and a lake near by. Breathtaking views + Friendly/Warm people make for a good combination. We currently are staying with a brother and sister named Sebastian and Kitty. Juan will be working for Sebastian and with the job comes a place to live + vehicle. The vehicle is a van and its automatic and 4x4! Perfect! Only thing is that at the moment someone is living where we are supposed to be living...And the car is getting worked on! But its actually okay with us! We always seem to find the best roomates!! Seb & Kitty have a beautiful cabin-like home that overlooks the mountains, green pastures, trees, hills, a creek. Its gorgeous! I gotta take pictures. Perfect view.
Yeah...so Juan starts work soon. I have already started my work as an English teacher! My first class was Friday! 2 young kids. They are my only students at the moment...but I'm hoping to have more in the future. Now it affords us time to go out more in the ministry. We are trying to get into the groove of things as soon as possible. Its funny, the other night I was prayingfor a study and the very next day when we went to meeting a brother came up to me and said "I have a study for you! She's a doctor. Lets go tomorrow." Wow! We went yesterday and conversed with her and she is very interested in spiritual things. She has a bible. I was a little nervous initially, but Juan and the brother we went with initiated a great conversation. We are going to return next week! Also...on Friday morning we went out early morning to preach in the plaza (like downtown). It was cold and raining and I was thinking about how nice it would have been to stay in bed. Suddenly I saw a man coming my way and decided I should leave a tract with him.I hobbled over and started my presentation. I glanced up at his hat and it said "Redding, Ca" A bit surprised, I asked him if he spoke English. He did! We had a 5 minute conversation and he mentioned he was from the states and has lived in Coyhaique since 1992. Very nice guy and an English speaker! I'm hoping to have more experiences like that. Saturday we went out with the Sign Language congregation to a different town. Juan & I thought we were going to be accompanying them in sign language until the C.O. announced that Juan and I would be looking for English speaking people! What a way to get right into it! Today is a beautiful sunny day...sure seems like Spring. I have been able to drink good coffee which is a plus! The grocery store has a complete "mexican food" section. There are chocolate chips and Peanut Butter Snickers as well. Oh Life is good! Love you all!
XOXO
Stephanie y Juan
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