Blogspot Under Construction

To my faithful readers that have been checking my blogspot only to find that I haven't written anything for a long time- thank you!!! Hang on!! I will be back up and running soon. My son promises me we will have a new "look"and hopefully more pictures. Don't give up on me yet!!!!

Odds and Ends

Today we are in the cafe' drinking coffee and checking out what is going on in the outside world! This past week-end the teens from Loncoche and Pucon participated in a teen retreat in Puerto Montt. (That's about 4 hours south of us) They had a great time and came back with their spiritual batteries charged. It's a real blessing to hear how God is working in our young people's lives. The battles that are being won in their hearts. They are our hope for the future. As a mother of one of those teens it thrills my heart to hear my 16 year old say that he's tired of living a mediocre Christianity and desires more of what the Lord wants for his life, not want he wants.
While the teens were gone I had a "retreat" of my own. Amy Heinz and Alejandra Cid came to stay with me while our teens and hubbies were gone. We talked and talked and talked...... and had a very edifying and fun time together. We decided we needed to do this more often!
Please pray for my father-in-law, Larry Castner. He has not been doing very well lately and we need direction from the Lord as how to deal with some of the situations that we have been facing with him. His dialysis doctor has sent him to a neurologist so that we can find out what is going on with his brain due to the anurisms he has suffered in the past. We find him to be much altered in his emotions and motor skills.
We are adjusting to life in the country and except for not having internet service we really like the beauty and solitude. It is still winter here so it continues to rain but we know that it will not last much longer. This past week we planted garlic, peas and a type of bean called and haba. Next week the potatoes will get planted. So the garden process has begun.
My time has run out so I will have to sign off for now. Keep us in your prayers. Until the next time........................................

It's Been A While

Sorry that it has been so long since I have written. We still do not have Internet Access in our new home so......... Several of us have been sick but it seems that the germs have moved on to someone elses house now and we are all back to full health. We are in the middle of our winter season so it has rained and rained and rained and rained (get the idea) but there is always PLENTY to do inside the house. Despite a 4 month trip to the States, moving and re-organizing in a new house, Hannah and Timmy did finish their school year in June and both had good finishing grades. This was their first year of ACE and we are really enjoying it considering the busy schedule that we keep. This week and next the kids here in Chile are on winter break so we will be too!! We miss all of you and I appreciate those of you that have remained faithful to checking my blogspot even though there has not been much to read lately. Until the next time.............................

All Moved In

I know it has been awhile since I was able to write. Hopefully someone is still being patient with me........ It has been almost a month since we moved from our home in Temuco to our new home in Villarrica. Life has definitely changed for us in many ways. All are good changes. Some easier than others. It has taken us awhile to get settled in and unpacked. Each week brought a little more order to our lives. It has been a challenge to move, unpack and go on with the schedule we have to keep up with, but not impossible. The biggest challenge has been not having a person to help take care of my father-in-law. This past Friday a lady started and we are in the process of training her. She has never worked with an elderly person but was willing to learn. She has a sweet spirit and the disposition to learn. Please pray for her- Alicia. We are definitely enjoying living in the country. It tests your creativity. When we run out of bread, milk, etc it's amazing what you can come up with until you get to the store. The view out our front window is different every day. We have 2 active volcanos in Chile and on a good day we can see them both. On other days they are completely hidden from view because of the cloud cover. We've decided that if we took a picture every day for a month we would never get the same view. I'm sure there is a spiritual application in there somewhere..................... I appreciate all of you that have been praying for us. We still do not have internet service but we do go into town a couple of times a week to check our E-mails. If we buy a cup of coffee we get free WIFI service. I know some of you would be a permanent fixture in the coffee shop.............. It's possible that in a month from now we can get internet service in our house. In the mean time I will try to kep up the best that I can...... Until then....................

Movin' Out!!

Well, the big event is upon us. The boxes are getting packed, the junk is getting thrown out, things that we haven't seen for awhile are being found, the house is turned upside down........... We're movin' out! Are we excited? Yes and no. Yes, because we really like our new house. No, because we have lived in Temuco 13 years and we really like the house we are moving out of. One day I am going to get to heaven and God is going to move me into my mansion and I won't have to move out!! Until that time we will be content with where we live no matter how many times we have to move. Moving means progress in the Lord's work. Pray for us!

What's Going On???

So what's been going on around here?
Tuesday was Andrew's 16th birthday. I still can't believe my oldest "baby" is growing up. We were able to celebrate with a few of his friends and their fathers. It was a really special time and I'm glad that he has the kind of relationship with his father that he was willing to include him and the fathers of his other friends as well in his birhtday. I'm very thankful for the son that the Lord has given us. He's a very special, talented young man and we look forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do with his life.
Wednesday morning 6 men from our home church came to participate in an evangelistic campaign that my husband and Bro. Heinz are coordinating. 3 of the guys are staying with us and 3 with the Heinz family. The first day was kind of rainy so they got off to a slow start but it finally cleared up and today was a beautiful day. Last night we took our 3 visitors to Pucon where they were able to meet their fellow brothers in Christ. We had a good service with Bro. John Nadaskay preaching. We also had 100% attendance which was a blessing as well. We've had a lot of fun with our visitors. We are not sleeping much and as long as I have a pot of coffee ready in the morning and after every meal we all get along just fine!! Please pray for the work they are doing here in Chile that it will bear much fruit.

9 Days Later

well, it has been 9 days since we have returned to Chile. They have been very busy days to say the least. We arrived in Santiago on a Wednesday morning. ALL of our suitcases arrived with us as well for which we were very thankful. There were so "much" of us that they actually HELPED us right through customs to get us out of the way!! We're hoping that the guys that come down next week get the same treatment. We then went to Pastor Luis' house and cleaned up, got our spanish tongues in tune again and they had a cook-out for us! Wednesday night we got on the bus and traveled through the night to get "home" to Temuco. Amy Heinz and her girls were busy in the kitchen cooking breakfast- bacon, eggs and pancakes! Hmm! the house smelled good! Yes, after 2 nights of sleeping on planes and buses we were tired but so very happy to be back in our house. All was in order. Garry's dad was happy to see us and so was the girl that takes care of him. She was so happy that she left THAT DAY on vacation!! We spent Thursday trying to unpack as much as we could but our bodies demanded some attention so we ended up resting and not getting too much unpacked. Friday we went to Labranza where my husband preached in Bro. Heinz' missions conference. We are so thankful for the Heinz family and their friendship over the years. They have been such a help to us while we were off the field and helping us to get back in the "saddle" again. Saturday we went to the mission work in Lastarria. They didn't know we were coming and the looks on their faces was worth it!! They thought we were NEVER coming back! They are doing well and have remained faithful. They went and found a separate place to meet in that would be easier to invite visitors to. It needs some work but its a step in the right direction. Sunday, of course, we went to the church in Loncoche and then on to the mission Pucon. All were happy to see us! The mission in Pucon has also moved into a separate building. All signs of growth for which we are thankful. They had a cook-out for us too!! So much for coming back and losing weight! In between all this we were still unpacking and finally got down to the last suitcase on Monday. On Thursday my husband preached in Temuco which is now in Fundo el Carmen. The brethren dismantled the auditorium and moved it across town to a new housing developement where they are purchasing the property that they have re-built the church on. They did a great job of putting the church back together! We were kind of nervous about what it might look like but we are so proud of the way they have been so careful to preserve the original "look". They are doing well and have endless opportunities in the new comunity that they are in. Yesterday, the ladies in Loncoche had their weekly Bible-study time and I went down on the bus and was able to teach and share a special "tea-time" with them. They have also remained faithful to the Lord and have grown spiritually. Of course, there are a few negative things that have happened while we were gone but the positive definitely outweighs the negative. We have also been to our new house in Villarrica. The lady that we bought it from is moving out and next week the house will be empty. We have decided to move at the end of the month since we have visitors coming very soon! Please pray that we can sell our house here in Temuco SOON! It is on the market and in the paper. Want to buy a house in Chile????? We are very happy to be back to out place of service yet a bit homesick as well. The changes coming back don't happen from one day to the next. We enjoyed our time in the States, have some precious memories to store away in our hearts, and have come to appreciate our families and our church family even more. Until the next time.............

Today Is the Day

Well, today is the day we have been feverishly packing for! 15 suitcases later we are ready to begin our journey "home". Are we excited? Yes. It has been our home and place of ministry for 14 years. Is it hard to leave? Always. I have come to the realization that I live in 2 worlds. When I'm here in the States I miss being in Chile and when I am in Chile I miss the people in the States. Every once in a while when we have visitors the 2 worlds come together for a brief moment of time and then separate again. I've come to realize that those 2 worlds will never completely come together until we reach heaven. So for the meantime we have to be happy in whichever world we are in knowing that someday we will all spend eternity together with the Lord and there will be no more good-byes.

Good Memories

Today is our last Sunday here in the States and I can't help but review over the last 4 months and think about some of the special moments that we have experienced. Today Sarah Anger brought me a small foto album that she had made (she was very sneaky and very THOUGHTFUL) of some of the activities that I had the opportunity to participate in while here at the church: the ladies Christmas dinner, special times of sharing with our ladies groups, good fellowhip around the lunch table, birthdays, etc. just to name a few. Of course, any time spent with our families is always special for us. This year was truly "Christmas At Home" for us as we were able to be with my family for Christmas and New Years. We were also able to spend some special moments with my husband's sister, brother and nephew. My children will NEVER forget their week-end with Aunt Terry: chocolate chip pancakes (that their mother would never make because of all the extra energy they produce afterwards), playing LIFE, drinking hot chocolate, and going shopping and being able to buy ANYTHING they wanted(that won't happen too often in their lifetimes!) We were able to spend several weeks with my mom and brother just hanging out, watching movies, laughing together and tripping over each other in my mom's BIG house! The recent passing away of my grandmother was certainly a sad but precious moment in our lives as we were together as a WHOLE family for the first time in many years. All in all it was a precious 4 months of memories that we have made that will have to last us a few years. There are no regrets but only thankfulness to the Lord for His perfect timing in our lives so that we could be a part of other people's lives for this moment of time in our lives. Thank you to all of you that have made these months special and memorable for us.

A Special Day

Yesterday was my grandmother's funeral. It was really a special day for so many reasons.

1. I saw family members that I had not seen for 15 years.
2. I got to sing with my brother and sister.
3. My grandfather didn't fall apart at the funeral.
4. It was a beautiful, Kentucky, spring day.
5. We knew my grandmother was in heaven at that moment.
6. But most of all, the gospel was preached in a very special and personal way and ALL my family members were there to hear it! Something that all Christians dream about doing and yesterday, for our family, it happened! Many of them have a profession but there are some others that we have a burden for.

Thank you to all of you that were praying for us and for my family during this time. Your prayers were felt. We are traveling back to PA to get ready for our trip to Chile!

A Time To Live And A Time To Die

I know it's been a month since my last posting. We finally got our new computer so I should be able to catch up on some things. This has been a busy month for sure and today was a very emotional culmination to a fairly emotional week..... Today my grandmother (Mamaw) died at the age of 86. She was my last living grandmother. She suffered a stroke this past year that caused her to be paralyzed on one side and caused her to have kidney failure which resulted in dialysis treatments. We have watched her ebb away ever since. But today, while holding my grandfather's hand, she slipped away into eternity. She had a testimony of salvation and we can rejoice knowing that she is no longer paralyzed or bed-ridden. We will miss her greatly, to say the least, and our hearts and minds turn towards my grandfather knowing that my grandmother was the center of his life and his reason for living. How much longer will he be with us?? All is in the Mighty Hands of an omnipotent God that allowed us to still be here, allowed our plane tickets to be changed without cost, provided patient and understanding people so that we can be part of a final farewell to our beloved grandmother. Heaven seems just a little bit closer today as the clouds of eternity parted and we are experiencing His love and peace as my grandmother slipped through and will be waiting on the other side. Please pray for our family as we will be traveling Monday to Kentucky. We will be returning by the end of the week to prepare for our return to Chile Tuesday, April 3rd.

Home Again

After almost 3 weeks on the road we are finally "home" in Pennsylvania. It feels good to spread out, do laundry and get back to some much needed studying. (I'm sure my children would NOT agree with me about that third item) You know how us ladies like to have routine in our lives! In less than 5 weeks we will be heading back to Chile and we are very much looking forward to that. In the mean time, we are enjoying the days that we have left here with our church family knowing that we will soon have to say good-bye, again.

I had all kinds of pictures to share with you but once again tragedy strikes our computer world and all of my pictures were downloaded into a computer that has burned up!! So, this will be another pictureless report of our family. You'll have to use your imagination as I relate some of the things that have happened in our family.............
1. On Monday, Joshua turned 3!!
2. Garry has been going to the dentist everytime we are back in the area for some much needed dental work. He's been "crowned"!
3. Three new churches have taken us on for support.
4. I was able to "reconnect" with an old college friend of mine.
5. We were able to spend a day with my aunt and uncle in Atlanta, GA. I had not seen a cousin of mine for 15 years.
6. My grandparents were voted the Valentine's Day King and Queen in their nursing home.
7. My son Andrew has a new blogspot. findtheefaithul.blogspot.com
8. My sister will complete 2 years of marriage on my son Timothy's birthday.
9. My kids FINALLY got to play in the snow. It was so icey when we got home they made an igloo instead of a snow man!!
10. We were able to meet a lot of special people on this last trip out. Many of which have sacrificed financially to help us as we are here in the States.

Our home church is finishing up missions month and my husband will be preaching this Sunday night and next Wednesday. Andrew will be singing a special for the first time here in our home church. On March 3 we will head out to the midwest to visit my family and have a couple more meetings. We are thankful to the Lord for his traveling mercies. We missed all the snowstorms (sometimes within 24 hours) and the van has run great! Thanks to all of you that are praying for us! Until the next posting......................

On The Road

Hello! Sorry that hasn't been anything to read lately. We are out on the road and have been spent more time in the van than out of it. We have been in several new churches and one in St.Marys, GA took us on!! We've done some other fun things and will be seeing some old friends so I should have lots of pictures to share soon!! Don't give up on me yet!! Please pray for us as we have another week of traveling before we get back to our home church. Hasta luego!!

I Made A Mistake

Please help! I accidently deleted a message from Steve Lindsey and if he would be so kind as to send it to me again along with the message that he sent, I would really appreciate it!! So sorry!!

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

We officially have a "TENager in the house! My little girl is growing up!! We are thankful for the daughter the Lord has given us and pray that she will soon be saved and grow up to serve the Lord. In the meantime we look forward to training and teaching her until that time comes. We love you Hannah!

Here is Hannah with a few of her friends and 2 brothers.

Hannah is a soccer girl!!

We had chili and cornbread and carrot sticks for supper.

She's also a "horsey" girl and mom did her best at making a "horsey"cake.

It "Squalled" Today!!

Yep!! You heard me! It "squalled" right here in Emmaus, PA TODAY! I am a Midwest girl and I had never in my life heard of a snow squall or had seen one until today. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and around 10:00 E.T. the temperature dropped, the wind kicked up, the clouds got dark and gray and the sky let loose! For 30 minutes it snowed like blizzard conditions. As quickly as it started, it stopped. The sun came out and an hour or 2 later you would have never known that it had snowed because everything was melted away. I had some great pictures but the computer that has the pictures in it decided to die AFTER the pictures were downloaded. My kids have not seen snow for 4 years. (Joshua has never touched it.) So we made the most of those 30 minutes. It packed just right and made great snowballs!! It can "squall" anytime it wants to!

I've Been Tagged

a: available or single: Available to my husband
b: best friend: my husband Garry
c: cake or pie: all of the above
d: day or night person: definitely day
e: eggs or cereal: eggs and bacon
f: favorite food: umm.... pizza, empanadas
g: gummy bears or gummy worms: gummy bears
h: hometown: Dwight, IL
i: indulgence: chocolate, choclate, choclate
j: January or February: January
k: kids and names: Andrew, Hannah, Timmy, Joshua
l: life is not complete without....: the Lord!!
m: marriage date: July 19, 1988
n: number of siblings: 2 (1 great brother, 1 beautiful sister)
o: oranges or apples: apple pie, apple streudel, caramel apples
p: phobias: the esclator
q: quick to think or quick to speak: a little of both
r: reasons to smile: my husband and my kids
s: season: (depends on what continent I'm living on) fall and winter
t: tag 3 or 4 people: whoever reads this!!!
u: unknown fact about me: computer illiterate
v: veggies I don't like: slimey asparagus
w: worst habit: worrying too much
x: xtra special memory: getting saved!
y: yellow or????: purple and green
z: Zest or Dove: Dove

Now YOU'VE been tagged!!!

Home Again!!

After 3 weeks of visiting family and friends for the holidays, meetings and 5 days straight of driving we are back to our mission house "home" in Pennsylvania. We certainly enjoyed all the good fellowship, food, fun, food and more fellowship and food, etc. (You get the idea here.) A special thanks to my mom for her patience and willingness to have all 6 of us in her apartment for 3 weeks, to my sister Betty for being my "technical support" as I learn the art of blogging, and to all the pastors and pastors wives that we have met along the way that have been an encouragement and blessing to us. In the meantime, my father-in-law is doing great, and the works in Chile are moving forward. We will continue to travel and are asking the Lord for ten new supporting churches before we return the end of March. The Lord has already blessed and gave us one new one for which we are very thankful. No pictures this time because my helper is at winter camp and I haven't learned how to do that just yet! That's the next thing to learn. Thank you for all your prayers. Until the next posting.......

Mamaw and Bampy

Those of us that are privileged to have family that come from the southern part of the States don't have a grandma or a grammy or a nana, etc. We have a mamaw. This is my mamaw and she is 86 years old. She has almost died 3 times but the Lord continues to give her back to us. She lives in a nursing home with Bampy (another southern name) and goes to dialysis 3 times a week. The Lord has allowed my grandparents to be married 67 years! We treasure every moment that we can be with them and just recently were able to visit them. I am so glad that my children have had the opportunity to know their great-grandparents!

Family

One of the great things about being home on furlough is the time that we get to spend with our families. Over the Christmas/New Year's season we were with my family. We started in Delphi, IN at my sister's house, then moved on to Henderson, KY to be with my grandparents and my Aunt Elaine and her family. The kids had a great time being with their cousins!!! My mom traveled with us and we are back in IL with her at her house. We thank the Lord for this opportunity we have had.