Oh how good it is to receive something from home. Recently two care packages arrived from friends and, man, they are good ones. How lucky I am to have such great friends. Thank you to all who have sent care packages during my time in Chile.

One more thing, take a look at the difference in detail of the contents Robert wrote and Traci wrote on the slip.

Well, I am a terrible at blog maintenance. I was just looking at my friends Ali’s and Mark’s blog and feel a little lacking. AH, oh well! Here we go.

At the beginning of March I was graciously invited to attend the Team Banquet. It’s an evening dedicated to looking back over the year and enjoying an appetizing meal together. It also involves awards and videos. I had the pleasure of being a part of the production crew for the short films made in honor of some of the team members. Infomercials, top ten lists, and re-enactments. Oh man! I was bestowed the honor of The Wizard of Wikipedia. I have no earthly idea, ahem, what that’s getting at, but this one is another upon my mantle of titles, next to The Sultan of Slide.

Easter was quite an event this year, I don’t have much else to compare it to because it is my first outside of the U.S. Chile, as many other holiday traditions (i.e. Halloween - trick or treating, Christmas - Santa Claus, snowy images in the middle of summer, etc) has adapted Easter with foreign traditions. The jóvenes (youth) were in charge of Sunday games and Easter egg hunt. One thing that Chile has not is the plastic egg or variety of candy, everything hidden were small chocolate eggs. Delicious, and this year, they were kept our of the sun. For Viernes Santo (Good Friday), we had a progressive play with five scenes spread over the church building grounds. It was really well done and much of the preparation was put in Chileans hands.

Good Friday performers. Christian (no shirt) and Diana (only female).	Birthday cinnamon roll cake after two hours of sleep

Currently I am living with two friends, Christian and Diana, that are to be married this coming weekend. They were kind of forced to move out of his parents’ house in to their old house. Well I got the call two weeks ago, telling me (not asking me), that I was to come stay with them for three weeks. It’s been a lot of fun and great experience. I was living with Jeff and Penne before, who live a bit closer to the church building (i.e. bike ride of 15 min.), but now I get to experience the daily joy of Transantiago, the transit system of Santiago. My friend Rodrigo told me yesterday, “Creo que eres el practicante que ha tenido una experiencia más cercana a la verdadera vida chilena.” (”I think you’re the intern that has had an experience closest to the the true Chilean life.”) or something along those lines. It’s quite a compliment.

I had a swell birthday. I was taken out to eat by my friends Jeff and Penne. We had a lovely dinner and afterwards I returned to the church building to pull a near all nighter working on some presentations for the Deans goodbye the next day.

Oh the Deans! Man was that a day to celebrate, cry, share, and see the change they brought. There’s a hole here now and it hasn’t been filled, because, really it can’t be. Mark is a superb friend. Denise can make you laugh with nothing other than her own laughter. And their precious two children are a delight to be around. I’m going to miss the cooking together, talking about our lives, watching movies together, and just being in their presence. They left on April 2, woo was that a doozy of a send off in the airport. We miss them, but know who is guiding them.

The Dean Family	Christian and Jenny avoiding sleep prior to 15 hour flight

Some other quick updates:
- I’ve began meeting with two friends from my small group, Aníbal and Micheln, Friday nights to practice their English.
- I’ve been unofficially in charge of multimedia at the church (”button-pusher for PowerPoint”) and am trying to hand it back over to Chileans via hands-on training.
- My computer is currently backing up in Safe Mode. It’s on its last leg.
- I’ve been doing some more cooking. (See previous posts)
- The boy Felipe who had a brain tumor was operated on successfully and doing well. Thanks be to God.
- And my brother Christian and sister-in-law Jenny went to Japan and have some superb photos from the trip on Flickr (click ‘Fli’ for his photos and ‘ckr’ for hers)

Prayer Requests:
- The youth for clarity as we’re looking ahead
- God’s Spirit to lead me in all I am and do
- Christian and Diana in their new stage as a married couple
- Deans transition in to the U.S.

Recent Reads/Listens:
- Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time - book - “The very nature of a crowd is the ability to be lost in it. It costs nothing to be a part of the masses. One can either be positively or negatively inclined. A member of a crowd, such as a worshiper in a congregation, can remain lost in the sea of faces, neither having to commit nor declare loyalty… Jesus ministered to the crowd in order to call people out of it.”
- April Update - email from friend - “A seder is a neat experience - a ceremonial meal eaten to retell and celebrate the story of the liberation of the jews from egyptian slavery. It was a lot of fun, though we did do some parts of the meal incorrectly, but I figure we would be some very reform jews, so oh well.”

If you are interested in any other things I am reading or have read, please visit my del.icio.us page: http://del.icio.us/tterrag

I was able to accompany a group of students from Aggies for Christ to visit two of the churches, Cosmos and Jabour, in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s always good to be amongst the brothers and sisters in Rio and good friends from A&M. I enjoyed gathering around at nights to worship a bit in English (a rare happening). This was my third time in Rio and to work with Abel Azevedo, a half Mozambican, half South African man working with the Lord and who I first met while traveling with the Aggies in 2005. (Learn more about Abel here.) Time with Abel, the churches, and the Aggies was refreshing, a change of scenery.

It was one of the best times I had in Rio. Encouragement is the best word to describe the work we do in Rio. The churches are small, but strong and love the life guests bring. The ‘jovems’ (‘young people’) are full of life and carry a bright future for the church in Brazil. Speaking of the future, Abel has called on me to come work alongside him when my time in Santiago is over. I’m still considering it, truly I would love to work there.

After my time in Rio, I flew South to Porto Alegre, Brazil for the annual Brazilian missionary conference. It was top notch and a great opportunity to meet up with old friends spread over the South American continent. It was good to meet Carlos Castilho,a missionary in Rio supported by MacArthur Park in San Antonio. By chance, we were conference roommates. The men’s speaker was Murray Wilton from Huntsville, Alabama. He spoke on the Spirit’s capability to guide our footsteps and totally falling in love with Christ. I was blessed by his presence and had my first experience of true confession. It was an outstanding conference. (Read more about the conference here.)

On return from two and a half weeks in Brazil, I was host in the home of one of the families who was on furlough to Dottie Schultz of Missions Resource Network. She was the women’s speaker at the conference and came to Santiago afterwards to work with the team. It was a pleasure to be in the presence of such a wise and experienced individual.

The following week was a national evangelistic campaign. Speakers from across North and South America came to work with congregations all over Chile. It was a pain and a pleasure, depending on the day, to be a part of the marketing and Web development for the campaign. The church I work with, Iglesia de Cristo Congregación Providencia, put on a dinner in honor of Santiago’s firefighters, a coping with trauma seminar for an organization that aids parents that have lost children, and nightly mini concerts, talks, and religious forums opened to the community. It was good to see members reaching out to the community. See the campaign website here.

It’s summer time in the southern hemisphere. I had the pleasure of spending St. Valentine’s Day with the oldest member of the church, 85; she had no idea what the day was. Vacation time has arrived and it seems that “out of school” can mean “out of touch” or “out of town” for many of the youth. One would think summer would be the most convenient time, but school keeps people in the city. So youth activities are spread out and sometimes one does not see the value in them. Daily I’m thinking “How can God transform the youth?” Being led by the Spirit, I think one-on-one relationships are the best, not getting as many people together to watch a movie, but really taking an interest and caring about individuals and sharing the bread with those individuals. I can report on more things like events, activities, etc, but the reality is God changes lives through small things that are not easily seen. I’ve seen it and I hope you can as well.

Prayer Requests:
- The Montecinos – Felipe a young boy from a family of four has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and will be operated on later this month.
- Youth of the church – May they be transformed in their faith.
- Floods in Bolivia – For months, Bolivia, Chile’s neighbor to the northeast, has been suffering heavy rainfall since November.
- Return of the Emerys – After two months in the United States, the Emery family has a new supporting church, but the kids are quite ill.

Recent Reads/Listens (Things to ponder):
- What is a Christ Follower? – podcast – “Christianity is not about us being committed to a denomination, creed, lifestyle, or a way of living. It’s an encounter with the living Christ. When I encounter him, I fall on my face and say, ‘Oh Jesus I’m tired of all the stuff…’”
- A Christianity That Works (response 2 and 3) – blog post - “…questions and answers challenge both the views we have about ourselves and our own “righteousness-of-sorts” and the religious structures in which we’ve heavily invested…”
- Christians Wrong About Heaven – article - “Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.”
- A New Kind of Christian – book – “Instead of saying, ‘Hey, they’re wrong and we’re right, so follow us,’ I think we say, ‘Here’s what I’ve found. Here’s what I’ve experienced. Here’s what makes sense to me. I’ll be glad to share it with you, if you’re interested.’”
- 1 Corinthians – Holy Bible – “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

If you are interested in any other things I am reading or have read, please visit my del.icio.us page: http://del.icio.us/tterrag

“‘Well, how do you evangelize, then, if you don’t try to convince people of truth?…’

‘Demonstration must accompany proclamation, I guess you could say. But there’s more. Instead of saying, ‘Hey, they’re wrong and we’re right, so follow us,’ I think we say, ‘Here’s what I’ve found. Here’s what I’ve experienced. Here’s what makes sense to me. I’ll be glad to share it with you, if you’re interested.’”

“‘I think of it like a dance…I hear the music of the gospel, and my friend doesn’t, so I try to help him hear it and move with it. And like a dance, I have to ask if the other person wants to participate.’”

From A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren

There has been quite alot going on recently. At various moments I have the opportunity to read or do something on the Internet. These are a few of those things I’ve been tuning in to recently:

My brother’s photos (I would like to see what their house looks like)
Candidates + issues matrix
Robert in DC
“Janet Reno likes folk music?”

Interesting stuff. I’ll post soon, I promise, about what’s going on in my life.

Enjoy.

To get another perspective on what we are doing in South America, visit wherestraci.blogspot.com and the AFCSA TravelPod. Enjoy.