Best.Day.Ever!

Today was one of the best days ever! For awhile now I have been wanting to go on a dental missions trip. Today I got a little taste of what that would be like. We went back to the first town we we were at, Santa Clara, and saw the people we helped. We got to see the houses we painted and eat some of the amazing fried bread one lady made for us. While we were visiting we went to the local school to see some of the kids we grew relationships with. When we got there, there were a ton of people at the school and other volunteers that looked American! (Later we found out they were German and Ukrainian) they were there hosting a free medics fair. Doctors, and dentists were there giving free medical care to the people of Santa Clara! I immediately asked if I could help assist the dentist if he needed help! They said yes, he definitely needed help! I was SO excited! I was taken to the classroom that was for dental and met 2 dentists working, and their male assistant who is a musician and had no idea what he was doing. He was so happy to see me. I was so excited to be helping and to be a total blessing to the dentists and the patients! I immediately jumped in and the language barrier was a bit difficult but we could understand a few things. Once we got the flow of things and I understood what procedure he was doing we got along very well. One of our amazing translators Paulina, is in school to be a dentist so she came in and joined me also! It was so fun because the whole trip we have been joking about us working together someday! Who knew we would kinda be "working" together on this trip! Haha it was so awesome! After she came in she got to translate and it was a lot easier haha! We helped the dentists for a few hours then had to leave for the day. I was so bummed I had to go! I had such a great day! I saw some interesting teeth for sure, but the smiles the people had after they left were priceless!! Such an awesome day! It really made me excited to go back home and work again. It reminded me how much I love my job! The smile and the thank you, you get from the patient, here in Chile, or America makes it worth every minute! It was such a good day. As weird as it sounds, it was like a dream come true! I have always wanted to help less fortunate people, overseas with their smiles. Today I got to:)
Tomorrow we leave Talchuano and head back to Santiago which is 6 hours north. Goodbyes are going to be difficult tomorrow for the amazing family we have been staying with, and saying bye to our 2 amazing translators Paulina, and Carolina. Were excited to be moving back to Santiago though for our last week in Chile! Can't believe we have one week left! We are going to be at the YWAM base and helping them with labor work. Were not sure if we have will have wifi but we have been so blessed to of have had it this far, I'm sure we will survive a week without it haha!
Less than a month till I will be back home in AZ! I can't wait to see what God has in store for me! It will be weird to come home to just Rachel and my mom though. My dad will be in DC working. He moves out there on Wednesday the 16th so be praying for him and his safe travels as he drives across the country. Also be praying for our team. Safe travels to Santiago and a last amazing week in Chile!
Love and miss you all!
Jeremiah 29:11
Jessica

So Blessed!

Today was yet another day of being reminded how blessed I am. We went to a home where Cancer patients stay while having treatment done. It's by the hospital and they come to the house while having treatment done. Today some of the ladies were outside sewing and making crafts. They were all different ages. We got to perform some dramas and sing a few songs for them. Then afterwards we got to talk to them and get to know them a bit and pray for them. We prayed for total healing and just restored health and for the cancer to be gone now and not carried into future generations. I couldn't help but step aside afterwards with my room mate and one of my best friends, Olivia, and we prayed over our current families now, and our future kids to be healthy and no sickness ever to come upon either of our families! (Hey nothing wrong with praying for our future kids, and families!) :)Then just thanking God for blessing us so incredibly much! it was definitely a memorable day. Then on the way walking back to the bus we passed a dental store!! One of our translators, Paulina is in school to be a dentist. So we always joke around that when she finishes school she is going to move to America and I'm going to be her assistant ;) haha So we went into the store, and it's crazy that they just have dental stores to buy instruments, impression trays and implant parts just on the side of the road! Apparently it's for students to go in and buy stuff who are in dental school. Crazy! It was cool though and yes pictures were taken! Haha! After that we came home and cooked an
"American" meal of hamburgers and planned our Superbowl party meal! We get to order pizza! I haven't had pizza in I don't know how long! One of our leaders, Owen, is a crazy Packer fan and is from Wisconsin. So we are all cheering for the packers! Were excited to gather around the computer and watch it online, were hoping they play the commercials on the computer because for half of us, that's the only reason we want to watch it. Lol While cleaning up dinner I was washing some dishes and apparently there was a little earthquake/aftershock and somehow I didn't even feel it but everyone else was freaking out. I guess I was too into making sure those dishes were clean and I totally missed it! :( I know I'm crazy, but I want to feel an earthquake! Haha not a big one, but just a little rumble! Yet at the same time i really dont...Hahaha! After dinner a few of us went and took a 3 mile run down the main street were staying on. It felt so good to get out and run!! I have missed working out SO much! When we returned to the house the other half of our team was having a worship time so we joined them and had a wonderful night of worship! Now it is time for bed. Tomorrow is Friday and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us! Finishing these last 2 weeks in Chile with a bang!

Another amazing week in Chile!

What an amazing God we serve! Things have been so awesome here in Chile! God has been moving in incredible ways! This past week we worked with a local church going out around the churches neighborhood and evangelizing with the youth of the church. The youth group only consisted of about 10 kids because the church is so small. It was hard to connect with the kids at first because of the language barrier but by the 2nd and 3rd day we all were learning each others languages, laughing, and having tons of fun! They were such cool kids. Of course were all friends on facebook now! Haha! The first day we learned a bunch of dramas, short skits, and how to play the drums. The rest of the week, everyday we started it out praying with the whole team, worship, and intercession. Then after lunch we would get out the drums and go play around the neighborhood to get peoples attention to come watch us. Then what they called their "plaza" which was a playground/ park area we would do our dramas for the people and tell our testimonies and short sermons. Then afterwards pray with them and invite them to the church service we would put on at the church that night. Then we would go back to the church, eat dinner and have church! We had 4 services counting all week. That was our schedule pretty much everyday. We would be at the church from 9 in the morning till 10 at night most days. It was long and tiring yet so fun at the same time! A lot of the people we ministered to during the day showed up at night and it was always exciting to see them show up. One night one of the sweet ladies at the church had some beautiful jewelry on and I complimented her on it. In their culture apparently, if you comment on something, they take it off and give it to you! So she took off her ring and gave it to me!! I kept telling her no and shoving it away, I couldn't take it! She kept speaking in Spanish so I had no idea what she was saying but she wouldn't let me not accept it!! It is such a pretty ring and she said it was nothing to her and she wanted me to have it. I was so blessed! Ive never said gracias so much! Haha such a sweet lady! Sure enough the next night she showed up with more beautiful jewelry on and I made sure I didn't compliment her, but felt better that I hadn't taken her only piece of nice jewelry! Haha! One of the days during our worship time some people snuck into the back of the church very quietly and then we looked back and who did we see?! Fellow Americans! Some pastors from the US had come over to help plant a church in Chile and stopped by! It was nice to communicate with them, and in English! Haha I got to talk to one of the Pastors, Pastor Randy Hunt, and found out he lived in Arizona for 2 years! He also was the youth pastor at Grace Community!! I was like Ahhh! That was my grade school!! He recognized my moms name and we couldn't believe what a small world it is! It was a crazy cool moment when that happened! By the end of the week we were very tan, and worn out but it was an amazing week and God moved in the people we ministered to! 4 church services in 7 days! Whew! Our last service lasted 4 hours! It was intense! Yet awesome! We have 2 weeks left here in Chile then back to America! We did our laundry today and we had to hang them on a clothesline to dry! Def made us appreciate our dryers!! It's the little things in life we've got to appreciate! Hope all is well back at home! Shout out to the Valley Cheerleaders this weekend! Good luck at state! Go Trojans! Wish I could be there! Love and miss you all!

Jeremiah 29:11
Jessica

Its chilly in Chile!

Hello! First off I just want to give a big thank you to all my wonderful supporters who sent me money so I could come to Chile! It has been such an amazing experience and I couldn't of done it without all you guys! Thank you so much!
Chile has been so wonderful! (It's not really chilly either.. Only at night and while I'm typing this I'm a bit cold haha!) This weekend we had our first free day and we went shopping at the local mall ( yessssssss ) it was so nice and refreshing to go shopping! The mall was very nice and looked liked a regular mall! It was weird because the nice mall was in the middle of a poor town. We got off the old bus and walked into a beautiful mall! Weird. I got a cute summer Chilean dress! If it's not too cold in Atlanta when we get back I will prob wear it for my ywam graduation :) lol
On Saturday we went and played with the kids of the town we had been working with all week and gave them silly bands and stuffed animals. They were so grateful for all the new toys. We imagined they lost a lot of their toys in the tsunami when their homes were destroyed so they were happy to get new ones. It was a very precious moment for us all. Seeing their faces light up over a simple stuffed animal, Makes me appreciate all my stuff back at home, and yet again makes me realize how incredibly blessed I am. After we played with the kids we said our goodbyes to all the people we worked with all week. It was so sad. Goodbyes are never fun:( once we finished our sad goodbyes we got on a bus and headed straight to the next church we are going to be working with this week. We sat through a long 3 hour church service all in Spanish. Whew I wish I knew more Spanish! I'm sure the service was wonderful, if we only knew what they were saying! Haha it was a long day but a good one!
Today (Monday) was our first day at the church, and we worked with the youth all day learning new skits and dramas to perform this week when we go evangelizing. It was fun and brought me back to the days of learning human videos at Desert Springs :) all of us on my team know the "everything" skit by lifehouse and have performed it at our own home churches. We thought it was cool we all knew it and had performed it before:) we also went around and prayer walked through the town we will be evangelizing in. It was a powerful time. I know God is going to do some powerful things this week in our lives and the people we evangelize to! I'm excited to see! We even learned how to play some drums! Our team sounds pretty good! We all feel like were on a drumline haha! We all got matching rayban sunglasses at the mall as well, so with us all wearing our raybans and playing drums we feel.. Well.. Pretty legit ;) haha!
Today I got a bit sick as well. Something didn't sit right in my tummy and it was no fun!!! But with some prayers from back home and from team members I am feeling a little bit better! I'm hoping it stays away and I feel 100% tomorrow! Please be praying for me that it stays away and doesn't come back! It's no fun being sick away from home without my amazing mother to take care of me!
Today one of our translators, one of the girls we are staying with(Paulina) planted a seed in my head. She is in school to be a dentist so we chat about teeth all the time. She told me about a Christian program called Mercy Ships. It's a ship that sails around Africa and does medical mission trips! I have always wanted to do a dental assisting mission trip so researched it when I got home and a dental assistant position was available for this upcoming September! I am def going to be looking more into it but I just thought it was so cool and had to share my exciting news! Lol
I hope all is well back at home! Love and miss you all so incredibly much! I know it says I am online facebook chat, but it's just an app I have on my phone that I always leave open so people can chat me, but half the time I am never by my phone so I get all your messages after you chat me and get offline! Haha I should prob change my online status...(it's usually on so I can chat with Haley, who is in Thailand) but I'm sorry If i missed your chat! The best way to communicate with me is through facebook messages. :) ok off to have some dinner! It's almost 10... All meals are usually 2 or 3 hours late, And the sun doesn't set till about 9:45 pm so it's very weird! Everyday we say the same thing.. When it's 6 pm it looks like it is 2 pm and were all like "IT'S 6!!!??" haha! It's funny:) ok love you all!

Jeremiah 29:11
Jessica

Our first week in Chile!!

Hello! Sorry it's been so long since I have wrote on my blog! We have finally arrived in Chile! It has been absolutely beautiful!! The weather is wonderful (it's summer here) and the people are incredible! We arrived in Santiago on the 13th of January. We stayed at one of the YWAM bases for a night then took a very nice charter bus to the current city were in now, talcuhano! We are staying at a lovely families house who used to be involved with YWAM years ago. The mother has 2 daughters and they are 19 year old twins! They are the sweetest girls ever! We have only been here a few days and were all great friends! It's going to be hard to say goodbye in a week when we pack up to go to another city. They speak English so they are somewhat our translators. It's been such a blessing. Their mother is so sweet also. It's a bit harder to connect with her because of the language barrier but we communicate as best as we can. She is an amazing cook though! We all had the mindset of "on outreach we are all going to lose so much weight!" but at this point we feel like were gaining some! Ahhh! Here in Chile they treats their guests VERY good! Our plates are full of delicious food and sometimes it's too much food! We finish it as best as we can! So far during the day we go to a town nearby (we walk so we can burn off of all the food we eat) and we have been going to a coastal neighborhood that was affected by the earthquake and tsunami from about a year ago. We've been going into the houses and praying for the families and people there that either are in pain or lost a family member in the earthquake/tsunami. It's been interesting and sad to hear all the scary stories from how far the water was in the town and how high it was and how it completely destroyed everything people had. The group before us who helped out in the town helped rebuild houses and build new ones. They did the construction part on the outside were coming in and doing "construction" on the inside of the people hearts. It's been really amazing getting to know the people. The language barrier is no fun but we do the best we can with our translators. It makes me wish I would've paid more attention in spanish class freshman year!! Haha! We went to the school in the town and did a short drama for them and played with them during recess. They were SO CUTE!! such sweet kids! One kid had a shirt that said Arizona on it! I was like I live there!! I don't think he understood me very well, he kept looking at me like I was a crazy American! Haha Yesterday we went with the kids of the neighborhood we have been working with, to their local pool. It was so nice! Nicer than a lot of our local pools! It has trampolines on green grass next to the pool and ping pong tables and a soccer field! It was cool. We hung out with the kids and exchanged facebook names also. We watched The Social Network on the plane ride over so we have all had a new appreciation for facebook and think it's just so cool it's world wide!! At least I know I do! Lol it was a very fun day to say the least! We all got sun burned really bad tho! I didn't think the sun was that strong out here! I'm glad I brought sun block! I'm going to VERY tan when I get back and I'm very excited about it!! :))) today we helped the most precious lady paint her house. A very bright orange color! It was fun! I've been wanting to build or paint something and today we finally got to paint! She was so grateful for us! Being out here has made me appreciate my home in America and simply America itself! It's so hard to believe people live like this out here. We are so extremely blessed in America!!! I got the same reality check when I was in South Africa 2 years ago. I think everyone needs to get out of America at least once in their life to see how incredibly blessed we are. 2 of our team members, Yvan and Owen got really sick at the beginning of this week with a stomach bug. Something they ate must've not set well. Yvan went to the hospital but Owen was ok. They both are back to 100% now but we were all were praying we wouldn't get sick as well and so far we have been doing great! We can't drink the water here unless is bottled so brushing our teeth in the morning is fun using a water bottle.... Haha! It's quite a challenge to literally think about if what you're putting your mouth is safe! I pray over everything I eat!! I don't want to get sick! I have been getting so extremely close to God as well. My quiet times with Him have been amazing. I can't wait to get back home and see all that he has in store for me! It's hard to not to get anxious about the future because I know God has me here right now for a purpose and I need to enjoy every moment I have because before I know it, it will be over and I'll be back home in reality! I can't wait to see what else God has in store for our team the rest of this week, and month! Keep us in your prayers that no one else gets sick and we can keep showing the people of Chile Gods amazing love!! I love and miss you all tons!!! Xoxo.

Jeremiah 29:11
Jessica