Today we set out to see more of the country. Andrew's parents picked us up and we all went over to the coast to the towns of Valpariso and Vina del Mar. Valpariso is a port town and is very active with shipping as well as the base for some of the ships in the Chile Navy. Chile has over 4,000 miles of coast line so a strong Navy is important. We rode a "cable car" up the side of the hill. If you have been to San Francisco and ridden a cable car get that out of your mind. This was a box with wooden slats for the floor and plywood for the doors. Very interesting to say the least. Vina del Mar is more of a tourist/vacation town. They have some nice beaches and the homes are nicer. We walked around the streets and probably the two funniest/interesting things over the last 4 days happened here.
We were walking through an art area where people buy and sell their goods. A dog obviously was after a cat who jumped inside the glass case where one of these venders had some of their nicer things and completely wiped out their display. Then the dog ran around to the front of the case to get out of the cat and the cat took off out the back and ran up their hanging display knocking off hangers, goods, etc. Andrew, Janelle, and I watched in amazement and then laughed pretty hard at the whole situation. The second instance occurred as we were walking back to the car through the central park area. The milk here comes in a box. A very poor, possibly homeless lady was giving about four or five stray dogs some milk to drink straight out of the box as well as some food on the ground. She was begging for us to give her some money. Then she went over to the bench where her stuff was and began drinking out of the very same box she had just fed the dogs out of. YUCK!! It was disgusting and a little funny at the same time. Again we laughed and discussed it all the way back to the car.
We left the coast and made our way back to Santiago. We went to San Cristobal which is a large hill in Santiago with a huge statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Catholicism is very big here and very sad. The hill has many parks and swimming pools as well as a zoo. We drove to the top and walked up to the statue where we could see all of Santiago. Andrew made the comment that he has wondered what would change in this city if the rapture were to occur today. WOW!! Very humbling thought as people are worshipping the statue of Mary right behind us.
Saturday night the church has a youth service. The music was beautiful as the youth led us in songs that are very familiar to us in the States and they sang in Spanish. Janelle and I were able to follow along as we knew the English words. I was given the opportunity to give the message in this service with Andrew interpreting for me. It was much harder than I expected to teach using an interpreter. I spoke to them about the need for being a part of a Christian community and for doing life with other Christians. The topic was very relevant as they have so many sinful temptations right outside the gates of the church. Drinking and smoking are very common place here. I challenged them to find an accountability partner and to be an accountability partner. It seemed to go well and I praise God for the opportunity and the relevancy of the topic. We spoke with many of them following the services. Some spoke English and really wanted to try and use it with us. Some did not and we spoke with them through Andrew. Andrew is probably going to enjoy not having to translate everything for us. We are exhausted but looking forward to the Sunday worship service.
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