It's Hard to Say Goodbye

So we have pretty much spent the last 5 days saying goodbye to all of our friends in Chile. About a week ago we had to say goodbye to some friends for the first time and I think thats when it really hit us that we are coming home soon. Why is it that we don't fully appreciate something or someone until we are no longer around it anymore? When you say goodbye to someone, it is at that moment that you fully appreciate everything they have meant to you. After an experience like this there are so many mixed emotions as you are going home. First you are really excited to see your family and friends whom you haven't seen in months. Also there is an excitement to get back to the life and the culture that you know and feel comfortable in. At the same time, four months is about the time it takes to get comfortable in a culture so we are at the point where we really feel at home here too. Plus we have made incredible friendships that are going to be hard to leave. We have felt so welcomed and loved here that it has just been overwhelming. So it is really hard to describe how we feel as we are coming home. Our hearts are torn in half with the desire to stay and the desire to go home (well we have non-refundable plane tickets so we don't really have a choice haha). What we can say for sure from these emotions that we are experiencing is that we will never forget this experience that we have had. So for those of you who we are leaving we say, "It's been great. We love you and you have made this experience something that will stay in our hearts forever." And for those of you who we are returning to we say, "We have missed you. Thank you so much for your prayers and support that have carried us through. See you soon."
Love,
Zach and Ashley

P.S.
There is a neighborhood in Santiago that has streets named after every state. We are already in Arkansas haha.

Mendoza, Argentina

Over the last weekend we went to Argentina and even though it was a short trip, we loved it. The drive from Chile to Argentina is worth the trip by itself. You have to drive through a mountain pass in the Andes to get across the border and the view is spectacular. There are two levels to the bus and Ashley and I got to sit at the front of the top level with huge windows in front of us. It was like having a private screening of the Andes Mountains. The whole ride we were just in awe of the beauty of God's creation. I can barely describe the snow-capped mountains surrounding us or the beautiful river that snaked along next to the highway that we took. Also, there is one road up the mountain where you do about twenty turnbacks in a row. It was pretty fun except there were no guardrails and a few times we thought the bus was going to drive off the mountain. Once we got to Mendoza, the first thing we did was eat steak and it is true when they say that Argentina has the best steak. Also, we did something really fun. We went paragliding. We decided we might not have the opportunity to paraglide in the Andes Mountains again so we had to do it. It was amazing. We basically ran off the side of a mountain and the wind just took us up in the air. It was an incredible experience. We had to leave the next day, but I feel like we did as much as we could do in what little time we had. If you want to see some of the pictures, here is a link to the photo album on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040633&id=82202048&l=f3dff2db7c

Blessings to everyone,
Zach

Time flies when you're having fun

We can't believe that we have been here almost three months. It seems like just yesterday we got off the plane. Up to this point, this experience has felt like a blur, but it has been a blur of great memories. We're going to try to recap whats been going on lately with us. One big thing coming up is that we are going to Argentina at the beginning of next week for two days. Our tourist visas are only for 90 days and we could stand in line downtown and pay $100 each to get them renewed, or we can leave the country and reenter it to get a new tourist visa. We figured we might as well put $200 towards a fun trip to Argentina (the bus tickets and hotel cost less than $200) because we won't spend that much more. We are really excited to go to another country, but I think we are most excited about the steak. They say that Argentina has the best steak, so our goal is to eat as much steak as possible in two days. The bus ride back might not be as fun, but it should be worth it haha.
Another thing that we have been doing for about a month now is volunteering in a school to help kids practice their English. We work with a pre-school class, a 10th grade class, and an 11th grade class. I'm pretty sure that some of the kids are smarter than we are and are helping us with our English haha. We came up with our own Jeopardy game to play with some of the older kids and we felt like we had come up with some pretty tough questions about history, sports, movies, etc.. but they pretty much got every question right without even hesitating. The kids are very smart and we really enjoy working with them. We also told one of them that we would mention him in our blog because he has been reading some of it. So here you go Diego. You are now world famous because we mentioned you to the millions of (19) followers on our blog haha.
Ashley's makeup conferences have been going great. She has done several so far and still has a ton of makeup left which is good because I think she is doing 6 more before we leave. They are really cool becuase she does everyone's makeup and gives them some tips, but then she spends time talking about being beautiful on the inside and where true beauty comes from. It has been a huge hit with every group she has worked with. They all love it and we are still getting requests for her to do more. Well that is all we have for now. We miss you all and we really appreciate your prayers and encouragement.
Blessings,
Ashley and Zach

The power of prayer... Seriously, its powerful

So we have really been learning alot about prayer lately. We have both prayed most of our lives, but it seems that lately we are really learning what it means to pray and how to pray. From an early age we are taught to pray for our families and those we know that are sick. We are also taught to pray when life seems to be going bad. Don't get me wrong, these are all great things to pray for, but we're starting to realize that they only scratch the surface of not only God wants from us, but also what He wants to give us. Matthew 7:7-11 says,
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
What a novel concept that all we have to do is ask, seek, and knock. I especially like the last part because I think it gets overlooked alot. If we ask for things, God is not going to give us things that will hurt us (i.e. snakes and stones). He will "give good gifts to those who ask him!" I think sometimes we wonder why God isn't doing great things in our lives but we don't even bother to look at whether or not we are asking for them. How can He give us what we don't ask for? We just go through life assuming that God hasn't really planned for us to do much for Him. When I say great things, I don't mean that He is going to send all of us to the other side of the world or turn everyone into an inspirational preacher. One of the things we have learned since we have been down here is that you don't have to go to the other side of the world to do great things. Its funny that we would learn that on the other side of the world :). People here are just like people anywhere else in the world. If we are looking to impact the lives of people, all we need to do is look around. There isn't some great plan that we have learned while we are down here that lets us minister to others. All you need to do is just ask God to use you and be willing to let Him use you. God can do great things through you in your ordinary, day to day life. All you have to do is ask.

Ashley and Zach

P.S./Warning:
Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it haha.

P.S.S.
These are two sayings about prayer from a devotional that we have been reading.

"Effective prayer claims the promises of God by faith with fervent and unrelenting passion."

"Apart from prayer, we can do nothing?"

Pictures

Here is a link to some pictures that we just posted. They are from this past weekend and a few weeks ago when we celebrated the 18 of September Independence Day.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039657&id=82202048&saved

Psalm 62:1-5

This is random, but I want to tell you guys what I had for lunch the other day. I made a fresh turkey sandwhich with homemade bread, oregano and tomatoes. I had a mango and we made guacamole with fresh paltas (avacadoes) onions tomatoes garlic and salt. I love how fresh everything is.
Ashley><>

Well now that Ashley is done bragging about the food, I guess I'll just mention a few things also haha. We are finding it harder and harder to find time to sit down and write about what has been going on in Chile. Our weeks have been filling up and we are staying pretty busy. Sometimes we just have to stop and rest in the peace of God's presence and what an amazing peace it is! We are finding that as we are doing so many things and pouring ourselves into other people, the most important thing that we need to do is rest in the comfort of our Savior. As we get busier and busier, the logical thing to do would be to cut things out that take up more time. I know in my experience, when I get really busy, I tend to cut out the very thing that I need most- time to rest with my God who wants to take care of me. I am writing this I think more to myself than to other people because this is something I need to keep practicing more and more. I have found that when I am most busy and stressed, the greatest peace that I can have only comes from God strengthening and comforting me. I want to share a verse with you that I hope can bring comfort in your life as it has brought comfort in ours. Psalm 62:1-5 says, "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." What powerful words! What an incredible thing for us to find much needed rest. Let this be an encouragement to all of you as it has been to us because I'm sure that many of you have schedules much busier than ours. Let God comfort you when you need it most. May you find rest, peace, and comfort in our wonderful Savior.

Love,
Zach

Make sure you know the metric system

Sorry its been so long since our last post. These last two weeks have been busy/amazing/tiring/awesome. Its really hard to describe everything that has been happening but I'll do my best. Ok so I guess I'll start with the independence day celebration. The whole country spent two days celebrating their independence. People ate, sang, and danced for two days straight. We celebrated by leaving the city and going to the country to stay with a friend's family. The family was amazing. They took us in like we were part of the family. We went to the "campo" which is pretty much the middle of nowhere and we ate more food than any person should ever eat in two days. The entire time there was always food on the grill (open fire with a metal grate). It was awesome. It was a great time to relax and talk and make new friends. At night we were able to look at the stars and actually see them. It is impossible to see them in the big city, but in the country it seems like you can reach out and touch each star. We learned all of the constellations that are only in the southern hemisphere like la cruz del sur y las tres marias (southern cross and the three marys for all of you non-spanish speakers haha). It was incredible to experience a national holiday with a loving family. It is something that we will remember for a long time.
After we got back to Santiago after the holiday we managed to stay pretty busy. We have begun meeting with several new groups and are still working with the soccer team. Also Ashley started volunteering in a school this week. She goes two times a week to help the students practice their English. She is really excited about being able to work with them. I also might have the opportunity to get involved with some of the schools as well helping with English or possibly with some of the PE classes. They are always looking for new volunteers. Hopefully we can get to know some of the students and be a positive influence in their lives.
Ok so this is just a funny random story about cultural differences. I have grown up only learning the English system of measurements and I am not very familiar with the Metric system. I went to the supermarket the other day to get groceries and while I was there I bought some cheese from behind the counter. The price for the cheese was per kilogram so when the lady behind the counter asked me how much cheese I wanted I figured that since the price was per kilogram that 1 kilo was probably sufficient. I should have asked someone beforehand how much a kilo was because the look on the lady's face was hilarious. She looked at me like I was crazy and then proceeded to cut the biggest chunk of cheese I've ever seen. It turns out that 1 kilo is 2.2 lbs. Luckily she didn't make me buy it when I managed to tell her that I didn't know what a kilo was, but I just know that she is probably sharing this same story about a confused gringo with all of her family and friends haha.
Well thats about all for know. We appreciate all the people that have been praying for us. Your prayers mean more than you know and bring us great comfort. God is alive and working in Chile and we have seen Him do some great things. Please pray that He will continue to move and work in the lives of the people here.
Until next time,
Zach