Un buen asadito? I hope so!

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A good grill-out party? Let’s hope so :)

The asado (grill-out) is a staple of Chilean culture. People here invite friends and family to asados for birthdays, retirement parties, Christmas (remember, it’s summer here), and Fiestas Patrias (Chile’s independence celebration). As a foreigner, the asado for me has been like an induction into Chilean society.

    …synonymous with…

 

 

 

 

This Saturday, we’re attempting an asado as a way to celebrate the middle of the current English course! Families from church and families of the EFL classes are invited. We’re expecting 30-40 people total, and our goal is that the two groups will interact and mix at this good ol’ distinctly Chilean event.

My Chilean students and fellow church members all seem somewhat amused that this young gringa and a Mexican pastor have taken it upon themselves to coordinate an asado. I set about business just as I figured it would be done at my home church in the States. I passed around an official to-do and to-bring list ;) My students chuckled at this, saying, “Wow…We’ve never seen any asado so…organized. Usually, we just decide things the day before, and we figure that the meat will basically grill itself!”

Anyway, despite their teacher’s very “regimented” and structured way of doing things, the students seem super-pumped and have really stepped it up, offering to bring side-dishes, napkins, cutlery, etc. Two students have taken me separately to the meat-market to request just the right types of meat. (I would’ve been completely lost with all of that new Spanish meat-market vocabulary.) And the church members spent all of last Saturday cleaning and prepping the church grounds to receive the 30-40 people we are expecting.

I am excited.

In keeping with the asado culture, we’re planning to keep things relaxed and casual. That said, one of the church members, Patricio, and I are still going to prepare a few songs to entertain our guests. My 2 advanced students will be teaching everyone “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”…. and of course I’ve also got some amusing summer camp mixer games/songs in English that I might whip out in order to break the ice at first. It seems that Chileans love learning bits of new English, and they are SO expressive…Suffice to say that I’m expecting a positive response to such shenanigans.

That said, it is our first attempt at something like this, so I know it will be a learning experience. I’m already a little nervous for two reasons. Both are things that hadn’t occurred to me a month ago, during the planning stages for this event

  1.  The weather is now pretty cloudy and autumn-cold. (Yes…I can finally say “chilly in Chile”, …finally ;)
  2.  Sun-down is around 7 pm, and the grill-out starts at 5…which means people won’t arrive until 5:30…which means we’ll only have about 1.5 hours of cold sunlight to eat and chat.

Will people decide to stay home, hindered by the frigid air and threat of darkness??

Well, I’m figuring that free food (especially barbecued chicken, lamb, smoked sausage, and ribs) is  a draw in any country, so here’s to hoping that the 25 pounds of meat my students helped me buy will be enough to convince everyone to brave the weather!

Now I have a request for you: Your prayers are especially needed during this time. Pray that the asado will be an overall positive experience and will help the students and the church members get to know each other in a relaxed and enjoyable way. Pray that the Lord will open doors for the Gospel to be shared, if the time is right. We are in the 7th week of classes, and so Pastor Oto Rodriguez and I are getting to know this new group of students pretty well. From what we can tell, this usually seems to be the perfect period to start sharing the Hope that we have with those students who don’t already know.

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Personal Notes: 5 weeks till I’m home! I’m already wondering what it will be like to live in the States again for 7 weeks. Yesterday, I surprised myself when I realized that the U.S. seemed almost dream-ish and foreign to me. I won’t see any horse-pulled carts in the city streets, that’s for sure…

 

Not your typical bus ride (part 3/4)

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(This is part 3 describing a peculiar bus ride I had. Part 2 can be found here.)

My seat buddy, a 40-something year old Chilean gentleman, had just shared with me that he was afraid of being old, and ultimately, of death. We still had 2 hours to go in our bus ride, so…

Cautiously and gently, I asked him: “Do you feel certain of what will happen to you after you die — if you’ll go to heaven? What would you say to God if he asked you why he should let you into heaven?”

“Well, I think so. But I don’t really know. I think if I’m very humble and repentant of my sins, he’ll let me in.”

Interesting. So close – yet so far – to the awesome truth presented in the Bible! I could feel myself getting pumped up to share the reason for “the hope that we have” as Christians.

“Did you know that the Bible tells us that we can be completely sure of our destiny after death?”

He looked at me a bit incredulously, but with hopefullness and curiosity. “Really?” (Side note: Most people have this reaction. Just another reminder that most people have honestly never heard the pure Gospel message. Saddening – yet incredibly motivating to share that news!)

“Definitely! Here.” I responded as I started to search for a mini Bible that I usually carry on trips. Not finding it, I pulled out a battered copy of “What the Bible and Lutherans Teach” from my purse. The outside cover is a garish, er…eye-catching orange, but it’s full of key Bible passages to explain faith.

We flipped to John 3:16 and read it slowly, dissecting it to understand the full meaning and impact of those words, “For God so loved the world…that He gave His only Son…that whoever believes in Him…will not perish but have eternal life.”

We paused after each word group, and especially considered what the word “believes” meant: How do we come to believe? How do we know we believe? As my seat buddy was asking these questions, the Holy Spirit was opening the door wider and wider.

“We have eternal life through faith,” I explained. He then asked, “Faith in what exactly?”

We read Romans 3:23-24. “Christ paid for our sins on the cross. We’re justified. That word “justified” means you and I are forgiven. We don’t have to pay the price of admission to heaven by being completely perfect – which is impossible. Nor can we earn salvation by doing more good stuff than bad stuff – which would always leave us incredibly doubtful anyway.”

Astonished that it would be so easy, he then asked the next most natual question.”Don’t I have to be repentant, though? Or don’t I have to do something?”

We turned to Ephesians 2:8-9. After reading it, I asked him to paraphrase what he had just read to see if he had understood exactly how someone can receive SAVING faith. We worked through it together. He concluded, “Faith is a gift from the Spirit. It’s not something we do.”   

He reasoned aloud, “So if faith is a gift from the Spirit, and if by believing in Christ, I haveheaven…Where does that leave us? We can just live any way we want since we’re always forgiven? That doesn’t seem right. That doesn’t make sense.”

Wow. I was surprised at how much ground we were covering, spiritually and theologically speaking, during this 4-hour ride.  I turned to Romans 6…Were we going too fast, covering too many ideas in such short time? …. Would this be just a one-time Bible class? A divine flash in the mundane pan of daily life? Nothing more than a neat conversation?

I’ll finish the story the next time I post. In the meantime, two images come to my mind as I write and reflect on this experience. The first is that of the seed in Jesus’ parable – you know, the one which springs up quickly, but soon withers because it’s not continually nourished.  And the second one is of Philip with the Ethiopian … That too, was a whirlwind Bible session, but it ended in a baptism and a new believer. What would be the result of this bus conversation? How would this particular “Ethiopian chariot Bible study” end?

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Personal notes/updates: My flight home is booked for May 31st! I’m looking forward to my brother’s graduation and my cousin’s wedding. Plus, I’ll be presenting information about our work in Chile at the ELS Synod Convention in Mankato, MN on June 18th.

Currently, we’re in the thick of the second English course. This is just when I and Pastor start to develop stronger relationships with the students, which in turn presents opportunities to talk about their faith, religion, and questions. Keep praying for our mission! Things are advancing slowly but surely.

All the best,

Chelsea

Not your typical bus ride (part 2/4)

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The man sitting next to me on the 4-hour bus ride asked me the inevitable: “So, where are you from?”

I chuckle inside every time I give describe Minnesota’s location. I responded with my now pat-answer: ”I’m from Minnesota. It’s on the border with Canada…kind of close to Chicago.”   Most Chileans don’t know where Chicago is, but I mention it because it sounds pretty cool. As long as I mention Canada, Chileans get the idea that Minnesota is…well, in the north. And probably cold.

Back to the story. My seat-buddy then asked, “And what are you doing in Chile? Are you just visiting?”

I replied, “Actually, I teach English at the Lutheran Church in Linares.” He nodded.

I could tell that he was wondering what “Lutheran” meant.

However, I took a different conversational route. I just reciprocated, ”What were you doing in Santiago, sir?”  I knew that with this one question would yield several answers. I also vaguely realized that I was setting myself up for a much longer conversation that I had wanted to get into….

But what the haystack. I was on a bus, in Chile. “It wouldn’t kill you to meet someone new, would it Chelsea? Your work isn’t urgent. You’ll survive,” I thought as I resigned myself to the conversation.

“Electrical work,” he responded, “I work 7 days on in Santiago, then I have 7 days off at home. All of my children have moved out except for one…”

I nodded. He continued, ”It’s difficult to have this work schedule, but God is good and we’ve made it through.” He then added, “Communication is so important when you have a job like this, but I sure miss my family sometimes.”

I thought to myself, “Oh boy… Where to go from there?” Was he was hoping for some reassurance or just an ear that would listen? I thought about the “stranger phenomenon” that occurs when one travels – one ends up either sharing or listening to another’s entire life story, only to never see the other person again. Hmmm….What to do?…

I decided to ask him more about his family and prepared for a “listening adventure.”

I’m a member :)

He told me about his wife and his sons who are engineers.  He made passing references to struggles he and his wife had gone through. He described his mother-in-law, with whom he had been very close. Then, he hit me with conversational surprise number 1:

“Even though I’m an electrician, my dream is to open a home for the elderly – a place where they can do more than watch TV or sit in their wheelchairs looking at the wall.”

Interesting. We talked a little more about that. Shortly thereafter, my seat buddy (I still didn’t know his name) hit me with conversational surprise #2:

“I’m actually afraid of retirement and growing old.”

Knowing that this might be a door to sharing the Gospel, I purposefully took my next question one step further: “Are you afraid… of death?”

He responded quite openly (Chileans constantly surprise me with their openness): “Sometimes I am, and other times, no. When everything is going well, I’d obviously rather stay here. That’s when I fear death.”

I nodded and thought, “This might just go somewhere.”  He, like many Chileans, believed in (a) God and trusted in Him for his well-being, but beyond that, his Biblical knowledge was extremely murky. It seemed like the Spirit was providing a clear opportunity.

Continued here, in the next post.

 

Not your typical bus ride (part 1/4)

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Hello readers!

A few days ago, I wrote about my personal obstacles (and excuses) that I’ve faced as a Christian who definitely wants to share God’s awesome news with others. I’ve been realizing that I’ve been so dependent on myself (you know, my winsome personality, my quick wit, my vast knowledge) that I had completely forgotten that God works faith through His Word. Whether or not someone comes to faith does not depend on me and my awesomeness (or painful lack thereof!), but on the Holy Spirit working through the Bible.

The following is a description of how God used me quite despite myself, I must confess. In fact, one might say I was feeling reluctant (very Jonah-esque) before KAPLOW! God presented His own idea. My hope is that, by sharing some of my experiences, you – as a Christian – might also be encouraged to share or continue sharing Christ’s love!

So. Here goes:

One part of my job as an EFL teacher and missionary’s assistant is to trek up to Santiago about once a month to buy supplies for class or to attend meetings with missionaries Tim and Oto. This means a 4-hour bus ride from my adoptive town of Linares (pop. 75,000) to my adoptive capital of Santiago (pop. 7 million).

Adoptive Home to Adoptive Capital

This is usually a great time to read, sleep, or – more commonly –  converse with one’s seat buddy. (What can I say? My Chilean seat buddies have loved to share about their families and culture, and I love to listen! And of course, they’re pretty curious about me as a foreigner!)

Lately, I had been thinking that the bus ride might just be a great opportunity to share the Gospel with someone. Many Chileans are somewhat spiritual, having grown up in a predominately Catholic country, and any given conversation almost always includes the phrases “God-willing” or a “God is good.” Though they believe the Bible is God’s book, many have never heard the actual and true Gospel message. Perfect set-up, right?

That Wednesday, however, I was exhausted from walking the hot, smoggy, sky-scraper-lined streets of Santiago. I was pumped for a relaxing 4-hour ride “home” in plush faux-leather seats on the double-decker coach bus.

Riding in style

I was feeling very reluctant to talk with anyone, much less share the Gospel. I literally remember thinking, “Maybe next time, God.”

I wasn’t feeling anti-social or angry at humanity (ok, I don’t think I’ve ever felt angry at humanity), but I did ask the ticket salesman for a separate seat with no “seat buddy.” My backpack was loaded with new English materials and a couple of magazines, and I thought I might try and get some work done during the trip. The salesman looked at me with a question mark on his face. I explained why, and he gave me seat #11, on the sunny side right behind the front-tire space. “No one usually sits there,” he assured me.

I climbed onto the bus, set down my bags, buckled up, and pulled out a Reader’s Digest (2009) to peruse some articles (American humor!) and see if I just might find anything worth copying to use in my next English course (which starts Monday, by the way! Prayers appreciated).

Not 5 minutes later, after I had already made a mental list of all the GREAT things I might accomplish while sitting alone for 4 hours, a gentleman headed to my row and showed me his ticket.

Seat #10.
Next to me.
Sigh… With a full bus, I wasn’t going to get my wish for a solo ride after all.

I smiled at the gentleman and continued with my RD. I purposefully didn’t introduce myself, and neither did he. I was slightly relieved, thinking I had just avoided a long conversation in favor of reading and getting stuff done. Meanwhile, he took a seat, buckled in and soon fell asleep.

Fast forward 1 hour. My seat buddy woke up, pulled out 2 Danish rolls, and offered me one. (Chileans have shared food with me every time I’ve been on a bus. I’m thinking I need to pack my mochila with chocolate-chip cookies – which are almost nonexistent here – next time so that I can reciprocate.)

How could I resist?

Anyway, I politely accepted, and then (dun dun dun) he asked me where I was from. I thought of two things. One – that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get much else done for the remainder of the journey, and two – that this should be the start of an interesting conversation.

(Part 2 can be found in the next post.)

Obstacles and worries about sharing the Gospel

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written! Not a day has passed when I didn’t think, “I need to update my blog!”  So…with apologies to my readers for the lack in communication, here is my latest:

In these last 3 months, I have had the opportunity to witness several times over just exactly how people react when they realize (by the work of the Spirit) what the Gospel means for them. I am excited to share more details about those experiences, but first, I want to write about something else:

  1.  How hard it has been for me to share that Gospel with others
  2.  What I have learned about sharing Christ while in the mission field

The first statement may surprise you, but I hope it doesn’t. Actually, if you’re anything like me, maybe you’ve had similar thoughts. Mine tend to go like this:

“How exactly do I share the Gospel? How do I even open that conversation? How do I avoid being awkward or annoying? Which passages should I use? What if I explain it wrong? Or what if the conversation goes into uncharted territory and I don’t know how to respond or bring it back into focus?” 

I understood my Christian faith. I grew up with Christian parents, Lutheran education from ages 5 to 22, youth group, personal Bible study, and great Christian pastors and teachers. I had the desire to share it (1 Timothy 2:3-7).So why, when clearly given a golden opportunity to talk about Christ, would I choke?

My personal reasons:

1. I didn’t want to become “that Christian girl/guy” (translation: “Bible-thumper”, “fundamentalist Christian,” close-minded, argumentative, dense, or annoying).  I was afraid that, once I jumped in with my “Christian talk”, my friend or acquaintance would be turned off. After all, aren’t we supposed to avoid “religion and politics” in polite conversation? 

2. I hesitated because I didn’t want to misconstrue my faith or explain something incorrectly. In other words, I was afraid that I’d get tongue-tied, wouldn’t have all the answers, wouldn’t remember the proper Bible references, or worse…that I would say something wrong, misrepresent the Bible’s message, and lead them to believe or understand Christianity in the wrong way.

3.  I didn’t know how to bring up the Gospel in a conversation, and I wasn’t sure of which things were important to say and when to say them. I had never seen anyone else “in action” sharing the Gospel with someone who truly didn’t know or believe the Bible. When I had come close to talking about the Christian faith in the past, the conversation would get hung up on something technical like evolution, religious tolerance, dating “styles”, or the mingling of politics with religion.

4. I.     I make it complicated.  I’m an aspiring teacher and a recent college graduate with a degree in sociology (a super secular science). I wanted to share my faith with educated, convincing words and logic, thought-provoking analogies, references to pop-culture that everyday people could relate to, teaching strategies to break down more complex Biblical ideas. I wanted to do it in a funny, light-hearted, yet deep and gripping way. Yup…I guess I thought that I, Chelsea had a lot to do with whether or not my friend would come to have faith or not.

I was depending on and looking at myself to be a great Gospel giver.  But God just says this:

 “Faith comes through hearing the message,
and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”

Could it really be as simple as letting the key passages (John 3:16, Romans 10:17, Gen. 3:15, Eph. 2:8-9) speak for themselves?

Really? (… How has that duck figured it out easier than I have?  ;)

Last night, I was talking to my dad while preparing to write this post. After listening to me explain these thoughts and experiences with the Gospel, he reflected: “You can’t outsmart or out-think God. In reality, the Holy Spirit will work through you and talk through you anyway. He will use exactly who you are in that moment.”

I hope to write about some of the experiences Pastor Oto and I have had while sharing the Gospel message in Chile. It knocks my digital socks off, and I hope it will knock yours off, too. More importantly, though, I hope that these stories and thoughts will encourage you to continue sharing the Gospel (if God has already used your gifts to do so) or to take the plunge and share it for the first time (because it’s eternally worth it!).

In the meantime, I invite you to comment: Am I the only one with these misgivings and mental blocks? Have you had similar thoughts or doubts in regard to sharing your faith? What passages give you confidence and strength as you prepare to give the reason for the “hope that you have?”

Obama Baby Bieber! Teaching pronunciation

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Ohhh the accent – a rare, elusive creature that requires much persistence, focus, and disciplined eyes, ears, and…lips…to capture and domesticate.  And even when you think you’ve got  in the bag, it still may escape you the moment you let your guard down.

In order to help my students sound as impressively natural as possible, I’ve been doing a bit of (ok, a lot-a-bit-of) research on this creature in my spare time. First, I familiarized myself with the most common pronunciation differences and errors I and my students daily encounter. Are you aware of the intricacies of your accent? (Yes, even you Midwesterners – and I’m not talking about the Minnesotan “O”). Probably not as much as you thought.

1) This video from Gareth Jameson, a voice coach, helped me become more aware of my own accent. Before watching this video, I had never exactly analyzed the differences. In all of my teacher nerdiness, I find this to be extremely amusing.
(PS: If you’re an ESL teacher, it’s important to be familiar with other English-speakers’ accents. Check out Gareth Jameson’s videos on the British and Australian accents.)

2) The “classic” website About.com gave me some simple and clear explanations regarding the subtle, deceptive, yet all-important consonant sounds. The site includes audio files! Get excited!  http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishpronunciation/Learn_Spanish_Pronunciation.htm 

3)  Immersing myself in extreme and very inspiring ESL-teacher-nerdiness, I “casually browsed” this list which uses the International Phonetic Alphabet to explain the 26 most common errors that Spanish-speakers make while speaking English. Woo! Hoo! http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1spanish.html

4) Finally, I completed my research with this well-rounded website which explains  why my students probably make the mistakes that they do in English pronunciation, grammar, and spelling.http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/spanish.htm

After this enlightening research, I realized the following:

Spanish-speakers have 5 vowel sounds in their native language. Do you know how many vowel sounds English uses? We take those same 5 vowels and make them into twelve sounds. Twelve! Oh, how I empathize with my students when they struggle with the difference between “ten” “teen” and “tin.”  (Now think about how that same principle might apply to words like ship and beach. Needless to say, my students are working really hard to get that short “i” sound down.)

I also found out that our consonants are only subtly, oh-so-deceptively different. For example, the Spanish “b” “t” and “p” is not exactly the same as the more explosive English consonants.  It’s these tiny differences in every pronunciation which produces a foreign or native “accent.” It’s what makes me still sound like a gringa when I speak Spanish and what makes my students sound…well, Hispanic… when they speak English.

To tame that accent, I have engaged my students in some very very refined, ancient, serious techniques to train the tongue and the teeth. I now invite you to step into my classroom to envision this intensive training:

1) Air and paper. I learned this art form from a friend who had taken a Spanish phonetics course in Spain. In class, I teach “P” and “T” by pinching a half-sheet of paper at the top and holding it in front of my mouth. I get my students’ attention, and then I speak the two important words: “Patata” (Spanish) and “potato.” When performed correctly, the sheet should not move for patata, but it SHOULD move for potato, due to our EXPLOSIVE “p” sound. (I know you want to try this.)

2) Chant: This is inspired by the fabulous Harriet Ball, a teacher who used rhythm to teach tons of concepts in her Texas classroom. To get the general idea, please watch Harriet being awesome:

I love this! I make the chant simple (B…B-B. B…B-B.) or complex (“Apostrophe S/It shows posession/ but other times, it’s a subject and a verb) depending on the class level.  The class favorite has been the following: “Obama, Baby, Bieber.” We invent nonsensical “mixes” of these words: “Obama-bama-bama. Oh-baby-baby-baby ohhhhh! ….Justin Bieber.”  We then throw in some “doo be doo be doos,” and of course, I take up the posture of a rap artist or jazz singer and get my students into it.  The first time I tried this, my students left class still rapping about Obama, babies, and Bieber. One student even came back the next day saying that she dreamed about “Obama Baby Bieber” that night.

On a personal note, there’s obviously so much more to tell. In short, I have almost entirely recovered from my initial culture shock (which, looking back, had hit me probably stronger than I had originally realized). My daily life consists of teaching 2 to 4 classes a day with adults. God definitely provided in terms of students: My original goal was 24 students, and I ended up with 21 total who attend class. (I have about 4 or 5 “in the wings” — they found out about class after we had already started the course. Once this trimester is done, they should be able to enroll in the next course!)

I’m currently working on planning a Christmas vacation trip to Santiago to visit fellow English teacher friends and church members there, and then a few of us are hoping to spend New Year’s in the beautifully eccentric port-town of Valparaiso. It should be….crazy.

The knowledge that you are praying for our work here is definitely encouraging and strengthening. Thank you so much for your support! Here a few requests from Chile as we head into Christmas and the New Year.

1) Pastor Oto (Linares), Pastor Tim (Santiago), and I are meeting on January 2 to discuss and collaborate regarding work and growth in Chile. Please pray for these two men as they design and revise their plans and goals for the spread of the Gospel and the maturity of the Church in 2012.

2) It’s my first Christmas away from home. I’m exchanging roasted turkey, Christmas lights, and snow for barbecued meat, fireworks, and clear hot days. I’m relishing the novelty of it all, but I’m missing my family, my friends, and my church in the United States.

3) The Lord has provided some beautiful opportunities to share the Gospel with people who are hurting and people who are searching. I wish you could see the relief on their faces when they hear the truth of the Gospel as we read those key verses together in the Bible. Pray that the Spirit continues to increase the faith in these people’s hearts, and that He provides other opportunities to reach the rest of my students!