Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Greetings from Los Alamos Chile,

Most of our team met at the Berkshire Hills church at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. We received our last minute instructions from Bob Young and given and a very interesting devotion with a visual aid of a plumb line. In the book of Amos the Lord instructs us with the use of plumb line to keep a standard. We today need to always remember that as Christians we are the standard by which others will build upon. Our lives and standards need to be kept straight.

We then had a delicious meal of soup and sandwiches made by Bea Sheppard with help from Louise Gai. The bus to take us to New York City’s J.F. K. airport was a few minutes ahead of schedule and we all loaded in ready to meet the blessings and trials that we knew were sure to come. Once again Steve Sobon and his friend drove the rented u-haul filled with our many totes on to N.Y.C.

J.F.K. airport is like no other. It is not only huge but it is the perfect place to meet and observe people from all over the world coming and going.

Peter and Paul Miller had been given the job to oversee the care and loading of all the totes and their precious supplies. With out those supplies our efforts would never be up to the standard that Berkshire Mission is noted for. But even with the best and most carefully laid plans things can change in an instant. We were carrying 8 extra totes than what we were allowed. When Eric had come down with the early team he had one extra bag and they made him pay $150. More to take it. We were really in an emotional sweat when the airline workers told us that they had no confirmation that we were promised to board with extra baggage. That would have added $1,200 more to our cost. Not something we were happy to hear. We found, I am sure not by accident, one airline employee named James to deal with us on this problem and before we were finished he had put our extra totes through with no additional charge. The next hurdle to pass was the 64 vials of insulin complete with dry ice that Dr. Kellerman was carrying and needed to be as a carry on. Well any of you who have flown any where in the last 10 years know that you can’t even bring on more than 3 oz. of shampoo or even a soda that you bought after you were through security. It was nothing less than a miracle that it was let through security and on to the plane. About the same time but in a different section of the country, Joe Perez was asking to board his flight to meet us in Santiago carrying 2,000 hypodermic syringes. Once again an angel must have gone before him as he was allowed to bring them on board. The worst problem we ran into was the fact that all of our vegetarian meals that were ordered and confirmed to be waiting on the flight were in fact not on there at all.

Getting through customs was not the ordeal that we feared it would be. One of the agreements that were made on the pre trip in Sept. were to have the Director of Health of Los Alamos along with her assistant waiting for us with documents and plenty of political clout as we came through customs with our totes. But even with all their clout I am sure that it was the surrounding of angels present that got us through so easy. A 24 hour prayer vigil had been organized and put into place by Bo Suriner of the Berkshire Hills church. They are doing 2 different all day all night vigils for us. One vigil for our entrance into the country and then for the opening night of our evangelism meetings. The term “prayer changes things” is not just an empty saying but in fact a truth.

There are 47 of us from Berkshire Mission plus 6 translators who came to us from Santiago. We also have 3 local women, one of which is Elizabeth, Manuel Bereans wife from Maranatha. We met them while working in Peru and they have since been transferred to Chile so it worked out well for us and them. Betty Taylor and Jan Caster both from our group are helping them with the meal preparation.

The construction team started bright and early today and you can already see progress being made. They are using a new kind of brick which is smaller and red. Not like the usual cinder blocks that have been used in the past. The cement being used is mixed with black sand which Amy B., Anna B., Abigail M. and Christa F.were sifting and putting into buckets for the mortar mix. Christian M., was busy helping screen the sand with a piece of wood. Angela M. and Joe P. were both striking block which left their hands a bit raw from the grit but they were enjoying their job. Today must have been the coolest that any of our team has ever worked in which is not a bad thing at all. It was probably 63 degrees early morning and warming up to possibly 80 degrees in the afternoon. Nights are fairly chilly in Chile but no one is complaining.

There were 77 people seen in our clinics today. There was not as much advertising as we would have liked but that was due to the fact that the local folks just were not sure we would be able to get our medical supplies through. We will go to many houses tomorrow letting them know by word of mouth and also handbills and another radio announcement. The best advertisement will be through the local Mapuche Indian leaders in each community.

Thank you for your faithful prayers. We will not know the entirety of the blessings and the extent of the evil diverted from our paths until we get to Heaven and know all things. We know for certainty now though that the Lord is with us and with all those who long for His soon coming. Blessings of joy and peace to you and may you hear the sweet music that woos you to look closer and closer to the lover of your soul.

Smiles from Chile,

Jennifer L Young

Mission reporter