Northbound

My last weeks in La Junta really did fly by! There were a lot of cold days, one day we couldn't even get to Lago Verde because the road was frozen over and the car kept losing traction and sliding around...pretty traumatic! A brother from the group who had lived there the longest, nicknamed Pato, had to move back to Coyhaique so it was hard for everyone to see him go. One of my last days we got to got to some hot springs in an area called El Amarillo about 2 hours away...celebrities like Leonardo DeCaprio and Julia Roberts have been known to visit the area...really beautiful!
Going back to visit Stephanie and Juan in Coyhaique was such a treat! Made me feel like I got a taste of home to get to be around family again. It snowed a couple of the days I was there...really pretty but cold. And it was nice to get to see the friends there again too.
Now I'm in Futrono where Janel and Joel live. It has been so encouraging to get to go in service with them and see all the interest they've found. It is a beautiful area and the congregation is really encouraging and there are all kinds of studies that come to the meetings. This last weekend for the second time ever they held the Sunday meeting at a town in their territory where there are a lot of studies. There were 41 in attendance, with only about 18 of those being baptized friends from the congregation who had come to support it.
Well that's a little update for now :)

La Junta

 My time in La Junta has been going by so fast! It is such an encouraging group! The preaching in this area is still so new...only in the last 3-4 years has there been a group here. The territory is really spread out and includes 4 separate towns, including the town of La Junta. 
To give you an idea of the typical schedule of the special pioneer couple here, they drive over 2 hours away every Saturday to an island called Marin and even have to take a little ferry to get there. Mondays they drive 2 hours away to a town called Lago Verde where there are many great studies. Wednesdays are the big meeting in La Junta. Thursday they drive 1 hour away to Puyuhuapi where one sister lives and they hold a condensed version of the same big meeting. Since not everyone can fit in their car, different ones from the group are assigned to go to specific towns with them. Yaici and I get to go with them each week to Lago Verde and Puyuhuapi. Puyuhaupi is filled with German influence since a group of Germans immigrated there to set up factories many years ago.
The group includes a precious newlywed couple. They were only married a couple of months ago and decided to forego a honeymoon to be able to return right back here to his MTS assignment as soon as possible. They are so illicitly happy :)
Also I should mention it has been pretty freezing here...the forcast for tonight in La Junta is 5* Fahrenheit! But nothing that several layers of clothes can't fix. 
I can't tell you how up building my time here has been. I feel like I'm learning so much from the friends and their great examples. Only a couple of more weeks left here and then I head up north....will be sad to leave!

Not Pepe Le Pew...Futaleufu :)

  So, to start off I should mention that things have been even more busy now ever since I got a new job. At the end of last month I was hired for a company that teaches English online to people who speak Spanish. It's an ideal job since I can do it from anywhere and my classes are in the evenings so my days are free for service and I don't miss any meetings...but even so I've been adjusting to the new much fuller schedule.

This last month we got to spend some quality time getting to know the friends in Coyhaique better. A special treat was celebrating Steph and Juan's one year anniversary...how time flies! After that we got to go up to where there's the most need in this circuit, a town called Futaleufu. If I remember right there are only 7 publishers there and the territory is vast. So we enjoyed getting to meet the friends and go in the ministry. The scenery in the area is amazing...so beautiful it doesn't seem real! And since it's so close to Argentina I got to cross the border to get my visa extended...yay!
Now I am in a small town called La Junta, about 5 hours north of Coyhaique. There are only 8 publishers here, one of which is a sister who lives an hour away. She comes every Sunday to the meeting and a group of us go to her town every Thursday to go out in service and then have a condensed version of the big meeting that they have here on Wednesday nights. The sister I'm living with is a sweetheart. She came in the truth on her own and serves here as a pioneer...so hospitable! She reminds me of Andrea from Mexico that I got to live with in the past, so I felt really comfortable with her right away.
So those are just a few of the highlights from down here. Hope you're all taking care of yourselves!

Special Treats

It's been another month full of activity! We received such a warm welcome in Vina. It was nice catching up with the friends there and getting our fill of English. We got to rest up too, going to the beach and relaxing a lot.
From there we headed back south to Coyhaique just in time for the special campaign for the memorial. We got to go to their pioneer meeting with the circuit and their 2-day assembly which were very encouraging. The protests got a little worse and then the government stepped in and started negotiations, so things have basically returned back to normal here. Corinne headed home right at the end of the month...was so nice having her here!
Vane and I had an extra special treat this last week. We got invited to travel south with some of the friends from Cochrane who had come up for the assembly. There were 2 history-making meetings we got to attend: the 1st memorial to be held in Tortel and the 1st public meeting to be held in Villa O' Higgins. At the memorial we went to 4 from the local territory came. One of them is a woman who basically already considers herself a witness...for years a friend of hers who receives the mags would send them to her and she would pray that the Witnesses would arrive to Tortel soon. At the special talk there were 10 who came from the local territory. We went with a group of special and regular pioneers who encouraged us to always trust in Jehovah to help take care of our needs and talked about the blessings they've seen as a result of serving where the need is great.
Now we are back in Coyhaique with Steph and Juan which is nice. Hope all is well for all of you!