A Healthy Dose of Here and There

Meet little Satchel, one of ten pups born to Choco, the Hostetter's lab. If he survives he'll be our new dog as our Delgado never returned...

Who are these good looking people getting ready to eat some steaks in Argentina?? Even missionaries can dine on fine fare in Argentina where my steak tenderloin in raspberry sauce cost six dollars....







The scene that bid us farewell as we boarded our bus to head back to Puerto Montt.....ciao to the land of chocolate and steaks!

Chilean Independence Day!

Better known as "Dieziocho", the eighteenth of September is the independence day in Chile. We got together with our "Grupo de Crecimiento" (growth group) from church to observe and participate in the festivities.

In the states we have fireworks, here they fly kites! Mike, a member of our group and local pro soccer player, got one kite to fly so high that the guys tied on three more strings so it could go yet higher! Here our leader and host for the day, Voni, proudly displays his flag.

After a lunch of grilled foods, beans, and vegetable salad we started the fun...
Mike and Marcella won the couples' race with Ricardo and Eliana coming in a close second. Dustin was disgusted with his wife's performance as she fell down as they were rounding the tree to run back. He initially tried to drag her with him, but her laughing form would not get up. A resounding "YOU WIFE!" only served to further her hysterical immobility. Sarah was heard to comment that "I can't laugh and run at the same time, especially when bound to him." Though no one doubted their affection for one another as they danced together on the lawn to country music of all things. Voni is a fan of country music, making him, in his words, "One out of a million Chileans".

Scenes of Puerto Montt

Down the street in Angelmo where craft vendors, veggie stands, fish markets, and cheese shops vie for space.

The Alerce church; alerce is a protected tree which takes a long time to grow; it's now illegal to cut it, but back in the day it was used liberally for siding on houses and for this unique church.














The view from our dining room; the land to the left is Tenglo Island and the other side is the mainland. I row through this part.


Anyways, hope you have a great day!

Your Devoted,
Sarah

Soccer in the Boat House

To My Most Amiable Readers,

I'm still sore from yesterday, though I'm not sure if it's due to the weight-lifting or the impromptu game of soccer that followed....

I think I watched too much world cup or something.

So we started kicking around a half-flat soccer ball, and there being roughly the same amount of guys as girls, we automatically fell into two teams. Now...the boat house is narrow with racks of boats on either side, and boat parts, and chunks of styrofoam, and random ropes and other hazards all over the place. So we thought it perfect for a game.

There was initially one goal, that being the open door to outside, and one poor guy guarding it. Usually the way a goal was scored would be all of us bull-rushing the keeper until he, the ball, and us erupted through the door in fits of laughter. Though a few times we got clean shots through the goal, and yelling "Goooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaallllllllllll!", we would run, fists shot up in the air through the boat house.

As for me, I rather surprised myself with my aggresiveness (like I said, too much world cup), but it seemed to work because I kept stealing the ball from the guys, and made a few goals too with the warbly music from the stereo nailed to the wall heralding my victory....

Anyways, so much laughter, so much fun; definetely a good workout too. So if I'm sore, at least it was for a good cause. We just got back now from Tenglo Island where we helped with the kid's club. Today I brought art supplies and lead the kids in drawing what they had learned about Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Very fun.

Your Devoted,
Sarah

Three and One

Well this was the month for sugar highs and shaking hands. Why shaking hands? Well, from squeezing frosting onto Edison's and Sophia's birthday cakes....hence also the sugar highs : ).

Edison turned one on the 19th, and Sophia three on the 24th. The parties were super fun; we invited friends over to celebrate with a light meal and then cake and ice cream (Turkey Hill Ice Cream!!!! Still amazes us that we can get a Pennsylvania local brand here). After opening gifts we prayed as a group over the children, thanking God for their lives and asking His blessings over them as they grow. Very sweet...Sophia prayed for Edison : ).

This is us at Sophia's party....if the big pink cake didn't give it away...

Ah...Edison enjoying his first birthday cake with gusto!!!

Away we Row!

Connie, Cote, and I....














Lined up for racing practice.... (I'm the third boat out)
All of us warming up with coffee in the weight room after a grueling run in the freezing rain. So fun fun fun!

Opening My Eyes

To My Most Amiable Readers;

Ever come to the realization that something that you've known and accepted in your head has made a sudden migration to your heart...and lay there, clear and bright in truth....maybe bringing horror, maybe disillusionment, maybe awe, maybe that "click", that "oh! I see now!"?

It used to happen to me in mathematics. I would cry almost every time I did algebra homework in high school; leaned over my homework...pressure and frustration, why don't I GET IT!? It felt like tying shoelaces with mittens on....it should be so simple to tie them...but...AAAAHHH...stupid mittens!! But then it would come, that proverbial lighted bulb over my head, the mittens came off and I could do the task easily...it made sense...I'd smile.

To those who see clearly and discern from afar...who put your mittens on after you tie your shoes, I admire you, I am not you. I discovered today that having my husband and my children in my life is the second-biggest outpouring of wonder and blessing that God has seen fit to shower me with. See, I was more clear about the biggest one...God, His love, His presence, speaking, healing, leading, cheering, rebuking, holding me in His hands...He is my very lifeline.

I'm kind of fiercely independent. I get resentful and sulky if I'm around people for too many hours in the day and can't get away to think, alone. I love interacting with people, I also love not interacting with people for a good chunk of each day. In a way, it makes me ready for them again...so, guess what...motherhood and wifehood, in their heady blessed reality, were too heavy for me some days...too charged with otherness, other people's needs, chatter, schedules, moods, poopy diapers, laundry, expectations.

My writings reflect vague illusions to the wear of it: "I want to be where people aren't, to run down hidden trails..." I keep up a very active imaginative side; I think if I were transported into an eight year-old's body for a week I would make for a very believable character (I love water fights, making sand castles, romping through the woods, doing handstands and somersaults in the pool). So when the "otherness" of my domestic life wore on me, I would give my imaginative side the go-ahead to daydream of cool things that might happen in my life...

And you know; they were always centered around me, for example: I'd imagine getting so good at rowing that I'd become the national champ in Chile, and then the States Olympic people would recruit me to row in Beijing, and amidst all the fanfare I would get to share the gospel in China..and then....well, I could go on. Or try this....I'll write a really profound blog article (hee hee), and someone will notice it, and it'll get put in a magazine where a major publisher will see it and contact me to.....and so on.

I guess that all sounds fairly innocent, but I think it's speaking to me now that deep down, I want more merit, more value...of a calculable sort...like, here's Sarah, she wrote a bestseller, or meet Sarah, she's an artist with a major show coming up. I knew my worth in God's eyes...what I wanted next was worth in the world's eyes. I wasn't content being not fantastic.

So here's where my mittens are coming off; I realized today that, wow, I have a husband who loves me, and whom I love deeply. I can kid around with him; he shares and knows my memories. We have a treasure of inside jokes. We can communicate with subtle facial expressions and know exactly what the other is thinking without saying a word. I trust him; we're promised to one another. There's love, there's security, there's unity.

I have children. Little happy smiles meet me in the morning. Sophia always tells me "Mommy! I wake up! Sophie wake up!", like each morning it surprises her and should surprise me too. Edison smiles with his whole body when I come in the room and shuffles over to me on his little chubby knees...when I lift him up he curls right into me, as though his body has memorized just where to sit on my hip and just where to lay his head on my shoulder. They are hilarious. And when they're sad or sick, it seems like, impossibly, I love even more...as if love given in extra doses will heal what ails them. I even love their stinky morning breath...because it's my baby's stinky morning breath.

So, what I'm saying is, I'm blessed up to my eyeballs and have no business throwing my hopes on daydreams, on possibilities that are somehow going to redeem me from being just Sarah the housewife/missionary/mom. I'm finding out that I want to be me...not who I might be yet, but me, Dustin's wife, Sophia and Edison's mom, God's child....

Your Most Devoted,
Sarah

 

Petrohue y Mas

Lovely, no? Petrohue is one of the places we visited with Dustin's mom and aunt Janet while they visited. We all had such a great time; playing "Crowns", staying in cabins, driving around the biggest lake in S. America, and drinking all the tea in China to stay warm : ). How fun for Sophia and Edison to have all that attention; what a blessing that they could come!
Your Devoted,
Sarah

In Good Random Form

In rowing Friday, my friend Carmen Gloria and I went out in a double together. The sea lions were numerous and curious, approaching closer than either of us had ever seen (and she's been rowing for eight years!).








This shot, from on top of the Tenglo Island property, was taken by Dustin's mom, Marian, who, with her sister Janet, are down here visiting us for ten days. We're having good times; especially Sophia who's reveling in all the attention : ).




Evidently she likes his driving...
Edison got his first haircut on Friday, and is looking rather dapper.

Blessings!

Your Most Devoted Sarah

Of a Morning In Tenglo 1

 

Of A Morning In Isla Tenglo

 

A Tribute to the World's Silliest Dad

To my husband, father of my children...

How fun for our children to have a pops like you! May you always delight in tickle torture, tossing the children up in the air (and hopefully catching them), chasing them till they're overcome with giggles, and spoon fighting (being much more practical at this juncture than swords, though Sophia still delivers a good "rap" on the knuckles now and then!).

You are a great Dad!


Love,
Your Sarah

A Day In Our Life...

To my most amiable readers;
Why such a soggy Dustin?? Well, for some reason, our chimney pipe overheated or imploded or something, and as I sat in our kitchen of an evening, I smelled something "funny". Thinking I had perhaps put the clothes drying rack too close to our woodstove, I went to check, only to see a flickering brightness near our ceiling.
It took a second from seeing the flames jutting out across the ceiling till in my mind's eye the whole house was a fireball...but I did manage to yell for Dustin that our ceiling was apparently on fire. He sent me to go find Mike, our coworker who lives above our apartment, whose windows look out onto our roof. So, grabbing Edison (Sophia being seated safely out of harm's way) I ran outside and into their home, dashing into their living room (with a noticeable lack of decorum), looking to see if our roof was ablaze. Their living room was filling with smoke but I couldn't see any flames. Not finding Mike, I dumped Edison in their eight-year old's arms and dashed to their kitchen to find a pot to dump water with. Spotting an enamel stockpot which was dutifully soaking some utensils and dishes, I fished them out (more of that aforementioned lack of decorum here), and took the pot, potato chunks and all, and flung the dishwater out over the roof, hearing much sizzling and commotion below, as Dustin was in the process of throwing water up at the ceiling in a mad frenzy. The fire was put out, and Mike and Dustin took apart the stove pipe to try to ascertain the cause, but nothing obvious was found. Very scary!

Such adventures we have. They make for good laughs after the fact. Like our hotpot bursting into flames, leaving hot melted plastic and a scorched table in its wake. Or the time Dustin was away in the mountains and the fierce wind wrenched one of our windows open in the middle of the night, making me think someone was in the house, and I the only one to protect us! And of course in rowing, my tales are endless...curious sea lions, huge waves, boat traffic, amorous fishermen!

Not every day is startling or jarring, but the adventures are never few nor far between!
But our greatest adventure has been to trust God in His leading us here; to trust His purposes are at work when we struggle to communicate or relate to the people here. Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we walk out our call here in Chile.

Blessings!
Your Most Devoted,
Sarah

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock..."

To My Most Amiable Readers,

Blessings! To my Christian readers, I have a prayer request. It seems that God has opened a door for Dustin and I to host a Bible study in our home weekly with the youth from the rowing club. We've been making inquiries here and there if there would be interest in that sort of thing, and the response has been a resounding "Yes!". Praise be to God for this opportunity!!
As for preparation; we would like a covering of prayer; that we would have wisdom and ears closely listening to the Father as we speak of Him in word and deed. Also, please pray that I would be able to translate discipleship materials in a way readily understandable and clear to the youth. We are excited that God has opened this door; we're excited that we can rest in Him, that He holds all the plans, we being tools in His hands.
Today we were out on Tenglo Island, participating in the weekly Kid's Bible Club. What a gorgeous day!!! And what sweet children! They learned today of Moses being put in the Nile and taken up by the Pharoah's daughter as they munched down their jam sandwiches and hot chocolate. Their mothers come too and talk around the woodstove, passing the mate (a tea served in a common gourd). Their older brothers also come, mostly for the ping-pong playing and soccer. As we were walking home we saw a brilliant rainbow arching out over the ocean and I had to smile, remembering God's promise, His love. How blessed we are to be His children!!
To my non-Christian readers, so sorry to have ignored you, won't you come and know Him who calls to you? He loves you. He desires your love in return. In Him is life, and love, and joy abundant! But He won't force you; it is His way to let His creation choose, that He might have the joy of being freely loved! Won't you speak with Him? What do you have to lose?

Your Most Devoted,
Sarah

Crawl Your Way to a Skinnier You!

Before crawling...





















After crawling!!!

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Send check or money orders to: Crawl Kit, 911 Tinyheiney Blvd., Funnysarahville, MT, 59404

 

Of Joy Abundant...

To My Most Amiable Readers;

My heart is enjoying His peace. When these sweet times come it's so nice to dwell in their rich, warm embrace; His very Presence reaching down, enfolding us, giving us a foretaste of Heaven. This is what we are here for, to enjoy, and be enjoyed by, God. This is Heavenly consolation.

What brings it; how can one summon it? Why does it leave?

I let the day's events run through my mind and found that nothing extraordinary occured. I did laundry, taught Sophia and read to her, changed Edison's diapers and fed him, checked e-mail, cooked, read in Luke. But, gradually it stole upon me; an infusion of joy. Edison has a fever so I held him until he fell asleep, his hot little head tucked under my chin, listening to his soft snore...my heart full, brimming over, thinking how wonderful a task it is that God gave us to look after our dear children when they are ill; how much of ourselves He gives us to pour out in compassion on our wee ones. These feelings, these thoughts alerted me; God is giving His consolation to me...

I laid Edison down and went to fold a basket of laundry. Our bed was now full of stacks of clean, dry clothes, neatly folded. The Spirit was in me because instead of thinking, "oh boy, now I've got to put all these clothes away..", it was "Wow! Thank you God, look at all the nice, warm clothes you've blessed us with! Lord, how many people must have sat in some factory sewing them up, may You bless each laborer!"

In moments like these we are quite capable of joyfully giving away everything we have to the poor, quite fearless to share what God has done for us with everyone we meet; we are full to the brim with the joy and fellowship of our Lord! Now, why does it go away...

It's a gift, given by Him when, in His perfect judgement, we are in need of it, or perhaps simply when it pleases Him to bless us especially. The in-between times of life can vascillitate between happiness, contentment, frustration; the full array of our human emotions, but the lack of Heavenly consolation is most noted by a presence of spiritual "dryness". Our prayers feel feeble, God seems distant, doubts about His reality hound us. Our perceived "need" in that moment is for God to do some trick; send an angel with a message, something to "prove" He's there.

I've been reading, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis, and in its pages I've found the heart-cheering news that God gives the times of dryness too. In them we grow; in them we find our desperate need of Him, in them we have an opportunity to bless God with our devotion despite our "not feeling like it". An offering that costs.

"Even when You expose me to various temptations and hardships, You order these entirely for my own good, for it is Your way to test Your chosen servants by many trials. During trials of this kind my love and praise is Your due no less than when You fill my soul with heavenly comfort." -Thomas A Kempis

Your Devoted,
Sarah

Clearly Up to No Good

 

Rowing 101

Lock and Load: make sure your oars are locked in tight; if those puppies get loose you're in a world of hurt!!


Let's go! Remember to push first with your legs, blades in, then tummy, lean back, finally pull with arms, cock the wrists, withdraw blades, slide forward, don't flip, repeat....and look out for water traffic, sea lions, and buoys....

When it gets too dark to see, or more importantly, be seen, row on home...


Carry your boat, oars, and seat back to the clubhouse...