We are in Coquimbo, Chile

The good news is that we made it out of the airport after 13 hours. We spent the time at a Starbucks right by out our gate. They had the nice arm chairs, but their coffee was dreadful. I have had Starbucks in different countries, and this is the first time it doesn't taste right. Chileans don't drink coffee, but tea. We spent the day drinking coffee and using hte computer. There were also a few fellow passengers doing the same. We made friends with a businessman who had to be at La Serena at four. He did not make his meeting. We were waiting for our luggage when my phone rang. It was our son, David! He did not realize that we were in Chile.

We finally connected with our team in La Serena. The worker here met us at the airport with part of our luggage, and he gave our friend here directions to where the meeting was that evening. It was just a team debrief that night. We got home, took showers, had a great meal of "cazuela," which is a kind of chicken soup, and rushed out to the meeting. That was last Friday evening, May 22nd. Saturday afternoon was busy. The director of the organization and part of the team, including John and I were speaking at one church. As soon as I finished my part, one of the workers here rushed me to another church to speak at a ladies' tea. They really know how to do tea here. They do it English style. It was all very nice. It was organized the same way as we do it at EFCC. I spoke about marriage and husbands. My presentation was very well received. John is dying to know what I said, but I won't tell him! :)

On Sunday, we went with our friends to their church. John spoke in the adult class, and I spoke in the young people's group. I also brought an object lesson before Sunday School. Yesterday we went door-to-door with the cube around the main church that is hosting us, where we had the tea. I ended up walking with three young people. It was really nice seeing the young people share their testimony. Most people saw us coming and shut the doors. They have a lot of JW's here. After that, it was tea at the pastor's home, then to a seminar on finances that one of the members was already presenting at another church. We got home at 11:00 pm. Today we had a meeting at the pastors' association here in Coquimbo. The other team members were at La Serena, the next town. There were about twenty pastors from different denominations. They get together each Tuesday morning to pray, worship and share. Our director spoke for about 15 min. Tonight we are going to a home Bible study where John will share again. Then we are going to the pastor's house because it is our director's birthday. We probably won't get home until midnight. Tomorrow John is going to jail, to share, that is. In the afternoon, I am speaking at a ladies group in one church and will be rushed to another tea to repeat the same talk on marriage.

We are still at the beach. Both La Serena and Coquimbo are beach towns. The beach is only about five blocks from here. There are a lot of fishing vessels at the port. Fish is good here. The only problem is that it is about 55 degrees and cloudy. Our Costa Rican friends are freezing; even though they brought warm clothing. I should post some pictures, but I am not using my computer. This one is pretty old. I'll wait until I can connect with my own computer. Until then, still from the beach...