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Finding community in Chile
By Chansin Bird
Caidon George knew the
people in her church loved her.
At 18 years old, she’d grown
up surrounded with the support of the
members of Lakeside Baptist Church
in Texas. Even without her asking, they
helped her find the money to go on a
mission trip to South America. What
Caidon didn’t know was that she’d find
a community of love and acceptance in
Chile as well.
“It was such an open and loving
culture. I’d like to go back.”
She was the youngest of 150 missionaries
from all over the world who
met in Chile to serve for two weeks. The
only person she knew on the trip was
her pastor. All the missionaries were
divided amongst 30 local churches.
From house visits to conducting a mini-
Vacation Bible School to visiting a prison,
Caidon’s job was to socialize and get
involved with the youth and children’s
activities. The missionaries’ goal was to
encourage the small group of Christians
there and share Jesus with the church’s
neighborhood.
Though she was scared on the plane
ride and didn’t know what to expect,
it didn’t take long for her to fit right in
with the Chileans.
“The pastor of the [local] church was
intimidating to me at first,” Caidon said.
“He seemed strict. But by the fourth
day we were already joking around. He
had a daughter my age, and they would
invite me to hang out. They called me
their hija—that’s ‘daughter’ in Spanish. It
© istockphoto / jan rihak
was one big family for me. In a random
city in a random country—to be connected
in that way was really touching.”
They not only welcomed Caidon in
their group, but the small church of
about 100 people had its own special
relationship.
“In that one church, everyone took
care of everyone. I would walk with
Carlos, the 17-year-old translator, and
we would go to someone’s home from
the church. He didn’t know the person
well, but they opened their homes to
each other because they had a bond
between church members.”
Caidon liked the Chilean’s focus on
family time. At 4 p.m., no matter what
the person was doing, everyone would
go home for once time. They drink tea
or coffee, have a snack, and visit with
their family.
“I’d be at a different house every day
during that time. It was neat to be a part
of each family. We’d stop and relax and
ask how their day was.”
The Chileans were also open to
accepting tracts.
“We all had tracts that had our personal
testimony translated on them.
Throughout the day we’d pass them
out. Here in America if you pass out
tracts, people ignore you or grab it and
throw it away. In Chile, I was afraid I’d be
rejected a lot.”
But she wasn’t. The passersby would
come up to her and ask what she was
passing out. They often immediately sat
on a bench and read the tract.
“Even if they weren’t interested or
if they were from a different religion,
they’d still stop and listen to whatever
you had to say.”
At the end of the week, the church
threw a farewell party for the missionaries.
After the barbecue, Caidon’s new
friends stayed up until 5 a.m. dancing,
goofing off, and enjoying each other’s
company. Even the pastor came over
late in the night.
“Coming back, I was in tears. It was
the hardest good-bye I ever had to do,
and I was just there two weeks.” ec
Week of July 26
photos this section: © istockphoto / shelly perry, jason stitt, ron hohenhaus.
Mystery
Personal Space
Movie thrillers, murder mystery novels, and crime shows have
made the word mystery commonplace.
To us, a mystery is simply something to be figured out—unraveled, taken
apart, and wholly understood. But the word means so much more than that. At
its very essence, the word mystery describes something that isn’t just difficult
to figure out, but may be entirely impossible for us to wrap our brains around.
A true mystery is difficult to explain, puzzling, and sometimes beyond human
understanding.
There’s a quality of mystery when it comes to God. You can absolutely know
Him and live in relationship with Him because of Jesus. You can take on His
characteristics and become more like Him. You can walk in daily counsel with
the Holy Spirit and seek guidance from Scripture. You can know God, but
knowing Him doesn’t mean you understand every last thing about Him or
His ways.
Some of that mystery has to do with the concept of the Trinity, God in three
Persons. No explanation or comparison we come up with actually does the
Trinity justice or encompasses the concept in its entirety. God isn’t entirely
comprehensible. We can’t understand Him completely or explain all His ways
through human reasoning. But we can live in relationship with Him—God
the Father who loves us without measure, Jesus the Son who has first-hand
knowledge of our sorrows and joys and gave Himself up for us, and the Holy
Spirit who guides and counsels. He is God in three Persons.
And that’s a true mystery of mercy and grace in every sense of the word.
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