Rancagua Reflections.

It’s February 14th, 2:00PM and I’m on the Bus headed back to Pichilemu from Rancagua. It’s been quite an adventure but I’m happy to be headed back. I had a lot of uncertainty before leaving for this 10 day mission but now that I have this experience under my belt I’m less nervous about going on the 3 month outreach. I’ve learned a lot from this and it’s certainly a unique way of seeing another country. When I went on the cruise to Jamaica, Mexico, and the Cayman Islands I definitely felt like a tourist, did things a tourist would do and paid prices a tourist would pay. When I went exploring Europe on my 5 day breaks while studying at the University of Essex in England I still felt like a tourist but more like a backpacking bum who stayed in humble hostels. Seeing another country as a missionary is a totally different experience and in many ways the best way I’ve ever done it.

You stay in the locals homes, you eat exactly what they eat and are invited to the same spots they like to go to buy breakfast or an ice cream. Over the last 10 days I’ve only spent 30 dollars and four of them were because I felt like I needed to buy someone a shirt. Living on less than 3 dollars a day in a foreign country is quite the way to travel because it means you’re surviving on the charity of the church you’re partnered with. They asked for an offering to feed us the day after we arrived and that paid for our lunches and dinners, and the families supplied our breakfasts. We had a really busy schedule but God was faithful with me the whole time. I felt like every time that I felt myself being annoyed, unmotivated, or hungry I would pray it out sincerely and then God would turn the situation around. It was getting so consistent that I was freaking out a little bit. On Saturday night we were helping with the youth group service and I was annoyed with how blaringly loud the music was and how I still can’t sing along to any of the songs and I was completely unmotivated to worship. I just wanted to leave and wait outside but instead I sat down, closed my eyes, and prayed it out. Afterwards the message was all about how Paul and Silas worshiped God after being imprisoned for casting out a fortune telling demon and that even though the situation wasn’t ideal they had the right attitude and could still worship. The blessing came when (because our interpreter was gone) I found myself being able, for the first time, to follow the message. I was interpreting it to my friend Enrique who speaks some English and he was really impressed with how well I was tracking the broad strokes of the sermon. I think that by keeping the right attitude God’s just continues to bless me with the language.

I kept getting things too. The phone Maties gave me is working and he even filled it with a bunch of Christian music for me in Spanish and English. The number you’d call from the United States to reach me is 56-9-63013202 . I haven’t received a call from outside the country yet but give it a try because I want to see if it works. Also the youth pastor and his wife gave me a digital English to Spanish translator, I got notebook from some of the tween girls from the church that make up my fan club and Sergio even wrote me a poem in Spanish. But the craziest thing that happened on this outreach happened last night, and it’s a big one.

Let me start this story off with this: I’ve never been into the whole super emotional Christianity “experiences”, you won’t ever see me dancing around crying because sometimes I still get uncomfortable just raising my hands while singing worship songs. I’m all about feeling the Holy Spirit but only when it’s really real, for me it HAS to be authentic and unexaggerated. But apparently that attitude didn’t stop me and four other people from our team from delivering out demons last night, true story, and I wish that I would have gotten it on video because it was gnarly. I won’t use this 23 year old kid’s real name, I’m not going to exaggerate any of the details, and this happened last night starting at around 10PM so it’s still fresh in my memory.

Earlier in the evening the church was having a special going-away service for us and we were all praying for the individual members of the leadership. During this time Alma and I prayed for this kid named James who plays the piano on the worship team. After the service we were eating a late dinner and over tea Alma told me that she got a feeling while we were praying for James that he had sexual abuse in his past. Another team member named Jose, who overheard, told us that James had told him that he hears voices. We talked with Fernanda and Philippe (The interpreter and her husband) who are our favorite leaders that we wanted to all pray for him. When we told James that the 5 of us wanted to pray for him he was really open to it. The six of us all sat down and began carefully asking him questions about the voices he’s heard and his past. It didn’t take long for James to start opening up to us (I’m sure that it helped that we had built a relationship with him over the last 9 days) telling us things that he said he’s never told anybody, including the sexual abuse from a cousin was he was much younger.

He kept going on and on about how his parents told him that his birth hadn’t been planned, that they wished they would have gotten an abortion, how no girl has ever been interested in him, how people always call him gay, how he’s always thought that devil is after him. There was no end in sight so Fernanda said that she wanted all of us to have a prayer of deliverance for him, but I felt like I shouldn’t pray for him directly but instead pray for strength and direction for the prayer’s everyone else. I think I felt like I should pray this way because earlier in the week I was invited to pray for a suicidal divorced woman who was on medication for Bi-Polar disorder because of my experience working in the HOPE Services group home and my school knowledge on the subject. However, although this woman I prayed for accepted Christ, I felt like I was trying to deliver her for my own faith building and less because I cared for her . I felt like God’s been stressing humbleness with me and I didn’t want to be able to say “ I delivered James from his demons.”

The mood of the circle was heavy, James had gotten really real with us and we were all aware of the spiritual warfare that our team had been witnessing in Rancagua (two of our team members had to be rushed out of a house that someone was practicing witchcraft in because they couldn’t breath and were turning blue). We had just finished telling James how when we bring secrets into the light that the devil loses power in our lives. Then he told us that he was sweating and that his hands were tingling so we all grabbed our Bibles and started praying for him. He was sitting in a chair and I was sitting across from him in another chair and I felt like I needed to hold his hands. The other four team members were all standing around him laying hands on him praying and besides the impulse to grab his hands I didn’t think I was hearing anything from the Holy Spirit. This went on for a little while and I remember being grateful that my four other team members were showing no signs of wanting to stop.

Okay here’s where it gets good, I start getting this tingling in both my hands, begin sweating, and tears start falling from my eyes. I’d been speaking in tongues softly but as soon as my hands start tingling I begin to raise my voice, but it wasn’t just me who raised my voice, all five of us did at the same time. James is starting to jerk around in his chair, and I feel like we’re actually fighting against something that doesn’t want to lose, I grip tighter to his hands as he tries to flail his arms. I feel like I have electricity running through body, and without really remembering when I started I realize that I’m yelling my prayer language at the top of my lungs with eyes closed and tears streaming down my face. The wave of intensity passes and James falls from his chair onto the ground where he begins to dry heave until he ends up puking all over the floor of the church. We continue to pray for him until he can sit up, and pray to receive the Holy Spirit. Everyone who was in church has now rushed to where we are (It’s been about 10 minutes since this operation has gotten super loud) and we spend some time praying for all the people who were praying for James, me especially because I feel like I’ve just run on the beach for an hour.

Like I said before, it’s definitely not my style to scream in tongues at the top of my lungs but the Holy Spirit was on me; I have no doubt in my mind that what went down was authentic spiritual warfare and that James was delivered from demonic spirits that were oppressing him. Treking back to Recardo’s house (where we were sleeping) I feel exhausted, it’s pretty late now and we were rushed out of the church before I had time to sit down for the cup of tea I desperately wanted to sooth my sore throat from all the interceding I’d done. I remember praying on the walk “God I want tea, and a snack”. It’s almost midnight and I’m wide awake because trust me you’d have an adrenaline rush too. When we finally open the door to Recardo’s we find that they’ve waited up for us and there tea for everyone, and not only tea but these amazing homemade gram crackers layered together with honey.

I feel like in here is the moral of my Rancagua outreach. God showed me that even when things get difficult if I’m obedient to Him then I’ll be blessed and I’ll be used. I feel like God used all the presents I received (on pretty much a daily basis) as “bread crumbs” to let me know that I was on the right path. He wanted to show me that he’ll supply me with everything I need when I put Him first and that he’ll even go above and beyond my expectations (Touch screen cell phone, with a newly charged SIM card and built-in 2 gig mp3 player). I feel proud of myself, because I know that all the effort I’ve been putting into this DTS is paying off. As I obey the Lord He directs my path, provides for me, and uses me to do bad-ass faith building things.

James 5:10-11

“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

Here’s a few more pictures from my last days in Rancagua:

Recardo and his family. I can’t forget to pray for blessings for this family, they were incredibly generous with us!

Recardo wouldn’t stop talking about how shinny I was and kept trying to fatten me up, this attempt involved an enormous platter of fried potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, and four different kinds of meat. At 11:30 at night.

Chilean weather channel

This was taken after we did an evangelism in an especially bad/dangerous neighborhood. The pastors of this church were extremely impressed with how it went and I agreed it was the best one of the outreach. On the top row, not the guy to the left of me but one more over in the blue & white stripes (looking admittingly a bit demonic without pupils) is “James” who we’d later have the deliverance for.

The youth pastor and I after he gave me the English/Spanish translator.

I went shopping in downtown Rancagua with the cooking crew for a big final lunch, and we bought meat!

I also played a part in the tamale preparation

Our big going away worship celebration.

A collection of everything that was given to me over the course of the outreach.

All week every time any of these girls saw me they needed to get one of their friends to take a picture of themselves with me, either that or they’d just run up to me and tell me to pose for a picture and then run away after they took it. So on the last night I told them that I want a picture with ALL of them, they were only so happy to oblige. It was later communicated to me that I was so popular with them because they all thought I looked like Justin Biber (which isn’t the first time this connection been made since I’ve come to Latin America, apparently if you’re white and have hair that covers your forehead you’re Justin Biber).