Greetings!!
OH dear I am allowing myself to get behind in my Blogging! Hopefully when things get into more of a rhythm Ill be more prompt , until then...I appreciate the understand! :)

Man, what a first week it was!! I feel the presence of the Lord so strongly and I am so aware daily of His obvious hand that has not only guided me here, but continues to guide me in my daily affairs here. Here are a few ways this past week He had a direct hand in my life....

Upon arriving I had a "name recommendation" for someone who a pastor at Colonial had told me about, it was a single lady missionary who was wanting to meet me. However, for those of you who know me...by the time I had gotten here I had completely forgotten where I had put that "recommendation slip". Well on Monday of last week a lady came to the campus named Sharon who had a car ( which is a wonderful rarity here as the price of a car as well as gas in the city far outweighs the pros to just riding bus or metro) and she offered to take a fellow missionary teacher Suzan( who is in her 40s) out riding to see the good restaurants, the soccer ( futbol arena) and to pick up a few items. Well we really hit it off instantly. Maybe it was her quircky, upfront personality, and her endless stories she readily shared, but I knew ...we were going to be friends. Well, what I didn't know was God had already determined her to be a friend, before time began, I was ever born, and before I came to Chile. We laugh now that it turned out to be.....days later when we were out getting ice cream that it was in fact her name...that was on the "lost recommendation slip" . :)

Another neat thing. I met 2 more Chilean friends! Camila who is my teacher aid is 23 and wanting to learn English, and Carolina who is 28 Chilean and attended the church service I "randomly" chose to go to...and don't think ill return. Its so obvious the Lord's Hand was guiding our lives to meet because of the seemingly coincidental circumstances...but I know as a believer...nothing is ever coincidence :) Camila and I laugh when we can't speak to each other...and try to speak words at other times and sometimes have breakthroughs and understand what is being said, but either way, we have a bond that was undeniable...from the first day we met ( which was an entire day of cleaning out the Pre K Room which was a hot, long, and dusty afternoon. But the end result was an adorable,and clean, bright and cheery room! :) )

I got my money in the bank finally...and was able to go buy groceries!!

The Lord uses the mountains here to speak to me in a way that I almost can see His hand even more clearly in my life, when I see those snow capped, grey and blue horizon from my window, or from my favorite place to spend i the Lord. The other night, I shared in the blog before here how the Lord spoke to my heart...and it was an encounter that I am thankful to of had, in the midst of transitioning ( though its been so easy thus far?! :)) yet it has had its moments. he just reminded me that He is in control of every animal roaming those Andes ...and guess what...HE in in control of my LIFE too if I allow him to be!! What a relief! :)

I mentioned Susan before, but not heather. She is yet another missionary lady who is living in the apartments here with her family, and who comes in my apartment daily to just...talk . :) We just sit on the comfy couches, with our waters in our hands, and just talk. She has said that she feels its a gift to come over and be able to just talk to another younger female, and she usually makes her kids go out and play when they try to come in and says, " No, go play, this is mommy time!" I believe the Lord knew I wanted a good talker to just talk to...and that she desired the same thing. He is so amazing.

I went and saw the sunrise one morning and it was beautiful. We drove up into the mountain to a lookout spot that was much to my surprise, full of stray puppies and wild cows. Haha this might sound funny but, it blessed my entire day holding those little puppies...and seeing the cows. Maybe its because I miss seeing the cows everyday in my backyard and it reminded me of home, it was just an added highlight of that early morning drive to take pictures. Funny thing was, I missed taking pictures of the sunrise...because I was holding the puppies!

Ok, there are other things I could share, but maybe ill share them on my next blog since this is rather long, but all in all this first week here has many journal entries that point to...the Lord's HAND being on my time here in Chile.