Home from Chile: Summary

Our last day had us do a last look at Shadrach's house, and his beaming smile said it all, he was soon moving in! He has certainly stolen the hearts of the team and some of the others stayed around to paint out his place and raised some extra money for finishing touches.

We had a stroll through central Santiago and I enjoyed gesturing with the Brazil boys as I speak no Portuguese and they speak a little English. Arno, Alverez and Gustavo are the first Brazil CS team to come with the intention of assisting another CS contact. I hope more of this is stimulated by their great example. Our comic drivers Jose and Pato dropped us off and the airport and expressed a deep appreciation of the team and thanked us for the privilege of being part of our trip.

Taylor has extended his ticket two more weeks and we purchased a ticket to Argentina for him in a weeks time. He is growing up a lot and become more confident speaking whatever Spanish phrases he knows, usually without context? He is hilarious and well liked and very easy going. It will be interesting to see how he copes riding the bus to the airport and then the 4 days he and two friends have alone in Buenos Aires.

We flew home without incident to Australia, so glad to land back in our beautiful country. And I was greeted by a beautiful wife! Gill, as always, has carried things at home, and certainly noticed the difference with just her and India there. She only washed once a week, the kitchen stays tidy and says she saves $250/week in food!

Reflecting back on the trip it exceeded expectations:

• Projects: We built a house, a beauty salon, a workshop and setup and laid half the strip footing for the new gymnasium. We ran a surf contest and did a road trip that involved another 10 Chileans. The Pura Vida community centre is such a hub for Christian outreach into this town and our contribution will build into the long term mission to Pichilemu. Mitch said he could not believe how much we acheived in such a short time.
• Team: We had such a mixed team, with 24 of us from mixed spiritual background, cultures, ages, sex and experience. Yet the unity and harmony was quite effortless. Quite a relief and a testimony of God's grace and how life can work when we are not focussed on ourselves.
• Finances: We came in below budget for our team expenses which gave us money to spare for support of the key staff and helpers. All very much appreciated.
• Thanks for all who contributed to our funding and prayed and encouraged. Special thanks to Austi Anglican church hosting a live Skype video link up and all their support.