Flashback to Concepcion

As I sit here in Lima, thoughts of our time in Chile run through my head. Last week Reid and I got the chance to take the train a few hours south to Concepcion. This city is situated on the coast and nestled just into tree-filled hills of southern Chile. If the city itself isn't enough for you, the ride through the hills along the Andes will rock your world. It's comparable to the Northeastern United States and if you didn't know it, you'd think you were in Oregon. The city is made up of about 1-1.5 million people with a centralized downtown and surrounding areas where people live. We stayed in local hotel and spent most of our time scouting out downtown and the University of Concepcion. There seems to be a great need for a revival among young people in this city. I wish I could have seen more of the city, but simply getting to stay there for a couple days and eat some good food will have to suffice.

I wanted to leave you with a few pictures of our time there. Like I said, it's gorgeous. I love that it's city with millions of people, but also that you can so easily get away and be in midst of God's creation.

As far as other things go, we're in Lima and getting adjusted to living here. We're in an area of town called Las Molinas. It seems to a nice little upper-middle class zone with all the comforts of home, such as Starbucks, a movie theatre, a mall, KFC, and Pizza Hutt. There are also some smaller, local establishments that Reid and I like to frequent. This morning, and by morning I mean around noon, we went to a local cafe that had WiFi, got some good coffee and had a sandwich. It's nice to meet locals and have little conversations with them in the taxi's or at the restaurants. I have to admit, it's quite nice to have the Starbucks so close, but it's also kind of a distraction because it's so comfortable and reliable. I really want to get into the local culture and look forward to find ways to do so. I also need to learn Spanish really bad. Being around others who are slightly better at it doesn't help because you can fall back on them so easily for help. I want to learn more, now!

Hopefully today we'll find out a little more that we'll be doing throughout our time here. I have so many questions and hopes. Will we be with a small group? Which of the three cell churches will we be meeting with? Will we get to spend time with the orphanage we heard about? Etc...But keep praying that God guides us through the rest of the summer and that we are used for His purposes in the best ways possible. I'll get back soon with more pictures of Lima. Peace.