When in Chile

… be flexible! (Isn’t that the motto of every missionary?)

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are currently visiting a new church each week. It has become something of a tradition on Saturdays to go through our list of ABWE churches and settle upon one to visit on Sunday morning. Typically, we then call the pastor or someone we know from the church to find out the schedule for Sunday School and morning service.

Well, this Saturday was a busy one from dawn to dusk (I’ll save that story for another post) so we never managed to call the pastor. Based on our previous experiences, we assumed that Sunday School would start at either 10 or 10:30 am and we decided to arrive then at the Iglesia Bautista Misionera de La Florida.

At 10 am, the church was locked up tight. We drove around for about ten minutes and returned to find it looking the same way. We drove around again, this time stropping for some piping hot “marraquetas” (yummy fresh bread) at a corner store and then returned to the church. It was still locked; however, this time we noticed a couple dressed for church talking to two young women in a little red car. I walked over to ask if they were from the church, and found out that we just happened to visit on the day of their 20^th anniversary celebration – which was being held at a nearby campground. (What are the chances?)

Long story short, we followed the little red car down the highway and up a bumpy dirt road to a beautiful campground in the mountains, where we joined the church members in a special service. Of course, we were somewhat overdressed for the occasion! And as usual, we were called in front to introduce ourselves so we weren’t able to just slip in or out unnoticed. Which made the fact that we were then unable to stay for the rest of the festivities (lunch, swimming, games) a little awkward and we hoped we were not being cultural clods by having to leave immediately afterwards, due to a previous commitment!

At any rate, we were invited back for another service inside the actual church building in January – and for lunch with the pastor’s family on that visit. We will look forward to it … and continue to be flexible in the meantime! (: