Missing Out

Well I dont mean to be a downer but I need to share one of the negative realities of being a missionary. Missing out. I now have my life here and it is great and moving along, but also life back in the US continues on without me. I know you must be thinking "duh Deanna, did you think it would not?" And of course I knew it would, but it is still an adjustment from knowing that life would move on to it actually happening and me watching from afar.

Friends have babies, family gets together, friends get engaged and married, people move to new cities, people loose jobs. I am not there to experience any of that with them and sometimes it just stinks. I know I made the decision to come here and I would not give that up, but that does not make the hard times any easier. I wish I could be there with my friends and family during important things. I guess it is mainly a selfish desire because I know they will get along fine without me, but I want to be there to experience it all with them. We are told mission work is difficult and requires great sacrifices but also is so rewarding and worth all the work. I am beginning to see those rewards but that does not make the sacrifices hurt any less.

Feliz Navidad

Well as I mentioned our team celebrated Christmas in July this week. It was kind of a way to cope with our culture shock and our seasonal confusion that comes along with living in the Southern Hemisphere. The weather treated us well as it was cold and rainy and we just had a great time. In typical Christmas fashion we made tons of sweets, hung out at the house all day eating, talking, opening gifts and watching movies. It was a wonderful day and a great trial run for making all our tasty treats for the real Christmas. Check out some photos from the day!

Making cookies on "Christmas Eve" while watching Christmas Vacation

Our "Christmas" tree whose origin shall remain a secret

Me sitting by the "fire" with our gifts for White Elephant

Everyone happy with what the opened or stole

Our yummy sweets. We also ate glazed ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls and a pineapple dish.

David Bowden: "Diversity's Symphony"

Christmas in July

Because most of us associate Christmas with cold weather and all our calendars are thrown off since it is July and it is cold, we have decided to celebrate Christmas in July. We are not trying to make this THE Christmas and combine all our family traditions, but instead, trying to make this more of a team tradition to help with the confusion. The party is going to be on Monday, July 25, which makes today Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve. Haha.

All that to say, you Christmas lovers be jealous. I am listening to Christmas music in July and I do not feel like a freak. It really sets the mood. I wonder if they listen to Feliz Navidad here like we do in the US... Probably not.

Next up: making fudge and decorating cut out cookies.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Now In The News

I am learning that Chileans really love to protest, at least the young people do. I hear it is drive by the fact that they (or their parents) grew up under a dictator and now they have free speech and they are going to use it in whatever way they can. And hey, as long as they stay peaceful I say more power to them. I don't really get it but it actually works more than you would think it would.


Remember those dam protests a few months back? Well, the work on the dams was postponed because of protests. I think that is pretty impressive. I guess then Chilean government is one that responds to the voice of the people (or at least the people yelling on the streets) so that is kinda cool.


So the newest protest hitting the streets and making the news is about education. Please do not quote me on any of this because I have asked many people about this many times and I only have a gist of what is going on. It has something to do with the cost of education and the students are not happy about it. They quit going to school a few weeks ago and will not return until they get what they want. This means all students in public schools, high school and college, are on strike. That's right. They stopped going, took over their buildings and are in a waiting game with the governement. The gov promised $4 billion to help releave some of the costs but that was not good enough. I hear another offer will be made this week. Hopefully they agree to it.


I have been told a number of time many of the details of what they want but I just do not understand the educational system here enough to really get it. To me, a university should cost money because that helps the education be higher quality but maybe their universities do not offer much financial aid or something like that. I really just don't know so I am not picking a side but what I do think is sad is the state of the campuses. As you can see from the pictures of the Univ. of Concepcion, they really have taken over and totally messed up their beautiful campus. And even though the students are on strike they are all over the campus, shouting things, and hanging out in their department buildings (the English students invited us to come join them and we could all practice English and Spanish together, nice thought but I don't plan on joining in protest thank you very much).


It is all very fascinating to me and I am very interested to hear the outcome and see if they ever go back to school.

El Dia de Independencia

Official Balloon Blower Upper

Well, as noted before, we had a rockin' 4th of July party with all our Chilean friends last week. It was a blast! We went all out with decorations, all out with the food, and all out with fun. We had a great attendance (more Chileans than Americans, woo hoo!) and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The menu was: hamburgers (American style, no avocado or other Chilean items), hotdogs (American style also), baked beans (from scratch), potato salad, ranch veggie/chip dip, banana pudding and a flag cake. Yum!

Enjoying our yummy snacks

Beautiful flag cake

We did a lot of standing around talking and sitting around and eating. We told them some of our 4th of July traditions and they laughed at us a lot. The main things missing from the party were fireworks and homemade ice cream, but we made do. It was a little cold for ice cream anyways.

Our favorite little Chilean Valentine, all decked out

People loading up their plates

and enjoying the festivities

Another difference in this 4th party and others was that we watched soccer. There was a major Chilean soccer game on that night so we decided to combine our two cultures into one great night. Luckily Chilean colors are red, white and blue so it fit perfectly.

Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le

Our party was a hit. I can't wait until September 18th to celebrate Chilean independence day too!

USA loves Chile

Now I Remember

I had to think long and hard about what I did last 4th of July. When I first started writing this blog it was titled I Can't Remember because I could not remember what I did. I tend to enjoy reflecting on past holidays on the days of new ones but it is hard to reflect on what you can't remember. I even went back and looked at pictures and my google calendar and still nothing.

What I did notice was that our team garage sale occurred that weekend so I decided that was why I could not remember because that was a crazy, crazy weekend. If you remember, we were trying to sell our things so we could move to Chile and it decided to rain. Not really having a big garage we decided to have the sale right inside of the Shutt's house and it turned out to be a huge success. It was exhausting, but a success. So that is probably why my day after the 2 day garage sale memory is not great but I do remember a little.

I hung out with my wonderful friends from Hope (my church in Abilene). This is what I remember. It was raining. We met at Swinny's house. We had decided to go watch the fireworks in a little town outside of Abilene where they were supposed to be good. So we drove out there and parked on the side of the road like everyone else. It continued to rain off and on but we waited. We wanted to see the fireworks. Lots and lots of cars started driving the other way like they were leaving and eventually we gave in too, assuming the show was not happening. We headed to Whataburger to get something to eat....and then the fireworks started. We were too far away to go back so I watched a little bit of the show from the Whataburger parking lot.

That is what I remember. Fireworks in the Whataburger parking lot. Hey, not every 4th can be the best ever, right? I am absolutely sure I had a good time though. We always had fun together.

So this year there won't be any fireworks either. It isn't really even a holiday but we are making it one. Our team wanted to celebrate together and we decided to invite our Chilean friends to join us. It won't be exactly like the 4th back in the US (although I know many of you in Texas aren't getting fireworks either), but we are doing our best and it will be fun and a nice way to share a little of our culture with those who have been sharing their culture with us. The major thing missing is homemade ice cream. What I wouldn't give for some homemade ice cream! Mmmm!

Happy 4th All!!

So Relieved!

My couch, chairs, washer and dryer all came today! The washer and dryer were supposed to come last Saturday and they came today. The couch and chairs were supposed to come tomorrow and they came today. It all came today! Now I have all of my big purchases made and delivered. Go me!

Have a seat won't you. I know the lighting is bad but they are brown and comfy!

Washer and dryer. Everyone told me it could not be done, they would not fit. Booyah. They do....kinda. I gotta get one of those flat plugs because I did not think about the cords but they will fit. They will. Booyah.

Yes, I connected the water and the drain all by myself. I am doing my first trial run as I type and water has yet to pour all over the floor like I expected.

Yes, I have to vent my dryer out the window but I promise, everyone else in the neighborhood is doing it too.

Whew, sigh of relief. Getting all this into my house was not easy. I won't tell you how many phone calls I had to make and employees I had to bother (in Spanish thank you very much) before they came, but they came. I think I need to take a nap on my couch.