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Un pais Catolica

Tuesday, December 6th, 2005

Today we visited the Catholic Cathedral in downtown Santiago. We are frequently surprised by the openness of Chileans regarding their faith. We have met a number of Chileans in the course of this week, who have confidently claimed to be christians.

The Catholic Church is clearly dominant here and appears to sustain itself, offering a mix of “services” to Chileans, rich and poor, offering sanctuary and the Word, whichever is needed. In the cathedral today, a service began at midday and was stuffed- people standing at the doors!

The protestant churches are, given their size, very active, which is encouraging! They also appear to serve the community actively- as you will see from the website of our church, there are opportunities to get involved in house-building, providing cleaning materials and assistance to a home for orphans or single women. It is great that Christians arriving in a country like this can assist in more than just finance!

Anyway, just thought it might be of interest to you.

Second point of interest- the catholic churches here market “giving” or “tithing” quite innovatively. The slogan goes: “Christ gave 100% Give 1% to the Church. Its not a lot to ask”. While the theological basis for this may be dubious, it is true that if everyone here gave just 1%, the church would be fully staffed, churches maintained, and evangelism funded. This would leave Christians the opportunity to give at least the other 9% to good causes. For more information, see www.iglesia.cl..

Anyway, praise the Lord for his Church here and for the confidence with which Chileans associate themselves with Christ, el salvatori del mundi.

DG

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Rachel’s first day of proper work

Monday, December 5th, 2005

Rachel was very nervous about work this morning. Lots of new people and experiences. And lots of work to do- she has to finish corrections to her PhD before February while also working at ESO and at the telescopes for one week every month.

Please pray for:

  • Rachel’s induction process at ESO;
  • For Rachel’s first 8 day shift at ESO Paranal, the telescope in the north of Chile, starting Friday 9th December. Give thanks that she will be in Santiago for Christmas and New Year. And that in this first week, the telescope mirror is being checked, cleaned and re-mounted, so little observing will be done for 3-4 days. This will be good experience and will allow ample training time. Pray that her teachers and supervisors would be clear, patient and gracious;
  • For enough rest and “down time” for Rachel during this shift. Apparently, the altitude (nearly 9000ft) reduces the quality of sleep and the dry air of the Atacama can lead to frequent nose-bleeds. Pray that she would adapt quickly to the high, dry environment.
  • For Doug’s first week without Rachel, in Santiago. Give thanks for the contacts he has already made through church and ESO, for the many church activities he can be involved in during the week, for easy access for Doug to ESO and for the internet! Pray that he wouldn’t be lonely or bored and have courage to get out and learn more spanish!
  • Pray that Rachel would be re-energised and re-enthused by astronomy after a difficult and discouraging PhD viva. Pray that she would be motivated to be a confident Christian in the workplace, demonstrating Christ’s love for us in her contact with collegues and staff.
  • That Joy, Doug’s sister, might find accommodation near her workplace in High Wycombe, sharing a house/flat with other Christians

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