Global Alpha Training - GAT Regina

Hello Tim Horton's Coffee!

2010-07-27T19:31:00.019-06:00

One last blog - Monday, July 26 - Day 15 ... into Tuesday morning, July 27

Our last day in Santiago was a relaxing one for us. It was a "sleep in" day, which meant that if you wanted any breakfast you had to be up by 8am.

We were.

Sunshine was bright again and although there was frost on the ground, the weather promised a high of around 20 degrees....what to wear to travel home??!

It felt as if our bodies (subconsciously) were already re-climatizing back to our home temperatures, because none of us were cold at breakfast!

After breakfast, some of us packed, some of us walked around the grounds, some of us sat in the sun and tried to get a Santiago winter sunburn.

We had reserved a taxi to pick us up at 1:30 and we (Karen included) all planned to go to the airport and hang out there, have lunch, etc. until our flights left. Ours was to leave at 6:35pm.

We enjoyed our last relaxing moments together in the sun, sipping some wine and munching on olives from the Azapa Valley - (compliments of our friends in Arica) and for those who distain olives and shy away from wine, Lay's ripple chips and Coke "Cero" were on hand.

We were indeed laughed at in our sleeveless shirts and jacketless bodies. Workers on the grounds were still bundled up!

At the airport we couldn't check in until 3:30, so we found a place to have lunch, surrounding by our carts of luggage and Karen joined us for wee cup of coffee before she left for her flight at 3.

We finished lunch, checked in, and after passing through security to the gates without issue, we saw a familiar face coming toward us. Karen! Her flight was delayed and was also leaving around 6:30. More time to visit! Yay!

Our flight was on time, the weather beautiful and the full moon last night lit up the earth below. We hoped to sleep much during the 11 hour flight to Toronto. AND turbulence was not an issue (Thanks for your prayers on that one!)

We arrived at Toronto about 5:30am, passed through immigration and customs without incident (all bags intact) and headed off to Tim Horton's for a Canadian cup of "dropping" coffee. We were on home soil!

Last flight for home left at 8:20 EST and arrived in Regina a few minutes late - 9:45am. We're home! A wonderful "welcome home" crew was waiting with a sign, flowers and hugs and kisses! Thank you!! Your love for us is overwhelming!

Over the next weeks we will be going through pictures and with the Home Team we will be planning an evening to share our trip with all you bloggers and supporters.

Thank you for joining us each day on this blog! Every night we would rush home to see who had responded to our posts. You all were very much on this trip with us.

We also thank the Father who made this opportunity and fantastic experience possible.

All the glory goes to You, Lord.

love,

Ramona, Carrie, Dennis, Carole & Dave

ps - We made the Diocesan Newsletter in Arica! It's in Spanish! Check out the link:

http://www.obispadoarica.cl/Noticias/2010/julio/global_alpha.html

Have posted the English translation under "About Us".

Mission Accomplished...

2010-07-25T20:07:00.009-06:00

Well team we´ve done it!
The last year has finally paid off. Both GAT events are finished and many seeds have been planted. Now it´s up to the Lord to nuture these seeds.
What an incredible day it has been. Once again we have made many new friends. The talks all went well and the prayer time was a very inspirational time for all the people. The Santiago group gifted each of us with a bottle of vino and sent us off with everyone singing a Chilean song. The voices were all so joyous. Dennis couldn´t resist dancing with Carmen. Very moving moment for us Canadians. Here is the song they sang to us:

http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=TKj_zFHJqzs OR

http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=FzgV_0K4Qa8

After our goodbyes, we returned to the retreat house for a few minutes of rest. The weather was spectacular, considerng it was a winter day, and the backdrop of the mountians was nothing short of breath taking. Carrie thought it would be a great idea to teach the group how to yodel. Did you know Carrie knows how to yodel? No neither did we. And apparently she doesn´t know that either. I do have the entire experience on video. You won´t want to miss this when we have our Chile night.

The five of us and ¨also¨ Karen went to Bariloche for our last supper together and had one last Pisco Sour. Our time together is now bittersweet. We are all looking forward to coming home, but we leave behind another friend who we will NEVER forget. Karen is the sweetest person we´ve ever met. So gentle, yet so funny. Always bringing joy into whatever room she enters. Karen, we will always remember our time with you.

One last sleep in these awesome beds the Lord has blessed us with, and this journey comes
to an end.

To ALL our new friends in Chile...may God bless each on of you with ALL the riches of Heaven.

To our two angels...Edu and Karen...words cannot express our gratitude for all you have done for us...we will NEVER forget you!

Signing off from Chile, South America...

Canada we are coming home!!!

Blessing to everyone.

Carole and the team.

GO RIDERS GO!

2010-07-24T19:57:00.002-06:00

Here I am, sitting in Chile with my Rider jersey on at the end of day 1 of our Santiago G.A.T.

I realize that out of the 5 of us I am seriously lacking in the writing giftedness. Is that even a word? It is now, and that's not the only new word in my vocabulary. (Alynn----you will appreciate that)

The training was fantastic today, we had made some adjustments to the schedule and it seemed to flow much smoother. The simultaneous translation was seamless and much nicer for us to deliver our talks. Every aspect of the training went well and we are looking forward to tomorrow and all the blessings we know are waiting for us.

We are beginning to think of home more and more, we think it is partially because Edu is no longer with us and the fact that it is Dennis and Karen's 29th anniversary today. We are anxious to see all of you face to face and share all of our experiences with you.

Fr. Carlos is the newest Roughrider Fan! He was so cute when I was teaching him how to say "Go Riders Go"! What a sport!

We continue to lift up our Home Team in prayer and truly feel your support and love. You are all so appreciated. For our families at home, we miss you so much, thank you for your support in this mission, it means so much to us.

Love and Prayers
Carrie

"Correcto Mundo"

Good bye...Hello!

2010-07-23T20:03:00.003-06:00

Day 12... really?? Wow.

Today we awoke to dreary skies again - affirming that yesterday's sunny day was indeed meant just for us. But today's gray skies are in keeping with the thought that this is our last day with Edu.

Due to meetings and preparations this afternoon for the event, we made small plans for our down time.
Edu and Dennis wanted a relaxing day at the house - they ended up doing a little Alpha work and took a walk. Karen had errands. The rest of us wanted to head to a nearby mall to check out contemporary Santiago. But this time we navigated the subway alone! (We discovered it was something we could manage without Edu!)
The mall looks no different than at home. There are many brand name stores and the fashions are like ours - except with lots of boots and winter clothes in the windows. We could have been shopping at the Cornwall Centre. Carole wanted to test out MacDonald's for lunch. Apparently, it may taste a little different! (Mike this was for your benefit.) What we did discover was that MacDonald's makes sundaes with manjar sauce! Woohoo!

By 3:30 we regrouped at the house again.

The equipment came for the simultaneous translation. Karen and the guys and some tech type fellows set up the equipment. A translator named Guillermo, "William" from Brazil showed up. And we began to shift into the next gear.

After setting up in the venue - which is on the grounds, half a block away - we had about 1/2 hour to have some time for prayer with Edu. Through many, many tears each of us prayed blessings on him.

Edu had to leave by about 8 tonight and the local team here was to come meet with us at 7pm. There was about an hour of transition or overlapping from our Arica connections to our Santiago connections. Good-bye. Hello!

We met about 10 people from the team here - musicians included. Dave had a practice with them here in the house about an hour ago and as I type, one of them is playing a gentle song in the main room amidst the visiting. Dave seems quite pleased with the team he will be working with. We will be sharing our living space tonight with Father Carlos, and the musicians.

We start with prayer at 8 am tomorrow. Please hold us in your prayers - that we can have a powerful impact here. Many people coming are "Alphagetties"! Some are from Santiago, some from Valparaiso, San Fillipe and 4 from Argentina!

We are getting excited again. Stay tuned!

love Ramona

A Day for our Mother of Santiago

2010-07-22T20:59:00.008-06:00

Madre de Santiago
Inmaculada Virgen María
Nuestra Señora de San Cristóbal
confiando en tu bondad y tu ternura
queremos ofrecer nuestras oraciones

Almost a week ago, Carrie leaned over to me and asked "does it get any better than this?" Well, I'm not sure how much more I can take.

We were treated today, with the help of our most faithful guide, Edu..(have we told you about him yet??) to a most spectacular day starting at the Parque Metropolitano De Santiago, www.parquemet.cl if you want to check it out. This park is absolutely huge, a part of a chain of mountains whose main hills are San Cristobal, Chacarillas, Los Gemelos...
Anyways, the summit is about a 7 km. ride up the side of the mountain. It was very tempting to walk, as there are many sites to take in on the way up; the National Zoo, the Bosque Santiago Environmental Educational Center, Japanese Gardens, a nursery, swimming pools, movie stars......but because it would have taken at least an hour to walk up, then an hour to walk down, and we were on limited time as the Cirque Du Soleil started at 5 PM, and it was already 1, we decided to take a cab up to the top. At the top, we had a panoramic view of Santiago. What an awesome sight! Many pictures were taken, and much breath was held at the unbelievable view of the city below. And thats not all. Just a bit farther up was the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin. A very large outdoor sanctuary, with seating on the hillside, continuing up the mountain to the summit where the Virgin Mary overlooks all of Santiago! Unbelievable. After spending some time marvelling and praying in this spectacular place, we came down off the mountain on the "Funicular"...a train-like form of transportation that took us down the mountain in just a few minutes.

Once at the bottom, we stopped to have some lunch, on a street resembling "the strip"....tons of restaurants, bars and out door eatery's, and TONS of people. Had a wonderful meal, did some people watching, and were "watched" by people as well. Some of us thought we might "blend in" amongst the locals but, believe me, blend in we don't!!

It was time to move on to our next treat...Cirque Du Soleil. With the help of Edu, (who?) who navigated us through the deep, dark depths of the Santiago Metro subway system, we found our way to the venue where we were all mesmerized by the Soleil's performance of "Quidam". The wonderful floor acrobatics, aerial ballets, and the sheer strength of the performers was worth the price of admission. Outstanding!!! Only one complaint. Popcorn was on the list of "wants" for most of us. It looked terrific in the box, pure white, drizzled with a delicious golden coating, which of course we thought was butter, but, to our surprise, tasted more like honey. The popcorn was sweet. What a surprise. Apparently, even at the movies, it is served this way. I think everyone liked it though, just unexpected.

Onward...tomorrow its time to get down to business again. Meetings are scheduled, people to meet, the venue to set up....Alpha is afoot. I know you've all been keeping us in your prayers and we love you all for it. We're all excited to roll up our sleeves, so here we go. You're all with us, every step of the way. Our God is sooooooo good.......

Mother of Santiago
Immaculate Virgin Mary
Our Lady of San Cristobal
trusting in your kindness and your tenderness
we want to offer you our prayers.

much love,

Dave

Here we go again...

2010-07-21T19:15:00.006-06:00

The Retreat Grounds

Lunch with Luis

Supply Table

Today we met Luis Felipe the local coordinator for Santiago's training event. We toured the facility that the event will be held in which is located on the retreat grounds. We had lunch with Luis but he can not speak English and we can not speak Spanish so Karen had lots of translating to do (she sure is good). It looks like this training event will be a bit smaller then Arica, probably around 60 people. Karen, Edu and us met to discuss the program and we made some changes based on feedback from Arica and a request from Luis. I think the changes to the program will work well and the event will flow better.

Then we all headed off to a large supermarket just down the street to buy some "supplies" for a party this evening where we celebrated Carrie's 26th wedding anniversary. Carrie was really missing Brian today so we looked after her well today.

Edu is currently getting a private Alpha Training session from the team, so I should go a join them.

Tomorrow we're going to Cirque du Soleil with Edu.

Take care and please feel free to respond to the blogs because we love to hear what's going on with you back home.

Love
Dennis

Hansel and Gretel...???

2010-07-20T19:03:00.012-06:00

The adventures just never seem to end. Nor do we want them too!
We arrived in Santiago last night around 7:00pm. We were greeted by a man at the airport who was holding a sign that said, " Dennis Alpha" Clearly this man was waiting for us. He did not speak English, but managed to direct us to a bus that was waiting to take us to the retreat house.
Our bus driver then proceeded onto a highway that looked like a smaller version of the 401 in Toronto. This driver navigated the lanes with incredible skill. Felt like we were in the middle of a video game (Mike and Barrett you would have loved this.) The bus stopped in front of a large set of metal gates that surrounded a forest. We grabbed our luggage and proceeded through the gates and down a long path looking for anything that looked like a retreat house. There were several small buildings, different pathway ways and all signs were in Spanish. We came to a fork in the pathways and attempted to read the signs. Dennis decided to go one way and look for a place called, " Central de Perogies." We laughed thinking he thought he was in the Ukraine. Carrie went into a small building, Dave was taken behind a locked gate with a masked man, while Ramona and I stood with the luggage waiting for something to happen. We thought for sure there was going to be a part two of Hansel and Gretel unfolding before our eyes. Nobody took bread crumbs. Then after we got hold of our imaginations and realized we were standing on holy ground, Carrie came back and told us of the beautiful chapel she went into and felt the holiness all around here. Dennis didn't find Central de Perogies as it does not exist, but clearly the Lord lead him to some very nice nuns eating their evening dinner who helped him and showed him where we needed to be. Dennis came back to get the rest of the group. Now we were just needing to get Dave back. Ramona was calling under the fence into the dark...DAVE...DAVE... in an area of silence. Thought for sure we would be evicted before we even got in. Finally Dave appeared in the distance with the same masked man that took him behind the gate. Still aren't sure who this was, guessing it was a security guard as we now know these grounds are for the retreat and are very secure. Finally we were all back together with clear directions of where we were going and how to get there.
We have a little old house all to ourselves. Our house is called Casa Betania. Two single beds in each room with a couple bathrooms in each wing. Six bedrooms in total. A fairly big common area which is great for gathering and prayer time. The temperature was 14 degrees in the building when we arrived. We quickly turned on ALL the heaters in the house to try to bring the heat up to something that was doable.
This morning we woke up very cold temperatures outside. Ramona figured it was around minus 3. There was frost on the ground. Although cold, the view was spectacular. We are in a forest that fairy tales could be written about. With the backdrop of snow topped mountains, really beautiful.
We all gathered for a breakfast of fresh bread, homemade jam, ham and cheese. FABULOUS! We then returned to the house for our morning prayer. Our very good friend Edu arrived and joined us for prayer. God blessed us with this awesome guy (who absolutely ROCKS) for the rest of the week. We were all in awe at prayer time as the prayer for the day, (which by the way was written by Cheryl about a month ago) said the following: That the Away Team have a special day with anyone they have built relationships with throughout their stay, especially the leaders. We could not believe this. We were planning our day with our new friend Edu.
God is GOOD!! But you all knew that already.
We then took the subway downtown with Edu as our guide. We could never have navigated this without him. He took us to the Parliment buildings and the Mascaras del Eduador museum. It started to rain very slightly and we then went into Santiago Cathedral. Wow, words cannot describe this church. Not even sure pictures will do it justice. Incredible places to see. We went shopping at a really large shopping mall. Arrived back at the retreat house exhausted and ready for bed. But before that happens we have to eat "again" before bed. Their supper time is 8:30pm each night. Then we have prayer time. Tonight Karen arrived and both Karen and Edu are staying with us at the Retreat House. Lots of laughter and fun times together. Looking forward to whatever the Lord has in store for us tomorrow.
We all wish we could bring our new friend Edu home with us. Words cannot describe this young man. He is 28 years old and hears God like no one I've ever know before. He is so kind and funny. He has bailed us out of so many things. Can't imagine what this trip would have looked like without him. Edu is nothing short of a true blessing from The Lord to help us through our journey.
We have also been blessed with Karen. She is our Regional Manager from Argentina, quite the "wee cracker." She is lots of fun to be with and so kind and gentle. Love her Scottish accent. Karen will be with us this weekend to help us through the training event. Presently she is working on setting up meetings with the local team for us. Still do not know the details regarding our social project. Will let you all know when we know....as I was typing Dennis just heard our social project has been canceled. Apparently the parish priest who was in charge was down south and stuck there due to bad weather. We will however make sure the correct people get the blankets and money. We have our first meeting tomorrow at noon with the local coordinator.
Its been so incredible and each day brings a new adventure.

Miss all of you!

Carole

Monday's Picture Blog

2010-07-19T09:23:00.003-06:00

Greetings one and all!

We are in transition to Santiago today. We leave you and Arica with a picture blog. Please scroll down to the bottom to see new pictures.
See you in Santiago!!!!
Hasta Luego............

Cuan Grande Es Dios

2010-07-18T20:52:00.004-06:00

How great is our God!

It is really hard to put into words how marvelous the works of God are. He has worked a good work here in Chile. We are all standing in awe at the love and generosity that has been extended to us. It was a really hard day to say goodbye to all the wonderful people we have been with these last 2 days.

Today after we celebrated Mass, Dennis gave a brief review of the previous day, then I gave the training talk about Praying for others on the Alpha Course. After the talk the guests had the opportunity to pray with each other.......It was beautiful to watch, the Spirit could have moved mountains the way it was moving at the venue. Then Dennis gave the talk 'How Can I Be Filled With the Holy Spirit' . Well, from then on, as you all know, everyone was everyones best friend and there were no more language barriers or road blocks. God is so Good. Fr. Juan is so supportive of the Alpha Program here in Arica and is very open and excited to jump in with both feet. Then Ramona talked about giving the teachings and Carole gave a review in her talk 'How to start running the Alpha Course' Miracles happen every day, we just need to take time to recognize them. Dave and the rest of the music ministry team were overwhelming.....All we have to do now is wait for the C.D. release. Many people had asked for it at the training.

The most emotion I felt today was when we showed the slide show and our home team was in the room with us. We love all of you and think and pray for you every day.

Tomorrow we need to check out of the hotel by noon, then will go to the rectory for lunch, then off to the airport for our flight to Santiago. God willing we will have internet access when we get there and can update you tomorrow evening. If not please be patient until we can connect and put up a new post.

Many Blessings
Carrie

No Generation "GAT" Here!

2010-07-17T20:20:00.005-06:00

Whew! Day 1 of the first GAT - Alpha Arica.
Up early to catch the cab at 7:15. Prayer was scheduled for 7:45.
Nervous energy and not enough sleep left a couple of us groping for coffee and a piece of toast at 7:14!

Off we went to the venue - San Marcos School gym.

We gathered with about a dozen young adults for prayer. They were the group hosts and helpers for the day. Dave led us in "Come now is the Time..." I´ve never heard a more beautiful version - in Spanish.

About 100 people came in and found their seats by 9..or so. And we began.

Our translator for most of the talks was Fr. Santiago. We had a "wee" practice with him prior to starting. (Fr. Santiago is from Scotland.. and Santiago in English means "James"!)

We greeted guests at the door with our broken bits of Spanish, but a smile and kiss on the cheek goes a long way. (Lots of cheek kissing goes on here. We´ve decided to adopt this charming custom back at home!)

Our talks went fantastic! We were in the zone all day. The biggest struggle however was not so much our talks but the delivery within translation. The talks end up being twice as long and thus people are sitting in chairs that much longer as well. It seems that personal enthusiasm and passion are also difficult to translate. But we all believed we had done well. We think you´d be proud.

Carrie continues to astound us with amazing pictures. She is finding that people here, love to have their picture taken - especially if she shows them their picture!

Dennis is enjoying communicating with people even though he can´t. We think he is learning sign language because he seems to have had many conversations with guests. I saw him in alot of cheek kissing at the end of the day so people are enjoying him too.

Carole has had an offer to learn Salsa dancing from one of the young men here. He teaches dancing. (Dave, do you know about this offer?)

Dave was approached today and a lady asked him in Spanish if he had any of his cds for sale!

I´m still in awe of the amazing young group of adults that come from St.Ignasius Church. They are so full of life, energy and passion for their faith!
What could we offer them? They certainly have been refreshing for us. Many of them are ready to take off with Alpha and tonight we were talking about "spotting the stars". A couple of the young ladies have spotted my fish ring and fish earring. They got very excited! Most of these youth belong to a "in the Spirit" type of group and the icthus is the symbol they use.
Father Juan of this parish, is excited to start Alpha with and for these young people. What a treasure!

Tomorrow we start at 9 with mass. We are most eager to develop further relationships and connections with these beautiful, hospitable people.
It will be difficult to leave on Monday.

Thank you for your love and prayers.
A prayer request for tomorrow would be that the translations will effectively touch people´s Alpha hearts.

love Ramona
ps - my sunburn is almost healed - no blisters, no peeling : ]

We're Ready!!!

2010-07-16T21:51:00.004-06:00

Wow......what a day!!!!
It just keeps getting better and better...
I'm going to keep this short, as tomorrow morning will come very soon and its already pretty late.
We had an incredible day. Fr. Santiago picked us all up in a car this morning with the intent to show us “more of whats around Arica.” We started off touring the biggest “farmer's market” I think I've ever seen. All kinds of produce, with a lot of things I've never seen before. By looking at the landscape around Arica, you wouldn't think anything would grow. Not so in the Azapa Valley. All is irrigated, and growth is abundant, which is where we headed to next. We found ourselves along a very narrow winding road, desert sand and hills on one side, and green fields on the other. What a paradox!

Our next stop was a retreat center that is a popular stop for area residents. A beautiful place with all kinds of different native fruit trees and 50 foot Eucalyptus trees towering overhead. We all thought it would be a great place to have our next retreat....maybe a bit of a commute though. An true oasis in the desert!

We continued on our journey to a museum a short distance away. It contained artifacts and history of the Chinchorra people, the true natives of the region. We were treated to seeing some of the oldest mummies in the world, dating back 5000 years, along with all the artifacts and history of the people.....translated of course by Fr. Santiago.

At Father's suggestion, we then stopped at, I believe he said, was the only small village (pueblo) in the area called San Miguel. We took a peek in the local church, which by the way stands open doors to the public always and “almost” open roofed as well. A lot of cracks and seams showing up there but since there is virtually no rain in the Arica area, not a concern for upkeep. A beautiful church. There was a small, round seating area outside where we decided would be a great small group discussion area, perhaps after returning from our new retreat location....a bit of a commute.....

We decided we would stop for some lunch at a small “eatery” in San Miguel. Just so happens the best place to eat was just outside the doors of the cemetery... a quaint little place, translated called “the spot of death...” No reflection on the food though...it was fabulous. We also spent some time in the cemetery being amazed at the customary grave sites. Unbelievable tributes to lost family and friends.

It was time to end our tour as our first meeting with the entire local team was to take place shortly. We returned to Arica and proceeded to St. Ignatius church. It never ceases to amaze me how our Father works! You would not believe the amount of young people that are spear heading this event...and hard working, dedicated, faith filled young people. The seemingly endless amount of work our cohort, Eduardo, has done and continues to do, is nothing short of inspirational. Endless blessings to him and all who have done so much to bring Alpha to Arica. After the meetings were complete, we all headed over to the high school where the training event begins in the morning, a few short hours from now. The room is set and ready to go....

Thanks for all your prayers! You are all here with us, every step!!

peace and blessings to all
Dave

Getting down to business...

2010-07-15T19:43:00.003-06:00

Today was a day of mostly business.
It started last night when I received the email regarding Fr Carlos being sick and not being able to do his talks and then agreeing to do one for him.
After reviewing the talk it was evident that it would be best if a local priest gave this talk regardless of their Alpha experience.
So after talking with Edu and Fr Juan and exchanging some email with Karen Tigar (Alpha RM from Argentina), it was agreed that Fr Juan would do the talk.
Karen quickly was able to find the Spanish Script and email it to me which I was able to send to Fr Juan. It´s really amazing what technology allows us to do!!
I reviewed the script with Fr Juan at our meeting with him this afternoon and we´re all set to go. Thanks for all your prayers regarding this talk, it all worked out as it should.
You can continue to pray for Fr Carlos so he will be healthy enough for Santiago and pray for Fr Juan as he prepares to do this talk.

We had a terrific prayer time together as a group last night with some fantastic sharing and after some more prayer this morning the ladies headed out to shop while Dave worked on the powerpoint presentations and Dennis worked on his talks.

We were picked up at the hotel at 1 PM by Edu and his friend and driven to St. Ignatius Church where we met Fr Juan, Fr James (from Scotland or as he is known now in Arica Fr. Santiago), Patricia, Gloria(the cook) and several other youth. They provided a wonderful meal for us and their hospitality was second to none.

During and after the meal we discussed Alpha and many details about the training event. It was very exciting sharing our experience with them to help them prepare for their Alpha course. One issue for the training event that they were struggling with was regarding the lunch for both days. They don´t have enough money to provide lunch and the attendees would have to leave the venue to get food. We didn't think that was the best situation because it´s at lunch that we can network with the folks and get to meet them.

All five of us looked at each other and it was as if we where all thinking the same thing. "We´ll donate the money to provide the lunches". So we made the offer to Edu and Fr Juan.
To me it looked like Edu was processing what he just heard and he was trying to express something and then his face went blank and simply said "Thank you".
They will put a donation basket out for the lunches and we suggested they then use that money for their first Alpha course. I think they could hardly believe it because Edu asked again if they should give the donation basket money back to us. I believe they are truly grateful. What a blessing it is to be able to provide seed money to another church to be able to start an Alpha program. It´s only because of the hard work of the whole team and the grace of God that makes this possible.

What an awesome privilege to be able to work with these wonderful people and we haven´t even met the complete local team yet. That will happen tomorrow evening starting at 5PM and will continue until we have reviewed everything with them. Please keep this meeting in your prayers so every detail can be discussed and looked after.

Tomorrow morning Fr Juan will take us up the valley further into the interior to see more of the country side. Looking forward to another God filled day and the surprises God has for us.

God bless and take care.

Love
Dennis

The Other Side Of The Mountain...

2010-07-14T17:32:00.003-06:00

Absolutely incredible day! Started this morning with breakfast and a beautiful morning prayer around a special candle that some awesome friends gave us...(thanks guys.) Headed out to the bottom of the mountain wondering what was on the other side. The mountain was quite the climb. Quite steep, but had several places to stop and rest, take pictures and give great thanks to the Lord for the incredible view. Carrie was determined to find out what was on the "other side" of this mountain.
We have lots of pictures to show of these stops along the way. Finally made it to the top and on the other side was the most spectacular view of the ocean and extremely high waves.
Now we had to go down the other side just to experience closer all that was being offered. We found a great restaurant that was very inviting. Clearly the Lord had our table already reserved. While we were struggling with menu selection a very kind lady from the next table quickly came to our rescue and offered assistance in ENGLISH!!! We clapped with joy when hearing her voice and she helped us and the waiters communicate to each other. It was awesome. Can you imagine...these people were from Manitoba, CANADA!!! Her husband was actually from Regina. This was so awesome. We couldn't believe this.
Afterwards we carried on around this mountain to come beautiful beaches that had shells of all kinds. I picked up an empty clam shell that had a star fish in it and just above the star fish was a baby star fish. Yet another little gift from God of how beautiful His creation is. Had to do the "Alpha" thing and throw the star fish back into the ocean. Thought of all the Alphagetti's when I did that.
Tonight we are going shopping. Most shopping takes place in the late evening. Stores close somewhere around 4 to 7pm. Then everything opens again and the streets are filled with people, music and shopping.
Weather has been great. Beautiful sunny day today. We wear shorts and the locals are all bundled up in sweaters, long pants and light winter jackets. Their winter is a nice spring day for us. Stopped for a refreshing break this afternoon around a great water fountain. Took off our socks and shoes and put our feet in the water. Not sure what the locals thought of this as everyone else was bundled up for winter.
So far...great people, great food, great prices and "to die for" manjar, which we have eaten everyday. (google it)

We have a special prayer request. Fr Carlos from Santiago has a high fever and under doctor's orders, cannot make the trip to Arica. Dennis will have to cover his talk. Please pray for both Fr Carlos and Dennis. For Fr Carlos that his temperature return to normal for our training event in Santiago and for Dennis that he "easily" learns this talk.

Thank you for all your prayers regarding our health. We are all feeling great. One little exception...Ramona has a red sunburn that required some ointment. Please pray for soothing on her shoulders and back. (Momma Delia, nothing to worry about here. I promise we are taking good care of her.)

Missing all of you,

To Ray, Brian, Karen and all of our kids...we miss all of you lots and lots.
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Carole

2010-07-13T19:26:00.002-06:00

Culture Shock

Arrived in Tacna at 5.30am where we were met by Edu. We were so tired at this point we just wanted to get to Arica and SLEEP. BUT the border only opened at 8.30am so we waited and waited and waited for a small yellow school bus (that´s another story for another time LOL) The customs going from Peru to Chile was interesting, a real eye opener for the freedoms we enjoy. The landscape wasn´t at all what any of us were expecting, all desert and very little vegetation. Our feet landed on Chilean soil at 10.30am. The hotel was very welcoming, clean and boy were those beds and pillows the best any of us ever had. After a couple of hours of rest, up we got and went for a walk through town and along the beach. Looking forward to climbing a mountain tomorrow morning and enjoying the local culture. Having some technical difficulties so you will have to be patient to see pictures, hopefully the wait won´t be too long.

Blessings to all of you,

Carrie

2010-07-13T01:59:00.001-06:00

We're In Lima! Sitting in the airport. 2:15 am. Next flight leaves at 3:30 to Tacna.
We're tired and getting punchy. All is well...except for the slight TURBULENCE!
Thanks for the prayers. Keep it up.
...is anyone still at the Regina airport waving goodbye?

We were thrilled with the personal send off at 5:30am
Muchas Gracias!

2010-07-11T11:27:00.005-06:00

Beautiful Blessing for the Team at church this morning.
Thank you for all your prayers!

T minus - 19 1/2 hours
(Estimated Time of Departure - 7 am! ... convening at the airport by 5:30am)

Carrie's Request

2010-07-11T11:25:00.001-06:00

My nephew and his wife are expecting a baby while I am in Chile and I NEED to know when the addition arrives. So, along with all of you, we will find out together when my sister replies to this blog.
Lord, be with Vicki and Jeremy as they await the arrival of their first child. Empower them with your holy gifts that they may raise this child according to your will. I pray for a safe delivery and speedy recovery. Amen
~Carrie

2010-07-09T22:12:00.002-06:00

Exodus 17: 9-13

The entire team was involved in a powerful prayer using Scripture from Exodus 17.

It is the story of Joshua fighting the Amalekites under the persistent intercession of Moses, Aaron and Hur.

9 Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."
10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

At our GAT training, Frank and Allen – our trainers, introduced this scripture as an analogy of the intersession needed from all those at home to pray for the success of this trip. The value of the Home Team was not lost on us. Holy people lifting holy hands for victory while the mission is underway. We know the success of the mission is dependent on our persistent prayer.

But if we read a couple more verses further, we find the origin of the name ‘Jehovah Nissi’ – the Lord is my banner.

… 15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. 16 He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. (Exodus 17)

What a beautiful image of us not only lifting up hands but looking to our banner – Jesus - for encouragement, union and victory.

By the way, the Home Team is meeting for prayer next Thursday, July 15 at St. Joseph the Worker Church (Bond Street) for 1 hour – 7-8pm.
Everyone is welcome. Come raise the Banner!

2010-07-09T21:01:00.002-06:00

3 more sleeps. Well maybe 2. Not sure if we'll sleep much Sunday night!
Sunday morning you can find the Away Team at the 10:00 am mass.
Father Lorne will be extending a blessing to us at the end of mass.
Please join us if you can!

(ps - 2 new links - Weather in Arica and Santiago)

2010-07-04T07:57:00.002-06:00

Did you look at the countdown clock today?
Have you checked the calendar?!
Yikes! 1 week!

The Away team has dispersed a bit this week and has taken short trips with family.
We regroup on the weekend to review final details.

Our flight leaves Monday July 12 @ 6:55AM. We travel to Ottawa and have a short layover before going on to Toronto. After hanging out at the Toronto airport for the afternoon, we board again at 5:25 pm (3:25 pm SK time) for the big flight (8 hours) to Lima, Peru.

Getting in just after midnight (10 pm SK time) we'll have to go through customs at Peru and wait for our next flight at 3:35 AM which will take us to Tacna, Peru - arriving at 5:20 am. Tacna is just on the border of Peru and northern Chile. (At this point I'm just looking for a soft place to lay down...)

Again we go through customs and then we will be picked up by someone from Chile with a big van - we hope! - who will drive us across the border and to our hotel in Arica. (and a bed!) Arica is just 1/2 hour over the border.

It will take just about 24 hours to get from Regina to Arica.
Whew!

2010-06-25T17:17:00.004-06:00

Had a lovely time with Annabelle Gonzalez, last night! She came over to share her knowledge about Chile - everything from travel & climate to food & drink. She fed us lots of information -all the heads up and hot spots.

Only gets us more excited!

Thank you Annabelle!

We take you with us in our hearts.

2010-06-23T17:54:00.002-06:00

Buenas Noches!
The Away Team practiced together one last time last night.
Everyone's doing such a good job. Muy bien.

We will each continue to polish our talks on our own...and maybe work on our "Spanish" un poco.

Thursday evening, we (and anyone from the Home Team) will meet with Annabelle. She is a friend of Sharon's, who is from Chile. We are excited to hear all about Chile from a Chilean's perspective!

2010-06-21T12:40:00.000-06:00

EEEeeeee!!!
3 weeks today, we're on our way!

2010-06-19T10:11:00.003-06:00

Have posted a couple more tidbits.
Check out pictures of us, as well as Chilean currency and drinks.

The Away Team continues to work on their talks. We meet once more this week for a practice together, although each of us is practising at home in front of family, friends, dogs and/or stuffed animals ...and my snails.

Dennis has nailed the talk on 'Why Did Jesus Die?' Looking forward to hearing his talk on the Holy Spirit.

Interesting how the talks have sorted themselves out and are being given by just the right person.

Carole is presenting some of the adminstrative talks - 'What is Alpha?' & 'How to Run the Alpha Course'.
Ramona is giving the 'Essential Elements' & 'Presenting the Teaching' talks.
Carrie is giving the training of the leaders talks - 'Hosting Small Groups' & 'How to Pray for Others'.
And Dennis is modeling 2 demo talks from the course.

Well, time to go...and practice. Maybe to the fish in the pond this time.

2010-06-15T07:46:00.003-06:00

Wow. 26 days. Less than a month.

The entire team is meeting tonight. It is the last time before the trip that we can all come together to discuss last minute business and have a extended time of prayer. We anticipate an evening filled with high energy and excitement!

The Away team continues to meet once or twice a week to practice and fine tune the talks. Dave is handling our power point slides. What a blessing. He's even tweeking them in Spanish as needed. Gracias senor!

Lord, be a strong presence in our gathering tonight!

2010-06-11T21:14:00.005-06:00

Had a fantasic steak night at the Callie Club, last night! Over 100 people came out, ate a good meal and enjoyed each other's company.
We set out a small silent auction, and set Cheryl and Kim up to sell 50/50 tickets.
Carole was determined to take the tea set home.... And she did.
Ask her when you can come for tea.
There was also grand wrestling for the pen to bid on Pat's cookies. Paul beat Lori out, but not without a valiant effort from Lori. Ask Paul when you can come over for cookies.
...Hey. Maybe Carole and Paul should put their heads together for a tea party.

The winner of the 50/50 (a friend of Sharon's) took $285.00 home in her pocket!

An excellent night all around.

Thanks to all who supported us!

2010-06-08T22:58:00.000-06:00

33 days.

The Away Team met again tonight to practise and critique a couple of the GAT talks.
We will meet again tomorrow night to practice a few skits.
We are getting excited as we catch the larger vision of sharing the Alpha Course with folks in Chile.

Steak Night fundraiser is in 2 days!
Still need some funds to cover hotel costs, meals and incidentals.
God is good.

2010-06-07T14:29:00.000-06:00

Global Alpha Training - GAT Regina Team

Countdown - 34 days to Chile!