Hello Tim Horton's Coffee!

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...

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!

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!

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

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...

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...???

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

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

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!

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 : ]