September newsletter -- Life in Chile

My team at Republica (the campus).

Hola from Chile! It’s been a month of learning Chilean culture and language, meeting students, and trusting the Lord. . Here are some of the highlights…

*At Spanish school, I met a girl named Tomoyo from Japan who is here for 8 months. She is super sweet, and we’ve become good friends. Even though I’m done with Spanish school now, Tomoyo comes to our English club on campus every week. We’ve had a spiritual conversation, and she is a Buddhist, but is searching. I hope to share the gospel with her soon.

*We started going to campus everyday. Right now we’re inviting students to our English club, as that is our primary outreach at the moment. We try to have conversations with the students at the campus, to get to know them more and practice our Spanish, as well as start to have spiritual conversations..

*It’s our vision to build relationships with students through English club, and to share the gospel with them. We are also going to begin to do some surveys on campus that lead into spiritual conversations. We desire to build a lasting movement in Chile for Christ that is led by Chilean students. The spiritual atmosphere is very hard here. Many students are seemingly apathetic to spiritual things. The other side of this is that the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses have done a lot of ‘evangelizing’ here, and the students automatically assume we’re one of these groups. It will be an ongoing challenge to show them that a relationship with Christ is something different than they’ve heard before.

*I had my wallet robbed from me on the metro (subway). It had a good amount of money, a couple credit cards, and other important cards in it. The thief was able to use one of the cards before I could get it cancelled, but the money was restored to my account. It was a lesson in trusting the Lord, and about living in the city.


Chile Facts
The milk comes warm in boxes on the shelf.
Everyone here loves ice cream-it seems everyone on the street has a cone. And it’s cheap! I love it!
We’re starting spring now since we’re in the southern hemisphere.
Santiago’s smog level is the 3rd worst in the world.



Me and Cote (a Chilean staff member) at the staff retreat in Algarrobo.











Staff Retreat

All of the Chile staff went on a staff retreat to Algarrobo, a town on the coast, for a weekend. It was great to get out of the city and get to know my fellow staff members more, as well as focus on the vision for the country of Chile. There are 26 staff members in Chile, including STINTERS, from Chile, Mexico, and America. All these people are an answer to many years of prayers.
It is our vision that every Chilean student would know someone who is following Christ. Eventually we desire to see a movement on every campus in Chile. Right now, there’s only a movement on 2 of the 60 campuses in Chile. At the campuses in Republica, we’re basically starting a ministry from nothing. It’s definitely a challenge, and from our viewpoint, sometimes discouraging, but we’re trusting the Lord to move in great ways in Republica in the lives of the students there.

Chile life Continued...

*On Thursdays, our team goes to USACH, the university in Santiago that has a campus ministry, to work with the other team there (they arrived in January). They have their weekly meeting, Punta de Partida (Point of Beginning) in the afternoon. We’ve been able to observe and get some ideas for our meetings, as well as begin to get to know some of the students there.

*We’ve been blessed to be able to work a bit with the other team and learn from them and their experiences in Chile. Once a month on Friday nights, they have a meeting (Raices = Roots) for the student leaders in the movement. Again, it’s been great to meet the students, and once we get student leaders involved from Republica, we hope to bring them to this meeting too.

*For me personally, it’s been great to reconnect with friends here from last year. It’s encouraging to see them still following the Lord here and involved in the ministry. It’s also been great to get to hang out with them and have an ‘insider’s view’ of Santiago. I got to go to a Chilean wedding last weekend, and I learned how to play tennis the other week (that and soccer are the main sports here).

Me with Naty and Paty, two girls from USACH (where the other team is working) at the weekly meeting.



Club de Ingles (English club)

Last week was our first official English club. We handed out over 1000 flyers last week and had about 15 people come. We were really excited for to see them! There were all levels of English ranging from not knowing anything to being quite proficient. The students that came were so excited to have the opportunity to practice with ‘gringos’. We were able to really connect with some of them, and one student invited us to go to a concert on Saturday night. Some of the team went and had a great time getting to know her and her boyfriend more. It is through relationships like this that we desire to get to know students and share the gospel. We’re beginning to see ministry is never ending, as we begin to share our lives with the students. It’s exhausting, but I’m excited to get to know them more.
We’re also trying to get a classroom to have the English club in (right now it’s in a food court). We’re having a Chilean help us, as this is more effective than us going.

On a personal note...

It’s been a month of many highs and lows for me. Lately, I’ve been feeling discouraged about reaching the students, and I feel as though I have nothing to offer. But the Lord is teaching me it’s not about me, my ability to speak Spanish, or cool personality (or lack thereof). It’s about what he wants to do in Chile and his power– it’s so humbling he has chosen to use us here. And he is teaching me that this is the best place to be– broken and at his feet. 2 Cor. 12:9-10
I’m so thankful for my roommates– we all get along so well, and I’m so glad the Lord put us together. Living with the Mexicans also helps me Spanish! They’re always there to support me, and we have a lot of good times together as well. I don’t know what I’d do without them!


2 Cor. 12:9
“But he said to me, “My grace is suffificient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me...



Playing soccer with the students at USACH. (I got the wind knocked out of me!)


Prayer Requests
· That we could continue to learn Spanish
· For Tomoyo’s heart to be open to the gospel and
for an opportunity to share with her
· For the English clubs– that students would come
and we could build relationships with them
· Much wisdom for how to go about sharing
Christ– the spiritual climate is very hard here
· For god to raise up Chilean student leaders
· For a classroom to have our English club in

Your prayers mean so much to me– thank you for your partnership in the gospel-
In His love and grace,
Julie Sorensen