Even to the Ends of the Earth

The past week I had the incredible opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful places on God's earth-Patagonia (specifically Chile's national park, Torres del Paine). Classes were cancelled Thursday and Friday the week before Easter, so I took the liberty of skipping a bit of school and going south for a whole week. While I missed being at home with my family (and the Mixes!) during Easter, spending Easter Sunday watching the sun rise over spectacular mountain vistas seemed to me the best way of celebrating our living God! Here is one of the many pictures I took in Torres del Paine:



It seems that God proving His faithfulness to me is going to be the story of my life. Getting to Patagonia was stressful because I had to miss school, and we took red eye flights there and back so I was pretty tired even going into this vacation. We decided that we wanted to hike the famous "W" of Torres del Paine, however this usually takes 5 days and we only had 4 days free to backpack through the park. Additionally, we didn't have the appropriate gear (tents, cold weather sleeping bags, hiking boots, camping stoves, etc.) to complete the hike. However, we found a place to rent all the gear once we arrived, and God used an exhausting four days of hiking and camping to teach me about his faithfulness and love for me. In four days we hiked about 40 miles over rocky and hilly terrain with 30 pound packs on our backs. This was super challenging for me! Below is a picture of the route we backpacked through Torres del Paine (it makes it easy to see why it is called the "W").



And here is a picture of where we camped the first night. Makes it easy to understand why it was impossible for this trip not to be spiritual, doesn't it!?!



This is me in front of the famed Torres (Towers) of Torres del Paine:



We had flown into the southernmost city in South America, and the Bible verse that kept me going over these physically and mentally challenging days was, "I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth." Though the going was tough, every day I was reenergized by the beauty of the earth that God gave me. I think God has blessed me by allowing me to recognize His grace in my life. Here in Santiago grace comes not only though week-long trips to Patagonia, but also through little things like peanut butter, good conversations with my host family, and finding ways to cut time off the daily commute :)

This weekend we have a cultural trip to Valparaiso/Vina del Mar with CIEE (my study abroad program). It should be a fun three days in what we call "Gringolandia" (land of the gringos, since we will be a group of 40 or so Americans, haha). Its hard to believe that I am almost two months into my time here in Santiago. Sometimes I miss people and things from home so much that I want to return tomorrow, but usually I am filled with thankfulness for the time I have here.

So here's a funny thing (and then I promise I will end this eternal blog). One of my greatest fears before coming to study in Chile was living in a Spanish-speaking culture. I was scared I wouldn't understand my professors and that I would feel unable to adequately express myself in Spanish. However, Spanish has become such a big part of my everyday life and the way I process things that I am afraid it will be the thing I miss most once I leave Santiago! In fact, I am so sad about no longer being surrounded by Spanish-speakers once I return to the US that I started to look for jobs in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries once I graduate. (Mom, do not freak out. We will talk.) Fancy that!