Yesterday, 17/1/2010, Chile had a national election. Sebastian Pinera (pictured below) is the President Elect, head of the conservative party in Chile. This is the first time there has been a change of government since Pinochet was in power, some 20 years ago. It is also the first time a right wing government has been democratically elected in over 50 years in Chile. The handover of government takes place in March. Please pray for a smooth transition of power and continued political stability for the nation and for the people of Chile.

Sebastian Pinera

The start of 2010 has included the viewing of Santiago’s finest fireworks.

View of New Year's Eve fireworks from apartment roof

We have also spent time with friends from Chile. This has been in the form of a light evening meal ‘once’ and with a typical BBQ (asado) on cerro San Cristobal, the highest hill in the city.

On top of Cerro San Cristobal

Photo of our suburb from the top of San Cristobal. The National Stadium is the oval shape at the top right hand corner of the photo. Our apartment block where we have stayed for the first 6 months in Chile is the orange L shaped apartments in the foreground of the clump of buildings in front of the National Staudium.

January has also been focused on more language study with a tutor coming to the house Mondays to Thursdays for all of January. Our language and culture orientation will continue into this year.

In February we will move to our long-term housing and school starts back in the first week of March. We are hoping for a week at the beach in between moving and school resuming.

Watch this space as ministry and work plans begin to unfold for 2010.

Leaving for Chile August 12:

Kingsford Smith Airport - Sydney

A welcome lunch from the SIM team in Santiago:

Pizza sobre piso cinco con colegas en Nunoa

Language school for the first 8 weeks for all but the youngest two Fauchons:

'Profesora', Olvia

Spiritual Life Conference 2009 in Villarica, 800km south of Santiago:

Keynote speaker, Malcolm McGregor, SIM International Director in the foreground in white with one of Chile's many snow-capped volcanoes in the background

Back to Language School for the rest of the year for Mum and Dad:

Michelle on a morning tea break ('recreo') at language school

Michelle & Bronte at a cooking class at language school

The remainder of 2009 for the children was school:

Video of Maddison\’s school dance

Maddison in a school dance

Jai’s video of school dance - traditional Chilean music

Jai (Right) in a school dance

Our First Days in

Santiago

How warmly we were welcomed onour arrival to Chile by the SIM team. We were met at the airport by our Directors who transported us to our apartment. Awaiting there was the part of the SIM Chile team who live and work in Santiago.Graciously they had provided a welcome lunch, made our beds, bought a few food supplies to get us through and then arranged some local currency for us. We couldn’t have asked for more.

School and Language School:

Maddison and Jai started school one week after our arrival.  While they have found this somewhat overwhelming, the school has been very understanding, patient and nurturing.  They continue to settle and increase their hours at school week by week.  Bronte & Alex have had a good introduction to Spanish at language school and are now looking forward to putting it into practice in the school situation.  David and Michelle are also at language school 5 days per week, wrestling with the ever changing verbs of Castellano.

Church: We are attending a church that is close to our apartment (20min walk). We have been warmly welcomed with invitations to people’s homes.  On 17 October David will attend a day seminar at the church, focusing on the family.

Spiritual Life Conference: The annual SIM Chile conference was held for a week in Villarrica, 750km south of Santiago.  This was a great week to meet the entire SIM Chile team, receive teaching from the International Director from the book of Matthew “Being with Jesus” and getting an overview of each missionary’s ministry.  SIM Chile have ministries in theological education, missionary mobilisation, empowering children at risk and discipling their families, personal evangelism, provision of retreats for Christian conferences and evangelism, discipleship and theological education for the Mapuche who are the indigenous people group in the south.  Praise God for such refreshment and orientation.

Culture: Cumpleanos De Chile

The weekend of 18-20 September saw Chile celebrating their 199th birthday of independence.  It came with public holidays and much festivities.  There were carnivals, BBQ’s, military parades, flying of Chilean flags, family gatherings, rodeos, late nights and much feasting.  This was a great opportunity for us to observe the ways they celebrate Chilean style.  Chileans in general eat their main meal in the middle of the day with a lighter meal at night.  They tend to work long hours and stay up late.

Friday 22nd May, saw us welcoming a good crowd of people for an encounter Chile evening.The evening started with 5 activities for people to rotate through, looking at interesting facts about Chile, the needs in Chile, a brief Spanish lesson conducted by Bronte and Alex, the history of the church and a time to pray for Chile and its people. Steve Shooter and Jenny Allen from SIM graced us with their presence and shared briefly with us. We had the privilege of interviewing Pino, a Latino and our Spanish teacher Pati. Pati also gave a taste of fine Chilean cuisine which capped off the evening nicely, as Chilean music played in the background. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, learnt much about Chile and enjoyed great fellowship. We trust that Chile will grow in your hearts as you partner with us in this vital ministry in Chile as we serve Christ , elevating families and ministries alongside the nationals.

In preparation for ministry Michelle embarked on a course in March/April to gain certification for teaching English as a foreign language (TESOL). This was an intense and all consuming four weeks. However, this is a valuable tool which has potential for both ministry and the ability to raise our support base by self-funding through part-time work.

Similarly, David has made contact with those in the ultrasound field in Santiago. Together, with SIM, investigations are continuing as to the viability of some part-time work in ultrasound to reduce the level of support required from partners. Please pray for strong communication through this process and for timely opportunities.

The children have settled well into school in Australia giving both them and their parents confidence of a smoother transition in Chile. They have all excelled both in the classroom and in their relationships with their peers in the breaks. The older two have particularly enjoyed taking hold of sporting opportunities.

Bronte and Alex will need a reasonable grasp of Spanish to operate well in the classroom from day one. An alternative to going to school immediately is to initially have language classes aimed at learning for children. Maddison and Jai could go to an all Spanish speaking school and learn by immersion. Taking this option has the secondary benefit of reducing the regular, ongoing monthly cost of being on the field until it is time to enter an international school. By that time David and Michelle should have enough Spanish to take up some part time work as described above. This approach has allowed for a fresh look at the budget. Regular support is now sitting at 61.7 %. This allows us to start researching prices for our airline tickets in preparation for making bookings when our regular support reaches 80%. Please pray that the remaining 39% of support required will be achieved shortly.

The updated schedule is to arrive in Chile late June.This will allow us to settle the family and familiarise ourselves with our surroundings. The children would start the second half of the Chilean school year in July. To arrive in Chile in late June our regular support needs to be at 100% by mid-late April. This will allow us 8 weeks to book airfares, move out of our house in Hazelbrook, give SIM Chile time to make accommodation arrangements for us in Santiago, organise a commissioning service and complete our deputations.  Please pray that churches and individuals will continue to resource the promotion of the gospel in Chile.

Well the 13/2/09 has been and gone. This was David’s last day in his work place at Nepean Hospital. Having sought the Lord out as to when he should resign the Lord moved David to making this big step towards trusting him! As we plan to move to Chile, this was a necessary step but with it comes many changes. David has really grown, been challenged and developed in this middle management position. The Lord has given him many opportunities in this job. He has travelled the world in order to present research papers, he has been encouraged and mentored by his fantastic boss Ron Benzie for whom David has a high regard, he has had opportunities to pray for unborn babies, for parents who are grieving and also had many opportunities to share his faith with his colleagues. We praise God for all of this! We praise him for his amazing provision for us which we know will continue and we look forward to this next Chapter………….

OUR MINISTRY IN CHILE : Having spoken with several pastors in Santiago it became apparent to us that there were needs that we could meet. Families in Chile are broken. The divorce law in Chile has only been passed in the last two years. This means that a lot of people are divorcing and this is impacting families, children and young people. The role model that we can provide as a family is one significant way that we can impact people’s lives for the gospel. The Chilean church has also found that through Marriage Encounter weekends people are responding to the gospel. This has brought rapid growth and many need discipling. We can disciple young Christians, grow and train leaders to run Bible studies and help model a nurturing, caring community that reaches out to others with the gospel.
ONE STEP CLOSER: As preparations continue, deciding when to finish work has been in the mix. The date has been set for David’s final day of work on 13/2/09 in readiness for a March arrival in Santiago. The support team is growing with a blend of prayers, one-off doners and regular supporters. Thank you to everyone who is partnering with us in this ministry. It is a humbling, stretching and challenging time. We value each one of you and see you as a very important part of this call for us to be in Chile, serving Jesus our Lord.
HAVE YOU GOT A DEPARTURE DATE?: We can only book airline tickets when our regular support has reached 80%. To date, by the grace of God, regular support has grown to 24%. Please join us in fervent prayer for the miraculous provision of the required 80% over the next six weeks, rejoicing as we see the Lord supply all our needs.
THE NEXT STEP CLOSER: Is letting out our house. Please pray for wisdom in the lending, storing and selling of possesions. Also for reliable and timely tenants.
WHAT PART CAN YOU PLAY IN SEEING FRUIT FOR THE KINGDOM IN CHILE?
Become a part of our team as we seek to reach the people of Santiago with the hope we have in Jesus. Simply ‘by prayer’ you are an invaluable participant in missions. This is SIM’s motto. We need you to partner with us in prayer for Chile, its people, their families and marriages,  and for us as we endeavour to reach them. SIM chooses to exist by faith which means we rely on God and his people, alone, to provide for the work. We would value your prayerful consideration as to whether you can become a financial partner. Some of us are called to go and others are called to send. Can you be a sender? “ The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Luke 10:2) Please use the enclosed response card to inform SIM of your willingness to be a sender. We look forward to partnering with you in Chile.
Yours in Christ’s service,
David and Michelle, Bronte Alex, Maddison and Jai