Concepcion

We arrived in Concepción yesterday and were greeted by Graeme Peters at the Airport. A short ride to their home, just across the road from the city's Football ground where a major game is being played at the moment. Every now and again there's a roar as someone shoots for goal or a penalty is awarded.

We spent a long time talking with Graeme and Jane about the ministry here and have gained a far better idea of the various challenges and issues they face.
Today we went to their church. They have three morning services, a 10am English speaking service for the St John's congregation, held fortnightly (not this week), an 11am service in Spanish for the St John's congregation and a 12:15pm Service for the San Juan congregation. The two churches operate independently in a building owned by the St John's congregation, but Graeme is trying to encourage them to merge into a single church.

Chile

Today we took a half day tour of Santiago. Saw lots of sights and heard much of the history of this country. Santiago has 6 million people in a small valley that is incredibly smoggy due to the thousands of cars and trucks that ply its streets each day. It's a bit like St Paul's Corinth, having an image of great religiosity with many churches
and a beautiful Cathedral, train stations named after saints and even one named Salvation (thought no doubt named after Salvador Allende) but one gets the impression it's as secular as any other city. There's lots of impressive architecture and a feel of great vitality among the people walking the streets.













The local people, the Mapuchu have made this sculpture to express their feelings of disconnection since the coming of the Spanish.

Well we finally arrived in Santiago after more than 3o hours of travelling. Not much fun, but we're here now. We spent today recovering from long overnight flights looking around the city near our hotel. The city is car centred so the level of pollution is fairly high, increasing through the day. It's also a mix of old and new architecture as
can be seen from some of the pictures here.

















Santiago has a garden area next to the river (if that 's what it is) and freeway with a series of sculptures some of which are here. We also vistied and old area that's been refurbished into a craft market and eatery complex.

Holiday 2008

Day 1

Well, we're off on another global adventure - almost. In fact so far we've only got as far as Sydney where we're visiting family before leaving on Wednesday for South America. But here are some pictures of what we've done so far. First there's the Sydney Harbour Bridge at night, looking out from the top Story of Di's sister, Sharon's house in Lavender Bay. Well, it's actually the rectory of the Church where Sharon's husband is the minister but they call it home.





This afternoon we sat in the church listening to an impromptu organ recital by a young Polish musician, Krzysztof Czerwinski who is staying with Sharon & Pat while he studies at the conservatorium - what a treat!