Many years ago when I first became aware of teams that went from local churches to help others whether locally, nationally or internationally they were generally called “work” teams, the idea being that a group of people from a local church would go primarily to work. The focus of the experience was on getting the work done that needed to be done. Build a church, repair a school, remodel a hospital, whatever it was–the focus was narrowly placed on the work to be done.

But a change has occured in the last few years. Now these teams are called Volunteer in Mission (VIM) teams. I think that the change is significant and for the better. VIM teams have a broader focus than work teams … their focus is to be in mission where they go. That includes not only doing work but also building relationships with people as well as getting to know something about the culture and history of the place where the team is serving.

John Elmore (our covenant mission partner) does a great job of providing VIM teams with opportunities to experience this broader focus on mission. Today, he gave us a two hour tour of the El Vergel school facilities, taking time to explain something about how the school operates. We saw classroom facilities, dorm rooms and the bakery. We also saw the school’s gardens, greenhouse and other agricultural aspects of the school including the sheep and pigs that the students are responsible for.

In addition to seeing the facilities we met several of the faculty and staff members who work at the school. We had the opportunity to have conversation, ask questions and learn a bit about them and their perspective. It was very informative and helped us to understand more fully why we are here and what being in mission here means.

Tomorrow we will travel to a small village that traces its roots to the Italian immigration that occured in Chile in the 1800’s. By doing that we will learn even more about the culture and history that surrounds us in this beautiful country. On Sunday we will attend church again and in so doing we will learn more about Methodism in Chile as well as strengthening relationships with our brothers and sisters of the Emmaus Methodist church.

For some these may seem like extras, but properly understood, they are central to what it means for a team to be in mission. Mission is more than work. It is people, history and culture. What may seem like extras are, in fact, a vital part of the Volunteer in Mission experience. To be sure, a great deal of work has been done by our team with more to come, but we didn’t come here solely to work. We came here to be in mission.

Tom

We arrived at our destination in Angol, Chile early on Sunday morning. We were mostly refreshed from our plane ride after sleeping on those wonderful buses. We drove to El Vergel Methodist Agricultural School which will be our home and workplace for the next two weeks.

Sunday is a day of worship in Chile just as it is in the U.S.A. We were blessed to worship with our Chilean brothers and sisters in Christ at the Emmaus Methodist Church in Angol. The church is the Methodist church for the neighborhood of Emmaus in the City of Angol. This is the church where John Elmore (our covenant mission partner) and his wife Christina are active members.

The woship service starts at noon and includes all the elements of worship that we include in our worship services at home … prayer, Scripture, the offering, music and a sermon. A meaningful time in the service for us was when we were received as missionaries. Our reception by the Emmaus church was much like our commissioining at Bluff Park church. We were called to the altar and introduced to the congregation. After the introduction we knelt at the altar while the Pastor of the church prayed a prayer of blessing over us just as Mike had prayed a prayer of blessing over us when we were commissioined at Bluff Park. We then shared the greeting from our congregation that was spoken by Mike at our commissioning.

This time of worship reminded me again of how much we have in common with our brothers and sisters around the world. The difference in language is a bit of a challenge but the smiles on the faces and the hospitable reception more than makes up for that. The Pastor preached on John chapter 4. His text was the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It was taken from the same set of lectionary readings that we are using in our Wednesday morning Lenten service. Yet another connection with our brothers and sisters. The essence of the sermon was that Jesus didn’t discriminate against others so we shouldn’t discriminate against others. That, as they say, will preach, no matter what the country or language. Yet another connection. Being here reminds me again that in Christ we are deeply connected one with another.

We spent the rest of Sunday afternoon resting in order to get ready for the work week.

Our Chile Mission team is planning to send updates about their work while they’re down in Chile. We’ll be posting those updates as they come in to update you on their work there.

Chile Mission Blog 2014 – 1st Edition

The El Vergel VIM team arrived in Santiago after an overnight flight from Birmingham via Atlanta. Every team member agreed that the seats on the plane were much too hard, especially after several hours with several more to go. That is except for Olivia Howard who shared with us that her favorite seat in all the world is a “bench seat from a pick-up truck.” She said, ” I sleep well in my 1982 Suburban.” We are seeking psychiatric help for her immediately. We were stiff but happy when we deplaned in Santiago.

We were met at the airport by John Elmore our covenant missionary partner in Angol, Chile. He was accompanied by our trusty van driver Francisco. We are here and ready to go. After a day of looking around Santiago, resting and relaxing we boarded the TurBus Semicama at midnight for our overnight trip to Angol.

It is a doubledecker bus. The upstairs portion of the bus has seats that are like recliners.  John Irwin said,  “I’ve never been so comfortable in my life. I slept the whole way.” The downstairs portion of the bus has fully reclining seats that are just like a bed. The “lucky three” had a great night’s sleep as well. It is a decidedly humane way to travel. If the buses in the U.S.A. were like these we would all be taking long bus trips.

So after two days of travel we arrived at our destination, the El Vergel Methodist Agricultural School. We are happy to be here and ready to start work.