Heat wave and drought

Driest spell we've ever seen here.  The drought is in it's 10th day.  Ok, so maybe it's not a drought to you but to us that's DRY!  Got clear up to 82 degrees, too.

Christmas eve

We celebrated Christmas in the traditional way here.  We got together with pastor Hector and family and did a BBQ!

This is summer now and the weather was nice.  I put the food on the grill 10 pm, no problem as it was still light out.  Gets dark around 11 pm.  We sat down to eat around 11 and opened presents on Christmas morning.  Got to bed after 1.

Take a tour of our new dock!

In back yard looking toward river.

Looking down fixed ramp at landing.

On landing looking at movable ramp.

On dock looking up river.

On dock looking down river.

Now we have to paint all this.  Wanna help?  :-]

Christmas 2010 newsletter

Special request

Would you help us get our boat in the water?

Our mechanic from Texas needs to come down and finish some installations before we can launch the boat. He needs some parts and airfare to be able to do it. He is retired but has been working to raise funds but still lacks around $2000 for both airfare and parts.

Would you consider helping us out by donating a few dollars? You could send money to either my checking account or work account at AGWM. Also please let me know if you do and the amount so I can be sure it makes it to the right fund!

Thank you!!!!

My e-mail: aysensteve(@)gmail(.)com
Note: I put parenthesis around the dot to foil e-mail bots from finding it. Just ignore them.

e-donation: (also at bottom right of page click link called donations.

https://secure1.ag.org/contributions/detail.cfm?LedgerID=2649640D-AB9A-4707-B5A1-0A3FAE7B9D36

Work Account:

AGWM
1445 S Boonville Av
Springfield, MO 65802
Steve Wilson
Chile
224192

More pics!

We went on a paseo Sunday and showed the team our area.

 

 

Pastor Bob Weis and us at the end of the fijord.

A fine group of supervisors  :-]

 

Before.  
Our old dock was rotting and actually dangerous to go out on.

After.  
Now this is NICE!  What is even more amazing is 
that this was accomplished in 3 days of work!

Never fails.  There is always someone who needs to be kept on a leash.

We were able to purchase some old salmon pen parts.

A design was decided on and the welders went to work.

View from across the river.

The new dock in place!

The ramp up

Our expert dock team!

The completed dock was placed in the river by 2 cranes

Then floated downriver Huck Finn style

Once arrived it was tied up

And we now have a dock in place!

STL boat arrives!

Here's a pic of our new boat sitting in front of the yard. Now we get to finish fixing it up and get it ready to launch. Be a couple months till wel launch probably. We still need a name for it so be sure to vote!

Boat arrives at Chacabuco!

Our boat has made it closer to home! It arrived at our port here and now we have to do some paperwork to get it out. Hopefully we'll have it here at the house in a few more days!

We still have to name it so be sure to vote!

At the baptizm in Puerto Cisnes

Baptism Cisnes 11/14

Uh oh

So there I was in Santiago, I had just bought a pen drive and I whipped out my trusty pocket knife (Kersaw assisted opening drop point),sliced open the package and it occurred to me...Why do I have my pocket knife on me?  Seems I forgot to take it out of my pocket and took it on a 3 hour flight through 2 airports.  I'm not sure to be happy I didn't lose my favorite knife or be concerned about airport security.  Yes, they use metal detectors.

Vote!

Seems our new STL boat will head down soon.  Hopefully we'll be able to get it fixed up and headed out to sea in a couple months.

One of the things we have yet to do is name it! 
For this I'd like your help.
To the right of the page is a survey with a few choices, please select your favorite (please just vote once).
Also, feel free to suggest a name yourself by sending it to:
chilestlboat@gmail.com

Thanks!

Good news!

As many of you know, we've been given a boat to use in our work here in Patagonia.
The 41' (yet to be named) arrived in Chile about 3 months ago and has been stuck in the port of Valparaiso since then accumulating port storage fees. 
Well, finally, it looks like the paperwork is done and the boat should be released to head down here this week!  The customs broker told me that the storage fees have accumulated to around $28,000!
The broker and a lawyer friend (Elena) apparently have gone to bat for us and petitioned the port for a reduction in those fees. 

Last night I got word that the port is going to charge us $0 for storage!

Can somebody say Praise the Lord?

Busy weekend

Hey everyone, we had quite a busy weekend and we needed and really felt your prayers.

Some of the things that stand out now that we're back home:

Sunday morning I preached a missions service in Puerto Aysen.  They really put a lot of effort into it and most of the kids and several adults dressed in national costumes.  We had to leave before the end of the service to get to Puerto Cisnes in time for the evening service.  (Just got word that 4 adults gave their hearts to the Lord!)

We made it to Cisnes in about 3.5 hours, Rhonda made some sandwiches Sat night and we stopped and ate on the way.

Service was packed, it's a tiny place and there were 27 present.  Including those who attended Sat night and didn't come Sun AM they reached 33 this weekend.  Very good for Cisnes!

2 people gave their hearts to the Lord, a neighbor lady and a young girl.

A 91 year old lady and her daughter walked nearly an hour to attend.  When I took them home I had to lift her in and out of the car.

We forgot kerosene and the firewood is too wet to light in the cabin.  We never did get a fire our whole stay.  Temps were in low 40's in the AM inside.

Mon afternoon it got hot!  Temps must have been in upper 60's and everyone is out in t-shirts and shorts.  Very nice weather!  Spent the day visiting and counseling.

Tue AM we headed home, good weather and made it back safe and sound if rather tired.

Thank you for praying for us and for the pastors and work in Puerto Cisnes!

70 days

Raul Bustos lost his job in Talcahuano when a tsunami destroyed his place of work at the end of April.  He moved to Copiapo to find work in the mining industry and August 5 entered the San Jose mine to fix a truck.  Yesterday, after 70 days he, along with 32 others, ended the longest work shift in Chilean history.

It's not often that good news captures the worlds attention and even rarer that good news captures the medias attention like this story has.

Last night everyone in Chile and many around the world celebrated as 33 men were given another chance at life!  At 10pm, as the last miner was hoisted to the surface, every siren and church bell in Chile sounded, horns honked, and people shouted and waved flags.  It was a great moment and an event that will be engraved in Chilean history.

Many of the miners wore a t-shirt over their coverall that says it pretty good:  "Thank you Lord!"

Iquique mens retreat

On October 8th I went to speak at a men's retreat outside Iquique.  Kind of a long trip.  left the house at 9am and arrived at the hotel in Iquique 6pm.  And that was travel by air with a VERY fast plane change in Santiago!

We drove another hour and a half into the desert to finally arrive at the retreat site.  Very different climate than here in Aysen.  Hardly any clouds, dry, dry, dry.  Chilly in the morning and very hot mid-day.

There were just over 100 men there from Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.  We had a great time and it was good to see many lives touched!