Smile in the city.

Usually, people don't like The City, it's loud and crowded, crazy and impersonal.

People walk past you without noticing you exist. But then we have Santiago.

A favorite place for many in this world. Everyday there is something new to it.

The enchanting City with old XIX Century buildings, Cathedrals and also brand new buildings. It is enchanting because of its dynamics and today we found a beautiful smile.

I promised Ryan we would get a treat from a shop right in front of GAM, he was like a little boy waiting for it, asked about it a few times. 'Are we getting our treat now?' - in the 'are we there yet?' tone.

All week I had thought of this place and the memories I had there, it's a restaurant near three university campuses located on the main avenue of the city, a metro station 30 steps away from it and not only they serve meals, but it is also a bakery.

Now, let's talk about the memories. My first time being there was with my dad in '08, after watching a movie that inspired me not to quit uni that year and we needed something to eat, which ended up being pizza and beer.
My second time there was when Ryan and I got invited to have lunch with someone who had hurt us a lot and needed to apologize. We ordered pasta and she complained during the whole meal. It is not a good memory, she is someone that belongs to the past buried under our feet.
Third memory there was when I took a friend for a sweet treat after we prayed in the city. That friendship faded away.
I clearly remember how this morning we prayed for our sweet treat in the city. And God was already busy on it.
We crossed the street to find that this restaurant was no longer baking sweet treats. We walked down that street in the hope that we would find a patisserie and we found this small one, walked in and looked at the yummy things all over the place, we chose the "cream bow ties" we were going to get and then moved to choose the drinks. As we turned towards the counter to order the sweets, a lady had already ordered them for us, paid and just handed them to us. In complete shock, we took them and thanked her, not being able to fully react and hug her or anything and before we could realize, she was gone.
Everyone in the shop went crazy!
We were in disbelief.

Once we sat down and ate them, it came to me how powerful our God is. Our gift, our present, that awesome thing we wanted was already paid!
In our lives, we all need a saviour, we all are lost and juicy, yummy, tasty, delicious, wonderful heaven is in front of us, when we try to reach it, when we "behave" and are "good" enough as to get it, Jesus comes and gives it to you, not because of how much you strive to get it, but because the price of having you coming to heaven was already paid.

XPKT

Expectation for new things to come...

Today we went to the fruits market that is two blocks from home. Not only we got fruits and yummy healthy things, but we also bought plants.
Every week, Ryan used to buy me flowers, today we decided that plants were a perfect reflection of what happens at this stage: a lot of hope and anticipation for the things to come, like a plant does, our relationship will get rid of old things that represent no benefit to us but also strengthen itself to bloom in colorful explosions of joy.
This idea of plants growing and the garden took me back to my childhood, when we first arrived to this beautiful house and instead of a living room, where I am at the moment, there was a big backyard with fruit trees. As I was getting taller, my mom said "soon, you'll be taller than the trees"... that led me to stand next to the trees every day to check who was growing faster. After three months, I lost, but really I won! because the trees grew and bore fruit and I could eat it.
It is very exciting to think that Ryan and I will become a family, not only a married couple, but we will be starting a family, belonging to each other and bearing fruits in the future.

Second Anniversary

This was the most amazing experience, celebrating two years of love!

Love in companionship and in romanticism, growing together as two awesome friends, going through hard personal moments, holding each other's hand and encouraging each other to keep going.

And oh, the good moments! Making each other laugh to tears, dance ridiculously and making up stories and songs. The endless conversations on Skype, on the couch, at the dining table, on a picnic rug at the park, at Mei Li, Three Monkeys and the Groove Train in Brisbane, the bench on Pedro de Valdivia, Bravissimo and the walks to and fro the shopping center near home in Santiago.

We celebrated on the 6th of March, 2012 two years of being together regardless the distance between us for some time, we are a walking testimony that LOVE CONQUERS EVERYTHING and THERE'S NO FEAR IN LOVE, BUT PERFECT LOVE DRIVES AWAY FEAR.

We have nothing to fear, but a life to live together.

In this day, we celebrated Ryan being bold to hold my hands and saying "I want to grow with you". Soon the big day will come when we hold hands and say to each other "I want to grow old with you" in front of a large number of witnesses before God and also before the law.

I waited for so long, part I

Hey, hey, hey!

G'day mates! Hola amigos!

Tonight, being 1:32 a.m. I am online listening to one of the most beautiful albums in the world: On the shores by Jonathan and Melissa Helser.

Have you ever felt like music comes to your life to be the soundtrack of it? Yes, like in the movies!

Well, this is exactly how I felt a couple of days ago.

Ryan was super excited when this album was released (deep in his heart, he still wants to be a reporter and write for the Rolling Stones magazine or something similar - I know he'll write about the music in heaven sometime soon, which is so much exponentially cooler!), he played the songs a few times and I still couldn't click or simply fall at the lyrics because I could hear lots of shouting and truly, my phlegmatic temperament, my quiet heart beating slowlier than normal and my inherited passivity led me to rather stay away from that music for a bit.

One afternoon when I just wanted to collapse in the couch, Ryan came super excited to tell me the story behind a song called "explode my soul" and I heard the story, not really paying attention to the song.

2 days ago, while in the kitchen, I thought of the story and then heard the song and BAM! It hit me!

She screams at the top of her voice "I waited for so long just to sing this song".

Her story is that she spent 8 years without being able to play the guitar because of a psoriatic arthritis and finally God healed her (using a breakthrough medication), her husband gave her an acoustic guitar and she wrote that song that night.

"What He promised is what He gave!"

"Hello Promise Land ... I waited for sooooo loooong...."

What was revealed to my heart is God gave me a promise which I understood partly, it was the confirmation for Ryan and me to start this relationship, but it was so much deeper, a prophecy to be accomplished word by word in over two years...

Australia Day

After 20 years, I am sad to say that I do not have a solid, beautiful, or strong memory of celebrating Australia Day. And I don’t think I am alone, because for many of us, we don’t know what it means, other than a holiday in the middle of the first week of school. After living in a different culture I have come to realize what it really means to come together to celebrate, and share moments with those who you dearly love. For example, my New Years, have been rather uneventful throughout my life, in fact, until last year, I had actually come to believe that New Years, was a waste of money, time and energy and most years, I would retire to my bed by 10PM, disillusioned with the festivities. However, the last two New Years I have spent with my beloved fiancée and I have come to learn that it is a very special time. This year, Massiel and I made a very special dinner, cooked on our home made wood fire barbeque, accompanied by a special Australian dessert. We ate as close as we could to midnight, as part of Chilean custom and then as the hour approached, we counted down and as the clock struck twelve, we held each other close, not with a joyful and fun, meaningless hug, but with an embrace that would say, ‘Welcome to this year, I love you and I will stay with you whatever this year will bring.’ We prayed over each other and we gave each other our best wishes. With tears in our eyes, we stood in that embrace, until the time came to dance. And we did.

So with this new chapter of our lives that we are venturing into together, it has become important to me, that we treasure these special days, like Australia Day. Although we may not be in Australia, I can proudly say, that this has been the best Australia Day of my life. Why? Because of the missing ingredient... Love.

Outrageously loved

I didn't get fired technically, I just can't go back and teach those children anymore because of a financial crisis that the family is going through. I like honesty.

When I walked out of that place, I thanked God deeply, it's been nothing like holidays these past couple of months, not that Ryan and I are completely in that mood, but because of work and my thesis, we didn't have that much freedom to get up at anytime during the day or go to bed after 11. We couldn't continue to do any more work outside and have been postponing different little projects.

And now, we're free to stand up and be embraced by the Beautiful One. I can get lost in His presence and not worry about responsibilities, we can go on short day trips and worship freeeeeely!

I took a deep breath and thanked God because when the world tries to convince us that we have to DO, He says "Hey! It's DONE".

My only job is to be outrageously loved.

I rest on that. We trust Him.

3, THE number.

Have you heard about the Trinity? No, not your acquaintance or the girl in Matrix, but THE Trinity: God Father, God Son and God Holy Spirit. Well, they're a trinity because they're three, but truly they're just one and they make the bestest superhero, all their powers combined... aw, man! whoever dares to be His enemy is already defeated!

So here are some stories:

• When Ryan came over in winter 2011, he knelt and pulled a little purple box out of his pocket, then he said "Massiel, I'm not here for holidays, I came here to see you and my mission is to ask you...(pause, deep breath) 16 months ago I said I wanted to grow with you and now I want to ask you to grow old with me". In this lil' box was a ring and three sparkling diamonds which symbolize us and God in the middle.
• In this pre-marriage season we're surrounding ourselves with loving, caring and amazing people.

We've chosen 3 wonderful men whose mission is to take good care of us, and 3 beautiful women whose mission is to go through the whole preparation process with us.

Yesterday, we met with one of them to give her the invitation and with tears in her eyes, her only words were "yes, I wouldn't miss this for the world", I understand that our happiness is a big part of their happiness as well.

And then I wondered, why 3?

Because 3 is THE number.