So, how do missionaries spend their days? Ask any one of our 100 + missionaries and you'll get 100+ different responses. Living in another culture means that we must learn to adjust our assumptions and expectations about time management to the realities here. Like all good North Americans we do try to use the standard time-management tools, but moving as we do between rural and urban worlds, Mapuche and Chilean cultures, we often have to set them aside and just "be."

A good example was my first Mapuche funeral. The wake alone lasted four days! Families took turns cooking meals and serving them round the clock until everyone arrived from greater distances. Mario Collinao, the lay pastor in Curihue, told me, "We just like being together and sharing." This is a Mapuche value.

Weekends are the busiest time for us. That's why, rather than look at "a day in our life," we want to show you what "a weekend in our life" is like.One weekend recently we needed to meet with the Lake Weavers group (the women who make the weavings which many of you now own) and the beekeepers group. Then we were going to stay over till Sunday afternoon after Sunday School and church.

Since we are bringing messages and lessons, we must prepare. Thursday and Friday were spent gathering the materials we used and putting finishing touches on our talks and meeting plans. Dwight worked in the mornings after Jack was in school at 8:00 a.m., and Barb worked for a bit in the afternoon preparing her materials. These days are a bit stressful because Thursday afternoon Barb teaches one of a series of Bible studies she is doing for the Women's Union of our Temuco church. This meeting goes from 3 to 7 p.m. every week! Nobody watches the clock. There's lots of time to "be" together and eat once (the Chilean afternoon tea), besides study together.

Thursday night, there is a service at our Temuco church. Dwight is teaching a series of 4 Bible studies in preparation for the church's evangelistic program. These services begin at 8 p.m. and end around 9:30. Why so late? Many of the people with jobs don't finish work until then. (It's a 45-hour work-week here.) Friday is spent the same way. Jack is picked up from school at 1:15. Lunch is at 1:30. Most people go home for this meal, and in fact, many businesses close from 1:30 to 3. A half-hour for lunch and back to work simply would not work here! This is family time.

Then, until once, Barb prepares her materials, while Dwight cares for Will. After Will and Jack are asleep, two young men in our church in Temuco who have been students at our Theological Institute, Raul and Lord, and Erika, Lord's wife, come over. Dwight has developed a mentoring relationship with Raul and Lord, and we often talk late into the night. Barb loves to cook and we often host people in our house. Because Chileans work long and late, these events usually don't start until after 8 p.m. Making friends and cultivating relationships are really what make any of our "projects" possible. "Missions" is about both being and doing.

It's now Saturday morning, and we arrive in Curihue around 11 a.m.. Since most of the Mapuche walk nearly an hour or more from their homes, we've learned not to expect a precise starting time. Even when they're all there, we don't start right away. We sit around the woodstove, warming ourselves and sometimes there are 3-4 cups of mate passed around. These are rich times for us, being together and sharing. On days like this, we usually just share bread and cheese for lunch.

Barb and Dwight work separately with our weaving and beekeeping groups, both of us doing Bible studies and exercises aimed at increasing their capacity as entrepreneurs and servants of transformation in their community. Meanwhile, Jack is playing outside with other kids, and Will is always in someone's loving arms.

Then, if it's not dark or raining, we linger to have more mate or coffee before leaving. At our host's home, the Collinao-Loncananco family, the evening is spent at the kitchen table (it's the warmest room), eating, drinking mate and talking. These times together nurture and make possible all that we do or endeavor. Learning to "be" is a big part of "doing."

Sunday we participate in Sunday School, and after lunch, Dwight preaches in the afternoon service. Afterwards, we never manage to pull away before dark because we all want to sit together for one last mate. We have learned from our Mapuche brothers and sisters even to fellowship in silence without feeling compelled to talk.

Praying together

• Pray for the weaving and the beekeeping projects in Curihue and Llongahue, near Panguipulli on the Lake Calafquen. Both groups are set for expansion, and the challenge is to grow in sound business and marketing practices that the Mapuche themselves can manage and generate sustainable income.
• This year we are invited to two Mapuche communities in different geographical regions, one closer to Temuco and the other on an island in a lake by the coast. (I'll know more when I see it.) Pray that the foundation/NGO we are trying to establish to facilitate development work will navigate the bureaucratic strangleholds soon.
• You have been praying for Jack and his adaptation to living in Chile again. He has done magnificently and we are awed by the adaptability and resilience of him and all the MK's we know. Jack recently asked if he could work with Barb in the English classes she is doing for a social ministry project of our Temuco church. He wants to teach!

CultureChoque/CulturaShock

What in the world is mate?

Also called Paraguay cayi, Paraguay tea, South American holly, matéteestrauch, erva-verdadeira, St. Bartholomew's tea, Jesuit's tea, hervea, caminú, kkiro, kali chaye, Ilex paraguayensis of the Aquifoliaceae family, yerba maté is an herbal tea claimed to have multiple medicinal and healthful properties.

Ilex paraguayensis is a medium-sized tree of the holly family grown wild and cultivated in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. It's a sustainable harvest which in turn supports rainforest preservation and the conservation and protection of endangered species. …

According to my package of yerba maté from Guayakí, the tea:

induces mental clarity

improves digestion

regulates appetite

increases endurance

sustains energy levels

boosts the immune system

helps relieve allergies

detoxifies the blood

...Traditionally, the dry leaves are placed in a cup, or gourd called a maté, then cold water is added to moisten the leaves and protect the nutrients and flavor. Next, hot water is added until all the leaves are covered. Rather than removing the leaves, you sip the tea through a straw called a bombilla which has a filter or strainer at the bottom to prevent the leaves going through the straw. … As you drink the tea, you add more water to the cup….

Traditionally, unless you were a gaucho alone on the pampa, you shared your cup of tea with close associates and family. Sharing the drink is a sign of friendship and bonding, and as such has a certain ceremonial aspect which is still observed and celebrated even though yerba maté bars are popular.

Information cultivated from "Yerba Mate – Background and preparation" by Bonnie Hamre:http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/cuisine/p/yerbamate.htm

What is a Missionary Partnership Network?

The Missionary Partnership Network (MPN) is comprised of people and churches who are dedicated to the mission of providing prayer, emotional, pastoral, and financial support to the missionaries who are sent under the auspices of the American Baptist Churches to do work in their related field.In short, repeat after me:I promise to God that I will support the Bolick family in their work in Chile and at home.I promise to pray for them.I promise to think about them.I promise to write them whenever possible.I promise to support them in any way necessary.I believe that God has sent them to do wonderful things.

Missionary Partnership Team: Missionaries Dwight and Barb Bolick

Team Leader Betty Helpa dhelpa@comcast.net

Team Chaplain Don Helpa dhelpa@comcast.net

Prayer Support/Local Church Communications Suzanne Jenkins mimisue1@verizon.net

Legal Advisor Harry Jenkins

Energizer Cori Catellier fossilmom10@hotmail.com

Communications Officer Beckie Craft beckiecraft@hotmail.com

If you would like to receive a copy of the monthly Bolick newsletter mari-mari by e-mail, please send an e-mail to Beckie Craft with a subject heading of "Bolick subscribe."If you have received this newsletter in error or no longer wish to receive it, please send an e-mail to the above address with a subject heading of "Bolick unsubscribe."

If you wish to know more about how you can help the Bolicks in their ministry with the people of Chile, please contact any member of the Missionary Partnership Team listed above.

If you would like to submit a poem, recipe, photo, short story or essay for publication in mari-mari, please e-mail Beckie Craft.