Churches sow seeds of friendship during mission trip to Santiago, Chile

A group of Flathead Valley people have found that when you plant a church, relationships grow.

Whitefish Church of God headed a mission trip to Chile where Flathead Valley residents built a church for a pastor who plans to gather a new congregation.

Some members of the group of about 20 people stayed for about a month from early March to early April. Others came down for 10 days during their spring breaks.

There was plenty to take in during the trip, from the crowded streets of Santiago to watching a largely Catholic nation respond to Pope John Paul II's death. But it's the relationships with each other and the people they met that they'll remember most, several group members said.

"Everyone worked together and it was just awesome," said Whitefish Church of God member Sammi Burt, 16.

The congregation members, who were joined by several people from Columbia Falls' Crossroads Church and the First Baptist Church of Whitefish, cleared the church site and nearly completed the new house of worship. The building needed only concrete and roofing work by the time the group returned to Kalispell.

The church site was in Padre Hurtado, near Santiago, Chile.

The group worked with the Chilean pastor, Narciso Zamora, and a few people in the community there. Several high school age students also helped out as their class schedule allowed.

"There's a camaraderie and a sense of accomplishment," said the Whitefish Church of God pastor, the Rev. Larry Lautaret.

"It was instant relationships and just like family," Justin Parker, 23, said of his experience.

Language, however, was an obstacle.

"Trying to talk and understand what the other person needed was pretty hard," said Burt's sister, Stephanie, 18. "But it still felt like you could get the point across."

"We only had a couple of translators," Laura Phelps, 17, said. "We had to communicate with hand signals."

There's something about working together on a building project to help others and to glorify God that transcends language barriers, group members said.

"It was to know we were all Christians and doing this for God," Sammi Burt explained.

The Burt sisters were two of several high school students who went on the trip. The students held fund-raisers to pay for their costs of going on the mission. The congregation and other people in the valley also donated money for building materials.

Lautaret, whose children David and Rachel also came on the trip, initially thought he might have trouble interesting people in signing up for the mission.

"I didn't know if we'd even get 10 people," he said. "And we ended up with so many people. It was really a blessing."

For many of the people who went to Chile, the trip was their first mission. Most of the first-timers said they had long wanted to do a mission because they'd heard from other people how rewarding they are.

"Anybody who goes once is just gung-ho to go again," Terry Engle said.

Engle, 41, stayed in Chile for the whole month.

The trip conditions were fairly cushy compared to the missions where participants have no electricity or running water. The group stayed in the pastor's home, which was large enough to house them dormitory-style. There were showers, though they were narrow and often short on hot water.

"The facility was probably about mid-range for Chile," Lautaret said.

Lautaret knows the pastor from working with him on previous mission trips. He refers to building a new church and establishing a new congregation as "planting" a church.

The Montana group had several chances to gain insight into how Chileans celebrate God.

"They were totally into worship," Stephanie Burt said. "They just sang their hearts out and when the pastor prayed, they all prayed out loud."

American churches tend to be more reserved, several trip members said. Many Chileans also seem to make God a bigger part of their everyday lives and tend to talk about it more often, Burt said.

Rachel Lautaret paid particular attention to the Catholic influence in Chile. The country is 75 to 89 percent Catholic, depending on which demographic source one consults.

When Pope John Paul II died, the country took notice, Lautaret said.

"It was a huge thing and everybody in the city went (to ceremonies held for the pope)," she said. "But it didn't seem really emotional" or seem overwrought with grief, she explained.

The group experienced a culture very different from Montana's when they visited Santiago, a city of 5 million, and surrounding areas in their free time.

Some group members have furthered the relationships they planted in Chile with e-mails.

Conversing via e-mail means they can't use the hand gestures and common goals they shared in Chile. But sending e-mails means they can use Internet translator to say in words what they experienced in common.

Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterlng@dailyinterlake.com