Back home again!

Obviously, by the title of the post, you can see that I'm home again. We got back to Mechanicsburg around 2:30 on Monday, the 15th, after a 9 hour flight from Montevideo to Miami, a three hour layover in Miami and a 3 hour flight to Baltimore and a 2 hour ride home. I slept very little on the plane - there was a young child (under 2) in the seat ahead of us that slept very little and cried some and I was in the middle with someone on either side of me, so I was conscientious of not moving around too much. By Monday night, I was really, really tired and went to bed around 9:30, but unfortunately, I didn't sleep well last night either. I came home with a sniffle and it's now a full blown sinus congestion. I'm not sure if it's the weather change, allergies triggered in Montevideo by all of the Eucalyptus or what, but I'm not functioning too well. My hubby was kind enough to stop on his way home from work today and get me some decongestant - hopefully it works and I get some sleep tonight!

I just wanted to update on what we did the last day we were in Montevideo with Stephanie and Bruce. We went to church at Christ Church, which is an English speaking church in Montevideo. The pastor was a guest speaker since the regular pastor was on vacation. He spoke on grace and used Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 3:24-26 as his scripture. It was a very good message, but it was almost like a step back in time. It reminded me of the messages I heard as a child in the Baptist church where I grew up. There was nothing 'contemporary' about the service or the sermon, which was really cool! It took me back to my childhood. There was a time of tea and coffee after church and we got to talk to some of the members who were interested in what we were doing in English camp. After church, Jackie and I took Stephanie and Bruce out to lunch as a "thank you" for their hospitality and Ceci, the girl from the Y who we had befriended met us there. Fortunately, Bruce had the foresight to make a reservation for us because Sunday was Uruguay's Father's Day, so the place was packed! Originally, we thought the place offered asedo, grilled types of meat, but they had a different menu because of the holiday. So Stephanie got chicken (she wasn't feeling too well), Bruce and Jackie got steak, Ceci got breaded beef and I got spinach ravioli with a white sauce. It was sooooo good! We went home, I took a little nap and then we spent the evening just visiting and chatting until it was time to go to the airport about 6:45. Bruce took us and helped us to get through the check-in. Our fun began when we got to Miami (about 5:15 am) and had to go through customs. It took us an hour and a half to go through all the checkpoints, pick up baggage, recheck our bags and go through security. Jackie had to go through a "pat-down" because the pin in her knee set off the alarm and without there being the full-body scanner, they needed to be sure she wasn't hiding anything. I felt uncomfortable for her because, even though it was a female TSA, it still looked awkward. Once we made it through that, everything was pretty routine. We met a young man in Montevideo who was on his way back to Kentucky, and I was joking that it was nice to be able to have a conversation in English. He said he understood, because he didn't speak English either, but he was visiting his girlfriend who was doing an internship at the Embassy. Then on our leg to Baltimore, a young man who was born in Brazil, was on his way home to Maryland. He sat next to Jackie and they talked most of the way to Baltimore while I slept. Harry, Jackie's husband, was waiting there and helped us get our luggage and to drive us home. While we had a great time in Montevideo and helping with English camp, I was happy to be back home and seeing my husband, as I think Jackie was too.

Last day of. sight-seeing

We took a trip to Punta Del Este today to see the famous hand sculpture in the sand. There were 14 adults and 4 children in two vans, so it was a regular "tour caravan"! The day was overcast and it tried to rain, but we still had a fun day. Before we got there, we stopped by the piers where the vendors were cleaning fish and the sea lions and birds waited for the scraps that got thrown into the water. One old dude was huge! He must have hung out there for many a meal! We saw Casapueblo, which is a villa built into the side of a cliff by a very famous Uruguayan artist who is known for his use of vibrant colors and fish shapes. We went over this crazy bridge (Muldanado Bridge - AKA 'Drunken Bridge') that was built like a roller coaster.We stopped for ice cream (helado) - I had Tarimasu and dulceleche. It was delicioso! Then we stopped at this animal preserve that had some neat animals, even though some of the cages looked like they were empty. The price was right though (it was free). We hurried home because there was Girl's club and Dana, one of the volunteers, was going to show them how to make earrings, using the glass beads that she hand-makes. She also shared her testimony which is really incredible!!! After Girl's club, there is company coming for dinner (8 o'clock). A couple from the Reflection group and their teenage son - a nice family and their son helped us at English camp. Today's been a busy day, but a really fun one! I can say that I've experienced so much of the Urugusyan culture that I can possibly fit into 2 weeks! The only thing left to do is pack, spend one more day with the Beer's and get ready for our loooong trip home!

So Sad....

English Camp is over for 2013! We've said our 'good-byes' to the kids and our special friends that we've made here in Uruguay. This last week of camp went by so fast, it's hard to know know where the time went! The kids who came seemed to have a really good time and we even had 2 come back today who were gone in the beginning of the week because of being on vacation. That's encouraging to know that they enjoyed the first week so much that they came back for one day. Some real connections were made with the parents, and even though we didn't have the turn-out that they expected, I believe God has a purpose and this camp was a "trial-run" for the next one they schedule. Even the people here say that Uruguayans are wary of "new" things, so the next one should be different, especially since the local paper had a small write-up on the camp. Some of the  volunteers are already starting to leave. One left last  night, one left tonight, three leave tomorrow night and Jackie and I leave on Sunday. The IW's (International workers) will be happy to get back to some semblance of normalcy and routine, especially those with small children. They've poured their heart and soul into preparation for this camp, and they're going to need several weeks to relax and recuperate. The one couple (the Tauby's) have a 5 week-old little girl, and they haven't hardly gotten to know her because they've been so busy with the preparations and plans for camp. But Mark and Kora have done an excellent job of coordinating everything and helping things to run smoothly. They've also worked hard on keeping us encouraged and spiritually filled. They gave everone a certificate of attendance and told everyone to write their own name on it. Then we circulated the certificates and everone wrote one attribute they recognized in the person whose name is on the certificate. When she gave me mine, I cried because I was so humbled to see how others view me. Sometimes we need to know that others see us in a different light than how we see ourselves. Though it has been a busy two weeks, God has been good and kept us relatively healthy, accident-free and somewhat energized, but I'll be happy to be back in Pennsylvania with my family and friends. The one thing that I've taken from this trip is that God has a bigger plan for all of us, and even though we may not know what that may be, He desires us to be obedient to His calling and willing to be obedient to Him, and He will bless us and use us in ways that are known only to Him. I feel honored and priveledged to have been able to be here in Uruguay and to have had a part in building His kingdom in a lost country and to have gotten to know and worked along side of some great sisters and brothers in Christ while they live the 'Great Commission'.

Week 2

Week two is in full swing, and while we don't have anymore children, we do have some different ones. The kids are really responding well and seem to be having a great time! We've added a new element to the camp - Kindermusik. It's a program for 2 to 5 year olds and uses music and movement to interact with the kids. It's an organized program that helps children to listen and respond to the instructor. I've been asked to assist in the program because of my Early Childhood training and experience, and I have to say that I am loving it! We have 7 children enrolled in the program who participate for an hour and 15 minutes with a parent. One child comes with her mother and grandmother and grandpa must not be too far away because he pops his head in and watches while the kids dance and move around. Not only is the program good for the kids and parents, but Timbrel, the instructor who is certified to teach it is getting practice and this may be the start of a ministry for her. Another worker from Ohio joined our team on Sunday night, but he'll be flying home on Thursday night. In all, that makes 10 of us volunteers from Oregon, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We range in age from 17 to 78. It's a good group and we seem to mesh well, but some of us have really formed strong bonds that will last even after this trip is over. But pray for us because there seems to be some kind of "bug" going around. Bruce was the first to get sick, but several of us are following suit. It starts out with a scratchy throat, a headache and chills. It could just be 'the enemy' trying to keep our ministry from being effective. Spirits and energy levels are still high, so GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL, but much prayer is still needed and thank you for all your prayers thus far - we couldn't do this without them!

Day of Worship

Another busy day (would you expect less?!) It started out by us (Bruce, Jackie and myself) going to a bakery to get something for breakfast. There were so many wonderful things, I told Bruce to get what he thought would be good (like any of it wouldn't be -duh!). He did great picking out some yummy delectables -there was apple strudel, sugared crescent rolls, danish and ham and cheese croissants, to name a few! Then we went to the Alliance church here in Montevideo. The Pastor (Jorge) preached on Acts 10:15-46 where Peter was challenged in a vision from God to change his view about people who are different from him (that's a really brief paraphrase of the message, which was in Spanish and translated by one of the workers). Anyway, there was a vision, a commission and results. Pastor Jorge challenged all of us to think about that person(s) in our life that might make us uncomfortable or who is different than us that God wants us to share the gospel with. It was a great sermon! Then Pastor Jorge and his wife Sylvia came for lunch. Sylvia speaks English very well so I was able to converse with her. We shared testimonies about how we were saved and about our families and a wonderful time of fellowship. It's so neat to share with these Uruguayan brothers and sisters in Christ! It's also really neat to watch Jackie talk with them in Spanish. She would tell you that she's not that good, but most everybody she's talked with have been able to understand her, and she does really well catching the gist of conversations if the speaker doesn't talk too fast, which most of them seem to do! After the Pastor and his wife left and we got everything cleaned up, we went to Jim  and Timbrel's house(workers who have four adorable children) for a time of worship and praise,while Bruce and Stephanie went to the airport to pick up another volunteer who came in today to help us this coming week. Another Spirit-filled time of sharing with the workers and volunteers. All week, Jim has been challenging us to ask God to reveals to us individually His name that we may know Him in an intimate way.Timbrel contined that theme and had us share and write on a sheet of paper what name we know God by and that Uruguans can know Him by. My name for God is "shepherd". Then she wanted us to say a 'stronghold' or something that we might be running from that would keep us from being effective for Christ. that would also apply to Uruguayans. Mine was "inadequacies". Sometimes, that's how I feel, but then I have to remember that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". He alone makes me adequate to do the things He wants me to
do! We ended the night by playing games, and I'm sad to say that I lost horribly at Settlers, but got a real experience in playing the "Uruguayan" way (well, not really 'Uruguayan' but definitely not the "State's" way I should say!). Anyway, we had fun and just being with everone was a real blessing!

Montevideo

10 of us took a site-seeing trip to the city to look around and do some shopping. We went to the 'old' part of the city and went shopping in this shop that had all kinds of artisans who sold their creations. I got some neat things such as hand-crafted necklaces, a cute octupus made out of a gourd, and a clay cheese dish with a handle. Here in Uruguay, they take chunks of cheese and put them in a dish that has indentations and then put them on the grill to melt and eat the melted cheese on crackers. They have bar-b-ques (asados) all the time and the melted cheese is a staple that they serve. Anyway, we then ate lunch at Don Peperone and had chervitas, another Uruguayan food. It's a sandwich with ham, cheese, Canadian bacon, hard boiled egg, green olives, lettuce and tomato on it. It came with a side order of fries. It was mucho bueno! Usually, they are muy grande (very large), so Jackie and I split one. I was even able to order my own drink- agua con lemon sin gas (water with lemon, no gas- and no, gas is not petro, it's carbonation!). I bought some t-shirts at a street vendor stand, we explored a beautiful Catholic church and visited the mosuleum of Jose Artigas. Then we drove to Cerro (which means 'hill') and is the highest place in the city where Fortaleza del Cerro (Fort of the Hill) was built in 1809 to defend Montevideo, and used by General Artigas. It was really neat to look out over the city and the ocean. There is also a museum that had a lot of items related to the era, but unfortunately, I couldn't read the history behind them. On the way home, we stopped at another indoor market area that had some cool little shops and eating places (more like cantinas), where I bought a cool little ship made out of a cow's horn. We had a great time and even though it was overcast, windy and cold, I'm so glad that I got to experience some of the Uruguan culture!

Week 1 done

I'm going to try to post but not sure how it will work. I've been having such a hard time that I have given up out of frustration! We have finished our first week of English Camp and it went really well-PTL! The kids have responded well and one parent commented that their children had gone to a different camp once before and they cried every day and didn't want to go, but with our camp, they were excited every day and didn't want to leave at the end of the day. In fact, she was sad that they would be traveling next week and the kids wouldn't be able to come. The parents are noticing that our camp is different and that we're different. Pray that the Lord will send more kids next week. Also pray for Ceci. She is an employee at the Y where we have our camp who has been assigned to be with us when the camp is in operation. We've all gotten to know her very well and love her! She participates in all of our activities and Tom, one of the workers got to share his testimony with her. Pray that the team (Rambla team) can maintain the relationship that has been started with this young girl and that she will eventually come to know the Lord.

English camp

This has really been a challenge trying to post on this blog. Apparently, I'm not doing something right because I haven't been able to post for 2 days. Everytime I try to post, I get error messages, it won't publish or some such silly thing, but I'm going to try. So, we're into day 3 of English camp, and everything is going well. We have 8 kids that are having a great time with the singing, crafts and sports. Not all of the kids speak English, but that's what we're here for-to help them learn it. Hopefully, we'll have another new one coming tomorrow. The kids seem to be warming up to us and some of them have connected with our volunteers. Today, the 'service team' handed out fliers at a nearby park trying to get more kids enrolled for next week. Pray that God brings them in and we have more kids next week.

We had a great day today! I've never talked and shared so much as I've been able to do we these women (Jackie and Stephanie). Love these sisters in Christ! The girls from the girls club came over this afternoon and the workers, their families and some of the volunteers over this afternoon and we had a 'workday' getting ready for English Camp that starts on Monday. We cut, hole punched, collated and just visited and fellowshipped together. There were little ones running around and it waz really a great time! Tomorrow, we'll have a 'Celebration' time and orientation, lunch with workers and volunteers and supper with friends. What an awesome time we're having! PTL! We've gone from having 2 kids signed up for English Camp (as of yesterday morning) to 12 by last night and still asking for even more! On a side note: not all of our volunteers are her because 3 of them got "bumped" from their flight and won't be arriving until tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Bruce had to get up this morning @4 to take a