Hello to our friends and family back home! This is Leah. It is 10:30 PM here, we´ve just come in from the freezing/windy night air after walking from dinner. The team is up in their rooms getting settled in for the night.
As hard as it was to leave Jaguarao Brazil and Rio Branco Uruguay, we were excited to return to the capital and begin this new leg of the trip. Duing the bus ride back, we got a look at just how big yesterday´s storm had been. For at least another 100 miles past Rio Branco, much of the farm lands were flooded. People were out everywhere reparing the damage. It was quite a site, but somewhat common in that area.
To give you an idea of how this part of the world operates, just about everything is on a LATER schedule than we are used to. Businesses open late in the morning. Dinner is served late. You can not find an open restaurant at noon for lunch, or before 8:00 or 9:00 PM for dinner! They close between the lunch and dinner off-hours, so if you want to eat early, you are out of luck! So during our bus ride, when it was lunch time and the group was hungry, the town we drove up to had pretty much nothing open! We did manage to find a bakery and but together some sandwiches, phew!
The same thing happened tonight (and many of the other nights during this trip!!!) when it was dinner time. So we´ve learned vey well to adjust our schedules and go the Brazilian or Uruguayan way...eat very very late! Tonight we walked to a restaraunt near the hotel and had some awesome pasta.
Tomorow we have another clinic. Please pray that many people from the community will come!
And I´d like to close with a message fom Jerry: He wants all of the families and friends who are reading the blog but have not yet left a message, TO PLEASE WRITE US! The team is reading all of your comments and we all truly appreciate what you have written. Thanks! We´d love to hear from ALL of you!
Good night!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Rainy Day!
Hi Blog Friends, this is Leah & Ricky. The story of today actually begins at 3:40 AM, when the whole hotel was rudely shaken awake with a HUMUNGENORMOUS explosion of sound and shake...it was incredibly scary at first. When the rain finally began to POUR, we were relieved to confirm it was just thunder. The thunder went on, the rain went on, and the wind picked up. The storm lasted all night.
In the morning when we were in the bus, ready to travel 30 minutes to a new clinic location, we get the news that the roads were too dangerous to travel on. The town was flooded and the rain was not going to let up until the end of the day. The leaders tried to come up with an alternative plan. We asked if there was a school we could visit, but TODAY was their first day of vacation break! Finally, the local Pastora suggested we go to the Retirement home nearby. We were so excited when the home gave us permission to visit. God is so good...when we thought our plans were ruined, He gave us something even better. Here is Austin to tell you more...
HOLA!!! I am Austin. Today is Monday? Yes, it is Monday. Jake´s 17th birthday :]. Our plan today was to set up another medical clinic at a new church. There was a HUGE giant storm and the roads to that church were flooded. Instead, we went to a Retirement home. We made bracelets for them and painted the ladies nails. We performed several dramas for them, which they really enjoyed. The workers told us that one of the biggest struggles they have there is boredom, so it was wonderful that we were there.
To our surprise, the local tv and radio news crew arrived to capture what we were doing! They took video and audio footage of us spending time with the elderly, and interviewed the Pastor and Richard.
We all had fun even though our plans had been changed. While at the Retirement home, we met an elderly man who was 98 anos!! He had no teeth. I personally love when I visit retirement homes because the elderly people seem to have a childlike innocence about them. Even though I really couldn´t understand what they were saying, when you look into their eyes you can tell how thankful they are that we were there with them and that we took the time to help them. One man that I was talking to told me that he had never seen a North American before and that he could tell we were foreigners because of the way we talked. We also made them balloons, which I think was their favorite part.
After we left the retirement home, it was still raining so we went to get lunch. It was very good. The team sang "Happy Birthday" to Jake and Leah and had them blow out a candle on a little Uruguayan dessert. (Jake's birthday is today, Leah's was on the 27th)
After lunch we went back to the church we were at yesterday to set up the clinic. It was still pouring rain, so we did not expect to have many patients. But several people did show up during the 3 hours we worked. Since we had a little free time during the clinic, we spent some time bonding with the Uruguayan and Brazilian friends with a little game of WALL BALL. It was great!!!
After the clinic, we walked around our Brazilian town, looking for a place to eat and to buy postcards. We ended up having delish steak sandwiches and french fries for dinner. We ended the night with some wonderful worship and devotions, as usual.
Tomorrow we head back to Montevideo. (9 hours by bus!)
(McKay, Amy, Tayler, and Ricky rocking the pharmacy)
Be sure to also ready Kellinee's post...you get 2 posts for 1 today!!!
In the morning when we were in the bus, ready to travel 30 minutes to a new clinic location, we get the news that the roads were too dangerous to travel on. The town was flooded and the rain was not going to let up until the end of the day. The leaders tried to come up with an alternative plan. We asked if there was a school we could visit, but TODAY was their first day of vacation break! Finally, the local Pastora suggested we go to the Retirement home nearby. We were so excited when the home gave us permission to visit. God is so good...when we thought our plans were ruined, He gave us something even better. Here is Austin to tell you more...
HOLA!!! I am Austin. Today is Monday? Yes, it is Monday. Jake´s 17th birthday :]. Our plan today was to set up another medical clinic at a new church. There was a HUGE giant storm and the roads to that church were flooded. Instead, we went to a Retirement home. We made bracelets for them and painted the ladies nails. We performed several dramas for them, which they really enjoyed. The workers told us that one of the biggest struggles they have there is boredom, so it was wonderful that we were there.
To our surprise, the local tv and radio news crew arrived to capture what we were doing! They took video and audio footage of us spending time with the elderly, and interviewed the Pastor and Richard.
We all had fun even though our plans had been changed. While at the Retirement home, we met an elderly man who was 98 anos!! He had no teeth. I personally love when I visit retirement homes because the elderly people seem to have a childlike innocence about them. Even though I really couldn´t understand what they were saying, when you look into their eyes you can tell how thankful they are that we were there with them and that we took the time to help them. One man that I was talking to told me that he had never seen a North American before and that he could tell we were foreigners because of the way we talked. We also made them balloons, which I think was their favorite part.
After we left the retirement home, it was still raining so we went to get lunch. It was very good. The team sang "Happy Birthday" to Jake and Leah and had them blow out a candle on a little Uruguayan dessert. (Jake's birthday is today, Leah's was on the 27th)
After lunch we went back to the church we were at yesterday to set up the clinic. It was still pouring rain, so we did not expect to have many patients. But several people did show up during the 3 hours we worked. Since we had a little free time during the clinic, we spent some time bonding with the Uruguayan and Brazilian friends with a little game of WALL BALL. It was great!!!
After the clinic, we walked around our Brazilian town, looking for a place to eat and to buy postcards. We ended up having delish steak sandwiches and french fries for dinner. We ended the night with some wonderful worship and devotions, as usual.
Tomorrow we head back to Montevideo. (9 hours by bus!)
(McKay, Amy, Tayler, and Ricky rocking the pharmacy)
Be sure to also ready Kellinee's post...you get 2 posts for 1 today!!!
Story from Kellinee
(you get 2 posts for the price of 1 today!!!! Today´s main post is above, so please be sure to check that out too, thanks)
Oi (hello) from Brazil...this is Kellinee! I am writing this to you from the city of Jaguarao on the border of Brazil and Uruguay. This trip has been an amazing experience mainly because of the wonderful people we have met while visiting. One group in particular has been special for me personally. Our first night in Jaguarao our group did some dramas in the park near our hotel where we met a group of people who we soon came to call `"the Brazilians ´'. We found out that this group was from a Four Square church in Jaguarao. How amazing! We were able to tell them about the Four Square church we were going to be doing our clinic at the next day and they showed up! It was a wonderful surprise! Especially since they walked over 5 miles just to visit us at the clinic that day! 
Every day this group of people (Jackson, Rafael, Kaila, Jefrey, and Janaina ) were there supporting us. It was especially special because the Four Square church in Rio Branco and Jaguaroa were able to establish a connection that we hope will be long lasting. For some reason I really connected with this group. They were helping me with my Portuguese and I was helping them with English.
Today they presented me with a wonderful gift of Yerba Mate and a Brazilian flag.
I was overwhelmed. The hospitality of the people in this part of the world is truly humbling! I will continue to treasure this gift and can´t wait to share this with my students back home (in September of course)! I hope this update finds all of our family and friends well and know that we are all praying for you and can´t wait to see you all on Saturday!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday Service and Free Time
Just a little sidenote to all you blog readers... "The lost pages of the Uruguay Team diaries" (yesterdays' blog) is up!!!!! To stay in chronological order, please read the post titled 2nd clinic prior to this one!
Hello everyone!
This is Becca here, or as my friends in Uruguay call me, Rebecca (pronnounced ray-BAY-kah). Never in my whole life have I ever enjoyed hearing someone say my name as much as I do here. The people here are so full of love an it is so evident just by the tone of their voice.
I am here to write to you about what the team did today. We went to the Foursquare Church in Rio Branco, Uruguay. We attended the service with the locals and the regular church attendees. I was very excited to see my friends that I have made throughout the course of our time here. I got to meet their families and it was just very exciting. The church service started off in a few songs of worship led by Anderson who is the worship leader at the church. We sang in Spanish and although I could not understand the words we were singing, I completely comprehended the love that we shared in Jesus and in eachother. It was so clear to me that in the church, everyone was part of one big family with the common father, God. After a few songs of praise, the United States team performed a couple of dramas for the congregation. The locals embraced the dramas and could understand them partly because there was no dialogue and partly because we had a God-Sent interpeter to translate our explanation in Spanish. Looking back, I still have no idea where he came from. He continued to be the translator for the duration of the service. Then, some of the teenagers of the church presented a dance full of Uruguayan culture. It was really neat to see their culture and the super cool costumes they got to wear.
One of the leaders of our team, Jerry, spoke for the church. He just wanted to tell the people how much God loved them and didn´t want to leave any doubts. We had an altar call after his teaching and many people came forward for prayer. Two people accepted Jesus into their hearts for the first time! One of the ladies that did was in her older years, but God has no bounds and he accepts his children with open arms and from all walks of life. It was exciting to see all the work He had been doing before our very eyes.
Many people were very touched during the time of prayer.
I know that for me personally, I definitely was. I was brought to tears on more than one instance. I absolutely love my brothers and sisters that are here in Uruguay, but the language barrier was really kind of frustrating at times. But I was overwhelmed with what I have to look forward to one day when I am in heaven. I will be able to talk to Tatiana, Marianna, Maria, Natasha, and Edison without restrain. In heaven there will be no language barriers and that thought fills me with so much joy. For now, I let my actions and a smile speak on behalf of the lack of words we can share. I have never felt so much love and I can`t believe that these people are already my family! I kind of think of this trip as a mini family reunion where I get to meet my brothers and sisters before I would have been able to in heaven.
Anyways, after the service, we took part in communion as a church and it seemed to solidify our brotherhood. During the service, I was sitting next to some people from Brazil who walked like 5 miles to come to church! They were praying in Porteguese, Pastor Sydney was praying in Spanish, and the team was praying in English. It was so cool! ok, so after church, we said some of our goodbyes to the people we had met and loved on during the week.
Then, we went to the Brazil-Uruguay border to do some shopping! Then, we went to lunch and ordered 30 meters of pizza! The pizza was very good but we had some left over to say the least.
Our bus driver took us to a lake where many locals go to see sunsets. Unfortunately, I had fallen asleep (suprise suprise), but most of the team members got out and played along the beach. The stories sounded like a lot of fun.
We called it an early tonight. I think we have our final medical clinic for this leg of the trip tomorrow, so we need to get our rest. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. God has blessed us so much on this trip, and I am so excited to see what happens in the coming days. For now, Ciao! (I came to find out that they don`t say `Adios` here, they say ciao!) goodnight.
In Him,
(Re)Becca
Here are a couple of photos showing the bridge between Uruguay and Brazil. We cross this border everyday in order to get to our clinics. Above: Jerry & Leah...Below: Richard & Ricky. (That's for you, Jackie!!!)
Hello everyone!
This is Becca here, or as my friends in Uruguay call me, Rebecca (pronnounced ray-BAY-kah). Never in my whole life have I ever enjoyed hearing someone say my name as much as I do here. The people here are so full of love an it is so evident just by the tone of their voice.
I am here to write to you about what the team did today. We went to the Foursquare Church in Rio Branco, Uruguay. We attended the service with the locals and the regular church attendees. I was very excited to see my friends that I have made throughout the course of our time here. I got to meet their families and it was just very exciting. The church service started off in a few songs of worship led by Anderson who is the worship leader at the church. We sang in Spanish and although I could not understand the words we were singing, I completely comprehended the love that we shared in Jesus and in eachother. It was so clear to me that in the church, everyone was part of one big family with the common father, God. After a few songs of praise, the United States team performed a couple of dramas for the congregation. The locals embraced the dramas and could understand them partly because there was no dialogue and partly because we had a God-Sent interpeter to translate our explanation in Spanish. Looking back, I still have no idea where he came from. He continued to be the translator for the duration of the service. Then, some of the teenagers of the church presented a dance full of Uruguayan culture. It was really neat to see their culture and the super cool costumes they got to wear.
One of the leaders of our team, Jerry, spoke for the church. He just wanted to tell the people how much God loved them and didn´t want to leave any doubts. We had an altar call after his teaching and many people came forward for prayer. Two people accepted Jesus into their hearts for the first time! One of the ladies that did was in her older years, but God has no bounds and he accepts his children with open arms and from all walks of life. It was exciting to see all the work He had been doing before our very eyes.
Many people were very touched during the time of prayer.
I know that for me personally, I definitely was. I was brought to tears on more than one instance. I absolutely love my brothers and sisters that are here in Uruguay, but the language barrier was really kind of frustrating at times. But I was overwhelmed with what I have to look forward to one day when I am in heaven. I will be able to talk to Tatiana, Marianna, Maria, Natasha, and Edison without restrain. In heaven there will be no language barriers and that thought fills me with so much joy. For now, I let my actions and a smile speak on behalf of the lack of words we can share. I have never felt so much love and I can`t believe that these people are already my family! I kind of think of this trip as a mini family reunion where I get to meet my brothers and sisters before I would have been able to in heaven.
Anyways, after the service, we took part in communion as a church and it seemed to solidify our brotherhood. During the service, I was sitting next to some people from Brazil who walked like 5 miles to come to church! They were praying in Porteguese, Pastor Sydney was praying in Spanish, and the team was praying in English. It was so cool! ok, so after church, we said some of our goodbyes to the people we had met and loved on during the week.
Then, we went to the Brazil-Uruguay border to do some shopping! Then, we went to lunch and ordered 30 meters of pizza! The pizza was very good but we had some left over to say the least.
Our bus driver took us to a lake where many locals go to see sunsets. Unfortunately, I had fallen asleep (suprise suprise), but most of the team members got out and played along the beach. The stories sounded like a lot of fun.
We called it an early tonight. I think we have our final medical clinic for this leg of the trip tomorrow, so we need to get our rest. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. God has blessed us so much on this trip, and I am so excited to see what happens in the coming days. For now, Ciao! (I came to find out that they don`t say `Adios` here, they say ciao!) goodnight.
In Him,
(Re)Becca
Here are a couple of photos showing the bridge between Uruguay and Brazil. We cross this border everyday in order to get to our clinics. Above: Jerry & Leah...Below: Richard & Ricky. (That's for you, Jackie!!!)
2nd Clinic
As Ricky promised last night...here are is the update from yesterday..."the lost pages of the Uruguay Team diaries". We have a couple of guest bloggers to fill you in..
Hola Hombres! This is Laura here. I am going to tell you about, yesterday´s successful clinic, our second clinic, but our first in Rio Bronco. We saw a total of one hundred and four people. Eladio did an amazing job caring for the patients. The clinic ran smoothly and everyone did their job. Becca, McKay, and MaryAnn were in prayer together. Many people who came to pray with them were saved, about ten to fifteen plus some re-dedications. The Children´s Ministry was amazing. All the kids were so loving and friendly. You could really tell how grateful the people were to have us there with them. God´s work was amazing in how he touched the lives of those who accepted him.
Laura, Austin, and Scott working the pharmacy.
The prayer ministry team at the clinic.
One of the cute little boys to come through our clinic.
Tayler and Jenny in children´s ministry.
Laura with the face painting brigade.
Richard advertising our free clinic to the people on the street. Nice sign and hat!!!
During the clinic some of the team took a walk into the community to do some street evangelism. Some locals took us to a plaza, which was the center of town! We did some crowd gatherers and several dramas and testimonies. It was a great opportunity to take a break from the clinic and get out into the town to share God´s message. Here is Jordan, being tossed up into the air as one of our crowd gatherers.
Hola Hombres! This is Laura here. I am going to tell you about, yesterday´s successful clinic, our second clinic, but our first in Rio Bronco. We saw a total of one hundred and four people. Eladio did an amazing job caring for the patients. The clinic ran smoothly and everyone did their job. Becca, McKay, and MaryAnn were in prayer together. Many people who came to pray with them were saved, about ten to fifteen plus some re-dedications. The Children´s Ministry was amazing. All the kids were so loving and friendly. You could really tell how grateful the people were to have us there with them. God´s work was amazing in how he touched the lives of those who accepted him.
Laura, Austin, and Scott working the pharmacy.
The prayer ministry team at the clinic.
One of the cute little boys to come through our clinic.
Tayler and Jenny in children´s ministry.
Laura with the face painting brigade.
Richard advertising our free clinic to the people on the street. Nice sign and hat!!!
During the clinic some of the team took a walk into the community to do some street evangelism. Some locals took us to a plaza, which was the center of town! We did some crowd gatherers and several dramas and testimonies. It was a great opportunity to take a break from the clinic and get out into the town to share God´s message. Here is Jordan, being tossed up into the air as one of our crowd gatherers.
Whats Happening? Hey this is Greg DeS. First, it is almost impossible writing this message to you because I have to literally pound the keyboard with my fingers. Its really frustrating. Yesterday´s service was pretty cool. We had some Brazillians we met the night before in the plaza walk like 5 miles with a bunch of their friends to the service. I don´t know about you, but I would not walk 5 miles in this cold on a Saturday night. I would be hanging out with my friends in a nice warm house watching a movie and cooking a pizza. Simply amazing. The service was great and even though the worship was in Spanish, we could understand everything perfectly; their joy, their passion, and their love. It was sweet the amount of energy they expelled praising the Lord. I don´t know the number of people saved that night and I don´t think we will ever know, but this I do know, God was praised wholehearted. I think what I will miss most are the friendships I have made with the people in the church. Their hospitality and warmth is awesome. I just wish the language barrier was not preventing conversations other than me llamo Greg.
This was taken after our night service. Here we have our group with some of our Brazilian friends and church friends mixed in. We had lots of fun goofing around after service, just having a time of fun ad fellowship.
After service, we went to eat at our favorite Brazilian buffet restaurant. The owner has always been so hospitable. When we were ready to leave, he made us all sit back down for a surprise. He was so proud to bring out a hat for every person on our team, featuring the name of his restaurant. He taught us to say thank-you in Portugese, "Obrigado".
Saturday, June 27, 2009
SOOOOOOOO tired...
hello everyone, this is Ricky Farris, and I am here to tell you about our day...
m,;. bgb z. vas.djkvdghem,qfycjum O man, sorry about that, we are just so tired, that I just fell aleep on the keyboard... It is 11:30 here, and we just finished dinner, and are about to start worship, but i promise we will give a FULL update tomorrow, with pictures!!!!!! :)
Talk to ya´ll tomorrow, sorry again for the whole face typing on our blog thing...
m,;. bgb z. vas.djkvdghem,qfycjum O man, sorry about that, we are just so tired, that I just fell aleep on the keyboard... It is 11:30 here, and we just finished dinner, and are about to start worship, but i promise we will give a FULL update tomorrow, with pictures!!!!!! :)
Talk to ya´ll tomorrow, sorry again for the whole face typing on our blog thing...
Friday, June 26, 2009
Welcome to Brazil!
We made it! The team is thrilled to be here in Jaguarao, Brazil.
Here is Savannah to let you know how our travels went today: "Most of the day we spent catching up on our lack of sleep while we rode the bus to Brazil. But we all woke up for an amazing lunch in Minas. The scenery reminded me of southern Oregon with palm trees scattered throughout. Me and others at my table had pizza that was delish! The trip was about 9 hours! Crossing the border from Uruguay to Brazil was a snap, it was just across a river. When we got here we went out to dinner with the Pastor and her brother."
And now here is Amy to let you know how we spent our first evening in Brazil:
"After dinner most of us thought it was time for bed, but the leaders had a surprise for us. It was up to the room to get ready to do dramas in the plaza right across from our hotel (only 10 minutes to get ready!) It was a perfect night, very cold, but the center of town was lit up perfect for our performances. Right off the bat MaryAnn drew a crowd of students on their way home from school at ten at night. Our first couple of performances (along with a crowd pleaser) started to draw peoples attention, mostly high school and college age. We kept on adding more dramas to entertain the crowd which grew to almost fifty by the end (and they did not want us to leave!). Eladio was a blessing; he was able to translate our messages into Spanish. An unexpected gift from God was one audience member, Tomas, an Brazilian who was a Foreign exchange student in Chicago and had visited Las Vegas. He and his buddies were on their way to a party and decided to stop and watch us. Tomas translated prayer into Portugese and was truly a blessing straight from God, aiding us in our service tonight; everyone present knew this was a special night designed and orchestrated straight from God. Richard finished the night by calling out to the audience to see if there was any of our viewers who wished to be prayed for or to ask Jesus into their heart and be saved. All of our team went out to join in prayer in the center of our stage and at first our audience was shy to join, but they suddenly walked forward. Within moments we were very blessed to pray for many of our audience and lead most to accepting the Lord into their heart. Jerry captured the moment best by saying the angels in Heaven were throwing a party they were so happy! What a wonderful night! We are all so blessed by God to be able to speak to the people of Brazil through our dramas. Love you all and hope to hear from you soon. Amy"
I´d like to share a photo from Mary Ann´s camera to close out today´s blog. Here we are with some of the young people we prayed for in the town square tonight. Good Night!
P.S. Some of these students wanted to know when our church service would be tomorrow night:
27 Junio
La Iglesia del Evangelio Cuadrangular
en Rio Branco, Uruguay
A las 14:00-17:00 y 19:00-21:00
Here is Savannah to let you know how our travels went today: "Most of the day we spent catching up on our lack of sleep while we rode the bus to Brazil. But we all woke up for an amazing lunch in Minas. The scenery reminded me of southern Oregon with palm trees scattered throughout. Me and others at my table had pizza that was delish! The trip was about 9 hours! Crossing the border from Uruguay to Brazil was a snap, it was just across a river. When we got here we went out to dinner with the Pastor and her brother."
And now here is Amy to let you know how we spent our first evening in Brazil:
"After dinner most of us thought it was time for bed, but the leaders had a surprise for us. It was up to the room to get ready to do dramas in the plaza right across from our hotel (only 10 minutes to get ready!) It was a perfect night, very cold, but the center of town was lit up perfect for our performances. Right off the bat MaryAnn drew a crowd of students on their way home from school at ten at night. Our first couple of performances (along with a crowd pleaser) started to draw peoples attention, mostly high school and college age. We kept on adding more dramas to entertain the crowd which grew to almost fifty by the end (and they did not want us to leave!). Eladio was a blessing; he was able to translate our messages into Spanish. An unexpected gift from God was one audience member, Tomas, an Brazilian who was a Foreign exchange student in Chicago and had visited Las Vegas. He and his buddies were on their way to a party and decided to stop and watch us. Tomas translated prayer into Portugese and was truly a blessing straight from God, aiding us in our service tonight; everyone present knew this was a special night designed and orchestrated straight from God. Richard finished the night by calling out to the audience to see if there was any of our viewers who wished to be prayed for or to ask Jesus into their heart and be saved. All of our team went out to join in prayer in the center of our stage and at first our audience was shy to join, but they suddenly walked forward. Within moments we were very blessed to pray for many of our audience and lead most to accepting the Lord into their heart. Jerry captured the moment best by saying the angels in Heaven were throwing a party they were so happy! What a wonderful night! We are all so blessed by God to be able to speak to the people of Brazil through our dramas. Love you all and hope to hear from you soon. Amy"
I´d like to share a photo from Mary Ann´s camera to close out today´s blog. Here we are with some of the young people we prayed for in the town square tonight. Good Night!
P.S. Some of these students wanted to know when our church service would be tomorrow night:
27 Junio
La Iglesia del Evangelio Cuadrangular
en Rio Branco, Uruguay
A las 14:00-17:00 y 19:00-21:00
Thursday, June 25, 2009
1st Ministry Day
Above: "Doctor" Jake taking blood pressure.Hello! What a day, what a wonderful day! Before the sun had even come up, we had already left for our clinic location and began setting up. Brrrr....it was freezing, the grass was even covered in white frost. We set up our clinic in a church, which was simply a large tent, and the patients began coming through our system. In the end, we had about 70 people come through, and prescribed many medications na dprovided vitamins for every person. The ministry aspect of our day was amazing!!! As Mary Ann shares below, 5 women accepted the Lord, 5 children accepted the Lord, and 6 guys came up to recieve prayer for becoming missionaries themselves. The team absolutley loved the day and God truly blessed us in many ways. These are just a few photos we´d like to share...
Here are the friendly faces of today´s Pharmacy girls: Kellinee, Angel, and Becca. They did a wonderful job (along with Ricky) filling prescriptions for patients.
Here is Teresa, working hard in the triage.
One of the cute little girls who visited our clinic and had a blast palying with our children´s ministry team. The kids are just so precious.
The team did several dramas today for the people in the clinic. It was wonderful to incorporate this ministry into the clinic routine.
Some of the team played a game of soccer out in the nearby field. They had such a great time and it really was a moment of bonding between our youth and some of the youth from the local church. It was so cool to see them connect through something as simple as a ball game. From that moment on, they were all such great friends, as if they had know each other for years, and there was no language barrier.
Here is our team in front of the one and only Foursquare church in Uruguay!!! This church has 16 menbers already and it has not even officially opened up yet! We may have a service here this Sunday.
Here are the friendly faces of today´s Pharmacy girls: Kellinee, Angel, and Becca. They did a wonderful job (along with Ricky) filling prescriptions for patients.
Here is Teresa, working hard in the triage. One of the cute little girls who visited our clinic and had a blast palying with our children´s ministry team. The kids are just so precious.
The team did several dramas today for the people in the clinic. It was wonderful to incorporate this ministry into the clinic routine.
Some of the team played a game of soccer out in the nearby field. They had such a great time and it really was a moment of bonding between our youth and some of the youth from the local church. It was so cool to see them connect through something as simple as a ball game. From that moment on, they were all such great friends, as if they had know each other for years, and there was no language barrier.
Here is our team in front of the one and only Foursquare church in Uruguay!!! This church has 16 menbers already and it has not even officially opened up yet! We may have a service here this Sunday.
Mary Ann is going to be todays guest blogger, and share something from today´s clinic:
"When we first opened the clinic today, I was not sure how the day would unfold. At the prayer station we attempted to write out and learn a few phrases in Spanish to greet the people and to pray for them. The language barrier was difficult, but we were able to connect with the people. Tayler and Laura did a wonderful job and then Emerson (a missionary to Uruguay from Brazil) joined us to help with the translation. We prayed for for the patient´s physical and spiritual needs, but as the day progressed, God granted us more boldness. We asked specifically if individuals wanted to receive Jesus into their hearts. Five women chose to accpet Christ into their lives as their Savior. With Emerson´s assistance we led them in prayer. One precious lady, Mary Castro, who came walking with a cane and had trouble with her digiestive system received Christ. After Emerson payed with her in Spanish, we prayed for her in English. She placed her head on my shoulder as we prayed together. Tears were running down her face and mine. It was truly a gloriously blessed day, and we saw God more greatly."
Here we have Kellinee enjoying a flavor of a favorite local cultural pastime. She´s sipping on a hot herbal tea they traditionally serve in a hollowed out gourd and a special tea filtering straw. This tea is called Yerba Mate, and it was hospitable of them to share this tradition with us. One of the brothers from the church actually gave this Mate tea set to Richard as a gift! What a nice demonstration of the friendly people here.Paul wants to wish his Mom a very happy birthday!!!¨ "I Love you and happy 51st birthday, I wish I could be with you!"
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Tomorrow we are taking a road trip to Brazil! We hope to stop along the way and enjoy some of the beautiful surroundings of these two countries. Check back tomorrow, hopefully we´ll get to blog in the evening and fill you in on the latest adventures! God bless.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
WE ARE HERE!!!!!!
After much anticipation and preparation, we have finally arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay! Going through immigration and customs was incredibly smooth...only myself (Leah), Jake, and Tayler had their suitcases opened, and after quickly inspecting the bottles of vitamins and the bags of candy, they decided there was nothing questionable after all and sent us all through! Praise God! Rebecca Contreras had everything ready for us, a beautiful bus and a great hotel. She has done an incredible job in preparing for our arrival, thanks girl! We had a nice typical Uruguayan dinner and stopped at the bank to exchange currency. The weather is brisk and cold, that is for sure! But nothing we can't handle. Every one of us is thrilled to be here and very excited for our first clinic tomorrow! Our bus leaves at 6:30 am to take us to our first location, which is about 30 minutes away. We love all of your comments, thanks for writing to us! I leave you with a photo of our team wearing the required face masks in the Argentina Immigration. Just a precaution they do, and we thought it was a great photo op. --Later!
We are in ARGENTINA!
Hello! This is Leah, blogging from Buenos Aires, Argentina! The team is here in the airport waiting for the last flight, which will finally bring us to Uruguay. It has been 25 hours since we left Las Vegas. What a ride it has been! We had a nice stay in Miami, thanks to the McMillan's who got us some wonderful suites to rest in. Here in Argentina we are enjoying shopping, coffee, and playing cards. We board in about 20 minutes, the team is very excited! Thanks for your prayers for traveling mercies, so far everything has been great! SEE YOU IN URUGUAY!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Training Camp
Hey everyone this is Richard. We are all here together at our Uruguay mission training camp. Our team is incredibly excited and ready to go to see how we can serve and what the Lord has for us in country.I'd like to share with you some of the trials and the amazing miracles that have already taken place. I hope you will see the hand of God as much as we have.
When the preparation for this trip began over 1 year ago, we were asked to step out from the countries we had been called to in the past and go to Boliva instead. You will notice I did not say Uruguay. The destination was changed because of the amount of work already being accomplished in Bolivia, versus the lack of work being done in Uruguay. There are no official FourSquare churches in Uruguay. Plans for a FourSquare church have been underway and origianlly our trip was going to assist in the construction. When we found out the church building had finished early, plans set into motion for a medical missin trip. We will as help prepare the church for it's grand opeing which is set for Decemeber 2009.
We contacted the Doctors that have accompanied us for the last several years but they were unable to join us due to financial reasons. We continued to plan and and move forward knowing full well the Lord would provide in His time and not ours. At this point we had a medical trip with no U.S. doctors and only a few local doctors. In the course of the next two days the wheels really fell off...or so I thought. (Oh me of little faith!) I called our airline to confirm our 15 flight reservations. I was told by the ticket agent that they had cancelled all of their flights into Uruguay for economic reasons. I was told "We can't help, sorry." All other airlines had flights that were either way out of our budget, could get us into Uruguay but not back to the States, or were fully booked! Wow what a blow!
Later that day I got an email from our contact in Uruguay and was told that since we had no US doctors coming the local volunteer Doctors were going to cancel. The question all mission coordinators dread was asked... "Are we going to cancel the trip, or what?" All along a peace that the Lord can only explain (I did not know why then) about this trip was evident and we continued to move forward. As if that wasn't trial enough, one of our leaders had to get a new passport and he had not recieved it yet.
Keeping in mind the peace I felt about this trip, I contacted a travel agent for missionaries and she found us flights (with a slight date change) for $100.00 less than our original quote. I went to Pastor Greg and asked him what to do. We prayed and he gave me the name of a doctor in the community. Pastor Greg felt it may be a long shot, but to check and find out. On a Monday afternoon I met with the doctor and he said he would check his other obligations and get back to me by Thursday. I felt at least a small bit of hope, but still had a promise of peace. The next day I got a call and a commitment from the Doctor. Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus!
In the mean time our number of peaople going on the mission had climbed! God is ever faithful...we now had 23 members, our doctor, and airline tickets, and Jerry's renewed passport arrived in the mail.
Now we had to deal with the amount of money all of the missionaries had to raise. $2200.00 each was an amazing amount of money! Could the missionaries all raise the money needed? They could not, but if the Lord showed up this goal could be accomplished! And through it God would be glorified. We did a bake sale and raised over $600.00! We did a garage sale and raised $2400.00. This was truly a blessing. God was working! The Lord showed up in amazing ways!
When we were about 2 weeks away from training we found out another member of the team had just put in for his passport and it was not here yet. A couple of days later, and a lot of prayers later, the passport arrived! God had shown himself again in a mighty way!
We are finally ready for training and I can't wait to see what else is in store for us. I really can't wait to see how the Lord will continue to show up. And show up he will...for he has covered us with his protection and blessing thus far!
So here they are: The 2009 missionaries to Uruguay, South America. From left to right back to front. Scott Weidner, Richard Farris, Jordon Mynarcik, Tiger Mynarcik, Jerry LaMontagne, Amy Higginson, Paul Meyers, Becca Buchanan, Greg De Simone, Maryann Weidner, Laura Perry, Savannah Cooper, Ricky Farris, Eladio Carrara, Leah LaMontagne, Theresa McMillan, Angel Ray, Kellinee Barber, Jake Jackson, MaKay Novak, Austin McMillan, Jenny Leary and Taylor Jackson.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
WELCOME
Welcome to the BLOG for the Uruguay 2009 Mission Trip!
The Uruguay Team would like to thank you for taking the time to stop by, and we invite you to check back regularly. Once our travels begin, we will update this blog with news and information on a daily basis so you can track our adventure!
To all of our family, friends, and supporters...we want you to know that we could not do this mission without you. Thank you for your support, and thank you for your prayers. You are a part of the team as well. We are blessed to know that you partner with us!
We also welcome your comments! Your words will be an encouragement to us as we are plugging away so far from home.
The Uruguay Team would like to thank you for taking the time to stop by, and we invite you to check back regularly. Once our travels begin, we will update this blog with news and information on a daily basis so you can track our adventure!
To all of our family, friends, and supporters...we want you to know that we could not do this mission without you. Thank you for your support, and thank you for your prayers. You are a part of the team as well. We are blessed to know that you partner with us!
We also welcome your comments! Your words will be an encouragement to us as we are plugging away so far from home.
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