Since moving into the house that we are taking care of we have been inundated with guests and visitors.

The last several weeks we have been recording every Monday afternoon and Tuesday evening with various Christians from the Montevideo churches. I hope to eventually be able to produce a CD for the various churches here in Uruguay. There is a real lack of good conservative sacred music.

The last week in May we were visited by our Baptist World Mission field director and wife. They are brand new to the position. Jesse and Laura Garza originally served as BWM missionaries in Guadalajara, Mexico. During the week that they stayed with us it was a blessing to get to know them on a more personal level. Mrs. Garza is an excellent cook of various Mexican dishes. She was a real help to us as she took over the kitchen and served up several mouth watering meals. Jesse was glad to have some much needed office time to catch up on correspondence while we went about our regular routine of language classes.

The Garza’s left on a Tuesday evening, June 2nd, and Joshua and Erika Prince arrived on Thursday morning. They are missionary appointees with Global Baptist Independent Fellowship.

They are planning to work with veteran missionaries Jesse and Glenna Parnell during their first term. The Princes took advantage of the their time not only by staying with us in Montevideo but also by visiting a ministry in Las Piedras and by taking a trip up the Western coast of Uruguay to visit ministries in Colonia, Paysandu, and Salto. We believe that during their short week and a half they were able to absorb many of the sights and sounds of Uruguayan ministry.

After all of these guests we decided to become guests ourselves for a few days. Wednesday, June 17th, we traveled up to Paysandu to celebrate Jo Anna’s nephew’s 10th birthday. We arrived just in time for the preaching service. Thursday was spent getting ready for a huge celebration with over 40 children. Then Friday after all of the activity of the last few weeks we took a day and went to the hot springs in Guaviyú for a day of R&R. Saturday, we traveled back home for church on Sunday.

As you can imagine after all the activity of the recent weeks the last few days have been spent playing catch-up!

May and June seem to be the months for missionary conferences in Uruguay. Different missionaries over the years have taught churches to have missionary emphasis Sundays or weekends once a year. Some have incorporated modified forms of the Faith Promise Giving idea with these conferences.

Missionary Pastor Barry Secrest in Las Piedras invited me to be part of a missions emphasis Sunday on May 24th. He invited several speakers on that day to share their hearts concerning their areas of the harvest field. He invited one man from La Paz (Jerusalem) which is just up the road from Las Piedras. Our family who are going to Durazno in the center of Uruguay (Judea), and then had to other missionary speakers present their ministries via a Skype connection. I believe one was from South Africa (the rest of the world). I thought this was a very creative idea.

I used a PowerPoint presentation to share our ministry plan for Durazno. A week later Barry told me the church has decided to support us in our effort by purchasing literature and sending workers to distribute that literature when we are ready. We look forward to using this help during one of our first outreach campaigns in the city.

On Saturday, June 13th, we were once again invited to present our ministry plan at Iglesia Bautista Fundamental De General Flores. (This site is currently being developed.) Pastor Acevedo had invited me to speak about a month ago. Unlike the previous presentation in Las Piedras, Pastor Acevedo also asked me to preach.

I once again used PowerPoint to project my main points. Thanks to the visual aids, my increasing level of Spanish, and the many personal English Spanish Grammar/Dictionaries in the audience I was able to get my points across.

At the end of the presentation we were presented with a gift basket from the church. We were humbled by these believers willingness to sacrifice. Beyond the gift basket several also pledged to support us in prayer. What a blessing to enjoy the bonds of Christian fellowship.

These first few opportunities have been times of testing for me, but have also been a great blessing as I am finally starting to be able to communicate Gods word in Spanish. Another opportunity at a mens meeting is coming up in a few weeks. In August, I will also be doing a Sunday of pulpit supply for another missionary. Please keep praying that the Lord will enable me to learn the many different facets of Spanish grammar and nuances of vocabulary.

Last week I received a email from one of our supporting churches requesting a 2-4 minute video detailing our progress over the course of the last year.  This provided me with impulse to get a job done that has been on my back burner for too long.  So part of Thurs, Fri, and Saturday were spent compiling this quick video.  It is impossibly frustrating to condense what I wanted to say into four minutes, but perhaps it will give you an added insight into a small portion of our lives as missionaries over the course of this past year.

You can download the Windows Media Version (39mb) by right-mouse-clicking “HERE” and then left-clicking on the “Save link as” in the pull down menu.

You can download the AVI Version (79mb) by right-mouse-clicking “HERE” and then left-clicking on the “Save link as” in the pull down menu.

You can download the MP4 of Ipod compatible version (72mb) by right-mouse-clicking “HERE” and then left-clicking on the “Save link as” in the pull down menu.

Once you have downloaded the video format of your choice to your desktop, click on the file and it should play automatically.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you experience any trouble.

Thank you for taking the time to watch this video and for your ongoing prayer support.

The word “inventory” strikes fear in the hearts of anyone who has worked in the retail industry.  Images of tedious, mind numbing counting of minutia come to mind.  However, in this case inventory was a good thing.

Tuesday afternoon we met with our previous landlord.  The purpose was to do a final inventory of the house, and to show that we had paid the final bills for lights and water before turning in the keys.

When we moved in 11 months ago we had done a similar inventory with a realtor.  As you can see from this sheet (side one of two) it is quite a detailed process.  The original inventory took us at least three hours.  Anything that you miss on the first inventory, you may have to pay for when do the second.

Gratefully, our landlord has been upstanding and did not give us any trouble.  After a cursory inspection of the house we showed him the receipts for the final bills and handed in the keys.  He returned the legal guarantee and signed a paper stating that we had fulfilled our obligations as good renters.  A few minutes later we where on our way.  What a relief to no longer be responsible for two houses.  THANK YOU, to each one of you who have been praying that this would go smoothly.

On the way back home, we visited one of our previous neighbors.  Jo Anna has had several good conversations with this neighbor’s wife.  Long story short, or perhaps I should say a long tea-time later, Jo Anna was able to give a good presentation of the Gospel and encouraged our previous neighbor lady to keep reading the Bible.  This family is from a catholic background.  In our experience, if a Catholic keeps reading their Bible they are often saved.  Please keep praying that the Lord will open these dear friends eyes to THE Truth .