They Came, They Saw...

So about that visit. To sum up a complex, action-packed visit into one word, it was GREAT. Nine members of a group from Good Shepherd Lutheran in Minneapolis showed up at Nuestro Salvador on Tuesday afternoon, and from there it was a week of non-stop action. The basics:

TUESDAY

-Group arrived. Most of them thought I was Uruguayan until I told them, in English, that I was from Texas.

-Opening devotional; for all of Tuesday, KD and I took turns translating.

-Planning the week; I got to play bilingual secretary.

-Dinner as a group, then going up to Carla´s for more translating, as neither of her guests (Jean and Amanda) spoke Spanish and Carla and her family don´t speak English.

WEDNESDAY

-Work at La Obra during the morning.

-Lunch with the group.

-Lots of open time for discussion, playing around, etc.

-Sharing strengths/challenges/opportunities from each group; again, I got to be the secretary.

-Dinner

-Translating when one of the group members had some medical issues occur overnight

THURSDAY

-Work at La Obra

-Visit by the group to La Obra

-Open space in the afternoon for talking/sharing

-Dinner

FRIDAY

-Work at La Obra

-Visit to El Cerro. We visited a few families who´ve been participating in activities at Misión San Juan and then went to the top of the cerro to soak in the vista.

-Visit to the Monumento a los Desaparecidos (Monument to the Disappeared). This involved an explanation of one of the darkest periods in Uruguayan history, the military dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s. It also opened some a space for hearing stories from some of my Uruguayan friends about their experiences during this time, as well as a more precise history of what happened.

-ASADO at Beatriz´s house. My personal vision of heaven is an asado - huge piles of perfectly grilled meat, red wine, and great company to share it with. The asado ended up being made into the impromptu congregational celebration of my birthday, amazing cake and all.

SATURDAY

-Pancakes for breakfast!

-Desarrollo Natural de la Iglesia/Natural Development of the Church (there will be a separate entry on this sometime)

-Excursion to Piriapolis, one of the prettiest beachside towns in South America.

-Bible Study with the community in Jaureguiberry (say that one ten times fast). This is a village of about 300 people, many of them retirees, right by the beach. It´s an amazingly peaceful, shady place - a perfect afternoon.

-Dinner with Carlos, Carla, Camila, Alejandra, Diego, Kirsen, Dorothea, Amanda, and Jean - pizza and fainá, and lots of conversation/translating.

-Fiestita with the young people from both Minnesota and Uruguay; lots of laughter and good conversation.

SUNDAY

-Closing Worship; the youth acted out the Gospel lesson, the group from Minnesota shared a few from-the-heart gifts with Nuestro Salvador, and even though there were a lot of us, we still held hands in a huge circle to take Communion.

And then it was over, seemingly as soon as it began. Amid lots of hugging and a few tears, they headed out for Buenos Aires. It was an amazing week - I´ve made 9 new friends, grown closer to the people here in the process, and can only wonder what amazing things might come out of the seeds being planted in both Minnesota and Montevideo.