Our first week with Dr. J. Gordon Henry was a real blast, as he became part of the family and moved in downstairs. Caroline took to him right away and wanted to always be sure he had what he needed. He's quite a tough fella, having just finished some grueling days in Venezuela, then coming straight here and jumping into a few prayer seminars in Paraguay. So by the time we got to Uruguay, we thought he'd at least be a bit tired.

But you can't keep this man down. He was up early, rolling through the days, and navigating the streets of Montevideo unaccompanied and not even bothered by the fact that he doesn't speak Spanish. Did I mention that the man is in his 70's? He insisted on carrying his own suitcases and walking where possible, rather than jumping in a taxi. He's just amazing.

When we got to Uruguay, our expected translator got a little case of cold feet, and I jumped in as a standby. That's a really intimidating thing, to put the Word into words that can be understood. But thankfully, by then I'd heard the seminar 4 or 5 times and was familiar with the material. One church taped the sessions to use later in their radio program, which did nothing to help my nervousness about translating. But Dr. Henry is very gracious and has much experience with having someone at his side speaking a different language.

He uses a lot of crowd participation techniques that really work well as memory aids. His life experiences sprinkled throughout the sessions give the participants a glance into not only his personal journey through prayer, but also examples of how prayer works around the world.

His prayer seminars are really enlightening, and if you get the chance to attend one, we'd sure recommend it. Considering that he's still actively crossing the country and the globe, he's sure to be in a town near you. It didn't matter what area we mentioned, he personally knew at least one person there and could describe with great detail the street layout of that particular town. Asombroso!

In the picture above, Dr. Henry is on the left of the photo with the Pastor at his side in a lighter blue shirt. The Pastor's mother- and father-in-law came to the church to cook us a wonderful lunch of milanesa.

We thank the Lord for the opportunity to have worked with him in getting the prayer seminars out to the Christian family in Paraguay and Uruguay.

We had a spectacular time in Uruguay, but just let me say that it's good to be back. The beaches were beautiful (nice to see "big water" again), the weather was MUCH cooler, and the country was really quite modern. But I guess Paraguay is in our blood now (could it be the cedulas?), because we were all chomping at the bit to be back on familiar ground by the time we landed last night.

The churches we encountered in Uruguay are doing great ministry work. It's a tough country. Most of the citizens are atheists, and beyond that, there is a significant force of the New Age. We saw lots of advertisements for black magic, tarot cards, and eastern religions. The suicide rate is ridiculously high, which is so hard to believe when you see the natural beauty and the high standard of living there. A friend I met on the bus told me that it's like a heavy, depressive cloud settles on them in the winter. Even some of our Christian friends said it was tough to get through the depression that takes root over the country. Uruguay is definitely a country in need of spiritual liberty.

Throughout this week, I'll share some of the specific things we did there, including my surprise translation job at Dr. Henry's side. If I can get my hands on Camille or Hollie's cameras, you may even get a glimpse of how lovely Uruguay is! Till then... God bless you.

I'm typing this from the home of some American missionaries we've met here in Montevideo, Uruguay, who have been here a little over one year. They hosted us at a yummy lunch today and made us feel quite welcome. The church we came to work with has also been spectacular, showing some real southern hospitality.

Montevideo is a spectacular city, set along the Rio de la Plata, which looks like an ocean and basically is. The beaches are just lovely, and it's nice for this Carolina girl to see the ocean again.

The people are very, very different. I'll write in more detail about the trip and events later, but I wanted to fill you in and thank you for the prayers. The seminars have gone great so far, and we have a few events left for the weekend.

One of our mission objectives here in Paraguay is the operation of Tape Mission Experience, which is a internship program for young adults interested in further pursuing a call into missions. Along with exposing these young folks to a whole new culture, introducing them to what living here entails, and studying current trends in missions, we want each intern to come away with a sense of their natural giftings and how God can use these for His glory as related to the Great Commission.

Hollie is the current Super Intern, having lived here more than two months now. She's been participating and aiding in various areas of the ministry. In an effort to hone in on her specific talents, we've been "chatting" and focusing on what she does best. It's easy to get into the frame of mind that every missionary is the same, and all of them are really talkative, overbearing, jump-out-there-and-make-a-new-friend-on-the-bus kinds of people like me. Well, bless her heart, Hollie is a sweet little Southern gal who just doesn't tend to holler a hello at every person she passes, like some of us.... So we're working on using the strengths and tendencies she does have, within a missions capacity.

This sounds all "serious-like," but it's really been fun, at least for us. See, Hollie prefers to be behind the scenes making kool-aid and baking cookies and helping with set-up and clean-up and things along these lines. Who doesn't need help like that on the mission field? She's started what we're affectionately calling the Muffin Ministry, where she shares her baking talents with someone who needs to sense God's love in a tangible way.

This past week we visited a lady whose father had just passed away, and Hollie took a fresh batch of muffins. Then we made some home visits and she whipped up a batch of potato salad. Some youth came by to visit another night, and Hollie jumped in there to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Of course, we feel an obligation to the people of Paraguay to test her preparations before releasing them to the unsuspecting ministry field, so we make sure everything is okay before she hands out her baked goods. Alright, I made that last part up, but I WANT to sample all her yummy kitchen creations! And now she's learning a whole new set of Spanish vocabulary, like "Rico!" (delicious) and "MAS!" (more)

Last week, we loaded up a couple of neighbors and went to the creek. We stopped by a war museum first so we could chalk up a history lesson for the day, and then the gang all jumped in the water. Well, all but me. I don't like to get in water very often, so I am the guardian of the food and shoes. We hiked through the nearby trails and learned a good bit about nature from the signs in Guarani along the way. Hollie learned to look in all directions in case very large spiders are over her head, and Caroline learned to let others take the lead and the brunt of the webs. I learned that I won't die if a giant spider gets on my face, even if I think I will. Ken learned that Hollie makes a mean pb and j sandwich. Our neighbors learned that we aren't as woodsy as we claim we are.

It's been a while. sorry. Life gets in the way of computer time some days/weeks, and this is one of those weeks! I can report that Dr. Gordon Henry made it in safely last night--well, sort of. He was scheduled to arrive at 11PM, which got pushed back to midnight, then his flight was delayed until 1 AM, and he finally landed at 2:30 AM. By the time we got home and unpacked, it was about 4:30, and after a little clean-up/prep for the day, I got in the bed around 5 AM. I'm thinking a nap looks good right now but afraid that if I should attempt a small one, I may not rise again until tomorrow morning.

We will begin the prayer seminars hosted by Dr. Henry tomorrow night closer to the capital, for three nights. Then this weekend, we'll be hosting them here in Carapegua. We're off to Uruguay for a little over a week after that. So my internet time will again be limited. If I don't respond to emails right away, forgive me.

I will ask for your prayer cover, as we've been under a bit of spiritual attack. It seems God has a great plan for these seminars that the enemy would rather not see take place. We look forward to seeing the spiritual results of what will happen over the next couple weeks.

We are enjoying lovely cooler weather these past couple days, and we visited Arazaty this weekend for a cookout (asado). It was good to see old friends again and touch base in the community. We were able to hand out come clothes and food, and to visit with a few older folks who don't leave home much. Hope you had a great weekend as well!

The past 48 hours, we've gotten two things we really needed. One is our truck back from the mechanic, complete with a shiny rebuilt motor. The other is the handy little Paraguayan cedula--one for each of us! It's been quite a process to get them both, but finally, we're on the road again and as recognized "citizens" of Paraguay.

The cedula and permanent residency are really big deals to us, because we no longer have to present these American passports to every policeman who wants to stop us (this matters...) We can travel within the southern cone of South America as Paraguayans, which has the benefit of usually not having to buy entry Visas. We also no longer have to keep renewing our Visas every few months to remain in Paraguay, a significant monetary savings. These little cards last 10 years, and was an investment of a whole lot of headaches, finances, red tape, and running around--we are SO excited to finally have them!!

We spent part of the day yesterday at a youth event in a park near the capital. We intended to spend the whole day, but when you factor in walking to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, and then riding through all the stops to pick up every person standing near a field or a pond, it makes for a lot of bus and a little recreation in the day. Nonetheless, it was good to reconnect with youth and youth leaders we haven't seen since camp. The kids played a bit of volleyball, and we walked around seeking shady spots to chat with the folks who weren't playing any of the sports.

It seems the truck is nearing completion, and we may be back on the road in our own wheels before too long. I know, I know, I keep saying that, but that's what they keep telling us, too. Last night, the mechanic drove the truck to his home and called to tell us we could get it this morning. Lo and behold, this morning it still had a bit of a problem needing some "fine tuning" and we're put off until this afternoon. So hopefully today is the day.

We will all be traveling to Uruguay towards the end of this month, accompanying Dr. J. Gordon Henry as he leads a seminar on prayer. This will be after hosting a few here in Paraguay. Saul will be heading into Uruguay tomorrow, if all goes as planned, to get the remaining details lined up there. As always happens, things shift at the last minute, so he's going to dot the i's and cross the t's. Please pray that God's blessings are on the seminars, and that we are following His lead as we prepare to present them.