Traveling Scenery

I thought I'd also post some pictures of the landscapes we saw during the trip. Enjoy!

Trip to Chile (Part 1)

My trip to Chiloé, Chile with six Uruguayans and one American was an exhausting adventure! Let's see if I can briefly summarize it:
Day #1: We left at 2am Saturday, March 15th, from Paysandú, Uruguay and crossed over the international bridge to Argentina. We drove for fifteen hours until we reached Villa Regina, Argentina. There we spent a few hours (and slept a very few) with the Ricardo Daglio family. (They've just moved there to establish a church after 16 years of pastoral ministry in Uruguay.)
Day #2: We left early in the morning and drove nearly fifteen more hours to Dalcahue, Chiloé. We were supposed to arrive in time for the evening service, but we just couldn't make it. We saw some spectacular scenery on the way through Bariloche, Argentina and the young people really enjoyed the ferry ride to the Chiloé island. God was good and we didn't have any trouble clearing Chilean customs.
Day #3: We got up quite late...thanks to our very considerate hosts. We picked-up supplies and, since the mission boat was being repaired, made arrangements to travel on a passenger boat. We had to take a smaller ferry to the island of Quinchao and then travel on from there. Several of the young people were worried about this part of the trip but the Lord heard their prayers and granted us calm seas! We arrived on the island of Caguach as it was getting dark. The guys set up "camp" at a small chapel built years ago by former missionaries. The girls stayed with three older single ladies who may be the only believers on the island.
Day #4: We split up into teams and started visiting the island home by home. Some groups overate and some starved. Chiloé hospitality is legendary but some of the food didn't set too well with the young people. They had been warned in advance though and ate everything put in front of them. My team ended up with a seaweed and sea snail soup...two helpings a piece! Later we had some steamed mussels and we finished up the day with chicken soup. It was great to be able to share Scripture as we visited homes!
Day #5: We reorganized the groups and headed out again. One group stayed behind to do a special Easter program at the one-room schoolhouse. The experience was almost identical for my group...yep, seaweed soup but this time with a few other miscellaneous sea creatures. We helped a family unload building supplies off their boat and then spent a couple of hours in their home. They were very curious about our faith. It was a long but good day!
Day #6: We packed up our things and headed across the island very early in the morning to take the return boat back. The girls rode in the pick-up that carried our supplies and the guys started walking an hour earlier to get there in time. One of the things that I couldn't believe was that there were cars on the islands--it has been years since I visited but I never would have imagined! We had calm seas again though we did get soaked by rain twice. The showers at the end of the trip were wonderful! Everyone was tired of outhouses and sponge baths.

Traveling Discipleship...

This evening, Lord willing, I'm heading to the Chiloe Islands in Chile with a group of mostly Uruguayan young adults. We will be serving in Dalcahue (on the main island) and on the smaller island of Caguach. We're planning on visiting the islanders in their homes to share our faith and working with children in a public school. It's a long ride so we're going to take along John Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life" to read and discuss along the way. My desire is that these young people would impact their generation and future generations in Uruguay for Christ!

It's Hard to Say Good-Bye!

One of the great blessings of serving in Uruguay with the Gospel Mission of South America team has been the camaraderie. It's easy to understand in some cases because most of us graduated from the same Bible college and grew up in South America. Others we have come to know since our arrival on the field. It has been such a blessing to work with Pastor Ricardo Daglio and his family! Ricardo's love for his Lord and His Word has been such a wonderful challenge and inspiration.

He and his family leave for southern Argentina tomorrow after sixteen years of pastoral ministry in Salto, Uruguay. God has clearly led them to a new ministry, but we are so sad to see them leave. We drove up to Salto (5 hours away) this last Saturday for a time of farewell with the local church. We are a small team, and now we will be even smaller, but God is great and able to accomplish His work with many or just a few.